Elementary Science 1

Lesson 1. Water

Fred and his cousin Willie were two smart boys in the same class at school. They were only little boys, but they loved their school and their lessons. In the evenings, they would play at school with Fred’s little sister, Norah, and chat about what they’d learned. Their teacher was giving them special lessons on some common things around them. These weren’t like their usual schoolwork; teacher made these lessons fun and called them a “treat.” The boys began looking forward to these lessons as the best part of their day, and Norah enjoyed hearing all about them.

The first lesson was about water.

“What do you think, Norah?” said Fred one evening. “Teacher started our lesson about water by showing us a saucer full of sawdust. He piled up the sawdust in a little heap in the saucer. Then he tried to do the same with some water in another saucer.”

“But, of course, he couldn’t do it,” added Willie. “You can’t make water stand up in a heap. It always keeps a flat or level surface.”

“Yes, and when the water reached the top of the saucer, it ran over the sides and spilled onto the table,” said Fred. “We watched it flow across the table and fall down to the ground.”

“Of course!” said Norah. “Water always flows down. You can see it flow down if you turn on the tap. It never flows up.”

“Teacher told us to think about rain,” said Willie. “The drops of rain always fall down, never up.”

“I can show you some drops of water,” said Fred. “Look, I’ll dip this brush in water and shake it. See how the water falls from the brush in little round drops.”

Lesson 2. Water – A Liquid

Norah’s mother called her away to mind the baby before the boys had told her all about their lesson. She came back as soon as she could, and they began to chat again.

“I wonder whether Norah forgets what we learned about water,” said Fred.

“No,” said Norah, “I don’t forget. I know that water flows, and it always flows down. It keeps a flat surface, and it cannot stand in a heap. It breaks up into round drops, but the drops will run together again and make a pool of water.”

“Quite right,” said Fred. “But now I’m going to puzzle you. Can you tell me what shape water is?”

“Teacher tried to puzzle us, didn’t he, Will? But he soon made it clear. He showed us the saucer, and we saw that it was round. Then he filled it with water, and, of course, it was easy to see that the water in the saucer was round too.”

“But the water did not remain round,” said Willie, “for teacher next poured it out of the saucer into a square tin box.”

“I know,” said Norah, “it became square then, like the box.”

“Right,” replied Fred, “and then we saw the water poured out of the box into a tumbler, out of the tumbler into a jug, and out of the jug into a bottle. It took the shape of the new vessel each time.”

“Can you think of any other things, Norah, that would do as water does?”

“I know some,” said Norah. “Milk and oil, vinegar and tea would do the same.”

“Now, Norah,” said both boys at once, “you must try not to forget the proper name for all these things. Teacher tells us to call them liquids. Liquids flow about, break up into drops, take the shape of the vessel which holds them, and cannot stand in a heap, but always keep a level surface.”

Lesson 3. Solids

“You know what happens, Norah, when I pour water on the table.”

“Oh yes,” replied Norah; “it flows about, because it is a liquid.”

“Now I will put this stone on the table. Will the stone flow away too?”

“No,” said Norah, “it will stand where you place it.”

“Then would it be right to call the stone a liquid?” said Fred.

“No, it cannot be a liquid, for all liquids flow.”

“We know we can’t pick up water,” said Fred. “It would run through our fingers, and fall in drops on the floor.

“But we can pick up the stone without spilling any of it.”

“Yes,” said Willie, “and we might shake the stone ever so long, but we could not shake drops from it, as we did from the water in the brush.”

“I say, Will,” said Fred, “wasn’t it funny when teacher shook the saw-dust into the basin, and asked one of the boys to pick out the piece of wood?”

“Yes,” said Will, “but there was no piece of wood in the basin, for the little bits of saw-dust do not run together, as the drops of water do.”

“I think,” said Norah, “I can tell you something else. Water and all other liquids have no proper shape. But if we look at this stone, this brick, or this piece of wood, we can see that each of them has a shape of its own.”

“We know that, when we put some water into the basin, it spreads out to fill it,” said Fred.

“Yes,” said Norah, “it takes the shape of the basin, and it keeps a level surface.”

“Now watch, while I put this brick into the basin. Does it spread out to fill the basin, Norah?”

“No,” said Norah.

“Does it take the shape of the basin?”

“No.”

“Teacher gave us the proper name for things like the brick and the piece of wood,” said Willie. “We call them solids.

“Solids are bodies that do not flow, do not break up into drops, have a shape of their own, and do not take the shape of the vessel which holds them.”

Lesson 4. Liquids and Solids

When the boys, a few nights later, called Norah to come and play school, Fred said:

“I want to be teacher this time. I am going to show Norah what we have been doing in school today. Mother gave me this piece of wax, and said I might have this old iron spoon.

“Now I will put the wax into the spoon,” said Fred. “See; it stands in the middle of the spoon.

“I want you to watch what happens when I hold the spoon over the fire.”

“Why, the solid wax is changing into a liquid,” said Norah.

“How do you know it is a liquid, Norah?”

“It does not stand up in a lump in the middle of the spoon, as it did at first,” said Norah. “It flows about in the spoon. It keeps a level surface.”

“See,” said Fred, “I will pour some of it into this pill-box, just as teacher did today, and stand the box on the table.”

“That is just what we saw, Norah, when the meat was roasting the other day,” said Will.

“Yes,” said Norah, “the solid fat was changed into liquid and fell in drops into the dish. I took it up in the spoon and poured it over the meat to baste it.”

“Don’t you two children chatter so,” said Fred. “I want to have a look at our pill-box.

“See, Norah, the wax is cool now. It does not flow about, even if we turn it upside down. It is not a liquid now.

“Suppose I cut the box open,” said Fred. “Look; here is a round piece of solid wax, the very shape of the box.”

“Why, Fred,” said Norah, “this proves that liquids do really take the shape of the vessels which hold them.”

“Quite right, clever little sister,” said Fred. “Now tell me what mother does with the liquid fat in the dripping pan.”

“She pours it into a basin,” said Norah; “when it is cold, she turns it out as solid dripping, just the shape of the basin.”

“I saw some solid water in a basin the other day,” said Will. “We call it ice. The cold weather changed the water into ice. When I put the basin on the hob, the solid ice turned into water again.”

“You can’t change everything like this,” said Fred.

“No,” said Norah, “we can’t change brick, wood, stone, or slate into liquids.”

Lesson 5. The Cat

“How snug and cosy puss looks in front of the fire, mother.” The children had just been out for a run, and it was Norah who spoke. “What a quiet, gentle pussy it is,” she went on.

“Ah,” said her mother, “she wouldn’t be very quiet or very gentle if a mouse were to run out of its hole.”

“No,” said Willie; “I saw her catch a bird in the garden today. She was fierce and angry then. She tore it to pieces and ate it, after she had killed it.”

“What makes her so cruel sometimes?” asked Norah. “Can’t we teach her better, mother?”

“No,” said Fred, “we can’t; she kills and eats other animals because she was made for it, and meant for it. We had a fine lesson at school about the cat today. I’ll tell you all I can about it. Shall I, Norah?”

“Do, please,” said his sister.

“Then take puss on your lap, Norah, and we’ll begin,” said he. “First look at her eyes. Now look into my eyes. You see that round black spot in the middle of my eye. That is the pupil of the eye. Light enters the eye through the pupil. The pupil of pussy’s eye is not like ours. In the bright light, it is a long narrow slit; when it is dark, the pupil opens into a very wide round window.”

“I suppose,” said Norah, “that is to help her to see when it is dark.”

“It is,” said Fred. “She wants to see well then, for the mice come out of their holes at night. Look at her now while she is stretching herself. What a wide mouth she has, and what long sharp teeth. Four of the teeth, two in each jaw, are much larger and stronger than the rest. Teacher says they are meant for seizing and tearing the mice and birds.

