Nature Readers

Part 1

Nature Readers.

SEA-SIDE AND WAY-SIDE.

No. 3.

JULIA McNAIR WRIGHT.

“And if ever the way grew long, And his strength began to fail, She sang a more beautiful song, And she told a more wonderful tale.”

LONGFELLOW’S “Birthday Poem to Agassiz.”

Illustrated by C. S. King.

BOSTON, U.S.A., D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS. 1894.

COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY JULIA MCNAIR WRIGHT.

Norwood Press: J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith. Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE.

In presenting a third volume of the Nature Readers to the children of our land, and to their parents and teachers, I feel it both a duty and a delight to thank those who have so cordially and sympathetically welcomed a new departure in School-Book Literature.

I have not sought to model these Readers upon any pattern previously set, but to make them the outcome of what I have learned, by observation, of the receptive and retentive powers of children.

I desired to impart useful and needful knowledge, in a fashion which should not be burdensome, and which should strongly impress young minds.

I have had no hobby of book-making, nor of style to follow. My one idea has been to benefit the child, and to that end I have directed my whole effort.

I sing an old song when I say, that we are a nervous race, and our children are more intensely nervous than their parents. The antidote for this nervousness, and its consequent train of disasters, is to be found in the open air, in healthful out-of-door exercise, in the serene calm of nature, in the peaceful joys which the investigation of nature affords us.

If we can open wide the gates of “the fairy-land of science,”--if we can bring the child near to the heart of nature,--if we can absorb his hours of leisure, and many of his hours of brain-work, in the study of nature out of doors, we shall have done much toward making him robust in body, sound in mind, cheerful of disposition, and useful in the future.

THE AUTHOR

TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS.

Once more we are going out together by the Sea-side and the Way-side. We shall now learn more of our Great Mother, the Earth, and of her many children.

Once I read a tale of a queen, who gave all that she had to her youngest son, and ordered all his brothers and sisters to be his servants. I did not think that that was fair.

But something very like this has happened to us in this world. We human beings are the last and youngest of living things, and yet all the rest serve us, and are for our use. In this book I shall tell you the secret of this. I shall tell you of the flowers and trees; they are the earth’s eldest children. I shall tell you how they have taken insects and birds for their partners, and have gone into business, to feed the world.

We shall look at those pretty partners in their work and play.

The birds have some lovely stories to tell us in their songs.

And then, we shall put on some new spectacles, and look into the brooks, and ponds, and into the rivers and seas, and see the Fin Family, which feel so safe, hiding deep down in the waters.

And when you have learned a little of the wonderful way in which all the parts of the world fit together, and work together, I want you to think how wise and good is the great God who made all.

J. M. N. W.

CONTENTS.

