[Illustration: The naval battle between the Serapis and the Poor
Richard.]
[Illustration:
GRADED LITERATURE READERS
EDITED BY
HARRY PRATT JUDSON, LL.D.,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
AND
IDA C. BENDER
SUPERVISOR OF PRIMARY GRADES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BUFFALO, NEW
YORK
FOURTH BOOK
CHARLES E. MERRILL CO., PUBLISHERS]
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY
MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO.
[24]
PREFACE
It is believed that the Graded Literature Readers will commend
themselves to thoughtful teachers by their careful grading, their sound
methods, and the variety and literary character of their subject-matter.
They have been made not only in recognition of the growing discontent
with the selections in the older readers, but also with an appreciation
of the value of the educational features which many of those readers
contained. Their chief points of divergence from other new books,
therefore, are their choice of subject-matter and their conservatism in
method.
A great consideration governing the choice of all the selections has
been that they shall interest children. The difficulty of learning to
read is minimized when the interest is aroused.
School readers, which supply almost the only reading of many children,
should stimulate a taste for good literature and awaken interest in a
wide range of subjects.
In the Graded Literature Readers good literature has been presented as
early as possible, and the classic tales and fables, to which constant
allusion is made in literature and daily life, are largely used.
Nature study has received due attention. The lessons on scientific
subjects, though necessarily simple at first, preserve always a strict
accuracy.
The careful drawings of plants and animals, and the illustrations in
color--many of them photographs from nature--will be attractive to the
pupil and helpful in connection with nature study.
No expense has been spared to maintain a high standard in the
illustrations, and excellent engravings of masterpieces are given
throughout the series with a view to quickening appreciation of the
best in art.
These books have been prepared with the hearty sympathy and very
practical assistance of many distinguished educators in different parts
of the country, including some of the most successful teachers of
reading in primary, intermediate, and advanced grades.
Thanks are due to Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons and to President
Roosevelt for their courtesy in permitting the use of the selection
from "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman."
INTRODUCTION
In the Fourth and Fifth Readers the selections are longer, the language
more advanced, and the literature of a more mature and less imaginative
character than in the earlier books.
The teacher should now place increased emphasis on the literary
side of the reading, pointing out beauties of language and thought,
and endeavoring to create an interest in the books from which the
selections are taken. Pupils will be glad to know something about the
lives of the authors whose works they are reading, and will welcome the
biographical notes given at the head of the selections, and the longer
biographical sketches throughout the book. These can be made the basis
of further biographical study at the discretion of the teacher.
Exercises and word lists at the end of the selections contain all
necessary explanations of the text, and also furnish suggestive
material for language work. For convenience, the more difficult words,
with definitions and complete diacritical markings, are grouped
together in the vocabulary at the end of the book.
A basal series of readers can do little more than broadly outline a
course in reading, relying on the teacher to carry it forward. If a
public library is within reach, the children should be encouraged to
use it; if not, the school should exert every effort to accumulate a
library of standard works to which the pupils may have ready access.
The primary purpose of a reading book is to give pupils the mastery of
the printed page, but through oral reading it also becomes a source of
valuable training of the vocal organs. Almost every one finds pleasure
in listening to good reading. Many feel that the power to give this
pleasure comes only as a natural gift, but an analysis of the art shows
that with practice any normal child may acquire it. The qualities
which are essential to good oral reading may be considered in three
groups:
First--An agreeable voice and clear articulation, which, although
possessed by many children naturally, may also be cultivated.
Second--Correct inflection and emphasis, with that due regard for
rhetorical pauses which will appear whenever a child fully understands
what he is reading and is sufficiently interested in it to lose his
self-consciousness.
Third--Proper pronunciation, which can be acquired only by association
or by direct teaching.
Clear articulation implies accurate utterance of each syllable and a
distinct termination of one syllable before another is begun.
Frequent drill on pronunciation and articulation before or after
the reading lesson will be found profitable in teaching the proper
pronunciation of new words and in overcoming faulty habits of speech.
Attention should be called to the omission of unaccented syllables in
such words as _history_ (not _histry_), _valuable_ (not _valuble_),
and to the substitution of _unt_ for _ent_, _id_ for _ed_, _iss_ for
_ess_, _unce_ for _ence_, _in_ for _ing_, in such words as _moment_,
_delighted_, _goodness_, _sentence_, _walking_. Pupils should also
learn to make such distinctions as appear between _u_ long, as in
_duty_, and _u_ after _r_, as in _rude_; between _a_ as in _hat_, _a_
as in _far_, and _a_ as in _ask_.
