Lesson 1
The Nail

　A merchant had done good business at the fair; he had sold his wares, and filled his bag with gold and silver.  Then he set out directly on his journey home, for he wished to be in his own house before night.
  At noon he rested in a town to take some light refreshment.  When he wanted to go on, the stable boy brought his horse, saying, --
  "A nail is wanting, sir, in the shoe of his left hind foot.  It must be repaired at once, or you will repent it afterwards."
  "Let it be wanting," answered the careless merchant; "the shoe will stay on for the six miles I still have to go.  I cannot bother about such a thing.  I am in a hurry."
　In the afternoon he got down at an inn and had his horse fed.  The stable boy came into the room and cautioned him.
  "Sir, a shoe is wanting from your horse's left hind foot.  Shall I take him to the blacksmith?  He will mend it while you are smoking a pipe or two, I assure you."
  "Let it still be wanting," growled the man; "the horse will hold out very well for a couple of miles more.  I must get home before dark by all means."
  So the merchant rode forth, but before long to his disappointment the horse began to limp.  He had not limped long before he began to stumble, and he had not stumbled long before he fell down and broke his leg.  Thrown out from the saddle, the merchant had no choice but to leave the horse where he fell, and go home on foot with the heavy sack on his own back.
  "That loose nail," said he to himself, "has made all this trouble.  I now see a great measure of truth in the old word that haste makes waste.  Had I only heeded their kind advice in good season instead of neglecting it, I could have avoided it and arrived home earlier."

---
For want of a nail, the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe, the horse is lost; for want of a horse, the rider is lost.
--- Old Proverb.


Lesson 2
Androclus and the Lion 

Part I
  Long ago, in the great imperial city of Rome, there lived a slave named Androclus.  His master was a cruel man, and the poor slave received blows and harsh words from morning until night.
  At last Androclus felt that he could bear this treatment no longer; so he fled from the city and hid in a dense forest.  There he ate berries and ripe fruit, and at night he slept, like a beggar, in a cave among the rocks.
  One morning very early, he was awakened by the loud roars of a lion.  Androclus sprang up in great fright and saw the large beast standing at the door of the cave.  Again, the loud roar of the lion split the morning air.  The poor slave felt sure that he would be eaten up.
　The lion came farther into the cave, and Androclus noted that something seemed to be the matter with one of his paws.  He held his foot up and whined as if in great pain.
　At first Androclus ventured to approach the beast and took hold of his paw to look closely at it.  There, in the soft part of the foot, was a great thorn.
　The lion seemed to know that this man in the cave could relieve his pain, and kept quite still for his foot to be examined.  Androclus took hold of the thorn with his fingers, then gave a quick pull, and it was out.  The great beast leaped about like an innocent dog, and then couched beside Androclus and licked his hands and face in dog fashion.
　The slave and the lion were now great friends and lived together in the cave.  They slept side by side, and often hunted together in the wood.

Part II
　But one day the Roman police took Androclus back to Rome.  There he was thrown into prison as a criminal and tried for the offence of running away from his master.  The judgment was a very severe one.  He was condemned and sentenced to fight a wild animal in the arena, as was the custom in that period.
　The day fixed for the fight came, and great crowds of people went to see the dreadful sight.  The Emperor sat on a high throne, and the seats round about were packed with thousands of curious people.
　For days a great lion had been kept in a cage without food to give him a keen appetite.  The poor slave was brought into the arena, the door of the cage was opened, and the hungry lion rushed forth with a roar.  Seeing the trembling man, he dashed towards him.  All the people held their breath in expectation of a bloody fight.
　Then a strange thing happened.  Instead of tearing the slave to pieces as people expected, the lion paused, licked the hands of Androclus, and then lay down by his side.  Androclus gave a cry of gladness and threw his arms around the neck of the great beast, for it was the lion with whom he had lived in the wood.
　The Emperor and the people were amazed.  Never before had such a sight been seen in the arena.
　Then, standing before the throne, Androclus told of his cruel master, of his flight to the wood, of the lion's hurt paw, and of the friendship between them.
　When he had finished, the generous spectators cried, "Let them both go free!  Let them both go free!
　So the gates were thrown open, and Androclus and the lion went back to the cave on the side of the mountain.


Lesson 3
Sponges

  Few people have any idea what sponges are, where they grow, or how they are gathered.  It is now accepted by those who know most about these things, that the sponge is an animal.
  The vessels employed in sponge-fishing are of small size, and carry a crew of from six to a dozen men.
  With food for about six weeks, they start out, sailing along the coast where the water is shallow.  For it is in such places that the sponges are mostly found.
  They can readily be seen growing on rocks or shoals, and they are brought to the surface by means of an iron hook fastened to the end of a pole.  Sometimes the fishermen dive for them when the waster is too deep for the pole to reach to the bottom.
  The diver takes with him a flat stone, with a hole through one of its three corners.  A cord from the boat is fastened to the stone, and the diver uses it as a weight in reaching different places, or he would float up at once.
  When he has reached the growing sponges, he tears them from the rocks and places them under his arms.  The rope is then pulled, as a signal to his friends in the ship, and they haul him aboard.
  When first caught the sponge is a soft jelly-like thing full of life, and as black as ink.  That which we know as a sponge is only the skeleton of the animal.  The sponges are spread on the deck to let their living matter decay.
  When a cargo has been obtained the men go ashore, build a loose pen near the edge of the water, and place the sponges in it.  The tide, when it comes in, helps to wash away the black covering, or flesh, of the sponges.
  After drying on the beach, they are sorted, and placed in tubs of lime-water for several hours.  They are then spread on canvas to dry in the sun.  After this they are pressed into bales and shipped to all parts of the world.


Lesson 4
The Stone-Cutter

Part I
  There was once a poor stone-cutter whose name was Guido.
  Every day he went up to the mountain to cut stone.  There he cut out great blocks of granite and polished them for the builders.  
  Guido had a pleasant little home, plenty of good food and warm clothing; he ought to have been happy, but he was not.  He coveted wealth and power, and was discontented.  He was jealous of those who were richer or more powerful than he.
  One day, on his way home, he saw the king riding by, attended by a long train of servants.
  "Oh!" exclaimed Guido, "I wish I were the king.  Why should he be rich and powerful while I am poor and humble?  Why should he ride in a splendid carriage while I am obliged to walk?  Why should he live in a magnificent castle while I live in a little cottage?  I wish I were the king."
  Now the fairies of the mountains granted Guido's earnest wish.  "He shall have his desire," they said.  "He shall be the king."
  Suddenly Guido was turned by magic into the great king.  He found himself riding in a splendid carriage instead of working in the lonesome depths of the mountain.  His servants were holding a golden umbrella over his head.  
  Guido now lived in a beautiful castle.  He had riches and honor and power.  He had everything that heart could wish, but he was not happy for all that.  He was still discontented.
  One hot day in summer Guido was riding in his royal carriage.  The sun was very hot.  Sweat stood in beads on his brow.
  "How strong and powerful the sun is!" he exclaimed.  "The flowers droop in the strong beams of the sun.  The grain fields are dried and withered.  I wish I were as powerful.  I wish I were the sun."
  Hardly had he said this when he became the sun.  He was very powerful.  From early morning until night he sent his strong rays down to the earth.  The grass withered.  The grain in the fields grew parched and dry.  The flowers died in the heat.
  But one day a thick, black cloud came up and covered the face of the sun.  Try as hard as he might, he could not drive it away.  He could not pierce the cloud even with his strongest rays.
  "I am disappointed," said the sun.  "I have never thought until now that a cloud can check the flow of my strong rays at will and is more powerful than I.  I wish I were the cloud."
  He had hardly uttered this prayer when he found that he really was a cloud sailing across the sky.

Part II
  Now he was able to hide the sun himself.  He could send showers upon the earth and water the thirsty land.  The fields again were green and the flowers bloomed once more.
  Day after day the rain poured down upon the earth.  Rivers were out of their banks.  Towns and villages were washed away by the muddy current.
　But there was one thing that remained in its place.  A great rock on the mountain stood firm.
　The great black cloud looked down upon the solid rock.  He saw that the rock stood in its original place and he was angry.
　"I admit that the rock of the mountain is stronger than I," he said; "I wish I were the rock."  And suddenly he became the rock.
　"Now at last I am happy," he said.  "The sun cannot harm me.  The storms cannot harm me."
　But one day he heard a strange noise close at hand.  On looking closely, he found a man at work cutting stone from mountain.
　He drove his sharp tool into the rock and cut out great blocks of stone.
　"That man is mightier than I," said the rock.  "I wish I were that man."
　No sooner had he spoken than he found that he was indeed the man.  He was Guido, the stone-cutter.
　Guido was now truly happy.  He no longer wished to be mightier than others.  He no longer envied others.  He now learned that happiness consists in developing one's natural gift for the benefit of mankind.
　All day long he worked hard cutting stone, and always he sang merry tunes at his work.  His little home was poor and humble, his food was plain, and his clothes were coarse, but he was happy and contented as never before.
　"Useful work," said he, "sound health, and happy home, what are better than these?"


Lesson 5
To Daffodils

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see,
You haste away so soon; 
As yet the early-rising Sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a Spring;
As quick a grown to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away 
Like to the summer's rain; 
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.   

--- Robert Herrick.


Lesson 6
King John and the Merchant

Part I 
  Many centuries ago there was prosperous merchant in England.  He lived in a large house and had many servants.  He dressed in fine clothes, and when he went for a ride, fifty soldiers wearing shining armor and golden chains followed him.
  All this came to the ears of King John.  "Ho, ho!" said he.  "Does this merchant think he can live better than the King?  Send for him.  We will hear what he has to say."
  So the merchant came to the palace with the fifty soldiers in his train.  Their golden chains shone brightly as the soldiers dashed up to the gate.
  "How is this?" said the king.  "They tell me that you keep many servants, and that your house is finer than mine.  You should not live better than the king."
  "Your Majesty," said the merchant, "all the money that I spend is mine."
  "But it is not fit that you should live better than I," said King John.  "You have committed a crime.  You must be punished.  You shall lose your head."
  "Alas, your Majesty!" cried the merchant.  "Must I die for that?"
  "Yes," said the king, "unless you can answer three questions which I shall put to you.  Your answer must quite satisfy me."
  The king asked the merchant these three questions:  "Where is the center of the earth?  How long would it take me to ride around the world?  What am I thinking about? "
  The poor merchant was frightened, for he knew that he could not answer any one of these questions.
  "Will you give me time to think, your Majesty?" he asked.
  "You shall have six weeks," said the tyrant.  "No more."
  The merchant was sore at heart, for no matter how hard he might think, he could not hit upon a single answer.  Fully convinced that he was not equal to the task, he set out to find some one who could answer the questions.  He went to the nearest town, and asked the merchants there, but they only laughed at him.
  For many days he journeyed from town to town asking every one he met, but no one could solve the difficulty for him.
  Finally he traveled into the East in the hope of finding some wise men who could answer his questions and save his life.  When they told him that they were unable to help him, he turned away in great sorrow.

