Chambers's Elementary Science Readers Part 8

SHEEP.

chalk wheth'-er earth hedge tear'-ing swal'-low chew'-ing though re-mem'-ber for-got'-ten brought mouth

1. The next time that Dora and Harry were out, they ran up to the place where they had met Joe. They wished to see how the chalk was getting on, and whether the earth was brown yet.

2. After that they went over a stile into a field where many sheep were feeding. The sheep began to move away when they saw the boy and girl coming.

3. Then said Harry: 'Let us try mother's plan of keeping quite still and letting them see that we don't want to hurt them.'

4. So they sat down under a hedge and looked at the sheep for a long time, and soon one and another began to come near, eating away at the gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

5. 'I like that sound of tearing off the gra.s.s, don't you?' said Dora.

'Do you see they swallow it all at once?' said Harry. 'What would mother say to us if we ate without chewing?'

6. 'There is some chewing going on, though. Look over there!' and she showed him some sheep that were lying down in the gra.s.s.

7. 'Oh, now I know! Don't you remember, Dora, father told us once what the cow does. It was that day we had tea at the farm.'

8. 'No, I don't remember. We saw the cows milked, and I had some new milk in a gla.s.s. I don't think father told me!'

9. 'Yes, he did. You must have forgotten. He said that the cow sent her food down into a big bag inside, and then it went into a smaller bag, where it was rolled up into little b.a.l.l.s. And when the cow lay down to rest, she brought them up into her mouth and chewed them well.'

10. 'I should think the sheep must be doing the same thing. Look at this fat one close by! She is just sitting down. Now watch!'

'Yes, I can see her chewing! How funny it is! They all look as if they liked it, don't they?'

THE SHEEP.

la'-zy pleas'-ant dai'-sies clothes chil'-ly dew'-y scant'-y com'-mon brown mer'-ry wool'-ly coat

1. 'Lazy sheep, pray tell me why In the pleasant fields you lie, Eating gra.s.s and daisies white, From the morning till the night?

Everything can something do; Oh what kind of use are you?'

2. 'Nay, my little fellow, nay, Do not serve me so, I pray: Don't you see the wool that grows On my back to make you clothes?

Cold and very cold you'd be, If you had not wool from me.

3. 'True, it seems a pleasant thing, To nip the daisies in the spring; But many chilly nights I pa.s.s, On the cold and dewy gra.s.s, Or pick a scanty dinner where All the common's brown and bare.

4. 'Then the farmer comes at last, When the merry spring is past, And cuts my woolly coat away, To warm you in the winter's day.

Little Master, this is why In the pleasant fields I lie.'

TURNIPS.

white ly'-ing tur'-nip picked win'-ter din'-ner read'-y but'-ter sor'-ry heard peo'-ple bread pressed meal mean jok'-ing

1. 'What are those sheep eating over there, at the far end of the field?

There is something white all over the gra.s.s. What can it be?'

'Chalk?' Dora asked.

'No, they never would be so silly! Let us go and see.'

2. Up they got, and away they went. They found that the white things lying about on the gra.s.s were bits of turnip.

Harry picked one up and looked at it. It was only a round rind: all the inside had been eaten out.

3. He took it home with him to show to his mother, and she said:

'I saw some bits like this that were shooting out green leaves when spring came. They had been lying out on the ground in the winter, yet there was so much life in them that they could grow again. But, come, wash your hands: dinner is ready, and I have something to tell you. We are going to have turnips for dinner!'

[Ill.u.s.tration: He took it home with him to show to his mother.]

4. When Harry had his helping of turnips he said:

'Now I am a sheep!'

'No,' said Dora, 'the sheep don't boil their turnips, or mash them with nice b.u.t.ter.'

5. 'But raw turnip is very nice,' said her father. 'I have often eaten one out in the fields. I am not at all sorry for the sheep.'

6. 'I have heard,' said mother, 'that, when corn was very dear, people had to use turnips in making bread. They say the bread looked good, and kept well. The water was first pressed out of the turnips, and then they were mixed with wheat-meal.'

7. 'I wish you would make some, mother,' said Dora, 'just for fun, to see what it is like.'

'I will--some day.'

8. 'What did you mean, mother,' Harry asked, 'about water in turnips?'

'There is a great deal of water in turnips,' said mother.

9. 'Turnips are nearly all water,' said father.

'Now, father, you must be joking,' cried Harry.

'No, I am not. Am I, mother?'

Mother smiled, and said 'No.'