Nellie Lathrop Helm

“ Donald ran along to the mouth of the creek, which he reached as the Davis boys began to scramble down the steep bank to the edge of the river.
"Hello there!" called Donald. "What are you fellows doing?"
"Sticking in the mud," replied Joe Davis, holding up first one foot and then the other, heavy with the stiff clay that hung to it.
"Why don't they go around by the path?" said Susie, coming up with Frank and Uncle Robert.
"They'll always take the short cut if there is one," laughed Frank. ”

“ Leonard.
"Oh, yes," said Donald, "let's go up the creek to the pond."
The country was in the full glory of early summer. Just beyond the rich green of the great cornfield could be seen the peaceful river. The yellowing grain on the upland waved gently in the breeze. Under the wide-spreading oak trees in the pasture the cows were lazily chewing their cuds. A feeling of quiet pleasure filled the air.
"I planted all these trees," said Mr. Leonard as they walked under the maples that grew on either side of the road. "It is wonderful how they have grown. ”

“ Now you know if you throw a ball straight down at your feet it bounds back into your hands. If you throw it from you, when it strikes the ground it bounds farther away. It is just so with these little arrows of light that we call rays. If the sun is high, as it is at noon, the rays are thrown back to it again. That is why we never have rainbows at noon. But when the sun is low, as it is now, instead of going back to the place they came from, they bound up against that cloud, and so make the wonderful rainbow. ”

“ Aren't the clouds lovely sometimes, uncle? I love to watch them when they look like great piles of snow."
"Yes," replied Uncle Robert, "when I was a boy I used to lie for hours under an old apple tree and watch the clouds. I fancied they had very wonderful forms, sometimes giants and dragons and all kinds of animals."
[Illustration: The clouds.]
"You can see things in them," said Donald. "I often do."
"What are clouds made of, uncle?" asked Susie. "I wish I could get close to one and see what it is like."
"When people go up in balloons," said Donald, "they go through clouds sometimes." ”

“ It is a shame to shoot them!" said Susie.
"It is a shame to kill any bird unless you need it for food. Every time a bird is killed the farmer loses one of his best helpers. The birds work for the farmer from morning to night."
"Oh, now you are making fun, Uncle Robert," said Susie. "The birds don't work at all. They just fly around and have a good time."
"The crows don't work for the farmer when they pull up his corn," said
Frank.
"Nor the hawks when they steal his chickens," added Mr. Leonard.
"The cherry birds steal the cherries, and the sparrows eat the strawberries," said Susie. ”

“ The water in the ground dissolves the rock or the loose earth into little particles so fine that the tiny roots, or root hairs, drink them up, and so the rock furnishes a part of the nourishment, or food, of plants.
"Without the water that the clouds bring no plant could grow. It gives life and growth to everything that lives, and then sinks deep into the earth. It comes out of the ground again in springs, and flows away in rivulets, brooks, creeks, and rivers—away, and away, back to the ocean again. ”

“ They get shorter all the time." "How would you like to measure the shadows every day," said Uncle Robert, "and see if you can find out when they are shortest and when they are longest?"
"How can we?" asked Susie. "Shadows are so queer."
"Yes," said Uncle Robert, "shadows are queer, but, if we take one that doesn't jump as yours does, don't you think we can measure it?"
"Of course we can," said Frank. "We can use the house. That always stands still."
"The house might do," said Uncle Robert; "but wouldn't it be better to have a shadow stick?"
"Where can we get one?" asked Donald. ”

“ The big turkey cock spread his tail and strutted about before them as if he understood how much he was admired.
"Mother thinks a great deal of her turkeys," said Donald. "They are much harder to raise than the chickens. But mother knows just how to do it. We don't lose many."
"Have you ducks and geese, too?" asked Uncle Robert.
"Yes," said Donald, "but I don't see any of them about. They must have gone to the creek. There they are," and Donald pointed toward the pasture where a line of white could be seen moving slowly along under the trees. ”

“ Some men give their whole lives to the study of these questions, but you know they can not see beneath the crust of the earth. It is thought by some that the weight of the crust would keep the center of the earth a solid mass. So you see there are still many questions unsettled. We know that the crust is moving up and down all the time."
"Oh, I hope the land won't rise here!" said Susie.
"You wouldn't know it, Susie, if it did," said Uncle Robert, laughing.
"Unless there was an earthquake," said Frank.
"Or a volcano," said Donald. "I'd like to see one." ”

