Lesson XII

brightness    pleasant     learned     dress     playmates    unkind
ragged     word    questions   smiling    crowed     child
Sunbeam    cheered     Susie      gave
gladness    unless     name     gate

SUSIE SUNBEAM.

1. Susie Sunbeam was not her real name; that was Susan Brown. But every one called her Susie Sunbeam, because she had such a sweet, smiling face, and always brought brightness with her when she came.

2. Her grandfather first gave her this name, and it seemed to fit the little girl so nicely that soon it took the place of her own.

3. Even when a baby, Susie laughed and crowed from morning till night. No one ever heard her cry unless she was sick or hurt.

4. When she had learned to walk, she loved to go about the house and get things for her mother, and in this way save her as many steps as she could.

5. She would sit by her mother’s side for an hour at a time, and ask her ever so many questions, or she would take her new book and read.

6. Susie was always pleasant in her play with other children. She never used an unkind word, but tried to do whatever would please her playmates best.

7. One day, a poor little girl with a very ragged dress was going by and Susie heard some children teasing her and making fun of her.

8. She at once ran out to the gate, and asked the poor little girl to come in. “What are you crying for?” Susie asked.

9. “Because they all laugh at me,” she said.

10. Then Susie took the little girl into the house. She cheered her up with kind words, and gave her a nice dress and a pair of shoes.

11. This brought real joy and gladness to the poor child, and she, too, thought that Susie was rightly called Sunbeam.

Lesson XIII

woodlands      divine       raised        until        drooping
blessed      whose        seek     upward         hovels
inner          steal       heaven        hearts       lilies
die        roaming

IF I WERE A SUNBEAM.

1.“If I were a sunbeam,
I know what I’d do;
I would seek white lilies,
Roaming woodlands through.
I would steal among them,
Softest light I’d shed,
Until every lily
Raised its drooping head.

2. “If I were a sunbeam,
I know where I’d go;
Into lowly hovels,
Dark with want and woe:
Till sad hearts looked upward,
I would shine and shine;
Then they’d think of heaven,
Their sweet home and mine.”

3. Are you not a sunbeam,
Child, whose life is glad
With an inner brightness
Sunshine never had?
Oh, as God has blessed you,
Scatter light divine!
For there is no sunbeam
But must die or shine.

Lesson XIV

support     along       boots       belong     dollar
years       manage       taught       corner          notice
money         blacking        gentlemen      honest
quite         buy        earned

HENRY, THE BOOTBLACK.

1. Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother was very poor. He had a little sister about two years old.

2. He wanted to help his mother, for she could not always earn enough to buy food for her little family.

3. One day, a man gave him a dollar for finding a pocketbook which he had lost.

4. Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he found it. But his mother had taught him to be honest, and never to keep what did not belong to him.

5. With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes, and some blacking. He then went to the corner of the street, and said to every one whose boots did not look nice, “Black your boots, sir, please?”

6. He was so polite that gentlemen soon began to notice him, and to let him black their boots. The first day he brought home fifty cents, which he gave to his mother to buy food with.

7. When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a tear of joy, “You are a dear, good boy, Henry. I did not know how I could earn enough to buy bread with, but now I think we can manage to get along quite well.”

8. Henry worked all the day, and went to school in the evening. He earned almost enough to support his mother and his little sister.

Lesson XV

tread whisper softly
talk cheerful careful

DON’T WAKE THE BABY.

Baby sleeps, so we must tread
Softly round her little bed,
And be careful that our toys
Do not fall and make a noise.

We must not talk, but whisper low,
Mother wants to work, we know,
That, when father comes to tea,
All may neat and cheerful be.

Lesson XVI

full load heavy middle heavier
slip wrong handle brother deceived

A KIND BROTHER.

1. A boy was once sent from home to take a basket of things to his grandmother.

2. The basket was so full that it was very heavy. So his little brother went with him, to help carry the load.

3. They put a pole under the handle of the basket, and each then took hold of an end of the pole. In this way they could carry the basket very nicely.

4. Now the older boy thought, “My brother Tom does not know about this pole.”

5. “If I slip the basket near him, his side will be heavy, and mine light; but if the basket is in the middle of the pole, it will be as heavy for me as it is for him.”

