England

England and America are made of the same history and heroes. England is home to many Americans, because their ancestors set out from it to discover their new country. Madeline Brandeis, Little Tom of England

Song of Old France

After passing the old village church, Mother and I went up a short narrow street and found ourselves almost immediately in the fields. The rough stony road meandered through the expanses of wheat and barley. On days when the sky was overcast and the wind blew down into the valley of the Seine, these fields,……

Assisi

Assisi lies far across the sea in beautiful Italy. It is a little city, built on a mountainside, with a great wall all about it, and a castle on the height above, and it looks very much as it did more than seven hundred years ago. Inside the walls, the stone houses are crowded together,……

Foreign Lands

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Up into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad in foreign lands. I saw the next door garden lie, Adorned with flowers, before my eye, And many pleasant places more That I had never seen before. I saw……

A Storybook City

Tom had said that the fishing village where his own family lived was near the birthplace of King Arthur. He had read to Bob about England’s many bloody wars; about William the Conqueror who, in the long ago, invaded Britain and made himself the first Norman king; about Henry the Eighth and powerful Queen Elizabeth.……

Village Life

The heavenly beauty of the spring day sent Sally’s mercurial spirits soaring upwards, and she sang softly as she walked along the street, swinging her basket. The beautiful old houses about her seemed lovely as the houses in a fairytale, their windows and brass knockers winking in the sun, their roofs and weather-worn stones revealing……

Coming Home

Jared took three days for his journey into New Hampshire, three days over the winding roads. The clean fields, lying fallow for next spring’s planting, offered him the satisfaction of familiarity; but when the road began to climb and the fields gave place to woodlands and the bare trees to the deep green of the……

The Strength of a Village

Many a time I have seen a tiny shepherd, while watching his flock and playing a homemade reed flute, execute the most intricate and graceful steps on the green of hillside or plain. Orchards and vegetable gardens formed a background of every village home. Bees were cultivated lovingly and knowingly. For honey was another staple……

The Barefoot Boy (excerpt)

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Blessings on thee, little man, Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan! With thy turned-up pantaloons, And thy merry whistled tunes; With thy red lip, redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill; With the sunshine on thy face, Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace; From my heart I give thee joy,—……