9.  ‘Do you think, Harry,’ she asked, ’that he would save us if we were buried in the snow?’

[Illustration:  St Bernard Dog.]

’No, he is not a dog of that kind, and is not big enough.  The big St Bernard dogs save people when they are lost in the snow.

10.  ‘But all dogs are good for something.  Look at the shepherd’s dog.’

‘What can he do?’

11.  ’Oh, he is a wise fellow!  He knows just where his master means the sheep to go, and, if they go the wrong way, he turns them back, and never hurts one of them.  Why, the shepherd does nothing but walk on, telling the dog now and again what to do.’

[Illustration:  The Sheep Dog.]

12.  Here a dog barked on the road outside, and the dog in the garden pricked up his ears and barked too.

‘They are talking to each other,’ said Dora.

BUTTERCUPS.

chil’-dren flow’-ers dai’-sy chains hun’-gry bas’-ket ought but’-ter piec’-es hair’-y yel’-low threads mid’-dle break leaves seeds

1.  One day the children were out in the fields, running races, picking flowers, and making daisy-chains!

2.  When they began to feel tired and hungry, they got milk and cake out of mother’s basket, and had a long rest on the dry, warm grass.

3.  ‘How these buttercups shine!’ said Dora; ‘they look like gold!’

‘Gold-cups, they ought to be called, not butter-cups,’ said Harry.  ’They look like cups, don’t they?’

4.  ’But they would not hold water like real cups.  Look at this one; it is in five pieces.’

5.  ’Five?  Oh yes!  And look underneath.  There is another sort of cup with five leaves in it.’

‘Only it is not bright and golden, but green and hairy.’

6.  ’Now, you found that out, and I found the five yellow leaves.  It is my turn again.  I can see yellow threads standing up in a ring all round the middle of the cup, and their tops are thick.’

7.  ’It is my turn now!  In the very middle there is a green heap.  It looks as if the yellow threads were taking care of it.’

’Oh, the heap is all made up of little round things!  Look, I can pull it to pieces.’

[Illustration:  Butter-cup.]

8.  ‘So can I,’ said Harry; ’here is one, here is another!  They are not round after all, do you see?  Each is round at the bottom, but has a little bent horn at the top.’

9.  ’They must be seeds.  I will break one open.  Oh no!  Just look, there is a little ball inside.  Have you found a ball in yours?’

‘Yes, there is a ball in every one.  It must be a seed, or a little egg.’

10.  ‘Birds have eggs,’ said Dora, ‘plants have seeds.’

‘Well, it is all the same thing,’ said Harry.

’I think the green thing with a horn is only a case to take care of the seed.’

11.  ’All these things seem to take care of each other.  First, the green leaves at the back take care of the yellow cup.’