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Directions for Reading.—­In what manner should this lesson be read at the beginning—­quietly, or with much spirit?

On page 77, beginning with the second stanza, is what Saint Peter says quiet and slow, or emphatic and somewhat rapid?[06]

Point out three places where two lines are to be joined and read as one.

What two lines in each stanza end with similar sounds?

[06] See stanza number 12 of the poem.

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LESSON XVII.

ex pres’sion, a look showing feeling.

a maze’ment, great surprise; astonishment.

mag’netisnm, an unknown power of drawing or pulling.

con tin’ued, went on; stayed.

test’ing, trying.

con ven’ience, ease; the saving of trouble.

ex per’i ments, the trials made to find out facts.

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A FUNNY HORSESHOE.

“What a funny horseshoe!” said Charlie, “It has no holes for the nails!”

I looked up and saw that he had taken up a small “horseshoe magnet.”

“Why that isn’t a horseshoe,” I said.  “It’s a magnet.”

“Magnet!  What’s that?”

Charlie turned it over in his hands, and pulled the bar a little.  The bar slipped so that it hung only by a corner.

“Never mind,” I said, as he looked up with a scared expression.  “It isn’t broken.  Put the bar back.”

Charlie put it back, and it sprung into place with a sharp click.

“That’s funny!” he cried again.  “What made it jump so?  And what makes it stick?  It doesn’t feel sticky.”

“We call it magnetism,” I said.  “Now, take hold of the bar, and see if you can pull it straight off.”

“I can’t.  It sticks fast.”

“Pull harder.”

Charlie braced himself for a strong pull.  Suddenly the bar came off, and he went tumbling backward.

“What did you say makes it hold so hard?” said he, getting up.

“Magnetism,” said I again.

“But what is magnetism?”

“I couldn’t tell you if I tried; but I think you could learn a great deal about it with that magnet.  You will find a lot of things in that box that may help you.”

Saying this, I left him to pursue his studies as best he could.  When I came back, I found him more puzzled than when I left him.

“That’s the queerest thing I ever saw,” he said.  “Some things just jump at it as though they were alive; some things it pulls; and some things it doesn’t pull a bit.”

“That’s a very long lesson you have learned,” I said.  “What does it pull?”

“These,” he said, pointing to a pile of things on one side of the box.  “And these things it doesn’t pull.”