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B. P.

SWAN-UPPING

The Nursery, July 1881, Vol. XXX A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42156/42156-h/42156-h.htm#Page_216

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They build their nests in the osier-beds, by the side of the river, but out of the reach of the water. These nests are compact, handsome structures, formed of osiers, or reeds. Every pair of swans has its own walk, or district, within which no other swans are permitted to build. Every pair has a keeper appointed to take the entire charge of them. The keeper receives a small sum for every cygnet that is reared; and it is his duty to see that the nest is not disturbed. Sometimes he helps these lordly birds by building the foundation of the nest for them. Once a year, in August, the swans are counted and marked. This is called "swan-upping," and a good time it used to be. In gayly decorated barges, with flags flying, and music playing, the city authorities came up the river to take up the swans and mark them.

Carolyn Wells

Patty's Butterfly Days

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5264/pg5264-images.html

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So Patty, with her unfailing good nature, had agreed to go to the White Mountains with the others. She admitted, herself, that she'd probably have a good time, as she always did everywhere, but still her heart clung to "The Pebbles," as they called their seashore home, and she silently rebelled when she thought of "Camilla," her swift little electric runabout. Patty drove her own car, and she never tired of spinning along the shore roads, or inland through the pine groves and laurel jungles. She had become acquainted with many young people, both cottagers and hotel guests, and the outlook for a pleasant summer and fall at Spring Beach was all that could be desired from her point of view. But before they left the city in the spring, Patty had known that Nan preferred mountain localities and had agreed to the seashore house for her sake; so, now, it was Patty's turn to give up her preference for Nan's. And she was going to do it,—oh, yes,—she was going to do it cheerfully and even gaily.

Bella

WE THREE

The Nursery, No. 106, October, 1875. Vol. XVIII. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16522/16522-h/16522-h.htm#WE_THREE

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For example, John and I sometimes take our books, and sit down on the rocks in the wood, under the thick trees, and read stories. And then Carlo will lie down at our feet, and go to sleep; for he cannot understand the nice stories which the other two friends enjoy so much. But wait till we go into the swamps after berries, or into the wood-borders after hazel-nuts. Then Carlo is wide awake, you may be sure. If he sees a snake, what a noise he makes! We can always tell by the tone of his bark when he has found a snake. And, when John climbs a tree after nuts, how anxiously Carlo will stand underneath and watch him, so afraid is he that the little boy will get a fall! And how the good dog will jump and show his pleasure when he sees John once more safe on the firm ground!

G. A. Henty

WITH KITCHENER IN THE SOUDAN: A Story Of Atbara And Omdurman

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18868/18868-h/18868-h.htm

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By the time Gregory returned, the merchant's mind was made up. He had come to the conclusion that the story he had heard was a true one. The way it had been told was convincing. The man was undoubtedly a gentleman. There was no mistake in his manner and talk. He had quarrelled with his family, probably over his marriage; and, as so many had done, found it difficult to keep his head above water. His wife had been ordered to a warm climate, and he was ready to do anything that would enable him to keep her there. It would assuredly be a great advantage to have one who could act, in an emergency, as a clerk; of course, his knowledge of language would greatly add to his utility. It certainly was not business to take a man without a reference, but the advantages more than counterbalanced the disadvantages. It was not likely that he would stay with him long; but at any rate, the fact that he was taking his wife with him would ensure his staying, until he saw something a great deal better elsewhere.

simple wiki

Covalent_bond

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covalent_bond

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Covalent bonds are chemical bonds between two non-metal atoms. An example is water, where hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) bond together to make (H2O). As they are both non-metals—which need to gain electrons—they have to share, so their outer shells cross over in order to have a full outer shell. A full outer shell has eight electrons. The electrons in this outer shell are called valence electrons. The number of valence electrons is decided by the size of the atom. Electrons orbit an atomic nucleus in the same kind of way that planets orbit stars. There are layers of paths around an atomic nucleus. The first layer always contains only two electrons, while the layers after that usually contain up to eight. That is to say, it wants the number of electrons in the outer-most layer to be as high as they can be.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

LITTLE RED-RIDING-HOOD.

THE FAIRY BOOK.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19734/19734-h/19734-h.htm

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Once there was a little village maiden, the prettiest ever seen. Her mother was foolishly fond of her, and her grandmother likewise. The old woman made for her a little hood, which became the damsel so well, that ever after she went by the name of Little Red-Riding-Hood. One day, when her mother was making cakes, she said, "My child, you shall go and see your grandmother, for I hear she is not well; and you shall take her some of these cakes, and a pot of butter." Little Red-Riding-Hood was delighted to go, though it was a long walk; but she was a good child, and fond of her kind grandmother. Passing through a wood, she met a great wolf, who was most eager to eat her up, but dared not, because of a woodcutter who was busy hard by. So he only came and asked her politely where she was going. The poor child, who did not know how dangerous it is to stop and speak to wolves, replied, "I am going to see my grandmother, and to take her a cake and a pot of butter, which my mother has sent her."