Part II
  Very sadly he journeyed homewards.  Now he was at his wits' end to whom he should turn for help.  When came near his own house, he chanced upon his shepherd, who thought that he was just returning from the king.
  "What news from King John?" asked the shepherd.
  "Bad news!  Bad news, shepherd!" answered the merchant.  He took the shepherd into his confidence and told him detail what had happened.
  "Cheer up!" said the shepherd, whom he had despised.  "Things might be much worse.  Let me go to the palace instead, and the king will not cut off your head."
  "Can you answer the questions?" cried the merchant in amazement.
  "Lend me your velvet cloak and your soldiers," said the shepherd, "and you shall see."
  So the shepherd put on the velvet cloak and mounted the merchant's horse.  Away he rode with the soldiers behind him until he came to the king's palace.
  "Welcome, Merchant," said the king.  "Are you ready to die?"
  "I am ready to answer your questions," replied the shepherd in disguise.
  The king smiled.  "Well, then, where is the center of the earth?"
  "Here," said the shepherd, stamping his foot on the ground.  "If your Majesty does not believe me, measure it and see for yourself."
  "Well answered," said the king with a laugh.  "Now, answer the second question.  How long would it take me to ride around the world?"
  "That is soon done," said the shepherd.  "If your Majesty will rise with the sun and go with him till the next morning, you will ride around the world in one day."
  "Ha-ha!" laughed the king.  "I did not think it could be done so quickly.  Now for the last question.  What am I thinking about? "
  "That is easy," said the shepherd.  "Your Majesty is thinking that I am the rich merchant, while I am only his shepherd."  He threw off the velvet cloak, and there stood the shepherd.
  The king laughed loud and long.  "You are wiser than your master," he said.  "I will give you his lands and his money, and you shall be the merchant.  We will make him the shepherd.
  "No, no!" said the shepherd.  "I cannot read nor write."
  "If that is true," said the king, "you could hardly be a merchant, but you shall have some reward.  Here is a bag of gold for you."
  So the shepherd went home with the bag of gold in his hand and joy in his heart.


Lesson 7
The Tiger

  The tiger is a more furious beast than even the lion.  He is usually from seven to eight feet in length and from three to four feet in height.  He is in nearly all respects more like the cat than the lion.  His body is more slender and longer than the lion's; his head is rounder, and he has no flowing mane to add dignity to his appearance.  His savage look shows a cruel temper, a delight in the mere fact of tearing and destroying.
  The tiger has a very beautiful skin.  The thick hair forms a very fine coat.  The ground color of the upper parts is bright orange-yellow; and this is crossed with beautiful dark bars and stripes.  The colors are brightest in the coat of the full-grown male; females and young tigers vary through the dimmer shades to dark grey.  The under parts are white.
  Like the lion, the tiger watches for his prey at every dawn by the springs and streams, and bounds forth upon his victims in the same swift and sudden way.  He is more active than the lion, and he is about as strong.  He can crush a man in his jaws as easily as he would crush a twig; and he does not seem to feel the least difficulty in carrying off a horse or a cow.
  After breakfast, he goes to sleep for the day in some shady place.  In the evening he comes forth refreshed, and ready to roam about for more prey.
  The tiger does not roar as the lion does; he only utters a loud gruff sound.
  The tiger lives in India.  In many parts of the country, especially in some of the districts of Bengal, he is a terrible neighbor to the small villages.  He comes roaming about the houses under cover of night, and time and again carries off men and children as well as cattle.  The men often go out with burning torches and beating drums, to scare their dreadful enemy away.


Lesson 8
A Strange Wall

  Once a poor family lived in a lonely hut in great fear.  It was winter.  Around the hut raged a fierce storm and into the room swept the snow.  It was bitter cold.  
  The family consisted of five persons -- the aged grandmother, the parents, and two children.
  Why was it that they were filled with fear?  Was it the storm that caused them such terror?
  In the distance sounded the alarms of war.  The enemy were marching down upon the poor people.  In their path was death.  From the windows the family could see the fires that had already been started around many homes.
  As night came on the sky was red with the flames of burning farm-houses.  The roar of storm and of battle made the night terrible.  No one thought of sleep.
  The curtains were drawn close that no light might betray them.
  The family sat silently about the table.  They did not know what moment death might come to them.  The old grandmother opened and read from her prayer-book.  The book contained a number of hymns.  In one of the hymns which she read aloud were these words, "Build a wall about us."
  The father of the family looked up in dismay and said, "The building of a wall is not possible now: no, not with God."
  The old grandmother replied, "Do not say that.  Got will find a way if it is His will to do so."
  The night passed in great fear and anxiety.  The break of day came at last.  Not one soldier had come to the lonely hut.
  At last the son, a stout young man, opened the door to look out.  Behold! the storm had piled a mighty wall of snow about the house.  This wall of snow had hidden the lonely hut of the poor family from the eyes of the enemy.
  Then the old grandmother fell upon her knees and said, "Lord, Thou hast built a wall about us.  Blessed be Thy name."


Lesson 9
David and Goliath

Part I
  About 1,100 years B.C. there lived in the country of Israel a boy named David, who was destined to do great things.
  He was a shepherd boy, and all day long he watched the quiet sheep on the hillside.
  David was a tall lad, strongly built and brave.  When he knew he was in the right, he feared nothing.  David‘s peaceful life did not last long.
  There was a great war between the people of Israel and the men called the Philistines.  All the strong men in David's town went to join the army of Israel.
  David could not go much against his will, as he had to tend the sheep, but his three elder brothers were already at the front.
  For a long time David's father heard nothing from his three sons, and began to feel uneasy.
  At length he called David to him and said, "Take to your brothers a bag of this corn and these ten loaves of bread.  Find out how your brothers are, and bring word to me.
  The next morning David rose very early, and taking the present of his aged father, he went on an errand to the camp where his brothers were.
　The camp of Israel was on the side of a high mountain.  Across the valley from this mountain and on the side of another mountain was the camp of the Philistines.
  After David had come to the camp and had found his brothers, shouts of anger and fear came from the soldiers.
  David looked across the valley to the camp of the Philistines.
  A huge soldier dressed in shining armor attracted his attention presently.  This giant soldier carried a great spear and shield.
  "Who is that man?" asked David out of curiosity.
  "Do you not know?  That is Goliath," said the soldiers in chorus.  "Every day he comes out and challenges any man on our side to single combat."
  "Does no one of our soldiers dare to meet him?" asked David.
  "We have no man so strong as he in our whole army," said the soldiers.
  The giant from the opposite hillside shouted like thunder, and again dared the army of Israel to choose a man to meet him.
  David was not a coward who shrank from a superior force.  He was stirred to righteous indignation at the sight of this great giant, whose haughty manner he hated.
  "Is not God on the side of our people?" he asked.  "I will fight with this enemy of Israel, even though it cost me my life."

Part II
  Saul, the king of Israel, heard of these brave words and granted David an audience at his camp, where a war council was being held on how to meet this challenge.
  When he saw that David was only a boy, he did not consent to his rash attempt, saying, "You are not strong enough to go against this Philistine.  You are only a boy, while he is an experienced soldier who has distinguished himself in many battles."
  Then David said to the king, "Once, when I was guarding my father's sheep, I killed a lion and a bear without help from any one but the Lord.  I am sure He will help me defeat the foe."
  Then the king permitted the lad to fight the enemy, and encouraged him thus, "Go, and the Lord be with you."
  The king offered to give David heavy armor and his own sword, but David declined both, saying, "I am not accustomed to this heavy armor: it will only hinder me."
  So he threw it off.
  Then David went to a brook near by and chose five smooth stones.
  Armed with this simple weapon of five stones and his sling, he went bravely out to meet the giant.
  When the giant saw that his rival was only a boy, he was angry and cried out;
  "Do you dare fight with me?  I will kill you, and will give your flesh to the birds and the beasts."
  David stared at him without fear and said, "You come against me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord.  This day He will deliver you into my hand.  I will kill you and take your head from you, and I will give the bodies of the Philistines to the birds and the beasts."
  When they came near to each other, David fitted one of the five stones to his sling.  Quick as lighting he whirled the sling about his head.
  His aim was correct.  The stone flew straight to its mark.  It struck the Philistine full in the forehead.  The huge giant took one step and, with a groan, fell to the earth.
  Then David, standing upon the giant, took his sword and cut off the head of his enemy.  
  When the Philistines saw that their champion fighter was killed, they were filled with awe and fear.
  They left their camp and tried to run away, but the army of Israel followed them and won a great victory.
  For this brave deed David was made a captain and was held in great respect by the king.  He soon became so popular with the army of Israel that he was proclaimed the king after the death of King Saul.  He reigned long over his people and displayed his great ability as the leader of his people.


Lesson 10
Early Rising and Late Rising 

"Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

  This is a well-known saying which has a good deal of truth in it.  People who have to go out to work very often lie in bed until the very last minute, and then they have to dress hurriedly, snatch a still more hurried breakfast, and rush out of the house, usually arriving at their work only just in time.  This is a very bad habit, for the constant hurrying disturbs the nerves and the heart, and the hasty meals have an ill effect on the digestive organs.
  On the other hand, people who rise early have plenty of time to get a suitable breakfast, and are not put about if anything happens to delay them a minute or two.  As they have begun the day well, their minds are at rest, and that is far better than feeling throughout the day that they are a little behind with everything.
  Then, of course, early risers do more work.  Sometimes their work is done earlier, and then they have more leisure in the evening; or it is more slowly and thoroughly done, and as a result is more satisfactory.  
  Too much bed affects anybody who is healthy.  Often when people lie in bed late in the morning, they get up feeling lazy and tired, instead of feeling refreshed and full of energy.
  In summer it is very foolish to lie in bed late; for the early morning, when everything seems so agreeable and fresh, is the pleasant time of the day for a nice walk.  If work is being done at home, one can work much more comfortably in the cool morning air than in the heat of midday.

