Chapter III

26. I have now finished my anecdotes of Isaac Newton's boyhood. My story would be far too long were I to mention all the splendid discoveries which he made after he came to be a man.

He was the first that found out the nature of light; for, before his day, nobody could tell what the sunshine was composed of.

27. You remember, I suppose, the story of an apple's falling on his head and thus leading him to discover the force of gravitation, which keeps the heavenly bodies in their courses. When he had once got hold of this idea, he never permitted his mind to rest until he had searched out all the laws by which the planets are guided through the sky.

28. This he did as thoroughly as if he had gone up among the stars and tracked them in their orbits. The boy had found out the mechanism of a windmill; the man explained to his fellow men the mechanism of the universe.

29. While making these researches he was accustomed to spend night after night in a lofty tower, gazing at the heavenly bodies through a telescope. His mind was lifted far above the things of this world. He may be said, indeed, to have spent the greater part of his life in worlds that lie thousands and millions of miles away; for where the thoughts and the heart are, there is our true life.

30. Did you never hear the story of Newton and his little dog, Diamond? One day, when he was fifty years old, and had been hard at work more than twenty years studying the theory of light, he went out of his chamber, leaving his little dog asleep before the fire.

31. On the table lay a heap of manuscript papers containing all the discoveries which Newton had made during those twenty years. When his master was gone, up rose little Diamond, jumped upon the table, and overthrew the lighted candle. The papers immediately caught fire.

32. Just as the destruction was completed, Newton opened the chamber door and perceived that the labors of twenty years were reduced to a heap of ashes. There stood little Diamond, the author of all the mischief. Almost any other man would have sentenced the dog to immediate death. But Newton patted him on the head, with his usual kindness, although grief was at his heart.

33. "O Diamond, Diamond," exclaimed he, "thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!"

This incident affected his health and spirits for some time afterwards; but, from his conduct towards the little dog, you may judge what was the sweetness of his temper.

34. Newton lived to be a very old man, and acquired great fame. He was made a member of Parliament and was knighted by the king. But he cared little for earthly fame and honors, and felt no pride in the vastness of his knowledge. All that he had learned only made him feel how little he knew in comparison to what remained to be known.

35. "I seem to myself like a child," he observed, "playing on the sea-shore and picking up here and there a curious shell or a pretty pebble, while the boundless ocean of truth lies undiscovered before me."

36. At last, in 1727, when he was fourscore and five years old, Sir Isaac Newton died--or, rather, he ceased to live on earth. We may be permitted to believe that he is still searching out the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Creator as earnestly, and with even more success, than while his spirit animated a mortal body.

He has left a fame behind him which will be as lasting as if his name were written in letters of light formed by the stars upon the midnight sky.

* * * * *

I. =Ĭn ġē̍ nū´ĭ ty̆=: skill; inventiveness.
=Măn ū̍ făc´tū̍r_e_d=: made. =Är´c̵hĭ tĕct=: a person skilled
in the art of building. =Mē̍ c̵hăn´ĭ cal=: relating to tools and
machinery. =Vī´brāt_e_s=: moves to and fro.

II. =Phi los´o phy=: the science or knowledge of things, their
causes and effects. =Prī_e_d=: looked closely. =Hŏp´pẽr=: a box
through which grain passes into a mill. =Con struc´tion=: manner
of building; arrangement. =Cŏn vẽrt´ĕd=: changed. =De fi´cien cy=:
want. =Quạd´rụ pĕd=: an animal having four feet. =Rev er en´tial=:
respectful; humble.

III. =Grav i ta´tion=: the law of nature by which all bodies
are drawn towards one another. =Ôr´bĭts=: paths round the sun.
=Mĕc̵h´an ĭs̝m=: Arrangement of the parts of anything. =Fō_u_r
scōr_e_=: eighty.

* * * * *

Who is here?

It is I. It is he. It is she. It is we. It is they.

Who was here?

It was I. It was he. It was she. It was we. It was they.

Answer the following questions, using the right words:

Who is there? Who is coming? Who is reading the book? Who brought
the flowers?

* * * * *

It is not what we earn, but what we save, that makes us rich. It is not what we eat, but what we digest, that makes us strong. It is not what we read, but what we understand, that makes us wise. It is not what we intend, but what we do, that makes us useful.

Lucy

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

1. She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise,
And very few to love;

2. A violet by a mossy stone,
Half hidden from the eye;
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky!

3. She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

From the painting by Jules Breton

The Song of the Lark]

To a Skylark

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

* * * * *

=Ē̍ thē´rē̍al=: heavenly. =Mĭn´strĕl=: poet; singer.

Tom Goes down to the Sea

BY CHARLES KINGSLEY

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875): An English clergyman, who was the
author of several popular novels. He wrote two books for children
which have become child classics--"The Heroes," a collection of
Greek fairy tales, and "The Water-Babies."

This selection is from "The Water-Babies," which is a story about
the strange and beautiful changes which go on in the water. Tom was
a little chimney sweep whom the fairies changed into a water-baby.
He had been a poor, neglected little boy, who was mischievous and
unkind because he knew no better. At first he was a mischievous,
unkind water-baby, and the water-creatures found no pleasure in
playing with him, so that for a while he was very lonely. But, as
he learned to be more kind and loving, he won friends. Here is the
story of his journey in search of other water-babies, whom at last
he found in the great sea.