A First Reader

Part 3

Chapter 31,984 wordsPublic domain

Some nights this fairy creeps into the tall white lily. There she clings through the night. She holds on very fast. She does not feel the cold wind. Other nights she rests in a red rose. She is buried out of sight. There she waits for the morning. She hears the voice of the wind. The wind blows among the flowers. It rocks the fairy’s flower cradle. The stars shine down on her. She drops asleep. She sleeps all the long night. What a wonderful fairy she is! What name do we call her?

Can you tell me? Yes, that is right. It is fairy butterfly.

Sleep, little fairy, sleep and rest, Of all the flowers, Rose loves you best.

(sh one) (d own) (s ee) st one g own gr ee n

THE WHITE LILY

A tall white lily grew in a beautiful garden. Her home was near the old stone wall. Her gown was white and shining green. May cared for Lily. She kept the ground soft.

Lily seemed to know that May loved her. She lifted her head and smiled at the girl. One day the sun shone. O how warm it grew! Lily could not lift up her head. “Dear rain,” she cried. “Do come to the garden. We want you. Come, kind friend. Come before all the sweet flowers wither.” The rain heard Lily’s call.

“I am coming,” he cried. “Lift up your head. I will be with you soon, dear Lily.” The bright raindrops fell to the ground. Faster and faster and faster they came. A soft wind blew. Lily lifted her cup. The rain filled it. How glad she was! “Thank you, dear rain,” she said. “Now I am happy again. My gown looks new. How kind you are!”

(lea ves) (k ept) (b ig) (h ung) lea f sl ept tw ig cl ung cat er pil lar o pen ed

THE CATERPILLAR

A caterpillar rested on a lily leaf. He lay there very still. He was very big and very green. “Go away,” cried the lily, “go away! I do not like caterpillars.” “I am so tired,” said the caterpillar. “I can not go away. Let me rest. I am so sleepy. Do let me stay. I will be very still.”

“No! No! Go away,” said the lily. “You must go away. You may not stay. I will not have you.” The caterpillar fell from the lily leaf. In his fall he kept hold of a little twig. There he clung fast. He was tired, so very tired. He spun a little coat around him. Then he fell asleep. All winter he slept there soundly. In the spring the bright sun shone warm. Its rays fell on the caterpillar’s coat.

The caterpillar’s coat opened. And what do you think came out? A caterpillar? No! No! No! A wonderful thing! A beautiful butterfly! What shining, bright wings! How it flew among the flowers! It came flying to the lily. The lily said, “Come, beautiful butterfly, come to my sweet blossoms! Rest on me—I love you, butterfly! You are so bright and beautiful!”

But the butterfly answered, “When I was a caterpillar, you did not want me. You would not let me rest on you then. You said you did not like caterpillars. You would not let me stay. Now I will not stay with you. I will go to the red rose. Good-by, lily; you are fair but cold.”

(h im) grass (f air) d im pled h air

THE DANDELION

O dandelion yellow as gold, What do you do all day?

I just wait here in the tall green grass Till the children come to play.

O dandelion yellow as gold, What do you do all night?

I wait and wait till the cool dews fall And my hair grows long and white.

And what do you do when your hair is white And the children come to play?

They take me up in their dimpled hands And blow my hair away.

or chard fields (over) car ry weath er vis it cl over hive gath er snug buzz store

THE BEE

“Buzz, buzz,” said the bee, “I have much work to do, The garden and orchard I must search through and through.

I must visit the meadows And fields of red clover, And search them for honey Over and over.

To the hive I must carry My honey with care, And store it away While the weather is fair.

For soon will come winter, The ice and the snow, And round our snug bee-hive The cold winds will blow.

Buzz, buzz, little children, Keep out of my way; I must gather and store All I can this bright day.”

(h eat) (work) (st ore) eat work er m ore

THE BUSY BEE

Hear the bee. “Buzz, buzz,” he says. “Keep out of my way! I can’t stop for you.” He is a busy worker. When the weather is fair he is busy all day. He flies through garden and orchard. He visits all the sweet flowers. He is searching for honey. All little flowers are glad to have him come to them. The red clover has more honey than many other flowers. So the bee and the clover are friends. The bee gathers honey from all the sweet flowers. He gathers all he can carry. Then he flies away. Over the fields he goes to his hive. There he stores his honey with care. He knows the cold winter is coming. Then he can gather no honey. There will be no flowers in the fields. The cold winter winds will blow.

Snow will cover fields and flowers. But the little bee will be happy. He will be safe in his snug hive. There he will keep snug and warm. Now he can eat his store of honey. He can eat all he wants. He will be glad he worked in summer. He will be glad of his snug warm hive. He can sleep and rest waiting for another summer. When it comes he will be busy again.

WHY THE CLOVER IS SWEET

A little fairy flew to a daisy. “Dear Daisy,” she said, “will you give me some honey?” “No, go away,” said the daisy. The fairy flew away to a rose. “Beautiful Rose,” she said, “will you give me some honey?” “You may have just a little,” answered the rose. “Thank you,” said the fairy. “I do not care for your honey.” Away she flew to the clover. “Little Clover,” she said, “will you give me some honey?”