The above hints are suggestive only. The experienced teacher will
devise for herself exercises fitting special cases which arise in her
own work. It will be found that the best results are secured when the
interest of the class is sustained and when the pupil who is reading
aloud is made to feel that it is his personal duty and privilege to
arouse and hold this interest by conveying to his fellow pupils, in an
acceptable manner, the thought presented on the printed page.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN The Brothers Grimm 9
SEPTEMBER Helen Hunt Jackson 12
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 13
TRAVEL Robert Louis Stevenson 16
TRAVELERS' WONDERS Dr. John Aikin 19
ANTS 24
THE FOUR SUNBEAMS 28
SIFTING BOYS 30
THE FOUNTAIN James Russell Lowell 34
LEWIS CARROLL 36
WHAT ALICE SAID TO THE KITTEN Lewis Carroll 38
THE KITTEN AND THE FALLING LEAVES William Wordsworth 43
THE SNOW IMAGE Nathaniel Hawthorne 45
LITTLE BY LITTLE 63
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN 63
JEFFERSON'S TEN RULES 70
THE PET LAMB William Wordsworth 71
THE STORY OF FLORINDA Abby Morton Diaz 75
THE EAGLE Alfred, Lord Tennyson 90
PSALM XXIII 91
TILLY'S CHRISTMAS Louisa May Alcott 92
UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE William Shakspere 101
OUR FIRST NAVAL HERO 102
HIAWATHA'S SAILING Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 108
SHUN DELAY 114
THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER Lewis Carroll 119
PRINCE AHMED "The Arabian Nights" 124
THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE William Cullen Bryant 149
NESTS John Ruskin 153
SIR ISAAC NEWTON Nathaniel Hawthorne 153
LUCY William Wordsworth 165
TO A SKYLARK William Wordsworth 167
TOM GOES DOWN TO THE SEA Charles Kingsley 167
PSALM XXIV 181
A GOOD SAMARITAN George Macdonald 183
THE SPARTAN THREE HUNDRED 184
THE FAIRY LIFE William Shakspere 191
CHARLES DICKENS 192
LITTLE CHARLEY Charles Dickens 196
TRAY Robert Browning 207
THE GOLDEN FLEECE Nathaniel Hawthorne 209
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER Francis Scott Key 237
MY NATIVE LAND Sir Walter Scott 241
HUNTING THE GRIZZLY Theodore Roosevelt 242
CLASSIFIED CONTENTS
=Stories=:
Travelers' Wonders
Sifting Boys
What Alice Said to the Kitten
The Story of Florinda
Tilly's Christmas
Shun Delay
Little Charley
=Classic and Fairy Tales=:
The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean
The Snow Image
Prince Ahmed
Tom Goes down to the Sea
The Golden Fleece
=Literary Biography=:
Robert Louis Stevenson
Lewis Carroll
Charles Dickens
=History, Biography, and Adventure=:
Our First Naval Hero
Sir Isaac Newton
The Spartan Three Hundred
Hunting the Grizzly
=Nature Study=:
Ants
The House I Live In
=Poems=:
September
Travel
The Four Sunbeams
The Fountain
The Kitten and the Falling Leaves
Little by Little
The Pet Lamb
The Eagle
Under the Greenwood Tree
Hiawatha's Sailing
The Walrus and the Carpenter
The Planting of the Apple Tree
Lucy
To a Skylark
A Good Samaritan
The Fairy Life
Tray
The Star-Spangled Banner
My Native Land
=Miscellaneous=:
Jefferson's Ten Rules
Psalm xxiii
Psalm xxiv
FOURTH READER
The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean
BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Jakob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859): German
authors. The Brothers Grimm, as they are familiarly called, wrote
many learned scientific books, but they are best known to children
by their collection of German fairy and folk stories.
1. In a village lived a poor old woman, who had gathered some beans
and wanted to cook them. So she made a fire on her hearth, and that it
might burn more quickly, she lighted it with a handful of straw.
2. When she was emptying the beans into the pan, one dropped without
her observing it and lay on the ground beside a straw. Soon afterwards
a burning coal from the fire leaped down to the two.
3. Then the straw said: "Dear friends, whence do you come here?"
The coal replied: "I fortunately sprang out of the fire. If I had not
escaped by main force my death would have been certain. I should have
been burned to ashes."
4. The bean said: "I, too, have escaped with a whole skin. But if the
old woman had got me into the pan, I, like my comrades, should have
been made into broth without any mercy."
"And would a better fate have fallen to my lot?" said the straw. "The
old woman has destroyed all my brethren in fire and smoke; she seized
sixty of them at once and took their lives. I luckily slipped through
her fingers."
5. "But what are we to do now?" asked the coal.
"I think," answered the bean, "that as we have so fortunately escaped
death, we should keep together like good companions. Lest a new
mischance should overtake us here, let us go away to a foreign country."
6. This plan pleased the two others, and they set out on their way
together. Soon, however, they came to a little brook, and, as there was
no bridge, they did not know how they were to get over.
At last the straw said: "I will lay myself across, and then you can
walk over on me as on a bridge."
7. The straw, therefore, stretched herself from one bank to the other,
and the coal, who was of an impetuous nature, tripped forward quite
boldly on the newly built bridge. But when she reached the middle and
heard the water rushing beneath her, she was, after all, frightened,
and stood still.
8. The straw then began to burn, broke in two pieces, and fell into
the stream. The coal slipped after her, hissed when she sank into the
water, and breathed her last.
[Illustration]
The bean, who had prudently stayed behind on the shore, could not help
laughing at these events, and laughed so heartily that she burst.
9. It would have been all over with her also, if, by good fortune, a
tailor who was traveling in search of work had not sat down to rest by
the brook. Pitying the poor bean, he pulled out his needle and thread
and sewed her together. She thanked him prettily, but, as the tailor
used black thread, beans since then have a black seam.
* * * * *
=Ŏb s̝ẽrv´ĭng=: seeing; noticing. =Brĕth´rĕn=: brothers.
=Mĭs chȧnç_e_´=: misfortune; ill luck. =Ĭm pĕt´ū̍ _o_ŭs=: hasty.
