Citation
All the year round

Material Information

Title:
All the year round a nature reader
Creator:
Strong, Frances L
Stoker, Gertrude A ( Illustrator )
Ginn and Company
Athenaeum Press (Boston, Mass.) ( printer )
Place of Publication:
Boston ;
New York ;
Chicago ;
Publisher:
Ginn and Company
Manufacturer:
Athenæum Press
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
viii, 102 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Winter -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Seasons -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Natural history -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Readers (Primary) -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Children's stories ( lcsh )
Children's poetry ( lcsh )
Children's stories -- 1896 ( lcsh )
Children's poetry -- 1896 ( lcsh )
Readers -- 1896 ( rbgenr )
Bldn -- 1896
Genre:
Children's stories
Children's poetry
Readers ( rbgenr )
Spatial Coverage:
United States -- Massachusetts -- Boston
United States -- New York -- New York
United States -- Illinois -- Chicago
England -- London
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

Language:
English.
General Note:
Contains prose and verse.
Statement of Responsibility:
by Frances L. Strong, illustrated by Gertrude A. Stoker.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
026976500 ( ALEPH )
ALH8635 ( NOTIS )
224504574 ( OCLC )

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The Baldwin Library ~
University
Hit ce
Florida

i







ALL THE YEAR ROUND

A NATURE READER

PART IIL: WINTER

BY
FRANCES L. STRONG
St. Pau, Teacuers’ TRAINING SCHOOL

ILLUSTRATED BY

GERTRUDE A. STOKER

SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING, ST. PAUL

GINN & COMPANY

BOSTON - NEW YORK « CHICAGO - LONDON



CopyriGHT, 1896, BY
FRANCES L. STRONG



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

214.12

The Atheneum Press

GINN & COMPANY - PRO-
PRIETORS « BOSTON « U.S.A,



- NOTE TO THE TEACHER.

T is not the purpose of the author of this series to offer,
or even suggest, any rules for its use. If anything is
established in education, it is the fact that aside from
certain underlying principles and general directions, each
teacher must be a rule unto herself. The methods which
the author and her colleagues have found successful might
be entirely out of harmony with an equally good system in
some other city. It is to be presumed, however, that if this
series of nature-stories should be so fortunate as to be
received with favor by the educational public, it will occa-
sionally find its way into the hands of some teachers who
are not familiar with nature-work as developed in large
cities and well-organized school systems. To these it may
be interesting and helpful to know just “how it has been
done” in the schools out of which these stories grew, and
in which they have been used. Indeed, by way of com-
parison and suggestion, it may also be of assistance to those
who have passed through the experimental stage and have
wrought out a system of their own.
It has been the custom in the St. Paul public schools to

pursue the following plan:



iv . Note to the Teacher.

Materials, — The teacher goes out with her pupils to
collect the materials referred to in the, lessons, gathering
enough to allow each pupil one specimen. Animals and
plants are kept alive in the schoolroom to enable all to
study their growth and habits.

After the material is at hand, the development of a spe-
cific lesson is divided (though not formally and rigidly) into
five parts. .

I. Morning Talk. — The work of the day is begun with a
morning talk based either upon one of the natural objects,
or upon a geographical topic, according to the season.

If an animal, a plant, or a stone be the subject of the
lesson, pains are taken to see that each child is provided
with a specimen. By skillful questioning, statements are
drawn from the children concerning the facts the teacher
wishes observed. -New words are occasionally suggested and
written upon the blackboard, and their frequent use is re-
quired throughout the lesson. In studying objects, it has,
of course, been found advisable to consider them as belong-
ing to some great family, making comparisons, and finding
resemblances and differences. Children readily find this
family element in all things studied.

If a geographical topic is chosen, observations are made
from. representations by means of pictures, sand-maps, cabinet
specimens, etc. For instance, in studying the life of the
American Indian, page 81, preparatory to the Hiawatha lessons,
a sand-table showing a forest of pines, a mirror lake, a birch-
bark canoe, a tent of cloth or paper, and a doll dressed as an
Indian, furnishes the basis of an excellent lesson upon the
life and habits of the Red Man.



Note to the Teacher. Vv

II. Drawing. — The observation lesson is followed by a
drawing lesson upon the subject studied. The child has
already been supplied with the plant or animal. Each child
draws his specimen ‘carefully. It is by no means necessary
for the teacher herself to be able to draw in order to get
results. Each child is simply required to reproduce with
his pencil just what he sees, just as he sees it. Children
illustrate their language papers on flowers with water-colors
or pencil, Work in free-hand cutting can be given from all
objects, such as bottles, leaves, animals, etc. Scissors are
used for this cutting. Modeling in clay is done from any
object that will correlate with the other work. It has been
found that in connection with the myths there is a great
opportunity to develop imagination by. allowing the child to
illustrate the stories.

Ill. Spelling. — A spelling lesson upon the new and diffi-
cult words will follow.

IV.. Reading. —The child is now ready for the reading

lesson appropriate to the subject.

V. Language. — Finally, the children write descriptions of
the object or country studied, giving free expression to the
facts each has acquired.
it may be added that great interest may be excited by
introducing into the number-work problems concerning the
subject of the morning talk.

The literature, also, holds a very prominent place in this
nature-work. The following list suggests poems to be com-
mitted to memory, and stories to be read in connection with

‘this reader:



vi Note to the Teacher.

EVAPORATION.
The Rainbow . ........ ;3 . . Longfellow
Shelley’s Clouds. ;
A Drop of Water. . . . . . . ... .« Haus Andersen
Swan Maidens . . . . . . 1. ss. Cooke's Myths
Snow Bound. . 2. . 2. we we ew ww. Whittier
Snow Image. . . . .. . . « « « . «© Hawthorne
Snow-Flakes . . 2. 1. 1. ew a ew es » Longfellow
The First Snow-Fal . 2. 6. 1 1 ee we . Lowell
MAN.
St. Nicholas, 1885, Cast Away in the Cold . . . . Hayes

Primary Education, Jan. 1895.

School Journal, Dec. 1894.

Seven Little Sisters . . . . 1. 1. « « « Jane Andrews
The Children of the Cold . . . . . Frederick Sthwatka

As will be inferred from the method outlined above, the
purpose of this book will be entirely misconceived, if it is
looked upon merely as a convenient means of furnishing new
reading-matter for the children (although it is sincerely hoped
that it will do this). It is intended also to stimulate the
thought, enlarge the vocabulary, and open the eyes of the
children to the wonders of the world around them.

In the St. Paul public schools the manuscript of this
series has been used in the second grade. It is thought,
however, that it may be used in the third, and even the
fourth, with equally good results.

St PAaut,
October 17, 1895.



—

ON ioe 2 EN

ee

Io,

Il.
12.
13.
14.

5.
16.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

LIMESTONE SEQUENCE.

THE Ponp SNAIL

THE CORAL .

Tue CoRAL REEFS

WHAT BECOMES OF THE SHELLS.

Tue Fossits. : : 4 : ; :
TESTING TO FIND LIME

QUARTZ SEQUENCE.
QUARTZ
How THE SAND BECAME SANDSTONE .
A Story aBouT GLAss :
THE TRAVELS OF THE KinG’s WINDOW PANES

OCEAN LIFE.

THE STARFISH . . : . : °
THE SEA-URCHIN . : - . :
THE OYSTER. ° 7 ‘ : . ’
THE SPONGE . : . . . : .

THE COAL FORESTS : ‘ é
CoaL MINING . . . ; . > *

PAGE

II
13

17
19
21
23

25
27
30
33

35
38



17.
18.
19.
20.

2I.

22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
20.
30.
31.
32.

33-
34.
35:
36.
37-
38.
39

Table of Contents.

&

EVERGREENS (CHRISTMAS).

THe EVERGREENS

THE PINES

THE DISCONTENTED PINE (Poetry)
Tue Fir TREE . .
Tue LirrLe Fir Trees (Poetry)

STUDY OF MAN.

THE Eskimo. Part I.
Tue Eskimo. Part II.
THe SEAL

HUNTING SEALS
HASSAN.

THE CAMEL

THE PALMS <
THE PaLM TREE (Poetry)
Brack Hawk

‘“HIAWATHA’S CHILDHOOD .

HiawaTuHa’s First DEER

EVAPORATION.

VAPOR

CLOUDS .

Rain .

DEW

Frost PICTURES :
LirrLE Jack Frost (Poetry)
THE LITTLE WHITE FAIRIES .

- 86

PAGE
42
44
46
50
56

59
64
67

Gs

71
74
76
79
81

84

88
gl
93
94
96
98

- 100



WINTER.



































































































































































































WINTER

1. THE POND SNAIL.



cee pond snail makes ~~
its home in ponds.

It has one broad foot
which helps it to move “ Vv a
about, or to fasten it- y
self to different things =
it finds in the water. i ie: pea

The snail has two _/ ~Â¥ Op fe he
little horns or feelers
in front. If we watch these feelers, we shall
see that it keeps them moving as if it were feeling
its way. The eyes are at the base of the feelers,
and look like two black dots. The mouth is
between them; but we shall find that it is below
the feelers.

Have you ever seen this strange creature come
to the surface to breathe? It has a little opening
in its side, through which air passes. It is fine





4 The Pond Snail.

sport to watch the snail come up to breathe.
Then you can see the bubbles of air.

It has a shell house which it carries with it.
Snails have been called very slow; but if we had
to carry our houses on our backs, do you think
we could move quickly?

The pointed end of the shell is called the apex.
The opening where the snail comes out is the
aperture.

Look closely and see all the little lines on the
shell. These are the lines of growth. When the
snail was a baby, its house was very small. As it
grew, it needed alarger one. This it built little by
little. In the water it drank it found something
which helped to make the hard shell.

What do you think it was? Did I hear some
one say lime?

Yes, it is lime which helps the snail in building
its house. You will find some lime in the bottom
of your teakettle. Take a piece and feel how
hard it is.



2. THE CORAL.



| AM a tiny baby coral. When I was
first hatched from an egg, I was very

soft and shaped like a pear. I was

covered with a fringe which quivered



and kept me in motion.

For some time I swam around in the
water, hunting for a good place to fasten myself.
As I-do not like muddy or sandy water, I have
come down to the bottom of the sea where the
water is quiet and clear. Here I have fastened
myself to a rock and begun to grow. Gradually,
at the top of my body there comes a hole which
is my mouth, and around it, like a fringe, appear
my feelers.

A sac, which is my stomach, forms in the
center. When I take a drink of sea-water, I
draw it into my stomach through my long hollow
feelers. The lime from the water gathers at the
bottom of the sea, where I am fastened to the
rock. The lime in the water hardens the outside
of me.



6 The Coral.

Now nothing soft remains, but my mouth and ~
feelers at the top, and my stomach within.

I have something strange to tell you. I begin
to bud. In this way I spread and grow taller.
Little corals grow out from my sides and base.

This way of growing is called budding, because
it is a little like the branching of a plant; but
each bud is a new coral, fastened to the
one from which it buds, as the branches
of a tree to the stem. As the corals
grow and bud, the lower ones become
solid.





3. THE CORAL REEFS.



CAME from an
ege. So it is not



































only by dividing or
budding that I in-
crease, but also by the



hatching of eggs. I keep
on budding and sending forth eggs.

There are many hills in the ocean, and I chose
one of these for my home. The eggs settle down
beside me. They begin to grow and bud and
send forth more eggs. So, all around the foot
of the hill, on which we have settled, we form
a ring.

As each tiny coral forms new corals, it gradually
hardens. Thus, the tiny creatures make a solid
foundation for those that grow above and at the
side of them. ‘

Little by little, all the cracks between our walls
are filled with sand and bits of shell. .

The rocky walls, far down in the sea, form

strange and beautiful shapes.
7



8 The Coral Reefs.

At last, the tiny corals reach the surface of
the water and can grow no higher. Their work
is done.

Then the great waves rush and beat against
the coral, breaking off large pieces.

These pieces become worn into sand by the
rolling and grinding done by the waves. The
broken masses and sand are thrown up on top
of the wall of coral.

Pieces of floating wood and sea-weed land upon
the wall and there decay. They are mixed with
the coral sand and a little soil is made.

Seeds are carried there by the birds, wind, and
waves, and in time grow into plants, grass, and
trees. ;

At last men come to settle and build cities
upon these islands made by the tiny corals.

Many ships have been wrecked on these coral
reefs. Before the reefs have reached the surface
of the water, sailors cannot see them.

The ship strikes one-of these walls and a large
hole is made in the boat. Many lighthouses have
been built to warn the sailors.

Ask your teacher to show you on the map the
coral reefs near Florida,









































CAST UP BY THE SEA.



4. WHAT BECOMES OF THE SHELLS.



| AM a shell. My home is in the great ocean,

Our family‘is a very large one; much larger
than your father’s family, for I have thousands
of brothers and sisters.

Some of my relatives are so very small that
you could not see them without a microscope:
others are very large.

Many of the little animals living in us are
killed.

What do you think happens to the shell houses?

The great waves wash part of us up on the
beach, but others sink to the bottom of the
ocean.

The great rivers that flow jnto the ocean, bring
mud and sand with them. This mud settles to
the bottom with the shells.

Have you ever seen my home, the great
ocean?

“Try to think how many of the lakes you have
seen it would take to make this great body of

water, and how heavy it must be.
9



10 What becomes of the Shelts.

This water presses on us, until we are packed so '
closely that we become stone. Do you remember
what we drank to make our shells hard?

Think what quantities of lime there must be in
this stone. Would you like to know our name?

We are called Limestone.



5. THE FOSSILS.



| AM the fossil of a shell. When the little

animal inside my shell was alive, many
thousands of years ago, I lived in the ocean.
Now I am locked up in this storehouse of
limestone with many of my neighbors who once
lived with me in the sea. ane

Some of them lived in shells; others were coral ;
and others lived in stone lilies.

The tiny coral creatures built their beautiful
towers in the sea. Living among them were little.
animals, that built up stone lilies about themselves.
These lilies were fastened to the bottom of the sea
by long waving stems.

I, too, lived among the coral. I had two shells
fastened together like a clam shell.

The shells were beautifully chiseled and were of
delicate tints of red, green, yellow, blue, and pink.





12 The Fossils.

There were a great many other little creatures
living in shells. Some were large; others very
tiny. Some floated about in the water; others
fastened themselves to rocks or to other creatures.

But we all gathered lime from the water, and
made our hard frames. Then, as the tiny creatures
died, we sank down, down to the bottom of the sea.

The earth in the water settled between us. The
heavy water pressed so hard that it pressed us to
stone. | :
Then, little by little, the great sea became lower
and at last disappeared, leaving us on the land.

Do you think there are fossils forming now in
the ocean? Yes, and on the land too.

I will tell you one way in which beautiful ones
are formed. Streams of water flowing over lime-
stone dissolve some of it.

On the banks of a stream a leaf or a twig falls, ©
or some moss is fastened to a rock.

As the water slowly trickles over them, some of
the lime settles and gathers around them. In time,
they decay; but their shape is left in the stone.

Sometimes, fossils of leaves and fishes are formed
in the lakes and rivers, just as they are in the
ocean.



6. TESTING TO FIND LIME.



Vere ALLEN asked the children to bring to

school everything in which they thought
they might find lime. She told them she would
show them how to prove whether they were right
or wrong.

I wish you could have seen the many things that
were placed on her desk the next morning.

Some brought many different kinds of shells;
others the hard pieces found in the bottom of the
teakettle.

Fred was anxious to try his pieces of coral,
petrified wood, and moss.

James brought some of his agates and a piece of
granite.

. When Leo came to school, he passed a lot
where men were building two new houses. He
stopped, thinking he might find something there.

The men were building the cellar of one of the
houses of a grayish blue stone. He took a piece
of this. In the street, the men were mixing mortar

to hold these stones together. Watching them,
3



14 Testing to find Lime.

he found that they put in large white lumps of
something which came packed in barrels. The
man gave him a large piece to take to school.

In the other house they were plastering the
walls, and laying marble hearths in the fireplaces.
The men gave him a small piece of the marble,
and some plaster on a shingle.

Anna brought a dead starfish and a sea-urchin’s
house.

Mary’s father was a doctor. She had heard him
say that a baby had very soft bones and that an |
old person’s were hard. Mary remembered how the
snail’s house was hardened, and she wondered if the
lime in the water we drink could make bones hard.

Now was Mary’s chance to test a bone, so she
brought all of them that she could find.

Grace laid on the desk, a piece of chalk, a quartz
crystal, and a carnelian.

