# Pieces People Ask For

Pieces People Ask For
SERIOUS, HUMOROUS, PATHETIC, PATRIOTIC, AND DRAMATIC SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND POETRY
FOR
READINGS AND RECITATIONS
EDITED BY
GEORGE M. BAKER
BOSTON
WALTER H. BAKER & CO.
1909
Pieces People Ask For
Copyright, 1885, by George M. Baker
(Reading Club, No. 16.)
Copyright, 1886, by George M. Baker
(Reading Club, No. 17.)
Copyright, 1908, by Walter H. Baker & Co.
Contents
PART I :
| "Bay Billy" | Frank H. Gassaway | 98 |
| Because | Boston Transcript | 33 |
| The Book Canvasser | | 78 |
| Casabianca (Colored) | | 43 |
| A Centre-board Yacht-race | George A. Stockwell | 67 |
| The Christening | E. T. Corbett | 37 |
| The Coming Wave | Oliver Optic | 82 |
| Counting Eggs | Texas Sittings | 64 |
| Cut, Cut Behind | Charles Follen Adams | 45 |
| The Deacon's Ride | Mary C. Huntington | 59 |
| The Death of D'Assas | Mary E. Vandyne | 24 |
| Decoration Day | Mary Bassett Hussey | 54 |
| The Driver of Ninety-three | Sarah K.Bolton | 8 |
| The Engineer's Story | Eugene J. Hall | 81 |
| The Fall | Thomas Hood | 66 |
| Filling His Place | Maria L. Eve | 40 |
| The Flag | James Jeffrey Roche | 32 |
| The Heritage | James Russell Lowell | 42 |
| Hiring Help | Mrs. S. E. Dawes | 102 |
| The House in the Meadow | Louise Chandler Moulton | 15 |
| How the Ransom was Paid | W. R. Rose | 10 |
| Jem's Last Ride | Mary A. P. Stansbury | 88 |
| The Labor Question | Wendell Phillips | 29 |
| The Light from Over the Range | | 5 |
| A Little Peach | | 17 |
| A Lost Child | Anna F. Bumham | 86 |
| Love and Philosophy | Geo. Runde Jackson | 30 ​ |
| Malaria | | 74 |
| Mary's Lamb on a New Principle | | 44 |
| The Man with the Musket | H. S. Taylor | 27 |
| Metamora to the Council | | 9 |
| Missing | | 53 |
| The Mississippi Miracle | Irwin Russell | 70 |
| Mr. Pickwick's Romantic Adventure with a Middle-aged Lady in Yellow Curl-Papers | Dickens | 18 |
| Over the Crossin' | Springfield Republican | 92 |
| Puzzled | | 76 |
| The Rajah's Clock | Theron Brown | 57 |
| Re-enlisted | Lucy Larcom | 11 |
| Scene from "Ion" | Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd | 46 |
| She Stood on the Stair | Puck | 13 |
| The Silver Bell | Mrs. Julia D. Pratt | 63 |
| Somehow or Other | | 94 |
| The Story of Sir Arnulph | Gerald Massey | 85 |
| Taters | W. O. Eaton | 96 |
| Together on the Stairs | Andrew G. Tubbs | 35 |
| A Tough Customer | William L. Keese | 28 |
| "An Unknown Man, Respectably Dressed" | Helen Jackson | 97 |
| The Village Choir | Audreys Journal | 39 |
| Wendell Phillips | John Boyle O'Reilly | 72 |
| When Greek met Greek | | 56 |
| When McGue puts the Baby to Sleep | | 87 |
| PART II |||
| After "Taps" | Horace B. Sargent | 78 |
| At Arlington | James R. Randall | 15 ​ |
| At the Rising of the Moon | Leo Casey | 12 |
| Aunt Parson's Story | Presbyterian Journal | 48 |
| Aunt Sophronia Tabor at the Opera | | 36 |
| Biddy's Philosophy | R. H. Stoddard | 102 |
| The Bravest Boy in Town | Emma H. Nason, in Wide Awake | 23 |
| Brer Rabbit and the Butter | Harris | 26 |
| Cicely and the Bears | Lilliput Levee | 64 |
| The "Course of Love" Too "Smooth" | | 97 |
| The Drummer's Betrothed | M. Cecile Brown, from Victor Hugo | 5 |
| The Dutchman's Serenade | | 57 |
| Dyin' Words of Isaac | Anonymous | 99 |
| A Fight with a Trout | Charles D. Warner | 40 |
| Forcible Entry | J. M. Bailey | 45 |
| Grant's Strategy | Judge Veazey | 85 |
| He Never Told a Lie | | 82 |
| A Howl in Rome | Bill Nye | 67 |
| Indian Names | L. H. Sigourney | 80 |
| Jamie Douglas | | 70 |
| John Leland's Examination | | 8 |
| A Laughing Philosopher | | 17 |
| A Leak in the Dike | Phoebe Cary | 93 |
| Lessons in Cookery | Detroit Free Press | 107 |
| A Lesson to Lovers | | 83 |
| A "Love" Game | T. Malcolm Watson | 86 |
| The Loves of a Life | Mazzini | 29 |
| "Magdalena" | Puck | 75 |
| The Menagerie | J. Honeywell | 100 |
| Nebulous Philosophy | J. Edgar Jones | 14 |
| Never Too Late | Earnest McGaffey | 39 |
| No! | Hood | 100 |
| The Old Canteen | | 34 |
| An Old Man's Prayer | George M. Baker | 88 |
| On the Shores of Tennessee | E. L. Beers | 103 ​ |
| An Order for a Picture | Alice Cary | 42 |
| An Original Idea | George M.Baker | 110 |
| Over the Left | W. C. Dornin | 56 |
| Paddy's Dream | Anonymous | 106 |
| Pat's Reason | | 109 |
| The Prisoner | | 31 |
| Raking the Meadow-Lot | Ruth Revere | 77 |
| The Saddest Sight | | 13 |
| Scene from "Ingomar" | Maria Lovell, from the German | 59 |
| The Seminole's Reply | | 56 |
| The September Gale | O. W. Holmes | 11 |
| The Soldier's Dream | C. G. Fall | 53 |
| The Song of the Drum | I. E. Diekenga | 20 |
| Story of a Bedstead | San Francisco Wasp | 72 |
| Wendell Phillips | Henry W. Beecher | 46 |