Third reader. 191 string.  Then he lifted the dog up, and helped him out, and said to him, “Go home, Caper, go home!” The little dog scampered away, and was soon at home.

LESSON LXXII.  THE PERT CHICKEN.

1.  There was once a pretty chicken;
But his friends were very few,
For he thought that there was nothing
In the world but what he knew: 
So he always, in the farmyard,
Had a very forward way,
Telling all the hens and turkeys
What they ought to do and say. 
“Mrs. Goose,” he said, “I wonder
That your goslings you should let
Go out paddling in the water;
It will kill them to get wet.”

        192 Eclectic series,

2.  “I wish, my old Aunt Dorking,”
He began to her, one day,
“That you would n’t sit all summer
In your nest upon the hay. 
Won’t you come out to the meadow,
Where the grass with seeds is filled?”
“If I should,” said Mrs. Dorking,
“Then my eggs would all get chilled.” 
“No, they wo n’t,” replied the chicken,
“And no matter if they do;
Eggs are really good for nothing;
What’s an egg to me or you?”

3.  “What’s an egg!” said Mrs. Dorking, “Can it be you do not know

        Thirdreader. 193

You yourself were in an eggshell
Just one little month ago? 
And, if kind wings had not warmed you,
You would not be out to-day,
Telling hens, and geese, and turkeys,
What they ought to do and say!

4.  “To be very wise, and show it,
Is a pleasant thing, no doubt;
But, when young folks talk to old folks,
They should know what they’re about.” 
Marian Douglas.

LESSON LXXIII.

Indian corn.

1.  Few plants are more useful to man than Indian corn, or maize.  No grain, except rice, is used to so great an extent as an article of food.  In some countries corn is almost the only food eaten by the people.

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194 Eclectic series. 2.  Do you know why it is called Indian corn?  It is because the American Indians were the first corn growers.  Columbus found this grain widely cultivated by them when he discovered the New World.  They pounded it in rude, stone bowls, and thus made a coarse flour, which they mixed with water and baked. 3.  Indian corn is now the leading crop in the United States.  In whatever part of this land we live, we see corn growing every year in its proper season.  Yet how few can tell the most simple and important facts about its planting and its growth! 4.  Corn, to do well, must have a rich soil and a warm climate.  It is a tender plant, and is easily injured by cold weather.  The seed corn does not sprout, but rots, if the ground is cold and wet. 5.  To prepare land properly for planting corn, the soil is made fine by plowing, and furrows are run across the field four feet apart each way.  At every point where these furrows cross, the farmer drops from four to seven grains of seed corn.  These are then covered with about two inches of earth, and thus form “hills” of corn.