That morning Miss Allen said, “I am. glad
you have brought so many things for us to test.
This bottle is filled with acid. There are so many
acids, I will give you the name of the one we use
to test our stones.

“Tt is called muriatic acid. That is a pretty big
word for children, but it is well to be able to call
things by their right names. | .



Testing to find Lime. 15

“We must be very careful in using this acid.
It is very strong. It will eat holes in wood and
in our clothes, and burn our fingers.

“Tom, you may take this board and place it
on the desk. Now put on it all the things we .
wish to test.”

After this was done, Miss Allen poured a drop
of acid on each article. What a bubbling and
spluttering there was! It made one think of
soda water.

Miss Allen said, “If it bubbles, you may know
there is lime there; if not, there is none.”

The shells, pieces from the teakettle, the
petrified wood and moss, the coral, the sea-
urchin’s house, and the starfish were tried first.
All these bubbled. Some bubbled more than
others, showing that they contained more lime.’

The marble, plaster, blue stone, and white lump
Leo found at the new house were tested next.
There was lime in all these.

Then the bones, chalk, quartz, carnelian, agate,
and granite had drops of the acid poured on them.
The bones and chalk bubbled, but the quartz,
carnelian, agate, and granite made no fuss at all.
They held no lime.

After these were tested, Miss Allen said, “I will



16 Testing to find Lime.

keep this bottle of acid on the shelf, and if you find
other things you would like to test, I shall be glad
to help you.”

She then asked, “Do you know why it is that
_ the water in lakes, rivers, and springs is hard,

while rain water is soft?”



7. QUARTZ.



Y name is Quartz. I have a story to tell you
about my family.

A little girl found some pretty stones and took
them to school. JI was among those stones, and
very glad to make the children a visit.

Suddenly I found myself on a desk with a
piece of glass and a knife. How sharp that knife
looked! It fairly made me tremble, it was so near.

However, I need not have been afraid. Soona
boy picked up the knife and went to work to cut
me in two. Just think, that sharp glistening blade
could not even scratch me!

Then the boy picked up the piece of glass and
tried to scratch me with that; but he could not
make the least mark on my glossy coat.

I wondered if I could make a scratch on the
glass, and kept saying to myself, “Don’t I wish
I had a chance to make my mark on that shiny
glass !”

I think the boy must have heard me, for he

tried to scratch the glass with me, and I found
17



18 Quartz.

that I could make a beautiful cut in it. Then he
tried me on the blade of the knife, and I left a
scratch on that too.

There were a great many of my family visiting
the school that day. Some.were as clear as glass ;
some were smoky; some were milky. |

Carnelians and agates, which are used in jewelry
and to make marbles, belong to my family. Have
you ever cracked open a carnelian and seen the
pretty red and white bands inside?

A little girl had a purple stone in her ring and
her teacher told her it was an amethyst. This is
another of my sisters. ,

Tom broke many pieces of different kinds, and
found that we did not break evenly, and that the
faces made by the breaking were not smooth.



8. HOW THE SAND BECAME SANDSTONE.



vo" all know that the Quartz family is very

hard, and that some of us are beautifully
colored. I have been thinking of a strange story
a friend of mine once told me. Would you like
to hear it? Ves? Well, then I will tell you
what happened to some of our family, years and
years ago.

Many pieces of the Quartz family lived on the
shore of the ocean. All day the great waves rolled
up on the shores, and tossed the pebbles up and
down, back and forth, knocking them against one
another.

Gradually stones were broken into small pieces.
By and by they were so small that passers-by
said, “ How beautiful and fine the sand is here!”

The wind, too, liked to play with the sand; for
it carried it hither and thither over the beach.
Sometimes the sand traveled back and forth two
or three times in a day.

One day it said, “I wonder what kind of a

journey I shall make to-day.”



20 How the Sand Became Sandstone.

That day it met two new families on the beach,
the Lime family and the Iron family.

These three families liked each other so well
that they decided to live together. Not long
after this, when they were settled for the day, a
rainstorm came and beat down steadily upon them.

The lime grew soft, gluing the sand into one
large lump, like a stone. It took many years to
make this stone. Don’t you think sandstone is a
good name for a stone made of sand?

The Iron family is of a great many colors,— red,
yellow, brown, and even green. They gave some
ot their color to the sandstone, and that is the.
reason we have red, green, and yellow sandstones
as well as white.



9. A STORY ABOUT GLASS.

1090. ——

CN upon a time, hundreds of years ago, a

strange-looking ship was sailing slowly on
the great sea. The ship was heavily laden with
soda, and had been out a long time.

The sailors were tired of the tossing of the great
sea, and longed for the quiet land.

Suddenly across the waves, a speck was seen.
Surely, that must be land!

A moment later, the cry “It is land” was heard
from every sailor.

Soon the eager men landed and hastened to
collect sticks for a fire. All were anxious to cook
a dinner on the land.

The fire was started and the kettle brought.
But they could find nothing with which to prop
it.. No stones were to be found.

What were they to do? Give it up? No, a
thousand times no!

“Bring some of the lumps of soda,” called the
captain. Soon the dinner was cooking nicely; but
stop, what was the trouble?

2i



22 A Story about Glass.

The fire had melted the soda and sand together,
and on that far away coast, the sailors ‘had — what
do you suppose ? — Glass.

This was the first glass ever made.



10. THE TRAVELS OF THE KING’S
WINDOW PANES.



C)â„¢ of the kings of England was very rich.

‘In his many palaces, he had everything
money could buy. But his greatest treasures
were his glass windows, for in those days very. few
people had such wonderful things.

In the far North, people used thin sheets of ice
for their windows. In some countries, people
stretched skins until they were so thin that the
light could come through. These skins they used
for window panes. |

Where this king lived, they used ae the ice
nor the skins for window panes. The wind and
rain could blow in through the open spaces left
to light the house.

How many colds those people must have had!

You will understand why this king thought so
much of his glass windows. He owned a great
many houses, living sometimes in one, and some-
times in another. He had only one set of windows

for all his houses.



24 The Travels of the King’s Window Panes.

What could he do? When he traveled from
palace to palace, he had his windows packed, and
taken with him.



11. THE STARFISH.



HE starfish is sometimes called a sea-star, five-
. finger, or five-fingered Jack. Its home is in
the great ocean.

Starfishes are of different colors; some are
orange, some crimson, some purple, and some
brick red. There are others that are pale in tint,
either delicate pink or ‘faintly purplish. How
pretty these little creatures must look in the
water ! .

The starfish has five arms; under these arms are
tubes which it uses as feet. It will fasten itself
firmly to a rock, and will even allow its tube-like
feet to be torn rather than let go.

There is a curious thing about the arms. Ifa
hungry fish bites one off, or the big waves knock
it against a stone and
break one, the arm will
grow again.

The starfish has an
eye at the end of each



arm. These eyes are

25



26 The Starfish,

not at all like yours; they are very poor. But
they answer nicely for the starfish.

The mouth is on the under side of the animal,
in the center of the arms. The starfish is very
greedy, and seems to do nothing but eat. It feeds
on oysters, clams, and sea-snails,

It has a curious way of feeding. It catches its
food in its five arms and holds it firmly. Then
with its mouth it sucks its food from the oyster or
clam.

The starfish lays eggs and carries them in its
five arms. People who have studied this creature,
have taken the eggs away from it, and let them
float in the water to see what the starfish would do.
It swims after them, gathers them up, and carries
them off.

When a baby starfish is hatched, it has no arms,
but is shaped like an egg. The little egg is
covered with something hair-like until its arms
begin to grow.

Have you ever noticed the many spikes on its
back? These help to protect it from its enemies.



































































































































SEA LIFE.



12. THE SEA-URCHIN.



HEN this strange animal is a baby, it is no

larger than a pea. As the baby grows, it

needs a larger house. It does not build a new
one, but it makes the old one larger.

The sea-urchin’s house is not made of one

part or even two. It has five or six hundred
pieces in its shell. These pieces are beautifully
joined.
The shell is covered with green and purple
spines. These spines make the sea-urchin look
like a huge burr. .They are very useful, for they
protect it from its enemies.

It has many feet arranged in rows. The feet
are little tubes with suckers at the ends. The sea-







28 The Sea- Ch

urchin can push these feet out beyond the spines,
and uses them to catch its prey. Sometimes, when
the urchin moves about, it rolls like a ball.

The mouth of the sea-urchin is on the under
side. It has five hard, pointed teeth. They do
not move up and down, or from side to side.
They move towards each other, meeting in a
point.

One thing, which the sea-urchin does, will show
you how hard its teeth are. It hollows out a house
for itself in the hardest rocks, by digging it out
with its teeth.

It is very funny to see a family of sea-urchins in
holes in a rock, sometimes as many as a dozen
together.

It also uses its teeth in eating. It is a very
hungry animal, and eats all the little creatures
that it can catch.

When the sea-urchin is dead, its spines some- ©
times fall off. Then we can see the beautiful shell.
The spines are fastened to little knobs. You will
see little rows of dots on the shell. These dots are
the holes through which the sea-urchin pushed its
feet. We can see five larger dots that were five
eyes.

Many years ago, people thought that the shell



The Sea-Urehin, 29

- was the egg of some sea-animal, and called it a sea-
ege.
The sea-urchin is not unlike the starfish. If we
could close the starfish’s five arms, it would have
much the shape of the sea-urchin.






vy

K Qu 5
Sa” a













7s
My as

eae
fe




13. THE OYSTER.



Ve we see the oyster and its shell house,
it is hard to believe that it came from
an egg.

The ege is very small. After being sent into
the water, the wee baby in it begins to grow. It
has a perfect little shell when it is hatched.

The baby oyster is a lively little fellow, and for
two or three days after it is born, swims about like
a young fish. Then it settles down for life by
fastening. itself to an old shell or rock on the sea-
bottom. |

Many of these little oyster babies do not live to
be grown oysters. They are swallowed by other

30



The Oyster. | 31

The oyster’s shell is not pretty. You can see
the layers as they have been built up, and its age
is known by the lines of growth, and also by its
size. The oyster is fit for food when it is four or
five years old.

The shell has two covers joined by a hinge.
Shells that have two parts are called bi-valves.
The oyster can open and close its shell. It will
close it at the least noise.

The shell is fastened to the sea-bottom by one of
the valves, so this valve is larger than the other.
There is a spot on the white lining of each valve.
It is near the middle of the valve, and is a dark
purple.

The oyster has a strong muscle which is
fastened to the shell where you find the purple
spots.

It breathes with gills. The mouth is at the
smaller end near the hinge. The gills and
mouth have little hairs all around them. These
keep moving and breathing when the shell is
open. They push the water into the mouth.

.Sometimes oysters are found together in large
numbers. They cover the bottom of the sea for
miles and miles. These places are called oyster-
beds.



32 The Oyster.

A bird called the oyster-catcher, the starfish,
and the crabs, are their enemies, and destroy great
numbers of the oysters.























THE SPONGE DIVER.



14. THE SPONGE.



HAT is a sponge? Can you tell me,
May?”

“No, Miss Hall,” said May. “I use my sponge
every day, but I have never thought how it is
made. Let me think! Do men make sponges
as they do cloth and many other things?”

“No; people used to think a sponge was a
plant, but that is not true. It is a little animal.”

“An animal! How very strange! Where is
its home?”

“Its home is in the great ocean. The sponge
comes from an egg. When it is hatched, the
baby sponge sends out little hairs, which help it
to move about in the water. As the baby has
no eyes, it does not know where it is going, and
often gets a hard bump.”

“Oh, Miss Hall, has the poor baby a head,
ears, legs, tail, or arms?”

“No, May,” was the answer, “ it -has none of
those; but it has a hole called a mouth. Soon
it settles to the sea-bottom. With its mouth it

32



34. The Sponge.

fastens itself to something, and never moves
from that spot.

“The sponge has hard and soft parts. The
hard part is called its skeleton, and it is this
part of the sponge which we use. The soft
parts were like jelly, and have been taken out.
When the sponge was alive, all the holes were
filled with the jelly.

“Sponges are not all of the same form. Some
are cup-shaped, some pear-shaped, and some have
many branches. There are some as large as a
man’s head, and others no larger than an egg.

“Men fish for the sponges, and divers go into
the water and tear them from the rocks.

“When they are taken out of the ocean, they
are thrown into large tanks of water. Then all
the soft parts are beaten out. The skeletons are
washed and dried in the sun.”

“How many strange animals there are in the
ocean,” said May, “and what a strange picture
the sea-bottom would make!”



i5. THE COAL FORESTS.



ee to imagine yourself in a forest years and
years ago. You will not meet any one, for
this was long ago when the world was young,
and before man came to live on this earth of
ours. P

It is a strange forest that we are about to
enter. There is no winter there; the trees grow
all the year round.

You know how your plants at home grow and
bloom in the hot days of July. All the days are
warm July days in this forest. The ferns are as
large as our trees.

It is a dense forest, for every little seed falling
into the warm mud below sprouts, and is soon
a large tree.

Do you think that much sunlight could pierce
through the many branches? You are right; it
could not, and it is dark and gloomy among
these great trees.

Hark! Is that the chirp of a robin? No!

Here we have trees without birds, a forest with-
35






36 The Coal Forests.

upon the earth.

The only sound to break the still-
ness is the hoarse croaking of a
strange frog and the chirp of a
4 grasshopper.

Here we meet our old friends,
the pines and the firs; and see the well-known
cones waving among the branches.

We can find plenty of water plants and ferns,
but not one flower or bright berry.

The trees spring up quickly in the soft, warm
mud. The leaves come, fade, and fall just as
quickly.

The trees, with their roots in mud, are easily
blown down. They are then buried in the
water, and partly decay. This matter becomes
packed so closely that it turns into peat.

Hundreds and hundreds of years pass; tree
after tree springs up, reaches its height, dies, and
decays in the dark below.

Let us come away from the forest now, for a
strange thing is about to happen.

Look! Do you see? A flood has covered
the place where we stood such a short time ago.
The beautiful great trees have fallen upon the







































































COAL FOREST.



Lhe Coal Forests. 37

soft bed of mud where their parents and grand-
parents have lain for hundreds of years.

Now, the mud and sand are settling upon
them, forming shale and sandstone. These press
heavily upon the beautiful old trees.

After many years, the water will disappear,
and a new forest will spring up. It will grow,
and then again the same thing will happen.

The weight becomes greater and greater as
these layers are formed. The trees are packed
more and more tightly, until they become one
solid mass, called coal.



16. COAL MINING.



AYERS of coal are not always straight and
level. They are often slanting, or hollow
like a basin.

Sometimes they. bend, so that the coal comes
to the surface of the ground. Then it is easy
to mine the coal by digging into a kind of
tunnel.

Sometimes very deep holes. must be dug to
reach the coal. These holes are called shafts.
Cages or huge buckets are drawn up and down
these shafts by means of ropes,

If you ever visit a coal mine, you will find
yourself in a new world. Everything is black. |

As you go down with a rush away from the
sunlight and cool air, you wonder when the
journey will end.

Suppose the ropes should break! You grasp
the sides of the cage tightly, and go down into
the darkness.

It is not a bit as if you were gliding down
into the depths of the earth, but as though the

earth were rising and you were standing still.
38



Coal Mining. 39

But at last the cage stops, and you are glad
to step out. There are many passages dug
down in the mine, all connecting with each other.
So there is a kind of town below the ground
with many streets.

You carry lanterns, and after a time get used
to the darkness. You can see men moving
about that look like shadows.

Sometimes the miner has to lie on his side to
use his pick in loosening the coal.

When the coal has been loosened, other men
load it in big baskets. These they push and
pull into more open spaces, where the ponies
can do the work.

Some of the ponies used in the mine never
feel the warm sunshine or breathe the fresh air.
They have stables in the mine; and hay, corn,
and fresh water are sent down every day.





40 Coal Mining.

Ask your teacher to tell you the differ-
ent ways in which fresh air is forced into





the mine.

Not long ago children worked in the
mines, but you will not find them there
now. The law has put a stop to that.
| What a noise there is! The coming
down and going up of the cage, the
shouting, the slamming of doors, the
trotting ponies, and the cars of coal being taken
to the shaft! :

We follow our guide through the dark pas-
sages, and at last come again under the shaft







Coal Mining. 41

which leads to the world of light and life. We
get into the cage, and up we go.

Even on a cloudy day it seems bright in the
world above after the blackness in the mine.



THE EVERGREENS.



