Chamberss Elementary Science Readers | Page 4

joints in the stems.'
13. The wheat soon grew so tall that it stood above the heads of the children. They used to go in among it, and make believe that they were lost in a great forest.
14. One day, when they were lost like this, they saw that the tops of the stalks had opened. Inside there were green stems with green ears upon them.

WHEAT.
PART 2.
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1. Every day the ears grew larger and harder, and then they began to look yellow.
2. The children, too, heard their father and mother talking about their golden grain, and saying it was ripe.
3. At last, one very hot day, they found that the time had come to cut the wheat. A kind friend came to help, and Harry and Dora and the new dog jumped about and ran in and out, and thought that they helped too.
4. The children talked much about their harvest, and mother made them a harvest-supper. What a day it was!
5. It seemed so odd to have a bin full of grain just like the grain they had sown in the spring.
6. And now there was a great surprise for them. A railway-man came with a heavy box on a truck, and when the box was opened, what do you think there was inside?
A mill--a fine new wheat-mill!
7. 'We do not need now to go to the miller!' said mother, looking very glad. 'We are going to have a miller in our own house--no, two millers, I ought to say!'
8. 'Two millers!' cried Harry.
'Do you mean Harry and me?' asked Dora.
'Yes, my dear children, I mean you. You are going to be my dusty millers!
9. 'I will show you how much you are to grind, just a little every day. You must put it into this big red pan, and cover it up, and when I want to bake I shall always have plenty of flour ready.
10. 'And listen! You shall have a penny each every week for doing the work.'
At this Dora and Harry jumped for joy, clapped their hands, and ran to their mother to hug her.
11. Then she put some of the wheat into the mill, took hold of the handle, and made the wheel go round. Harry next took his turn, and Dora hers, and in a few minutes they found in the box below a heap of nice soft flour.
12. 'Now,' said mother, 'let us give father a treat when he comes home! We will make some nice cakes with this flour, and have them for tea! Grind a little more, dear millers, while I make up the fire.'
[Illustration]

SLATE.
PART 1.
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1. 'What is the oldest thing in this room?' asked the mother one day.
'Is this a riddle?'
'No, not exactly.'
2. Dora guessed one thing, and Harry another, and at last they gave up guessing. 'Unless,' said Harry, 'it is the fender, or the poker.'
3. 'It is very likely that the thing you were drawing on just now is older than any of those.'
4. 'That slate? Why, mother!' cried the children, opening their eyes wide with wonder, 'you bought it only last Saturday!'
'So I did. But it was not made last Saturday.'
5. 'No, I suppose the man cut it, and made the frame, and fixed it on before that.'
'Perhaps on Friday,' said Dora.
6. 'But the slate itself,' the mother went on, 'where did that come from? Did the man make it?'
Harry and Dora looked well at it, turned it over, rubbed their fingers on it, and said they did not know.
7. 'Well, would you say it is like wood, or like stone, or is it metal like the poker? Is it a kind of wood, do you think? Did it ever grow?'
'I think it must be a sort of rock, or stone,' said Harry, 'only very smooth and thin.'
8. 'The man who worked at it before it came to the shop made it smooth and cut it thin. It was not smooth and thin at first. But you are quite right; it is a sort of stone.'
[Illustration: A Slate Quarry]
9. 'It is as cold as a stone,' said Dora, putting it against her face. 'Do you remember, Harry, how cold our hands were in winter when we did sums? Yes, and it is very hard. I am sure it is a piece of rock.'

SLATE.
PART 2.
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1. 'I should like to see a rock all made of slate! Have you ever seen one, mother?'
'Yes, many, dear. But there are none near.' Then she laughed a little. 'But if you like to go just outside the door you will see