September
BY HELEN HUNT JACKSON
Helen Fiske Hunt Jackson (1831-1885): An American poet and prose
author of much merit, whose writings appeared under the pen name
of "H. H." Among her books are "Bits of Travel," "A Century of
Dishonor," and "Ramona."
1. The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
2. The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
3. The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.
4. From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.
5. By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.
_Copyright, 1886, by Roberts Brothers._
* * * * *
=Sĕ_d_ġ´ĕs̝=: coarse grasses which grow in marshy places.
=Flä_u_nt=: wave; spread out. =No͝ok=: corner. =Tō´k_e_ns̝=: signs.
* * * * *
Which of the flowers named in this poem have you seen?
At your home do these flowers bloom in September, or earlier, or
later?
Can you name any other tokens of the coming of September?
Robert Louis Stevenson
[Illustration: Robert Louis Stevenson]
1. The famous Scotch author, Robert Louis Stevenson, was born in
Edinburgh, November 13, 1850. He was a delicate child with a sweet
temper and a happy, unselfish disposition, who bore the burden of
ill health bravely in childhood as in later life. In "The Land of
Counterpane," a poem which you may remember, he tells some of the ways
in which he amused himself during the idle days in bed.
2. When he was well enough to be up, he invented games for himself and
took keen delight in the world of outdoor life.
3. His education was carried on in a somewhat irregular fashion. He
attended schools in Edinburgh, and studied with private tutors at
places to which his parents had gone for the benefit of his health or
of their own. He thus became an excellent linguist, and gained wide
knowledge of foreign life and manners. He early showed a taste for
literature, beginning as a boy the careful choice of language which
made him a master of English prose.
4. Stevenson's father had planned to have him follow the family
profession of engineering. With this in view he was sent to Edinburgh
University in the autumn of 1868. Later he gave up engineering and
attended law classes; but law, like engineering, was put aside to
enable him to fulfil his strong desire for a literary life.
5. His first stories and essays, published in various magazines, met
with favorable notice. In 1878 he published his first book, "An Inland
Voyage," the account of a canoe trip with a friend.
6. The mists and east winds of his native Scotland proved too harsh
for his delicate lungs, and year after year he found it necessary to
spend more and more time away from his Edinburgh home. On one of these
journeys in quest of health, he came to America, and in "Across the
Plains" he describes his journey in an emigrant train from New York to
San Francisco. It was on this visit to California that he met Mrs.
Osbourne, who became his wife in 1880.
7. "Treasure Island," a stirring tale of adventure, was published in
1883. It was followed by two other boys' stories, "The Black Arrow" and
"Kidnapped."
8. In 1887 Stevenson and his wife again visited America. They hired a
yacht and spent two years sailing among the islands of the South Seas,
finally visiting Apia in Samoa. Samoa pleased Stevenson, and as the
climate suited him, he decided to make his home there. At Vailima, his
Samoan home, he spent four happy years with his wife and his mother.
Then his health failed, and he died suddenly, December 3, 1894. He was
buried, as he had desired, on the summit of a mountain near his home.
9. Besides many novels and volumes of essays, Stevenson was the author
of four volumes of poetry. The best known of these is "A Child's Garden
of Verses," a book of delightful child poems from which the poem
"Travel" is taken.
* * * * *
=Lĭṉ´guĭst=: a person skilled in languages. =Fŏr´_e_ĭ_g_n=:
belonging to other countries. =Prō̍ fes´sion=: employment; the
business which one follows. =Cȧ no̤_e_´=: a small, light boat.
=Ĕm´ĭ grants=: emigrants are people who have left one country to
settle in another. =Quĕst=: search. =Yạ_ch_t=: a light sea-going
vessel used for parties of pleasure, racing, etc. =Ä´pï ä.=
=Sä mō´ä.= =V_a_ī lï´ma.=
[Illustration]
Travel
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow;--
Where below another sky
Parrot islands anchored lie,
And, watched by cockatoos and goats,
Lonely Crusoes building boats;--
Where in sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities, miles about,
Are with mosque and minaret
Among sandy gardens set,
And the rich goods from near and far
Hang for sale in the bazaar;--
Where the Great Wall round China goes,
And on one side the desert blows,
And with bell and voice and drum,
Cities on the other hum;--
Where are forests hot as fire,
Wide as England, tall as a spire,
Full of apes and cocoanuts
And the negro hunters' huts;--
Where the knotty crocodile
Lies and blinks in the Nile,
And the red flamingo flies
Hunting fish before his eyes;---
Where in jungles near and far,
Man-devouring tigers are,
Lying close and giving ear
Lest the hunt be drawing near,
Or a comer-by be seen
Swinging in a palanquin;--
Where among the desert sands
Some deserted city stands,
All its children, sweep and prince,
Grown to manhood ages since,
Not a foot in street or house,
Not a stir of child or mouse,
And when kindly falls the night,
In all the town no spark of light.
There I'll come when I'm a man,
With a camel caravan;
Light a fire in the gloom
Of some dusty dining-room;
See the pictures on the walls,
Heroes, fights, and festivals;
And in a corner find the toys
Of the old Egyptian boys.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
=Crṳ´sō_e_s̝=: men like Robinson Crusoe, the hero of the story of
that name. He was a shipwrecked sailor who lived many years on an
uninhabited island. =Mosque=: a church in some Eastern countries.
