New National Fourth Reader | Page 5

to, going to, going to," just that,

and nothing else in the world.
Johnny was tired and hungry by this time, and longed to see his
mamma, thinking that, if he could only get back: to her, he would
always mind the very moment she told him to do any thing.
He made a great many good resolutions while he stood there. At last
the giant called him to come and say his lesson.
"You shall have a short one to-day," said he, "and need say it only a
thousand times, because it is your first day here. To-morrow, you must
say it a million."
Johnny tried to step forward, but the web was still about his feet, so he
fell with, a bang to the floor.
Just then he opened his eyes to find that he had rolled from the rock to
the grass, and that mamma was calling him in a loud voice to come to
supper, and this time he didn't say, "I'm going to."
* * * * *
Directions for Reading.--The words in quotation marks should be read
in the same manner as in Lesson I.
Read words in dark type in the following sentences with more force
than the other words:
"Has he _come?_ Did you get him?"
Words that are read more forcibly than other words in a sentence are
called emphatic words.
Which are the emphatic words in the following sentences?
"You shall have a short one to-day."
"I must know exactly."

* * * * *
Language Lesson.--Divide into syllables, accent, and mark the sounds
of the letters in the following words: _extra, primer, moment,
coal-black_.
* * * * *

LESSON III.
remark'able, _worthy of notice; unusual_.
moist'ure, _wetness; that which makes wet_.
absorbed', _sucked up; drunk up_.
with'er, lose freshness.
starched, _stiffened, as starch_.
germ, _that from which the plant grows; bud_.
hand'some, _pleasing in appearance; very pretty_.
clasped, _surrounded; inclosed_.
* * * * *

THE BEAN AND THE STONE.
"I think I ought to be doing something in the world!" said a little voice
out in the garden.
"Pray, what can you do?" asked another and somewhat stronger voice.
"I think I can grow," answered the little voice.
If you had seen the owner of the little voice, perhaps you would not
have thought him any thing remarkable.
It is true he had on a clean white coat, so smooth and shining that it
looked as if it had been newly starched and ironed, and inside of this,
he hugged two stout packages.
The coat had only one fastening; but that fastening extended down the
back, and was a curious thing to see.
It looked just as if the coat had been cut with a knife, and had afterward
grown together again. It was like a scar on your hand; and a scar it is
called.
"Yes, I ought to be growing," said the little voice, "for I am a bean, and
in the spring a bean ought to grow."

Now you know how the coat came by its scar, for the scar was the spot
which showed where the bean had been broken from the pod.
"What do you mean by growing?" said the other voice, which came
from a large red stone.
"Why," said the bean, "don't you know what growing means? I thought
every thing knew how to grow. You see, when I grow, my root goes
down into the soil to get moisture, and my stem goes up into the light to
find heat. Heat and moisture are my food and drink.
"By and by, I shall be a full-grown plant, and that is wonderful! In the
ground, my roots will travel far and wide.
"In the air, how happy my stem will be! I shall learn a great deal, and
see beautiful things every day. O how I long for that time to come!"
"What you say is very strange," said the red stone. "Here I have been in
this same place for many years, and I have not grown at all. I have no
root; I have no stem; or, if I have, they never move upward nor
downward, as you say. Are you sure you are not mistaken?"
"Why, of course I'm not mistaken," cried the bean. "I feel within myself
that I can grow; and I have absorbed so much moisture that I must soon
begin."
Just then the bean's coat split from end to end, and for one or two
minutes neither the stone nor the bean spoke. The stone was astonished,
and the bean was a little frightened. However, he soon recovered his
courage.
"There!" said he, showing the two packages he had been carrying;
"these are my seed-leaves. In them is the food on which I intend