Jack Frost comes



es to visit us, the trees
begin to get ready for winter. Most of them
lose all their leaves. They have work to do on
the ground, to cover the plants and seeds.

Some trees are green all winter. We call
these evergreens. Don’t you think that is a
good name for them?

The leaves are not like those of the oak or
maple. They look like needles, and so they are
called needles. The frost cannot hurt these
green leaves.

Most of the evergreen trees are shaped like
cones, each having one large central stem. The
smaller stems or branches grow in whorls around
the large one.

Often little scale-covered buds will be found
at the ends of the branches.

About the base of the smaller branches a
circle of scales will be found. This shows that

these branches have grown from the buds.
42



The Evergreens, 43

The lighter color of the branches shows how
much they have grown this year.

The branches of the evergreen are very tough,
and the loads of snow do not break them.

The flower is not brightly colored. It is a
cone made up of many scales, —all beautifully
arranged.

At the base of each scale are two little cradles
with a baby seed in each. Each baby seed has
one wing which helps it to fly to its new home. |
Within each seed is a baby tree, with its store-_
house of food.

In the older cones the scales spread and
separate.

Have you ever shaken one of the cones and
seen the little winged seeds fly out?

The evergreens make the winter world brighter
and more beautiful.

The birds love the evergreens. Can you tell
why?



18. THE PINES.



INES and firs are given the first place
among the woodland treasures. This is
because of their great usefulness.

They are very useful to ship-builders and
house-builders, who

y ff LY es .
LL beef ys could find nothing
Ee ALE to fill the place
of the lumber



obtained from

these trees.

The trunk of
some fir or pine
is used in.every ship for a mast. When the
trunks are sawed into strips, we have the red, yel-
low, and white boards used in finishing houses.

The Scotch Pine becomes a tall tree when
growing in good soil, but in poor soil and in
very high places, it is a kind of shrub.

The needles grow in sheaths about an eighth
of an inch in length. In this sheath are two

twisted needles. One side of these needle-like
44



The Pines. 45

leaves is grooved; the other is curved. The
grooved sides face each other, so that when
placed together they look like one needle.

The cones are small, being an inch and a half
or two inches in length.

-The White Pine is one of the largest of the
forest trees, being often one hundred and thirty
to one hundred and fifty feet in height. Some
have been cut that were over two hundred feet.

From this tree comes most of the lumber
used for the framework of buildings, timbers of
bridges, and masts of ships. .

The White Pine has five long slender needles
in each sheath. They are longer and finer than ©
the needles of the Scotch Pine. i

Each needle has three sides. One side is
flat; two are curved.

The Pitch Pine has dark, stiff needles, ar-
ranged in threes. They are not all of the same
length. The cones are also of different lengths.

Large quantities of the Pitch Pine are used
for fuel. Tar and lamp black are sometimes

made from it.



19. THE DISCONTENTED PINE.



NCE a little Pine-tree,
In the forest ways,

Sadly sighed and murmured,
Thro’ the summer days.
“T am clad in needles —
Hateful things!” he cried,
“All the trees about me
Laugh in scornful pride.
Broad their leaves and fair to see;
Worthless needles cover me,

*“ Ah, could I have chosen,
Then, instead of these,

Shining leaves should crown me,
Shaming all the trees; |
Broad as theirs and brighter,
Dazzling to behold,

All of gleaming silver —

Aye, of burnished gold.

Then the rest would weep and sigh:

None would be so fine as I.”
46



The Discontented Pine. 47

Slept the little Pine-tree

When the night came down,
While the leaves he wished for
Budded on his crown.

All the forest wondered,

At the dawn, to see

What a golden fortune

Decked this little tree.
Then he sang and laughed aloud;
Glad was he and very proud.

Foolish little Pine-tree!

At the close of day,

Thro’ the gloomy twilight,
Came a thief that way.

Soon the treasure vanished;
Sighed the Pine, “Alas !
Would that I had chosen
Leaves of crystal glass.”

Long and bitterly he wept,
But with night again he slept.

Gladly in the dawning
Did he wake to find

That the gentle fairies
Had again been kind.



48

The Discontented Pine.

How his blazing crystals

Lit the morning air!

Never had the forest

Seen a sight so fair.

Then a driving storm did pass;
All his leaves were shattered glass.

Humbly said the Pine-tree,

“T have learned ’tis best

Not to wish for fortunes
Fairer than the rest.

Glad were I, and thankful,

If I might be seen,

Like the trees about me,

Clad in tender green.”

Once again’ he slumbered, sad;
Once again his wish he had.

Broad his leaves and fragrant,
Rich were they and fine,

Till a goat at noonday
Halted there to dine.

Then her kids came skipping
Round the fated tree;

All his leaves could scarcely
Make a meal for three.



The Discontented Pine. 49

Every tender bud was nipt,
Every branch and twig were stript.

Then the wretched Pine-tree

Cried in deep despair,

“Would I had my needles;

They were green and fair.

Never would I change them,”
Sighed the little tree;

Just as nature gave them

They were best for me.”

Then he slept, and waked, and found
All his needles safe and sound!

Eudora S. Bumstead.— From Fairy Land of Flowers.



20. THE FIR TREE.



@ in the forest stood a pretty little Fir -

Tree. It had a good place, with plenty of
sunshine and air, and all around it grew many —
larger trees— pines as well as firs.

But this little tree wished to become taller.
It did not care for the warm sun and fresh air.
When the children came to look for berries, they
would often sit down by the little Fir Tree and
say, “How pretty and small that one is!” As ©
,the tree wished to be taller, it made it very
unhappy to hear that.

The years passed, and it grew taller and taller.
In trees, one can always tell by the number of
rings they have, how many years they have been
growing.

“Oh, if I were only as tall a tree as the
others!” sighed the little Fir, “then I would
spread my branches far around, and look out
into the wide world.

“The birds would then build their nests in
my boughs, and when the wind blew I could

nod just as grandly as ‘the rest.”
50



The Fir Tree. 51

It took no pleasure in the
















sunshine, in the birds, and in
the clouds that went sailing
over it morning and evening.

In the autumn, woodcutters al-
ways came and cut a few of the
largest trees. That was done this
year, too, and the little Fir Tree
trembled with fear as the
great trees fell crashing to the
ground. When their
branches
were cut
off, they
looked so long “=
and slender SS
that you would //“77"¢
hardly know
them. They were laid
upon wagons, and horses
dragged them away out of the |
wood. Where were they going?
What would happen to them? <

In the spring, when the swallows and N
stork came, the Tree asked them, “Do you know
where the trees are taken? Did you not meet them?”



52 The Fir Tree.

The stork said, “Yes, I think so. When I
flew back from my winter home, I met many new
ships. These ships had stately masts. They
smelt like fir, and I am sure those were the
trees;”

Then the Fir Tree said, “Oh, that I were
only big enough to go over the sea!”

The wind kissed the Tree and the dew shed
tears upon it, but it did not understand that.

When Christmas time came, very young trees
were cut. These trees kept their branches. They
were put on wagons, and horses dragged them
away.

“Where are they all going?” asked the Fir
Tree:

“We know that! We know that!” chirped
the sparrows. “They are all dressed up with
beautiful things. We have looked in through the
windows and seen them planted in the middle
of a warm room, with gilt apples, playthings,
stars, and candles hung on their branches.”

“Perhaps I may be dressed in this way some
day,” cried the Fir Tree. “That would be
better than’ going across the sea.”

“Rejoice in us,” said Air and Sunshine. But
the Fir Tree did not rejoice at all; it only grew






The Fir Tree. 53

and grew. Winter and summer it stood there, a
dark green.

The people who saw it said, “ That’s a hand-
some tree!” Next Christmas it was cut before
any of the others.

It was very sad at parting from its old home.
It seemed to know it would never see its dear
old friends again.

Soon the Tree felt itself unloaded in a yard
with other trees, and heard a man say, “This
one is beautiful; we want only this one.”

Then two servants carried the Fir Tree into
a beautiful house. .

What the ‘sparrows had told it came true.
On some branches the people hung little bags
of candy; golden apples and nuts hung down as
if they grew there; dolls swung from it, and a
hundred candles of all colors were fastened on
all its branches. “This is splendid,” thought
the Tree.

How the Tree did enjoy it all! But some of
the pretty things were taken from the Tree, and
given to thé happy children, who danced around
the room.

The candles burned down to the twigs, and
were put out. Then the happy people went to



54 The Fir Tree.

bed, leaving the poor Fir Tree quiet and alone.

In the morning the servants came and carried
the Tree upstairs to the garret, and put it in a
dark corner.

“What is the meaning of this? What am I
to do here?” thought the Tree.

Days and nights went by, and nobody came.

“Tt must be winter outside,” thought the Tree.
“The people cannot plant me now, so they leave
me here till spring comes. That is kind, but
how dark it is here, and how bare! I wish I
were back in the forest with the hares.”

But one morning people came into the garret.
They were putting away boxes, and, seeing a tree,
brought it out. The servant dragged it to the
stairs, where the daylight shone.

“Now life is beginning aan thought the
Tree.

It felt the fresh air and the first sunbeams.
It was close to the garden, and here eNerne
was blooming.

In the yard two merry children were playing,
and when they saw the Tree, one of them said,
“Look at that old Fir Tree!”

The Tree looked at the blooming flowers, and
then looked at itself. How it wished it had



The Fir Tree. 55

stayed at home in the forest with the sunbeams,
the air, the flowers, and the birds!

Soon the servant came and chopped the Tree
into little pieces.

It made a bright blaze under the teakettle,
and sighed and sighed. Each sigh sounded like
a little shot, and at last the Tree was all burned!

Adapted from Hans Andersen.



21. THE LITTLE FIR TREES.



HEY! little evergreens
Sturdy and strong!

Summer and autumn time

Hasten along.

- Harvest the sunbeams, then,

Bind them in sheaves,

Range them and change them

To tufts of green leaves.

Delve in the mellow mold,

Far, far below,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!

Grow, grow!

' Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Up, up so airily

To the blue sky,

Lift up your leafy tips
Stately and high;

Clasp tight your tiny cones,

Tawny: and brown;
56











EVERGREEN TREES.



The Little Fir Trees. 57

By-and-by, buffeting

Rains will pelt down. —
By-and-by bitterly

Chill winds will blow,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!

Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Gather all uttermost

Beauty, because —

Hark, till I tell it now—
How Santa Claus,

Out of the northern land,
Over the seas,

Soon shall come seeking you,
Evergreen trees!

Seek you with reindeer, soon,
Over the snow,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!

Grow, little evergreens, grow!

What if the maple flare
Flaunting and red,



58

The Little Fir Trees.

You shall bear waxen-white

Tapers instead.

What if now, otherwhere
Birds are beguiled,

You shall yet nestle

The little Christ-child!

Ah, the strange splendor
The fir trees shall know,
And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Evaleen Stein in S#. Wicholas.— By permission.



22. THE ESKIMO.



PART I.

| AM a little Eskimo baby, and my name is

Boreas. I do not wear clothes until I can
walk. When I am out of doors, I ride in a skin
cradle on my mother’s back. When I am in the
house, I roll upon the floor on a warm fur rug,
and play with my puppy.

When I am-a man, I shall have two suits of
clothes,.made of fur. The inner suit will have
the fur next to my body, and the outer suit will
have: the fur on the outside. My outer suit will
have a hood. When I put the hood on, Jack





































60 The Eskimo.

Frost can see nothing but my eyes, nose, and
mouth.

I once heard a white man tell papa, Eskimos
all dressed so much alike that he could ‘not tell
girls from boys, or women from men.

Do you know what kind of a house I live in?
It is not made of wood like yours, for it is so
cold in this country that no trees can grow
here.

My house is made of snow, and it looks like
the half of an egg-shell, only larger. We do
not heat it with a stove, for that would melt the
snow. We warm it with lamps. These lamps
are made of stone, and look like clam-shells.
We burn oil in them, and use moss for wicks.

It must always be cold enough in the house
to freeze, or the water begins to drop from the
top, and then we know the house is melting.







ne .
_ bey) p.

= L—
oc TER











The Eskimo. 6I

- One day our house was too warm, and the
snow began to melt. Some of it dropped down
papa’s neck, some fell into our soup and spat:
tered it on mamma. One piece fell on me, and
I jumped. I did not like it. Papa had to mend
the melted places with fresh snow.

Our house has only one room and one door.
The doorway is low and small, so that papa and
mamma must creep through it on their hands
and knees. The door is a big block of ice. It is
used as much to keep out the dogs as the cold.

Our dogs will sleep on the hard ice and
snow, if they have plenty to eat. Papa never
feeds them oftener than every other day, and
generally about every third day.

What do you think is the best food they can
have? It is tough walrus hide, about an inch
thick. One day the dogs were very. hungry,
and, as many as could, put their heads in at the
doorway. They watched mamma to see if she
would give them something to eat.

Papa has many dogs. He has one team of
nineteen. Once the dogs worked seven days
without eating. They grew very thin, but none
of them died.

Do you think you could drive dogs? Papa



62 The Eskimo.

says he never saw a white man who was a good
dog-driver. The forward dog of a team is called
the “leader” or “chief.” The Eskimo dog-driver
manages the leader by speaking to him,







making him go to the right or
ee the left as he desires. The other
, os Sx dogs watch the

leader, and do

as he does.






Bp: SSa==—=— We could not live with-
| Sg oh out our dogs. They are our
% horses and oxen for drawing loads, and
our hunting dogs, too. The dogs like
to hunt. When they. are near the
game, papa slips their harness off.
Then they stand around the animal, and keep it
until papa can kill it.

Sometimes, if they go too near a bear ora
musk ox, they are killed.

“One night, we heard a loud noise out doors
on the ice. Papa jumped up and went out. He
found a large bear breaking the ice to catch
fish. rr. e

Mr. Bear did not know papa. was near until. he

shot. Then the bear ran, and papa ran. Papa
called the dogs, too; but the bear reached the



The Eskimo. 63.

ice. ' He went up on an iceberg, which was so
steep that no one could go after him. The

next day papa saw him up there throwing big
pieces of ice down on a seal.



23. THE ESKIMO.



PART II.

OME of our sleds are cut out of solid ice,

with fish frozen in them to make them

strong. Others are made of the bones of wal-
ruses and whales, and have ice runners. .

I am very happy to-day, for mamma gave me
some candy this morning. Shall I tell you
about our candy? When papa kills a water-
fowl called a dovekie, mamma cuts off the red
feet and takes out the bones.

She then stretches and dries the skin. When
it is quite dry, she fills it with reindeer tallow,
and that is one kind of candy. The only other
kind is the marrow from the leg bones of the
reindeer. Shall I send some to you? ‘The
reindeer comes to see us only in the summer.
That is the only time it can find moss to eat.
The reindeer is almost the color of the moss it
eats. Papa kills as many as he thinks we shall

use,
64



The Eskimo. . 65

Mamma cuts up the meat, dries it, and keeps
it to use during the winter. She dries fish also.
We eat seals, walruses, and whales.

Did you ever see a seal? They are not like
fish, if they do live in the water. Fish can
breathe in the water, but seals cannot. Fish
have cold blood, but seals have warm blood.
Fish cannot live out of the water, but seals can
live in the water or out of it. Hunters kill the
seals for food and clothing.

In summer we eat the eggs of ducks, geese,
and other birds. The birds’ nests are so thick
in places, that you cannot walk without stepping
on eggs. Did you ever see an eider-duck? There
are many here in the summer.

It is not very warm here in the summer. One
day, after it had been dark day and night for
many weeks, I went with my mamma to the
top of a high hill. We saw the sun for a few
moments.

The next day he came again, and we saw him
a little longer.

Every day he came back, staying longer and
longer, until he moved higher in the sky, making
one great circle, shining all day and all night

for many weeks.



66 The Eskimo.

Then he went away again, and it was cold
and dark as before; but we like the cold as well
as a fish likes water, a bird the air, and flowers’
the sunshine. We use the little God gives us,
and are happy.

L. BARTLETT.



24. THE SEAL.



HE seal lives in the sea. It makes its home
in the north, where large pieces of ice float
in the ocean.

There are many kinds of seals. Some are no
larger than dogs, and are called sea-dogs. Others
are about thirty feet in length, and are called
sea-elephants, because of their great size.

The head of the seal is shaped somewhat like
that of a dog; it has whiskers like a cat, and
large, beautiful eyes.