Burton J. Hendrick

The Age of Big Business Volume 39 in The Chronicles of America Series

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3037/3037-h/3037-h.htm#link2HCH0003

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It was the boast of a Roman Emperor that he had found the Eternal City brick and left it marble. Similarly the present generation of Americans inherited a country which was wood and have transformed it into steel. That which chiefly distinguishes the physical America of today from that of forty years ago is the extensive use of this metal. Our fathers used steel very little in railway transportation; rails and locomotives were usually made of iron, and wood was the prevailing material for railroad bridges. Steel cars, both for passengers and for freight, are now everywhere taking the place of the more flimsy substance. We travel today in steel subways, transact our business in steel buildings, and live in apartments and private houses which are made largely of steel. The steel automobile has long since supplanted the wooden carriage; the steel ship has displaced the iron and wooden vessel. The American farmer now encloses his lands with steel wire, the Southern planter binds his cotton with steel ties, and modern America could never gather her abundant harvests without her mighty agricultural implements, all of which are made of steel.

Jessie Newville Maria C. Ortega, Jessie R. Maxwell

Babies Born Early Can Have Brain Injury

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00020

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It is really exciting when a family is making plans for a new baby. As the anticipation builds, it might seem like the sooner the baby arrives the better. However, babies need to complete important stages of brain development before they are born. Doctors consider babies born before they have reached the normal 37–40 weeks of time inside the mother to be "preterm". Worldwide, about 11% of babies are born preterm. Most of these babies are born just a few weeks early. A small group of these babies are born extremely preterm, meaning they are born before 28 weeks of development. The earlier a baby is born the more vulnerable their brain is to injury. Brain injury can happen when a baby is born early because the baby's brain development is disrupted. The brain injuries that babies experience can affect them for the rest of their lives. Doctors and neuroscientists are still trying to understand how to help the brains of preterm babies develop normally and reduce brain injury so that the babies do not have problems with their brains when they grow up.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/113/113-h/113-h.htm

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The rainstorm had ended and the gray mist and clouds had been swept away in the night by the wind. The wind itself had ceased and a brilliant, deep blue sky arched high over the moorland. Never, never had Mary dreamed of a sky so blue. In India skies were hot and blazing; this was of a deep cool blue which almost seemed to sparkle like the waters of some lovely bottomless lake, and here and there, high, high in the arched blueness floated small clouds of snow-white fleece. The far-reaching world of the moor itself looked softly blue instead of gloomy purple-black or awful dreary gray. "Aye," said Martha with a cheerful grin. "Th' storm's over for a bit. It does like this at this time o' th' year. It goes off in a night like it was pretendin' it had never been here an' never meant to come again. That's because th' springtime's on its way. It's a long way off yet, but it's comin'."

Sir Edward Grey

SIR EDWARD GREY’S REPLY

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20521/20521-h/20521-h.htm#A_Scrap_of_Paper

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It is not surprising that the German Chancellor should show anxiety to explain away his now historic phrase about a treaty being a mere 'scrap of paper.' "The phrase has made a deep impression because the progress of the world largely depends upon the sanctity of agreements between individuals and between nations, and the policy disclosed in Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg's phrase tends to debase the legal and moral currency of civilization. "What the German Chancellor said was that Great Britain in requiring Germany to respect the neutrality of Belgium 'was going to make war just for a word, just for a scrap of paper'—that is, that Great Britain was making a mountain out of a molehill. He now asks the American public to believe that he meant the exact opposite of what he said; that it was Great Britain who really regarded the neutrality of Belgium as a mere trifle, and that it was Germany who 'took her responsibilities toward the neutral States so seriously.'

Jessie Graham Flower

Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the Great North Woods

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20341/20341-h/20341-h.htm

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While this was being done, Tom selected the camp site; then cut and set four poles, the rear pair lower than the front, and across these he laid ridge poles. When the spruce boughs were brought in they were placed on top of the framework thus erected, and in a few moments the roof was on. The ends of the lean-to were closed by hanging spruce boughs over them. The roof boughs were all laid in the same direction, butts towards the front, tops towards the rear. This accomplished, a little green house had appeared like magic, but it was not yet complete. Spruce boughs were brought and spread over the ground under the lean-tos to the depth of about a foot, all laid one way, smooth and springy and so sweetly odorous that the air in the little house seemed intoxicating. Emma Dean dove in headfirst. "Stop that! This house is not intended to be a rough-house," protested Hippy, coming up at this juncture with an armful of boughs.

