The book of virtues : a treasury of great moral stories

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SELF-DISCIPLINE

Good and Bad Children / Robert Louis Stevenson

Please / Alicia Aspinwall

Rebecca, Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably / Hilaire Belloc

Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore / William Brighty Rands

The Lovable Child / Emilie Poulsson

John, Tom, and James

There Was a Little Girl / Anonymous

My Own Self / Retold by Joseph Jacobs

To the Little Girl Who Wriggles / Laura E. Richards

Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion / Hilaire Belloc

The Duel / Eugene Field

Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite / Isaac Watts

The King and His Hawk / Retold by James Baldwin

Anger / Charles and Mary Lamb

Dirty Jim / Jane Taylor

Washing

Table Rules for Little Folks

The Little Gentleman

Our Lips and Ears

Little Fred / Anonymous

The Story of Augustus, Who Would Not Have Any Soup / Heinrich Hoffmann

The Vulture / Hilaire Belloc

The Boy and the Nuts

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

The Flies and the Honey Pot / Aesop

Mr. Vinegar and His Fortune / Retold by James Baldwin

The Frogs and the Well / Aesop

The Fisherman and His Wife / Retold by Clifton Johnson

The Magic Thread / Anonymous

The Golden Touch / Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Fox and the Crow / Aesop

King Canute on the Seashore / Adapted from James Baldwin

Ozymandias / Percy Bysshe Shelley

Phaeton / Adapted from Thomas Bulfinch

George Washington's Rules of Civility / Anonymous

Boy Wanted / Frank Crane

The Cattle of the Sun / Retold by Andrew Lang

David and Bathsheba / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Vaulting Ambition, which O'erleaps Itself / William Shakespeare

How Much Land Does a Man Need? / Leo Tolstoy

Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff / A.E. Housman

Plato on Self-Discipline: From the Gorgias / Plato

Aristotle on Self-Discipline: From the Nicomachean Ethics / Aristotle

Go Forth to Life / Samuel Longfellow

For Everything There Is a Season: From Ecclesiastes / Anonymous

2: COMPASSION

Kindness to Animals / Anonymous

The Lion and the Mouse / Aesop

Little Sunshine / Retold by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell

A Child's Prayer / M. Bentham-Edwards

Diamonds and Toads / Retold by Charles Perrault

Old Mr. Rabbit's Thanksgiving Dinner / Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Androcles and the Lion / Retold by James Baldwin

Little Thumbelina / Anonymous

The Legend of the Dipper / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

The Little Match Girl / Hans Christian Andersen

Beauty and the Beast / Retold by Clifton Johnson

Beautiful / Anonymous

As Rich as Croesus / Retold by James Baldwin

The Sin of Omission / Margaret E. Sangster

Moses in the Bulrushes / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

The Good Samaritan / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Song of Life / Charles MacKay

Grandmother's Table: From the Brothers Grimm / Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

The Angel of the Battlefield / Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard

If I can Stop One Heart from Breaking / Emily Dickinson

The Wisdom of Solomon / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

A Legend of the Northland / Phoebe Cary

The Quality of Mercy / William Shakespeare

Echo and Narcissus / Retold by Thomas Bulfinch

Marley's Ghost / Charles Dickens

Where Love Is, God Is / Leo Tolstoy

The Gift of the Magi / O. Henry

Count That Day Lost / George Eliot

Aristotle on Pity: From the Rhetoric / Aristotle

The Ride of Collins Graves / John Boyle O'Reilly

Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night / Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln Offers Consolation / Abraham Lincoln

