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Fred and his cousin Willie were two smart boys in the same class at school. They were only little boys, but they were fond of their school and their lessons.
They used to play at school in the evening with Fred’s little sister Norah.
Their teacher was giving the class jolly lessons on some of the common things around them. These were not at all like the other lessons of the day. Teacher gave them to the class as a treat. The boys soon began to look forward to them, as the best of all their lessons.
Norah, too, liked to hear all about them from the boys. It was great fun to Sit round the fire in the evening, and chat over the lessons of the day. The first lesson was about water. “What do you think, Norah?” said Fred one evening. “Teacher began to talk to us about water, by showing us a saucer full of saw-dust.”
“He piled up the saw-dust in a heap in the saucer, and then tried to do the same with some water in another saucer.”
“But, of course, he couldn’t do it,” said Wille, “because you can’t make water stand up in a heap. It always keeps a flat or level surface.”
“Yes, and, when it got to the top of the saucer, it ran away over the sides, and on to the table,” added Fred. “we saw it flow along the table, and fall down to the ground.”
“Why, of course,” said Norah, “water always flows down. We can see it flow down, if we turn on the tap. It never flows up.”
“Teacher told us to think of the rain, too,” said Willie. “The drops of rain always fall down–never up.”
“I can show you som edrops of water,” said fred. “Look, I dip this brush in the water, and shake it. The water will fall from the brush in little round drops.”
Return to Elementary Science I
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