Its feet are much like fins, and help it to
swim in the water. The skin between the toes
makes good paddles of all the feet. It some-
times crawls up on the ice and stones, but it is
clumsy out of the water. It makes short jerky
leaps, dragging along the
hind fins, or paddles.



very graceful, a can swim 4 am = sill
very fast. It uses its hind a

67



68 The Seat.

paddles for swimming. The front ones are used
to turn itself around.

The fur of the seal is well suited to the cold
water. It is very thick, and is kept oiled by a
fat the seal has im its skin. Next the skin is a
layer of fat which helps to keep the seal warm.

Its food is chiefly fish, but it finds other food
in the sea. .

Seals are easily tamed, and may be taught to
do many tricks. They know their master’s voice,
and will come at his call.

The Eskimos would starve and freeze if it
were not for the seal. They use its flesh for
meat, and from the fat get oil to burn in their
lamps. Their warm clothes are made of the
seal fur; their boats are covered with sealskin.
The whips which they use in driving their dogs
are also made of the skin. The seal’s bones are
made into hooks.



25. HUNTING SEALS.





eae Eskimos spend much time =
in hunting seals. Sometimes 214 Seals 17 loo
the men go out in their boats and try to throw
their harpoons into the seals as they swim in
the water or are lying on the large blocks of
ice.

There is another way the Eskimos hunt seals.
In the far north, the ice on the ocean is very
thick; but the seal comes up under the ice and
scratches a hole through it with its sharp claws.
Then it makes a little dome through the snow
which covers the ice.

Through this snow dome, the seal makes an
opening just large enough to let in some air.
These holes are so small that the Eskimos often
pass without seeing them.
~ Here the seal comes to breathe. It breathes
in short gasps, which can easily be heard. If
the Eskimo hears a seal blowing, he seats him-
self on a block of ice to wait for it to come

again.
69



70 Hunting Seals.

The seal may come up at another hole to
breathe, and then the hunter has lost him. But
if he hears a blowing, he places his spear in the
hole, and catches the seal.

Sometimes, the thother seal hunts for a breath-
ing hole under very deep snow. She makes a_
much larger dome, so that the ice will form two
shelves two or three feet wide.

Mrs. Seal puts her babies on these shelves,
and brings them food. If she hears a noise, she
hurries away, leaving them on the ice-shelves.

She thinks they are quite safe, for they are
the same color as the snow. _

The Eskimo, however, has learned Mrs. Seal’s
place for her babies, and often carries the baby
seals home.

If they are not found by the Eskimos, these
babies spend their time on the shelves until they
are old enough to swim away
with their mother. When they
can do that, they are able to





ES care for themselves.



26. HASSAN.



ASSAN is a little Arab boy. He lives in

the desert where it is very hot and sandy.
The Arabs do not build houses, but live in
tents. There are no beds or chairs; they have
many soft cushions instead.

The sun is so hot on the desert, that the
Arabs stay in their tents and sleep in the day-
time. In the evening, when it is cooler, Hassan’s
father sits in front of the tent and smokes his
long pipe, while the children play in the sand.

When they have their supper, Hassan’s father
eats first; then his mother and the children have
theirs; and the servants eat what is left. That
would seem strange to us in this country.

The Arab’s tent is pitched near a spring,
where the date palm grows. Sometimes the hot
sun dries up the spring,
and then the family must
find a new home.

The camels are brought
up, and the loading begins.

7





72 flassan.

Each camel kneels until he has his burden
placed on his back. Some have large bags of
water fastened to them; some carry the cushions
and food; some are loaded with the tents and
poles. Hassan and his mother and sister ride
on camels. Hassan’s father rides a_ beautiful
horse, with slender legs.

' They start very early in the morning before
the sun is up.

They may travel for days and days, and not
see a palm tree or a stream. If they did not
have the bags’ of water and the food, they would
die of thirst and hunger.

When a stream is near, the camel smells the
water, and will start off at a brisk trot to
reach it.

How welcome the fresh dates and water are to
the people!

It does not take long to pitch the tent under
the palm trees in their new home. Here they
will stay until the water and fruit are gone;
then they will move again.

Would you like to hear how the Arabs look
and dress?

They are dark-skinned, with dark hair and
eyes. They wear loose gowns, with wide trousers























































THE ARAB’S HOME IN THE DESERT.



Hassan. 73

gathered at the ankles. They do not wear hats,
but each Arab has twisted around his head
several yards of cloth. These cloth head-dresses
are called turbans. .



27. THE CAMEL..



‘HERE are two kinds of
% 5 ee camels. One has two
= ~ humps on its back; the
other has only one. The home of the camel is




in Africa and Asia.

It can carry such heavy burdens over the
. sandy country, that it has been called the “ship
of the desert.”

The feet of the camel are large and wide.
On the bottom of each are pads or cushions,
which help the camel to tread firmly upon the
soft sand. These cushions are covered with a
hard skin, which is not hurt by the almost burn-
ing sand of the desert.

The camel’s eyes are shielded from the glare
of the sun by overhanging brows and long eye-
lashes. In a sandstorm, the camel can close its
nostrils to keep out the sand.

This animal is a cud-chewer. All the animals
belonging to this family have four stomachs.

The camel uses one of these to hold water. ~
74







CAMELS.



a

The Camel. 78

When a camel cannot get water for a number
of days, it uses the water from this stomach.
But it can smell water a mile away, and when
men are in need of water, they let the camel go
in the direction it wishes. If there is water, the
animal will take them to it.

There is another strange thing about the
camel, which makes it well suited for the desert.
The humps on its back are fat, which is taken
into its body to nourish it when the camel can
get nothing to eat. Sometimes after a long
journey, there is hardly any hump left.

The camel is taught to kneel when the men
load it. It has a hard skin on its legs and
breast to protect it from the hot sand.

Sometimes the camels and men cross the
desert in great numbers, and the company ‘is
then called a caravan.

(Read “ Jack and the Ostrich,” Part III, All the Year Round.)



28.
THE PALMS.

















N the hot sandy country where
Hassan lives, the Arabs obtain
\ most of their food from the
m palm trees. These trees have
no branches. They grow
erect, with many green, feathery
leaves at the top.
As The Arab could not live without
2 me the date palm. It will grow in sandy
VEL) soil, and drink water that would
| hie kill other trees.
‘s ie fr é
Za %3 The trunk of the date palm
is very hard to climb. The

ae.
a @ ‘rab climbs it by tying a









rope round his back and
~~ under his arms. He puts
a : the rope into one of the
Bz We. notches left by a fallen leaf,
and taking hold af the trunk with his hands

and knees, raises himself a little at a time;
76



The Palms. 77

then he throws the rope into the next notch,
and raises himself again. He does this until he
reaches the top.

When the clusters of fruit are reached, they
are picked and thrown down. Men hold a cloth
by the corners under the tree, and catch the
dates as they fall.

Dates are pounded into hard cakes, and are
used for food in crossing the desert.

Other palms grow in other countries. The
cocoanut palm is very beautiful. It sometimes
grows to be a hundred feet high. Do you know
of any building as high as that?

The fruit of the cocoanut tree is a large
nut. It has a thick husk. The flower is not
so large as a kernel of corn, yet this large
cocoanut grows from it. When these huge nuts
are ripe, they fall to the ground. They are so
heavy, that people who have been struck by
them have been killed.

Like the date, the cocoanut palm is one of
the most useful of trees. The leaves, flowers,
fruit, shell of the fruit, and trunk of the tree
are used for many purposes.

There are many kinds of palm trees. Some
of them grow in Florida, Find that state on



78 The Palms.

the map, and you will see that it is not very
far from your home.

Palm trees give us dates, cocoanuts, fans, oils,
medicine, rope, and beautiful woods. We use
the leaves to make hats, fish-nets, shutters, bas-
kets, writing - paper, bedding, roofs for houses,
and many other things.






wari os

MO



\




A

SO

PALM TREES,



29, THE PALM TREE.



[° it the palm, the cocoa palm,
On the Indian Sea, by the isles of balm?
Or is it a ship in the breezeless calm?

A ship whose keel is of palm beneath,
Whose ribs of palm have a palm-bark sheath.
And a rudder of palm it steereth with.

Branches of palm are its spars and rails,
Fibers of palm are its woven sails,
And the rope is of palm that idly trails!

What does the good ship bear so well?
The cocoanut with its stony shell,
And the milky sap of its inner cell.

What are its jars, so smooth and fine,
But hollowed nuts, filled with oil and wine,
And the cabbage that ripens under the Line?

79



80 The Palm Tree.

Who smokes his nargileh, cool and calm?
The master, whose cunning and skill could charm
Cargo and ship from the bounteous palm.

In the cabin he sits on a. palm mat soft,
From a beaker of palm his drink is quaffed,
And a palm thatch shields from the sun aloft!

His dress is woven of palmy strands,
And he holds a palm-leaf scroll in his hands,
Traced with the Prophet’s wise commands! —

The turban folded about his head
Was daintily wrought of the palm-leaf braid,
And the fan that cools him of palm was made.

To him the palm is a gift divine,
Wherein all uses of man combine, —
House, and raiment, and food, and wine!

From Whittier’s The Palm Tree.
Hoveuton, Mirriin & Co., Publ.



30. BLACK HAWK.





LACK HAWK is the aa ;

name of a little In- Wee =
dian boy who lives in the
far west. Many years ago, when Columbus
came to America, the Indians owned all of this
beautiful country. But the white people have
driven them farther and farther west.

Black Hawk’s father is an Indian chief, and a
brave warrior.

This little boy has long, straight black hair
and a dark reddish-brown skin. He does not
live in a house, as you and I do; but his home
is made of branches of trees crossed at the top
to make a framework for the skins that are
wrapped around them.

This house or tent made of skins is called a
wigwam.

Black Hawk’s father does not have a stove in
his wigwam in winter, but builds a fire of sticks
on the ground in the tent. An opening is left

at the top to let out the smoke.
81





Full Text

The Baldwin Library ~
University
Hit ce
Florida

i




ALL THE YEAR ROUND

A NATURE READER

PART IIL: WINTER

BY
FRANCES L. STRONG
St. Pau, Teacuers’ TRAINING SCHOOL

ILLUSTRATED BY

GERTRUDE A. STOKER

SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING, ST. PAUL

GINN & COMPANY

BOSTON - NEW YORK « CHICAGO - LONDON
CopyriGHT, 1896, BY
FRANCES L. STRONG



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

214.12

The Atheneum Press

GINN & COMPANY - PRO-
PRIETORS « BOSTON « U.S.A,
- NOTE TO THE TEACHER.

T is not the purpose of the author of this series to offer,
or even suggest, any rules for its use. If anything is
established in education, it is the fact that aside from
certain underlying principles and general directions, each
teacher must be a rule unto herself. The methods which
the author and her colleagues have found successful might
be entirely out of harmony with an equally good system in
some other city. It is to be presumed, however, that if this
series of nature-stories should be so fortunate as to be
received with favor by the educational public, it will occa-
sionally find its way into the hands of some teachers who
are not familiar with nature-work as developed in large
cities and well-organized school systems. To these it may
be interesting and helpful to know just “how it has been
done” in the schools out of which these stories grew, and
in which they have been used. Indeed, by way of com-
parison and suggestion, it may also be of assistance to those
who have passed through the experimental stage and have
wrought out a system of their own.
It has been the custom in the St. Paul public schools to

pursue the following plan:
iv . Note to the Teacher.

Materials, — The teacher goes out with her pupils to
collect the materials referred to in the, lessons, gathering
enough to allow each pupil one specimen. Animals and
plants are kept alive in the schoolroom to enable all to
study their growth and habits.

After the material is at hand, the development of a spe-
cific lesson is divided (though not formally and rigidly) into
five parts. .

I. Morning Talk. — The work of the day is begun with a
morning talk based either upon one of the natural objects,
or upon a geographical topic, according to the season.

If an animal, a plant, or a stone be the subject of the
lesson, pains are taken to see that each child is provided
with a specimen. By skillful questioning, statements are
drawn from the children concerning the facts the teacher
wishes observed. -New words are occasionally suggested and
written upon the blackboard, and their frequent use is re-
quired throughout the lesson. In studying objects, it has,
of course, been found advisable to consider them as belong-
ing to some great family, making comparisons, and finding
resemblances and differences. Children readily find this
family element in all things studied.

If a geographical topic is chosen, observations are made
from. representations by means of pictures, sand-maps, cabinet
specimens, etc. For instance, in studying the life of the
American Indian, page 81, preparatory to the Hiawatha lessons,
a sand-table showing a forest of pines, a mirror lake, a birch-
bark canoe, a tent of cloth or paper, and a doll dressed as an
Indian, furnishes the basis of an excellent lesson upon the
life and habits of the Red Man.
Note to the Teacher. Vv

II. Drawing. — The observation lesson is followed by a
drawing lesson upon the subject studied. The child has
already been supplied with the plant or animal. Each child
draws his specimen ‘carefully. It is by no means necessary
for the teacher herself to be able to draw in order to get
results. Each child is simply required to reproduce with
his pencil just what he sees, just as he sees it. Children
illustrate their language papers on flowers with water-colors
or pencil, Work in free-hand cutting can be given from all
objects, such as bottles, leaves, animals, etc. Scissors are
used for this cutting. Modeling in clay is done from any
object that will correlate with the other work. It has been
found that in connection with the myths there is a great
opportunity to develop imagination by. allowing the child to
illustrate the stories.

Ill. Spelling. — A spelling lesson upon the new and diffi-
cult words will follow.

IV.. Reading. —The child is now ready for the reading

lesson appropriate to the subject.

V. Language. — Finally, the children write descriptions of
the object or country studied, giving free expression to the
facts each has acquired.
it may be added that great interest may be excited by
introducing into the number-work problems concerning the
subject of the morning talk.

The literature, also, holds a very prominent place in this
nature-work. The following list suggests poems to be com-
mitted to memory, and stories to be read in connection with

‘this reader:
vi Note to the Teacher.

EVAPORATION.
The Rainbow . ........ ;3 . . Longfellow
Shelley’s Clouds. ;
A Drop of Water. . . . . . . ... .« Haus Andersen
Swan Maidens . . . . . . 1. ss. Cooke's Myths
Snow Bound. . 2. . 2. we we ew ww. Whittier
Snow Image. . . . .. . . « « « . «© Hawthorne
Snow-Flakes . . 2. 1. 1. ew a ew es » Longfellow
The First Snow-Fal . 2. 6. 1 1 ee we . Lowell
MAN.
St. Nicholas, 1885, Cast Away in the Cold . . . . Hayes

Primary Education, Jan. 1895.

School Journal, Dec. 1894.

Seven Little Sisters . . . . 1. 1. « « « Jane Andrews
The Children of the Cold . . . . . Frederick Sthwatka

As will be inferred from the method outlined above, the
purpose of this book will be entirely misconceived, if it is
looked upon merely as a convenient means of furnishing new
reading-matter for the children (although it is sincerely hoped
that it will do this). It is intended also to stimulate the
thought, enlarge the vocabulary, and open the eyes of the
children to the wonders of the world around them.

In the St. Paul public schools the manuscript of this
series has been used in the second grade. It is thought,
however, that it may be used in the third, and even the
fourth, with equally good results.

St PAaut,
October 17, 1895.
—

ON ioe 2 EN

ee

Io,

Il.
12.
13.
14.

5.
16.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

LIMESTONE SEQUENCE.

THE Ponp SNAIL

THE CORAL .

Tue CoRAL REEFS

WHAT BECOMES OF THE SHELLS.

Tue Fossits. : : 4 : ; :
TESTING TO FIND LIME

QUARTZ SEQUENCE.
QUARTZ
How THE SAND BECAME SANDSTONE .
A Story aBouT GLAss :
THE TRAVELS OF THE KinG’s WINDOW PANES

OCEAN LIFE.

THE STARFISH . . : . : °
THE SEA-URCHIN . : - . :
THE OYSTER. ° 7 ‘ : . ’
THE SPONGE . : . . . : .

THE COAL FORESTS : ‘ é
CoaL MINING . . . ; . > *

PAGE

II
13

17
19
21
23

25
27
30
33

35
38
17.
18.
19.
20.

2I.

22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
20.
30.
31.
32.

33-
34.
35:
36.
37-
38.
39

Table of Contents.

&

EVERGREENS (CHRISTMAS).

THe EVERGREENS

THE PINES

THE DISCONTENTED PINE (Poetry)
Tue Fir TREE . .
Tue LirrLe Fir Trees (Poetry)

STUDY OF MAN.

THE Eskimo. Part I.
Tue Eskimo. Part II.
THe SEAL

HUNTING SEALS
HASSAN.

