Reading Made Easy for Foreigners Third Reader by John L. Huelshof

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The first business of a state is the education of its citizens.

Every child has a right to the best education.

The highest motive of school government is to give the child the power
and necessary reason to control himself.

We have no right to teach anything that does not go through the
intellect and reach the heart.

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.

LESSON XLIX

WHEAT

Wheat was unknown in America till it was brought over by Europeans, but
it is now grown to an immense extent in the temperate regions of both
North and South America. Our country is the greatest wheat granary in
the world. The production of this grain in the United States is over
five hundred millions of bushels a year.

The great "wheat belt" of the United States is in the Northwest,--in
Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the neighboring states.
California also is a splendid country for this cereal, and California's
wheat crop is every year worth more than were ever her stores of gold.

People who live in cities and towns get their bread for the most part
at the baker's; so that in many families the good old art of
bread-making is almost forgotten. Then it must be said that it is the
exception rather than the rule when one finds really good home-made
bread. This is a great pity.

Now, let me add one hint for the benefit of the girls. In the English
language there is no nobler word than _Lady_. But go back to its
origin, and what do we find that it means? We find that it means _She
that looks after the loaf_.

WISE SAYINGS

Shallow men believe in luck; strong men in pluck.

If there is honor among thieves, they stole it.

Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time and
place.

You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make
it.

You will always find those men the most forward to do good, or to
improve the times, who are always busy.

Trifles make perfection, yet perfection is no trifle.

LESSON L

COUNTENANCE AND CHARACTER

We know men by their looks; we read men by looking at their faces--not
at their features, their eyes, their lips, because God made these; but
a certain cast of motion, and shape and expression, which their
features have acquired. It is this that we call the countenance.

And what makes this countenance? The inward and mental habits; the
constant pressure of the mind; the perpetual repetition of its acts.
You detect at once a conceited, or foolish person. It is stamped on
his countenance. You can see on the faces of the cunning or
dissembling, certain corresponding lines, traced on the face as legibly
as if they were written there.

As it is with the countenance, so it is with the character. Character
is the sum total of all our actions. It is the result of the habitual
use we have been making of our intellect, heart and will. We are
always at work, like the weaver at the loom. So we are always forming
a character for ourselves. It is a plain truth, that everybody grows
up in a certain character; some good, some bad, some excellent, and
some unendurable. Every character is formed by habits. If a man is
habitually proud, or vain, or false, he forms for himself a character
like in kind.

The character shows itself outwardly, but it is wrought within. Every
habit is a chain of acts, and every one of those acts was a free link
of the will. For instance, some people are habitually false. We
sometimes meet with men whose word we can never take, and for this
reason they have lost the perception of truth and falsehood. They do
not know when they are speaking the truth and when they are speaking
falsely. They bring this state upon themselves. But there was a time
when these same men had never told a lie.

A good character is to be more highly prized than riches.

SELECTION XVI

THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET

1. How dear to the heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew;
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill which stood by it,
The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell;
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well:
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket.
The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.

2. That moss-covered vessel I hail as a treasure;
For often, at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well:
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.

3. How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,
As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,
Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips.
And now, far removed from the loved situation,
The tear of regret will intrusively swell,
As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,
And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well;
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket, which hangs in the well.

_Samuel Woodworth_.

LESSON LI

THE VALUE OF TIME

The value of time has passed into a proverb,--"Time is money." It is
so because its employment brings money. But it is more. It is
knowledge. Still more, it is virtue.

Time is more than money. It brings what money cannot purchase. It has
in its lap all the learning of the past, the spoils of antiquity, the
priceless treasures of knowledge. Who would barter these for gold or
silver? But knowledge is a means only, and not an end. It is valuable
because it promotes the welfare, the development and the progress of
man. And the highest value of time is not in knowledge, but in the
opportunity of doing good.

Time is opportunity. Little or much, it may be the occasion of
usefulness. It is the point desired by the philosopher where to plant
the lever that shall move the world. It is the napkin in which are
wrapped, not only the talent of silver, but the treasures of knowledge
and the fruits of virtue. Saving time, we save all these.

Employing time to the best advantage, we exercise a true thrift. To
each of us the passing day is of the same dimensions, nor can any one,
by taking thought, add a moment to its hours. But, though unable to
extend their duration, he may swell them with works.

It is customary to say, "Take care of the small sums, and the large
will take care of themselves." With equal wisdom may it be said,
"Watch the minutes, and the hours and days will be safe." The moments
are precious; they are gold filings, to be carefully preserved and
melted into the rich ingot.

Time is the measure of life on earth. Its enjoyment is life itself.
Its divisions, its days, its hours, its minutes, are fractions of this
heavenly gift. Every moment that flies over our heads takes from the
future, shortening by so much the measure of our days.

