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Speaker 1: Hello friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. It is

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving this week in the United States, so I have

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Speaker 1: chosen to read another Thanksgiving story for all of our listeners.

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Speaker 1: There the visit early one morning, Grandmother Gray got up,

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Speaker 1: opened the windows and doors of the farmhouse, and soon

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Speaker 1: everybody in the place was stirring. The cook hurried breakfast,

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Speaker 1: and no sooner was it over. Then Grandfather Gray went

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Speaker 1: out to the barn and hitched the two horses to

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Speaker 1: the wagon. Get up, Robin and Dobbin, he said, as

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Speaker 1: he drove through the big gate. If you knew who

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Speaker 1: was coming back in this wagon, you would not be

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Speaker 1: stepping so slowly. The old horses picked up their ears

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Speaker 1: when they heard this, and trotted away as fast as

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Speaker 1: they could down the country road until they came to town.

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Speaker 1: Just as they got to the railway station, the train

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Speaker 1: came whizzing in. All Off, cried the conductor. As the

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Speaker 1: train stopped, out came a group of children who were

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Speaker 1: every one of them grandfather and Grandmother Gray's grandchildren. They

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Speaker 1: had come to spend Thanksgiving Day on the farm. There

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Speaker 1: was John, who was named for grandfather and looked just

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Speaker 1: like him, and the twins Teddy, and pat who looked

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Speaker 1: like nobody but each other. There. Papa was grandfather's oldest son.

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Speaker 1: Then there was Louisa, who had a baby sister at home,

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Speaker 1: and then Mary Virginia Martin, who was her mama's only child.

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Speaker 1: I tell you, said grandfather, as he helped them into

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Speaker 1: the wagon. Your grandmother will be happy to see you.

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Speaker 1: And so she was. She was watching at the window

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Speaker 1: for them when they drove up, and when the children

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Speaker 1: spied her, they could scarcely wait for grandfather to stop

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Speaker 1: the wagon before they scrambled out. Dear me, dear me,

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Speaker 1: said grandmother, as they all tried to hug her at

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Speaker 1: the same time. How you have grown. I am in

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Speaker 1: the first grade, said John, hugging her with all his might.

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Speaker 1: So am, I cried Louisa. We are going to be

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Speaker 1: chimed in the twins. And then they all talked at

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Speaker 1: once till grandmother could not hear herself speak. Then, after

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Speaker 1: they had told her all about their mamas and papas

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Speaker 1: and homes and cats and dogs, they wanted to go

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Speaker 1: and say how do you do to everything on the place.

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Speaker 1: Take care of yourselves, called grandmother, for I don't want

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Speaker 1: to send any broken bones home to your mother's. I

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Speaker 1: can take care of myself, said John, so can we

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Speaker 1: said the rest, and off they ran. First they went

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Speaker 1: to the kitchen, where the cook was getting ready for

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving dinner. Then out to the barnyard, where there were

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Speaker 1: two new red calves and five little puppies belonging to

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Speaker 1: Juno the dog for them to see. Then they climbed

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Speaker 1: the barnyard fence and made haste to the pasture where

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Speaker 1: grandfather kept his wooly sheep. Bah, said the sheep when

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Speaker 1: they saw the children. But then they always said that,

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Speaker 1: no matter what happened, there were cows in this pasture too,

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Speaker 1: And Mary Virginia was afraid of them, even though she

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Speaker 1: knew that they were the mothers of the calves she

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Speaker 1: had seen in the barnyard. Silly, Mary Virginia, said John,

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Speaker 1: and Mary Virginia began to cry. Don't cry, said Louisa.

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Speaker 1: Let's go to the hickory nut tree. This pleased them all,

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Speaker 1: and they hurried off. But on the way they came

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Speaker 1: to the big shed where grandfather kept his plows and

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Speaker 1: reaper and threshing machine and all his garden tools. The

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Speaker 1: shed had a long, wide roof, and there was a

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Speaker 1: ladder leaning against it. When John saw that, he thought

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Speaker 1: he must go up on the roof, and then of

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Speaker 1: course the twins went too. Then Louisa and Mary Virginia

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Speaker 1: wanted to go, and all the John insisted they could

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Speaker 1: not climb. They managed to scramble up the ladder to

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Speaker 1: where the boys were, and there they all sat in

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Speaker 1: a row on the roof. Grandmother doesn't know how well

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Speaker 1: we can take care of ourselves, said John. But I

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Speaker 1: am such a big boy that I can do anything.