“Indeed I will, dear Fairy. Take all that you want.” “Thank you,” said the fairy. “Now I will be kind to you. Hereafter you will have more honey than any other flower.” And from that day, the clover has been sweet with honey.

VOCABULARY

Most of the words used in the Aldine Primer are used frequently in this First Reader. The Primer words are not listed in this vocabulary, however; here are given only the words used for the first time in this book.

The number at the left of a word refers to the page on which the story begins in which that word is first used. New words are listed in the text immediately before or after the lesson in which they are used; they are listed after the lesson when they occur in rhymes to be memorized (see Teacher’s Manual), before the lesson in all other cases. Words of series that have already been studied (see Teacher’s Manual) are not usually listed in the text, but are given in this vocabulary.

A

26. all

98. almost

40. alone

68. along

88. always

125. among

115. another

88. answered

75. apple

15. as

91. asked

B

55. babies

17. baby

34. back

115. ball

15. be

75. beautiful

88. because

100. bed

140. bee

52. been

102. before

122. behind

97. bell

6. best

98. big

18. birdies

72. blast

30. blew

75. blossom

111. book

11. bough

98. bounding

58. bread

26. break

11. breakfast

62. bright

68. brother

106. brought

80. bud

121. buried

85. busy

18. but

123. butterfly

140. buzz

58. by

C

115. call

52. called

came

111. candy

43. care

140. carry

134. caterpillar

115. children

100. chimney

Christmas

68. clear

127. cling

55. close

102. cloud

140. clover

134. clung

115. coat

30. could

40. crack

26. cradle

121. creep

102. crept

123. cried

111. cries

110. crowned

111. cry

cup

D

75. daisy

88. dandelion

122. dark

85. darting

6. dear

115. deep

138. dew

66. did

138. dimpled

47. do

106. doll

75. done

25. doth

26. down

98. draw

121. drop

E

25. east

142. eat

15. egg

55. eye

F

75. fair

fairest

122. fairy

26. fall

100. far

130. fed

11. feed

111. feel

75. feet

134. fell

82. felt

140. field

102. filled

fire

30. flew

38. flies

21. flower

111. follow

47. found

91. friend

85. full

115. fun

G

75. garden

140. gather

58. gave

11. get

138. gold

88. gone

82. good-by

138. grass

130. green

30. grew

21. grow

H

52. had

138. hair

hand

91. happy

98. hark

58. has

68. hat

25. have

125. head

80. hear

91. heard

25. heart

38. her

14. here

102. hid

33. hide

15. high

115. hill

97. his

140. hive

102. hold

123. honey

106. hood

100. house

26. how

102. hung

98. hush

I

97. ice

82. indeed

J

97. just

K

140. keep

102. kept

106. kind

66. kite

47. know

L

88. land

43. last

121. lay

134. leaf

28. leaves

38. let

125. lift

62. light

15. like

75. lilie

lily

97. listen

88. live

52. longed

38. longer

72. loud

6. love

122. low

M

18. made

111. make

95. man

80. many

115. may

82. melting

62. might

111. mind

88. moon

142. more

38. mother

85. music

33. must

N

127. name

80. near

106. nice

62. night

34. no

82. none

21. not

O

138. O

15. oak

111. obey

115. off

15. old

28. one

134. opened

140. orchard

106. ought

our

34. out

121. outside

P

6. place

85. plain

121. plant

47. pussy

115. put

Q

106. quick

91. quietly

R

40. ran

102. ray

127. red

11. redbreast

97. reindeer

17. rest

62. right

97. ringing

11. robin

17. rock

rock-a-bye

75. rose

98. rushing

S

15. safe

17. safely

28. said

97. Santa Claus

30. saw

123. searching

121. seed

43. seek

68. seem

43. shade

38. she

55. shining

127. shone

55. should

106. shout

58. side

68. sight

15. sky

106. sled

97. sleigh

138. slept

115. slide

111. smile

140. snug

17. so

115. sometimes

18. soon

82. sound

134. spun

55. star

34. stay

115. steep

102. still

stocking

130. stone

33. stop

140. store

127. story

66. string

38. stronger

34. summer

82. sun

85. sunshine

26. sway

47. sweet

T

138. take

3. tail

58. thank

25. that

26. their

34. them

21. then

82. these

127. thin

97. thing

47. think

this

3. three

55. through

115. throw

62. tight

38. till

58. time

15. tiny

115. tip

52. tired.

122. ’tis

66. Tom

14. too

18. top

tree-top

134. twig

122. ’twill

30. two

U

97. us

V

47. very

violet

140. visit

121. voice

W

127. wait

75. wall

80. warm

50. was

25. way

21. we

140. weather

47. well

66. went

30. were

25. west

whichever

75. white

40. why

11. will

47. willow

38. wing

40. winter

122. wither

121. wonderful

85. woodland

125. work

142. worker

100. world

82. would

Y

85. year

103. yet

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.