Chapter II: 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.

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

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.=

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.

* * * * *

=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.

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.

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.

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.

* * * * *

=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?

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.

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

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