New National Fourth Reader Part 24

"I am sure I would not play with it," said Harry.

"You might get an ugly scratch, if you did," said the captain.

"Aha!" cried Mary; "I've found you out: you have been telling us of our country and what is done at home all this while!"

"But we don't burn stones, or eat grease and powdered seeds, or wear skins and caterpillars' webs, or play with tigers," said Harry.

"No?" said the captain. "Pray, what is coal but a kind of stone; and is not b.u.t.ter, grease; and wheat, seeds; and leather, skins; and silk, the web of a kind of caterpillar; and may we not as well call a cat an animal of the tiger kind, as a tiger an animal of the cat kind?"

"So, if you will remember what I have been describing, you will find that all the other wonderful things that I have told you of, are well known among ourselves."

"I have told you the story to show that a foreigner might easily represent every thing among us as equally strange and wonderful, as we could with respect to his country."

Directions for Reading.--Point out breathing-places in the last paragraph.

Name the _emphatic words_ in the last paragraph.

p.r.o.nounce carefully the following words: _vegetable, foreigner, beasts, products, across, again, also, ap.r.o.n_.

Language Lesson.--Let pupils express the meaning of what is given below in dark type, using a single word for each example.

Houses built of _earth hardened by fire_.

The walls have _holes to let in the light_.

They were covered with _a sort of transparent stone_.

They drink _water in which dry leaves have been steeped_.

Many wore cloth woven from _a sort of wool grown in pods_.

LESSON XXIV.

lin'net, _a kind of bird_.

com pare', _be equal; have similar appearance_.

wor'ried, _troubled; anxious_.

hum'ble, _meek; lowly_.

mis'chiev ous, _full of mischief; troublesome_.

grub, _dig up by the roots_.

THE ILL-NATURED BRIER

Little Miss Brier came out of the ground, She put out her thorns, and scratched ev'ry thing 'round.

"I'll just try," said she, "How bad I can be; At p.r.i.c.king and scratching, there are few can match me."

Little Miss Brier was handsome and bright, Her leaves were dark green, and her flowers pure white; But all who came nigh her Were so worried by her, They'd go out of their way to keep clear of the Brier.

Little Miss Brier was looking one day At her neighbor, the Violet, over the way; "I wonder," said she, "That no one pets me, While all seem so glad little Violet to see."

A sober old Linnet, who sat on a tree, Heard the speech of the Brier, and thus answered he: "'Tis not that she's fair, For you may compare In beauty with even Miss Violet there;

"But Violet is always so pleasant and kind, So gentle in manner, so humble in mind, E'en the worms at her feet She would never ill-treat, And to Bird, Bee, and b.u.t.terfly always is sweet."

Then the gardener's wife the pathway came down, And the mischievous Brier caught hold of her gown; "O dear, what a tear!

My gown's spoiled, I declare!

That troublesome Brier!--it has no business there; Here, John, grub it up; throw it into the fire."

And that was the end of the ill-natured Brier.

Directions for Reading.--This lesson should be read in a spirited manner.

It is suggested to vary the reading exercise by having one pupil read each stanza, and the cla.s.s repeat it in concert.

Language Lesson.--Let pupils use other words to express the meaning of what is given below in dark type.