---
The early bird catches the worm.
--- Proverb.


Lesson 11
The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

--- Henry W. Longfellow.

---
A timid person is frightened before a danger; a coward during the time; and a courageous person afterwards.
--- Richter.


Lesson 12
Horatius at the Bridge

  King Porsena gathered together a great army and marched on Rome.  When men heard of his coming, there was such a fear as had never been experienced before.  Nevertheless, they were determined to hold out.
  All that were in the country fled to the city.  Round about the city they set guards to keep it, part being defended by walls, and part, for so it seemed, being made safe by the river.
  But here a great peril had almost overtaken the city.  There was a wooden bridge on the river by which the enemy could have crossed but for the courage of Horatius.  There was a hill which men called Janiculum on the side of the river, and this hill King Porsena took by a sudden attack.
　Horatius chanced to have been set to guard the bridge.  He saw how the enemy were running at full speed to the place, and how the Romans were fleeing for safety in confusion.  He cried with a loud voice, "Men of Rome, if you leave this bridge behind you for men to pass over, you shall soon find that you have more enemies in your city than in Janiculum.  Break it down, therefore, with axe and fire as best you can.  In the meanwhile I, so far as one man may do, will check the advance of the enemy."
  As he spoke he ran forwards to the farther end of the bridge and made ready to keep the way against the enemy.  There stood two with him, Lartius and Herminius by name, men of noble birth and of great fame in arms.  These three arrested the first attack of the enemy; and the men of Rome broke down the bridge.
  When there was but a small part remaining, and the men who broke it down called to the three that they should come back, Horatius bade the others return.  He himself reminded on the farther side, crying, "Dare you now fight with me?  Why are you thus come up at the bidding of your master, King Porsena, to rob others of the freedom that you care not to have for yourselves?"
  For a while they wavered, each man looking to his neighbor who should first deal with this champion of the Romans.  Then, for very shame, they all ran forwards, and raising a great shout threw their javelins at him.  These he took upon his shield.  Suddenly the men of Rome raised a great shout, for the bridge was now altogether broken down, and fell with a great crash into the river.
  And as the enemy stayed awhile for fear, Horatius turned to the river and said, "O Father Tiber, I pray thee this day with all reverence that thou kindly receive this soldier and his arms."  As he spoke he leaped with all his arms into the river and swam across to his own people.  Though many javelins of the enemy fell about him, he was not hurt at all.
  Nor did such valor fail to receive honor from the city.  The citizens set up a statue of Horatius in the market place.


Lesson 13
Occupations

　Have you ever watched the house that was being built?  It takes a great many men to build a house.
　After the cellar is dug, the mason lays the foundation of stone.  Then the carpenters set up the rough frame of the house.  Before the walls are covered with mud, or plaster, the house is wired for electric lights.  At last, after this work is done the painter comes to paint the house.  Other men finish the woodwork and the paper the walls.
　There are many kinds of occupations, each one doing its part in maintaining the social life.  Some occupations furnish us with our food.  The farmer grows grain, fruit, and vegetables.  He raises chickens and cattle.  We call his occupation farming.  
　The farmer raises most of our food, but we do not buy it direct from him.  The grocer, the dairyman, and the butcher sell it instead.  Can you think of any other occupations that provide us with food?
　Many men and women work in factories.  The man who own the factories are generally called manufacturers, for in their factories such things as cloth, shoes, clothes, furniture, and automobiles are manufactured in great quantities.
　The manufactures ship their products all over the world.  Even very simple articles such as pins and pens pass through many hands before they are put to use in foreign countries.  Some men drive great motor-trucks which carry the products to the railway station or harbor.  Some sail large ships.  Many other men are needed to build and run the trains.
　There are some occupations that are called professions.  The minister, the doctor, the lawyer and the teacher have professions.
　The people who act on the stage or in the cinema are actors and actresses.  Their occupation is to entertain us by their acting.
　People spend many years learning to do some kinds of work.  A machinist requires several years to learn his trade.  A doctor goes to school for a long time to study for his profession.  However, there are some kinds of work for which people do not need to study at all, for example, keeping buildings clean, driving wagons, or working on the streets.


Lesson 14
Little Stories

I 
Kings are Scarce
  George I of England, while on a journey to his native kingdom of Hanover, stopped at a village in Holland.  While fresh horses were getting ready for him, the king asked for two or three eggs.  They were brought to him; and the price asked was a hundred florins.  "How is this?" asked the king; "eggs must surely be very scarce here."  "Pardon me," replied the host, "eggs are plentiful enough, but kings are scarce."

II
Blotting-Paper as an Antidote
  When Mathews the actor was very ill, he had to take medicine of a very dark color.  One day his servant gave him some ink by mistake.  When he found out what he had done, he cried out in horror, "I beg your pardon, sir, but I have given you ink instead of your medicine."  "Never mind," said Mathews, "I'll swallow a bit of blotting-paper."

III
Sun and Moon 
  Two Irishmen were arguing one day about the sun and the moon, and which of the two was more useful.  At last one of them said, "Oh!  I know.  The moon is quite worth two suns; for she shines at night when she is needed; but the sun shines in the daytime, when nobody wants him."

IV
Finding Out a Thief
  A gentleman in India missed a valuable ring, and had reason to think that one of his servants had stolen it.  So he called all of them together, and holding a number of pieces of stick in his hand, made each servant draw one.  He then ordered them to go away, and come back to him in an hour's time; "when," said he, "the thief's stick will be found to be an inch longer than any of the rest."  As a matter of fact, the sticks were all of exactly the same length.  The man who had stolen the ring, not knowing this, cut an inch off his stick, in order to make it (as he supposed) of the same length as the rest.  Consequently, when they again assembled at the end of the hour, his stick was an inch shorter than any of the rest, and in this way he was found out to be the thief.


Lesson 15
The First Newspapers

  The first newspapers that we know about were published in Rome and China, a long time ago.
  We know what the Romans called their newspaper.  They called it The Daily Events.  This paper was written instead of printed.  It reported the date and result of the games and elections.  If there had been a battle or a fire, the newspaper gave information about it.  Needless to say, no effort was made to insert advertisement in its limited space.  Only a few people in easy circumstances got copies of The Daily Events, as it was very expensive.  People who could not afford to buy the paper read the copy which was posted in some public place.  In this way the Romans learned what was happening in their country.
  We are not sure what the Chinese called their paper.  Travelers who saw it called it The Peking Gazette.  The first copies were issued hundreds of years ago.  In this newspaper, which was the government organ according to the modern sense, the Chinese read what their emperor wanted to tell them.
  The first newspaper in England was not at all like our newspapers to-day.  It was not nearly so large.  It was just a sheet of paper folded down the middle.  Sometimes the sheet of paper was folded in a different way in order to make a booklet.  This was called a news-book.
  Some men made their living by writing news-letters, although it was a labor of love for most writers.  These were simply letters full of news.  Such newspapers were not published regularly every day or every week as our newspapers are to-day.  They were published only once in a while.  The readers were limited to the educated class.
  Our newspapers to-day are very different from these first newspapers.  They are, to begin with, larger than the first newspapers in all respects.  Some newspapers have a circulation of more than a million.  They do not cost so much.  They contain a great deal more news than the first newspapers did.  They have their correspondents in the principal centers of commerce and politics all over the world.  They now play a special part in bringing about a full understanding among the nations of the world.


Lesson 16
The Heroic Servant

Part I
  In the dark forest of Russia, where the snow lies on the ground for eight months in the year, wolves roam about in countless troops.  It is a fearful thing for the traveler, especially if night overtakes him, to hear their howlings as they approach nearer and nearer to him.  
  A Russian nobleman, with his wife and a young daughter, was traveling in a sleigh over a desert land.  About nightfall they reached an inn, and the nobleman called for a relay of horses to go on.  The innkeeper begged him not to proceed.  "There is danger ahead," said he; "the wolves are out."
  The traveler thought the object of the man was to keep him as a guest for the night, and, saying it was too early in the season for wolves, ordered the horses to be put in.  In spite of the repeated warnings of the landlord, the party proceeded on its way.
  The driver was a servant who was born and bred on the nobleman's estate, and who loved his master as he loved his life.  The sleigh sped swiftly over the hard snow, and there seemed no signs of danger.  The moon began to shed her light, so that the road looked like polished silver.
  Suddenly the little girl said to her father, "What is that strange, dull sound I heard just now?"  Her father replied, "Nothing but the wind sighing through the trees."
  The child shut her eyes, and kept still for a while.  In a few minutes, with a face pale with fear, she turned to her father again, and said, "Surely that is not the wind: I hear it again; do you not hear it too?  Listen!" 
  The nobleman listened, and far, far away in the distance behind him, but distinct enough in the clear, frosty air, he heard a sound of which he knew the meaning, though those who were with him did not.
  Whispering to the servant, he said, "They are after us.  Get ready your gun and pistols; I will do the same.  We may yet escape.  Drive on! drive on!"
  The man drove wildly on; but nearer, ever nearer, came the mournful howling which the child had first heard.  It was perfectly clear to the nobleman that a pack of wolves had scented them, and was in pursuit.  Meanwhile he tried to calm the anxious fears of his wife and child.
  At last the baying of the wolves was distinctly heard, and he said to his servant, "When they come up with us, single out the leader, and fire.  I will single out the next; and, as soon as one falls, the rest will stop to devour him.  That will be some delay, at least."

