“So, if you will remember what I have been describing, you will find that all the other wonderful things that I have told you of, are well known among ourselves.”

“I have told you the story to show that a foreigner might easily represent every thing among us as equally strange and wonderful, as we could with respect to his country.”

* * * * *

Directions for Reading.—­Point out breathing-places in the last paragraph.

Name the emphatic words in the last paragraph.

Pronounce carefully the following words:  vegetable, foreigner, beasts, products, across, again, also, apron.

* * * * *

Language Lesson.—­Let pupils express the meaning of what is given below in dark type, using a single word for each example.

    Houses built of earth hardened by fire.

    The walls have holes to let in the light.

    They were covered with a sort of transparent stone.

    They drink water in which dry leaves have been steeped.

    Many wore cloth woven from a sort of wool grown in pods.

* * * * *

LESSON XXIV.

lin’net, a kind of bird.

com pare’, be equal; have similar appearance.

wor’ried, troubled; anxious.

hum’ble, meek; lowly.

mis’chiev ous, full of mischief; troublesome.

grub, dig up by the roots.

* * * * *

THE ILL-NATURED BRIER

Little Miss Brier came out of the ground,
She put out her thorns, and scratched ev’ry thing ’round. 
“I’ll just try,” said she,
“How bad I can be;
At pricking and scratching, there are few can match me.”

Little Miss Brier was handsome and bright,
Her leaves were dark green, and her flowers pure white;
But all who came nigh her
Were so worried by her,
They’d go out of their way to keep clear of the Brier.

Little Miss Brier was looking one day
At her neighbor, the Violet, over the way;
“I wonder,” said she,
“That no one pets me,
While all seem so glad little Violet to see.”

A sober old Linnet, who sat on a tree,
Heard the speech of the Brier, and thus answered he: 
“’Tis not that she’s fair,
For you may compare
In beauty with even Miss Violet there;

“But Violet is always so pleasant and kind,
So gentle in manner, so humble in mind,
E’en the worms at her feet
She would never ill-treat,
And to Bird, Bee, and Butterfly always is sweet.”

Then the gardener’s wife the pathway came down,
And the mischievous Brier caught hold of her gown;
“O dear, what a tear! 
My gown’s spoiled, I declare! 
That troublesome Brier!—­it has no business there;
Here, John, grub it up; throw it into the fire.” 
And that was the end of the ill-natured Brier.