LESSON 1 A boy. I am a boy. LESSON 2 English. An English boy. I am an English boy. My name is Henry. LESSON 3 Sister My sister. This is my sister. Her name is Mary. She is ten years old. LESSON 4 A dog. I have a dog. His name is Tom. He is an old dog. I play with Tom. Tome plays with me. Tom and I play together. LESSON 5 A bird. A bird and a cage. Mary has a bird. It is in a cage. The bird is tame. It sings in the cage. LESSON 6 I am a child. Mary is a child, too. We are children. This is our father. That is our mother. We love our parents. They love their children. LESSON 7 London is a city. It is the capital of England. We are in London. English is a part of Europe. Mary and I love our country. We are very fond of our King, too. LESSON 8 We have an uncle. His name is Charles Baker. I am his nephew. My sister is his niece. His wife is our aunt. He has many children. They are our cousins. LESSON 9 Uncle Charles is in Japan. He and his family live in Tokyo. Japan is an empire. It consists of many islands. The Japanese islands lie to the east of China. But Japan and China are in Asia. Japan is sometimes called the England of the East. LESSON 10 Uncle Charles has three children. He has two sons and a daughter. James is the eldest son. He is fifteen years old. Richard is the next. He and I are of the same age. Alice is the youngest of them all. She is still very young. My sister is one year older than Alice. LESSON 11 Many and I go to school. We go to different schools. Alice and her brothers also attend a school in Japan. They learn their lessons very well, so their teachers are fond of them. I and my cousins in Tokyo know how to write a letter. Neither Mary nor Alice can write letters yet. LESSON 12 Here is a Japanese post-card. It is from James. He writes to me twice a month, and tells me many things about himself. I send him letters and post-cards in answer. James and his brother are very fond of picture post-cards. They collect stamps, too. They have an album full of rare ones. LESSON 13 It was a holiday yesterday. The weather was fine. So I went out in the afternoon with my sister. We called on a friend of mine. We played together in his room. He had a great many things to show us. It was five o'clock when we came home. LESSON 14 Mary was born in 1898. She is ten years of age. I was born three years earlier. I was born on the fifteenth of November in 1895. We are now in 1908. It is the sixteenth of October today. So I am not quite thirteen years old yet. LESSON 15 It will be my birth-day soon. Then my friends will come to see me. My parents will invite them to dinner. Mary will join the party and play with us. I shall get all sorts of presents: books, pictures, toys, flowers, fruit, &c. We shall spend many jolly hours together; then they will return home. LESSON 16 Look at this watch. Is it not pretty? It is a silver watch. I got it on my birth-day. My father bought it for me. The chain is from my mother. It is also made of silver. The watch keeps time splendidly. It neither gains nor loses a minute in a week. I wind it once a day, but I look at it from time to time. Please ask me whenever you want to know the time. I can tell you the right time at once. For instance, it is just twenty-three minutes to eleven now. LESSON 17 A. You have a pretty watch. Is it yours? B. Yes, it is mine. I got it on my birthday. A. So you got it as a present, did you? Was it from your father? B. My father gave me the watch. The chain is from my mother. Both are of pure silver. A. Does it keep exact time? B. Yes, it does splendidly; it neither gains nor loses a minute in a week. A. How often do you wind it in a day? B. I wind it only once a day, but I look at it very often, because I am so fond of it. A. Can you tell me the right time at once? What time is it now, for instance? B. It is just quarter to twelve, you see. Is not a good watch a useful thing? LESSON 18 Here is a parcel for me. It is from my grandfather. Oh, how large it is! It is very heavy, too. What can it be? Can it be a box of cake? No, a box of cake can not be so heavy. Let me see -- Ah, now I have it! It must be a book. But then, what sort of a book can it be? It is so heavy and thick. Now, let me open the parcel. Oh, what a pretty book this is! It is just the thing I wanted: a book of stories! There are fables, fairy-tales, riddles, little songs, proverbs, and stories of brave men and women. There are besides so many pictures. LESSON 19 Mr. Baker. Harry, where have you been this afternoon? Henry. I have been in my room, papa. Mr. Baker. Oh, indeed, I thought you were out. Mrs. Baker. So did I. You have been very quiet. Have you been asleep? Henry. No, mamma, I have been writing a letter. Mrs. Baker. To whom are you going to send it? Henry. I am going to send it to grandpapa. I want to thank him for his beautiful book. Mr. Baker. You are quite right. When you have finished the letter, bring it here, and show it to us. LESSON 20 15, Queen Street Feb. 21st, 1908. Dear Grandpapa, You are very kind to send me the beautiful book. The parcel arrived yesterday evening, and gave me such pleasure. I do not know how to thank you enough. The book is so full of interesting stories and beautiful pictures. I have been quite charmed with it. I have showed it to papa and mamma, and Mary, and others. I am so proud of it. The book will be my constant friend. It will indeed be a great treasure of mine for many, many years to come. You grateful Harry. LESSON 21 George. What a pretty book you have! May I look at it? Henry. Certainly. Just look at these pictures in it. Are they not beautiful? George. Yes, they are. Where did you buy this book? Henry. I did not buy it. It is a present from my grandfather. George. It is quite a thick book. There are more than three hundred pages. Henry. It contains so many stories. Some of them are very interesting. George. May I just read this one? It is about "The Wise Young Mouse." Henry. Yes, try that, and you will find the fable very good. But first let me fetch Mary. She will be glad to hear you red the story. LESSON 22 The Wise Young Mouse. -- 1. Once upon a time, the mice were in great trouble. There was a cat in the house. This cat was very cruel. She was very sly, too. She tried to catch all the mice and eat them up. So the mice called a meeting. When all the mice were there, an old mouse stood up. He was the oldest of them all. "What are we to do?" said the oldest mouse, "we shall all be dead in a very short time." "I have it," cried a young mouse, "I know a very good plan." "What is it? Tell us your plan!" said the other mice. LESSON 23 The Wise Young Mouse. -- 2. "Let us," said the young mouse, "let us hang a bell round the cat's neck. Then we shall hear her when she comes; and before she can see us, we can run off to our holes." "Very good! Very good!" cried the other mice; "but who will put the bell on the cat?" "Of course," said the old mouse, turning to the young mouth, "of course you will do that for us?" "I?" said the young mouse, "I am not big enough. I can not do that." "Nor I" " Nor I!" cried the mice, once after another. So the cat still goes about without a bell. She comes suddenly on a poor mouse, and kills him, and eats him. LESSON 24 Henry. Now, Mary, how do you like the story? Mary. I like it very much. George. So do I. But it is wrong to call the young mouse wise. Henry. Quite so. He was not at all wise. Mary. Why is that? He was clever enough to think of the plan. George. Don't you see, Mary, that he never knew how to carry it out? Mary. I see. Then let us call him "The Foolish Young Mouse." George. By the way, how late is it now? Henry. It is only half past four yet. George. So late already. I must go home. Good-bye, Henry. Good-bye, Mary. Henry. Mary. Good-bye.