Part 4

The beggar had nothing left but his old broken bag. He was as poor as he had been before.

THE SPIDER AND THE BEE

A merchant brought some linen to a fair and opened a shop. It was good linen, and many came to buy of him.

A spider saw what was going on, and said to herself:

"I can spin. Why shouldn't I open a shop, too?"

So the spider opened a little shop in the corner of a window, and spun all night, and made a beautiful web. She hung it out where everybody could see it.

"That is fine!" said the spider. "Surely, when the morning comes, all will want to buy it."

At last the morning came.

A man saw the web in the corner and swept it away, spider and all.

"That is a pretty thing to do!" cried the spider. "I should like to ask whose work is the finer, mine or that merchant's?"

A bee happened to fly past.

"Yours is the finer," said the bee. "We all know that. But what is it good for? It will neither warm nor cover any one."

THE STONE AND THE WORM

(A stone lay in a field. A farmer and his son were talking near by.)

FARMER. That was a fine rain we had this morning.

SON. Yes, indeed! A rain like that makes everybody glad.

FARMER. I have been wishing a long time for such a rain as that.

SON. It was better than gold.

(As they walked away, a worm crept out from under the stone. The stone called to the worm.)

STONE. Friend Worm, did you hear what those men were saying?

WORM. Yes, they were saying how good the rain was.

STONE. What has the rain done, I should like to know? It rained two hours and made me all wet.

WORM. That didn't hurt you.

STONE. Yes, it did. But it hurts me more to hear everybody saying how fine the rain was. Why don't they talk about me? I have been here for hundreds of years. I hurt nobody. I wet nobody. I stay quietly where I am put. Yet nobody ever has a kind word for me.

WORM. Stop your talk. This rain has helped the wheat and made it grow. And the wheat will help the farmer. It will give him bread. What have you ever given to anybody?

THE FOX IN THE ICE

Very early one winter morning a fox was drinking at a hole in the ice.

While he was drinking, the end of his tail got into the water, and there it froze fast.

He could have pulled it out and left some of the hairs behind, but he would not do this.

"How can I spoil such a beautiful tail!" said the fox to himself.

"No, I will wait a little. The men are asleep and will not catch me. Perhaps when the sun comes up the ice will melt."

So he waited, and the water froze harder and harder.

At last the sun came up.

The fox could see men coming down to the pond. He pulled and pulled, but now his tail was frozen so fast that he could not pull it out.

Just then a wolf came by.

"Help me, friend," cried the fox, "or I shall be lost."

The wolf helped him, and set him free very quickly. He bit off the tail of the fox.

So the fox lost all of his fine great tail because he would not give up a little hair from it.

POEMS BY FRANK D. SHERMAN

CLOUDS

The sky is full of clouds to-day, And idly, to and fro, Like sheep across the pasture, they Across the heavens go. I hear the wind with merry noise Around the housetops sweep, And dream it is the shepherd boys-- They're driving home their sheep.

The clouds move faster now, and see! The west is red and gold; Each sheep seems hastening to be The first within the fold. I watch them hurry on until The blue is clear and deep, And dream that far beyond the hill The shepherds fold their sheep.

Then in the sky the trembling stars Like little flowers shine out, While Night puts up the shadow bars, And darkness falls about. I hear the shepherd wind's good night, "Good night, and happy sleep!" And dream that in the east, all white, Slumber the clouds, the sheep.

GHOST FAIRIES

When the open fire is lit, In the evening after tea, Then I like to come and sit Where the fire can talk to me.

Fairy stories it can tell, Tales of a forgotten race-- Of the fairy ghosts that dwell In the ancient chimney place.

They are quite the strangest folk Anybody ever knew, Shapes of shadow and of smoke Living in the chimney flue.

"Once," the fire said, "long ago, With the wind they used to rove, Gypsy fairies, to and fro, Camping in the field and grove.

"Hither with the trees they came Hidden in the logs; and here, Hovering above the flame, Often some of them appear."