Juliana Horatia Ewing

Snap Dragons

Junior Classics, Vol 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6577/pg6577-images.html

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It is the part of wise parents to repress these squibs and crackers of juvenile contention, and to enforce that slowly learned lesson, that in this world one must often "pass over" and "put up with" things in other people, being oneself by no means perfect. Also that it is a kindness, and almost a duty, to let people think and say and do things in their own way occasionally. But even if Mr. and Mrs. Skratdj had ever thought of teaching all this to their children, it must be confessed that the lesson would not have come with a good grace from either of them, since they snapped and snarled between themselves as much or more than their children in the nursery. The two elders were the leaders in the nursery squabbles. Between these, a boy and a girl, a ceaseless war of words was waged from morning to night. And as neither of them lacked ready wit, and both were in constant practice, the art of snapping was cultivated by them to the highest pitch. It began at breakfast, if not sooner. "You've taken my chair." "It's not your chair."

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

Mary Elizabeth

The Ontario Readers: Third Book

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18561/18561-h/18561-h.htm#Mary

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Whether the door-keeper was away, or busy, or sick, or careless, or whether the head-waiter at the dining-room was so tall that he couldn't see so short a beggar, or whether the clerk at the desk was so noisy that he couldn't hear so still a beggar, or however it was, Mary Elizabeth did get in; by the doorkeeper, past the headwaiter, under the shadow of the clerk, over the smooth, slippery marble floor the child crept on. She came to the office door and stood still. She looked around her with wide eyes. She had never seen a place like that. Lights flashed over it, many and bright. Gentlemen sat in it smoking and reading. They were all warm. Not one of them looked as if he had had no dinner and no breakfast and no supper. "How many extry suppers," thought the little girl, "it must ha' taken to feed 'em all. I guess maybe there'll be one for me in here." Mary Elizabeth stood in the middle of it, in her pink calico dress and red plaid shawl. The shawl was tied over her head and about her neck with a ragged tippet.

Valery Carrick

THE GOAT AND THE RAM

More Russian Picture Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23462/23462-h/23462-h.htm#Page_11

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Meanwhile the wolves had all three met, and they said: "Look here, why were we three frightened of the goat and the ram? They're no stronger than we, after all! Let's go and do them in!" But when they came back to the fire, there was not so much as a trace of them left. Then the wolves set off in pursuit, and at last they saw them, where they had climbed up a tree, the goat on an upper and the ram on a lower branch. So the eldest wolf lay down under the tree, and began to show his teeth, looking up at them, and waiting for them to climb down. And the ram, who was trembling all over from fright, suddenly fell down right on top of the wolf, and at the same minute the goat shouted out from up above: "There, that's the one! get me the largest of all!" And the wolf was terrified, because he thought the ram had jumped down after him, and you should just have seen him run! And the other two followed after.

Jane Austen

Lady Susan

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/946/946-h/946-h.htm

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Her mother has insinuated that her temper is intractable, but I never saw a face less indicative of any evil disposition than hers; and from what I can see of the behavior of each to the other, the invariable severity of Lady Susan and the silent dejection of Frederica, I am led to believe as heretofore that the former has no real love for her daughter, and has never done her justice or treated her affectionately. I have not been able to have any conversation with my niece; she is shy, and I think I can see that some pains are taken to prevent her being much with me. Nothing satisfactory transpires as to her reason for running away. Her kind-hearted uncle, you may be sure, was too fearful of distressing her to ask many questions as they travelled. I wish it had been possible for me to fetch her instead of him. I think I should have discovered the truth in the course of a thirty-mile journey.

Andre Mu & John W. Moreau

Can Bacteria Living Underground Help Fight Climate Change?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00077

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There are places underground that can store large volumes of CO2 gas. These places are the nearly infinite number of tiny holes inside of rocks. The underground rocks form layers that go on for many kilometers in all directions and can be many meters thick. These layers are called aquifers. Aquifers contain water that can move around freely through the rocks, through the tiny holes. When the CO2 gas is injected into one of these aquifers, it can be stabilized so that it does not "leak" back into the atmosphere. The CO2 is stabilized when it becomes trapped inside the tiny holes of the rocks. Big outdoor experiments have shown that these aquifers can remain stable over long periods of time. However, very little is known about how the CO2 affects the microbes that live underground. Microbes are microscopic organisms, including bacteria, which are the type of microbe we investigated in our experiments. It is important to understand how bacteria respond to underground CO2, because, through their metabolism, the bacteria can change the CO2 into a more harmful greenhouse gas called methane.