Part II
　By this time they could see the pack fast approaching with their long, measured tread.  A large dog-wolf was the leader.  The nobleman and the servant, singled out two, and these fell.
  The pack immediately turned on their fallen comrades, and soon tore them to pieces.  The taste of blood only made the others advanced with more fury, and they were soon again baying at the sleigh.  Again the nobleman and his servant fired.  Two other wolves fell, and were instantly devoured.  But the next post-house was still far distant.  
  The nobleman then cried to the driver, "Let one of the horses loose that we may gain a little more time."  This was done, and the horse was left on the road.  In a few minutes they heard the loud shrieks of the poor animal as the wolves tore him down.  The remaining horses were urged to their utmost speed, but again the pack was in full pursuit.  Another horse was cut loose, and he soon shared the grim fate of his fellow horse.
  At length the servant said to his master, "I have served you since I was a child, and I love you as I love my own life.  It is clear to me that we cannot all reach the post-house alive.  I am quite prepared, and I ask you to let me die for you."
  "No, no," cried the master, "we will live together or die together.  You must not, you must not!"
  But the servant had made up his mind; he was fully resolved.  "I shall leave my wife and children to you; you will be a father to them: you have been a father to me.  When the wolves next reach us, I will jump down, and do my best to delay their progress."
  The sleigh glides on as fast as the two remaining horses can drag it.  The wolves are close on their heels, and almost up with them.
  But what sound now rings out sharp and loud?  It is the discharge of the servant's pistol.  At the same instant he flings himself from his seat, and falls a prey to the wolves!  But meanwhile the post-house is reached, and the family is safe.
  On the spot where the wolves had pulled to pieces the faithful servant, there now stands a large wooden cross, erected by the nobleman.  It bears this inscription: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."


Lesson 17
Earthquakes

  Earthquakes are the greatest, and the most dreaded, of the wonders of nature.  It is generally announced by the rumbling sound which seems to come from the bowels of the earth.  This sound is variously described.  In some cases it has been compared to the roll of thunder, in others to a rushing wind, and again, to the hissing sound caused by plunging red-hot metal into water.
  Whilst countries in which there are volcanoes are most subject to earthquakes, there is scarcely any part of the world wholly free from shocks.  From Iceland to India, Japan to America, in the frigid as well as in the torrid zone, they have occurred with varying degrees of violence.  Nor are they confined to the land, for there are instances of shocks being felt at sea, owing, probably, to disturbance of the bed of the ocean.
  The most violent earthquakes on the Western Continent have been in South America, in the parts bordering on the Pacific Ocean.  In August, 1746, Lima, the capital of Peru, was completely destroyed by a severe earthquake and Callao, its principal seaport, was swept away by the tidal-wave which followed.
  About a hundred years later, Peru was again visited by one of these terrible earthquakes.  This time the city of Arequipa was destroyed, while the sea-port town of Africa and every vessel lying at anchor in the harbor were ruined.  The shores of the Caribbean Sea have been more than once torn by earthquakes.  In March, 1812, a disastrous one occurred at Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, which caused a great loss of life and considerable damage to property.
  In Europe, the most violent earthquakes have been in Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland.  The one at Lisbon, in 1755, was attended by the most fatal consequences.  Sixty thousand people were buried in the ruins, and the sea was agitated by a tidal-wave, which at Cadiz rose to the tremendous height of sixty feet.  In August, 1883, a large part of the island of Java was laid waste by an earthquake, in which the volcano of Krakatoa and the island whereon it stood were swallowed up by the sea.
  Slight shocks of earthquake have been felt in New England and in the Mississippi Valley.  On the 10th of August, 1884, there was a trembling motion of the earth along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Virginia.
  The 1923 earthquake in Tokyo and vicinity is still fresh in our memory.  Half of the Imperial capital and the whole of its neighboring city of Yokohama were reduced to ashes in the twinkling of an eye.  Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in this earthquake disaster.
  Opinion differs as to what gives rise to these fearful shocks.  Some suppose that these disturbances are to be traced to the earth becoming constantly cooler and its crust contracting.


Lesson 18
A Message from Venice

　　　　　Venice, Aug. 5th, 1933.
My dear Mercy,
  My vacation trip is fast drawing to an end.  After landing at Naples on July 6th, I spent the whole month visiting every place of note in South Italy.  Going through the countryside, I confirmed the impression that rural Italy resembles Japan in many respects.  Especially Venice, where I am, has something that makes me quite homesick for my Japanese home at Kyoto.  The "City on Water," as Venice is called by her lovers, is a very old commercial city with a population of 200,000 inhabitants.  True to her fame, the entire city of Venice is crossed by a network of canals, which form the water streets for the City on Water.  Spread your map and see for yourself.
  When the little children in Venice want to take a bath, they just go down to the front steps of the house and jump off, and swim about in the street.  Yesterday I saw a maid standing on the front steps, holding one end of a string, and the other end was tied to a little fellow who was swimming up the street.  When he went too far, the maid pulled in the string, and got the baby home again.
  Is this not an odd city?  You are always in danger of running over some of the people and drowning them, for you go everywhere in a boat, instead of a carriage, and use an oar, instead of a horse.  But I admire this handsome city, which is rich in historical associations.  I intend to visit the museum to see the objects of art.  When you are sitting in your room at night, you hear some music under your window, and look out, and there is a boat with a woman singing a sweet song, and a man accompanying her song on a violin.  Of course, they want some money for their musical performance, but they do it very prettily, and are full of fun.
  I shall leave Italy for the French capital one of these days, by way of Switzerland, where I want to see an old friend of mine at Geneva, the seat of the League of Nations.  Situated in the bosom of the Alps, Switzerland's communication with surrounding countries is carried on through her numerous tunnels.  From Paris I shall take an express train for the capital of Russia, where I shall change trains for the Siberian Line.
  Give my best regards to your father, mother and brother Frank.
　　　　　Your affectionate uncle,
               Phillip.
P.S.  I have sent two picture-books by parcel post, one for you and the other for your brother.


Lesson 19
Coal and Oil

  In spite of the modern tendency to prefer electricity to coal for industrial purposes, the coal age will have to run along course before it gives way to its worthy successor.  The reason is simple enough.  Coal has one advantage over electric power -- the cheapness of coast.  Most trains and ships are driven by steam which is produced by heating water in boilers.  But to make steam we must have heat.  And to get heat we must have something which will burn with a hot flame.  Wood will not do, because it burns up too fast; and also because there is not enough of it.  A tree which had grown for thirty years would not furnish wood enough to run a big factory for a day.
  Luckily there is coal, which, though you can hardly believe me, was once wood.
  Our story goes hundreds of thousands of years back to the very beginning of the creation of the world, when a much warmer climate prevailed all over the earth.  The air was moist.  In this heavy, warm air grew gigantic trees, some of them like the trees we see now.  When these trees died, they fell into the swampy land where they had been growing.  Here as the years passed they were covered with leaves and plants like ferns, sometimes many feet deep.
  After hundreds of years, the surface of the earth changed.  In many places where trees once grew, there were now lakes and seas.  After a while the water dried up, leaving the old swamps covered with mud and sand.  Again there were great swampy woods which lived, died, and were buried in the swamp just as the others had lived and died and been buried hundreds of years before.  Again they were covered with water and with mud and sand, which gradually turned into stone, sometimes many feet deep.
  As thousands of years passed away the buried trees and plants grew harder and harder.  At last they became the hard substance which we call coal.  This coal lay in the ground until men came along and dug it up to warm our houses and make steam to run our machinery.
  Coal mining is a difficult enterprise which involves much peril.  The miners have to go down deep shafts into the earth, and are exposed to constant danger.  Sometimes the walls of the mine collapse and the miners are caught under the falling earth; sometimes the gas and the coal dust catch fire, and set the mine on fire.  Of course everything possible is now done to protect the miners from accidents.
  Many years ago it was found that gas could be made by heating coal in a closed oven; and that this gas could be confined in great tanks from which it could be sent in pipes to any desired place.  Gas is clean and so easy to use that the majority of people use gas stoves instead of coal stoves nowadays.  But gas is not used much for factory power.
  The engines of automobiles and airplanes cannot use coal.  They cannot easily carry a heavy boiler, a large tank of water, and enough coal to make steam.  Such engines use another kind of fuel -- gasoline or kerosene.  Gasoline and kerosene are while liquids which many of you have used.  Gasoline is often used for certain kinds of cleaning, and kerosene is used in oil stoves and in lamps.
  Gasoline and kerosene, which are now almost as important as coal, are made from a thick, black oil called petroleum.  Petroleum is often called coal oil, which suggests in a way its origin.  This oil or petroleum is found deep in the ground, often in places near coal beds.  We know how coal came to be in the ground, but we are not quite sure how the oil came there.  But there it is, waiting for men to drive long iron pipes deep into the ground where it lies.  In some places the oil gushes up in the well; in other places it has to be pumped up.  Often a gas which can be used for lighting and heating comes from the wells.  This gas is called natural gas.
  Now that automobiles need so much gasoline, and ships burn so much oil, petroleum is both necessary and valuable.  We are absolutely confident that the Oil Age is now coming for mankind.


Lesson 20
Rain in Summer

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!

How it clatters along the roots,
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!

Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

--- Henry W. Longfellow

---
I never complained of my condition but once, said an old man, and that was when my feet were bare, and I had no money to buy shoes; but I met a man without feet, and became contented.


Lesson 21
William Tell

William Tell.  First soldier.
Walter, His Son.  Second Soldier.
First Friend.  Third Soldier.
Second Friend.  Fourth Soldier.
Third Friend.  Fifth Soldier.
Gessler.  Sixth Soldier.
Drummer.  
    Soldiers and People

Time: When Gessler ruled over Switzerland.
Place: Altdorf -- an open square.