So I watch, and sure enough, I can see the fairies! Then Suddenly there comes a puff-- Whish!--and they are gone again!

DAISIES

At evening when I go to bed I see the stars shine overhead; They are the little daisies white That dot the meadow of the night.

And often while I'm dreaming so, Across the sky the moon will go; It is a lady, sweet and fair, Who comes to gather daisies there.

For when at morning I arise, There's not a star left in the skies; She's picked them all and dropped them down Into the meadows of the town.

OLD GREEK STORIES

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STAR GIANT

A great many years ago the Greeks told beautiful stories about what they saw in the earth and in the sky and in the sea.

They said the Sun drove each day across the sky in a car of fire, and gave light and heat to men.

He always had a bow and arrows with him, and his arrows were the sunbeams.

When he shot them very hard and struck men with them, the men were said to be sun-struck, but when he let the arrows fall gently on the earth, they did only good.

The Sun was called Apollo.

He was said to be a beautiful young man with golden hair, and he made wonderful music on a kind of harp called a lyre.

Men loved him, but they were a little afraid of him, too; he was so bright and strong.

His sister was the Moon. Her name was Artemis, or Diana. She rode through the sky at night in a silver car, and she, too, had a bow and arrows.

Her bow was a silver bow, and her arrows were the moonbeams.

She loved hunting, and often at night she would come down to earth and roam through the woods with her bow in her hand and her arrows at her side or on her back.

In pictures she is always seen with a little new moon in her hair.

Artemis was so beautiful that men were afraid to look at her. It was said that if any man should look full at her he would lose his mind.

So when she came to those whom she did not wish to hurt, she covered herself with clouds.

For a time the good giant Orion helped Artemis in her hunting, for he too was a great hunter. Artemis loved him as well as she loved any one, but she was very cold and did not care much for anybody.

After a time Orion left her. He wanted to marry the daughter of a king in one of the islands of the sea. The king said that he might if he would drive all the wild beasts out of the island. Orion did this, but the king did not keep his word.

Instead of that, he put out the eyes of Orion, but Orion went to Apollo, and was made to see again.

Then Orion went back to help Artemis with her hunting, but Apollo did not like that and wished to get rid of him.

He did not wish, himself, to hurt Orion, so he made Artemis do it.

"Sister," he said to her one day, "some men say that you can shoot as well as I can, but we all know that is not so."

"I should like to know why it is not so!" said Artemis.

"Well, let us try," said Apollo. "Do you see that little black speck away out there in the sea?"

"Yes, I see it," said Artemis.

"Can you hit it?" asked Apollo.

"Indeed I can," said Artemis; and with that she let an arrow fly from her bow. It went straight through the black speck.

The black speck was the head of Orion. He was swimming back to Artemis from the country of the bad king.

The speck at once went under the water and was seen no more.

When Artemis found what she had done, she was very sad indeed. She could not bring Orion back to earth, but she took him up into the sky and put him among the stars, and there he is standing to this day.

If you will look up into the sky on any clear winter night, you can see him. Just before him is his dog. We call it the Dog Star.

THE WIND AND THE CLOUDS

The Sun and the Moon had a brother, the Summer Wind. His name was Hermes, but sometimes he was called Mercury.

He had shoes with wings on them, which always took him very quickly wherever he wished to go, and he had a magic cap which kept him from being seen.

He ran on errands for his father and his older brothers. He went everywhere, and he often picked up things that lay in his way, and that didn't belong to him.

One day, when he was a small child, he crept down to the seaside and there found the shell of a tortoise. He stretched some strings tightly across it, and blew upon the strings, and made wonderful music.

He called this thing a lyre.

On the same day, toward evening, he looked across the meadows and saw some beautiful white cows. His brother Apollo was looking after them.

"What fun it would be to drive those cows away!" he said.

So he crept up behind the cows while Apollo was not looking, and he drove them away. He drove them far, and at last shut them up in a cave, where he thought Apollo could not find them.