“We move our jaw from side to side, as well as up and down, when we chew our food. The cat’s jaw cannot move sideways; it moves only up and down. Her jaws as well as her teeth are meant for cutting, not for chewing.”

“I wonder whether pussy will let us look at her tongue. Try and open her mouth, Will.” But puss began to growl and look so savage that they had to give it up.

“Well,” said Fred, “teacher tells us that even the tongue is meant to help the cat in her flesh-eating. It is not smooth, like our tongue. It is set with small, sharp, horny points which stretch backwards. The cat uses her rough tongue to strip the flesh from the bones.”

Lesson 6. More about the Cat

The next evening, as soon as they sat down, Fred began by asking Norah to tell all she could about the cat. “All we have seen,” said he, “shows us that the cat was made to kill other living things and feed on their flesh. Even the cat’s eyes are meant to help her to catch her prey in the dark.

“Now, sometimes it is so dark that the cat herself can’t see. She has to feel her way. How do you think she does this, Norah?” Norah was puzzled.

“Look,” said Fred, “at that bare patch on each side of pussy’s mouth. Her long stiff whiskers grow out from those patches. The cat feels her way along with the ends of these whiskers.

“Now, little girl,” he went on, “we are going to look at pussy’s feet. The front paws have five toes, the hind ones have four. Puss walks on her toes, not on her whole foot, as we do.

“Look on the underside of the paws and you will see that they all have soft smooth pads. The cat walks on these pads.”

“Oh, I see,” said Norah; “if the cat made a noise with her feet, the mice would hear her and run away. So she has pads to walk on.”

“Teacher pointed out to us,” said Fred, “the loose, springy body, with its soft coat of fur, almost like velvet. All this is to help the cat to move quickly, and at the same time softly and quietly. She treads very lightly and softly.

“Now, one more look at her feet. If we took pussy up when she was angry, we should see that each toe is armed with a strong, curved, pointed claw.

“We don’t see them now; she keeps them drawn up in a sheath. She only stretches them out when she is angry.”

“It is these sharp claws, I suppose,” said Norah, “that help to seize the mouse when she springs upon it.”

Lesson 7. Hard and Soft Bodies

“We had a lesson today,” said Fred, “about solid bodies—some hard and some soft. Teacher showed us that we can call a body hard or soft only when we set it side by side with some other body. This is how he did it. He put an apple and a turnip on the table, and side by side with them, pieces of chalk, cork, wood, lead, iron, flint, steel, and glass. Then he set one of the boys to try and scratch these things with his nail, one after the other. He could pick pieces out of the turnip and the apple; he could scratch the chalk, cork, wood, and lead; but he could not make the least mark on the iron, flint, steel, or glass.”

“I see,” said Norah, “then this shows that the iron, steel, flint, and glass are harder than the wood and the lead; and that the wood and the lead are harder than the apple and the turnip.”

“You are a sharp little sister,” said Fred, “and you are quite right. Teacher next gave the boy a knife, and asked him to cut these things. He could cut little pieces off the lead and the wood, but he could not even scratch the steel, flint, or glass.”

“That was a good way, Fred,” said Willie, “to find out which were the hardest things, by rubbing them one against another.”

“Yes,” said Fred, “the steel, flint, and glass rub pieces out of the wood and the lead, because they are harder than the wood and lead. The steel knife made a scratch on the iron, because it is harder than iron; but it could not scratch the glass. The wood and the lead rub pieces out of the chalk and cork, because they are harder than chalk and cork. And the chalk and cork rub pieces out of the apple and the turnip, because they are harder than the apple and turnip.”

“Glass must be very hard,” said Will; “a steel knife will not even scratch it. Teacher showed us that we can just manage to scratch glass with a sharp bit of flint; but we cannot cut it with flint.”

“I’ve seen a man cut glass,” said Norah.

“Yes, dear,” said Will, “but he cuts it with a diamond, and diamond is the hardest of all bodies.

Lesson 8. Porous Bodies

“I wish,” said Fred, “every fellow in my class had a jolly little sister, like I’ve got, to play schools in the evening. We had a fine lesson on a sponge today. Would you like us to tell you all about it, Norah?”

“That I should,” said his sister.

“Come along then,” said Fred. “I’ve got the sponge ready. I will stand it in a saucer of water, just as teacher did. Now Norah shall take it out of the saucer and put it on the table. What have you done with the water in the saucer, Norah? It is all gone; the saucer is empty. Bring me the sponge. Now squeeze it over the saucer.”

“Oh, I see,” said Norah; “the water all went up into the sponge.”

“Yes, little girl,” said Fred; “and now we will see how it got there. If you look at the sponge, you will find that there are little holes all over it. I will cut a piece of it away, and we shall see that the holes are not on the outside only, but all through the sponge. The sponge is full of holes. Will knows the proper name for these little holes.”

“Oh yes,” said Willie, “teacher told us to call them pores; and as the sponge is full of pores, we say it is porous.”

“Then I suppose,” said Norah, “the sponge sucks up the water because it is porous; the water fills up the holes in it.”

“Right,” said Fred. “Here is a piece of bread. If I stand it in the saucer with only a little water in the bottom, the bread will soon be wet all through.”

“The bread, like the sponge, is porous,” said Norah. “I can see the holes in it.”

“Yes,” said Willie, “but teacher showed us that some things may be porous although we cannot see the pores.”

“How did he do that?” said Norah.

“He put a piece of lump sugar and a piece of chalk into a plate, with a little red water in the bottom,” said Willie. “We couldn’t see any pores in the sugar or the chalk, but we saw the red water go up. That proves that there must be pores in them, and that sugar and chalk are both porous bodies.”

“Teacher gave us a long word to think about,” said Fred. “The word is absorb, and it means to suck up. He says all porous bodies absorb or suck up liquids through their pores.”

Lesson 9. The Dog

The boys came home one day full of delight. Teacher had been giving them a lesson on the dog. As they had a faithful old dog of their own, the lesson pleased them very much.

“Shall we bring Ponto in, and have a chat about him?” said Fred.

Of course, they all said “yes,” and a minute or two later the children were sitting on the floor with Ponto in the middle.

“Now first of all, sister, what does Ponto like best for dinner?” said Fred.

“He likes a piece of meat better than anything,” said Norah.

“Yes,” said Fred, “the dog, like the cat, is a flesh-eater. Open your mouth, Ponto, and let us have a look at your teeth, old boy. Look, Norah, his teeth are sharp and pointed. They are just like pussy’s teeth. They are made for cutting through flesh, not for chewing or grinding. The lower jaw has only one movement—up and down.”

“So far the dog is very like the cat,” said Norah.

“Now let us look a little farther,” said Fred. “Ponto’s head is not like the cat’s head. It is longer and more pointed. If you notice his eyes, you will see that they have no curtain in front, no long narrow slit, like the cat’s eyes. Now let us have a word about his feet. Hold up your paw, Ponto. That’s right, good dog. If we look at all his paws, we shall see that, like the cat, he has five toes on the front and four on the hind ones.”

“Yes,” cried Norah, “and the toes are padded. Does Ponto walk on his toes, too, Fred?”

“Yes, the dog walks on his toes.”

“But,” said his sister again, “I can hear Ponto’s feet on the ground as he runs. I can’t hear pussy’s feet. How is it, if both of them have pads, Fred?”

“Ah,” said Fred, “if you look you will see that Ponto cannot draw back his claws as the cat does. The claws rub the ground at every step, and make a noise. There is just one thing more,” Fred went on. “The dog’s tongue is soft, smooth, and wet, not rough like the cat’s tongue. He does not use it as the cat does. I am going to tell you something very funny though. The dog perspires through his tongue. The sweat never comes out on his skin. When you see Ponto lying down in the sun, with his tongue lolling out, you will know what it means now, Norah.”