SARGENT FLINT.

JOHNNY.

St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15374/15374-h/15374-h.htm

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Johnny was in disgrace. "Drandma" had set him down uncomfortably hard in his little wooden chair by the fire-place, and told him not to move one inch right or left till she came back; she also told him to think over how naughty he had been all day, but some way it seemed easier just then to think of his grandma's short-comings. He looked through his tears at the candle in the tall silver candlestick, and by half shutting his eyes he could make three candles, and by blinking a little he could see pretty colors; but amusement tends to dry tears, and Johnny wanted to cry. He caught the old cat and watched his tears slide off her smooth fur, but when he held her head on one side and let a large round tear run into her ear, she left him in indignation. Then he looked out of the window. The snow was falling fast, as it had been all day.

?

"WHY?"

The Nursery, No. 109, January, 1876, Vol. XIX. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21047/21047-h/21047-h.htm#WHY

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"But why?" yelped the pup, as the maid threw a hearth-brush at his head. Still no one told him why. But a man just then came upstairs. "Why, what a mess!" he said. "Oh, I see! It is that pup. I thought he knew he must not come in!" "So I did; but I did not know why," growled the pup, as, with sore back and lame foot, he crept under a chair. "Come out, come out!" cried the man. "I will not have you in the house at all. Out with you!" And he seized him with a strong hand and chained him in a stall. "You might have stopped out, and played on the grass if you had stayed there," the man said. "But, as you will come into the house when you ought not to, you must be kept where you cannot do so. "

Ingersoll Lockwood

Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/57426/57426-h/57426-h.htm

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When we halted for the night it was only by threatening the man with severe punishment upon my return to Ilitch that I could bring him to rub his horses dry and feed and water them properly; but I stood over him until he had done his work thoroughly, for I knew that no such horses could be had for love or money in that country, and if they should go lame from standing with wet coats in the chill night air, it might mean a week's delay. Scarcely had I thrown myself on the hard mattress which the tavern-keeper called the best bed in the house, when I was aroused by loud and boisterous talking in the next room. Ivan was drinking and quarrelling with the villagers. I strode into the room with the arrows of indignation shooting from my eyes, and the faithful Bulger close at my heels. The moment Ivan set eyes upon us he shrank away, half in earnest and half in jest, and called out,— "Hey, look at the mazuntchick! [Little Dandy!] How smart he looks! He frightens me! See his eyes, how they shine in the dark!"

Anonymous

Harry's Ladder to Learning

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24644/24644-h/24644-h.htm

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There was a little boy; he was not a big boy, for if he had been a big boy I suppose he would have been wiser; but this was a little boy, not higher than the table, and his papa and mamma sent him to school. It was a very pleasant morning; the sun shone, and the birds sung on the trees. Now this little boy did not much love his book, for he was but a silly little boy, as I told you; and he had a great mind to play instead of going to school. And he saw a bee flying about, first upon one flower, and then upon another; so he said, "Pretty bee! will you come and play with me?" But the bee said, "No, I must not be idle; I must go and gather honey." Then the little boy met a dog, and he said, "Dog! will you play with me?" But the dog said, "No, I must not be idle; I am going to catch a hare for my master's dinner: I must make haste and catch it."

ANTON TCHEKHOV Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT

A DOCTOR'S VISIT

THE LADY WITH THE DOG AND OTHER STORIES

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13415/13415-h/13415-h.htm

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It was Saturday evening; the sun was setting, the workpeople were coming in crowds from the factory to the station, and they bowed to the carriage in which Korolyov was driving. And he was charmed with the evening, the farmhouses and villas on the road, and the birch-trees, and the quiet atmosphere all around, when the fields and woods and the sun seemed preparing, like the workpeople now on the eve of the holiday, to rest, and perhaps to pray.... He was born and had grown up in Moscow; he did not know the country, and he had never taken any interest in factories, or been inside one, but he had happened to read about factories, and had been in the houses of manufacturers and had talked to them; and whenever he saw a factory far or near, he always thought how quiet and peaceable it was outside, but within there was always sure to be impenetrable ignorance and dull egoism on the side of the owners, wearisome, unhealthy toil on the side of the workpeople, squabbling, vermin, vodka.