=Mĭn´ȧrĕt=: the tall, slender tower of a mosque. =Bȧzä_a_r´=: in
the East a shop where goods are kept for sale. =The Great Wall=: a
wall fourteen hundred miles long, built many hundreds of years ago
for the defence of the Chinese Empire. =Jŭṉ´gl_e_s̝=: thickets of
trees and vines found in hot countries. =Giving ear=: listening.
=Pal an quin´=: an enclosed carriage, used in China and India,
which is borne on the shoulders of men by means of two poles.
=Swē_e_p=: a boy who cleans chimneys by sweeping them. =Căr´ȧ văn=:
a company of travelers through a desert. =Fĕs´tĭ vals̝=: feasts.
[Illustration: "Ah, ah, papa!" cried Elizabeth, "I have found you out."]
Travelers' Wonders
BY DR. JOHN AIKIN
Dr. John Aikin (1747-1822): The author of many scientific and
literary works. This selection is from "Evenings at Home," a volume
of stories for children written by Dr. Aikin and his sister,
Mrs. Barbauld. A hundred years ago, there were few books written
especially for young people, except grammars, histories, and other
text-books, and this volume of instructive stories was very popular.
1. One winter evening Captain Compass was sitting by the fireside with
his children around him.
"Oh, papa," said little Jack, "do tell a story about what you have
seen in your voyages. We have been reading some wonderful tales of
adventure. As you have sailed round and round the world, you must have
seen many strange things."
2. "That I have, my son," said Captain Compass, "and, if it will
interest you, I will tell you some of the curious things I have seen.
3. "Once about this time of the year I was in a country where it was
very cold. To keep warm, the people had garments made from an animal's
outer covering which they stripped off his back while he was yet alive.
They also wore skins of beasts, these skins being made smooth and soft
in some way.
4. "Their homes were made of stones, of earth hardened in the fire, or
of the stalks of a large plant which grew in that country. In the walls
were holes to let in the light; but to keep out the rain and the cold
air these holes were covered with a sort of transparent stone, made of
melted sand.
5. "They kept their homes warm by means of a queer kind of rock which
they had discovered in the earth. This rock, when broken, burned and
gave out great heat."
6. "Dear me!" said Jack, "what wonderful rock! I suppose it was
somewhat like flints that give out sparks when we knock them together."
"I don't think the flints would burn," said the Captain; "besides, this
was of a darker color.
7. "The food, too, of these people was strange. They ate the flesh of
certain animals, roots of plants, and cakes made of powdered seeds.
They often put on these cakes a greasy matter which was the product of
a large animal.
"They ate, also, the leaves and other parts of a number of plants, some
quite raw, others prepared in different ways by the aid of fire.
8. "For drink they liked water in which certain dry leaves had been
steeped. I was told that these leaves came from a great distance.
"What astonished me most was the use of a drink so hot that it seemed
like liquid fire. I once got a mouthful of it by mistake, taking it
for water, and it almost took away my breath. Indeed, people are often
killed by it; yet many of them are so foolish that they will give for
it anything they have.
9. "In warmer weather these people wore cloth made from a sort of
vegetable wool growing in pods upon bushes. Sometimes they covered
themselves with a fine glossy stuff, which I was told was made out of
the webs of worms. Think of the great number of worms required to make
so large a quantity of stuff as I saw used!
"The women especially wore very queer things. Like most Indian nations,
they wore feathers in their headdress.
10. "I was also much surprised to see that they brought up in their
houses an animal of the tiger kind, with sharp teeth and claws. In
spite of its natural fierceness this animal was played with and
caressed by timid women and children."
11. "I am sure I would not play with it," said Jack.
"Why, you might get an ugly scratch if you did," said the Captain. "The
speech of these people seems very harsh to a stranger, yet they talk to
one another with great ease and quickness.
12. "One of their oddest customs is the way that the men have of
greeting the women. Let the weather be what it will, they uncover their
heads. If they wish to seem very respectful, they stay uncovered for
some time."
13. "Why, that is like pulling off our hats," said Jack.
"Ah, ah, papa!" cried Elizabeth, "I have found you out. All this while
you have been telling us about our own country and what is done at
home."
14. "But," said Jack, "we don't burn rock, nor eat grease and powdered
seeds, nor wear skins and worms' webs, nor play with tigers."
15. "What is coal but rock?" asked the Captain, "and is not butter
grease; and corn, seeds; and leather, skins; and silk, the web of a
kind of worm? And may we not as well call a cat an animal of the tiger
kind, as a tiger an animal of the cat kind?
16. "If you remember what I have said, you will find with your sister's
help that all the other wonderful things I have told you about are ones
we know quite well.
"I meant to show you that to a stranger our common things might seem
very wonderful. I also wanted to show you that every day we call a
great many things by their names without ever thinking about their
nature; so it is really only their names and not the things themselves
that we know."
* * * * *
=Trăns pâr´ent=: that can be seen through. =Glŏs_s_´y̆=: smooth and
shining. =Rē̍ quīr_e_d´=: needed.
* * * * *
We wear clothes made from sheep's ----.
Our shoes are made of the skin of beasts, made smooth and soft:
this is called ----.
Some houses are built of ----, which are made of earth hardened in
the fire.
---- are holes to let in light and air.
In these holes is put ----, which is made of melted sand.
---- is a rock which burns.
We eat ----, ---- and ----, which are the flesh of animals.
We eat cakes made of the powdered seeds of ---- and ----.
