St. Nicholas/Volume 32/Number 1/When Mother Reads Aloud

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Practical Boy

St. Nicholas, Volume 32, Number 1 (1904)
edited by Mary Mapes Dodge

When Mother Reads Aloud by Hannah G. Fernald

Smiling Face

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4066550St. Nicholas, Volume 32, Number 1 — When Mother Reads AloudMary Mapes DodgeHannah G. Fernald

When Mother Reads Aloud.

By Hannah G. Fernald.

When mother reads aloud, the past Seems real as every day:I hear the tramp of armies vast,I see the spears and lances cast, I join the thrilling fray;Brave knights and ladies fair and proudI meet, when mother reads aloud.

When mother reads aloud, far lands Seem very near and true;I cross the desert’s gleaming sands,Or hunt the jungle's prowling bands, Or sail the ocean blue;Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,I scale, when mother reads aloud.

When mother reads aloud, I long For noble deeds to do—To help the right, redress the wrong;It seems so easy to be strong, So simple to be true.Oh, thick and fast the visions crowdMy eyes when mother reads alond!