THE CAMEL

THE PALMS <
THE PaLM TREE (Poetry)
Brack Hawk

‘“HIAWATHA’S CHILDHOOD .

HiawaTuHa’s First DEER

EVAPORATION.

VAPOR

CLOUDS .

Rain .

DEW

Frost PICTURES :
LirrLE Jack Frost (Poetry)
THE LITTLE WHITE FAIRIES .

- 86

PAGE
42
44
46
50
56

59
64
67

Gs

71
74
76
79
81

84

88
gl
93
94
96
98

- 100
WINTER.





























































































































































































WINTER

1. THE POND SNAIL.



cee pond snail makes ~~
its home in ponds.

It has one broad foot
which helps it to move “ Vv a
about, or to fasten it- y
self to different things =
it finds in the water. i ie: pea

The snail has two _/ ~Â¥ Op fe he
little horns or feelers
in front. If we watch these feelers, we shall
see that it keeps them moving as if it were feeling
its way. The eyes are at the base of the feelers,
and look like two black dots. The mouth is
between them; but we shall find that it is below
the feelers.

Have you ever seen this strange creature come
to the surface to breathe? It has a little opening
in its side, through which air passes. It is fine


4 The Pond Snail.

sport to watch the snail come up to breathe.
Then you can see the bubbles of air.

It has a shell house which it carries with it.
Snails have been called very slow; but if we had
to carry our houses on our backs, do you think
we could move quickly?

The pointed end of the shell is called the apex.
The opening where the snail comes out is the
aperture.

Look closely and see all the little lines on the
shell. These are the lines of growth. When the
snail was a baby, its house was very small. As it
grew, it needed alarger one. This it built little by
little. In the water it drank it found something
which helped to make the hard shell.

What do you think it was? Did I hear some
one say lime?

Yes, it is lime which helps the snail in building
its house. You will find some lime in the bottom
of your teakettle. Take a piece and feel how
hard it is.
2. THE CORAL.



| AM a tiny baby coral. When I was
first hatched from an egg, I was very

soft and shaped like a pear. I was

covered with a fringe which quivered



and kept me in motion.

For some time I swam around in the
water, hunting for a good place to fasten myself.
As I-do not like muddy or sandy water, I have
come down to the bottom of the sea where the
water is quiet and clear. Here I have fastened
myself to a rock and begun to grow. Gradually,
at the top of my body there comes a hole which
is my mouth, and around it, like a fringe, appear
my feelers.

A sac, which is my stomach, forms in the
center. When I take a drink of sea-water, I
draw it into my stomach through my long hollow
feelers. The lime from the water gathers at the
bottom of the sea, where I am fastened to the
rock. The lime in the water hardens the outside
of me.
6 The Coral.

Now nothing soft remains, but my mouth and ~
feelers at the top, and my stomach within.

I have something strange to tell you. I begin
to bud. In this way I spread and grow taller.
Little corals grow out from my sides and base.

This way of growing is called budding, because
it is a little like the branching of a plant; but
each bud is a new coral, fastened to the
one from which it buds, as the branches
of a tree to the stem. As the corals
grow and bud, the lower ones become
solid.


3. THE CORAL REEFS.



CAME from an
ege. So it is not



































only by dividing or
budding that I in-
crease, but also by the



hatching of eggs. I keep
on budding and sending forth eggs.

There are many hills in the ocean, and I chose
one of these for my home. The eggs settle down
beside me. They begin to grow and bud and
send forth more eggs. So, all around the foot
of the hill, on which we have settled, we form
a ring.

As each tiny coral forms new corals, it gradually
hardens. Thus, the tiny creatures make a solid
foundation for those that grow above and at the
side of them. ‘

Little by little, all the cracks between our walls
are filled with sand and bits of shell. .

The rocky walls, far down in the sea, form

strange and beautiful shapes.
7
8 The Coral Reefs.

At last, the tiny corals reach the surface of
the water and can grow no higher. Their work
is done.

Then the great waves rush and beat against
the coral, breaking off large pieces.

These pieces become worn into sand by the
rolling and grinding done by the waves. The
broken masses and sand are thrown up on top
of the wall of coral.

Pieces of floating wood and sea-weed land upon
the wall and there decay. They are mixed with
the coral sand and a little soil is made.

Seeds are carried there by the birds, wind, and
waves, and in time grow into plants, grass, and
trees. ;

At last men come to settle and build cities
upon these islands made by the tiny corals.

Many ships have been wrecked on these coral
reefs. Before the reefs have reached the surface
of the water, sailors cannot see them.

The ship strikes one-of these walls and a large
hole is made in the boat. Many lighthouses have
been built to warn the sailors.

Ask your teacher to show you on the map the
coral reefs near Florida,






































CAST UP BY THE SEA.
4. WHAT BECOMES OF THE SHELLS.



| AM a shell. My home is in the great ocean,

Our family‘is a very large one; much larger
than your father’s family, for I have thousands
of brothers and sisters.

Some of my relatives are so very small that
you could not see them without a microscope:
others are very large.

Many of the little animals living in us are
killed.

What do you think happens to the shell houses?

The great waves wash part of us up on the
beach, but others sink to the bottom of the
ocean.

The great rivers that flow jnto the ocean, bring
mud and sand with them. This mud settles to
the bottom with the shells.

Have you ever seen my home, the great
ocean?

“Try to think how many of the lakes you have
seen it would take to make this great body of

water, and how heavy it must be.
9
10 What becomes of the Shelts.

This water presses on us, until we are packed so '
closely that we become stone. Do you remember
what we drank to make our shells hard?

Think what quantities of lime there must be in
this stone. Would you like to know our name?

We are called Limestone.
5. THE FOSSILS.



| AM the fossil of a shell. When the little

animal inside my shell was alive, many
thousands of years ago, I lived in the ocean.
Now I am locked up in this storehouse of
limestone with many of my neighbors who once
lived with me in the sea. ane

Some of them lived in shells; others were coral ;
and others lived in stone lilies.

The tiny coral creatures built their beautiful
towers in the sea. Living among them were little.
animals, that built up stone lilies about themselves.
These lilies were fastened to the bottom of the sea
by long waving stems.

I, too, lived among the coral. I had two shells
fastened together like a clam shell.

The shells were beautifully chiseled and were of
delicate tints of red, green, yellow, blue, and pink.


12 The Fossils.

There were a great many other little creatures
living in shells. Some were large; others very
tiny. Some floated about in the water; others
fastened themselves to rocks or to other creatures.

But we all gathered lime from the water, and
made our hard frames. Then, as the tiny creatures
died, we sank down, down to the bottom of the sea.

The earth in the water settled between us. The
heavy water pressed so hard that it pressed us to
stone. | :
Then, little by little, the great sea became lower
and at last disappeared, leaving us on the land.

Do you think there are fossils forming now in
the ocean? Yes, and on the land too.

I will tell you one way in which beautiful ones
are formed. Streams of water flowing over lime-
stone dissolve some of it.

On the banks of a stream a leaf or a twig falls, ©
or some moss is fastened to a rock.

As the water slowly trickles over them, some of
the lime settles and gathers around them. In time,
they decay; but their shape is left in the stone.

Sometimes, fossils of leaves and fishes are formed
in the lakes and rivers, just as they are in the
ocean.
6. TESTING TO FIND LIME.



Vere ALLEN asked the children to bring to

school everything in which they thought
they might find lime. She told them she would
show them how to prove whether they were right
or wrong.

I wish you could have seen the many things that
were placed on her desk the next morning.

Some brought many different kinds of shells;
others the hard pieces found in the bottom of the
teakettle.

Fred was anxious to try his pieces of coral,
petrified wood, and moss.

James brought some of his agates and a piece of
granite.

. When Leo came to school, he passed a lot
where men were building two new houses. He
stopped, thinking he might find something there.

The men were building the cellar of one of the
houses of a grayish blue stone. He took a piece
of this. In the street, the men were mixing mortar

to hold these stones together. Watching them,
3
14 Testing to find Lime.

he found that they put in large white lumps of
something which came packed in barrels. The
man gave him a large piece to take to school.

In the other house they were plastering the
walls, and laying marble hearths in the fireplaces.
The men gave him a small piece of the marble,
and some plaster on a shingle.

Anna brought a dead starfish and a sea-urchin’s
house.

Mary’s father was a doctor. She had heard him
say that a baby had very soft bones and that an |
old person’s were hard. Mary remembered how the
snail’s house was hardened, and she wondered if the
lime in the water we drink could make bones hard.

Now was Mary’s chance to test a bone, so she
brought all of them that she could find.

Grace laid on the desk, a piece of chalk, a quartz
crystal, and a carnelian.

That morning Miss Allen said, “I am. glad
you have brought so many things for us to test.
This bottle is filled with acid. There are so many
acids, I will give you the name of the one we use
to test our stones.

“Tt is called muriatic acid. That is a pretty big
word for children, but it is well to be able to call
things by their right names. | .
Testing to find Lime. 15

“We must be very careful in using this acid.
It is very strong. It will eat holes in wood and
in our clothes, and burn our fingers.

“Tom, you may take this board and place it
on the desk. Now put on it all the things we .
wish to test.”

After this was done, Miss Allen poured a drop
of acid on each article. What a bubbling and
spluttering there was! It made one think of
soda water.

Miss Allen said, “If it bubbles, you may know
there is lime there; if not, there is none.”

The shells, pieces from the teakettle, the
petrified wood and moss, the coral, the sea-
urchin’s house, and the starfish were tried first.
All these bubbled. Some bubbled more than
others, showing that they contained more lime.’

The marble, plaster, blue stone, and white lump
Leo found at the new house were tested next.
There was lime in all these.

Then the bones, chalk, quartz, carnelian, agate,
and granite had drops of the acid poured on them.
The bones and chalk bubbled, but the quartz,
carnelian, agate, and granite made no fuss at all.
They held no lime.

After these were tested, Miss Allen said, “I will
16 Testing to find Lime.

keep this bottle of acid on the shelf, and if you find
other things you would like to test, I shall be glad
to help you.”

She then asked, “Do you know why it is that
_ the water in lakes, rivers, and springs is hard,

while rain water is soft?”
7. QUARTZ.



Y name is Quartz. I have a story to tell you
about my family.

A little girl found some pretty stones and took
them to school. JI was among those stones, and
very glad to make the children a visit.

Suddenly I found myself on a desk with a
piece of glass and a knife. How sharp that knife
looked! It fairly made me tremble, it was so near.

However, I need not have been afraid. Soona
boy picked up the knife and went to work to cut
me in two. Just think, that sharp glistening blade
could not even scratch me!

Then the boy picked up the piece of glass and
tried to scratch me with that; but he could not
make the least mark on my glossy coat.

I wondered if I could make a scratch on the
glass, and kept saying to myself, “Don’t I wish
I had a chance to make my mark on that shiny
glass !”

I think the boy must have heard me, for he

tried to scratch the glass with me, and I found
17
18 Quartz.

that I could make a beautiful cut in it. Then he
tried me on the blade of the knife, and I left a
scratch on that too.

There were a great many of my family visiting
the school that day. Some.were as clear as glass ;
some were smoky; some were milky. |

Carnelians and agates, which are used in jewelry
and to make marbles, belong to my family. Have
you ever cracked open a carnelian and seen the
pretty red and white bands inside?

A little girl had a purple stone in her ring and
her teacher told her it was an amethyst. This is
another of my sisters. ,

Tom broke many pieces of different kinds, and
found that we did not break evenly, and that the
faces made by the breaking were not smooth.
8. HOW THE SAND BECAME SANDSTONE.



vo" all know that the Quartz family is very

hard, and that some of us are beautifully
colored. I have been thinking of a strange story
a friend of mine once told me. Would you like
to hear it? Ves? Well, then I will tell you
what happened to some of our family, years and
years ago.

Many pieces of the Quartz family lived on the
shore of the ocean. All day the great waves rolled
up on the shores, and tossed the pebbles up and
down, back and forth, knocking them against one
another.

Gradually stones were broken into small pieces.
By and by they were so small that passers-by
said, “ How beautiful and fine the sand is here!”

The wind, too, liked to play with the sand; for
it carried it hither and thither over the beach.
Sometimes the sand traveled back and forth two
or three times in a day.

One day it said, “I wonder what kind of a

journey I shall make to-day.”
20 How the Sand Became Sandstone.

That day it met two new families on the beach,
the Lime family and the Iron family.

These three families liked each other so well
that they decided to live together. Not long
after this, when they were settled for the day, a
rainstorm came and beat down steadily upon them.

The lime grew soft, gluing the sand into one
large lump, like a stone. It took many years to
make this stone. Don’t you think sandstone is a
good name for a stone made of sand?

The Iron family is of a great many colors,— red,
yellow, brown, and even green. They gave some
ot their color to the sandstone, and that is the.
reason we have red, green, and yellow sandstones
as well as white.
9. A STORY ABOUT GLASS.

1090. ——

CN upon a time, hundreds of years ago, a

strange-looking ship was sailing slowly on
the great sea. The ship was heavily laden with
soda, and had been out a long time.

The sailors were tired of the tossing of the great
sea, and longed for the quiet land.

Suddenly across the waves, a speck was seen.
Surely, that must be land!

A moment later, the cry “It is land” was heard
from every sailor.

Soon the eager men landed and hastened to
collect sticks for a fire. All were anxious to cook
a dinner on the land.

The fire was started and the kettle brought.
But they could find nothing with which to prop
it.. No stones were to be found.

What were they to do? Give it up? No, a
thousand times no!

“Bring some of the lumps of soda,” called the
captain. Soon the dinner was cooking nicely; but
stop, what was the trouble?

2i
22 A Story about Glass.

The fire had melted the soda and sand together,
and on that far away coast, the sailors ‘had — what
do you suppose ? — Glass.

This was the first glass ever made.
10. THE TRAVELS OF THE KING’S
WINDOW PANES.



C)â„¢ of the kings of England was very rich.

‘In his many palaces, he had everything
money could buy. But his greatest treasures
were his glass windows, for in those days very. few
people had such wonderful things.

In the far North, people used thin sheets of ice
for their windows. In some countries, people
stretched skins until they were so thin that the
light could come through. These skins they used
for window panes. |

Where this king lived, they used ae the ice
nor the skins for window panes. The wind and
rain could blow in through the open spaces left
to light the house.

How many colds those people must have had!

You will understand why this king thought so
much of his glass windows. He owned a great
many houses, living sometimes in one, and some-
times in another. He had only one set of windows

for all his houses.
24 The Travels of the King’s Window Panes.

What could he do? When he traveled from
palace to palace, he had his windows packed, and
taken with him.
11. THE STARFISH.



HE starfish is sometimes called a sea-star, five-
. finger, or five-fingered Jack. Its home is in
the great ocean.

Starfishes are of different colors; some are
orange, some crimson, some purple, and some
brick red. There are others that are pale in tint,
either delicate pink or ‘faintly purplish. How
pretty these little creatures must look in the
water ! .

The starfish has five arms; under these arms are
tubes which it uses as feet. It will fasten itself
firmly to a rock, and will even allow its tube-like
feet to be torn rather than let go.

There is a curious thing about the arms. Ifa
hungry fish bites one off, or the big waves knock
it against a stone and
break one, the arm will
grow again.

The starfish has an
eye at the end of each



arm. These eyes are

25
26 The Starfish,

not at all like yours; they are very poor. But
they answer nicely for the starfish.

The mouth is on the under side of the animal,
in the center of the arms. The starfish is very
greedy, and seems to do nothing but eat. It feeds
on oysters, clams, and sea-snails,

It has a curious way of feeding. It catches its
food in its five arms and holds it firmly. Then
with its mouth it sucks its food from the oyster or
clam.

The starfish lays eggs and carries them in its
five arms. People who have studied this creature,
have taken the eggs away from it, and let them
float in the water to see what the starfish would do.
It swims after them, gathers them up, and carries
them off.

When a baby starfish is hatched, it has no arms,
but is shaped like an egg. The little egg is
covered with something hair-like until its arms
begin to grow.

Have you ever noticed the many spikes on its
back? These help to protect it from its enemies.
































































































































SEA LIFE.
12. THE SEA-URCHIN.



HEN this strange animal is a baby, it is no

larger than a pea. As the baby grows, it

needs a larger house. It does not build a new
one, but it makes the old one larger.