Apollo saw that the cows were gone, and went to look for them, but he had a hard time.

He thought that Hermes might have had something to do with them. So he went to Hermes.

Hermes was playing upon the lyre which he had made, and was singing gently to himself.

The music was so beautiful that Apollo forgot all about his cows.

"Where did you find that wonderful thing?" asked Apollo.

"O, I made it," said Hermes.

"Let me see it!" cried Apollo. "Show me how to play upon it."

Hermes showed him, and Apollo sat down and played until it grew dark.

"O, give me this thing! I must have it," said Apollo.

So Hermes gave it to him, and Apollo played upon it, gently at first, and then louder. He made such wild, sweet music as had never before been heard.

To pay for the lyre, Apollo gave Hermes a magic stick which would bring sleep to men and would stop all quarreling.

One day Hermes saw two snakes fighting. He touched them with the magic stick, and they stopped at once and wound themselves around it, and stayed there ever after.

In the pictures of Hermes you will see this magic stick with the snakes around it. You will see, too, the cap and the shoes, with the wings upon them.

When Hermes and Apollo had made these gifts to each other, Apollo said:

"Hermes, my dear boy, you like my white cows so well that I am going to let you take care of them. I shall not have much time to take care of cows now, for you know I am learning to play upon the lyre."

Hermes took care of the white cows after that, and on summer days he used to drive them across the blue meadows of the sky.

When the Greeks saw the white clouds running before the wind, they would say:

"It is Hermes driving his cows to pasture."

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Hermes was so useful that Juno, the queen of the heavens, thought she must have a messenger, too. So she took Iris, a little sky fairy.

Iris lived up among the clouds, and played with the stars, and romped with the little winds.

At night she used to sleep in the silver cradle of the Moon.

Sometimes Apollo, the Sun, took her in his golden car. Sometimes she slipped down to earth with the rain. Sometimes she went to visit her grandfather, the gray old Sea.

Her grandfather was always glad to see her, and when she came down, he would hitch up his white sea horses and drive her over the tops of the waves. What fun that was!

Old grandfather Sea loved Iris very much, and Apollo loved her, and Juno loved her.

No one who saw her could help loving her; she was so bright and beautiful and good.

When Juno sent her down to the earth on errands, the old Sea always wanted her to stay.

But Apollo, the Sun, wanted her, too, and Juno wanted her.

At last the Sun and the Sea and the Air and the Rain all said they would make a bridge for Iris, so that she might go back and forth more quickly between the earth and the sky, on the errands of Juno.

The Earth brought the colors of all her beautiful flowers--rose, and blue, and violet, and yellow, and orange, and the green of the grass.

The Sea gave silver mist.

The Clouds gave gray and gold.

The Sun himself spun the bridge out of all these colors.

Then he fastened one end of it to the sky and hung a pot of gold on the other end, to keep it from blowing away; and it is said that the pot of gold is still there in the earth at the end of the rainbow bridge.

But no one has ever found it.

POEMS OLD AND NEW

THANK YOU, PRETTY COW

Thank you, pretty cow, that made Pleasant milk to soak my bread, Every day and every night, Warm, and fresh, and sweet, and white.

Do not chew the hemlock rank, Growing on the weedy bank; But the yellow cowslip eat, That will make it very sweet.

Where the purple violet grows, Where the bubbling water flows, Where the grass is fresh and fine, Pretty cow, go there and dine.

JANE TAYLOR

PLAYGROUNDS

In summer I am very glad We children are so small, For we can see a thousand things That men can't see at all.

They don't know much about the moss And all the stones they pass; They never lie and play among The forests in the grass;

But when the snow is on the ground, And all the puddles freeze, I wish that I were very tall, High up above the trees.

LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA

SLEEP, BABY, SLEEP

Sleep, baby, sleep! Thy father watches his sheep; Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree, And down comes a little dream on thee. Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep! The great stars are the sheep; The little stars are the lambs, I guess, And the gentle moon is the shepherdess. Sleep, baby, sleep!