O Captain! My Captain! / Walt Whitman

The New Colossus / Emma Lazarus

The Influence of Democracy / Alexis de Torqueville

The Choir Invisible / George Eliot

3. RESPONSIBILITY

Over in the Meadow / Olive A. Wadsworth

The Three Little Kittens / Eliza Lee Follen

Little Orphan Annie / James Whitcomb Riley

Rebecca / Eleanor Piatt

St. George and the Dragon / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

The Boy We Want / Anonymous

King Alfred and the Cakes

For Want of a Horseshoe Nail / Adapted from James Baldwin

Sir Walter Raleigh / Retold by James Baldwin

Etiquette in a Nutshell

The Chest of Broken Glass / Anonymous

Which Loved Best? / Joy Allison

Cain and Abel / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

The Ten commandments

If You Were / Anonymous

The Bell of Atri / Retold by James Baldwin

Icarus and Daedalus / Anonymous

The Sword of Damocles / Adapted from James Baldwin

The Silent Couple

The Athenian Oath

The Duties of a Scout / Anonymous

The American's Creed / William Tyler Page

Respecting the Flag / Anonymous

The Charge of the Light Brigade / Alfred Tennyson

The Bridge Builder / Will Allen Dromgoole

What a Baby Costs / Edgar Guest

F. Scott Fitzgerald to His Daughter / F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Hiltons' Holiday / Sarah Orne Jewett

The Perfect Dinner Table / Edgar Guest

The Children's Hour / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Funeral Oration of Pericles / Thucydides

Plato on Responsibility: From the Crito / Plato

The Declaration of Independence / Thomas Jefferson

Federalist No. 55 / James Madison

The Conscience of the Nation Must Be Roused / Frederick Douglass

Second Message to Congress / Abraham Lincoln

Letter from Birmingham City Jail / Martin Luther King, Jr

Men Without Chests / C.S. Lewis

4. FRIENDSHIP

The Pasture / Robert Frost

The Bear and the Travelers / Aesop

Cat and Mouse in Partnership: From the Brothers Grimm / Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

The Velveteen Rabbit / Margery Williams

Friendship

Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together / Anonymous

Rocking Horse Land / Laurence Housman

The Selfish Giant / Oscar Wilde

Ruth and Naomi

Johathan and David / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Baucis and Philemon / Retold by Thomas Bulfinch

The House by the Side of the Road / Sam Walter Foss

Damon and Pythias / Anonymous

How Robin Hood Met Little John / Adapted from Henry Gilbert

A Wayfaring Song / Henry van Dyke

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan / Anonymous

The Human Touch / Spencer Michael Free

Little Girls Wiser than Men / Leo Tolstoy

The Enchanted Bluff / Willa Cather

Keep Friendships in Constant Repair: from The Life of Samuel Johnson / James Boswell

New Friends and Old Friends / Anonymous

The Lover Pleads with his Friend for Old Friends / William Butler Yeats

A Time to Talk / Robert Frost

Aristotle on Friendship: from the Nicomachean Ethics / Aristotle

Cicero on Friendship; from Laelius / Cicero

Thinking on Friendship / William Shakespeare

Emerson on Friendship: from Friendship / Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mending Wall / Robert Frost

Childhood and Poetry / Pablo Neruda

The Arrow and the Song / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison / Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

A Legacy / John Greenleaf Whittier

5. WORK

The Song of the Bee / Marian Douglas

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod / Eugene Field

The Little Red Hen / Retold by Penryhn W. Coussens

Five Little Chickens / Anonymous

The Ants and the Grasshopper / Aesop

Work While You Work / Anonymous

The Sheep and the Pig Who Built a House / Retold by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

The Three Little Pigs / Retold by Clifton Johnson

Hercules and the Wagoner / Aesop

Alice's Supper / Laura E. Richards

The Darning Needle / Hans Christian Andersen

Mr. Meant-To / Anonymous

The Husband Who Was to Mind the House / Anonymous

Mother Holly / Retold by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell

The Farmer and His Sons / Aesop

The Shoemaker and the Elves / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

How the Camel Got His Hump / Rudyard Kipling

Dust Under the Rug / Maud Lindsay

The Week of Sundays / Anonymous

What Have We Done Today? / Nixon Waterman

I Meant to Do My Work Today / Richard Le Gallienne

The Rebellion Against the Stomach / Anonymous

The Kingdom of the Bees / William Shakespeare

The Bundle of Sticks / Aesop

Results and Roses / Edgar Guest

Hercules Cleans the Augean Stables / Anonymous

The Choice of Hercules / Retold by James Baldwin

True Nobility / Edgar Guest

The Ballad of John Henry / Anonymous

Robinson Crusoe Builds a Boat / Daniel Defoe

The Village Blacksmith / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tom Sawyer Gives Up the Brush / Mark Twain