The sea-urchin’s house is not made of one

part or even two. It has five or six hundred
pieces in its shell. These pieces are beautifully
joined.
The shell is covered with green and purple
spines. These spines make the sea-urchin look
like a huge burr. .They are very useful, for they
protect it from its enemies.

It has many feet arranged in rows. The feet
are little tubes with suckers at the ends. The sea-




28 The Sea- Ch

urchin can push these feet out beyond the spines,
and uses them to catch its prey. Sometimes, when
the urchin moves about, it rolls like a ball.

The mouth of the sea-urchin is on the under
side. It has five hard, pointed teeth. They do
not move up and down, or from side to side.
They move towards each other, meeting in a
point.

One thing, which the sea-urchin does, will show
you how hard its teeth are. It hollows out a house
for itself in the hardest rocks, by digging it out
with its teeth.

It is very funny to see a family of sea-urchins in
holes in a rock, sometimes as many as a dozen
together.

It also uses its teeth in eating. It is a very
hungry animal, and eats all the little creatures
that it can catch.

When the sea-urchin is dead, its spines some- ©
times fall off. Then we can see the beautiful shell.
The spines are fastened to little knobs. You will
see little rows of dots on the shell. These dots are
the holes through which the sea-urchin pushed its
feet. We can see five larger dots that were five
eyes.

Many years ago, people thought that the shell
The Sea-Urehin, 29

- was the egg of some sea-animal, and called it a sea-
ege.
The sea-urchin is not unlike the starfish. If we
could close the starfish’s five arms, it would have
much the shape of the sea-urchin.



vy

K Qu 5
Sa” a













7s
My as

eae
fe




13. THE OYSTER.



Ve we see the oyster and its shell house,
it is hard to believe that it came from
an egg.

The ege is very small. After being sent into
the water, the wee baby in it begins to grow. It
has a perfect little shell when it is hatched.

The baby oyster is a lively little fellow, and for
two or three days after it is born, swims about like
a young fish. Then it settles down for life by
fastening. itself to an old shell or rock on the sea-
bottom. |

Many of these little oyster babies do not live to
be grown oysters. They are swallowed by other

30
The Oyster. | 31

The oyster’s shell is not pretty. You can see
the layers as they have been built up, and its age
is known by the lines of growth, and also by its
size. The oyster is fit for food when it is four or
five years old.

The shell has two covers joined by a hinge.
Shells that have two parts are called bi-valves.
The oyster can open and close its shell. It will
close it at the least noise.

The shell is fastened to the sea-bottom by one of
the valves, so this valve is larger than the other.
There is a spot on the white lining of each valve.
It is near the middle of the valve, and is a dark
purple.

The oyster has a strong muscle which is
fastened to the shell where you find the purple
spots.

It breathes with gills. The mouth is at the
smaller end near the hinge. The gills and
mouth have little hairs all around them. These
keep moving and breathing when the shell is
open. They push the water into the mouth.

.Sometimes oysters are found together in large
numbers. They cover the bottom of the sea for
miles and miles. These places are called oyster-
beds.
32 The Oyster.

A bird called the oyster-catcher, the starfish,
and the crabs, are their enemies, and destroy great
numbers of the oysters.




















THE SPONGE DIVER.
14. THE SPONGE.



HAT is a sponge? Can you tell me,
May?”

“No, Miss Hall,” said May. “I use my sponge
every day, but I have never thought how it is
made. Let me think! Do men make sponges
as they do cloth and many other things?”

“No; people used to think a sponge was a
plant, but that is not true. It is a little animal.”

“An animal! How very strange! Where is
its home?”

“Its home is in the great ocean. The sponge
comes from an egg. When it is hatched, the
baby sponge sends out little hairs, which help it
to move about in the water. As the baby has
no eyes, it does not know where it is going, and
often gets a hard bump.”

“Oh, Miss Hall, has the poor baby a head,
ears, legs, tail, or arms?”

“No, May,” was the answer, “ it -has none of
those; but it has a hole called a mouth. Soon
it settles to the sea-bottom. With its mouth it

32
34. The Sponge.

fastens itself to something, and never moves
from that spot.

“The sponge has hard and soft parts. The
hard part is called its skeleton, and it is this
part of the sponge which we use. The soft
parts were like jelly, and have been taken out.
When the sponge was alive, all the holes were
filled with the jelly.

“Sponges are not all of the same form. Some
are cup-shaped, some pear-shaped, and some have
many branches. There are some as large as a
man’s head, and others no larger than an egg.

“Men fish for the sponges, and divers go into
the water and tear them from the rocks.

“When they are taken out of the ocean, they
are thrown into large tanks of water. Then all
the soft parts are beaten out. The skeletons are
washed and dried in the sun.”

“How many strange animals there are in the
ocean,” said May, “and what a strange picture
the sea-bottom would make!”
i5. THE COAL FORESTS.



ee to imagine yourself in a forest years and
years ago. You will not meet any one, for
this was long ago when the world was young,
and before man came to live on this earth of
ours. P

It is a strange forest that we are about to
enter. There is no winter there; the trees grow
all the year round.

You know how your plants at home grow and
bloom in the hot days of July. All the days are
warm July days in this forest. The ferns are as
large as our trees.

It is a dense forest, for every little seed falling
into the warm mud below sprouts, and is soon
a large tree.

Do you think that much sunlight could pierce
through the many branches? You are right; it
could not, and it is dark and gloomy among
these great trees.

Hark! Is that the chirp of a robin? No!

Here we have trees without birds, a forest with-
35



36 The Coal Forests.

upon the earth.

The only sound to break the still-
ness is the hoarse croaking of a
strange frog and the chirp of a
4 grasshopper.

Here we meet our old friends,
the pines and the firs; and see the well-known
cones waving among the branches.

We can find plenty of water plants and ferns,
but not one flower or bright berry.

The trees spring up quickly in the soft, warm
mud. The leaves come, fade, and fall just as
quickly.

The trees, with their roots in mud, are easily
blown down. They are then buried in the
water, and partly decay. This matter becomes
packed so closely that it turns into peat.

Hundreds and hundreds of years pass; tree
after tree springs up, reaches its height, dies, and
decays in the dark below.

Let us come away from the forest now, for a
strange thing is about to happen.

Look! Do you see? A flood has covered
the place where we stood such a short time ago.
The beautiful great trees have fallen upon the




































































COAL FOREST.
Lhe Coal Forests. 37

soft bed of mud where their parents and grand-
parents have lain for hundreds of years.

Now, the mud and sand are settling upon
them, forming shale and sandstone. These press
heavily upon the beautiful old trees.

After many years, the water will disappear,
and a new forest will spring up. It will grow,
and then again the same thing will happen.

The weight becomes greater and greater as
these layers are formed. The trees are packed
more and more tightly, until they become one
solid mass, called coal.
16. COAL MINING.



AYERS of coal are not always straight and
level. They are often slanting, or hollow
like a basin.

Sometimes they. bend, so that the coal comes
to the surface of the ground. Then it is easy
to mine the coal by digging into a kind of
tunnel.

Sometimes very deep holes. must be dug to
reach the coal. These holes are called shafts.
Cages or huge buckets are drawn up and down
these shafts by means of ropes,

If you ever visit a coal mine, you will find
yourself in a new world. Everything is black. |

As you go down with a rush away from the
sunlight and cool air, you wonder when the
journey will end.

Suppose the ropes should break! You grasp
the sides of the cage tightly, and go down into
the darkness.

It is not a bit as if you were gliding down
into the depths of the earth, but as though the

earth were rising and you were standing still.
38
Coal Mining. 39

But at last the cage stops, and you are glad
to step out. There are many passages dug
down in the mine, all connecting with each other.
So there is a kind of town below the ground
with many streets.

You carry lanterns, and after a time get used
to the darkness. You can see men moving
about that look like shadows.

Sometimes the miner has to lie on his side to
use his pick in loosening the coal.

When the coal has been loosened, other men
load it in big baskets. These they push and
pull into more open spaces, where the ponies
can do the work.

Some of the ponies used in the mine never
feel the warm sunshine or breathe the fresh air.
They have stables in the mine; and hay, corn,
and fresh water are sent down every day.


40 Coal Mining.

Ask your teacher to tell you the differ-
ent ways in which fresh air is forced into





the mine.

Not long ago children worked in the
mines, but you will not find them there
now. The law has put a stop to that.
| What a noise there is! The coming
down and going up of the cage, the
shouting, the slamming of doors, the
trotting ponies, and the cars of coal being taken
to the shaft! :

We follow our guide through the dark pas-
sages, and at last come again under the shaft




Coal Mining. 41

which leads to the world of light and life. We
get into the cage, and up we go.

Even on a cloudy day it seems bright in the
world above after the blackness in the mine.
THE EVERGREENS.



Jack Frost comes



es to visit us, the trees
begin to get ready for winter. Most of them
lose all their leaves. They have work to do on
the ground, to cover the plants and seeds.

Some trees are green all winter. We call
these evergreens. Don’t you think that is a
good name for them?

The leaves are not like those of the oak or
maple. They look like needles, and so they are
called needles. The frost cannot hurt these
green leaves.

Most of the evergreen trees are shaped like
cones, each having one large central stem. The
smaller stems or branches grow in whorls around
the large one.

Often little scale-covered buds will be found
at the ends of the branches.

About the base of the smaller branches a
circle of scales will be found. This shows that

these branches have grown from the buds.
42
The Evergreens, 43

The lighter color of the branches shows how
much they have grown this year.

The branches of the evergreen are very tough,
and the loads of snow do not break them.

The flower is not brightly colored. It is a
cone made up of many scales, —all beautifully
arranged.

At the base of each scale are two little cradles
with a baby seed in each. Each baby seed has
one wing which helps it to fly to its new home. |
Within each seed is a baby tree, with its store-_
house of food.

In the older cones the scales spread and
separate.

Have you ever shaken one of the cones and
seen the little winged seeds fly out?

The evergreens make the winter world brighter
and more beautiful.

The birds love the evergreens. Can you tell
why?
18. THE PINES.



INES and firs are given the first place
among the woodland treasures. This is
because of their great usefulness.

They are very useful to ship-builders and
house-builders, who

y ff LY es .
LL beef ys could find nothing
Ee ALE to fill the place
of the lumber



obtained from

these trees.

The trunk of
some fir or pine
is used in.every ship for a mast. When the
trunks are sawed into strips, we have the red, yel-
low, and white boards used in finishing houses.

The Scotch Pine becomes a tall tree when
growing in good soil, but in poor soil and in
very high places, it is a kind of shrub.

The needles grow in sheaths about an eighth
of an inch in length. In this sheath are two

twisted needles. One side of these needle-like
44
The Pines. 45

leaves is grooved; the other is curved. The
grooved sides face each other, so that when
placed together they look like one needle.

The cones are small, being an inch and a half
or two inches in length.

-The White Pine is one of the largest of the
forest trees, being often one hundred and thirty
to one hundred and fifty feet in height. Some
have been cut that were over two hundred feet.

From this tree comes most of the lumber
used for the framework of buildings, timbers of
bridges, and masts of ships. .

The White Pine has five long slender needles
in each sheath. They are longer and finer than ©
the needles of the Scotch Pine. i

Each needle has three sides. One side is
flat; two are curved.

The Pitch Pine has dark, stiff needles, ar-
ranged in threes. They are not all of the same
length. The cones are also of different lengths.

Large quantities of the Pitch Pine are used
for fuel. Tar and lamp black are sometimes

made from it.
19. THE DISCONTENTED PINE.



NCE a little Pine-tree,
In the forest ways,

Sadly sighed and murmured,
Thro’ the summer days.
“T am clad in needles —
Hateful things!” he cried,
“All the trees about me
Laugh in scornful pride.
Broad their leaves and fair to see;
Worthless needles cover me,

*“ Ah, could I have chosen,
Then, instead of these,

Shining leaves should crown me,
Shaming all the trees; |
Broad as theirs and brighter,
Dazzling to behold,

All of gleaming silver —

Aye, of burnished gold.

Then the rest would weep and sigh:

None would be so fine as I.”
46
The Discontented Pine. 47

Slept the little Pine-tree

When the night came down,
While the leaves he wished for
Budded on his crown.

All the forest wondered,

At the dawn, to see

What a golden fortune

Decked this little tree.
Then he sang and laughed aloud;
Glad was he and very proud.

Foolish little Pine-tree!

At the close of day,

Thro’ the gloomy twilight,
Came a thief that way.

Soon the treasure vanished;
Sighed the Pine, “Alas !
Would that I had chosen
Leaves of crystal glass.”

Long and bitterly he wept,
But with night again he slept.

Gladly in the dawning
Did he wake to find

That the gentle fairies
Had again been kind.
48

The Discontented Pine.

How his blazing crystals

Lit the morning air!

Never had the forest

Seen a sight so fair.

Then a driving storm did pass;
All his leaves were shattered glass.

Humbly said the Pine-tree,

“T have learned ’tis best

Not to wish for fortunes
Fairer than the rest.

Glad were I, and thankful,

If I might be seen,

Like the trees about me,

Clad in tender green.”

Once again’ he slumbered, sad;
Once again his wish he had.

Broad his leaves and fragrant,
Rich were they and fine,

Till a goat at noonday
Halted there to dine.

Then her kids came skipping
Round the fated tree;

All his leaves could scarcely
Make a meal for three.
The Discontented Pine. 49

Every tender bud was nipt,
Every branch and twig were stript.

Then the wretched Pine-tree

Cried in deep despair,

“Would I had my needles;

They were green and fair.

Never would I change them,”
Sighed the little tree;

Just as nature gave them

They were best for me.”

Then he slept, and waked, and found
All his needles safe and sound!

Eudora S. Bumstead.— From Fairy Land of Flowers.
20. THE FIR TREE.



@ in the forest stood a pretty little Fir -

Tree. It had a good place, with plenty of
sunshine and air, and all around it grew many —
larger trees— pines as well as firs.

But this little tree wished to become taller.
It did not care for the warm sun and fresh air.
When the children came to look for berries, they
would often sit down by the little Fir Tree and
say, “How pretty and small that one is!” As ©
,the tree wished to be taller, it made it very
unhappy to hear that.

The years passed, and it grew taller and taller.
In trees, one can always tell by the number of
rings they have, how many years they have been
growing.

“Oh, if I were only as tall a tree as the
others!” sighed the little Fir, “then I would
spread my branches far around, and look out
into the wide world.

“The birds would then build their nests in
my boughs, and when the wind blew I could

nod just as grandly as ‘the rest.”
50
The Fir Tree. 51

It took no pleasure in the
















sunshine, in the birds, and in
the clouds that went sailing
over it morning and evening.

In the autumn, woodcutters al-
ways came and cut a few of the
largest trees. That was done this
year, too, and the little Fir Tree
trembled with fear as the
great trees fell crashing to the
ground. When their
branches
were cut
off, they
looked so long “=
and slender SS
that you would //“77"¢
hardly know
them. They were laid
upon wagons, and horses
dragged them away out of the |
wood. Where were they going?
What would happen to them? <

In the spring, when the swallows and N
stork came, the Tree asked them, “Do you know
where the trees are taken? Did you not meet them?”
52 The Fir Tree.

The stork said, “Yes, I think so. When I
flew back from my winter home, I met many new
ships. These ships had stately masts. They
smelt like fir, and I am sure those were the
trees;”

Then the Fir Tree said, “Oh, that I were
only big enough to go over the sea!”

The wind kissed the Tree and the dew shed
tears upon it, but it did not understand that.

When Christmas time came, very young trees
were cut. These trees kept their branches. They
were put on wagons, and horses dragged them
away.

“Where are they all going?” asked the Fir
Tree:

“We know that! We know that!” chirped
the sparrows. “They are all dressed up with
beautiful things. We have looked in through the
windows and seen them planted in the middle
of a warm room, with gilt apples, playthings,
stars, and candles hung on their branches.”

“Perhaps I may be dressed in this way some
day,” cried the Fir Tree. “That would be
better than’ going across the sea.”

“Rejoice in us,” said Air and Sunshine. But
the Fir Tree did not rejoice at all; it only grew
The Fir Tree. 53

and grew. Winter and summer it stood there, a
dark green.

The people who saw it said, “ That’s a hand-
some tree!” Next Christmas it was cut before
any of the others.

It was very sad at parting from its old home.
It seemed to know it would never see its dear
old friends again.

Soon the Tree felt itself unloaded in a yard
with other trees, and heard a man say, “This
one is beautiful; we want only this one.”

Then two servants carried the Fir Tree into
a beautiful house. .