　(Tell talks with three Friends.)
　Tell.  Well, then, the matter is settled.  I must return at once.
　First Friend.  I would you could stay longer, Tell.  There are other things than business.
　Tell.  Do you mean Gessler?
　Second Friend.  Be careful, man!  Speak not that name aloud!
　Tell.  What news has happened?
　Third Friend.  Not a day passes that the tyrant does not put some of us to shame!
　First Friend.  We are no longer free men!
　(A drum is heard.)
　Second Friend.  (looking off.) Gessler's soldiers!
　Tell.  (looking.) they carry a cap on a pole!  What does that mean?
　Third Friend.  ‘Tis Gessler's cap!
　First Friend.  The people bow to it as if it were Gessler himself.
　Tell.  I will not bow to that tyrant's cap.  I'll go.
　First Friend.  It is too late, Tell.
　(Enter the drummer and Soldiers, who carry a cap on a pole.  A crowd of Men, Women, and Children follow.)
　Second Friend.  Let's turn our backs on them, as if we did not see them.  We'll then walk slowly away.
　(They start from the square.  The Soldiers stop.)
　First Soldier.  (calling.) Honor this cap.  You must honor it, as if it were the Ruler himself.  Bow to it, all of you.
　(The people bow to the cap.)
　Second Soldier.  Yonder go Swiss men who have not bowed.
　Third Soldier.  ‘Tis Tell, the one who turned the corner from us yesterday.
　First Soldier.  We'll cross the square and meet him face to face.
　Soldiers.  Aye!  Aye!
　(They cross the square; meet Tell and Friends.)
　First Soldier.  Honor the cap.
  (Tell and Friends do not move.  Pause.)
I bid you bow to the cap.
  (Tell and Friends turn to go.)
　Second Soldier.  To prison with him!
  (Soldiers start to seize Tell.  Enter Gessler with Walter.)
　Gessler.  What is this?
　First Soldier.  He will not honor your cap, sir.  
  (Walter sees his father.  He starts but utters no sound.)
　Gessler.  You would not salute me yesterday, eh?  To prison with him!  No --  stop!
  (He looks from Tell to Walter and from Walter to Tell.)
　Is that boy yours, Tell?
　(Silence.)
　(Gessler turns to Water.)
  Is this man your father?
　(Silence.)
  Well, I know a way to break your spirit?  Tell, I hear you are a master with the bow.  You shall shoot an apple from this lad's head.
  Tell.  What do you say?  From his head?
  Gessler.  Yes!  And now!
　(To Soldiers.)
  An apple -- quick!
  Tell.  No, no!  I'll speak.  The boy is my own.
  Gessler.  I knew it.  There is the same sprit in you both.
  Tell.  You knew it, and asked me to shoot at my own child?
  Gessler.  Will you shoot?
  Tell.  No!  A thousand times, no!
  Gessler.  Then your child shall go to prison.
  Tell.  Rather let mw die!
  Gessler.  Shoot the apple from his head, and you'll both go free.
  (To Soldiers.)
  Bind the boy to yonder tree.
  Walter.  No, you shall not bind me.  I will be still -- I will not move.
  Gessler.  Place the apple upon his head.  Tell, take your distance -- eighty paces.
  (Tell take his place; he is trembling.)
Now!
  (Tell takes long careful aim and shoots, hitting the apple.)
  Is that boy alive?  I cannot see.  My boy, my boy!  Where are you?
  Walter.  (running to him.) Here, father!
　Tell.  (embracing Walter.) My boy -- my boy!
　Walter.  I knew you wouldn't harm me, father.
  Gessler.  It was a master shot, and I'll keep my word.  You both are free.


Lesson 22
A Boy Hero

  Far away across the continent lies a country called Holland.  The people who live in Holland are usually called the Dutch.  I hope you will some day make a visit to this far-away country.  If you do, you will see many things which you never see at home.
  Whichever way you look, great wind-mills lift their gigantic arms against the sky.  The children wear wooden shoes, and the little girls are clad in quaint caps and aprons.
  But, strangest of all the strange things in Holland are the dikes, or sea walls, which keep the sea from pouring over the land and drowning all the people.  For Holland, you must know, is a very low country, and it lies close beside the ocean.  Nothing but the strong dikes could keep the angry billows away from the very doors of the Hollanders.
  You can easily imagine, then, how carefully the Dutch people guard the strong sea walls.  They know that their lives would be at the mercy of the sea if once the dikes should be broken.
  One day, long years ago, little Peter was playing in the garden by his home in Holland, when his mother called to him from the door of the cottage.
  "Come, Peter," she said, "I want you to carry to your grandmother this cheese which I have made for her.  Go straight on your way, without playing, and hasten back, so that your father may find you when he comes to supper."
  Peter took the little package that held the cheese, and hastened on his way.  He did not delay to gather the pretty violets that grew by the wayside, nor to play with the boys who called to him from the field.  He went straight forwards, as he was bidden, and soon reached his grandmother's house, but it was almost dark.
  He left his package, gave his grandmother a kiss, and started for home.  His path lay beside the dike.  He recalled to his mind what his father had told him of the many men who had worked to construct it, and the many homes which it kept safe from harm.
  But hark!  In the quiet of the twilight he heard the sound which made his heart beat quick and fast.  If you or I had been walking there, we should have given little heed to the sound of dripping water.
  But Peter knew the meaning of the fearful sound.  He knew that the sea was making its way through the dike.  Before morning -- even before Peter could put in the alarm -- the water would be pouring over the land.
  What could a boy do?  Quick as thought, he ran to the spot from which the water dropped, and thrust his hand into the hole in the dike.  Then he called aloud for help.  He listened.  No answer came to his call, but he heard the dripping water no longer.
  Again and again he called; again, and still again.  No answer came.  Darkness settled about him.  He became too faint to utter a sound.  He was chilled to the bone.  But still his little hand, weak, half frozen, held back the cruel sea.
  They found him in the morning, pale and feeble, but bravely holding to his post.  His father held him in his arms, while strong men made the dike whole.
  "He has saved us all," they said.  "Thank God!  He was a brave boy."


Lesson 23
The Arab and His Horse

  A caravan on its way from Damascus to Acre was once attacked by a tribe of Arabs.  The robbers were successful; their victory was complete; the spoil was ample and rich.
  But while engaged in diving their spoils, the Arabs in their turn were interrupted by a body of Turkish troops that had been sent out from Acre for the protection of the caravan.
  The Arabs were defeated and many were slain.  The rest were made prisoners and taken to Acre for punishment.
  Among the Arabs was a man named Abou, who was the owner of a horse of great beauty and value.  During the combat Abou was wounded by a bullet in his arm.  The wound was not mortal; he was therefore placed by the Turks on the back of a camel and led off with the other captives, while the conquerors took possession of his horse.
  The evening before they were to enter Acre the whole party went into camp in the mountains.  The feet of the wounded Arab were bound together by a leather strap, and he was left on the ground near the tent where the Turks were sleeping.
  Being kept awake by the pain of his wound, he heard the neighing of his horse among the other horses which were fastened to stakes around the tents in the open air, according to the Oriental custom.
  Abou recognized its voice.  He could not resist the desire to see and caress once more the faithful animal which had been the companion and friend of years.  On his hands and knees he dragged himself with difficulty along the ground till he reached the spot where the horse was fastened.
  "My poor friend," said he to the faithful animal, "what will you do among the Turks?  What will become of you?  Instead of the broad desert you will be confined in the narrow arches of an inn.  Instead of the pure air of heaven you will breathe the foul air of a crowded stable."
  "The women and children will no longer share with you their bowl of camel's milk -- no longer bring you barley or millet in the hollow of their hand.  No longer will tiny fingers feed you with crusts of bread under the palm trees in the starlight.  Your hoofs will no longer beat the sands of the desert, fleeter than the wind of Egypt.
  "Though I remain a slave -- be you free!  Go, return to the tent which you love so well.  Say to my wife that her husband will return to more.  Put your head under the curtains of the tent and lick the hands of the children who will never again know a father's love."
  With his teeth Abou gnawed through the cord of goat's hair with which the legs of the horse were fastened.  The animal was free.  But at the sight of his master, bound and wounded at his feet, the faithful and intelligent steed understood, by instinct, what no language could explain to him.
  He bent his head and affectionately smelled the Arab's face and person; then seizing with his teeth the leather strap with which the man's waist was girdled, he lifted him from the ground and bore him off at full gallop.
  With his burden still in his mouth he arrived at his master's tent, where, laying him on the sand, he fell himself and died from fatigue.
　All the tribe wept over the faithful steed.  The Arab poets have praised his virtues in many a poem; and to this day his name is always in the mouths of the Arabs of the desert.


Lesson 24
The Conquest of the Air

　In all ages people have watched with envy the movements of birds, and have dreamed of flying.  But it is only within the last twenty years that this dream has come true.  Thirty years ago, though balloons were not uncommon, the idea of flying machines seemed absurd.  To-day airplanes have become an important means of communication, although we are yet to see how far they are likely to take the place of other methods of transport.
　About the year 1782 two French papermakers, the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, made an experiment with paper bags, filled with smoke.
　They made a large balloon of oiled silk, open at the bottom; to the middle of the opening was fixed a small grate, in which bundles of twigs and straw were burned.  The heated air raised the balloon, and as hot air is lighter than cold air, the balloon slowly rose, carrying with it the grate and a cage for passengers.
　On September 19, 1783 a Montgolfier balloon was sent up into the air before the King and Queen of France, and a large crowd assembled in front of the royal palace at Versailles.  Suspended below the balloon was a cage in which were placed a sheep, a cock and a duck, the first aerial passengers.  Wild was the delight of the crowd, when the balloon, after rising 1,500 feet in the air, descended safely to the ground.
　It was then proposed that human beings should make the ascent.  King Louis XVI suggested that two criminals, then under sentence of death in the jail, should be sent for a trial trip in the balloon.  But a French gentleman named Pilatre de Rozier, who was present, exclaimed: "What!  Shall mere criminals have the great honor of being the first to ascend into the sky?  I myself claim that honor."
　De Rozeir first made several ascents in a captive balloon, that is, one attached by ropes to the ground.
　About the year 1896 Alberto Santos Dumont, a native of Brazil, made an airship by fitting the motor engine of his tricycle into a balloon.  Five years later he won the prize of 10,000 pounds offered for the first airship that could sail round the Eiffel Tower in Paris and return in half an hour to a park near the Tower.
  In 1897 Count Zeppelin, of the German army, made an airship which could carry five men; it traveled at a speed of five miles an hour.
  The airship has now been developed into a huge carrying and fishing machine.  It was a British airship, the R34, which, in 1919, crossed the Atlantic from England to New York, 3,500 miles, in 108 hours 12 minutes.