Lesson 10. Dogs

“I say, boys,” said Norah, “what should we do without our dear, faithful, old Ponto? He is such a clever, loving, sensible old fellow.”

“Well, I couldn’t do without him,” said Fred. “Teacher says that the dog is the very best friend man has among the animals, and I’m sure of it. There are many kinds of dogs. First, there are the Hounds. These are the best runners. They are all used in hunting. The Greyhound is the swiftest of all. It has a long, slender body and legs. It is used for hunting the hare. It chases its prey by sight. The Staghound is the largest and strongest of the hounds. It has a rough, shaggy coat. They use it for hunting the stag.”

“Then,” Norah joined in, “I have heard of Foxhounds for hunting the fox; and there are Bloodhounds and Deerhounds.”

“Those that you speak of,” said Fred, “have a strong sense of smell. They chase their prey by the scent. The Spaniels are grand dogs too. Here is a picture of one of them. I found it on this paper about dog biscuits. Look at the fine big head, and the long shaggy coat. It is a Saint Bernard dog. In some lands, these grand dogs are used to find people who have been buried in the snow. The other one is the Newfoundland dog, a noble fellow that saves people from drowning. The Bulldogs are mostly kept as watchdogs, to take care of the house at night. The biggest and strongest of them is the Mastiff. The Sheepdog is the most clever and sensible of all. This dog helps the shepherd to take care of his sheep.”

Lesson 11. A Piece of Clay

Lesson 13. Clay – Its Uses

Lesson 14. The Cat’s Big Cousins – The Lion

Lesson 15. The Cat’s Big Cousins – The Tiger

“Come along, children,” said father. “There are more of these big cats to see yet.” He led them to another very large cage, where there were quite a dozen great animals. They looked just like great cats. The children at once thought of Tabby at home.

“These are tigers,” said the father. “How savage that one looks, Fred! He would like to get hold of you.”

“They have the same eyes as the lion and the cat for seeing in the dark,” said Fred. “Look too at that great fellow with his mouth open. There are the same great teeth in front. They would quickly tear you to pieces if he once got hold of you.”

“Just look at his great paws too, father,” said Norah. “Has he got the same sharp claws?”

“Yes,” said her father, “if you look at that fellow in the corner, growling over his meat, you can see them. The lion and the tiger, you see, are both very much bigger than the biggest Saint Bernard dog you ever saw. The tiger’s body is longer than the lion’s body, but he does not stand quite so high. They both lash their long tails when they are angry.”

“What a fine striped coat the tiger has,” said Norah, “and how smooth and glossy it is!”

“Yes,” said her brother, “but the lion’s coat is not smooth and not striped. He is covered with rough tawny yellow hair. After all,” he added, “that grand mane makes him look a more noble fellow than the tiger.”

“Think of them,” said the father, “in their native forests. They are a terror both to men and beasts. The lion kills his victim only when he is hungry. The tiger seems to delight in blood. He kills only for the sake of killing.”

Before they went away, their father took them to see the leopard, the panther, the puma, and some other great cats. The children were much struck with the handsome spotted coat of the leopard.