6. “Tom does not know this as I do. But I will not do it. It would be wrong, and I will not do what is wrong.”

7. Then he slipped the basket quite near his own end of the pole. His load was now heavier than that of his little brother.

8. Yet he was happy; for he felt that he had done right. Had he deceived his brother, he would not have felt at all happy.

Lesson XVII

busy     mischief      looked     unto     glee    contriving
ringlets     noddle     drew      nun      pressing
fingers     carpet       wise      lips      embrace
ponder     lashes     climb      true

MY GOOD-FOR-NOTHING.

1. “What are you good for, my brave little man?
Answer that question for me, if you can, —
You, with your fingers as white as a nun, —
You, with your ringlets as bright as the sun.
All the day long, with your busy contriving,
Into all mischief and fun you are driving;
See if your wise little noddle can tell
What you are good for. Now ponder it well.”

2. Over the carpet the dear little feet
Came with a patter to climb on my seat;
Two merry eyes, full of frolic and glee,
Under their lashes looked up unto me;
Two little hands pressing soft on my face,
Drew me down close in a loving embrace;
Two rosy lips gave the answer so true,
“Good to love you, mamma, good to love you.”

Emily Huntington Miller.

Lesson XVIII

berries               strikes                robin                eagle                short
king                rid                foe                dart                fails
sharp                hawk                worms                active

THE KINGBIRD.

1. The kingbird is not bigger than a robin.

2. He eats flies, and worms, and bugs, and berries.

3. He builds his nest in a tree, near some house.

4. When there are young ones in the nest, he sits on the top of a tree near them.

5. He watches to see that no bird comes to hurt them or their mother.

6. If a hawk, a crow, or even an eagle comes near, he makes a dash at it.

7. Though he is so small, he is brave, and he is also very active.

8. He never fails to drive off other birds from his nest.

9. He flies around and around the eagle, and suddenly strikes him with his sharp bill.

10. He strikes at his eye, and then darts away before the eagle can catch him.

11. Or he strikes from behind, and is off again before the eagle can turn round.

12. In a short time, the great eagle is tired of such hard blows, and flies away. He is very glad to get rid of his foe.

13. Is not the little fellow a brave bird?

14. Because he can drive off all other birds, he is called the KINGBIRD.

Lesson XIX

watching gathers angels begin
darkness across lonely beasts

EVENING HYMN.

1. Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

2. Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep;
Birds, and beasts, and flowers
Soon will be asleep.

3. Through the lonely darkness,
May the angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.

Lesson XX

divided quarrel agree thus settle
settling kernel equal apt parts

THE QUARREL.

1. Under a great tree in the woods, two boys saw a fine, large nut, and both ran to get it.

2. James got to it first, and picked it up.

3. “It is mine,” said John, “for I was the first to see it.”

4. “No, it is mine” said James, “for I was the first to pick it up.”

5. Thus, they at once began to quarrel about the nut.

6. As they could not agree whose it should be, they called an older boy, and asked him.

7. The older boy said, “I will settle this quarrel.”

8. He took the nut, and broke the shell. He then took out the kernel, and divided the shell into two parts, as nearly equal as he could.

9. “This half of the shell,” said he, “belongs to the boy who first saw the nut.”

10. “And this half belongs to the boy who picked it up.”

11. “The kernel of the nut, I shall keep as my pay for settling the quarrel.”

12. “This is the way,” said he, laughing, “in which quarrels are very apt to end.”

Lesson XXI

creatures              drones               inside               hive                idle
defense               driven               killed               cells               size
workers               queen               stings               shape               wax

THE BEE.

1. Bees live in a house that is called a hive. They are of three kinds, — workers, drones, and queens.

2. Only one queen can live in each hive. If she is lost or dead, the other bees will stop their work.

3. They are very wise and busy little creatures. They all join together to build cells of wax for their honey.

4. Each bee takes its proper place, and does its own work. Some go out and gather honey from the flowers; others stay at home and work inside the hive.

5. The cells which they build, are all of one shape and size, and no room is left between them.

6. The cells are not round, but have six sides.