Chapter 13

bas´-ket shell´-ing bas´-in taught won´-der-ful break´-ing fair´-y hap´-pens weath´-er earth moist pea su´-gar starch earth sun´-light

1. At last, one sunny morning, mother came out with a basket and began to pick the pods. Harry and Dora wished to help her, and all three were soon at work.

2. Next, the shelling began. Mother had a basin in her lap, and the two children sat close to her and shelled their peas into it.

3. They told her how they had shelled the baby-peas. She taught them how each plant was a living thing, and had a tiny plant inside of it, all ready to come out at the right time. This was very wonderful.

4. 'Did that big plant come out of one little pea?' cried Dora.

'I can't see a little plant inside,' said

Harry, breaking one of the peas open.

5. 'Yet it is there, a fairy-plant, with a root, a stem, and two leaves. These leaves take up nearly all the room in the green ball. How would you like to have two or three of these peas to plant? There! I can spare you three each from to-day's dinner.'

6. The children were glad to have them. 'I wish we could see them grow,' said Dora. 'What happens, mother, when they are in the earth?'

7. 'Do you mean, How do they begin to grow? Well, the weather must be rather warm, and the earth moist, and the pea swells itself out till it bursts open its thin coat. The little root goes down to fasten it firmly in the ground, and to look for food. Then the little stem and the two leaves come up to get air and sunshine. That is how it begins.'

8. 'What food is there in the ground? What food do the roots find?'

'Lime and iron'----

'Iron!' cried Harry.

9. 'Yes, there is iron in green peas! There are sugar, too, and starch, and fat, and water, and other things. Some come out of the earth, some come out of the air and the sunlight, and some the plant makes for itself. Oh, it is a very clever plant! But all plants are clever, I think.'

IRON AND METAL.

pock´-ets mar´-bles wrapped size heav´-y weight light´-er though cop´-per thought zinc met´-als sup-pose´ wheat i´-ron ket´-tle

1. 'What have you in your pockets, father?' asked Harry, pulling at them. 'Nuts? stones? marbles?'

'Put your hand in, and find out. Here, Dora, you can try the other pocket.'

2. In went two hands, and out came little hard lumps, each wrapped in paper. The children laid them on the table in a row, and wanted to know what they were.

3. They were not nuts, nor marbles, and not quite like stones. They were all about the same size, but one was very heavy. Harry and Dora held it in their hands to feel how heavy it was.

4. 'That is a bit of lead,' said their father. 'Which do you think is the next in weight?'

'This red one. It is a good deal lighter, though!'

'That is called copper. Now, what comes next?'

5. They were not sure, but thought that iron came next, and then tin, and then zinc. Their father told them these names as they went on. He told them also that all these things were metals, and had been dug out of the earth.

6. 'Suppose we make a box to keep them in?'

'Oh yes!' cried both.

'And if we find any more things like these, we will put them in.

7. 'Would you put in a buttercup?'

'No, no!'

'Or a grain of wheat?'

'No, it is not at all like these.'

'Or a bit of slate?'

'I think so,' said Harry.

Dora was not quite sure.

8. 'Yes, we will put the slate into the box. It is not a metal, but it came out of the ground. Now, what do you say to this?' And he pulled out a lump that looked like earth and stone.

9. What could this be? It was iron, just as it had come out of the ground, with clay and earth about it.

10. 'Once upon a time,' said father, 'the kettle, and the poker, and the fender, all looked like this!'

THE FAIRY RING.

danc´-ing fair´-y queen sea´-sons year cir´-cle sphere sum´-mer glide au´-tumn tress´-es cheeks

1. Let us dance and let us sing, Dancing in a merry ring; We'll be fairies on the green, Sporting round the fairy queen.

2. Like the seasons of the year Round we circle in a sphere; I'll be Summer, you'll be Spring, Dancing in a fairy ring.

3. Spring and Summer glide away, Autumn comes with tresses gay; Winter, hand-in-hand with Spring, Dancing in a fairy ring.

4. Faster, faster round we go, While our cheeks with roses glow, Free as birds upon the wing, Dancing in a fairy ring.

NEEDLES.