Lesson 16. Wolves and Foxes

Lesson XVII A PIECE OF PUTTY

One day when the boys came home from schoo~ they found a man at work 54 A PIECE OF PUTTY putting some new panes of glass in the window. “Oh, this is luck,” said Fred ; “I”ll ask him for a piece of his putty, and then we can have a chat about it.” ” Did you see the man rolling the putty about in his hands, Norah?” he asked, as soon as they sat down. ” Yes,” said Norah, ” and I knew at once that putty must be a plastic substance.” “Quite right,” said Fred. “Now I will show you some of the things we have learned about putty to-day. Look ; I will make it into a little cup, and then fill it with water, just as teacher did.” The children watched it for some time, and then Willie said, ” I am sure Norah can tell us all about it now.” “Yes,” said Norah, ” the water stands in the cup, as it stood in the cup of moist clay. The putty is not porous-water will not pass through it.” “Quite right,” said Will. “Teacher A PIECE OF PUTTY 55 told us to say that putty is waterproof.” “Now let me have a turn,” said Fred. ” But what a mess our hands are in. How this putty sticks to our :fingers.” “I say, Fred,” said Will, “do you think Norah can tell us why the workman was glad to have sticky putty? We know, don”t we?” “Why, I suppose it is because he wants it to stick fast to the wood of the windowframe,” said Norah. “That’s my clever little sister once more,” said Fred. “Now, Norah,” he went on, “we have been moulding and working up the putty, because it is soft and plastic. But try and work up this piece.” “I cannot press it,” said Norah ; “it seems as hard as a stone.” ” Yes,” said Fred, ” and so will this piece be if we leave it for a few days. Now let us see why putty is so useful.” ” It is soft, plastic, and sticky when we 56 PUTTY-WHAT IT IS use it; it soon becomes almost as hard . as stone. It is water-proof, and will not let the rain come in.” Lesson XVIlI PuTTY-W HAT IT Is “The other day,” said Fred, “we had a chat about putty, and we found out why it is so useful. . “rreacher has been telling us to-day what putty is. Would you like to hear all about it, Norah?” ” Oh yes, please,” said Norah. ” Well then,” said Fred, ” think of the two plastic substances, clay and putty. Clay, you know, is dug out of the earth. It is a mineral. But we don”t dig putty out of the ground. “It is made of two substances-whiting and linseed-oil. “You know what whiting is. You have seen mother use it to clean the pots and pans. It is only chalk. But can you tell me how we get chalk ? ” PUTTY-WHAT IT 18 57 “I suppose it is dug out of the ground, like clay and stone and sand,” said Norah. ” Quite right,” said Fred. ” It is .a mineral. Teacher showed us a piece of chalk, just as it was dug up, but it was mixed with bits of stone and dirt. To make whiting, we must get rid of all this. The chalk is broken up in little pieces, and put into water. When the water is stirred, it looks just like milk. This milky-looking water is poured through a sieve, and all the dirt and stones are kept back. The chalk or whiting sinks to the bott.om, and is dried after the water is poured off. “Here is some linseed-oil. Father gave it to me. This oil is made from linseed-the seed of the flax plant. You know we get linen from the flax plant. “Pour a drop into your hand. It feels sticky. It is the oil, you see, that makes the putty sticky. “If I drop a little of the oil on this 58 GUTTA-PERCHA sheet of paper, it will dry very quickly; and water will run off the oily paper, but will not go through it, because the oil makes the paper water-proof. “It is the linseed-oil that makes the whiting into plastic, sticky, water-proof putty, and causes it to dry and harden quickly.” , Lesson XIX GUTTA-PERCHA “What a silly little girl you are, Norah,” said Fred one evening. ” You should not put your feet on the fender, so close to the fire.” Her father had put gutta-percha soles on her boots a few days before, to keep her feet dry in the winter. Now the boys had just had a lesson on gutta-percha at school. Fred thought this would be a good time to let Norah hear something about it. “Wait a minute,” he said ; ” I know where I can find some gutta-percha. GUTTA-PERCH.A. 59 Father left it when he mended your boots.” Fred was soon back with the piece of gutta-percha. He brought with him, too, a basin of hot water. He put the piece of gutta-percha into the boiling water, and after a few minutes took it out again, just as he had seen teacher do in school. “Now,” said he, “take hold of the gutta-percha. Squeeze it in your hand. What have you found out?” Norah was full of delight. “Why,” she cried out, “the gutta-percha is soft and plastic now.” “Yes, it is,” said Fred ; ” I will mould it into a little cup, just as teacher <lid this morning. “What was it that made the clay· plastic?” “Water,” said Norah. “What makes putty plastic?” • The linseed-oil.” ” Quite right,” ssi,id Fred. “Now we oO A PIECE OF SALT -have got a new substance-gutta-percha., that is made plastic by heat.” “And now,” added Willie, “Norah knows why she must not put her boots, with gutta-percha soles, near the fire. The soles would get soft with the heat of the fire, and break away.” ” Let us look,” said Fred, ·, at our little cup. See, it is cold, and quite hard once more. It is not plastic now. “Look again, while I fill the cup with water. None of the water runs through. Gutta-percha is water-proof.” “Yes,” said Will, “that is why it is so useful for boots. _ It keeps our feet d_ry.” Lesson :XX A PIECE OF SALT ” Fred, you might let me be teacher to-night,” said Willie. ” I want to talk about salt.” “All right, mate,” said Fred, “and I”ll go and ask mother for a lump of salt.” A PIECE OF SALT 61 Fred was soon back with the things that were wanted. “Now, Norah,” said Will, “I want you. to put a piece of the salt in the water. That’s. right. Now stir the water. “Where is the salt ? Can you see it?” “No,” said Norah, “I cannot see it ; but I am sure I put it in the water.” “Put another piece in and try again,” said Will. ” Can you see the salt now ? ” ” No, I cannot see it now,” said Norah. “What has become of it ? Has it melted, W1·1 11· e.”l ” “Ah,” said Will, with a knowing smile, “I thought you would ask that. Now just tell me what you saw, when I put the piece of wax in the spoon, and held it over the fire.” ” The solid wax became liquid, and fl.owed about in the spoon,” said Norah. “Quite right,” said both boys, “that is just what we mean by melting. The solid wax melts when it becomes liquid. We can see it wbf>n it ·is melted. But 62 THE SHEEP we cannot see the salt in the water. The salt is not melted.” “Teacher says the water loosens and breaks up the salt into tinypieces, so small that t4ey cannot be seen,” said Fred. “You must try to keep in your mind the word, which teacher gave us for all this. We say that we dis-solve salt in water, because the salt loosens and breaks up in the water, so that we cannot see it. Teacher says to dis-solve means to loosen or break up. Don”t forget that we can dis-solve salt, sugar, soda, alum, and lime.” ” But,” added Will, “we can”t dis-solve every-thing, Norah. We can”t dis-solve stones, chalk, iron, glass, or wood.” Lesson XXI THE SHEEP ” Come into the field,” said Fred, ” and let us watch the sheep feeding. But you must not go too near them, for they are very timid, and will run away. THE SHEEP 63 “Can you tell me why the sheep has that thick woolly coat, Norah?” “I suppose it is because it always -. – — ~~~~ ~ ~ , ~ ~-, sleeps in the open air at night. The thick coat of wool is to keep it warm.” “Quite right. Now let us sit down here, and watch the sheep eat the grass. You see they are all eating in the same way. They tear off one mouthful after another, and swallow it at once. They do not wait to chew it. They will not leave off till they have eaten as much as they want. Then they will lie down on the ground very quiet and still.” ” Some of them seem to have had 64 THE SHEEP ” enough already,” said Norah, “for they are lying down over there. But they all look as if they were chewing now, Fred.” “So they are,” said Fred. “I will tell you all about it. First of all, then,· I must tell you that the sheep has no teeth at all in the front of its top jaw. It has a thick, hard pad there instead of teeth. It collects the grass, a mouthful at a time, with its long tongue and lips. The sharp cutting teeth in front of the lower jaw press the grass against the pad and tear it off, and then the sheep swallows the whole of it just as it is. “The mouthfuls of grass pass down into a big bag, which we call the paunch. All the time the sheep is lying down, it is bringing up the grass into its mouth again to chew it. When it is chewed the sheep swallows it again, but it goes down now into another stomach. SALT 65 “We say the sheep chews the cud, for the grass is brought up in little balls or cuds to be chewed.” “Look at the sheep’s feet now,” said Will. ” They have four toes ; two large ones in front, and two little ones behind. The sheep j j • walks on the two front toes. L,_ Each toe has a hard horny case over it. We call the sheep’s foot a hoof, and because it is split in two, we call it a cloven hoof.” Lesson :xm SALT The boys came running home a day or two later, as fast as their legs would carry