Chambers's Elementary Science Readers Part 17

THE ROSE.

bas'-ket wo'-man vil'-lage sweet'-ly cab'-bage be-cause'

stooped smile thorns yel'-low a-greed'

win'-ter

1. Mother went back to her roses, and soon called for a little basket, saying that Dora and Harry should take a few to an old woman who lived in the village.

2. 'Poor granny,' she said, 'is so fond of roses, and she can never get out now to see them. Which shall we pick for her?'

3. 'Some of these white ones,' said Dora.

'I think she would like these red ones,' said Harry, 'they smell so sweetly.'

4. Mother cut one or two of each, and then a moss-rose, which looked as if it had moss growing round it, and then a pink cabbage-rose.

5. 'What has it to do with cabbage?' asked Harry.

'It is only called cabbage because it is so big and round.'

6. 'I like it the best of all,' said Dora, and stooped to smell it, putting her nose far down into the sweet, deep cup: 'it is such a nice rose!'

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wild Rose.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Garden Rose.]

7. 'Yes, I am very fond of it, and of all roses,' said mother, looking at her bushes with a smile, 'but I almost think I like the wild ones best. Do you know that the wild rose is the mother of all these? Once upon a time all roses were wild.'

8. Harry and Dora did not think that wild roses were very like garden roses. 'But they both have thorns,' they said.

9. 'Look at them as you go along. There are some bushes not far from the bottom of the lane, after you turn round to go to the village. I don't think you will find many roses left, but you will see their fruit. They are the birds' fruit-trees.'

10. 'What can mother mean?' they asked as they went along.

But they soon found out. The bushes were covered with hips; some green, others yellow, one or two quite red.

11. They agreed to leave them for the birds. Dora said 'They would be sure to want them in the winter.'

[Ill.u.s.tration]

WOOD.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Making the Doll's House.]

min'-er-al cop'-per zinc chalk gummed climbed knees eve'-nings tools dead thought oak beech birch wil'-low build'-ing

1. The little mineral box was made, and Harry and Dora put in the lumps of lead, iron, copper, tin, zinc, chalk, and slate. Father wrote the names on tiny slips of paper and gummed them on.

2. Then he said that he was going to make Dora a doll's house. On hearing this, Dora first jumped about for joy, and then climbed up on her father's knees to kiss and hug him.

3. The doll's house was not made all at once. It had to be done bit by bit in the evenings after father had come home from work and had his tea.

4. Dora and Harry always helped him, or stood by and talked, played with bits of wood, and turned over the tools in the box.

5. They said that saw-dust should be called wood-dust; and they found out that wood was called tree when it was alive, and tree was called wood when it was dead. They thought this very funny.

6. They also learned that there were as many kinds of wood as there were trees.

'Some wood is hard,' said their father, 'some is half-hard, and some is soft.'

'Soft wood!' cried Dora.

7. 'Well, not soft like b.u.t.ter! But softer than oak, beech, birch, and elm'----

'The trunk of an oak-tree is lying where the rabbits live,' said Harry, in a great hurry. 'We often play on it. I know that it is hard. What sort of wood are you making the doll's house of?'

8. 'Soft wood. It is a bit of pine. So is the box that holds the minerals. I should find it hard work to cut oak.

'Now, there is one kind of wood so soft that you can bend it. It is called willow, and baskets are made of it.

'But oak was once used in building the great strong ships.'

COAL.

PART 1.

win'-dow shov'-el spade coal tum'-bled con-tent'

won'-der-ing earth cage stretch'-ing en'-gine doz'-en

1. 'Here comes the coal,' said Harry, looking out of the window.

'Mother, may we help Jim to get it in? I can have the big shovel, and Dora the little one. I should like to see the cart upset! What fun it will be!'

2. Crash came the coal on the ground. Then the coal-man drew his horse and cart away, and set to work with a spade to fill the little coal-place.

3. The dog jumped, and got in every one's way. He wanted to help, too, but did not know how. Dora tumbled over the heap and b.u.mped her head, so she thought she would be content with watching Jim and Harry. But Harry was soon tired, and Jim was left to go on alone.

4. 'Where does coal come from, Jim?' he asked.

'Out of the ground, my lad.'