The moments lost in listlessness, or squandered in dissipation, are
perhaps hours, days, weeks, months, years. The daily sacrifice of a
single hour during a year comes at its end to thirty-six working days,
an amount of time ample for the acquisition of important knowledge, and
for the accomplishment of great good. Who of us does not each day, in
many ways, sacrifice these precious moments, these golden hours?

Seek, then, always to be usefully occupied. Employ all the faculties,
whether in study or in manual labor, and your days shall be filled with
usefulness.

LESSON LII

THE STUDY OF CIVICS

Few people have the time to undertake a thorough study of civics, but
everyone ought to find time to learn the principal features of the
government under which he lives. We should know also of the way in
which our government came into existence, and how this government is
administered to-day. Such knowledge is necessary for the proper
discharge of the duties of citizenship.

All kinds of political questions are discussed daily in the newspapers
and voted on at times at the polls, and it is the duty of every man to
try to understand them. For if these questions are not intelligently
settled, they will be settled by the ignorant, and the result will be
very bad.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. People sometimes think
that, because our national government is called a republic, and we have
free schools and free libraries and other such free institutions, our
liberty is forever secure. Our government is indeed a wonderful
structure of political skill, and generally runs so very smoothly that
we almost think it will run of itself. Beware!

In order that the government of the nation, of the state, of the city
or the town shall be properly administered, it is necessary that every
citizen be watchful to secure the best officers for its government.

USEFUL INFORMATION

The great obelisk in Central Park, New York, is one of the most noted
monoliths in the world. It was quarried, carved and erected about the
time of Abraham, to commemorate the deeds of an ancient Pharaoh. Five
hundred years later the conquering Sesostris, the bad Pharaoh of the
Bible, carved on its surface the record of his famous reign.

Now Sesostris, or Rameses II, reigned one thousand years before the
Trojan war, so that all the symbols now seen on the obelisk were
already very old in the days of Priam, Hector and Ulysses. The Roman
poet Horace says that there were many brave men before Agamemnon, but
there was no Homer to put their valiant deeds in verse. Sesostris was
an exception. He escaped oblivion without the aid of Homer, and the
figures upon the hard granite of Cleopatra's Needle tell us even now,
after more than thirty-five centuries, of the reign of that remarkable
king.

LESSON LIII

THE SEA AND ITS USES

It is a common thing in speaking of the sea to call it "a waste of
waters." But this is a mistake. Instead of being a waste and a
desert, it keeps the earth itself from becoming a waste and a desert.
It is the world's fountain of life and health and beauty, and if it
were taken away, the grass would perish from the mountains, the forests
would crumble on the hills. Water is as indispensable to all life,
vegetable or animal, as the air itself. This element of water is
supplied entirely by the sea. The sea is the great inexhaustible
fountain which is continually pouring up into the sky precisely as many
streams, and as large, as all the rivers of the world are pouring into
the sea.

The sea is the real birthplace of the clouds and the rivers, and out of
it come all the rains and dews of heaven. Instead of being a waste and
an incumbrance, therefore, it is a vast fountain of fruitfulness, and
the nurse and mother of all the living. Out of its mighty breast come
the resources that feed and support the population of the world. We
are surrounded by the presence and bounty of the sea.

It is the sea that feeds us. It is the sea that clothes us. It cools
us with the summer cloud, and warms us with the blazing fires of
winter. We make wealth for ourselves and for our children out of its
rolling waters, though we may live a thousand leagues away from its
shore. Thus the sea, though it bears no harvest on its bosom, yet
sustains all the harvest of the world. If like a desert itself, it
makes all the other wildernesses of the earth to bud and blossom as the
rose. Though its own waters are as salt and wormwood, it makes the
clouds of heaven drop with sweetness.

The sea is a perpetual source of health to the world. Without it there
could be no drainage for the lands. It is the scavenger of the world.
The sea is also set to purify the atmosphere. Thus the sea, instead of
being a waste of waters, is the very fountain of life, health and
beauty.

LESSON LIV

WONDERLAND

Many of you have read of the remarkable geysers of Iceland and the more
remarkable ones in New Zealand, of grand canons in Arizona, of deep
mountain gorges in Colorado, of stupendous falls in Africa, of lofty
mountains covered with snow in Europe, of elevated lakes in South
America, of natural bridges in Virginia; but who has ever conceived of
having all these wonders in one spot of the earth, and forever free as
a great National Park, visited each summer by thousands of native and
foreign travelers?

Travelers report that this corner of the earth seems to be not quite
finished by the great Creator. Through all this region volcanic action
has been exceedingly vigorous. The effect of fire upon the rocks is
plainly visible and widely spread. Whole mountains of volcanic rock
exist. Floods of lava everywhere abound. The last feeble evidence of
this gigantic force is to be seen in the hot springs on Gardiner River
and on many other streams, and in the strange action of the geyser
basins.