Lesson 25
The Conquest of the Air

(Continued)
  Real flying machines or airplanes, on the other hand, proved of much greater service.  An airplane differs from an airship in being heavier than air.  It flies against a wind of its own making.  The pressure of the air on the planes or fixed surfaces of the machine keeps it up.  Before flying, the airplane runs on wheels along the ground and then rises into the air.
  One of the first airplanes was made by Professor Langley, an American, about the year 1896.  It could fly fully half a mile, the longest flight recorded up to that time.
  Two brothers of the name of Wright began to work at flying machines in America about the year 1900.  By 1905 they had succeeded in making one in which they could fly twenty-four miles; but for some time they kept their experiments secret.
  In 1909 the Daily Mail offered a prize for the first airplane that succeeded in crossing the English Channel.  The prize was won by Louis Bleriot, a Frenchman, who crossed in a small airplane early on the morning of July 25, 1909.  He left the French shore at 4.30 A.M., and thirty-seven minutes later was on the cliffs of Dover, shaking hands with an astonished policeman, the only man in England to see him land.
  The great feat of crossing the Atlantic in an airplane was accomplished by two British airmen, Captain (Sir) John Alcock and Lieut. (Sir) Whitten Arthur Brown, who, in 1919, crossed from Newfoundland to Ireland (1,880 miles) in 15 hours 57 minutes.
  The year 1929 marked a turning point in world flying, for in August of that year the Graf Zeppelin, a German airship, made a round-the-world flight of some 20,000 miles in less than half a month.  She carried a number of passengers in addition to her crew.
  Some authorities claim 500 miles per hour to be the limit, because after that, air friction will set the plane on fire!  But 300 miles an hour as a commercial speed is certainly within the limits of possibility.  
  Airplanes and airships proved of immense value in the World War, and were used for carrying on observations over the fields of battle.
  The future of flying machines is assured; to-day we taken no more notice of the airplane overhead than we do of the motor-car on the road.  The use of airships on long journeys, for freight purposes, and of airplanes on shorter and more urgent work, such as passenger service, is rapidly extending and increasing in importance as a factor in transport.

---
All the money in the world is not worth so much to you as one good friend.
--- H. W. Beecher.


Lesson 26
To-Day

So here hath been dawning.
Another blue day;
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

Out of Eternity
This new day is born;
Into Eternity
At night will return.

Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did;
So soon it for ever
From all eyes is hid.

Here hath been dawning
Another blue day; 
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

--- Thomas Carlyle

---
Our grand business in life is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
--- Carlyle.


Lesson 27
Grace Darling

  Off the coast of Northumberland, in the northeast of England, are the Farne Islands, a number of dangerous rocks, on which there are lighthouses.  The keeper of one of these was Mr. Darling, with whom lived his daughter Grace.
  Towards the morning of the 6th of September, 1838, Grace was awakened by cries of distress; and at daybreak she saw the remains of a wreck on Longstone Island, the farthest of the rocks.
  Grace aroused her father with the words: "There is a wreck on Longstone Island.  Let us get into the boat and go to the rescue of anyone who may still be alive on the vessel."  The tide, however, was rising, and the sea and wind were wild beyond description; her father hesitated to come to any definite decision, knowing how difficult it is to put out in this fearful weather.
  Grace went to the window and looked again at the wreck.  She was sure she could see something moving on the vessel, as though living beings were still there.  Seizing the oars, she placed herself in the boat, which she was well able to manage.  Her father could not let her go alone, and they rowed off together in a very heavy sea.  As they came nearer, it gave them fresh courage to see that nine persons were still holding on to the ship.  After many vain attempts, the father succeeded in landing on the rock and making his way to the wreck.  Meanwhile Grace rowed about among the great waves, skillfully managing her little boat; had she been less skillful, it would have been dashed to pieces against the rocks.
  One by one, with the greatest care, the nine who still lived were placed in the boat and carried to the lighthouse.  There Grace made them as comfortable as she could and looked after them for two whole days before the storm abated and it was possible to send a boat to the mainland.  One of the saved was a Mrs. Dawson, whose two children, eleven and eight years old, had been killed by the waves while she held them in her arms, and who had suffered so much herself, that it was long before she could leave her bed.
  The vessel was the "Forfarshire," a large steamer sailing between Hull and Dundee.  Her boilers had begun to leak, so that her engines were useless.  When the storm arose, the ship was helpless without her steam, and was tossed upon the Farne Islands.  The only boat had been lowered by eight of the sailors, who were rowing off, when one gentleman rushed on deck, gripped a rope, and swung himself after them.  These nine were fortunately picked up by a passing vessel and saved.  Of the others, the whole number had either perished in their wet cabins or been washed off the wreck, except four of the crew and five passengers, whom Grace Darling's courage had rescued out of the very jaws of Death.  It was not known exactly how many lives were lost; more than forty had certainly gone on board at Hull.
  The fame of the saver spread like a wild fire throughout the length and breadth of her country, and even extended beyond the national boundary into the remote corners of the world.


Lesson 28
How Refrigeration Brings Us Food

  When we say that food "spoils," we really mean that bacteria, or plants so tiny that they cannot be seen except with a microscope, are living upon it.  It is bacteria that cause butter to become sour and meat to decay.  Bacteria are like the fairies of the story-books; there are good ones and bad ones.  When they live upon the bodies of dead animals in the woods and crumble them up and destroy them, they are useful; but when they live upon what we want for our own food and spoil it, we try our best to get rid of them.
  Heat kills all kinds of bacteria, and that is why boiling or baking any kind of food makes it free from bacteria; that is, destroys any bacteria that may be present in it.  Cold kills most bacteria, though some kinds can live comfortably for months frozen in the center of a cake of ice, and can even keep on growing slowly.  Nevertheless, since heat cannot be applied to all sorts of food, cold is generally employed to preserve it.  The commonest way is to lock it up with ice, as in the refrigerator.  A good refrigerator should keep food cool and dry.  It is not excepted to freeze food, but with a right amount of ice it ought to send the mercury down to 40 degrees or 45 degrees F.  The air within should be so dry that dry food put into it will not get damp.  Wrapping the ice in flannel delays its melting, but does not keep the refrigerator so cool.  Whatever needs to be kept coldest should be put directly under the ice.  Melons, onions, and other things with a strong odor ought to go near the top, while such things as butter and milk, which absorb odors easily, ought to go near the bottom.  There should always be a good circulation of air.  The cold air ought to go down below the ice, and after absorbing warmth rise again to be cooled.  No one who uses a refrigerator ought to forget that bacteria love warmth and moisture, and that nothing else so discourages them in their mischief as plenty of cold, dry air.  A poor refrigerator or one that is not well cared for is worse than none at all.
  Less than fifty years ago it was discovered that meat and fruit -- in short, all varieties of food -- could be sent any distance provided they were kept cold enough while on the way.  "Refrigerator cars" were made and were soon running in every direction.
  These are like the ordinary box cars, but top, bottom, and sides are packed with some "poor conductor" of heat; that is, some substance, like cork or straw, which will not convey the heat from outside into the car.  Across each and there is a compartment to hold ice, which is put in from the top.  At the top and bottom of this compartment are openings to allow the air to circulate.  Whenever any substance melts, it takes in heat and cools the object from which the heat comes.  If a dish of cold water is set upon a hot stove, the water takes heat from the stove, boils, and turns into steam; while the stove under it is cooler than it otherwise would have been.  In just this way the ice takes heat from the air of the car and melts, and the air becomes cooler.  Salt added to the ice makes it melt faster, because salt and water are so eager to unite that they draw heat from the air more rapidly than does the ice alone.
  There are not only cold cars, but cold rooms and buildings for the storage of food until it is needed.  Just how long it may be kept without injury and what degrees of cold are best for different articles are important questions.  If the cold is extreme, as it is in the Arctic regions, meat cold be kept for centuries.  In Siberia an animal called a mammoth, an ancient animal somewhat like an elephant, was once found frozen into the ice.  It had been there for thousands of years, but its flesh was so good that the dogs ate it with a relish.


Lesson 29
The Government of the Home

  The home is small community.  It is made up of several members, father, mother, and children, all bound together by common feeling and interests, and living under a common family government.
  Just as there must be some form of head government over any group of people living and working together, so there must be government in the home.  The child, as a member of the home group, does not always know what is for his good.  He must be saved from himself by learning to submit to the rule of the right authority.
  The parent or guardian is the lawful authority in the home and has full charge of the child's welfare.  The duty of a parent is to perform the rights to which every child is entitled.  This means that the parent must feed and care for the child, send him to school, allow him to play, and protect him from all harm to mind and body.
  In return for all this the parent has the right to govern, to correct, and to take the earnings of the child until the child becomes of age.  No parent, however, has the right to ask from the child anything that is not just, or true, or pure.  Happily our statesmen are now beginning to look out for children by protecting all the rights that belong to childhood.  One of the most important results is that children are not allowed to do work that is too hard for their age and strength.
  The father, then, is the supreme head of the family and his word ought to be law.  All family laws ought to be operated for the best interests of each and all members of the little community of the home.  If parents only knew that the early years are the time in which to start the child for life on the road of right or wrong!
  The parent ought to insist upon perfect obedience from the child at all times.  Teach children from the early years to obey the command of a parent, teacher, or other authority without question.  Teach children to take advice and correction on faith and trust.
  When children reach the age of reason, they may be given more and more freedom as they are able to use it wisely.  They will soon see that law and liberty go together and will learn for themselves that the best obedience is that which obeys the higher law.  This higher law is the law of conscience, which tells us to do a thing because it is the right thing to do.
  Such training, then, in the home will benefit the child in his life at school, in the world where he enters upon his life as a citizen of the community.  It is said that no nation can be destroyed which has a good home life.  And the home which is doing its full duty to the larger community is the home which instructs its young people in such particular subjects as love, loyalty, and obedience.


