Chamberss Elementary Science Readers | Page 6

see any gas,' said Harry.
'You can't see gas. It is like air. All those bubbles were made by the gas. It went out of the cup into the air.
'Now, get a cup of water. Come along! Where is your chalk?'
5. Father rubbed some of it into the water, and stirred it up. The water now looked like milk.
Father poured it into the sink, and showed Harry and Dora, at the bottom of the cup, a great many tiny grains.
6. 'Those little round things,' he said, 'are shells.'
'Shells!' said Dora, trying to see them better.
'Were live things ever in them?' asked Harry, and put a finger into the cup to fish some out.
7. 'Yes, long, long ago. That bit of chalk had hundreds and hundreds of shells in it. Now, mother, it is your turn! I have had mine. What do you know about chalk?'
8. Mother smiled and began: 'There was once a very deep sea, full of live things, little and big. And on the top of the water were crowds of tiny things in shells, that put out long arms like threads to catch their food.
9. 'When they died they all dropped to the bottom of the sea, and lay there. The shells were so very little that they made a sort of mud when they were mixed with the water.
'And now the mud is dry, and we call it chalk!'

THE MOUSE.
an′-i-mal noise mouse cheese har′-vest stalk should four tail nib′-ble young beasts squeak hours leaves catch
1. Harry came running in one day to say that he had seen a little animal in the field.
2. 'It ran so fast, I could hardly see it. I looked a long time for it, and so did Dora, but we could not find it. Now, what do you think it could be, mother?'
[Illustration]
3. Then in came Dora, 'It had a long tail, and was very little, and made no noise at all.'
4. 'It may have been a mouse,' said their mother; 'very likely it was.'
'But mice live indoors, do they not, and eat cheese, and run about in the walls, and make holes?'
5. 'How do you know all this?'
'I have heard them at grandmother's,' said Harry. 'Do they ever live out of doors?'
6. 'A good many do. There is a pretty little thing called a harvest-mouse. It makes a nest like a bird's, and hangs it up on a stalk of wheat.'
[Illustration: The Harvest Mouse and Nest.]
7. 'I wish there had been one in our wheat!' said Dora. 'I should like to see the little nest and the baby-mice peeping out. They must be very, very small.'
8. 'Yes, the harvest-mouse is the very smallest four-footed animal we have. Then there is a field-mouse with a long tail, and a field-mouse with a short tail. Mr Short-tail likes to nibble at young trees.'
'Ah, that is not our mouse! He had a long tail.'
9. 'And then there is a wood-mouse.'
'Has he a short tail or long tail?' asked Harry.
'Long. I must tell you about a man who used to go out in the night in wild places to see what birds and beasts were doing when most of us were in bed.
10. 'One of the things he found out was that field-mice could sing!'
'Don't they squeak?'
'Yes; and he often heard them go on for hours making a kind of singing.
11. 'Sometimes they were close by him as he lay on the ground, and he would put out his hand to catch one. But when he opened it again it was full of grass or moss or leaves; and there was no mouse.'
'Did he never catch one?'
'Never.'

THE FIELD-MOUSE.
tum′-bles ber′-ry brown mer′-ry scarce′-ly weath′-er nib′-bling fruits farm′-er stacks treas′-ure pleas′-ure reared′ un-der-neath′ shad′-ow mead′-ow
1. Where the acorn tumbles down, Where the ash-tree sheds its berry, With your fur so soft and brown, With your eyes so soft and merry, Scarcely moving the long grass, Field-mouse, I can see you pass.
2. Little thing, in what dark den, Lie you all the winter sleeping, Till warm weather comes again? Then once more I see you peeping Round about the tall tree roots, Nibbling at their fallen fruits.
3. Field-mouse, field-mouse, do not go, Where the farmer stacks his treasure; Find the nut that falls below, Eat the acorn at your pleasure; But you must not eat the grain, He has reared with so much pain.
4. Make your hole where mosses spring, Underneath the tall oak's shadow, Pretty, quiet, harmless thing, Play about the sunny meadow; Keep away from corn and house, None will harm you, little mouse.
[Illustration]

THE RABBIT.
[Illustration: 'Oh, look at that one going into a hole.']
moth′-er rab′-bits dare′-say friends Sat′-ur-day an′-i-mals morn′-ing beat′-ing knock fight meant dan′-ger
1. Harry and Dora were coming home with their mother from a long walk, when they saw some rabbits playing about on