Carl von Clausewitz

On War

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm

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If our opponent is to be made to comply with our will, we must place him in a situation which is more oppressive to him than the sacrifice which we demand; but the disadvantages of this position must naturally not be of a transitory nature, at least in appearance, otherwise the enemy, instead of yielding, will hold out, in the prospect of a change for the better. Every change in this position which is produced by a continuation of the War should therefore be a change for the worse. The worst condition in which a belligerent can be placed is that of being completely disarmed. If, therefore, the enemy is to be reduced to submission by an act of War, he must either be positively disarmed or placed in such a position that he is threatened with it. From this it follows that the disarming or overthrow of the enemy, whichever we call it, must always be the aim of Warfare.

Marlieke van Kesteren & Martijn Meeter

How to Use Your Memories to Help Yourself Learn New Things

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2020.00047

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Especially at school, it can be very helpful to actively use your schema knowledge when you learn new information. You can do this in different ways. Before starting a lesson, you can revisit what you have learned before about a certain topic (for example, that fish lay eggs). Or, while studying, you can pause often and think about what you just learned and how the new knowledge links to what you already know. This will help you to use your medial prefrontal cortex to integrate new information and remember it better for tests. In addition, such integration helps you to build better schemas so you can remember new, related information even better in the future. Sometimes, we can use memory "tricks" to link new knowledge to our schema knowledge. For example, when learning a list of words, you can link these words to places in your room or another familiar environment. This is called the method of loci (loci means "places" in Latin). It is used by many people to remember arbitrary information that is hard to connect to schema knowledge, like a long grocery list.

Brothers Grimm translated by Edgar Taylor, Marian Edwardes

THE FROG-PRINCE

Fairy Tales By The Brothers Grimm

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm

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Then the king said to the young princess, ‘As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.' She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on—tap, tap—plash, plash—from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat. ‘Pray lift me upon chair,' said he to the princess, ‘and let me sit next to you.' As soon as she had done this, the frog said, ‘Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it.' This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, ‘Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.' And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. ‘Now, then,' thought the princess, ‘at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.'

EMILY CARTER

THE STOLEN BIRD'S-NEST

The Nursery, Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1875

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14170/14170-h/14170-h.htm#THE_STOLEN_BIRDS_NEST

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The parent-birds, wild with grief, flew round and round, but it was of no use. Then they followed the cart, and continued to feed their young as well as they could, though the cart was in motion. But a little girl, whose name was Laura, and who was taking a walk with her mother, saw the man remove the nest, and at once made up her mind to try and get it away from him. So she went up, and asked him if he would let her have the nest, if she paid him for it. The man seemed a little ashamed when he saw Laura and her mother; and he replied, "Well, little girl, it didn't cost me any thing, and so you may have it for nothing." "Oh, I thank you ever so much!" cried Laura. So she took the nest, with the birdies in it; and then she and her mother found a safe place in the notch of a tree, hidden from the road, and there they placed it.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43/43-h/43-h.htm

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As soon as he got home, Utterson sat down and wrote to Jekyll, complaining of his exclusion from the house, and asking the cause of this unhappy break with Lanyon; and the next day brought him a long answer, often very pathetically worded, and sometimes darkly mysterious in drift. The quarrel with Lanyon was incurable. "I do not blame our old friend," Jekyll wrote, "but I share his view that we must never meet. I mean from henceforth to lead a life of extreme seclusion; you must not be surprised, nor must you doubt my friendship, if my door is often shut even to you. You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also. I could not think that this earth contained a place for sufferings and terrors so unmanning; and you can do but one thing, Utterson, to lighten this destiny, and that is to respect my silence."

Reuben R. Shamir, Angela Noecker, & Cameron C. McIntyre

Deep Brain Stimulation

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2014.00012

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Electrical stimulation of the basal ganglia [e.g., the same structure that demonstrates abnormal physiology in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients] relieves many of the motor symptoms of the disease. The treatment involves the placement of a permanent electrode in the basal ganglia as well as of a brain pacemaker that is placed under the skin of the chest and provides the power needed to produce electrical stimulation to the electrode inside the brain. Typically, the electrode incorporates four contacts that can provide various types of electrical stimuli. Therefore, there are many ways in which a physician can stimulate the brain using one electrode. The effect of the electrical stimulation on the motor symptoms of PD is almost immediate. Involuntary hand tremors can stop at once, the patients often get better control of their gait, and their quality of life improves. Today, deep brain stimulation for PD, and for other neurological movement disorders, is a routine procedure with proven benefits. Moreover, its applications for additional neurological and psychiatric disorders are under extensive investigation with promising results for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and epilepsy, among others.