Lesson 30
Honesty Rewarded

Jean Colbert, a boy of fifteen, was busy arranging the rolls of cloth in the shop, when Mr. Certain, his employer, called him, and said; "I want you to take these pieces of cloth to the hotel to Mr. Cenani, the banker from Paris, who is staying there.  The prices, with samples attached, are on these tickets, and you must be careful not to make a mistake."
  "Am I to take any less than the prices marked?" asked Lean. -- "Not a sou," answered the man.  "You are to get the full price, and be sure to bring back the money with you."
　Accompanied by a porter, who carried the cloth, Jean went to the hotel, and was conducted into Mr. Cenani's room.  The banker carefully examined the several pieces of cloth, and putting one aside, said, "I like this best.  How much is it?" -- "Fifteen crowns a yard," answered Jean.  The porter smiled at this, but neither Jean nor the banker noticed him.  "This will do," said Mr. Cenani.  "Give me thirty yards of it.  I want it for hangings for my library."
　While Jean and the porter measured the cloth, the banker walked carelessly to his desk, and taking from it a roll of gold, counted out four hundred and fifty crowns, which he handed to Jean.  The lad then wrote a receipt for the money.  This is done, he and the porter departed.
　"Well," said Mr. Certain, as the two entered the shop, "did you make a sale?  How did you succeed?  You've made no mistake, I hope?" -- "I don't think I have, sir," answered Jean quietly. -- "But I do," said the porter, laughing. -- "Ah!  I might have expected it," cried the merchant, as he hurried to examine the cloth.  "But I give you fair notice, you shall pay for your mistake."
　"Don't be uneasy," said the porter.  "The mistake is in your favor.  He sold for fifteen crowns a yard a cloth marked only six."  The merchant's manner underwent a sudden change.  "Ah!  Good boy," he said.  "That's the way to make mistakes.  Fifteen crowns for a six-crown cloth!  What a splendid profit!  Jean, my dear boy, I am proud of you.  You will be a great man."
　For a moment Jean could not speak, so astonished was he.  But when he recovered from his surprise, "Master," cried he, "you surely would not take advantage of this mistake?  It is not honest, and I, at least, shall take no part in it.  I shall go at once to Mr. Cenani, and return the money he has paid too much."  And before the merchant was fairly aware of it, the lad was out of the shop, and on his way to the banker.
　When Jean reached the hotel, he went at once, without being announced, to Mr. Cenani's room, and in answer to the call "Come in," entered.  The banker looked surprised and displeased.  "What do you want?" he asked.  "I cannot be disturbed now, I am engaged.  Come some other time." -- "Ah, sir," said the boy, "pardon me, but I must speak to you.  By mistake I received too much money from you for the cloth you bought, and I come to return you your money," and he laid the gold pieces on the table.
　"But you might have kept the money for yourself," said Mr. Cenani, who seemed to forget his hurry, and was now quite interested.  "I never thought of that," answered Jean.  "But if you had thought of it?" -- "I could not think of such a thing.  It would not be honest," answered the smiling boy.
　"You are a fine fellow," said Mr. Cenani, and then asking the boy's name, and inquiring about his family, he dismissed him with the remark, "We shall meet again, Jean, we shall meet again."


Lesson 31
My Dove

I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving:
Oh, what could it grieve for?  Its feet were tied
With a silken thread of my own hand's weaving;
Sweet little red feet, why should you die?
Why would you leave me, sweet bird, why?
You lived alone in the forest tree:
Why, pretty thing, would you not live with me?
I kissed you oft and gave you white peas;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?

--- John Keats.


Lesson 32
The Endless Tale

  In the Far East there was a king who had no work to do.  Every day, and all day long, he sat on soft cushions and listened to stories.  And no matter what the story was about, he never grew tired of hearing it, even though it was very long.
  "There is only one fault that I find with your story," he often said: "it is too short."
  At last he sent word into every city and town and village, offering a prize to any one who should tell him an endless tale.
  But this was not all.  He added a very hard condition.  "If any man shall try to tell such a story and then fail, he shall have his head cut off."
  One young man invented a story that lasted three months; but at the end of that time, he could think of nothing more.  His fate was warning to others, and it was a long time before another story-teller was so rash as to try the king's patience.
  But one day a stranger from the South came into the palace.
  "Great king," he said, "it is true that you offer a prize to the man who can tell a story that has no end?"
  "It is true," said the king.
  "And shall this man have your fairest daughter for his wife, and shall he be your heir?"
  "Yes, if he succeeds," said the king.  "But if he fails, he shall lose his head."
  "Very well, then," said the stranger.  "I have a pleasant story about locusts which I should like to relate."
  "Tell it," said the king.  "I will listen to you."  The story-teller began his tail.
  "Once upon a time a certain king seized upon all the corn in his country, and stored it away in a strong granary.  But a swarm of locusts came over the land and saw where the grain had been put.  After searching for many days they found on the east side of the granary a hole that was just large enough for one locust to pass through at a time.  So one locust went in and carried away a grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn."
  Day after day, week after week, the man kept on saying, "Then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn."
  A month passed: a year passed.  At the end of two years, the king said, --
  "How much longer will the locusts be going in and carrying away corn?"
  "O king!" said the story-teller, "they have as yet cleared only one foot; and there are many thousand feet in the granary."
  "Man, man!" cried the king, "you will drive me mad.  I can listen to it no longer.  Take the prize.  But do not let me hear another word about those horrible locusts!"


Lesson 33
Rubber

  Rubber is important not only for removing pencil marks but also in the manufacture of tires for bicycles and motor-cars.  It is the sap of a tree, and as such large quantities of rubber are used the tree must grow where there is plenty of moisture.  In the valley of the Amazon, it is very warm and wet and the forests are big and dense.  The valley of the Amazon is a huge flat plain covered with an enormous forest.  This is the home of the rubber tree.
  In this forest the trees grow straight up like thousands of pillars.  Over the tops of the pillars is spread a green roof formed of the topmost branches and their leaves.  Seen from an airplane, this would look like a great green sea, dotted here and there with masses of beautiful flowers like so many colored islands.  Underneath the thick green roof there is little light, and from tree to tree pass vines as thick as ropes, that seem to tie the whole forest up into a big, thick mass of wood.  In this gloomy place it is always hot, moist, and dark.  There are hundreds of different kinds of trees.
  Many kinds of trees provide the juice from which rubber is made: the most important has leaves and bark something like those of the ash and grows to a great height before throwing off branches.  The man who collects the sap goes to a tree and makes cuts in the dark.  The juice flows out and is collected in cups of tin or clay.  The next day the juice is heated and so hardened.
  The life of the rubber collector is a very hard one.  He lives alone, or with one companion, in a rough hut made with pieces of palm wood and roofed with leaves and fibers.  When he finds the trees he cuts paths from one to the other.  He begins his work at four in the morning.  When he gets up he drinks a cup of coffee, shoulders his rifle, and, taking his small axe and some little tin cups, he starts out on his morning round.  He visits each tree in turn, making cuts in the bark, and fixing one of the cups underneath to catch the white milk.  After all his trees have been visited, he returns to his hut, cooks and eats his middy meal of dried meat and beans, and at once, if he is alone, starts out to collect the milk from each of the little cups.  Returning home, he lights the furnace in the rubber hut, the atmosphere of which, after five minutes, is stifling, pours the milk into a large pan, and slowly heats it.  When hot enough he smoke-dries it on to his rubber ball, which is mounted on a long pole or stick, by pouring it over the ball.
  He needs a special kind of fuel for this work, and he must collect it beforehand.  By the time he has dried the sap, it is dark; he eats his supper and goes to bed.


Lesson 34
The Titanic

Part I
  We are approaching the twenty-first anniversary of that tragic April day when the Titanic sailed from Southampton never to return.
  Men still whisper of the dark night when the Titanic sank two miles deep in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
  The Titanic was a palace of light and life and wonder.  She was the greatest ship that ever sailed the sea.  Sixty thousands tons of water moved away when the Titanic floated upon the waters.  Her engines had the power of 46,000 horses.  Every two minutes her fires consumed a ton of coal.  Roses grew on her decks as in a garden, ivy climbed up her sides as up a wall; she was as long as a street and as wide as many a market-place.  She had music saloons and a theater, billiard rooms and gymnasiums, a swimming bath and a tennis court.
  On that sunny day when the Titanic left Southampton, the proudest thing that ever left this realm, this England, her flags were flying high, and her captain must have fancied that in his ears were ringing the cheers of all the captains in the world.  The old captain was taking the new ship from the Old World to the New.
  And all was well.  On the Thursday and Friday and Saturday the Titanic was the pride of her captain and the glory of the seas.  A little boy was spinning his top as if he were at home; a dozen millionaires were attending to their business by wireless telegraphy as if they had been in their offices; men and women were playing and writing and talking and reading; and all the men and women and children on the ship would have made up a little town.  There were 2,206 people, and the ship could have taken 1,000 more.
  The sun shone brightly all the way, the sea was calm, and the first Sunday at sea dawned for the great ship.  We can imagine that the first hymns sung in the Titanic would make a great impression, and the strains of thanksgiving would die slowly away as the sun went down on the ship's first Sunday at sea.  There was no moon, but the stars looked down from a clear sky on the ship that carried two thousand human souls.  The Titanic was blazing with lights, and a majestic sight it must have been as it moved along a quiet sea.  The day drew near its end, and the ship was 300 miles off Newfoundland.  A few men were playing cards, a few were walking about, but nearly all the people in this floating town were asleep or going to bed.

Part II
  Suddenly the ship shook; the Titanic trembled like a leaf.  The men playing cards looked up; women got out of bed.  The captain ran to the room where the wireless man sat.  "We have struck an iceberg," he said.  "Send out a call for help."  The operator sent out the call.  It was twenty minutes to twelve, and for hundreds of miles the cry of the Titanic was heard in other ships.
  "Help!  Help!  Hurry!  Hurry!" rang out the cry from the wireless room, and in the wireless room of the Carpathia, 58 miles away, the cry was heard.  More and more urgent and more and more terrible the tapping became, until these awful words rang through the air: "Come quickly; the engine-room is filling up to the boilers."  The Titanic was mortally wounded, and for hundreds of miles around her the air was filled with her cries for help.  The might of man was laid low; Nature had touched the Titanic with her finger.  She was sinking fast.  The ship that was thought to be unsinkable was plunging into the deep.  The people were out of their beds with their life-belts on, the life-boats were lowered, 2,200 people stood trembling between two worlds.  Fifty-eight miles away, fifty miles away, forty miles away, the Carpathia was racing towards them, with other ships behind.
  And there, in the darkness of that Sunday night, a page was written in the history of the world that will never be blotted out.  There were not enough life-boats on this great ship for all on board, and as the boats were lowered there echoed from deck to deck that cry which has been the glory of our British name throughout the ages of the sea: "Women and children first."
  Rich and poor were equal at the gates of death; the millionaire who might have refused a boy a shilling the day before gave his life for the boy in this great hour.  Husbands parted from wives, fathers from children, friends from friends, as one was taken into the boats and the other left.  The boats went off in the dark, and the last chance of escape from the Titanic was gone.  Still the water was pouring in, the engines stopped, the lights were dimmed, and when all was done that human help could do the captain's shout rang from the bridge: "Every man for himself; men, I release you."  Even after that the wireless operator sat tapping at his table, and the Carpathia heard his bitter cry, and put on "every ounce of steam."
  And then, at twenty minutes past two the silent stars looked down upon the saddest thing that ever broke a human heart.  With its brave band playing "Nearer, my God, to Thee," the Titanic turned on its end, like a duck when it dives in the water, and plunged into the sea with fifteen hundred men and women.  Its first journey was ended.


