Composed in 1934, this charming set of 3 pieces for orchestra illustrate three well-known stories from McGuffey's Eclectic Readers, six volumes that were standard educational material in the elementary schools of mid-19th century America. The first story is by O.W. Holmes, "The One-Horse Shay", about the local deacon's well-built carriage that proceeds to fall completely to pieces on its 100th anniversary. Spirited cakewalk-like rhythms (with xylophone and woodblock percussion) back up lively melodies depicting the carriage in proud motion along the roads, until with a series of dissonant punctuations the whole thing collapses. Longfellow's poem about the romance of "John Alden and Priscilla" is the image of the second movement - a rather sentimental song slowly grows into a harmonically rich and dramatic string orchestra statement, touched lightly with the neutral 3rd of the blues song. Mysterious sustained strings, harp and glockenspiel depict the lanterns in the church tower -"one if by land and two if by sea" - at the beginning of the 3rd movement "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere". The orchestra then suddenly comes to life with adrenalin pumping, horseback racing rhythms, at times dipping low in the winds and strings with anxious uncertainty only to revitalize into a splendid climax.

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