N.B. WOOD

CRYSTALLIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS UPON IRON

Scientific American Supplement, No. 344

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8717/8717-h/8717-h.htm#14

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Iron, as you all know, is known to the arts in three forms: cast or crude, steel, and wrought or malleable. Cast iron varies much in chemical composition, being a mixture of iron and carbon chiefly, as constant factors, with which silicium in small quantities (from 1 to 5 percent.), phosphorus, sulphur, and sometimes manganese (e.g. spiegeleisen) and various other elements are combined. All of these have some effect upon the crystalline structure of the mass, but whatever crystallization takes place occurs at the moment of solidification, or between that and a red heat, and varies much, according to the time occupied in cooling, as to its composition. My own experience leads me to think that a cast iron having about 3 percent of carbon, a small percentage of phosphorus, say about ½ of 1 percent, and very small quantities of silicium (the less the better) and traces of manganese (the two latter substances slagging out almost entirely during the process of remelting for casting), makes a metal best adapted to the general use of the founder.

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THE SPECTRAL MASDEVALLIA

Scientific American Supplement, No. 384

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8862/8862-h/8862-h.htm

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Of all orchids no genus we can just now call to mind is more distinct or is composed of species more widely divergent in size, form, structure, and color than is this one of Masdevallia. It was founded well nigh a century ago by Ruiz and Pavon on a species from Mexico, M. uniflora. which, so far as I know, is nearly if not quite unknown to present day cultivators. When Lindley wrote his "Genera and Species" in 1836, three species of Masdevallias only were known to botanists but twenty-five years later, when he prepared his "Folio Orchidaceæ," nearly forty species were; known in herbaria, and today perhaps fully a hundred kinds are grown in our gardens, while travelers tell us of all the gorgeous beauties which are known to exist high up on the cloud-swept sides of the Andes and Cordilleras of the New World. The Masdevallia is confined to the Western hemisphere alone, and as in bird and animal distribution, so in the case of many orchids we find that when any genus is confined to one hemisphere, those who look for another representative genus in the other are rarely disappointed.

Mutugi Kamundi

Hare and Hyena

African Storybook Level 4

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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Long time ago Hare and Hyena were great friends. They did many things together. They danced and sang together. One day, Hare said, "My friend Hyena, let us start farming together and we will be rich." "Oh yes, we can plant a lot of food, harvest it, and sell it to others," Hyena said. "But what shall we plant?" asked Hare. Hyena suggested that it was good to plant maize. Hare agreed. Hare also told Hyena that it was good for them to share duties on the farm. "My work will be guarding the maize from birds," said Hare. Then Hare told Hyena to till the land, plant, and weed. Hyena complained that he had been given more work. But Hare said that the work of chasing birds was the most difficult and most important. "My work is not easy. I will be climbing trees and chasing birds away day and night. And you are not able to climb a tree," Hare explained. Hyena was convinced by Hare's words. He agreed to till the land alone. It was a lot of work. Hare did not help at all. After tilling the land, Hyena planted maize in the whole field, alone.

Philip K. Dick

The Eyes Have It

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31516/31516-h/31516-h.htm

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It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven't done anything about it; I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is known; I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control. I was sitting in my easy chair, idly turning the pages of a paperbacked book someone had left on the bus, when I came across the reference that first put me on the trail. For a moment I didn't respond. It took some time for the full import to sink in. After I'd comprehended, it seemed odd I hadn't noticed it right away. The reference was clearly to a nonhuman species of incredible properties, not indigenous to Earth. A species, I hasten to point out, customarily masquerading as ordinary human beings. Their disguise, however, became transparent in the face of the following observations by the author. It was at once obvious the author knew everything. Knew everything and was taking it in his stride.

Annie Fellows Johnston

The Little Colonel's House Party

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15741/15741-h/15741-h.htm

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There had fallen a pause in the round of merry-makings. After a week of picnics and fishing-parties, lawn fêtes and tennis tournaments, there came a day for which no special entertainment had been planned. It was a hot morning, and the girls were out under the trees: Betty in the swing, with a book in her lap, as usual, Joyce on a camp-stool near by, making a sketch of her, and Eugenia swinging idly in a hammock. The Little Colonel had been swinging with her, but something had called her to the house, and a deep silence fell on the little group after her departure. Betty, lost in her book, and Joyce, intent on her sketch, did not seem to notice it, but presently Eugenia sat up in the hammock and gave her pillow an impatient thump. "Whew! how deadly stupid it is here!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad that I don't have to live in the country the year round! Nothing to do—nothing to see—I'd turn to a vegetable in a little while and strike root. I wish something exciting would happen, for I'm bored stiff."