FROM THE GERMAN

A CHILD'S PRAYER

When it gets dark, the birds and flowers Shut up their eyes and say good night; And God, who loves them, counts the hours And keeps them safe till it gets light.

Dear Father! Count the hours to-night, When I'm asleep and cannot see; And in the morning may the light Shine for the birds and flowers and me!

WILLIAM HAWLEY SMITH

PHONETIC TABLES

NOTE TO THE TEACHER. The vocabulary of this book is here rearranged for class drill. This should be given daily until the pupils are able to pronounce at least thirty words per minute either by following the columns or the lines.

In this grade children may be expected to give the reasons for the several vowel sounds herein taught, but should not be required to commit and apply phonetic rules. As the words in a column are generally in the same phonetic group, column drills tend to fix the principle there presented. But in the line drills and in the review tables children must rely upon their own knowledge of the phonetic elements.

Table I consists of monosyllabic words of not more than four letters in which a single consonant precedes a short vowel or in which a short vowel begins the word. There is a column for each vowel.

Table II contains words with two consonants final or initial or both.

Table III introduces vowels made long by final silent _e_.

Table IV is a mixed review with some additional words.

Table V contains long vowel digraphs and _y_ equivalent to long _i_, and has a review column of forms ending in _s_.

Tables VI, VII, and VIII contain lists of words illustrating the remaining vowel sounds in frequent use throughout the book.

Table IX presents groups of words taught by analogy. It also illustrates _c_, _g_, and _dg_, followed by silent _e_.

Table X is a review of monosyllables with some additional words.

Table XI teaches words of two syllables with the endings _ing_, short _y_, and _er_; also the elision of _e_. Column five is largely a review.

Table XII presents three columns of words of two syllables illustrating the phonetic principles previously set forth. Column four illustrates the long vowel ending an accented syllable; column five gives final _ed_ pronounced as _d_ or _t_.

Table XIII, column one, gives _a_ and _be_ as prefixes and _ful_ as a suffix; column two, silent letters; column three, contractions and possessives; column four and column five, unclassified phonetic words.

Table XIV contains unphonetic words or words but partly phonetic.