them. “Ob, Norah,” they both shouted, as soon as they got their breath, “we”ve got something fine to show you to-night.” “I”ll go and see what I can find/ said Fred. S, R. I. F 66 SALT After tea Fred said, ” Now, I”m teacher to-night, so sit down in your places. ” I”ve got some salt and a tumbler of water, just as we had the other night,” he began. “Now we will put the salt into the water and stir it up. “What happens to the salt, Norah l ” “The salt dissolves in the water,” said his sister. ” It is there, but we cannot see it.” “Quite right,” said Fred. “Teacher says we can call this salt water brine. Brine means salt water. “Now, little girl,” he went on, ‘suppose . I told you that you must get the salt out of the water. That would be a puzzle for you, wouldn”t it f” Norah looked puzzled. ” See me do it, then,” said clever Fred. He had found an old tin lid. He filled this with the brine, and stood it over the fire. Soon the water began to boil, and a cloud of steam rose from it. THE PIG 67 They watched it for a long time, till all the water had boiled away. “There,” cried both boys with a shout and a laugh, “that’s just what teacher did. We”ll soon get the salt back now.” “Give me a bit of rag,” added Fred, ‘so that I can lift the lid off the fire without burning my fingers. There, now we will let it get cold.” As soon as it was cold enough to handle, Fred showed them that there was something left behind in the tin. ” See,” said he, ” I will scrape it up in a little heap. “Now dip your finger into it, Norah, and taste it.” Norah did so, and found that it was real salt. Fred had got the salt back by boiling the brine. Lesson XXIII THE Pio ” Father,” said Fred, “will you take us to see Mr. Brown’s pigs 1 We had a 68 THE PIG lesson about the pig to-day, and I want to tell Norah all about it.” They w.ere out together for a walk, and Fred thought it would be a good chance to see the pigs. “Here we are at last,” said their father. “Now let us have a look at the pigs. How they are grunting and squeaking. The man has just fed them.” “What hungry, greedy things they are ! ” said Norah. ” Let us see what they are eating,” said the father. “Look into the trough, and you will see pieces of bread, meat, bones, potatoes-waste of all kinds from the table. They eat anything that comes in their way.” “Teacher says,” added Fred1 “that they THE PIG 69 like to grub in the ground for acorns, beech-nuts, and roots. Look at that fellow’s broad .snout. It is very hard, tough, and strong. It is meant for grubbing in the ground.” ” Yes,” said Will, “and teacher told us to think about the cat, the dog, and the sheep. They are not meant to grub in the ground with their noses. They cannot do it. They need not do it, for they do not dig their food out of the ground.” “Ifwe could look into the pig’s mouth,” said their father, ” we should see that he has great grinding teeth behind like those of the sheep, as well as sharp-pointed teeth in front like those of the flesh-eaters.” 70 THE PIG “Y ~s,” said Fred, “the pig lives on flesh as well as other food, because some of his teeth are meant for tearing flesh, and others for chewing and grinding. He can move his jaw, too, from side to side, as well as up and down. . ” Now notice the eyes and ears. The eyes look small, but they are very sharp. The ears are large and wide open. They too are very sharp. The fierce flesh-eaters want sharp eyes and ears, to help them to catch their prey. The sheep and the pig are timid creatures. Their sharp eyes and ears are to warn them against their enemies.” ” Shall we look at the feet next 1 ” said Willie. “The pig’s foot is a cloven hoof, just like the foot of the sheep. ” Teacher told us not to forget that most of the animals with a cloven hoof chew the cud, as the sheep does. “The pig does not chew the cud. He has only one stomach. He chews his food before he swallows it, and does not ROCK-SALT-TABLE SALT 71 bring it back into his mouth to chew it.” Lesson XXIV RocK-SALT-TABLE SALT “I want to have a talk to-night,” said Fred, “about the salt we use at our meals. Shall we, Norah ? ” “Oh, that’s just what I wanted,” said his sister. “I have been looking at the lump of white salt in the cupboard all the week. I can”t make out where it came from.” “Well then,” Fred went on, “teacher tells us that, deep down in the earth, there are great solid beds of salt, that stretch for many miles.” “Yes,” Will joined in, “but it is not clean, white salt, like the salt we see. It looks like stone, it is smooth and shiny; and it is brown, not white. Teacher showed us a piece of it. It is called rock-salt, for it is like rock.” “Teacher put a piece of this rock-salt 72 ROCK-SALT-TABLE SALT in water, and we saw it dissolve, like other salt,” said Fred. ” I wonder whether Norah forgets the name for water with salt in it.” “Ob no,” said his sister quickly, ” we call it brine.” ” Well now,” said Fred, ” teacher asked us to think about the rain. It falls on the ground, but what becomes of it then r “Why, it soaks into the earth,” said Norah, “because the earth is porous, and absorbs it.” “We are making our little girl very clever,” said Fred, “but she is quite right. Isn”t it jolly, Will, to have a fine teacher? We couldn”t tell N orab all these things, if be did not take a lot of trouble to make it easy for us.” “That’s what I say,” said Willie. ” Now tell us, Norah,” said Fred, ‘suppose some of this water, as it soaks down into the earth, comes to one of these beds of rock-salt. What would it do to the salt ? ” A PLANT 73 “Why, I suppose it would dissolve the rock-salt, and make brine,” said his sister. “You are right,” said Fred. “That is just what it does. Teacher says when men want to get this brine, they bore a hole through the ground, till they come to the bed of salt. Then they put a long pipe down the hole. The brine runs into the pipe, and then they pump it up.” ” I think I can tell you the rest,” said Norah, who was busy thinking. “They boil the brine, and the salt is left behind.” ” Yes, they do,” said Fred. ” They boil it in great pans as big as this room. And that is how we get salt for the table.” Lesson XXV A PLANT “I wonder,” said Fred,” whether Norah could tell the name for those things, which we dig out of the ground.” “Oh, you mean minerals,” replied 74 A PL.A.NT Norah, “like chalk, and clay, and salt, and stone.” ” Quite right,” said Fred. ” But teacher showed us some things that are not minerals, although we get them out of the ground. Think of all the pretty flowers in the beds, the carrots, turnips, beans, and potatoes in the garden, the green grass, and the great tall trees. A PLANT 75 “We get them all out of the ground, but they -are not minerals. They live and grow in the ground. We call them plants. We know they live, because if we treat them badly we can see them die. Minerals lie in the ground, but they are not living things, an:d they do not grow. Plants are living, growing things. ” Let us look at some plant in the garden. We shall find that one part of it is not at all like another part. Teacher broke a stone with the hammer, and we saw that one piece of the stone is just the same as another. All minerals are like the stone in this. They • have no distinct parts. But each part of the plant is· unlike any other part, and has its own work to do. “Look at this plant, and tell us, Norah, what parts of it you can see.” ” I can see the part that comes out of the ground, and rises up into the air,” said Norah. 76 A PLANT ” Yes,” said Fred, ” that is the stem or stalk.” “Then,” said Norah, “I can see the green leaves on the stalk.” “Quite right, but is there no other part ? ” “Oh, I know,” said Norah, “you mean the root, which we can”t see, because it is in the ground.” “Don”t forget then,” said Fred, -ta-h-11~~=,f==-==-1=” that every plant -+~~~~~-£+F-:… must have a root, a stem, and leaves. –i~i=”l51bD!!,!!i-“”+· _-IM”!l.,.,~CL.-11″¥-The root feeds the “~~~,-..;;~~= plant.” “Now come to =-+-:.¥l~~~~~.,_.. the gate, where the -cj,~~”H-#.t,illl”IF–i= sweet – peas are –+=lo-“l…,”” growing over the -=+-~fltJl»o-=+==tarch,” said Fred again. ” Can you SUGAR 77 see anything here that we did not see in the others ? ” ” Oh yes,” said Norah, “there are pretty flowers on these.” “So there are,” said Fred, “and besides the flowers there are pods with seeds in them. These plants have been growing much longer than the others.” “I see,” said Norah, “as soon as they began to grow they had a root, a stem, and leaves. When they got big, the :flowers and the pods with their seeds came.” Lesson XXVI SUGAR ” Sugar, like salt, is a substance we can dissolve in water,” said Fred. “Salt is a mineral. It comes out of the ground. I want to tell you something about sugar to-night. But in the first place, sugar is not a mineral. “Take this cabbage leaf in your hand and squeeze it. What do you see 1” 78 SUGAR “My hand is wet,” said Norah. ” Yes,” said Fred, “it is wet because you squeezed some juice out of the leaf. All plants are full of juice of some sort; we call it the sap. ” Teacher showed us a picture of a great plant called the sugar-cane. It grows in very hot lands far away. It has a very tall stem, but no branches; only some big broad leaves up the stem. ” This sugar-cane, like all other plants, is full of sap. When it is full grown, the sap is very sweet.” “Oh, I see,” said Norah; ” then the sugar comes from this sweet juice.” “Wait a minute,” said Fred, ” and you shall see. “When the men know that the canes SUGAR “79 are ready, they cut them down and saw them into short pieces. Then the pieces are crushed between heavy iron rollers.” “That is to squeeze out the juice, of course,” said his sister. “Right,” said Fred. “Now, little sister,” he added, “tell me what happens when we boil brine?” “Why, the water boils away,” said Norah, “and leaves the salt behind.” ” Right again,” said Fred ; “and I think now you will see how they get the sugar from the sweet juice. 