Chambers's Elementary Science Readers Part 12

6. 'Now they must be clean!' said Dora.

'Not yet,' said the man; 'they have to be rolled up again with more paste, and put between those rollers again, and again, and again. It takes eight days to clean the best needles.

7. 'And it takes six days to clean the second-best,' said the man.

'Then even the second-best won't be done till Friday!' said Harry.

8. 'But we can go and see some needles that have been cleaned,' said his uncle. 'Let us go up-stairs again.'

9. And they went up into a room where many girls were sitting at a long table with heaps of bright needles before them. They were putting them in order, side by side, heads all one way, points another.

Dora was sure that she could not pick them out so quickly.

10. They were going on into another room to see the eyes of the needles made smooth, when Dora said, 'Oh, uncle, I am so tired!'

'So am I,' said Harry, 'and hungry, too.'

11. 'Come along, then,' said uncle, laughing. 'We all want our dinners, I think.' He took Dora's hand in his, and away they went.

THE KNIFE.

ro'-ley po'-ley thought morn'-ing knife least blade han'-dle aunt'-ie edg'-es rath'-er clock

1. There was not much talking at dinner, till after the second helping of roley-poley.

2. Then Dora and Harry felt happy again, and began to tell their aunt all about the needle-making. She had seen it once, but it was a long time ago, and she thought she should like to see it again.

3. 'But if I had gone this morning,' she said, 'you would not have had your pudding.'

'That would have been sad,' said Dora.

4. 'What a lot of steel we have seen,' said Harry. 'I never knew there was so much in the world.'

5. 'You can see some on this table now.'

'Where?'

'What have I cut the pudding with?'

[Ill.u.s.tration]

'Oh, the knife! Yes, I see; that must be steel; at least, that part of it. What do you call that part?'

'The blade.'

6. 'And what about the handle?'

'I don't know. It is yellow, and smooth, and hard.'

'It is bone,' said his uncle, 'part of an ox-bone. But some handles are made of wood.'

7. 'May I look at that knife near you, auntie? I mean the clean one.

Thank you!'

8. Then Dora wanted one to look at too; and they felt the edges softly and found them very sharp. They looked at the blunt backs of the blades, and then tried to read the maker's name.

9. 'There is no room to put the maker's name on a needle,' said Harry.

'But how do they get it on here?'

'It is stamped on when the blade is red-hot and rather soft.'

10. They could not make out how the handle was put on, so their aunt went to the knife-box and got out an old knife that had lost its handle.

They saw that the blade had a long thin piece of iron at the end of it.

11. 'A long hole is made inside the handle, and this iron thing is put into it, and made fast.'

So their uncle said, and then looked at the clock and saw that it was time for him to go.

THE HEN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Setting out for the Farm.]

bas'-ket fetch friends fowls watch thought charge pair ban'-tams know proud peck'-ing greed'-y gray swal'-lowed laughed

1. The day after Dora and Harry came home, their mother gave them a basket and sent them up to the farm to fetch eggs.

2. Rover went with them, and all three were glad to go, for they had many friends at the farm.

3. There was the great dog, Watch, and there were the cart-horses and the pony, the ducks and the fowls. And there were five girls and boys--Mary, Tom, Johnny, Annie, and Kate.

4. When these five, and Watch, saw Harry, Dora, and Rover coming, they ran down the lane to meet them. They were soon all in the farm-yard, talking as fast as they could talk.

5. Two had to tell about their visit to Needle-town, and five about the doings at the farm, so it was some time before the eggs were thought of.

6. Mary had charge of the eggs, and went every morning to look for new ones.

'Since you went away,' she said, 'I have had a pair of bantams given me, for my very own. Here they are!'

'What little things! and how very pretty!' cried Dora. 'Do they know you, Mary?'

7. 'Yes; I feed them every day. Here comes the big black hen. She has been laying an egg. See how proud she is! She calls out in that way to let the rest know what she has done.'