What the ‘sparrows had told it came true.
On some branches the people hung little bags
of candy; golden apples and nuts hung down as
if they grew there; dolls swung from it, and a
hundred candles of all colors were fastened on
all its branches. “This is splendid,” thought
the Tree.

How the Tree did enjoy it all! But some of
the pretty things were taken from the Tree, and
given to thé happy children, who danced around
the room.

The candles burned down to the twigs, and
were put out. Then the happy people went to
54 The Fir Tree.

bed, leaving the poor Fir Tree quiet and alone.

In the morning the servants came and carried
the Tree upstairs to the garret, and put it in a
dark corner.

“What is the meaning of this? What am I
to do here?” thought the Tree.

Days and nights went by, and nobody came.

“Tt must be winter outside,” thought the Tree.
“The people cannot plant me now, so they leave
me here till spring comes. That is kind, but
how dark it is here, and how bare! I wish I
were back in the forest with the hares.”

But one morning people came into the garret.
They were putting away boxes, and, seeing a tree,
brought it out. The servant dragged it to the
stairs, where the daylight shone.

“Now life is beginning aan thought the
Tree.

It felt the fresh air and the first sunbeams.
It was close to the garden, and here eNerne
was blooming.

In the yard two merry children were playing,
and when they saw the Tree, one of them said,
“Look at that old Fir Tree!”

The Tree looked at the blooming flowers, and
then looked at itself. How it wished it had
The Fir Tree. 55

stayed at home in the forest with the sunbeams,
the air, the flowers, and the birds!

Soon the servant came and chopped the Tree
into little pieces.

It made a bright blaze under the teakettle,
and sighed and sighed. Each sigh sounded like
a little shot, and at last the Tree was all burned!

Adapted from Hans Andersen.
21. THE LITTLE FIR TREES.



HEY! little evergreens
Sturdy and strong!

Summer and autumn time

Hasten along.

- Harvest the sunbeams, then,

Bind them in sheaves,

Range them and change them

To tufts of green leaves.

Delve in the mellow mold,

Far, far below,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!

Grow, grow!

' Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Up, up so airily

To the blue sky,

Lift up your leafy tips
Stately and high;

Clasp tight your tiny cones,

Tawny: and brown;
56








EVERGREEN TREES.
The Little Fir Trees. 57

By-and-by, buffeting

Rains will pelt down. —
By-and-by bitterly

Chill winds will blow,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!

Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Gather all uttermost

Beauty, because —

Hark, till I tell it now—
How Santa Claus,

Out of the northern land,
Over the seas,

Soon shall come seeking you,
Evergreen trees!

Seek you with reindeer, soon,
Over the snow,

And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!

Grow, little evergreens, grow!

What if the maple flare
Flaunting and red,
58

The Little Fir Trees.

You shall bear waxen-white

Tapers instead.

What if now, otherwhere
Birds are beguiled,

You shall yet nestle

The little Christ-child!

Ah, the strange splendor
The fir trees shall know,
And so,

Little evergreens, grow!
Grow, grow!
Grow, little evergreens, grow!

Evaleen Stein in S#. Wicholas.— By permission.
22. THE ESKIMO.



PART I.

| AM a little Eskimo baby, and my name is

Boreas. I do not wear clothes until I can
walk. When I am out of doors, I ride in a skin
cradle on my mother’s back. When I am in the
house, I roll upon the floor on a warm fur rug,
and play with my puppy.

When I am-a man, I shall have two suits of
clothes,.made of fur. The inner suit will have
the fur next to my body, and the outer suit will
have: the fur on the outside. My outer suit will
have a hood. When I put the hood on, Jack


































60 The Eskimo.

Frost can see nothing but my eyes, nose, and
mouth.

I once heard a white man tell papa, Eskimos
all dressed so much alike that he could ‘not tell
girls from boys, or women from men.

Do you know what kind of a house I live in?
It is not made of wood like yours, for it is so
cold in this country that no trees can grow
here.

My house is made of snow, and it looks like
the half of an egg-shell, only larger. We do
not heat it with a stove, for that would melt the
snow. We warm it with lamps. These lamps
are made of stone, and look like clam-shells.
We burn oil in them, and use moss for wicks.

It must always be cold enough in the house
to freeze, or the water begins to drop from the
top, and then we know the house is melting.







ne .
_ bey) p.

= L—
oc TER








The Eskimo. 6I

- One day our house was too warm, and the
snow began to melt. Some of it dropped down
papa’s neck, some fell into our soup and spat:
tered it on mamma. One piece fell on me, and
I jumped. I did not like it. Papa had to mend
the melted places with fresh snow.

Our house has only one room and one door.
The doorway is low and small, so that papa and
mamma must creep through it on their hands
and knees. The door is a big block of ice. It is
used as much to keep out the dogs as the cold.

Our dogs will sleep on the hard ice and
snow, if they have plenty to eat. Papa never
feeds them oftener than every other day, and
generally about every third day.

What do you think is the best food they can
have? It is tough walrus hide, about an inch
thick. One day the dogs were very. hungry,
and, as many as could, put their heads in at the
doorway. They watched mamma to see if she
would give them something to eat.

Papa has many dogs. He has one team of
nineteen. Once the dogs worked seven days
without eating. They grew very thin, but none
of them died.

Do you think you could drive dogs? Papa
62 The Eskimo.

says he never saw a white man who was a good
dog-driver. The forward dog of a team is called
the “leader” or “chief.” The Eskimo dog-driver
manages the leader by speaking to him,







making him go to the right or
ee the left as he desires. The other
, os Sx dogs watch the

leader, and do

as he does.






Bp: SSa==—=— We could not live with-
| Sg oh out our dogs. They are our
% horses and oxen for drawing loads, and
our hunting dogs, too. The dogs like
to hunt. When they. are near the
game, papa slips their harness off.
Then they stand around the animal, and keep it
until papa can kill it.

Sometimes, if they go too near a bear ora
musk ox, they are killed.

“One night, we heard a loud noise out doors
on the ice. Papa jumped up and went out. He
found a large bear breaking the ice to catch
fish. rr. e

Mr. Bear did not know papa. was near until. he

shot. Then the bear ran, and papa ran. Papa
called the dogs, too; but the bear reached the
The Eskimo. 63.

ice. ' He went up on an iceberg, which was so
steep that no one could go after him. The

next day papa saw him up there throwing big
pieces of ice down on a seal.
23. THE ESKIMO.



PART II.

OME of our sleds are cut out of solid ice,

with fish frozen in them to make them

strong. Others are made of the bones of wal-
ruses and whales, and have ice runners. .

I am very happy to-day, for mamma gave me
some candy this morning. Shall I tell you
about our candy? When papa kills a water-
fowl called a dovekie, mamma cuts off the red
feet and takes out the bones.

She then stretches and dries the skin. When
it is quite dry, she fills it with reindeer tallow,
and that is one kind of candy. The only other
kind is the marrow from the leg bones of the
reindeer. Shall I send some to you? ‘The
reindeer comes to see us only in the summer.
That is the only time it can find moss to eat.
The reindeer is almost the color of the moss it
eats. Papa kills as many as he thinks we shall

use,
64
The Eskimo. . 65

Mamma cuts up the meat, dries it, and keeps
it to use during the winter. She dries fish also.
We eat seals, walruses, and whales.

Did you ever see a seal? They are not like
fish, if they do live in the water. Fish can
breathe in the water, but seals cannot. Fish
have cold blood, but seals have warm blood.
Fish cannot live out of the water, but seals can
live in the water or out of it. Hunters kill the
seals for food and clothing.

In summer we eat the eggs of ducks, geese,
and other birds. The birds’ nests are so thick
in places, that you cannot walk without stepping
on eggs. Did you ever see an eider-duck? There
are many here in the summer.

It is not very warm here in the summer. One
day, after it had been dark day and night for
many weeks, I went with my mamma to the
top of a high hill. We saw the sun for a few
moments.

The next day he came again, and we saw him
a little longer.

Every day he came back, staying longer and
longer, until he moved higher in the sky, making
one great circle, shining all day and all night

for many weeks.
66 The Eskimo.

Then he went away again, and it was cold
and dark as before; but we like the cold as well
as a fish likes water, a bird the air, and flowers’
the sunshine. We use the little God gives us,
and are happy.

L. BARTLETT.
24. THE SEAL.



HE seal lives in the sea. It makes its home
in the north, where large pieces of ice float
in the ocean.

There are many kinds of seals. Some are no
larger than dogs, and are called sea-dogs. Others
are about thirty feet in length, and are called
sea-elephants, because of their great size.

The head of the seal is shaped somewhat like
that of a dog; it has whiskers like a cat, and
large, beautiful eyes.

Its feet are much like fins, and help it to
swim in the water. The skin between the toes
makes good paddles of all the feet. It some-
times crawls up on the ice and stones, but it is
clumsy out of the water. It makes short jerky
leaps, dragging along the
hind fins, or paddles.



very graceful, a can swim 4 am = sill
very fast. It uses its hind a

67
68 The Seat.

paddles for swimming. The front ones are used
to turn itself around.

The fur of the seal is well suited to the cold
water. It is very thick, and is kept oiled by a
fat the seal has im its skin. Next the skin is a
layer of fat which helps to keep the seal warm.

Its food is chiefly fish, but it finds other food
in the sea. .

Seals are easily tamed, and may be taught to
do many tricks. They know their master’s voice,
and will come at his call.

The Eskimos would starve and freeze if it
were not for the seal. They use its flesh for
meat, and from the fat get oil to burn in their
lamps. Their warm clothes are made of the
seal fur; their boats are covered with sealskin.
The whips which they use in driving their dogs
are also made of the skin. The seal’s bones are
made into hooks.
25. HUNTING SEALS.





eae Eskimos spend much time =
in hunting seals. Sometimes 214 Seals 17 loo
the men go out in their boats and try to throw
their harpoons into the seals as they swim in
the water or are lying on the large blocks of
ice.

There is another way the Eskimos hunt seals.
In the far north, the ice on the ocean is very
thick; but the seal comes up under the ice and
scratches a hole through it with its sharp claws.
Then it makes a little dome through the snow
which covers the ice.

Through this snow dome, the seal makes an
opening just large enough to let in some air.
These holes are so small that the Eskimos often
pass without seeing them.
~ Here the seal comes to breathe. It breathes
in short gasps, which can easily be heard. If
the Eskimo hears a seal blowing, he seats him-
self on a block of ice to wait for it to come

again.
69
70 Hunting Seals.

The seal may come up at another hole to
breathe, and then the hunter has lost him. But
if he hears a blowing, he places his spear in the
hole, and catches the seal.

Sometimes, the thother seal hunts for a breath-
ing hole under very deep snow. She makes a_
much larger dome, so that the ice will form two
shelves two or three feet wide.

Mrs. Seal puts her babies on these shelves,
and brings them food. If she hears a noise, she
hurries away, leaving them on the ice-shelves.

She thinks they are quite safe, for they are
the same color as the snow. _

The Eskimo, however, has learned Mrs. Seal’s
place for her babies, and often carries the baby
seals home.

If they are not found by the Eskimos, these
babies spend their time on the shelves until they
are old enough to swim away
with their mother. When they
can do that, they are able to





ES care for themselves.
26. HASSAN.



ASSAN is a little Arab boy. He lives in

the desert where it is very hot and sandy.
The Arabs do not build houses, but live in
tents. There are no beds or chairs; they have
many soft cushions instead.

The sun is so hot on the desert, that the
Arabs stay in their tents and sleep in the day-
time. In the evening, when it is cooler, Hassan’s
father sits in front of the tent and smokes his
long pipe, while the children play in the sand.

When they have their supper, Hassan’s father
eats first; then his mother and the children have
theirs; and the servants eat what is left. That
would seem strange to us in this country.

The Arab’s tent is pitched near a spring,
where the date palm grows. Sometimes the hot
sun dries up the spring,
and then the family must
find a new home.

The camels are brought
up, and the loading begins.

7


72 flassan.

Each camel kneels until he has his burden
placed on his back. Some have large bags of
water fastened to them; some carry the cushions
and food; some are loaded with the tents and
poles. Hassan and his mother and sister ride
on camels. Hassan’s father rides a_ beautiful
horse, with slender legs.

' They start very early in the morning before
the sun is up.

They may travel for days and days, and not
see a palm tree or a stream. If they did not
have the bags’ of water and the food, they would
die of thirst and hunger.

When a stream is near, the camel smells the
water, and will start off at a brisk trot to
reach it.

How welcome the fresh dates and water are to
the people!

It does not take long to pitch the tent under
the palm trees in their new home. Here they
will stay until the water and fruit are gone;
then they will move again.

Would you like to hear how the Arabs look
and dress?

They are dark-skinned, with dark hair and
eyes. They wear loose gowns, with wide trousers




















































THE ARAB’S HOME IN THE DESERT.
Hassan. 73

gathered at the ankles. They do not wear hats,
but each Arab has twisted around his head
several yards of cloth. These cloth head-dresses
are called turbans. .
27. THE CAMEL..



‘HERE are two kinds of
% 5 ee camels. One has two
= ~ humps on its back; the
other has only one. The home of the camel is




in Africa and Asia.

It can carry such heavy burdens over the
. sandy country, that it has been called the “ship
of the desert.”

The feet of the camel are large and wide.
On the bottom of each are pads or cushions,
which help the camel to tread firmly upon the
soft sand. These cushions are covered with a
hard skin, which is not hurt by the almost burn-
ing sand of the desert.

The camel’s eyes are shielded from the glare
of the sun by overhanging brows and long eye-
lashes. In a sandstorm, the camel can close its
nostrils to keep out the sand.

This animal is a cud-chewer. All the animals
belonging to this family have four stomachs.

The camel uses one of these to hold water. ~
74




CAMELS.
a

The Camel. 78

When a camel cannot get water for a number
of days, it uses the water from this stomach.
But it can smell water a mile away, and when
men are in need of water, they let the camel go
in the direction it wishes. If there is water, the
animal will take them to it.

There is another strange thing about the
camel, which makes it well suited for the desert.
The humps on its back are fat, which is taken
into its body to nourish it when the camel can
get nothing to eat. Sometimes after a long
journey, there is hardly any hump left.

The camel is taught to kneel when the men
load it. It has a hard skin on its legs and
breast to protect it from the hot sand.

Sometimes the camels and men cross the
desert in great numbers, and the company ‘is
then called a caravan.

(Read “ Jack and the Ostrich,” Part III, All the Year Round.)
28.
THE PALMS.

















N the hot sandy country where
Hassan lives, the Arabs obtain
\ most of their food from the
m palm trees. These trees have
no branches. They grow
erect, with many green, feathery
leaves at the top.
As The Arab could not live without
2 me the date palm. It will grow in sandy
VEL) soil, and drink water that would
| hie kill other trees.
‘s ie fr é
Za %3 The trunk of the date palm
is very hard to climb. The

ae.
a @ ‘rab climbs it by tying a









rope round his back and
~~ under his arms. He puts
a : the rope into one of the
Bz We. notches left by a fallen leaf,
and taking hold af the trunk with his hands

and knees, raises himself a little at a time;
76
The Palms. 77

then he throws the rope into the next notch,
and raises himself again. He does this until he
reaches the top.

When the clusters of fruit are reached, they
are picked and thrown down. Men hold a cloth
by the corners under the tree, and catch the
dates as they fall.

Dates are pounded into hard cakes, and are
used for food in crossing the desert.

Other palms grow in other countries. The
cocoanut palm is very beautiful. It sometimes
grows to be a hundred feet high. Do you know
of any building as high as that?

The fruit of the cocoanut tree is a large
nut. It has a thick husk. The flower is not
so large as a kernel of corn, yet this large
cocoanut grows from it. When these huge nuts
are ripe, they fall to the ground. They are so
heavy, that people who have been struck by
them have been killed.

Like the date, the cocoanut palm is one of
the most useful of trees. The leaves, flowers,
fruit, shell of the fruit, and trunk of the tree
are used for many purposes.

There are many kinds of palm trees. Some
of them grow in Florida, Find that state on
78 The Palms.

the map, and you will see that it is not very
far from your home.

Palm trees give us dates, cocoanuts, fans, oils,
medicine, rope, and beautiful woods. We use
the leaves to make hats, fish-nets, shutters, bas-
kets, writing - paper, bedding, roofs for houses,
and many other things.



wari os

MO



\




A

SO

PALM TREES,
29, THE PALM TREE.



[° it the palm, the cocoa palm,
On the Indian Sea, by the isles of balm?
Or is it a ship in the breezeless calm?

