De La Salle Fifth Reader Part 24

"Let us try that plan, and see how it will succeed. Suppose the cake has to be divided among you, Arthur and Winnie. If I cut off a very thin slice for you, and divide what is left between your brother and sister, will that be fair?"

"No, that would not be at all fair, Grandpa."

"Why not? Did I not divide the cake according to your advice? Did I not cut it into three parts?"

"But one was larger than the other, and they ought to have been exactly the same size."

"Then you think, that if I had divided the cake into three equal parts, it would have been quite fair?"

"Yes; if you had done so, I should have no cause to complain."

"Now, Norman, let us suppose that I have three baskets to send to a distance by three persons; shall I act fairly if I give each a basket to carry?"

"Stop a minute, Grandpa, I must think a little. No, it might not be fair, for one of the baskets might be a great deal larger than the others."

"Come, Norman, I see that you are really beginning to think. But we will take care that the baskets are all of the same size."

"Then it would be quite fair for each one to take a basket."

"What! if one was full of lead, and the other two were filled with feathers?"

"Oh, no! I never thought of that. Let the baskets be of the same weight, and all will be right."

"Are you quite sure of that? Suppose one of the three persons is a strong man, another a weak woman, and the third a little child?"

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Why, I am altogether wrong. How many things there are to think about."

"Well, Norman, I hope you see that if burdens have to be equally borne, they must be suited to the strength of those who have to bear them."

"Yes, I see that clearly now. Put one more question to me, Grandpa, and I will try to answer it properly this time."

"Well, then, my next question is this: If I want a man to dig for me, and three persons apply for the situation, will it not be fair if I set them to work to try them, and choose the one who does his task in the quickest time?"

"Are they all to begin their work at the same time?"

"A very proper question, Norman: yes, they shall all start together."

"Has one just as much ground to dig as another?"

"Exactly the same."

"And will each man have a good spade?"

"Yes, their spades shall be exactly alike."

"But one part of the field may be soft earth, and the other hard and stony."

"I will take care of that. All shall be fairly dealt with. The ground shall be everywhere alike."

"Well, I think, Grandpa, that he who does his work first, if done as well as that of either of the other two, is the best man."

"And I think so, too, Norman; and if you go on in this way it will be greatly to your advantage. Only form the habit of being thoughtful in little things, and you will be sure to judge wisely in important ones."

In the words _suit_ (s[=u]t) and _soon_ (s[=oo]n), have the marked vowels the same sound?

In the two statements,--

I give it to you because it's good; Virtue brings its own reward;

why is there an apostrophe in the first "it's," and none in the second?

Let your hands be honest and clean-- Let your conscience be honest and clean--

Combine these two sentences by the word _and_; rewrite them, omitting all needless words.

Compose two sentences, one having the action-word _learned_; the other the word _taught_.

Fill each of the following blank s.p.a.ces with the correct form of the action-word _bear_:

As Christ -- His cross, so must we -- ours.

Our cross must be --. "And -- His own cross, He went forth to Calvary."

_38_

elate'

despond'

lu' mi nous pil' grim age

ONE BY ONE.