There are sixteen important geysers in this section, and innumerable
inferior ones. One geyser is called the "Giantess." It throws a great
mass of water to a small height, surging and splashing in all
directions. One of the most noted geysers is called the "Castle
Geyser," because of its size and general appearance. The opening of
the geyser tube is circular, and about three feet in diameter.

When this geyser is about to spout, a rumbling is heard as of thousands
of tons of stones rolling round and round. Louder and louder grows the
noise and disturbance, till it has thrown out a few tons of water and
obtained apparent relief.

These are warnings to the observers to retreat to a safe distance. In
a few moments the geyser increases in noise, the earth even trembles,
and then a great column of water is hurled into the air.

Another geyser is "Old Faithful," so called because he plays regularly
every sixty-five minutes. The crater is quite low, and contains an
opening which is only the widening of a crack extending across the
whole mound. On the summit are a number of beautiful little pools,
several feet deep, filled with water so clear that a name written in
pencil on a piece of stone and placed at the bottom of the deepest pool
is seen as clearly as if held in the hand. Another remarkable fact is,
that the water does not efface the name, even after months of
submersion.

Old Faithful begins with a few feeble jets. Soon every spasm becomes
more powerful, till with a mighty roar, up comes the water in a great
column. This rises to the height of one hundred and thirty feet for
the space of about five minutes. After the column of water sinks down
there is a discharge of steam.

The "Beehive Geyser" is named after the shape of its cone. The water
and steam issue from the opening in a steady stream, instead of in
successive impulses, as in the two mentioned above. No water falls
back from this geyser, but the whole mass appears to be driven up into
fine spray or steam, which is carried away as cloud, or diffused into
the atmosphere.

The names of some of the other well-known geysers are the "Giant,"
"Grotto," "Soda," "Turban," and "Young Faithful." The tremendous force
with which some of these hot springs even now act, and the
peculiarities of the earth's formation in this section of our country,
may give us some faint idea of the phenomena through which our little
world has passed until it became the dwelling-place of man.

LESSON LV

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART I_

The United States is one of the youngest nations of the world.
Civilized men first went to England nearly twenty centuries ago, but
since Columbus discovered America only four centuries have passed.
Each of these four centuries has a character of its own and is quite
unlike the others. The first was the time of exploring, the second of
colonizing, the third of deciding who should rule in America, and the
fourth of growth and development.

During the first century explorers from France, England, and Spain
visited the New World, each claiming for his own country the part that
he explored. Each hoped to find gold, but only the Spaniards, who went
to Mexico and Peru, were successful. There was little thought of
making settlements, and at the end of the first century the Spanish
colonies of St. Augustine and Santa Fe were the only ones on the
mainland of what is now the territory of the United States.

During the second century much colonizing was done. The French settled
chiefly along the Saint Lawrence River; the English settled along the
Atlantic coast of North America; the Spanish in Mexico and South
America; the Dutch by the Hudson River; the Swedes by the Delaware.
The European nations discovered that it was worth while to have
American colonies.

During the third century there was a long struggle to see which nation
should rule in America. England and France were far ahead of the
others, but which of them should it be? The French and Indian Wars
gave the answer, "England." Then another question arose; should it be
England or the Thirteen Colonies? The Revolutionary War answered, "The
Colonies." At the end of the third century the United States had been
established, and the land east of the Mississippi was under her rule.

In the last century there has been a great gain in people and in land.
To-day there are thirty times as many people in this country as there
were then.

USEFUL INFORMATION

It may not be generally known that we have in the nickel five-cent
piece of our American coinage a key to the tables of linear measures
and weights. The diameter of a nickel is exactly two centimeters, and
its weight is five grammes. Five nickels in a row will give the length
of the decimeter, and two of them will weigh a decagram. As the
kiloliter is a cubic meter, the key of the measure of length is also
that of capacity.

Among the North American Indians polished shells were used as currency.
This money was called _wampum_ and was recognized by the colonists.
Six white shells were exchanged for three purple beads, and these in
turn were equivalent to one English penny.

LESSON LVI

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART II_

How has it come about that the number of people in the United States
has increased with such rapidity? It is partly because more have been
born than have died, and partly because so many have come from foreign
countries. Fifty years ago large villages were common in which there
were hardly any foreigners. Now one-sixth of the whole number of
inhabitants of the United States are people who were born in some other
country.