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Speaker 1: I can ride a bicycle and go on errands. So

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Speaker 1: can I, said Louisa. We can ride on the trolley,

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Speaker 1: cried the twins. Mama and I go anywhere by ourselves,

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Speaker 1: said Mary Virginia. No said something down below, and when

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Speaker 1: they looked, there was one one of the cows rubbing

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Speaker 1: her head against the ladder. Don't be afraid, Mary Virginia

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Speaker 1: said Louisa. Cows cannot climb ladders. Don't be afraid, Mary

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Speaker 1: Virginia said John, I will drive her away. So he

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Speaker 1: kicked his feet against the shed roof and called, go away,

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Speaker 1: go away. The twins kicked their feet too and called

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Speaker 1: go away, go away. And somebody I don't know who

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Speaker 1: kicked the ladder, and it fell down and lay in

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Speaker 1: the dry grass, and the cow walked peacefully on, thinking

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Speaker 1: about her little calf there now, exclaimed Louisa. How shall

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Speaker 1: we ever get down? Oh that's nothing, said John. All

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Speaker 1: I have to do is stand up on the roof

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Speaker 1: and call grandfather. Just watch me do it. So he

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Speaker 1: stood up and called grandfather, grandfather, grandfather till he was tired,

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Speaker 1: but no grandfather answered. Then the twins called grandfather grandmother, Bah,

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Speaker 1: said the sheep, as if beginning to think that somebody

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Speaker 1: ought to answer all that calling. Then they all called

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Speaker 1: together grandfather, grandfather, grandfather, And when nobody heard that, they

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Speaker 1: began to feel frightened and lonely. I want to go

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Speaker 1: home to my mother. I wish I hadn't come, wailed

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Speaker 1: Mary Virginia. It's Thanksgiving dinner time, too, said John. And

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Speaker 1: there's turkey for dinner. I saw it in the oven

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Speaker 1: pie too, said Louisa. Dear, dear, said the twins, And

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Speaker 1: then they all called together once more, but this time

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Speaker 1: with such a weak little cry that not even the

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Speaker 1: sheep heard it. The sun grew warmer and the shadow

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Speaker 1: straighter as they sat there and grandmother's house seemed miles

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Speaker 1: away when John stood up to look at it. They've

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Speaker 1: eaten dinner by this time, I know, he said, as

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Speaker 1: he sat down again, and grandfather and grandmother have forgotten

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Speaker 1: all about us. But grandfather and grandmother had not forgotten them.

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Speaker 1: For just about then Grandmother was saying to Grandfather, you

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Speaker 1: had better see where the children are for Thanksgiving dinner

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Speaker 1: will soon be ready, and I know that they are hungry.

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Speaker 1: So Grandfather went out to look for them. He did

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Speaker 1: not find them in the kitchen nor the barnyard, so

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Speaker 1: he called Johnny, Johnny, and when nobody answered, he made

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Speaker 1: haste to the pasture. The children saw him coming, and

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Speaker 1: long before he had reached the gate, they began to

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Speaker 1: call with all their might. This time Grandfather answered, I'm coming,

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Speaker 1: and I cannot tell you how glad they were. In

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Speaker 1: another minute, he had set the ladder up again, and

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Speaker 1: they all came down. Mary Virginia came first because she

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Speaker 1: was the youngest girl, and John came last because he

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Speaker 1: was the biggest boy. Grandfather put his arms around each

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Speaker 1: one as he helped them down, and then carried Mary

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Speaker 1: Virginia home on his back. When they got to the house,

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Speaker 1: dinner was just ready. The turkey was brown, the potatoes

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Speaker 1: were sweet, the sauce was so spicy, the biscuits were

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Speaker 1: beat the great pumpkin pie was as yellow as gold,

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Speaker 1: and the apples were red as roses. I'm told it

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Speaker 1: was such a good dinner that I had to tell

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Speaker 1: you about it in rhyme. And I'm sure you'll agree

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Speaker 1: with the children and me that there's never a visit

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Speaker 1: so pleasant to pay as a visit to Grandma on

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day. To name an a