James Whitcomb Riley.

From “Rhymes of Childhood.”  Used by special permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Co.  Copyright, 1900.

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[Illustration:  BY THE BROOK]

RIPPLES, little curling waves FILM, a thin skin or slight covering.

CURRENT, the swiftest part of a stream; also applied to air, electricity, etc.

What do the following expressions mean:  tilting rim, lilting melody, softest sleep, gurgle and refrain, a happiness as keen to him as pain?

What is a lullaby?  Recite a stanza of one.

Insert may or can properly where you see a dash in the following:  The boy said, “—­I leave the room?” “Mother, I—­climb the ladder;—­I?”—­a dog climb a tree?—­I ask a favor?

Copy the following words—­they are often misspelled:  loving, using, till, until, queer, fulfil, speech, muscle, quite, scheme, success, barely, college, villain, salary, visitor, remedy, hurried, forty-four, enemies, twelfth, marriage, immense, exhaust.

By means of the suffixes, er, est, ness, form three new words from each of the following words:  happy, sleepy, lively, greedy, steady, lovely, gloomy.

Example:  From happy,—­happier, happiest, happiness.  Note the change of y to i.

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15

rag’ged crin’kly rub’bish fil’tered protect’ed disor’derly disturbed’ imme’diately

THE STORY OF THE SEED-DOWN.

I.

High above the earth, over land and sea, floated the seed-down, borne on the autumn wind’s strong arms.

“Here shall you lie, little seed-down,” said he at last, and put it down on the ground, and laid a fallen leaf over it.  Then he flew away immediately, because he had much to look after.

That was in the dark evening, and the seed could not see where it was placed, and besides, the leaf covered it.

Something heavy came now, and pressed so hard that the seed came near being destroyed; but the leaf, weak though it was, protected it.

It was a human foot which walked along over the ground, and pressed the downy seed into the earth.  When the foot was withdrawn, the earth fell, and filled the little pit it had made.

The cold came, and the snow fell several feet deep; but the seed lay quietly down there, waiting for warmth and light.  When the spring came, and the snow melted away, the plant shot up out of the earth.

There was a little gray cottage beside which it grew up.  The tiny plant could not see very far around, because rubbish and brush-heaps lay near it, and the little window was so gray and dusty that it could not peep into the cottage either.

“Who lives here?” asked the little thing.