80 THE ROOT OF A PLANT ” They boil the juice in large pans. The water in the juice boils away, and the sugar is left behind. As it cools the sugar forms into solid grains.” ” You must not forget,” said Willie, “that this is only raw or moist sugar, It has to be made into white loaf sugar.” “They leave this moist sugar to drain,” added Fred, “and what do you think we call the part that drains away from it? It is the treacle we eat on our bread.” Lesson XXVII THE RooT OF A PLANT “We had a fine lesson to-day on the roots of plants,” said Will. “Didn”t we, Fred l” “Yes,” said Fred. “Let us come into the garden, and have a talk about it. Father asked me to thin out some of the young plants from this bed of stocks. They are growing too thickly together, THE ROOT OF A PLANT 81 If we pull them up, we can learn something by looking at the roots. ” Shake the root clear of the soil that clings to it,” he went on. “Now what does the root look like, Norah 1” “It looks like a – great many white threads or strings, hanging from the bottom of the stem,” said Norah. ” So it does,” said Fred. ” Teacher says that, because these roots are made up of threads, they are called Fibrous Roots. Fibre means a thread or string. ” Now come into my own little garden. Father let me make a radish bed all for myself, and they are growing at a jolly rate. Here, let us pull up one of them. There’s a root for you, little girl. Take my knife and cut it across.” S.R.L (l 82 THE ROOT OF A PLANT “Why, it is quite thick and solid all through,” said Norah. ” Yes,” said her brother, ” teacher calls them Fleshy Roots; because they are so thick and solid.” “You know, Norah,” Will joined in, “carrots and turnips and parsnips are all roots Jike this one.” “Teacher told us why some plants have these fleshy roots and others fibrous roots,” said Fred. ” Let us go back to the young plants, that I began to thin out. Perhaps I can make it clear to you. Father sowed the seeds for these in the spring. By and by, LOAF SUGAR 83 during the summer, they will bear sweetsmelling flowers, and when the winter comes they will die. “Teacher says all plants which live only one season, have fibrous roots. The carrot, turnip, and the other plants with fleshy roots would not die in the winter. The thick fleshy root is only a store of food to keep the plant alive, while it can get none from the soil. In the spring such plants wake up from their winter sleep, and burst out into leaves and flowers during the next summer. They do not die till their seeds are ripe.” Lesson XXVIII LOAF SUGAR ” Oh, do come and tell me how they make that coarse, brown, soa sugar into the hard, white loaf sugar,” said Norah. The childr~n had just settled down for their evening chat, and our little girl had 84 LOAF SUGAR been thinking about that white sugar all tea-time. “Well,” said Fred, “before I tell you that, I will explain something, that teacher showed us to-day. ” He had some thick flannel bags, one inside the other, and he poured into them some dirty, muddy water. In a short time we saw the water trickle through the flannel, into a basin he held under it. But the water that came through was clear, and not muddy. “Why did the water drip through the flannel, Norah ? ” ” I suppose,” said Norah, “it is because the flannel is porous.” ” Quite right. But why didn”t the mud come through too? I think I ought to tell you that,” he added. ” It is because the holes are too small, to let the bits of mud through. The water could pass through, but not the mud. ” Now let us think about the sugar. The coarse sugar is mixed with some LOAF SUGAR 85 lime, and put into water to dissolve. The syrup is then poured into bags made of thick folds of woollen cloth, and left to drip through into a vessel below. You will see now, I think, why the syrup which drips from the bags is quite clear.” “The pores in the bags, I suppose,” said Norah, “won”t let the dirt pass.” “Yes,” said Fred, “that’s right. But, although the syrup is clear, it is still brown. It is next made to run through a bed of small charcoal, made of burnt bones. All its brown colour goes as it passes through the charcoal. ” The clear syrup is then put into large copper pans and boiled.” “Yes, and the rest is easy to see,” said Norah. “The water boils away, and the syrup gets thicker and thicker.” ” When it is thick enough, it is poured into large moulds to cool,” said Fred. “It comes out of the mould as a hard, white, solid sugar-loaf.” “Norah would like to know,” added 86 THE ROOT .A.ND ITS WORK Will, “that the part which drains away from the mould is our golden syrup.” Lesson XXIX THE RooT AND ITS WORK “Now, Norah,” said Fred, ‘shall we have another chat about the roots of plants l We did not finish all I wanted to tell you last time.” “Oh yes, do,” said his sister. “Then tell me,” said he, “what the root has to do for the plant.” “It has to hold the plant firmly in the soil,” said Norah, ” so that the winds and the rain may not tear it up. It has, besides that, to feed the plant with food from the soil.” “Quite right,” said Fred. “Now I am going to try and tell you how the root feeds the plant. Come out into the garden, and we will get some roots. Suppose I dig up this carrot. ” Now look,” he went on, “at these THE ROOT AND ITS WORK 87 fine, white threads all over the carrot. Teacher says they are the root-hairs.” “Yes,” said Willie, “and they have more to do than any other part of the root. They are the feeders of the plant.” “Will is quite right,” said Fred. “Every morsel of food, which the plant gets from the soil, has to pass up through those little hairs. • “Teacher told us,” he went on, ” that these root-hairs are made up of a great many tiny cells or cases, with the thinnest of thin walls. Our eyes are not sharp enough to see them now. But that is what they really are. The thin cells act very much like a sponge. The sponge, you know, absorbs liquids. These root-hairs do the same. “Now just think over our chat about rock-salt. What happens when the rain sinks into the ground and washes through the salt-beds down below ? ” “Oh, I know,” said Norah; “the water dissolves the salt and carries it away.” 88 ABOUT BURNING ” Quite true,” said Fred. ” Now in the soil of our garden there is all that the plants want for food. But it is no use to the plant, till the rain sinks in, and dissolves it. If the plants do not get water they droop and die. They die because they are being· starved. There is plenty of food for them in the soil, but the roothairs cannot absorb it, till the water comes to dissolve it.” Lesson XXX ABOUT BURNING “We are going to have a chat to-night about things that burn,” said Fred. “Father says he is not busy now, so I have asked him to come in and help us, for fear anything might happen. Here is father. Now, Norah, go and bring me your rag-bag, with your doll’s pieces. I have a lot to show you.” Fred went and found a candle. He ABOUT BURNING 89 lighted it, stood it on the table, and spread out all the things they had got. ” Now, children,” said his father, ” I think I had better do the burning, if Fred will show me what he wants. Then you won”t get into mischief.” “All right, father,” said Fred. “Are you all ready? Then let us begin.” His father then held a lot of things, one by one, as Fred gave them to him, 90 ABOUT BURNING in the flame of the candle. As they caught :fire he put them out quickly. First there were pieces of cal-i-co, muslin, cotton-wool, silk, and cloth from Norah’s rag-bag. Then a piece of paper, some feathers, a piece of wool, and a piece of leather. Then a thin stick of wood, some hay and straw, and a strip of whalebone. As they burned, Fred laid them aside in two heaps on the table. Just then Fred’s mother looked in. “What are you children doing?” she cried. ” I can smell something burning. I hope you are not playing with the :fire.” She had not seen father there. ” All right, mother,” said he, ” I”m here. They shall not come to any harm.” “Now then,” said Fred, “all these things take :fire, but some of them burn more :fiercely than others. I have put some in one heap, and some in another. In this lot are the silk, wool, cloth, feathers, leather, and whalebone. Don”t forget that we get all these things THE STEMS OF PLANTS 91 from animals. They all burn very slowly. ” Show us the burning wool again, father, please. It frizzles slowly in the flame, and so would all the others. “In this heap are the cotton-wool, muslin, cal-i-co, paper, _hay, straw, and wood. We get these things from plants. If any one of them is put into the flame, it blazes up in an instant. All animal substance bums slowly; those things which come from ,plants blaze up quickly. “Our little Norah, with her cotton frock and apron, must keep away from the fire. Her clothes would quickly blaze up, and then she would be burnt to death.” Lesson XXXI THE STEMS OF PLANTS “Suppose we have a chat about the stems of plants,” said Fred. ” The stem, you know, makes its way upward from 92. THE STEMS OF PLANTS the ground, to get as much light and air as it can for the plant. “The stems of plants are not all alike. Let us take the trees first. “They live year after year. They have a hard woody stem, which we call the trunk. At the top of the trunk are the branches. Bushes and shrubs have a great many stems, but they too are hard and woody.” “But,” said Norah, “most of our plants in the garden either die down to the THE STEMS OF PLANTS 93 ground or perish entirely in the winter. What do we call them, Fred? ” ” They are called herbs,” said Fred. ” They have soft green stems.” “These herbs too,” said Willie, “have all sorts of stems. Let us try and think of what teacher said about them.” ” Well,” said Fred, ” most of them, as we can see by looking round the garden, have strong, stout, upright stems. 