8. THE COUNTRY
In the summer I go with my family from the town to the country. We go to a farm. At the back of the farm-house is a field, and in it is a great tree with one low branch. It is the only tree in the field. In very warm weather I get up on the branch and have a rest. In the field is an old goat. If I am on the grass, it will come and give my body a push, but up in the tree I am safe.
I do not let the goat go from the field, because it will get into the garden. Goats take every flower and leaf from the stem of a plant.
A cow is another farm animal and a sheep is another. In some of the fields of the farm are cows, and in others are sheep, and in a low building of wood is a great mother pig with some small baby pigs.
I have a fowl at the farm. It is a small brown bird. It is in the fowl-house with the other fowls. If I see an egg in the fowl-house I do not keep it ; I take it to my mother. I do not let it get broken. We get eggs from fowls and wool from sheep.
The farm-house is a brown building of stone with a red roof. Near it are the buildings for the animals, and about it in the summer are green trees and green fields with flowers.
The country is not green in the winter. The fields are brown and the trees have no leaves, and we do not see any flowers. Some birds go to other places when the weather is still warm, because they do not get enough food in England in cold weather. but after the winter they come again.
Questions
Where do the boy and his family go in the summer ?
What is he field at the back of the farm-house ?
What do goats do to a plant ?
What other animals are in the fields ?
What is in the low building of wood ?
What sort of birds are kept at the farm ?
What do we get from flows and what do we get from sheep ?
What sort of building is the farm-house ?
What do we see about th farm-house in the summer ?
Why do the birds go to other places in the winter ?
Answers
They go (from the town) to a farm in the country.
A great tree (with one low branch).
They take every flower and every leaf from the stem.
Cows and sheep.
The great mother pig with some small baby pigs.
Fowls.
We get eggs from fowls and wool from sheep.
A brown building of stone with a red roof.
Green trees and green fields with flowers in them.
Because they do not get enough food in England in cold weather.
At the edge of the sea is a town with a harbour and near it is a stretch of sand. In bright weather the sea is blue, but in wet weather it is grey. The taste of sea-water is a salt taste.
I go into the water for a swim. After my swim I have a rest on the sand, which is warm. I take it in my hands and put it over my body, but I do not put it on my head. If I get a grain of sand in my eye the pain will be very great. That is why I keep it from my face. After my rest I get up and give my body a shake and get all the sand off again.
small boys and girls keep together near the edge of the water where it is not deep. The others go where it is deep enough for a swim, but even they do not go far from the land, because if they get in the current they will be in danger. A person on the sand may see the danger and get a boat and give help, but if they do not get help, they may not get safely to the land again.
Near the harbour is a small island with great stones on it, and among the stones are sea plants and sea animals. I go there with my father in a boat with a sail. The boat is small, and a wave may come over the edge and make the inside of the boat wet. If the water is smooth and clear we may see a fish in the sea near the boat. We do not go to the island in a mist. The danger from a mist on the sea is great.
In bad weather the sea is rough and all the boats come into the harbour. The way into the harbour is not wide enough for a great ship. But though they do not come there, we see great ships on the sea. If they are far out, what we see is the smoke.
Questions
What is the sea ?
What sort of taste has sea-water ?
What is at the edge of the sea ?
Why do you keep sand from your face ?
why do the older boys and girls not keep near the edge of the water ?
Why do they not go very far out ?
What sort of boat does the boy go to the island in ?
What is one sort of sea animal ?
Why does the boy not go to the island in a mist ?
Why do great hips not come into the harbour?
Answers
A great stretch of water.
A salt taste
A town with a harbour.
Because if I get a grain of sand in my eye the pain will be very great.
Because near the edge the water is not deep enough or a swim.
Because if they get in the current they will be in danger.
A small boat with a sail.
A fish.
Because the danger from a mist on the sea is great.
Because the way into the harbour is not wide enough for a great ship.
10 . TIME
Morning is the first part of the day, and night is the last part of the day. Night is the time for sleep, and a bed is he place for it.
My bed and the bed of my brother are in one room. In the space between the beds is a table with a clock on it. In the morning, if my brother is not ,awake, I put out my hand across the table and give the bed-cover a pull, and say, "Good morning ! Are you awake ? Get up !" I get up and go to the bath. After than, if he is still not awake, I get a wet sponge and put it on the face of my brother. I do not go very near, because he may make my face wet with the sponge.
But on some mornings my brother may get up a minute after I go from the room, and while I am in the bathroom he may make a knot in my sock or put my shoe far under the bed. On these days, though I am up first, he is ready before I am. Yesterday we were ready together.
The first things which I put on are my socks, and the last thing is my coat. When I have on everything but my coat, I take a comb and put it through my hair. If I do it after I have my coat on, a hair may get on my coat. I take hairs off my coat with a brush.
