Chapter III

Near the maple trees there was a log house.
The next morning father made a hot fire in the log house.
“Now we will go to the trees and get the sap,” said father.
He hung a big kettle over the fire.
They put the sap into this big kettle.
After a long time the sap was brown and thick.
“Here is some good maple syrup,” said father.
He put the syrup into pans.
There were big pans and little pans and middle-sized pans.
“Here is a little pan for you, Mary.
This one is for you, John,” said father.
“When the syrup is cold and hard it will be maple sugar.”

THE WOODPECKER.

One day John was lying on the grass under a big maple tree.
All at once he heard some one tap on the tree.
“Tap, tip-y, tap, tap, tap! Tap, tip-y, tap, tap, tap!
John looked all around.
Then he looked up in the tree.
He saw a woodpecker making a hole in the tree.
That is the way a woodpecker builds his nest.
Some chips fell on the grass beside John.
“Tap, tap!” went the busy little carpenter.
How happy he was at his work!

LITTLE GOODY TWOSHOES.

Once there was a little girl.
She was very poor.
She had but one old shoe.
A kind man gave her some new shoes.
Then the little girl was very happy.
She said to every one she met,
“See! Two shoes! Two shoes!”
So she was called Goody Twoshoes.

II

Goody Twoshoes could not go to school.
“I wish I could read,” she said.
“I will ask the children to help me.”
Every day she met the children when they came home from school.
They let Goody Twoshoes take their books.
Soon she could read better than her friends.
“Now I can teach other children to read,” said Goody Twoshoes.
She made some letters out of wood.
She made nine sets of the small letters:--
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
n o p q r s t u v w x y z.
Then she made five sets of the large letters:--
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.

III

Little Goody Twoshoes put the letters in a basket.
She first went to little Billy’s house.
She knocked at the door, “Tap, tap, tap!”
“Who is there?”
“Little Goody Twoshoes,” she said.
“I have come to teach Billy.”
Little Billy ran to her and said,
“Good morning, Goody Twoshoes.”
“Good morning, Billy,” said little Twoshoes.

Goody Twoshoes put down the letters like this:--
b d f h k m o q s u w y z
a c e g i l n p r t v x j.
Billy picked them up and gave their names.
Then he put the letters like this:--
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
n o p q r s t u v w x y z.
Goody Twoshoes put down the large letters like this:--
B D F H K M O Q S
U W Y Z A C E G I
L N P R T V X J.
Billy picked them up and gave their names.
Then he put them like this:--
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.