94 THE STEMS OF PLANTS ” Some, like the scarlet-bean and the hop, are not strong enough to stand upright. We put tall sticks beside them, and they twine themselves round the sticks. We call them twining stems.” “We train the sweet-peas on the trellis for support,” said Willie, “but they are not twining plants. They have little curling tendrils here and there, which THE STEMS OF PLANTS 95 cling round the trellis. The vine and honey-suckle have tendrils too. We call these climbing plants.” “Now come and look at these strawberry -plants,” said Fred. “See, as the plant grows, it sends out slender stems along the ground. These we call runners. Each runner sends down, at the next joint, a great ,many new roots. Plants of this kind we call creeping plants. “I have one more stem to show you,” he went on. “We will pull up this root of mint. See, here are the roots. But what are these thick white cords, which run out from the root? ” If you look, you will see buds here and there along the cords. This proves that these cords are not roots, but stems. We never find buds on roots. ” We call stems of this kind underground stems.” 96 COAL Lesson xxm COAL “I have been thinking over our chat about things that burn,” said Norah. “Why, Fred, we left out coal, and we all know coal is a good thing. to burn. We use it to make our fires.” ” Yes, sister,” said Fred ; ” we use coal for fuel, to make our fires. But teacher says there is so much to learn about coal, that we must take it by itself. ” Go and get a piece of coal, Will. We will find out all we can about it. “Now, Norah,” he went on, “take the coal in your hand. What can you learn by looking at it?” “It is black and shiny,” said Norah. “It looks like a lump of smooth, shiny, hard, black stone.” “Quite right,” said Fred. “Now hit the coal with this hammer, and you will see that it easily breaks up into pi.e ces. ” COAL 97 ” So it does,” said his sister. ” It is brittle, as well as hard.” “Now look at your hands, you dirty girl.” “Oh dear,” said Norah, “the dirty coal has made me quite black. The black comes off on my hands.” Fred next took the piece of coal up with the tongs, and held it in the flame of the· fire. . It soon caught fire, and burst out in a bright flame. “That’s just what I meant, Fred,” said Norah. ” Coal is one of the best things to burn. It burns till it is all gone. It gives out great heat while it burns.” “Yes,” said Fred, “that is why we use it for fuel.” “I should like to know where we get coal from,” said Norah. ” Well then,” said Fred, ” I”ll soon tell you. Coal is a mineral, like stone, chalk, marble, rock-salt, clay, sand, and gravel. It is dug out of the ground. ” Men dig great deep holes in the S. R. L H 98 COAL ground to get the coal,” he added. “We call the holes mines. The men who dig the mines are called miners.” Lesson xxxm COAL “You know,” said Fred, “that coal is a mineral; it is dug out of deep mines.” “Yes,” said Norah, ‘so are clay, and stone, and sand, and iron, and rock-salt.” ” But,” said Fred, “these things were always in the ground. Coal was not always in the ground. Teacher has been telling us fine stories of a time when the coal-beds were great forests of trees.” “Yes,” ,villie joined in, “and he showed us some pieces of coal, with the shape of leaves and ferns on them.” “The forests some time or other sank down and got, buried, and now they are changed into coal,” added Fred. ” How strange ! ” said his sister ; ” and is it all true?” CO.AL 99 “Yes, teacher says it is quite true.” ” Would you like to see something .very funny?” Fred went on. “That I should,” said his sister. “Then watch me,” he said. He brought out, in a very sly way, one of his father’s clay pipes, with a long stem. He had filled the bowl with small 100 COAL dusty coal, and closed it up with clay, just as he had seen teacher do. He put the bowl of the pipe into the middle of the bright red fire. “Now, little girl,” said he, “just watch.” In a little while they saw some puffs of yellow smoke come out at the end of the stem. The bowl too got red-hot. Then the pipe left off smoking. “Now, Norah,” said Fred, “watch again.” He put a light to the end of the pipe. A bright yellow flame burst out in a moment; and Norah gave quite a start. “What ever is that?” she said. “Ah,” said her brother, “we knew we should give you a surprise. “That is gas burning at the mouth of the pipe-the very gas that burns in our streets, and shops, and houses.” Norah had another surprise, when the pipe was taken out of the fire. After it had got cool, Fred broke the bowl, and showed her that it was full of coke. LE.AVES Lesson XXXIV LE.A.YES 101 “You would have liked our lesson today about leaves, Norah,” said Will. ” Wouldn”t she, Fred ? ” “Yes,” said Fred, “and I think we”ll go out into the garden, and pick a few leaves for ourselves, and have the lesson all over again.” They were soon seated, with the leaves before them, and Fred began:- ” Suppose we start with this one. It is a leaf of the lime-tree at the bottom of the garden. Look, Norah, there are two parts to the leaf. This thin flat broad part is the blade. The long stalk which joins it to the branch is the footstalk. “Look at all the leaves you have in 102 LEAVES your lap. Tell us which is the blade, and which is the footstalk of each.” “Now look again,” said Willie. “One side of the leaf is smoother than the other. The smooth side always points upwards to the sky. The under side is the rough one.” “Let me point out something else,” said Fred. “Look at the under side of the leaf. You will see some thick stout lines crossing the blade. They start from the stalk, and run to the edge of the blade. We call these the ribs. They are to support the blade, and LEAVES 103 keep it stretched out to the light and air.” “But,” said Norah, “I can see a great many other lines all over the blade. They are not so thick and strong, but they run all over it; and cross each other like network. Are these ribs too, Fred?” “No,” said Fred, “we call them the veins of the leaves. Nearly all the leaves you have in your lap have veins, which cross each other and form a network. Teacher tells us to call them net – vein leaves. “Now look at this lily leaf. Hold it up to the light. Do you see veins crossing each other in this leaf?” “I can see the veins,” said Norah, “but they run side by side, from one end of . the leaf to the other.” 104 COAL-THE MINE ” Teacher says,” added Fred, ” that leaves of this kind have par-a11-el veins, and this means that the veins run side by side, as you told me, Norah.” Lesson XXXV COAL-THE MINE “Can you tell me, Fred,” asked his sister a few days after, ” how the men get the coal out of the mines in the ground ? ” “I”ll try,” said Fred. “That’s just what our lesson was about this morning. ” First of all,” he began, ” teacher told us tha.t coal can”t be dug up anywhere. The right name for a place where coal can be got is a coal-field. In the ground under the coal-field there is coal.” Yes,” said Willie, “but coal, like all other minerals, is al ways found in beds or layers. These beds are often many hundreds of feet down in the earth.” “The mine has to be dug right down into the coal-bed,” said Fred. “At first COAL-THE MINE 105 it is only a deep wide pit, going down, down, through all the beds that lie above the coal. This pit is called the shaft. “When the men get to the coal-bed, they don”t dig down any more. They begin to dig sideways through the coal itself. They dig out great wide roads, through nothing but coal.” ” But how do the men get down ? ” asked Norah. “What do they do with all that they dig out? They must dig up a lot of things before they reach the coal.” “I thought you would ask that, Norah,” said Fred. ” I will tell you. The men put up a big engine at the top of the shaft. Then they make a great box, which they call a cage. It is big enough to hold a dozen men. The cage is held by very strong chains, and the engine lets it down and • draws it up again.” “I see,” said his sister. ” Sometimes it takes the men up and down. Sometimes 106 THE MINE AND THE MINERS it brings up the earth, and stones, and other things, they dig out. At last it brings up the coal.” “Quite right, little girl,” said both the boys. “Now think,” added Fred, “about