These people are glad to come because the workingmen of America receive
higher wages than those of any other country, and because in America a
man is free to rise to any position that he is fitted to hold. The
country is ready to give the education that will prepare her citizens
to rise to high positions. It is believed that an educated man is
likely to make a better citizen than an ignorant man, and therefore the
public schools of the United States are entirely free. Then, too,
there are public libraries not only in the cities but in many of the
little villages, so that men who are too old to go to school may
educate themselves by reading. There is opportunity to use all kinds
of knowledge in carrying on the manufactures of the country. Almost
everything that used to be made by hand is now made by machinery, and
the skill to invent a machine that will work a little better than the
one in use is always well rewarded. Knowledge is also needed to
develop the mineral wealth of the country. Within the limits of the
United States are metals, coal, natural gas, and petroleum, and it is
the skill and inventive genius of her citizens that have brought such
great wealth to the country from these products.

This inventive genius has also given us rapid and cheap transportation.
In the old days a man had to make or raise most things for himself.
Manufactured articles that could be made very cheaply in one place
became exceedingly dear when they had to be carried long distances by
wagons over poor roads. Many delicate kinds of fruit would spoil on
such long journeys. Now, fruit can be sent from California to Maine in
fine condition. Cheap and rapid transportation is a great convenience.
Business men need not live in the cities near their offices,--the steam
or electric cars will carry them eight or ten miles in the time that it
would take to walk one mile. The postal service and the telegraph are
sure and rapid. So also is the telephone. No wonder, then, that our
commerce has reached the fabulous sum of one billion, five hundred
million dollars in one year.

What the United States will become tomorrow, will lie in the hands of
those who are the children of to-day.

LESSON LVII

PICTURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY

On the southern bank of the James River in Virginia stand the ruins of
an old church. Its crumbling tower and broken arch are almost hidden
by the tangled vines which cover it. Within the walls of the
church-yard may be found a few ancient tombstones overgrown with ivy
and long grass.

This is all that remains of the first English settlement in
America,--the colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

This first permanent English settlement in the New World was made in
the year 1607, more than a hundred years after the discovery of America
by Columbus. Some attempts to colonize had been made by the English
before this time. The most important of these was undertaken by the
famous but unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh.

Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of a vast territory, to
be called Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the "virgin queen." It
extended from the Hudson River to the boundary of what is now Georgia.

In attempting to colonize Virginia, Raleigh spent a large fortune. But
his colonies never prospered. The settlers returned home disgusted
with the hardships of the wilderness. In 1589 Raleigh sold his rights
to a stock company.

Nevertheless the enterprise which proved too difficult for Raleigh was
carried out during Raleigh's lifetime, under the leadership of the
famous John Smith.

The idea of colonizing Virginia had been growing wonderfully. In 1606
a company of "noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants," called the London
Company, obtained from King James the First a charter for "planting and
ruling" South Virginia.

The company had gathered together a band of men willing to try their
fortunes in Virginia, and they were just about to embark when Smith
reached London. To Smith's bold and roving disposition the idea of a
New World was irresistible, and he joined the colonists.

In the last month of the year 1606, the party--in all, one hundred and
five men--set sail in a little fleet of three vessels commanded by
Captain Newport.

On the 23d of May, 1607, after a weary and distressing voyage, the
Virginia colonists landed. They commenced the settlement of Jamestown.
When the king's sealed instructions were opened, and the names of the
seven directors were made known, it was found that John Smith was to be
one of the seven. Through the jealousy of Wingfield, who was chosen
president, he was not allowed to take his place in the council.

But this did not prevent his being the ablest man among them, and the
colonists were soon glad to turn to him for guidance. For now their
condition was most deplorable. They were surrounded by hostile
Indians; the provisions they had brought from England were soon
consumed; and the diseases caused by the hot, moist climate in a short
time reduced their number by one-half.

Besides, the colonists were a troublesome class to deal with. Many of
them were broken-down "gentlemen," who despised hard work. A very few
were farmers or mechanics or persons fitted for the life they sought.

Day by day Smith made his influence more and more felt. He soon became
the head of the colony. He put in force the good old rule that he who
would not work should not eat.

Many strange adventures are told about John Smith during the two years
he remained in Virginia. He left the colony in the autumn of 1609 on
account of a severe wound which he received, and which obliged him to
return to England to be cured.

The colonists, having lost the guidance of this resourceful man, were
soon reduced to great want; still they held out and later on became a
flourishing colony.

LESSON LVIII

THOMAS A. EDISON

One of the greatest inventors of the age is Thomas A. Edison, and his
whole life is an interesting story for young people. His mother had
been a teacher, and her greatest wish for her son was that he should
love knowledge and grow up to be a good and useful man.

When Edison was only twelve years of age, he secured a position as
train boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad in one of the western states. He
went through the train and sold apples, peanuts, papers, and books. He
had such a pleasant face that everybody liked to buy his wares. He
traded some of his papers for things with which to try experiments. He
then fitted out an old baggage car as a little room in which he began
his first efforts in the way of inventions.

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