I have my morning mean an hour after I get up. In the early part of the morning we do work ; in the late part we have play. That is how the mornings go. Tomorrow we will not do any work. On one day of every week we may have a rest all the day.
Tomorrow is the day after this day, and yesterday is the day before this day, and this day is today.
Before we go to bed we have a wash with soap. When we come from the bathroom my mother may say, "Are you ready for bed ? When you are in bed I will come and say good night."
Questions
Which is the first part of the day and which is the lst ?
What is between the beds of the boy and his brother ?
What does the boy put on (a) first, (b) last ?
What things named here do you make use of for getting clean ?
When do the boys (a) do work, (b) have play ?
When may the boys have a rest all the day ?
In what other way may you say : (a) this day ; (b) the day before this day ; (c) the day after this day ?
What do the boys do before they go to bed ?
What do they have a wash with ?
What will the mother do when the boys are in bed ?
Answers
Morning is the first part of the day and night is the last.
a table with a clock on it.
(a) Socks, (b) coat.
Bath, brush, soap, sponge.
(a) In the early part of the morning ; (b) in the late part of the morning.
On one day of every week.
(a) Today ; (b) yesterday ; (c) tomorrow.
They have a wash.
Soap.
She will come and say good night.
When the grass is high in the garden, I get it cut with a machine. The base of the machine has a wheel at he right side and a wheel at the left. Between these wheels are parts which are sharp, like the blade of the knife. When you give the machine a push forward, these blades go through the grass and get it cut. The hand-part of the machine is of wood ; the other parts are of metal. Sometimes I put oil on the metal parts. If I do not do this with care, I may give my finger a crush in the machine.
Some machines do work only while they have the help of hands, but other machines are automatic. The match-machines in the street are automatic.
On the farm we get water from a pump. A pump is a machine with a rod which goes up and down in a pipe. Another machine gets milk from the cows, and another makes butter. A plough/plow is a machine with a wide blade of steel which does the work of a spade.
Machines do almost every sort of work. We see machines which get stones from the road broken, and other machines which give help to workmen who put up houses.
In the towns, in great buildings, men and women make things with machines. They make shoes of leather, socks of wool, coats of cloth, and all the other parts of dress. They make clocks, umbrellas, knives, plates, seats, and tables.
Hands are not as quick as machines. When a man makes a join in wood, or puts the cover on a box, he gives a separate blow of the hammer to every nail. But a machine may put all the nails in with one move as much work as a man does with a great number of moves. Even if the man is quick, the work which he does will seem slow when we see how very quickly the machine does it.
But though men are not as quick as machines, machines are still not as good as men for some things.
Questions
What is between the wheels of the grass machine ?
What does the boy put on the machine ?
What sort of machines are match-machines ?
What is a pump ?
What machines does the work of a spade ?
What help do machines dive in making roads ?
What are shoes made of?
What does a man put into wood when he makes a join in it ?
What does he make use of for doing this ?
Why does a machine do this work more quickly than a man.
Answers
Parts which are sharp, like the blade of a knife.
Oil
Automatic machines
A machine with a rod which goes up and down in a pipe.
A plough or plow.
They get stones broken.
Leather.
Nails.
A hammer.
Because a man gives a separate blow of the hammer to every nail, but a machine may put all the nails in with one blow.
"What is the business of your father ?"
"My father does work in a store."
"Is he the owner of the store ?"
"No. He is only the manager of it. The owner is not one man, the owner is a company. Every person in the company gets a part of the profit of the store."
"Does the store make much profit ?"
"Yes. My father is a good manager. A store with a bad manager makes little profit."
"What does a manager do ?"
"He does work in an office almost all the day, but sometimes he goes through the building and sees the persons who do business with the store. He does not let me go with him."
"What sort of store is it ?"
"It keeps almost every sort of thing. In one part of it you may get food and drink, in another, a new coat, in another, a clock, in another, fruit, or flowers, or even a bulb in a pot. It is like separate small stores in one building. This sort of store is common in great towns."
"Does your mother get everything for the family there ?"
"No, she gets almost all our things there, but she does not get fruit there. She says that the fruit at the store is dear. She get it a the market."
"Is it cheap at the market ?"
"It seems cheap because the market price is not as great as the store price. But my father says that the fruit at the market is as dear as the fruit at the store, because my mother sometimes gets a bad apple or orange among the good fruit, and though the price is not as great, she does not get as much for it.
When she gets fruit at the store, the store will send it to the house. But when she gets it at the market, the man there put it in a bag, and she takes it with her. If she gets cheese, he put it in paper and makes a parcel with cord, but sometimes the cord comes off or gets broken, and the cheese goes on the road. Then my mother has a serious face.