We also use for food ----, ----, and ----, which are the roots of
plants.
The leaves of ---- are cooked and eaten.
---- grows in pods upon bushes, and is used for making clothes.
---- is a glossy fabric made out of the webs of worms.
Ants
1. How often you have seen ants running about the lawn, but have you
ever stopped to watch them and to study their habits? Let me tell you
some facts which have been learned about them. I am sure they will give
you a new interest in these wise little creatures.
2. It may seem to you that ants run to and fro in an aimless way; but
this is not the case, for they have work to do, and they are doing it
with all their might. They cannot see far before them, and it is by
means of their feelers, or perhaps by scent, that they find their way.
3. You must remember that small weeds are to them like huge trees, so
we must look upon them as travelers following a track through great
forests. You will see, too, that ants stop from time to time to rest
and to clean off the particles of earth which cling to them.
4. Ants, like bees, do not enjoy living alone. In their homes, which
we call ant-hills, many thousands of them live together. These homes
are like great cities; indeed, such places as London and New York are
the only human cities which compare with them in size. There is never
any disorder in these great homes, although each ant is free to build,
fight, hunt, or go where it pleases.
5. If the top of an ant-hill be taken off, there will be found
nurseries, chambers, halls, and kitchens--all snug and waterproof.
6. In some countries ants build their houses above ground and tunnel
out great cellars under them. But most of the ants we know make their
homes in the earth, where they can keep warmer than in nests above
ground.
7. Some ants tunnel out a home in the ground and make a little hillock
of earth around the top. At night they close the entrances with leaves,
bits of straw, and tiny twigs. If you watch their nests in the morning
you see the busy little ants open their doors and hurry out.
[Illustration: An ant and its cow]
8. Some hunt insects for food; some gather honey from flowers; others
milk their cows. These cows are plant lice, which yield a sweet juice
of which ants are very fond. So ants keep herds of these little
insects. They keep also beetles and other insects as pets, or for use.
9. While some of the ants are getting food, those at home are busy
clearing out the galleries and doing other work. The well-fed ants
return to the nests and share their food with the workers. One of the
ant laws is that each must help others for the good of all.
10. Deep down in the bottom of the nest lives the queen ant, the mother
of the family, who is very much larger than the others. She does not
take care of her little ones. This is done by ant nurses, who pick up
the tiny eggs and care for them. In the morning the eggs are carried
up to the higher chambers, which are warmed by the sun. In the evening
they are taken back to the lower rooms away from the chill air.
[Illustration: An ant's nest]
11. The eggs hatch into grubs, which look like little grains of rice.
These are the ant-babies. The careful nurses feed them, keep them warm
and clean, and carry them from one room to another, for babies, you
know, must be kept comfortable. Think how busy the nurses must be with
hundreds and thousands of babies to care for!
12. Some ants keep slaves. Regular bands of soldiers go out and bring
home the grubs of another kind of ant. When these grow up they help
their masters work. Sometimes the masters depend so much on their
slaves that they will not build nests, care for their young, nor even
feed themselves. They become so helpless that they die if their slaves
are taken from them.
13. Sometimes two ants will fight together until both are killed.
Sometimes armies of ants fight together fiercely until one or the other
party comes off victor.
14. In cold countries ants sleep through the winter deep down in their
lower rooms. In warmer countries they lay up stores in summer for the
chilly days when it would be hard for them to find food in the meadows
and fields.
15. In Texas there are ants which clear spaces ten or twelve feet
around their nests, only leaving the needle grass or "ant rice," which
they use for food.
16. Among other interesting species of ants are the leaf-cutting ant,
found in Central America, and the honey ant of Mexico.
[Illustration: Leaf-cutting ants]
* * * * *
=Hĭl´lȯ_c_k=: a small mound. =Spe´cies=: kinds.
* * * * *
Write sentences telling five things you have learned about ants
from this story.
Can you tell anything not mentioned above which you have learned in
observing ants?
[Illustration]
The Four Sunbeams
1. Four little sunbeams came earthward one day,
All shining and dancing along on their way,
Resolved that their course should be blest.
"Let us try," they all whispered, "some kindness to do,
Not seek our own happiness all the day through,
Then meet in the eve at the west."
2. One sunbeam ran in at a low cottage door,
And played "hide and seek" with a child on the floor,
Till baby laughed loud in his glee,
And chased in delight his strange playmate so bright,
The little hands grasping in vain for the light
That ever before them would flee.
3. One crept to the couch where an invalid lay,
And brought him a dream of the sweet summer day,
Its bird-song and beauty and bloom;
Till pain was forgotten and weary unrest,
And in fancy he roamed through the scenes he loved best,
Far away from the dim, darkened room.
4. One stole to the heart of a flower that was sad
And loved and caressed her until she was glad,
And lifted her white face again;
For love brings content to the lowliest lot,
And finds something sweet in the dreariest spot,
And lightens all labor and pain.
5. And one, where a little blind girl sat alone,
Not sharing the mirth of her playfellows, shone
On hands that were folded and pale,
And kissed the poor eyes that had never known sight,
That never would gaze on the beautiful light,
Till angels had lifted the veil.
6. At last, when the shadows of evening were falling,
And the sun, their great father, his children was calling,
Four sunbeams passed into the west.
All said: "We have found that, in seeking the pleasure
Of others, we fill to the full our own measure."
Then softly they sank to their rest.