the mine itself. As the men dig along their great ·main roads, they branch off from time to time. They cut out streets and lanes on all sides. It looks like a town under the ground.” “Oh,” said Norah, with a shudder. “What a dark, ugly place ! ” Lesson XXXVI THE MINE AND THE MINERS ” I am glad,” said Willie, ” you were not with us in school to-day, Norah. Oh, we had such a fright for a minute.” “What was it ? ” asked Norah. “Oh, nothing,” said Fred. “It was jolly fun. You know we made some gas the other night in father’s old pipe 1 THE MINE AND THE MINERS 107 1 ! ( ., . . W ll, t acher (\ f(_” 1.t. • ” 1″ ” had some of this am coal-O”as in a bottl . All of a sudden he pull d the cork ut of the ottle and put a licrht near My tar orah there wa a bang. It made all the boy jump. But it wa fine fun aft r all.” “Why did he do it?) a ked N rah. ” H told us ” ai l Fred, that this gas i alway ·omrn ut of the oal down in th min . If tli meu d wn ther g al out with a lighted can<lle the gas will at once 108 THE MINE A.ND THE MINERS take fire and explode. Then the mine is blown up, and perhaps hundreds of men are killed. The gas in the bottle gave us a good idea of the way it explodes in the mine.” “But,” said Willie, “I liked that picture of the mine. We saw the shaft3 and the great cage hanging by its strong chains. “The cage was coming down full of miners. At the bottom there was a truck loaded with coal ready to be sent up.” “Yes,” said Fred,” and we saw the wide road cut through the coal, and the waggons and horses going along.” ” Horses ! ” said Norah. “Yes, little girl, horses,” said F1red. THE MINE .AND THE MINERS 109 “I thought I should like to be one of those boys to have a whip, and go for a ride along that funny road.” ” What, all in the dark ? ” said Norah. “Well, it isn”t very light of course. But it isn”t so dark as you think, for each waggon has to carry a lamp. That shows a little light as they go along.” “I shouldn”t like it,” said Norah. “Well,” added Fred, “in another part of the picture we saw the men at work getting the coal. They were working hard, digging it out with pick-axe and shovel. Teacher says they are called hewers. They hew or dig out the coal. “As they dig it out it is thrown into trucks, and the trucks are pushed along a little railway by boys. These boys are 110 • MORE ABOUT LEAVES called putters. They put or push the trucks along.” “Teacher says it is very very hot down in the mine,” said Willie. “All the workers are nearly naked.” Lesson XXXVII MORE ABOUT LEAVES “We have learned some new things about leaves to-day, Norah,” said Fred, ” and I want to try and tell you all about it. But before I begin you might think of some of the things we told you about leaves the other evening.” “Well,” said Norah, “I know that all leaves have veins running through them. In some leaves the veins run side by side, but in most of the leaves the veins spread about in a sort of network. “rhe veins all come from the ribs, which stretch across the blade, and the ribs spring from the foots talk of the leaf.” MORE ABOUT LEAVES 111 “That’s very good,” said Fred. “Now listen, while I tell you the most wonderful thing of all about the leaves. “Teacher says that the surface of the leaf blade is crowded with tiny holes or pores.” “I suppose,” said Norah, “our eyes are not sharp enough to find them, for I cannot see them.” “No,” said Fred, “we children can”t see them, but they are there, Norah. They are breathing pores. The leaves breathe in air through these pores.” ” You know what the root-hairs do ? ” ” Oh yes,” said Norah ; “they absorb liquid food from the soil.” “Well then,” said Fred, “this liquid .food rises upward through the stem and branches, and along the footstalk till it reaches the leaves. “reacher says the earth-food, which the roots absorb, is no use to the plant till it has passed through the leaves. It flows through the footstalk, then through the ribs, and then the veins 112 MORE ABOUT THE MINE carry it all through the leaf. While it flows through the leaf, it absorbs some of the air, which the breathing pores take in. It is this that makes the liquid into food fit for the plant.” Lesson :XXXVIII MORE ABOUT THE MINE “Fred,” said Norah, “I”ve been thinking about those dreadful mines. You say there is always some of that bad gas coming out of the coal. “I should think that, after a time, the mine would get full of it. How do the men manage to breathe down there? I wonder it does not choke them.” ” Teacher has made that all clear to us now,” said Fred. “Every mine has two shafts. They are a long way from each other. Only one of them is used to send the ca.ges up and down. There is always a great fire burning at the bottom of this. The fire MORE ABOUT THE MINE 113 makes the air all round very hot, and, as all hot air is light, it rises and rushes up the shaft. As this air goes up, some more air must come from somewhere to take its place. Where do you think this other air co~es from, Norah ? ” “Does it rush down the second· shaft, and along the coaly roads and streets ? ” asked Norah. ” That’s just it,” said Fred. “What a thoughtful little girl you are ! ” “There is always plenty of fresh air, you see, rushing through the mine. The bad gas is driven out, before it can do any harm.” “Do let me tell Norah about that grand lamp, which they use in the mine,” said Willie. “All right,” said Fred, “go on.” ” The lamp is only a simple oil lamp,” said Will. “But the clever part of it is that the flame is shut in all round with wire gauze. Every man lights his lamp and locks it up before he goes down. It &LL I 114 FLOWERS must not be opened. The flame burns inside, but it cannot get out to the bad gas in the mine. This makes it quite safe for the men. The lamp is called the Safety Lamp.” ” How clever the man must have been who thought of it ! ” said Norah. “Yes, he was,” said Fred. “His name was Davy, and the lamp is still called the Davy Lamp.” Lesson XXXIX FLOWERS ~ Come out into the garden,” said Fred, “and let us have a chat about the flowers. Can you tell me what is the use of the flowers, Norah ? ” “They have to form seeds/ said Norah. “We sow the seeds the next season, and they grow up into new plants.” “Quite right,” said Fred. ” Look at all FLOWERS 115 these pretty flowers on the table. They seem to be made of leaves, but the leaves are not coarse and green, like the real leaves of the plant. They are soft and smooth and thin. If we take them in our hands, we are almost sure to bruise them. We may call them the flower-leaves. They. are not all alike. See, there are red, pink, blue, yellow- all sorts colours.” white, of gay “It is these flower-leaves that make our gardens look so pretty,” said Norah. ” Yes,” said Fred, “but the flowerleaves, after a time, are of no further use. They fall off. “Let us strip off the flower-leaves from some of our flowers. That will do. Now what have we got inside? “These little slender stalks that stand 116 FLOWERS up in a circle are the stamens. Teacher showed them to us this morning. “Look, Norah,” he went on, “at the top of each of them there is a little yellow knob. Teacher says these knpbs are little boxes filled with yellow dust. We call this dust pollen. “Ifwe touch one of them, we shall get some of the dust on our fingers. “Now, watch while I strip off these stamens. What have we got left l” ” There is another stalk-a big one-in the middle of the stamens,” said Norah. ” Yes,” said Fred, ” this is all there is left. It is called the pistil. The seeds grow inside it ; for it is not a stalk, but a box. When the stamens are no longer wanted they drop off. But the seed-box, WHAT WE MEAN BY ELASTIC 117 with its seeds, grows bigger and bigger, till it is quite ripe.” . Lesson XL WHAT WE MEAN BY ELASTIC ” Come and sit down, Norah,” said Willie. ” I”ve got something· new to show you. This is a piece of indiaru b ber band. Look, if I pull it I can. stretch it nearly twice as long.” “Well, what of that i” said Norah. “Anybody could do that.” ” Don”t be in such a hurry,” said Will. He let go one end, and the india-rubber sprang back. “This is what I wanted to show you,” said he. “The india-rubber will stretch when we pull it, and it will spring back to its proper size and shape when we let go. ” Look,” he added. ” These pieces of cloth and flannel do the same. We say that india-rubber, cloth, and flannel are elastic. They stretch when we pull them, and spring back when we let go.” 118 WHAT WE MEAN BY ELASTIC ” But teacher showed us,” said Fred, “that there are other things, besides india-rubber, that spring back and are elastic. He showed us a cane, and a stick of whalebone, and bent them to make the two ends meet. They sprang back when he let go, because they are elastic. “He squeezed a sponge up in his hand. It sprang back when he opened his hand, because it is elastic. ” He forced a cork into a bottle. The cork went in, because he made it smaller by squeezing it. When he pulled the cork out again, it sprang back to its right shape and size, because it is elastic. ” So you see, Norah, all these things, -the india-rubber, flannel, cloth, cane, whalebone, sponge, and cork,-are elastic; but they are not elastic in quite the same way. One shows that it is elastic when it is pulled, another when it is bent, and another when it is squeezed out .o f shape.”