Chambers's Elementary Science Readers Part 10

3. They were not nuts, nor marbles, and not quite like stones. They were all about the same size, but one was very heavy. Harry and Dora held it in their hands to feel how heavy it was.

4. 'That is a bit of lead,' said their father. 'Which do you think is the next in weight?'

'This red one. It is a good deal lighter, though!'

'That is called copper. Now, what comes next?'

5. They were not sure, but thought that iron came next, and then tin, and then zinc. Their father told them these names as they went on. He told them also that all these things were metals, and had been dug out of the earth.

6. 'Suppose we make a box to keep them in?'

'Oh yes!' cried both.

'And if we find any more things like these, we will put them in.

7. 'Would you put in a b.u.t.tercup?'

'No, no!'

'Or a grain of wheat?'

'No, it is not at all like these.'

'Or a bit of slate?'

'I think so,' said Harry.

Dora was not quite sure.

8. 'Yes, we will put the slate into the box. It is not a metal, but it came out of the ground. Now, what do you say to this?' And he pulled out a lump that looked like earth and stone.

9. What could this be? It was iron, just as it had come out of the ground, with clay and earth about it.

10. 'Once upon a time,' said father, 'the kettle, and the poker, and the fender, all looked like this!'

THE FAIRY RING.

danc'-ing fair'-y queen sea'-sons year cir'-cle sphere sum'-mer glide au'-tumn tress'-es cheeks

1. Let us dance and let us sing, Dancing in a merry ring; We'll be fairies on the green, Sporting round the fairy queen.

2. Like the seasons of the year Round we circle in a sphere; I'll be Summer, you'll be Spring, Dancing in a fairy ring.

3. Spring and Summer glide away, Autumn comes with tresses gay; Winter, hand-in-hand with Spring, Dancing in a fairy ring.

4. Faster, faster round we go, While our cheeks with roses glow, Free as birds upon the wing, Dancing in a fairy ring.

NEEDLES.

PART 1.

treat hol'-i-days aunt nee'-dles coils steel wire wrapped stretched straight ma-chine'

un'-cle mid'-dle chop'-ping dropped e-nough'

1. Harry and Dora once had a great treat.

They went in the holidays to stay with an uncle and aunt who lived at a town where needles were made. We may call it Needle-town.

2. While they were there, they were taken to the mills to see the needles made.

3. The first room into which they went was very warm. It was called the wire-room. A workman who was there told them that it was filled with hot air night and day, so that no damp should come in and spoil the steel.

4. All round the room coils of steel-wire were hanging. They were wrapped up in paper, but the man took some of them down and let them look in. They saw that one coil was of very thick wire, while another was of wire as fine as a hair.

5. 'One of these coils would be more than a mile long if it were stretched out straight,' the man told Harry. 'Would you like to take hold of this one?'

But Harry found it too heavy, and it was hung up again on the wall.

6. Then they went into another room, where a machine was cutting a coil of wire into bits.

'They are much too long for needles,' said Dora, softly, to her uncle; but one of the workmen heard her, and said:

7. 'So they are! Each bit is going to be two needles. The two ends are to be the points, and the heads lie in the middle of the wire.'

8. But no heads were to be seen yet. And the wire was not even straight, for it had long been rolled up in a coil. As the machine went on chopping, and the wire-strips dropped, a man picked them up and put them on a shelf in a sort of oven.

9. There they were kept till they were red-hot, and then they were soft enough to be made straight.

NEEDLES.

PART 2.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Now you see the points of the needles.']

points heads eyes un'-cle block heav'-y ham'-mer al-lowed'

laugh'-ing watched piece sharp