* * * * *
=Glē_e_=: joy; mirth. =Flē_e_=: run away. =Ĭn´vȧ lĭd=: one who is
weak from illness. =Rō_a_med=: wandered; went from place to place.
=Drē_a_r´ĭ ĕst=: most comfortless and sorrowful.
* * * * *
Kind words cost nothing, but are worth much.
Sifting Boys
1. Not long ago I was looking over one of the great saw-mills on the
Mississippi River, in company with the manager of the mill. As we came
to one room, he said: "I want you to notice the boys in this room, and
I will tell you about them afterwards."
2. There were some half-dozen boys at work on saws, with different
machines--some broadening the points of the teeth, some sharpening
them, some deepening the notches between them. There was one lad who
stood leaning up against a bench, not trying to do anything.
3. After we had passed out of the room, the manager said: "That room
is my sieve. The fine boys go through that sieve to higher places and
higher pay. The coarse boys remain in the sieve and are thrown out as
of no use for this mill."
4. Then he explained what he meant. "If a boy wants to work in the
mill, I give him the job of keeping the men in all parts of the mill
supplied with drinking-water. That is the lowest position and draws
the lowest pay. I say to that boy: 'When you have nothing else to do,
go into this room, and then I shall know where to find you when I want
you.'
5. "But there is a much more important reason why I send him into this
room. In a business like this our men are constantly changing. A good
deal of the work, as you will see by watching the machines and those
who manage them, requires much attention and skill. I must, therefore,
look out for the best men to put into the highest positions.
6. "Now, I put the water-boy into this room, where there are several
kinds of work being done. There are pieces of broken saws lying about,
and some of the tools that are used in sharpening and mending them.
7. "I watch that boy. If he begins handling the broken saws, looking
them over, trying them, practicing on them with the tools there,
watching the other boys at their machines, asking questions about how
the work is done, and always making use of his spare time in one way
or another, why, that boy is very soon promoted.
[Illustration: Boys in the sieve]
8. "He is first put to work on some of the machines in this room, and
afterwards on those that require greater skill, and is pushed ahead
as rapidly as there are openings for him. He soon goes to a better
position and better pay, and I get a new water-boy. He has gone through
the sieve.
9. "But there is another kind of boy. When he has time to spare, he
spends it in doing nothing. He leans up against the benches, crosses
one leg over the other, whistles, stares out of the window, no doubt
wishing he was outside, and watches the clock to see how soon he can
get away. If he talks with the other boys, it is not to ask questions
about their work, but to waste their time with some nonsense or other.
10. "I often do all I can to help such a boy. I push the tools under
his very nose. I ask him questions about them. I talk with him about
his plans for the future. I do all that I can to awaken some kind of
life in him. If the boy has any energy in him, well and good; if he has
not, he is simply useless. I don't want such a boy in this mill even as
a water-boy."
* * * * *
=Prō̍ mōt´ĕd=: advanced; raised in rank. =Ĕn´ẽr ġy̆=: force and
resolution; power for work.
* * * * *
There is no one else who has the power to be so much your friend or so
much your enemy as yourself.
Duty
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When Duty whispers low, "Thou must,"
The youth replies, "I can."
EMERSON
The Fountain
BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
[Illustration: James Russell Lowell]
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): An American author. Among his
best known poems are "The Vision of Sir Launfal," "A Fable for
Critics," and "The Biglow Papers." "My Study Windows" and "Among
My Books" are the best of his prose works. He was Minister to
Spain and afterwards to Great Britain, and the volume "Democracy"
contains some of his most brilliant addresses.
1. Into the sunshine,
Full of the light,
Leaping and flashing
From morn till night;
2. Into the moonlight,
Whiter than snow,
Waving so flower-like
When the winds blow;
3. Into the starlight,
Rushing in spray,
Happy at midnight,
Happy by day;
4. Ever in motion,
Blithesome and cheery,
Still climbing heavenward,
Never aweary;
5. Glad of all weathers,
Still seeming best,
Upward or downward
Motion thy rest;
6. Full of a nature
Nothing can tame,
Changed every moment,
Ever the same;
7. Ceaseless aspiring,
Ceaseless content,
Darkness or sunshine
Thy element;
8. Glorious fountain!
Let my heart be
Fresh, changeful, constant,
Upward, like thee!
* * * * *
=Sprā=_y_: water falling in very small drops. =Blīt̶h_e´_sȯm_e_=:
gay; cheerful. =Ȧ wē_a´_ry̆=: tired. =Ăs pīr´ĭng=: rising upward.
* * * * *
Select ten words which tell what the fountain does.
Lewis Carroll
1. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an English author, better known by his
pen name, Lewis Carroll, was born January 27, 1832. His father was a
clergyman, and the home of Charles's boyhood was in the country, some
distance from the little village of Daresbury. The neighborhood was so
secluded that even the passing of a cart was an interesting event, but
we may fancy that the home itself was not a quiet one, since there were
in it eleven boys and girls.
2. Charles was a bright, merry boy who invented games for the
entertainment of his brothers and sisters, and made pets of snails,
toads, and other queer animals. As a boy he seems to have lived in the
"Wonderland" which later he described for other children. He enjoyed
climbing trees, also, and other boyish sports.