“ We are going to have nasturtiums, too. They are to grow by the porch and the fence."
"That will be fine, dear," said Mrs. Leonard. "What a beautiful garden we shall have!"
"I can hardly wait," cried Susie, dancing along the walk. "Come, uncle, let's plant what seeds we have now."
"Do we need to do anything to the ground," asked Uncle Robert, "before the seeds are put in?"
"Only rake over the top a little," said Susie, taking up her rake and going to work. "It has been spaded. See how light and fine it is underneath! Ugh! I wish the old worms would keep out!" ”

“ Just then Jane took a pan of apples out of the oven. Each one looked like a small volcano.
"What happens to the apples when they bake?" asked Uncle Robert.
"They just swell up so big their jackets won't hold them," said Donald, laughing.
"It is heat that makes the bread rise, isn't it?" asked Frank.
"Of course," said Susie. "Don't you know sometimes if the bread doesn't rise, mother says it is because it is too cold?" ”

“ The sun seems to rise and set just as the moon does, but it is the world itself that makes the sun and moon seem to rise and set," said Uncle Robert.
"What is our earth made of?" asked Donald.
"Just what you see before you," answered Uncle Robert. "Under our feet we have the ground, the soil, gravel, sand, and loam, which is made of—"
"Ground-up rock," said Frank.
"And underneath the soil there is—"
"The solid rock," said Frank.
"And underneath that?" asked Mr. Leonard.
"We do not know, but it is quite certain the solid earth is made of ground-up rock and rock that may be ground. ”

“ Lift the pail, Donald."
"It is heavy," said Donald, setting it down. "I don't see why Frank didn't feel a little of the weight of it when his hand was under all the water."
"It is this way," explained Uncle Robert. "The water pressed on his hand from below as much as from above, and the same on both sides. When you lifted it you felt its weight pressing downward only. Now it is just so with the air. It presses with such equal pressure that we do not realize its weight. It is only when it presses harder from one direction than from another that we feel it." ”

“ When they reached the upper end of the island they sat down on some large boulders that formed part of the tiny beach. Just above them was the flood of water pouring over the dam. The bright sunshine made the foam look white and glistening, lighted here and there with colors of the rainbow. ”

“ The clouds of the cumulus form, the rolling of thunder, the lightning flashes, the rushing wind, and the pouring rain are full of important lessons. Fear vanishes as knowledge comes. In the thundershower is the question of the distribution of moisture over the earth's surface, the question of the nature and use of clouds, the movement of the air and wind, the condensation of vapor, and the marvelous powers of electricity. ”

“ There are so many and they are all so wonderful. Ever since man was created he has read stories in the earth, water, and sky, and in all living things. Everything he has found in Nature helps him to live and grow wiser and better. ”

“ I think it is a lovely morning."
"What makes it warm?" asked Uncle Robert.
"Why, the sun," replied Donald, looking rather surprised at such a question.
"But does the sun make it warm in the winter?" asked Uncle Robert.
"The sun is nearer the earth in spring and summer," said Frank confidently.
"You are mistaken," said Uncle Robert. "The sun is farther from us in summer than it is in winter."
"But it's almost over our heads in summer," said Frank. "How can it be farther away?" ”

“ We will go there some day. It is good fishing. How much better our corn looks than the corn on that hill over there! I tell you, it takes bottom land like ours to raise good corn."
"What makes the corn such a beautiful green?" asked Susie.
"That is quite a question," said Uncle Robert. "We will try and find out some day. But I want to know what makes the bottom land richer than the land up on the prairie?"
"Well," said Frank slowly, "I suppose that the dirt brought down by the river and spread out over it makes it richer." ”

“ Uncle Robert's aim in education is to fill each day with acts which make home better, the community better, mankind better; to take from God's bounteous and boundless store of truth and convert it into human life by using it. His method is simple and direct, founded upon the firm rock, Common Sense. ”

“ The rocky outside of the ball is called the crust of the earth. Miners have dug down nearly four thousand feet, and makers of artesian wells have bored still farther. They always find rock."
"I wonder how far four thousand feet would be," said Donald.
"A little over three quarters of a mile," said Mr. Leonard.
"The farther they go down into the crust of the earth, the warmer they find it. I have been down in a mine thirty-two hundred feet, and it was very hot. No one could have lived there if cool air had not been brought down from the surface. ”

