Chambers's Elementary Science Readers Part 7

'It is not like the roots we saw on the ivy,' she said. 'Now look at the top of the stump. It is all marked in rings.'

6. 'In the very middle there is a little light spot, and then come dark rings, and then more rings outside. Father once told me these rings showed how old the trees were. And do you see lines coming away from the middle?'

7. 'They look like the rays of the sun, which I draw on my slate,' said Dora. 'What a rough coat this tree had! Come and feel the outside of the log.'

'That is the bark! I have heard father talk about bark.'

8. 'Well, I shall call it the coat. It is the tree's overcoat to keep him warm and dry. But trees do not all seem to have rough coats. Look at that one!' and she ran over to a little birch, and pulled off some of its thin bark.

9. 'I have found a fine tree!' cried Harry; and Dora came running to look at it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leaves of the Beech and the Oak.]

10. It was a beech, with a great round smooth trunk and long strong branches. Harry jumped up and caught at a leaf or two, and then went to pick an oak-leaf. He laid them side by side on his hand and looked at them, and found they were not at all alike.

BRICKS.

stopped emp'-ty mor'-tar sound trow'-el struck picked size teach'-er re'-al-ly clay win'-ter breaks moulds nice'-ly ov'-en

1. Two men were making a wall by the road-side, and Harry and Dora stopped to look at them.

2. Another man was going away with a horse and cart. The cart was empty, but it had been full of red bricks. The men were putting these bricks on the wall and making them fast with mortar.

3. Dora liked the sound which the trowel made when it struck against the wall. Harry picked up one of the bricks and looked at it, and then Dora must look at one too.

4. They found that the bricks were light and easy to lift. They also saw that they were all of the same size and shape, as if they had been made, and not dug out of the ground.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

5. They did not like to ask the men about them, and so they put the bricks down, and set off on their way home.

6. As they went they met their teacher, who stopped and spoke to them, so Harry asked her to tell them what bricks really were.

7. 'I wish there were a brick-field near,' she said, 'and then we would go and see it! But I can tell you a little about it.

8. 'Bricks are made of clay, and clay is dug out of the ground. Men dig it before winter comes, and let it lie out all the winter, and the frost breaks it up nicely for them.

9. 'The next thing is to mix it well into a paste, and then it is put into moulds.'

'What are moulds?' Harry asked.

'Well, these moulds are like boxes with no bottom or top.'

'Only sides, then?' said Dora.

10. 'Yes, they have two long sides, and two short ones, and they hold the soft, wet clay.

'You may call them clay-puddings before they are put into the hot oven.

When they are taken out, what do you think they are? They are bricks!'

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A DONKEY.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

bot'-tom lane don'-key load fruit this'-tles hedge rough ap-ple car'-rot touch mor'-row feast win'-dow s.h.a.g'-gy tuft

1. At the bottom of the lane lived a donkey. Harry and Dora knew him well. They often met him going to town with a load of fruit, and they saw him in the lane every day cropping the gra.s.s and thistles by the hedge-side.

2. He knew them, too, for they would stop to pat his rough sides, or give him an apple or a carrot.

3. They wondered how he could eat such p.r.i.c.kly things as thistles. A horse would never touch them.

4. One day his master took him into the garden while he was working. He let Neddy go up and down the paths and crop the gra.s.s, which had grown long on the little gra.s.s-plot.

5. The donkey did not once try to get at the pears and apples; he did not even look at them.

6. His master was pleased, and said to his wife: 'It is quite safe to leave the gate open, and let Neddy come into the garden when he likes. I shall be away to-morrow, but you need not look after him. He will be all right.'

7. Next day, Neddy walked into the garden, found that no one was there, and began to eat the fruit. He had a good feast before his mistress saw him from the window.

8. Then he was driven out, and the gate was shut. After that he always had to find his dinner in the lane.

9. The children saw him one day feeding with a white horse that had come down from the farm, and they stopped to talk to them.

10. Then Dora said to Harry:

'They are like each other, and yet not like! Neddy has a s.h.a.ggy coat.'

'And his mane is short, and stands up.'

'His ears are very long.'

'His tail is not like Snowflake's tail; and, see, it has a little tuft at the end of it!'

'And Snowflake is much taller.'