3. When Charles was eleven years old the family moved to a Yorkshire
village, and a year later he was sent from home to school. Fond as he
was of play, he was fond of study, too, and his schoolmaster found
him a "gentle, intelligent, well-conducted boy." After three years at
Rugby, the most famous of the English preparatory schools, Charles
Dodgson went to Oxford University. At Christ Church, Oxford, as
student, tutor, and lecturer, the remainder of his life was spent. The
routine of his days was very simple and regular. He spent the mornings
in his lecture room, the afternoons in the country or on the river, and
the evenings with his books, either reading or preparing for the next
day's work.
4. He was very fond of children and was a great favorite with them,
inventing puzzles, games, and stories for their amusement. One July
afternoon in 1862, he took three little girls on a boating excursion,
and on the way he entertained them with a wonderful story about the
adventures of a little girl named Alice. At the entreaty of his child
friends, Mr. Dodgson afterwards wrote out this story. It was published
with the title "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," under the pen name
of Lewis Carroll. It became at once a child-classic, being widely read
in England and America, and translated into French, German, Italian,
and other languages.
5. Mr. Dodgson wrote several other popular books for children, the
best known of which are "Through the Looking-glass," a continuation
of Alice's adventures; "Sylvie and Bruno;" and "The Hunting of the
Snark." Besides these stories, he wrote several learned works on
mathematics. It was hard for people to realize that Charles Dodgson,
the mathematician, and Lewis Carroll, the author of the charming fairy
tales, were one and the same person.
6. After a short illness, Mr. Dodgson died January 14, 1898. "The
world will think of Lewis Carroll as one who opened out a new vein in
literature--a new and delightful vein--which added at once mirth and
refinement to life."
* * * * *
=Sē̍ clūd´ĕd=: apart from others; lonely. =Ĕn tẽr tā_i_n´ment=:
amusement. =Ro̤_u_ tïn_e_´=: regular course of action.
What Alice Said to the Kitten
BY LEWIS CARROLL
I
1. One thing was certain, that the _white_ kitten had had nothing to do
with it; it was the black kitten's fault entirely. For the white kitten
had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of
an hour, and bearing it pretty well, considering; so you see that it
_couldn't_ have had any hand in the mischief.
2. The way Dinah washed her children's faces was this: First, she held
the poor thing down by its ear with one paw, and then with the other
paw she rubbed its face all over the wrong way, beginning at the nose.
Just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which
was lying quite still and trying to pur--no doubt feeling that it was
all meant for its good.
[Illustration: From the painting by Angelica Kaufmann
Friends now, Pussy]
3. But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the
afternoon, and so, while Alice was sitting curled up in a corner of the
great armchair, half talking to herself and half asleep, the kitten had
been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had
been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had
all come undone again. There it was, spread over the hearthrug, all
knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the
middle.
4. "Oh, you wicked, wicked little thing!" cried Alice, catching up the
kitten and giving it a little kiss to make it understand that it was in
disgrace. "Really, Dinah ought to have taught you better manners! You
_ought_, Dinah; you know you ought!" she added, looking reproachfully
at the old cat and speaking in as cross a voice as she could manage.
Then she scrambled back into the armchair, taking the kitten and the
worsted with her, and began winding up the ball again.
5. But she didn't get on very fast, as she was talking all the time,
sometimes to the kitten, and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat very
demurely on her knee, pretending to watch the progress of the winding,
and now and then putting out one paw and gently touching the ball, as
if it would be glad to help if it might.
6. "Do you know what to-morrow is, Kitty?" Alice began. "You'd have
guessed if you'd been up in the window with me--only Dinah was making
you tidy, so you couldn't. I was watching the boys getting in sticks
for the bonfire--and it wants plenty of sticks, Kitty! Only it got so
cold and it snowed so they had to leave off. Never mind, Kitty; we'll
go and see the bonfire to-morrow."
7. Here Alice wound two or three turns of the worsted round the
kitten's neck, just to see how it would look. This led to a scramble,
in which the ball rolled down upon the floor and yards and yards of it
got unwound again.
II
8. "Do you know, I was so angry, Kitty," Alice went on as soon as they
were comfortably settled again, "when I saw all the mischief you had
been doing, I was very near opening the window and putting you out into
the snow! And you'd have deserved it, you little mischievous darling!
What have you got to say for yourself?
9. "Now, don't interrupt me!" she went on, holding up one finger; "I'm
going to tell you all your faults. Number one: You squeaked twice while
Dinah was washing your face this morning. Now, you can't deny it,
Kitty; I heard you! What's that you say?"--pretending that the kitten
was speaking--"Her paw went into your eye? Well, that's _your_ fault
for keeping your eyes open. If you'd shut them tight up it wouldn't
have happened.
10. "Now, don't make any more excuses, but listen. Number two: You
pulled Snowdrop away by the tail just as I had put down the saucer of
milk before her! What! you were thirsty, were you? How do you know she
wasn't thirsty, too? Now for number three: You unwound every bit of the
worsted while I wasn't looking.
11. "That's three faults, Kitty, and you've not been punished for any
of them yet. You know I am saving up all your punishments for Wednesday
week. Suppose they had saved up all _my_ punishments," she went on,
talking more to herself than to the kitten, "what _would_ they do at
the end of a year? I should be sent to prison, I suppose, when the day
came.
12. "Or--let me see--suppose each punishment was to be going without a
dinner? Then, when the miserable day came, I should have to go without
fifty dinners at once. Well, I shouldn't mind _that_ much. I'd far
rather go without them than eat them.