Abraham Lincoln Denies a Loan / Abraham Lincoln

Up from Slavery / Booker T. Washington

Opportunity / John James Ingalls

"It's Plain Hard Work That Does It" / Charles Edison

Heaven Is Not Reached in a Single Bound / J.G. Holland

In Praise of the Strenuous Life / Theodore Roosevelt

Great Men / Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kill Devil Hill / Henry Combs

Success / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Of Studies / Francis Bacon

Quality / John Galsworthy

The Noble Nature / Ben Jonson

Elias / Leo Tolstoy

A Psalm of Life / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 6. COURAGE

Chicken Little / Anonymous

The Wee Wee Woman / Retold by James H. Van Sickle and Wilhelmina Seegmiller

How the Little Kite Learned to Fly / Anonymous

David and Goliath / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

Jack and the Beanstalk / Adapted from Andrew Long

Hansel and Gretel / Adapted from the Brothers Grimm

The Brave Mice / Aesop

Chanticleer and Partlet / Retold by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

The Leopard's Revenge / Anonymous

Our Heroes / Phoebe Cary

the Minotaur / Adapted from Andrew Lang

Ulysses and the Cyclops / Retold by Andrew Lang

Horatius at the Bridge / Retold by James Baldwin

The Brave Three Hundred / Adapted from James Baldwin

Compensation / Theodosia Garrison

A Laconic Answer / Anonymous

If / Rudyard Kipling

Crossing the Rubicon / Adapted from James Baldwin

Doors of Daring / Henry van Dyke

William Tell / Retold by James Baldwin

Dolley Madison Saves the National Pride / Dorothea Payne Madison

An Appeal from the Alamo / William Barret Travis

Susan B. Anthony / Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard

The Things That Haven't Been Done Before / Edgar Guest

Rosa Parks / Kai Friese

It Can Be Done / Anonymous

Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey / Ernest Shackleton

The End of the Scott Expedition / Robert Falcon Scott

The Iron Horse / Bob Considine

A Smile / Anonymous

The Moses of Her People / Sarah Bradford

Instant Hero: from the Washington Post / Blaine Harden

Courage / John Galsworthy

Plato on Fear: from the Gorgias / Plato

Henry's Speech at Agincourt / William Shakespeare

Prisoner of War / James Bond Stockdale

Liberty or Death / Patrick Henry

The Rainy Day / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Self-Reliance / Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Road Not Taken / Robert Frost

7. PERSEVERANCE

Persevere / Anonymous

The Tortoise and the Hare / Aesop

The Little Steam Engine

Try, Try Again / Anonymous

The Crow and the Pitcher / Aesop

The Little Hero of Holland / Adapted from Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell

You Mustn't Quit / Anonymous

The Steadfast Tin Soldier / Hans Christian Andersen

Carry On! / Robert Service

The Stars in the Sky / Adapted from Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Kate Douglas Wiggin, and Nora Archibald Smith

The Story of Scarface / Retold by Amy Cruse

Solitude / Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Bruce and the Spider / Bernard Barton

The Long, Hard Way Through the Wilderness / Retold by Walter Russell Bowie

Go Down, Moses / Anonymous

Eureka! / Retold by James Baldwin

Perseverance / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sail on! Sail on! / Joaquin Miller

Can't / Edgar Guest

The Getysburg Address / Abraham Lincoln

We Shall Fight in the Fields and in the Streets / Winston Churchill

I Have a Dream / Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr

The Donner Party / Eliza P. Donner Houghton

In Memory of L.H.W. / Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Will / Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I Decline to Accept the End of Man / William Faulkner

8. HONESTY

The Boy who Never Told a Lie / Anonymous

The Boy Who Cried "Wolf" / Aesop

The Honest Woodman / Adapted from Emilie Poulsson

Someone Sees You / Anonymous

George Washington and the Cherry Tree / Adapted from J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard

Matilda, Who Told Lies, and Was Burned to Death / Hilaire Belloc

Rebecca's Afterthought / Elizabeth Turner

Pinocchio / Carlo Lorenzini

The Indian Cinderella / Retold by Cyrus Macmillan

Truth is Mighty and Will Prevail / Retold by Ella Lyman Cabot

The Story of Regulus / Retold by James Baldwin

The Character of a Happy Life / Henry Wotton

Honest Abe / Retold by Horatio Alger

The Frog Prince / Adapted from the Brothers Grimm

The Pied Piper of Hamelin / Adapted from Joseph Jacobs

The Emperor's New Clothes / Hans Christian Andersen

The Boy Who Went to the Sky / Retold by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Truth and Falsehood