When my mother goes to the market she lets me go with her and take a basket for all the parcels. But she does not go every day. On some days she sends the servant. "What is the business of your father ?"
"My father has a farm. He was in business. He was in a boot and shoe store. But the town is not healthy for my brother who was very ill when he was a baby."
Questions
1 . What work does the father of the boy do ?
2 . When a company is the owner of a store, what does every person in the company get ?
3 . Give a list of things which are kept in the store.
4 . What does the mother of the boy get at the market ?
5 . What reason does she give for not getting it at the store ?
6 . Why does the fruit at the market seem cheap ?
7 . When the mother gets fruit at the market, what does the man there do with it ?
8 . What does he do when she gets cheese ?
9 . When the boy goes to market with his mother, what does he take with him ?
10. What is the business of the second father ?
Answers
1 . He is the manager of a store.
2 . A part of the profit of the store.
3 . Food and drink, cats, clocks, fruit, flowers, bulbs in pots.
4 . Fruit.
5 . She says that the fruit at the store is dear.
6 . Because the market price is not as great as the store price.
7 . He put it in a bag.
8 . He put it in paper and makes a parcel with cord.
9 . A basket (for all the parcels).
10. He has a farm.
13 . MONEY
When you go to a store, you give money for the things which you get. The money is a payment to the store for the things. sometimes the payment is made when the things are got, but sometimes the store gives you credit, and the things may be taken before any payment is made.
The store put down on paper the amount of your debt, and after some time a request for the payment is sent to you. When the store gets the money, a receipt is given to you. This is a bit of paper with your name on it, and the name of the store, and the amount of your debt, and the day on which the payment was made. Business men keep their receipts safe. The loss of a receipt may be as bad as the loss of money.
Money may be of silver or gold or some other metal, or it may be of paper. Metal money is commonly round and flat, but not all bits of metal which have this form are money. A stamp is put on all money, from which you may see the value of it.
The size of some bits is not as great as the size of other bits. Great bits of any metal will get more things at the store than small bits. But if you have a bit of silver and a bit of gold, the gold will get more than the silver even if it is not as great as the silver, because the value of silver is not as great as the value of gold. Gold has more value than silver, and paper has less value than silver. But though gold has the most value and paper has the least, paper money may have more value than gold money..
A poor man is a man who has no money, or very little. but a man who has no money with him may not be poor. He may have a great amount of it in his house or in another safe place.
My mother keeps some of her money in a drawer which has a lock. Before she goes to the store, she gets the drawer open and takes some out. When the drawer is shut again she gives the key a turn from left to right in the lock and takes it out. The drawer is more safe than her bag, but it is not very safe, because some person may get the lock broken while she is out, and if this is done the money will be gone when she comes in again.
Men and women get money for work. They go to a store with it and get shoes and coats and butter and bread. The owner of the store gives money to the men who make these things, and these men give it to the men and women who do work for them, and they take it to the store again. Money which is kept in one place and does not go from one person to another does not do the work of money.
Questions
1 . When money is given for other things, what do we say that it is ?
2 . When the payment is not made straight away, what does the store do ?
3 . What is sent to you before you make payment, and what is sent to you after ?
4 . When you get a receipt from a store, what is on it ?
5 . What is commonly the form of metal money ?
6 . If one thing is greater or smaller than another, what do we say is different ?
7 . Why will a bit of silver buy less things at the store than a bit of gold of the same size ?
8 . What sort of man is a man who has no money ?
9 . How does the mother of the boy get the drawer open when she come back ?
10. What is one thing which we may do to get money ?
Answers
1 . A payment for them.
2 . It gives credit.
3 . A request for the payment is sent before, and a receipt after.
4 . My name, and the name of the store, and the amount of my debt, and the day on which the payment was made.
5 . It is round and flat.
6 . The size (of the two things.)
7 . Because the value of silver is not as great as the value of gold.
8 . A poor man.
9 . She put the key in the lock and gives it a turn from right to left.
10. Work.
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14 . NOISE
If you are awake in the very early morning, when all the family is in bed, even a small sound, like that of a rat in the wall or a fly on the window, seems loud. And if you give a cough or a sneeze, or a board in the floor make a noise when you put your foot on it, the sudden sound goes through the house like thunder. That is because all the house is quiet, and every sound comes clearly to your ears. In the day some noise is in the air all the time, and separate sounds are clear only if we give them our attention.
In the country every sound is clearer than in the town because the noise is less. The voice of a man, and even what is said, may be sent to your ears across a field. The sound of a cow-bell, or of the feet of a horse on the road, may come from the other end of the farm.
But that is only in quiet weather. The noise of thunder keeps all other sounds from your hearing. And sometimes, in a wind, even if a person is near you, not one word of what he says comes to your ears.