“ A machine for cutting hay stood on the barn floor.
Under the barn was a deep, roomy cellar, in one corner of which was the sheep pen, lighted by large windows.
Near the barn was a tool house, in which all the tools and machinery were housed during the winter.
"It pays to have a nice warm barn and a good place to keep the tools from rusting," said Uncle Robert. "Do you always keep the horses in the barn when they are not in use?"
"Oh, no," said Donald. "Sometimes they run in the pasture along the creek. The cows and sheep are there now. ”

“ Fish live in the ocean, and we live in an ocean, too—a very deep one, how deep no one really knows. It may be a hundred, or hundreds of miles deep. We see a part of the surface of the earth and of the water, but no one has ever seen the surface of the mighty ocean in which we live. ”

“ Leonard, "but we never had a more delightful afternoon. Thank you, dear," as Frank brought an easy-chair from the house to the porch for her. "Now I shall be rested in a few minutes."
"Let me put your flowers in water with mine, mother," said Susie.
"Tell Jane to bring our supper out here," said Mrs. Leonard. "It is too pleasant to go in the house."
"And tell her to be quick about it," said Donald. "I'm starving!"
"As hungry as a sparrow," said Uncle Robert, smiling. ”

“ Leonard.
"Oh, yes," said Susie, "because the sun shines in at that window."
"Warmth and water and air help trees and plants to grow," said Uncle Robert, "but without sunlight their leaves would be yellow and their stems and branches weak. The greatest forests on earth are where it is very hot and moist. The sun is a wonderful artist, and every leaf it paints makes the tree stronger." ”

“ There he is," in a loud whisper.
"Good morning, Jennie," said Uncle Robert, putting his letters in his pocket. "You haven't been out to see Susie since I have been here."
"It's Jennie's mother who had the nasturtiums last year," said Susie.
"Have you any now Jennie?"
"Yes, but they don't grow well this year," answered Jennie.
"Perhaps you need new seeds," said Uncle Robert. "They are apt to do better if they are raised on different soil."
"I have some nasturtiums this year, Jennie," said Susie. "They are just beginning to blossom. I'll save you some seed if you want me to." ”

“ A rainy day was before them.
"The very thing we need," said Mr. Leonard. "The corn is just ready for it, and the pastures are beginning to look pretty dry."
"Let's go fishing, Don," said Frank. "I'll go and dig some worms while you get the lines ready."
"Say we do," said Donald, starting off at once.
"Do you want some company, boys?" asked Uncle Robert, smiling.
"You bet-ter believe!" said Donald, catching himself just in time.
"Hurrah for the rainy day!" cried Frank as he pulled on his rubber boots and coat and went out to dig the worms.
"Shall we take the boat?" asked Uncle Robert. ”

“ Susie, did those violets on my table grow in your garden?"
[Illustration: Violets.]
"Oh, no," replied Susie. "I found them in the woods by the creek. And the buttercups, didn't you see them in the glass, too?"
"Buttercups so early ?" asked Uncle Robert. "Oh, yes, the low ones do come early. You must take me down where they grow some day."
"We'll go to-morrow," said Susie.
Uncle Robert smiled at the eager little face, and, turning to Mr.
Leonard, said:
"Frank tells me the farm is looking well this spring." ”

“ Every day, in all our work on the farm and in the house—indeed, wherever we may be—we should learn new and beautiful revelations from our Heavenly Father; how much He is constantly giving us, and how thankful we should be. ”

“ Then my dream became real—not children, but the gray coats, five or six of them, close to me, were running up the trees, jumping from limb to limb, scampering over the ground, chasing each other, laughing as squirrels laugh, and screaming as squirrels scream. ”

“ Donald soon joined them with the pan of salt.
"Mother says she can't work in the garden until afternoon," he said, "so we needn't hurry back."
As they entered the pasture the sheep were quietly grazing on the slope of the hill, where the grass was nibbled very short. A few lambs were frisking together at the foot of the hill.
"See the lambs playing, uncle," said Susie. "The two little ones with long tails and black noses are mine. Aren't they cunning? They'll see me in a minute. Then how they will run!" ”

“ These books of Colonel Parker, if read by the school children, and especially by the elder youth who have left school, will suggest a great variety of ways in which real mental growth and increase of practical power may be obtained. The ideal of education in the United States is that the child in school shall be furnished with a knowledge of the printed page and rendered able to get out of books the experience of his fellow-men, and at the same time be taught how to verify and extend his book knowledge by investigations on his environment. ”