Truth, Falsehood, Fire, and Water / Anonymous

Lady Clare / Alfred Tennyson

Truth / Ben Johnson

The Woman Caught in Adultery / from the Gospel according to John

The Question / Anonymous

The Good Bishop / Adapted from Victor Hugo

Insincere Honesty

The Injustice of Mere Suspicion / Retold by Warren Horton Stuart

The Piece of String / Guy de Maupassant

Nobility / Alice Cary

Truth in Advertising / P.T. Barnum

Plato on Justice: from The Republic / Plato

Francis Bacon on Truth: from Of Truth / Francis Bacon

Truth Never Dies / Anonymous

9. LOYALTY

Little Boy Blue / Eugene Field

The Cap That Mother Made / Adapted from Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

The Story of Cincinnatus / Retold by James Baldwin

The Devoted Friend / Oscar Wilde

Yudisthira at Heaven's Gate: from the Mahabharata / Anonymous

Thunder Falls / Retold by Allan Macfarlan

How Queen Esther Saved Her People / Retold by Walter Russell Bowie

Judas and Peter

Castor and Pollux / Anonymous

Penelope's Web / Adapted from James Baldwin

Loyalty to a Brother / Walter MacPeek

Only a Dad / Edgar Guest

Home Sweet Home / John Howard Payne

Paul Revere's Ride / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Concord Hymn / Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nathan Hale: from American Heritage magazine / Anonymous

Washington Rejects a Crown / George Washington

America / Samuel Smith

Barbara Frietchie / John Greenleaf Whittier

America the Beautiful / Katharine Lee Bates

In Flanders Fields / John McCrae

Flag Day / Anonymous

Ethical Loyalty / Richard A. Gabriel

The Last Lesson / Alphonse Daudet

Knute Rockne / Francis Wallace

The Thousandth Man / Rudyard Kipling

10. FAITH

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Sleep, My Babe

A Child's Prayer / Anonymous

Noah and the Ark / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

All Things Beautiful / Cecil Alexander

Job / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

I Never Saw a Moor / Emily Dickinson

The Fiery Furnace

Daniel in the Lion's Den / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

The 23rd Psalm / Anonymous

The Healing of the Paralytic / Retold by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

The Captain's Daughter / James T. Fields

The Sermon to the Birds / Retold by James Baldwin

The Honest Disciple

St. Nicholas and the Golden Bars

Hanukkah Hymn / Anonymous

A Child's Dream of a Star / Charles Dickens

Nearer Home / Phoebe Cary

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God / Martin Luther

Amazing Grace / John Newton

Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still / Frederick W. Faber

We Understand So Little / Anonymous

Deucalion and Pyrrha / Retold by Thomas Bulfinch

A Name in the Sand / Hannah Flagg Gould

The Kids Can't Take It If We Don't Give It / George Herman "Babe" Ruth

Our Lady's Juggler / Anatole France

Mary Wollstonecraft on Faith: From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman / Mary Wollstonecraft

L'Envoi / Rudyard Kipling

Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers / Felicia Hemans

Jefferson Urges an Examination of Faith / Thomas Jefferson

The Farewell Address / George Washington

Second Inaugural Address / Abraham Lincoln

Battle Hymn of the Republic / Julia Ward Howe

Going to Church / Theodore Roosevelt

The Lamb and The Tyger / William Blake

The Loom of Time / Anonymous

The Volunteer at Auschwitz / Chuck Colson

Death, Be Not Proud / John Donne

The Dying Christian to His Soul / Alexander Pope

The Path of Virtue: From the Dhammapada / Buddha

Man's Nature Is Good / Mancius

The Way to Tao / Chuang-tzu

Crossing the Bar / Alfred Tennyson

Last Lines / Emily Bronte. Self-discipline

Compassion

Responsibility

Friendship

Work

Courage

Perseverance

Honesty

Loyalty

Faith