Mary Griggs Van Voorhis

THE BOY WITH THE BOX

CHRISTMAS STORIES AND LEGENDS

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17770/17770-h/17770-h.htm#Page_13

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And it seemed to Tom Reynolds that all his Christmas joy went skimming away behind him. The sun still shone, the ice still gleamed, the skaters laughed and sang, but Tom moved slowly on, with listless, heavy strokes. The "Jolly Ramblers" still twinkled beneath his feet, but he looked down at them no more. What was the use of "Jolly Ramblers" when Ralph Evans had a pair of "Club House" skates that cost a dollar more, had a graceful curve, and a faultless clamp, and were guaranteed for a year? It was only four o'clock when Tom slipped his new skates carelessly over his shoulder and started up the bank for home. He was slouching down the main street, head down, hands thrust deep into his pockets, when, on turning a corner, he ran plump into—a full moon! Now I know it is rather unusual for full moons to be walking about the streets by daylight; but that is the only adequate description of the round, freckled face that beamed at Tom from behind a great box, held by two sturdy arms.

Ashleigh Brown

Fruit

https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FKB-Kids-Stories-Fruit.pdf

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Fruit grows on plants all over the world. Different fruits come from different countries. These are apricots from Armenia. Fruits and vegetables are different. Fruits have seeds but vegetables don't. Some seeds are very big, like in a peach. Some seeds are tiny, like in a kiwi. Fruits have seeds to make new plants. When animals eat fruit ,they carry the seeds far away. This lets plants grow in new places. Fruits grow in different ways. Some grow together in groups. Others grow alone. Some fruits grow high up in the trees. Others grow close to the ground. Squash grows near the ground. People cook squash like a vegetable. It is a fruit because it has seeds. Fruits can look very different. They can be small like a lychee. They can be large like a melon. A watermelon is a very large fruit. Different fruits have different skin. Peaches feel soft and furry. Apples feel smooth and shiny. Lemons feel rough and hard. Sometimes the skin of a fruit is good to eat. Apples have skin you can eat. Sometimes the skin of fruit is not good to eat. Longan skin is not good to eat.

Katherine Mansfield

Miss Brill

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/miss-brill

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There were a number of people out this afternoon, far more than last Sunday. And the band sounded louder and gayer. That was because the Season had begun. For although the band played all the year round on Sundays, out of season it was never the same. It was like someone playing with only the family to listen; it didn't care how it played if there weren't any strangers present. Wasn't the conductor wearing a new coat, too? She was sure it was new. He scraped with his foot and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotunda blew out their cheeks and glared at the music. Now there came a little "flutey" bit — very pretty! — a little chain of bright drops. She was sure it would be repeated. It was; she lifted her head and smiled. Only two people shared her "special" seat: a fine old man in a velvet coat, his hands clasped over a huge carved walking-stick, and a big old woman, sitting upright, with a roll of knitting on her embroidered apron. They did not speak.

USHistory.org

Bloody Kansas

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/bloody-kansas

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act may have been the single most significant event leading up to the Civil War. By the early 1850s, settlers and entrepreneurs wanted to move into the area now known as Nebraska. However, until the area was organized as a territory, settlers would not move there because they could not legally hold a claim on the land. The southern states' representatives in Congress were in no hurry to permit a Nebraska territory because the land lay north of the 36°30' parallel — where slavery had been outlawed by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The person behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act was Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. Douglas supported building a transcontinental railroad that would go through Chicago, Illinois. Since the railroad would also go through Nebraska, Nebraska would need to become a new territory. To win southern support, he proposed simultaneously creating a state many thought would be inclined to support slavery: Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide the issue of slavery itself, a concept called "popular sovereignty."

Martin J. Siegert

Why Should We Worry About Sea Level Change?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00041

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Sea level has changed naturally in the past, mostly due to the growth and melting of large ice sheets during ice ages. During the peak of the last ice age (~20,000 years ago), sea level was ~120 m lower than it is today. Because of global warming that occurred between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago (which was natural and not influenced by humans), the rate of sea level rise was 1.2 cm per year for 10,000 years, until it leveled off to zero. During this span of time, several episodes of extra rapid sea level rise happened. For example, about 14,000 years ago, the rate of sea level rise jumped to about 3 cm per year, because of ice sheet melting. The last time when the climate on earth was similar to today's climate was 120,000 years ago, which is in between ice age episodes. Sea level then was at least 6 m higher than it is today, almost certainly because parts of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets were smaller than they are now.