A ship whose keel is of palm beneath,
Whose ribs of palm have a palm-bark sheath.
And a rudder of palm it steereth with.

Branches of palm are its spars and rails,
Fibers of palm are its woven sails,
And the rope is of palm that idly trails!

What does the good ship bear so well?
The cocoanut with its stony shell,
And the milky sap of its inner cell.

What are its jars, so smooth and fine,
But hollowed nuts, filled with oil and wine,
And the cabbage that ripens under the Line?

79
80 The Palm Tree.

Who smokes his nargileh, cool and calm?
The master, whose cunning and skill could charm
Cargo and ship from the bounteous palm.

In the cabin he sits on a. palm mat soft,
From a beaker of palm his drink is quaffed,
And a palm thatch shields from the sun aloft!

His dress is woven of palmy strands,
And he holds a palm-leaf scroll in his hands,
Traced with the Prophet’s wise commands! —

The turban folded about his head
Was daintily wrought of the palm-leaf braid,
And the fan that cools him of palm was made.

To him the palm is a gift divine,
Wherein all uses of man combine, —
House, and raiment, and food, and wine!

From Whittier’s The Palm Tree.
Hoveuton, Mirriin & Co., Publ.
30. BLACK HAWK.





LACK HAWK is the aa ;

name of a little In- Wee =
dian boy who lives in the
far west. Many years ago, when Columbus
came to America, the Indians owned all of this
beautiful country. But the white people have
driven them farther and farther west.

Black Hawk’s father is an Indian chief, and a
brave warrior.

This little boy has long, straight black hair
and a dark reddish-brown skin. He does not
live in a house, as you and I do; but his home
is made of branches of trees crossed at the top
to make a framework for the skins that are
wrapped around them.

This house or tent made of skins is called a
wigwam.

Black Hawk’s father does not have a stove in
his wigwam in winter, but builds a fire of sticks
on the ground in the tent. An opening is left

at the top to let out the smoke.
81


82 Black Hawk.

Indians do not care for a better house, because
they move very often, and this one can be easily
torn down and set up again.

Black Hawk’s father teaches him to hunt and
fish, and gives him a bow and arrows and a
tomahawk. The tomahawk has a wooden handle
and a head made of a sharpened stone.

When he is a little older, his father will teach
him to build a canoe. They will find all the
materials in the forest in which they live.

The canoes are made of birch bark. The
edges are all sewed together with a thread made
of roots. The cracks are filled with pine resin.
Next the bark are thin pieces of cedar.

The canoe is safe and light for the Indian,
who makes it fly over the water. If you or I




sys _tried it, over we should go—splash!
WH

sae ie Indian men do not like to work. They

spend most of their time hunting and

=== They plant corn, and when
it is ripe, grind it between two
stones.

It was from the Indians that
Black Hawk. 83

and it is sometimes called Indian corn, or
maize.

The Indian women do some very fine work.
They make cushions, bags, baskets, and mocca-
sins, working patterns on them with colored
beads.

Have you ever seen how they carry their
babies? The mother carries the little papoose
on her back, in a sort of cradle that is made
when the babe is born. This is not at all like
our baby’s cradle. It is a board covered with
soft skins; a skin is put over, the papoose, and
he is strapped to the board. |

When his mother goes out to work, she takes
the cradle off her back and hangs it upon one
of the lowest boughs of a tree.

Black Hawk’s sister does not have much fun.
When very young, she is taught to hoe and
grind the corn. She cures the skins of the ani-
mals which her father and brother shoot. She
helps her mother do the cooking, gather fire-
wood, fetch water, and pick berries.
31. HIAWATHA’S CHILDHOOD.



We Hiawatha was a baby, his mother

died, and he lived with -his grandmother,
Nokomis. Her wigwam stood in a thick forest,
on the shore of the Big-Sea-Water.

Here old Nokomis nursed little Hiawatha and
rocked him in his cradle, singing many strange
songs to him.

When Hiawatha grew older, he sat at the door
of the wigwam, where he heard the whispering
of the pine trees, heard the lapping of the water,
and learned a little song to sing to the fire-fly.

He saw the moon rise, and seeing the shadows
on it, asked Nokomis to tell him about them.

Good Nokomis said, “Once a_ warrior, very
angry, seized his grandmother and threw her
right against the moon. It is her body you see
there.”

He saw the rainbow, and whispered, “ What is
that, Nokomis?”

Nokomis answered, “’T is the heaven of flowers
‘ 84
fliawatha’s Childhood. 85

you see there. After all the wild flowers of the
earth fade, they blossom again in heaven.”

Then Hiawatha learned the language of every
bird, learned their names and all their secrets, —
how they built their nests in summer, and where
they went in winter.

He talked to them when he met them, and
called them Hiawatha’s chickens.

He learned the language of all the beasts,
learned their names and all their secrets, — how
the beaver built its lodges, where the squirrels
hid their acorns, how the reindeer ran so swiftly,
and why the rabbit was so timid. He talked to
them wherever he met them, and called them

Hiawatha’s brothers.

Adapted from Longfellow’s Hiawatha.
Permission of HoucutTon, MirFiin & Co., Publ.
32. HIAWATHA’S FIRST DEER.



po a friend of old Nokomis, made a bow
for Hiawatha.

He made the bow from a branch of ash; the
cord was made of deer-skin. The arrows he
tipped with flint and winged with feathers,

Then he said to Hiawatha: “Go, my son, into
the forest, where the reindeer herd together, and
kill for us a deer with antlers.”

Hiawatha walked very proudly into the forest
with his bow and arrows.

As he passed, the birds sang, “Do not shoot
us, Hiawatha!”

The squirrel laughed and. chattered, and said,
“Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!”

But he did not seem to hear them; he was
thinking only of the red deer.

Hidden in the bushes, he waited until the
deer came.

He waited until he saw the antlers lifted, and

the two shining eyes.
86
fiawatha’s First Deer. 87

Then as the deer came down the path, with
beating heart Hiawatha rose on one knee, and
aimed an arrow.

The arrow struck the deer, and it lay dead in
the forest.

Hiawatha, very happy, bore the red deer home,
and Jagoo and Nokomis were delighted. From —
the skin of the deer, Nokomis made a cloak for
Hiawatha, and of the flesh they made a feast in
honor of the young chief. All the village came
and feasted, praising Hiawatha.

Adapted from Longfellow’s Hiawatha.


33. VAPOR.



NE morning, Agnes was helping her aunt
in the kitchen. The teakettle was singing
merrily on the stove. .
“Aunt Clara,’ said Agnes, “see the steam
coming from the teakettle!”
“That cloud you see is water-dust,” said her
aunt. “Look near the spout; do you see any

water-dust there?”
88
Vapor. 89

“No,” said Agnes, “I do not.”

“That is vapor, and you cannot see it. You
would not see the water-dust above, if the air in
the main part of the room were not cooler than
that close to the spout of the teakettle.

“Hold a cold plate near the spout, and see
how the water gathers on. it.”

“The plate is so cold, it changes the vapor
to water,” said Agnes. |

“There is vapor in the air all around us, but
we cannot see it,” said Aunt Clara. “Have you
ever set a dish of water out of doors, and in a
few hours found much of it gone?”

“Yes,” said Agnes, “and I have seen that
happen in a room; but it takes ‘longer for the
water to disappear, unless the dish is put on
a stove. Then it becomes empty in a short

time.”
“We say the water has evaporated,” said Aunt
Clara. “Heat helps water to evaporate. What

becomes of the water in the clothes we hang on
the line to dry?”

“The heat in the air must make it evaporate,”
said Agnes. “I have often noticed how much
sooner they dry when the sun shines.”

“Yes,” said Aunt Clara, “but clothes will dry
go Vapor.

on a cold day in winter, though slowly. They
dry partly because the air about them is not full
of moisture, and cold air will hold some moisture ;
but warm air, of course, holds more than cold.
The wind, too, will help them to dry.”

_ “T have seen the sidewalks steam after a rain,”
said Agnes; “why is that?”

“That is because the air is cool enough to
change the vapor rising from the wet walks into
water-dust, and it shows itself in little white
clouds.”

“Oh, I understand!” said Agnes. “I remem-
ber you cannot see the moisture in your breath
when the air is warm; but as soon as you go
where it is cold, the vapor changes into water-
dust.”

“Come to the kitchen some wash-day in winter,”
said Aunt Clara, “and you will see all that I have
told you about vapor,—the vapor rising from the
hot water in the boiler; the cold air in the room
changing the vapor into water-dust or clouds;
these clouds striking the cold windows and_ be-
coming drops of water.”
34. CLOUDS.



AVE you ever seen the fairy vessels in the
sky as they go sailing by? What are these
ships, and how did they come there?

We know there is vapor in the air, though we
cannot see it. Think from how many things the
heat of the sun can draw vapor.

It draws it from the ocean, the lakes, the
rivers, the little mud puddles, the ground, and
the dishes of water standing around. The plants
give moisture to the air. People and animals
breathe out moisture. There are so many ways
in which the air obtains moisture, that we could
hardly name all of them.

When the air is warm, the vapor is carried
off into higher parts of the air; but when cold
air strikes it, it is turned into water-dust or
clouds.

When the vapor is changed into water-dust
high in the air, we call it clouds; but when it

is changed close to the earth, we call it fog.
gr
92 Clouds.

There are different kinds of clouds. Some are
_ of feathery form, spread out over all the sky, or
arranged in narrow stripes. The rain clouds are
heavy, black or gray, and are best seen in a
storm.

We see great piles of white clouds on a sum-
mer day. As the sun becomes warmer, some of
the water-dust in these clouds changes back to
vapor, and they rise higher and higher. They
usually disappear with the sunset; but if they
grow larger and darker in the evening, it means
rain,
35. RAIN.



EE it rain! Where does the rain come from? _

It comes from the clouds. The sun draws

up the vapor from the oceans, lakes, rivers, and
ponds.

The cold air changes the water-dust or clouds
into drops of rain. When the rain cloud is near
the earth, the drops are much larger than when
the cloud is high in the air.

In summer, when we have not had rain for
some time, how the plants wither and droop!
Some turn yellow and lose their leaves. Poor
things, they have nothing to drink!

How they seem to brighten and hold up their
heads after a rain! The air is different; it has
been made pure by the rain. The rain has
cleaned the dusty streets, walks, and houses.

The rain gives water to the springs, lakes,
and rivers. It quenches the thirst of the plants,
grain, and trees.

93
36. DEW.



eo was going to the orchard.

very early one morning to gather apples.
The night before, he said to his little grandson,
who was visiting him, “Edward, should you like
to go with me in the morning?”

“Ves, indeed!” said Edward; “please don’t
forget to call me.”

His grandfather did not forget, but called him
at five o'clock. As they walked across the large
yard, Edward said, “Oh, grandpapa, my feet are
very wet! I did not know that it rained last
night.”

“Tt did not rain,” said his grandfather. “It is
the dew which has wet your feet. See how the
dewdrops sparkle when the sun strikes them!”

“They look like millions of diamonds,” said
Edward. “The grass and flowers are covered
with them.”

“Yes,” said his grandfather, “the flowers and

grass enjoy drinking the fresh, cool water.”
94
Dew. 95

“But how did these drops come?” asked
Edward.

“The earth gets its heat from the sun, not
from the air,” said his grandfather. “The earth
and all kinds of plants give off their heat. So
at night, when there is no sun to give them
more, they grow cold.

“When the air, which is full of vapor, touches
the cold plants and grass, the vapor is changed
into little drops of water, called dew.

“How is it, Edward, that there are drops of
water on the outside of a pitcher of ice-water?”
asked his grandfather. |

“TI think I see now,’ said Edward. “The warm
air in the room holds vapor; but when it strikes
the outside of the cold pitcher, this vapor is
changed into drops of water. But do you know,
grandpapa, I used to think those drops came
through the pitcher?”

His grandfather laughed, and said, “You are
not the only one who has thought that.”
37. FROST PICTURES.



1 ae wakened one morning to find that the

frost fairies had been at work making pict-
ures on the window in her room. There were
roads with beautiful fir trees on either side, a
little house, and ever so many brownies running
and rolling in the snow.

When she reached the sitting-room downstairs,
she looked at the windows there. The fairies
had done their work there, too.

“Oh, mamma,” said Anna, “how did the fairies
put these pretty frost pictures on the window?
See, there is a hill in this one with many trees,
and here is another with beautiful ferns and the
finest lace work!”

“We will talk about these pictures,” said
mamma, “and then, maybe, you can be a frost —
fairy yourself. Those pictures were made from
the vapor in the room.”

‘“Where does the vapor come from, mamma?”
asked Anna.

“Some comes from our breath, and some from
96
Frost Pictures. 97

the water we put on the stove. You cannot see
the vapor coming from the water; but when I
hold this cold eae over it, the vapor gathers
quickly.

“The plate chills the air which strikes it, and
makes the air drop some of its vapor. This
changed vapor sticks to the plate. The cold
windows act in the same way.” .

“Oh, I see!” said Anna; “the windows are so
very cold that they freeze the vapor and make
the lovely frost pictures.”

“Step to the window,” said mamma, “and
breathe on the cold panes. Then tell me what
happens.” ,
Mamma heard her little son crying, and left
the room. When she came back, Anna had a
long story to tell about the frost forest she had

made on the window.
38. LITTLE JACK FROST.



ieee JACK FROST went up the hill,
Watching the stars and moon so still,
Watching the stars and moon so bright,
And laughing aloud with all his might.
Little Jack Frost ran down the hill,
Late in the night when the winds were still,
Late in the fall when the leaves came down,
Red and yellow and faded brown.

Little Jack Frost walked through the trees;
“Ah,” sighed the flowers, “ Good-bye little leaves!”
“Ah,” sighed the grasses, “Jack Frost is nigh!”

Said Little Jack Frost, “Good-bye! Good-bye!”
Little Jack Frost tripped round and round,
Spreading white snow on the frozen ground,
Nipping the breezes, icing the streams,

Chilling the warmth of the sun’s bright beams.

But when Dame Nature brought back the Spring,
Brought back the birds to chirp and sing,
Melted the snow and warmed the sky, |
Little Jack Frost went pouting by.

98
Little Jack Frost. 99

The flowers opened their eyes of blue,
Green buds peeped out and grasses grew;
It was so warm and scorched him so,
Little Jack Frost was glad to go.

Songs and Games for Little Ones.

OLivER Ditson, Publ.
es 39. THE LITTLE WHITE FAIRIES.

\,



Rep
mS QE ay late in the fall, a
“ large lake lay shining in

the sunlight. The Sun, like a

fairy godmother, was touching it with her golden
wands,— the sunbeams.

_ This great fairy was calling to the many little
fairies in the lake to come out and enjoy them-
selves in the air.

At that time, there were no pretty flowers for
the fairies to swing upon; the birds had flown
away, and the trees had lost their leaves. To
be sure, the oak still kept hers, but they were
not very pretty. The great rocks stuck up
through the bare earth. It would have been
very dreary, if it had not been for the sun-
beams.

The Sun was the little fairies’ godmother, and
with her wand she tapped for them to come out.

The fairies heard the tap. As they came, each
one put on her light gray water-proof. Some-
times, as fairies do, they became invisible. At

Too
The Little White Fairies. IOI

other times, one could see them floating in the
air.

By and by they grew cold, for their little
dresses were very thin. The cold became so
intense, that they could not stand it any longer.
One said to another, “ Let us go and pay a visit
to our godmother; it looks warm up there.”

So up, up they went, higher and higher, until
they looked like a fleecy cloud. Before they
reached the home of their godmother, the en-
emies of the good fairies met them.

These enemies were the cold winds. They
seized the little creatures, and blew them hither
and thither, tearing their pretty gray water-proofs. —
Some of the little sisters were blown away and
lost.

These terrible winds kept on blowing. .
It grew colder and colder. A very cold
blast so frightened the little fairies, that
they turned pale. “

Look! What has happened to °
them? They are all dressed
in white frocks. Six little








mS
1s
S

points are on each tiny skirt.
They are no longer fright-
ened, for they see that the
102 The Little White Fatries.

winds have done them no harm. They like
their new dresses.

One of them said, “Let us go to the earth,:
and show these pretty dresses to our gray sisters
down. there.”

“Let us go quietly and surprise them,” said
another; “I wonder if they will know us.”

So down they go, softly and slowly, and cover
the brown earth.

Next day, when their fairy godmother touches
the fairies with her golden wands, they sparkle
like diamonds.



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