In the country after the sun goes down the fields are very quiet. Sometimes the voice of a night-bird comes from the trees, or the dog at the farm makes a noise when any person goes near the house, but at other times the only sounds are those which are made by the wind in the leaves or the rain on the grass.
But in some parts of the town our ears have no rest from the start of the day till a late hour in the night. Most of the noises in town are bad, but some worse than others. One of the worst is music outside in the streets. It takes our attention off our work, and if we are ill it may make us tired.
One noise which comes to our ears all the day in the town is that made by the feet of men and women in the street. The streets are quiet only after a fall of snow when the snow makes a soft cover over the hard road.
A man makes a sound every time he takes a step, even when he has no shoes on. Most animals are quieter than men, but the quietest animal is a cat. The soft feet of a cat go over even the hardest floor and make no sound, and if the animal is not seen, it may go anywhere and no attention will be given to it.
Men are the only animals which make music, though the sounds made by a bird may seem very like a song. Songs are the music which men make with their voices.
Questions
1 . What are two small sounds which seem loud in them morning ?
2 . Why do such sounds seem loud at that time ?
3 . When there is a noise in the air, what do we do to get any separate sound clear ?
4 . Give examples of sounds which may come to one's ears from far away in the country.
5 . What is the noise which sometimes comes from the sky when there are dark clouds in it ?
6 . What does the dog at the farm do at night ?
7 . What is one of the worst noises in the town and why ?
8 . Why does a fall of snow make the streets quiet ?
9 . What animal makes no sound in walking ?
10. What sort of music do men make with their voices ?
Answers
1 . The sound of a rat in the wall or of a fly on the window.
2 . Because all the house is quiet.
3 . We give it our attention.
4 . The voice of a man ; the sound of a cow-bell ; the sound of the feet of a horse on the road.
5 . Thunder.
6 . He makes a noise when any person goes near the house.
7 . The noise of music in the streets, because it takes our attention off our work, and if we are ill it may make us tired.
8 . Because the snow makes a soft cover over the hard road.
9 . A cat.
10. Songs.
15 . NEWS
"What news is in the newspaper this morning ?"
"Here is a long account of what the wind did yesterday. It took part of the roof off one of the buildings in the town and a brick came down on the head of a man in the street. His lip was cut and his nose was broken by the blow. Another brick went through the front window of a store, and a great hole was made by the smash. A great amount of rain came down in some places. the water-pipes got very full and water from a burst in one of them go into some office buildings."
"What does the newspaper say about the weather today ?"
"We will have rain again, but not as much wind as we had yesterday."
"That is good news. What is that short account there ?"
"It is about a small boat which went down in the sea not far fro the land. One man was in it, but when he saw the danger he put on his body the ring of cork which was on the side of the boat, and this kept him up in the water till help came."
"Who gave him help ?"
"A man who saw him from the harbor.
Here is an account of a small boy who took some poison when his mother was not in the room. When she came in and saw him with the bottle at his mouth, she gave a cry and took it quickly fro him. but a small amount of the poison went down his throat, and got into his stomach. It was only a drop, but it made him very ill."
"Why did his mother have poison in the hose ?"
"She had a dirty glove, and this sort of poison will get gloves clean if you put some of it on a bit of cloth and give them a rub with it."
"Where was the bottle ?"
"It was on a high shelf where pots of jelly were kept."
"How did he get it ?"
"He got on a seat and took it down.
Here is another bit of news about a great fish which was taken from the sea in a net. It was as long as a tall man."
"What is that on the back of the newspaper ?"
"That is an advertisement for coats. They seem good and cheap."
"Which seems the best."
"This one. it is better than any of the others."
"Yes, that is a very good coat. I will go and see it."
"I will come with you. I see that this stocking has a hole in it, and if the store has any cheap stockings I will get some."
"Have you any money ?"
"Yes, I have enough for the stockings."
"When will you be ready ?"
"I am ready. Let us go."
Questions
1 . In what ways was the man in the street damaged by the blow from the brick ?
2 . What other damage did the wind do ?
3 . What made the water get into the office building ?
4 . What kept the man up in the water ?
5 . What did the small boy take from the bottle ?
6 . Why was he ill ?
7 . Where did he take the bottle from ?
8 . What is the use of the poison which the boy took ?
9 . How as the fish taken from the sea ?
10. What other things are there in the pages in addition to news ?
Answers
1 . His lip was cut and his nose was broken.
2 . It sent a brick though the window of a store (and made a great hole).
3 . A burst in one of the water-pipes.
4 . A ring of cork (which he put on his body when he saw the danger).
5 . Some poison.
6 . Because a small amount of the poison went down his throat and got into his stomach.
7 . From a shelf where pots of jelly were kept.
8 . It will get gloves clean if you put some of it on a bit of cloth and give them a rub with it.
9 . In a net.
10. Advertisements.