Part 2

LESSON PAGE

I. THE GREAT MOTHER 1

II. THE EARTH’S ELDEST CHILD 5

III. A LOOK AT A PLANT 10

IV. A YEAR IN A PLANT’S LIFE 17

V. THE GROWTH OF PLANTS 23

VI. THE FOOD OF PLANTS 30

VII. SEEDS AND LEAVES 35

VIII. THE COLOR OF PLANTS 43

IX. THE MOTION OF PLANTS 49

X. PLANTS AND THEIR PARTNERS 56

XI. AIR, WATER, AND SAND PLANTS 66

XII. PLANTS THAT EAT ANIMALS 72

XIII. WEATHER PROPHET PLANTS 79

XIV. PLANT CLOCKS 84

XV. THE SCHOOL CABINET 90

XVI. THE OLD MAN OF THE MEADOW 99

XVII. THE LIFE OF THE OLD MAN OF THE MEADOW 105

XVIII. THE ROBBER COUSIN 110

XIX. THE MERRY COUSINS 117

XX. A QUEER CRICKET 123

XXI. OTHER HOPPERS 127

XXII. A REAL LIVE FAIRY 132

XXIII. THE CHILD OF THE DAY 138

XXIV. LIFE AMONG SNOW AND ROSES 143

XXV. JOSEPH’S COAT 149

XXVI. COUSIN MOTH 154

XXVII. THE CHILD OF THE NIGHT 160

Part 3

XXVIII. THE BIRD 166

XXIX. BEAKS AND CLAWS 172

XXX. TREE, GROUND, AND WATER BIRDS 178

XXXI. ON THE WING 186

XXXII. NEST BUILDING 193

XXXIII. THE BIRD AT HOME 200

XXXIV. BIRDS OF SONG 207

XXXV. THE OTHER PARTNER 211

XXXVI. A BRIGADE OF BIRDS 217

XXXVII. THE BIRDS IN THE WOODS 223

XXXVIII. THE BIRDS IN THE HOUSE 230

XXXIX. THE LOST BIRDS 235

XL. THE FIN FAMILY 239

XLI. OUTSIDE AND INSIDE 245

XLII. WHERE THEY LIVE 252

XLIII. HOW THEY BEHAVE 257

XLIV. FRY AND SCHOOL 262

XLV. SCALES AND TEETH 267

XLVI. BIG AND LITTLE BROTHERS 274

SEA-SIDE AND WAY-SIDE.

LESSON I.

THE GREAT MOTHER.

“What are you doing?” I asked a boy to-day.

“Only digging in the dirt,” he said.

“And what is that in your little cart?”

“Nothing but dirt.”

“And what is this that you call dirt?”

He did not reply. An older boy, who had read more, said: “Dirt is the top crust of the ball, called the earth, on which we live.”

Part 4

“Very good. Now my lad, what is dirt worth?”

The boy who was digging said: “Ho! Dirt is worth nothing.”

“Suppose that I could take away from you all that you get from the earth. What would you have left?”

“Many things,” said the little boy.

“Well,” said the older boy, “we should have no fruit, nor vegetables, for these come from the ground. We should have no bread. Wheat grows from the ground. No sugar, for sugar is made of beets and sugar-cane.”

“And,” I said, “you would have no milk, butter, or cheese. For the cows must eat grass and other plants, from which to make milk.”

“That is so,” said the big boy. “And, since it is so, you may say we should have no meat. The animals must eat plants, of some kind, or they could not live and grow.”

The boy who was digging now looked at the dirt with more respect.

“So you would lose all your food. For food is animal or vegetable, and so comes from the dirt. Let us see about your clothes. You would lose all cotton and linen clothes. For cotton and flax grow out of the ground. You would lose all silk, woollen, and leather, clothes. The silk-worms, sheep, and other animals feed on plants that grow in the dirt. You must lose your straw hats also. Straw is the stem of a plant.”

“I should have my house,” said the boy who was digging.

“Let us see about that. Your house is made of stone, brick, or wood, plaster, paint. All these things come from the earth. Bricks are clay, burned. Wood grew in the ground as trees. Plaster is lime, sand, and so on; these come from the earth. The paint is made of oil and ground minerals. We get these minerals from the earth. If I could take from you all you have from the earth, you would have no house, nor food, nor clothes. You must go and sit out-of-doors, in a very sad state.”

“At least,” said the boy, “I should have my little iron shovel, and my little iron cart.”

“No, you would not,” said the big boy. “Iron is dug out of the earth. You would have no stove, no knives, no such things as pots, and pans, to cook in! Ha! ha! ha!”

“I have a box full of pennies,” said the small boy, “and dimes, and gold dollars; I would buy more things.”

“All your money will be gone with the rest of your losses. The pennies, dimes, dollars, are made of metals. Metals come from rocks that are found in the earth,” I said. “Also, all the dishes in your house are made of clay and metal. You would have to lose them. All your furniture is of wood, metal, and leather, you would have to lose that. But you would soon starve without food. So it makes little matter what else you lose.”

“I should sit on the sea-shore, and catch fish to eat!” cried the small boy.

“You must then catch them without hook, net, or line. But let us begin on the fish, and take away all that feed on sea plants. Next let us take away all that feed on fish that have fed on plant-life. Soon you will be in a sad way for fish to catch.”

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