13. "Do you hear the snow against the window panes, Kitty? How nice and
soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over
outside. I wonder if the snow _loves_ the trees and fields that it
kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with
a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the
summer comes again.'
14. "And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves
all in green and dance about whenever the wind blows--oh, that's very
pretty!" cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands:
"And I do so _wish_ it were true."
* * * * *
=Rē̍ prō_a_ch´fụl ly̆=: chidingly. =Dē̍ mūr=_e_´=ly̆=: soberly.
=Mĭs´ch_i_ē̍ v_o_ŭs=: doing harm in play.
* * * * *
Round, square, broad, yellow, silver, sweet, gold, narrow, sour,
brown, crooked, stony.
Place together the words which show (1) form; (2) taste; (3) color;
(4) material.
Use each of the words in a sentence telling something which always
has the quality named: as, a ball is round.
The Kitten and the Falling Leaves
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
[Illustration: William Wordsworth]
William Wordsworth (1770-1850): An English poet. He found poetry
in the simplest scenes and incidents of everyday life, and helped
others to see the beauty of nature, to reverence God, and to
sympathize with even the lowliest of their fellowmen. "Intimations
of Immortality," "Laodamia," "The Excursion," and "The Prelude" are
among the best of his longer poems.
[Illustration: Sporting with the leaves that fall]
That way look, my infant, lo!
What a pretty baby show!
See the kitten on the wall,
Sporting with the leaves that fall,
Withered leaves--one, two, and three--
From the lofty elder tree!
Through the calm and frosty air
Of this morning bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink
Softly, slowly: one might think,
From the motions that are made,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or fairy hither tending,
To this lower world descending,
Each invisible and mute,
In his wavering parachute.
But the kitten, how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!
First at one, and then its fellow,
Just as light and just as yellow;
There are many now--now one--
Now they stop and there are none:
What intenseness of desire
In her upward eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap, half-way
Now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then
Has it in her power again:
Now she works with three or four,
Like an Indian conjurer;
Quick as he in feats of art,
Far beyond in joy of heart.
* * * * *
=Ĕd´dy̆ ĭng=: moving in a circle. =Cŏn ve̱_ye_d´=: carried.
=Sylph=: a fairy. =Păr´ȧ çhṳt_e_=: a sort of umbrella by means
of which descent is made from a balloon. =Cȯn´jŭr ẽr=: magician.
=Fē_a_ts=: tricks.
The Snow-Image
BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864): An American novelist. His best
works are "The Scarlet Letter," "The House of the Seven Gables,"
and "The Marble Faun." Hawthorne wrote also several delightful
books for children; among these are "Grandfather's Chair," a
collection of stories from New England history, "Biographical
Stories," "The Wonder Book," and "Tanglewood Tales"--the two latter
being volumes of stories from Greek mythology.
I
1. One afternoon of a cold winter's day, when the sun shone forth with
chilly brightness, after a long storm, two children asked leave of
their mother to run out and play in the new-fallen snow.
[Illustration: Forth sallied the two children.]
2. The elder child was a little girl, whom, because she was of a
tender and modest disposition, and was thought to be very beautiful,
her parents and other people, who were familiar with her, used to call
Violet.
3. But her brother was known by the title of Peony, on account of the
ruddiness of his broad and round little phiz, which made everybody
think of sunshine and great scarlet flowers.
"Yes, Violet--yes, my little Peony," said their kind mother; "you may
go out and play in the new snow."
4. Forth sallied the two children, with a hop-skip-and-jump that
carried them at once into the very heart of a huge snowdrift, whence
Violet emerged like a snow bunting, while little Peony floundered out
with his round face in full bloom.
5. Then what a merry time had they! To look at them frolicking in the
wintry garden, you would have thought that the dark and pitiless storm
had been sent for no other purpose but to provide a new plaything for
Violet and Peony; and that they themselves had been created, as the
snowbirds were, to take delight only in the tempest and in the white
mantle which it spread over the earth.
6. At last, when they had frosted one another all over with handfuls
of snow, Violet, after laughing heartily at little Peony's figure, was
struck with a new idea.
"You look exactly like a snow-image, Peony," said she, "if your cheeks
were not so red. And that puts me in mind! Let us make an image out of
snow--an image of a little girl--and it shall be our sister and shall
run about and play with us all winter long. Won't it be nice?"
7. "Oh, yes!" cried Peony, as plainly as he could speak, for he was but
a little boy. "That will be nice! And mamma shall see it!"
"Yes," answered Violet; "mamma shall see the new little girl. But she
must not make her come into the warm parlor, for, you know, our little
snow-sister will not love the warmth."
8. And forthwith the children began this great business of making a
snow-image that should run about; while their mother, who was sitting
at the window and overheard some of their talk, could not help smiling
at the gravity with which they set about it. They really seemed to
imagine that there would be no difficulty whatever in creating a live
little girl out of the snow.
9. Indeed, it was an exceedingly pleasant sight--those bright little
souls at their tasks! Moreover, it was really wonderful to observe how
knowingly and skillfully they managed the matter. Violet assumed the
chief direction and told Peony what to do, while, with her own delicate
fingers, she shaped out all the nicer parts of the snow-figure.
10. It seemed, in fact, not so much to be made by the children, as
to grow up under their hands, while they were playing and prattling
about it. Their mother was quite surprised at this; and the longer she
looked, the more and more surprised she grew.
II