Lesson 35
Dust

  If I were to ask you whether dust is of any use, you would reply that it is of no use at all, but is only a nuisance.
  This answer would be only partly right.  Too much dust is very bad for us, and brings discomfort and disease.  Yet, after all, dust, like dirt, is only "matter in the wrong place."
  Watch a sunbeam pass into a dark room through a chink in the shutters.  How it lights up the room at once!  In the path of the beam you see hundreds of particles of dust gleaming like gold.  Without this dust the sunbeam would be quite invisible until it fell upon the floor or the wall.  The dust reflects the light and spreads it around.
  The higher we go, the smaller and lighter are the particles of dust in the air.  These fine particles reflect only the blue light, and it is for this reason that the clear sky appears blue.
  If we go up a high mountain, most of the coarse dust is below us.  We then find that the sky is of a much deeper blue than it was when seen from the base of the mountain.
  The lovely hues of sunrise and sunset are also due in great measure to dust.  When the sun is near the horizon, we see it through a great thickness of the lower air, with its coarse dust.  The very fine dust of the upper air reflects the blue away from us, and leaves us the yellow and red light.  That is how the sun appears so red at sunrise and sunset.  We can hardly believe that the wondrous beauty of the sunset sky is the gift of mere dust.
  If there were no dust in the air, our earth would not be fit for us to live upon.  Let me tell you why.  You know that without rain the earth would be a parched desert; you probably do not know that dust is necessary to give us the rain which waters the earth and makes it fit for the abode of man.
  The heat of the sun turns the water of the ocean into vapor, which rises unseen into the air.  As it rises, the cold air about it condenses it into the form of clouds.  When these clouds are further cooled by being forced to rise over a range of mountains, or when they are chilled by meeting colder currents of air, their vapor falls on the earth as rain.
  Not many years ago it was discovered that without dust in the air there could be no clouds; the cooling of the vapor would not produce clouds unless there were solid particles of matter in the air.  The vapor would remain invisible, and would float about until the whole air was full of moisture.


Lesson 36
Life is Real!

Life is real!  Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

--- Henry W. Longfellow.


Lesson 37
An Escape

  A merchant vessel was anchored at the mouth of the Congo, the great African river which flows into the Atlantic.  It was very hot, and the men on board were anxious to cool themselves by bathing in the river; but they were afraid of sharks.  There was one of them, however, a rash man, who made up his mind to have a swim in spite of all the sharks in the ocean.  He stripped, dived off the vessel, and began to swim vigorously towards the shore.  The sailors watched him from the deck; and when he had got about half way, they saw, with horror, a huge crocodile following him.  A boat was lowered; several shots were fired at the crocodile; but they might as well have been fired against a stone wall for all the good they did.
  It seemed as if the man had now no chance of his life.  He had only just found out what was the matter, from hearing the shouts of the sailors in the boat and of the negroes on shore, as well as the noise of the shots.  He now swam with all his might, but the crocodile was gaining steadily upon him.  They were now close to the shore, at a spot where there was a thick undergrowth of canes; when suddenly a leopard sprang out upon the man from the canes, just as the crocodile opened his jaws.  Luckily for the sailor, the leopard had taken too strong a spring, and fell upon the awful jaws of the crocodile.
  There now began a terrific fight between these two dreadful animals.  The crocodile, however, had by far the best of it; for not only was he protected by his scales, but he could keep the leopard under water.  He held him there, and at last the leopard was choked to death, but even in death he still held on to the crocodile; and both sank to the bottom.  Meanwhile the sailor panting and grateful, had crept safely to shore.


Lesson 38
Webster and the Woodchuck

  On a farm among the hills of New Hampshire there once lived a little boy whose name was Daniel Webster.
  Unlike many farmers' boys, he had a very gentle heart.  He loved the trees and flowers and the harmless wild creatures that made their homes among them.
  It happened one summer that a woodchuck made its home in the side of a hill near Mr. Webster's house.  On warm, dark nights it would come down into the garden and eat the tender leaves of the cabbages and other plants that were growing there.  Nobody knew how much harm it might do in the end.
  Daniel and his elder brother Ezekiel made up their minds to catch the little thief.  They tried this thing and that, but for a long time he was too cunning for them.  Then they built a strong trap where the woodchuck would be sure to walk into it; and the next morning, there he was.
  "We have him at last!" cried Ezekiel.  "Now, Mr. Woodchuck, you've done mischief enough, and I'm going to kill you."
  But Daniel pitied the little animal.  "No, don't hurt him," he said.  "Let us carry him over the hills, far into the woods, and let him go."
  Ezekiel, however, would not agree to this.  His heart was not so tender as his little brother's.  He was bent on killing the woodchuck, and laughed at the thought of letting it go.
  "Let us ask father about it," said Daniel.
  "All right," said Ezekiel; "I know what the judge will decide."
  They carried the trap, with the woodchuck in it, to their father, and asked what they should do.
  "Well, boys," said Mr. Webster, "we will settle the question in this way.  We will hold a court right here.  I will be the judge, and you shall be the lawyers.  You shall each plead your case, for or against the prisoner, and I will decide what his punishment shall be."
  Ezekiel made the first speech.  He told about the mischief that had been done.  He showed that all woodchucks are bad and cannot be trusted.  He spoke of the time and labor that had been spent in trying to catch the thief, and declared that if they should now set him free he would be a worse thief than before.
  "A woodchuck's skin," he said, "may perhaps be sold for ten cents.  Small as that sum is, it will go a little way towards paying for the cabbage he has eaten.  But, if we set him free, how shall we ever recover even a penny of what we have lost?  Clearly, he is of more value dead than alive, and therefore he ought to be put out of the way at once."
  Ezekiel's speech was a good one, and it pleased the judge very much.  What he said was true and to the point, and it would be hard for Daniel to make any answer to it.
  Daniel began by pleading for the poor animal's life.  He looked up into the judge's face, and said; --
  "God made the woodchuck, He made him to live in the bright sunlight and the pure air.  He made him to enjoy the free fields and the green woods.  The woodchuck has a right to his life, for God gave it to him."
  "God gives us our food.  He gives us all that we have.  And shall we refuse to share a little of it with this poor dumb creature who has as much right to God's gifts as we have?"
  "The woodchuck is not a fierce animal like the wolf or the fox.  He lives in quiet and peace.  A hole in the side of a hill, and a little food, is all he wants.  He has harmed nothing but a few plants, which he ate to keep himself alive.  He has a right to life, to food, to liberty; and we have no right to say he shall not have them."
  "Look at his soft, pleading eyes.  See him tremble with fear.  He cannot speak for himself, and this is the only way in which he can plead for the life that is so sweet to him.  Shall we be so cruel as to kill him?  Shall we be so selfish as to take from him the life that God gave him?"
  The judge's eyes were filled with tears as he listened.  His heart was stirred.  He felt that God had given him a son whose name would some day be known to the world.
  He did not wait for Daniel to finish his speech.  He sprang to his feet, and as he wiped the tears from his eyes, he cried out, "Ezekiel, let the woodchuck go!"


Lesson 39
The Unknown Painter

  Murillo, a famous artist of Seville, often found on the canvas of some of his pupils sketches bearing marks of great genius.  They were done during the night, and he was unable to find out who had made them.
  One morning the pupils were at the studio before their master and were standing by a picture lost in wonder and surprise, when Murillo entered.  His wonder was as great as theirs on finding a beautiful painting.
  He asked first one and then another of the young painters, to see if any one of them would lay claim to it, but each sadly answered, "No!" and one said, "He who has done this will one day be the greatest of us all."
  "Sebastian!" said the master to a young slave who stood by trembling, "Who is in this studio at night?"
  "No one but myself, sir."
  "Well, watch here to-night; and if you do not find out who it is that comes to this room, thirty lashes shall be your punishment on the morrow."
  Sebastian bowed and retired.
  That night Sebastian slept soundly until the church clock struck three.  He then sprang from his bed and said to himself, "Three hours are my own; the rest are my master's."
  He seized a palette to blot out the work of the night before.  With brush in hand he paused before making the fatal stroke.  "I cannot! oh, I cannot blot it out!" said he, "Rather let me finish it."
  He went to work and forgot everything else in his earnestness: a little color here, a touch there, a soft shade here; and thus three hours rolled by.  The young artist slave saw nothing but the lovely picture before him, the face of which seemed to smile upon him with a look of heavenly goodness and grace.
  He felt that he was free, when suddenly a slight noise caused him to look up.  Murillo with his pupils stood around, and the sun was shining brightly through the window.
  Again the lad was a slave.  His eyes fell beneath their eager gaze.
  "Who is your master, Sebastian?"
  "You, sir."
  "Your drawing master, I mean?"
  "You, sir."
  "I have never given you lessons."
  "No, but you gave them to these young gentlemen, and I heard them."
  "Yes, and, by St. James, you have made better use of them than any one of these has yet done.  Does this boy deserve punishment or reward, my dear pupils?"
  "Reward, sir," was the quick reply.
  "What shall it be?"
  One whispered, "A suit of clothes"; another, "A sum of money"; a third, "His freedom"; but there was no response from the slave.
  Suddenly a cry burst from his lips as he threw himself on his knees, clasping his hands and raising his streaming eyes to meet his master's gaze.
  "Oh, freedom -- freedom for my father!" cried he, in a voice choked by tears and sobs.
  "And yours?  Do you not desire your own?" asked Murillo.  Sebastian hung his head and with a sob answered, "My father first, sir."
  "Yes, my poor child, and yours too," said Murillo, no loner able to restrain his tears, as he raised Sebastian kindly.
  "Oh, my master! my good master!" was all that the boy could say.
  "Thou art now free, Sebastian," said Murillo.
  "Free to serve thee all my life, master!" he replied, falling again on his knees and kissing his master's hands.
  In Italy and in our picture galleries there are still to be seen many beautiful paintings from the hands of Murillo and Sebastian Gomez.