TABLE I

sad met dim box sun

ax yet dig fox cup

bag wet bill top dug

cap bell fit pop puff

hand web kiss hop fun

man nest lid dot husk

sand bend hid not dust

camp felt lit got but

rap send rid pot must

bad bent hit on run

TABLE II

rich drop still switch things

ring spun dress struck banks

neck flax flop swept ships

witch than fresh whish pranks

rank swim shell pluck wings

hitch shot swift drink frogs

bank thin crept spent rocks

such sled stand string logs

fish shop speck spring crabs

TABLE III

safe these fine shone tune

crane here white those spoke

plate cave life stone rode

state shape pine hole rope

spade flame side woke froze

vale sale dine shore rove

shake lake shine drove grove

brave name drive smoke more

TABLE IV

when spade grove thin yes

husk shine pranks these dwell

ring smoke mist same drive

must spent lent banks drove

skin whish end tune puff

shell logs snake shore here

witch white things flame man

drink gift melt frogs went

drops elk stand pip spring

thank still step such crabs

dress wave mine dust struck

TABLE V

bee tea sail boat grapes

sweep each pain goat boats

three year rain road goats

freeze bleat trail throat snakes

thee leaf plain cloak shapes

queer meat wait foam kites

free scream pay toad miles

wheel dream play roam flows

feet wheat gray coat holes

sweet feast bay soak seas

need leaves sky goes years

green beasts sly bow grows

seek clear dry row tales

deer grease try show rains

deep beads thy low stones

feel clean pies snow times

week near lie grow seems

peek stream tied grown waves

sheet heat tried new skies

cheese speaks cried knew Greeks

TABLE VI

far sharp sir nor burn

car hard first for hurt

dark scar birds corn turn

lark stars birch north burst

barn marks skirts storm purse

hark yards perch horse purr

TABLE VII

ball glass moo true foot

hall past shoo flue stood

small grass room blew full

tall ant root chew put

paw fast moose rude pull

walk last choose rule push

TABLE VIII

soft air word cows sour

toss hair words town south

moss fair worm brown round

cross chair work owl loud

strong care works tower wound

long fare world flowers hours

TABLE IX

high kind old ice rage

light mind gold mice orange

bright find fold face hedge

right grind hold place bridges

night child told peace head

fright wild cold prince spread

TABLE X

bars trail shore peace grass

town grease shape child talk

rage dance swift tight blew

drink room watch freeze stood

struck fair clear flows birch

smoke snake soak worm sharp

spade noise gray clouds bread

south spoil world beasts hold

strong counts small hitch shine

grown harp wound white skirts

queen quite storm bear true

throat waves leaves care perch

cried brown hedge cross burst

TABLE XI

spinning grassy never feeble Bossy

mumbling woolly summer uncles every

hunting ferry rivers needles gipsy

pecking stormy owner castle Bobby

barking funny sister bottle kippy

hanging happy whiskers little Jippy

filling sandy blower purple Jimmy

shaking empty dinner puddles Fanny

passing ugly gather gentle valley

shining sorry pitcher beaten lilies

trembling marry silver golden fairies

sitting greeny hunter gardens teasing

tacking thirsty otters wooden evening

living angry thunder maiden perching

begging lily farmer given camel

driving lonely winter frozen jewel

camping merry slumber hidden kernels

swimming hurry hither frighten ragged

growing gently either happen scolded

bubbling weedy neither broken floated

TABLE XII

until errands snowflakes secret saved

arrows cowslip boatman faded seemed

billows seaside sunbeams waded turned

swallow jackals moonbeams table tired

yellow carried thousand blazes twirled

shadow forests rainbow tigers growled

hollow princess wampum tulip happened

maybe hundred housetops roses rubbed

basket hemlock ourselves lady grumbled

magic insects shepherd music surprised

flowers forgot wigwam quiet drowned

timid within merchants giant tangled

visit himself bonfires baby roared

sunset window darkness finer used

spirit appear strangest wider showed

ashes indeed playgrounds cradle brushed

voices forget dreamland stories dropped

daisies outside sun-struck going stretched

linen herself perhaps open romped

coral mistake married Iris slipped

TABLE XIII

ago knew I've God fluttering

arise comb I'll Ellen passenger

around climb I'm Juno woodcutter

ashamed lambs it's Hermes hollyhock

across lambkins we'll Orion umbrellas

ashore wrens you'll Diana bumblebee

along wrong you've Childe lackaday

afraid answered you're Jeremy shivering

aboard sword they'll Mercury everything

among honest they're Indian everywhere

Apollo autumn didn't suddenly shepherdess

belongs fastened don't overtops elephants

before fighting who'll different buffaloes

beyond tightly haven't coconut everybody

because ought doesn't violet messenger

beneath fought won't shouldn't Rowland

beside brought ladies' mammy's Limberkin

became taught she's myself Tom Tit Tot

useful naughty there's polite Artemis

faithful daughter dolly's speckled Thursday

TABLE XIV

son elves prayer building wonderful

fro eyes colors together hovering

sure to-day touched quarrel to-morrow

blood floor instead eleven shoulders

meant rolled months dreadful everywhere

heard skeins obeyed feathers blossomed

guess fruit twelve to-night neighbors

warm built toward island hastening

love ribbon beggar monkey steadily

dove above fortune youngest pictures

field pearls voyage seasons overhead

piece forth country diamonds grandfather

view ready coming chimney wherever

buy acorn enough pasture pleasant

folk friend anyway backward sugar cane

both idly ancient forward learning

does ghosts halfway prairie covered

earth often loving trouble beautiful

lyre sailor pretty anybody prettier

lose ocean heaven nobody Englishman

WORD LIST