W. F. Harvey

The Beast with Five Fingers

Famous Modern Ghost Stories by Dorothy Scarborough et al.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15143/15143-h/15143-h.htm

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He went along the promenade, but stopped at the first shelter, and seating himself in the corner best protected from the wind, he examined the book at leisure. Nearly every page was scored with a meaningless jungle of pencil marks: rows of capital letters, short words, long words, complete sentences, copybook tags. The whole thing, in fact, had the appearance of a copybook, and on a more careful scrutiny Eustace thought that there was ample evidence to show that the handwriting at the beginning of the book, good though it was not nearly so good as the handwriting at the end. He left his uncle at the end of October, with a promise to return early in December. It seemed to him quite clear that the old man's power of automatic writing was developing rapidly, and for the first time he looked forward to a visit that combined duty with interest. But on his return he was at first disappointed. His uncle, he thought, looked older. He was listless too, preferring others to read to him and dictating nearly all his letters. Not until the day before he left had Eustace an opportunity of observing Adrian Borlsover's new-found faculty.

Arthur Scott Bailey

The Tale of Cuffy Bear

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15528/15528-h/15528-h.htm

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Cuffy Bear found many good things in Farmer Green's lunch basket. He bolted all the bread-and-butter and the doughnuts, and he found the custard pie to be about as enjoyable as any dainty he had ever tasted. And then, with his little black face all smeared with streaks of yellow custard, Cuffy began to poke a small iron pot which stood in one corner of the big basket. Presently the pot tipped over, its cover fell off, and soon Cuffy was devouring the daintiest dish of all! Baked beans! Of course, he didn't know the name of those delicious, brown, mealy kernels. But that made no difference at all to Cuffy. So long as he liked what he was eating the name of it never troubled him. The only thing that annoyed Cuffy now was that the pot was not bigger. There were still a few beans which clung to the bottom; and try as he would, Cuffy could not reach them, even with his tongue.

Benedict Crowell

War Department's Improved System

A Monthly Magazine of The New York Times, Volume 8 - No.2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38750/38750-h/38750-h.htm#Page_254

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The War Council was created because it was necessary to have a group of experts in the War Department who would have time to study. Up to the time of its organization there had been little time to think about big problems and do nothing else. Everybody was rushed with some form of executive or administrative work. This council is in session every day and is one of the most effective war agencies that the Government has. There is no man on it who does not bring to its deliberations and conclusions some vital contribution to the welfare of the country and the army. It consists of the Secretary of War, the Assistant Secretary of War, General March, Acting Chief of the General Staff; General Crowder, Judge Advocate General and Provost Marshal General of the Army, one of the nation's great lawyers, who is devoting his life to the military welfare of his country; Generals Crozier, Sharpe, Weaver, and Pierce, and Charles Day, an able engineer drafted from the Shipping Board to render expert counsel to the War Department as a member of its War Council.

Beatrice Clay

The Adventures of Sir Gareth

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323.html

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So the year passed, and again King Arthur was keeping the feast of Pentecost with his knights, when a damsel entered the hall and asked his aid: "For," said she, "my sister is closely besieged in her castle by a strong knight who lays waste all her lands. And since I know that the knights of your court be the most renowned in the world, I have come to crave help of your mightiest." "What is your sister's name, and who is he that oppresses her?" asked the king. "The Red Knight, he is called," replied the damsel. "As for my sister, I will not say her name, only that she is a high-born lady and owns broad lands." Then the king frowned and said: "Ye would have aid but will say no name. I may not ask knights of mine to go on such an errand." Then forth stepped Gareth from among the serving-men at the hall end and said: "Sir king, I have eaten of your meat in your kitchen this twelvemonth since, and now I crave my other two boons."

HAROLD B. DIXON

THE INFLUENCE OF AQUEOUS VAPOR ON THE EXPLOSION OF CARBONIC OXIDE AND OXYGEN

Scientific American Supplement, No. 358

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8504/8504-h/8504-h.htm#15

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For an easy and striking lecture experiment, I employ a tube open at both ends and bent like a W. The two open arms are short and the platinum wires are fixed at the highest bend. The tube is filled with hot mercury--one of the ends being closed by a caoutchouc stopper for the purpose--and a dry mixture of 5 volumes of air and 2 volumes of carbonic oxide is introduced into the bent tube over the mercury. A little phosphoric oxide is passed up one arm. After a few minutes the gases may be submitted to the spark without exploding. A little water may then be introduced through a pipette into the other arm; and if the spark is passed directly the gases ignite in the wet and not in the dry arm of the tube. The admixture of the inert nitrogen renders a larger quantity of aqueous vapor necessary for the explosion than when only carbonic oxide and oxygen in proper proportion are present.

Bret Harte

Bret Harte to his Wife (From The Life of Bret Harte by Henry C. Merwin)

Modern Prose and Poetry for Secondary Schools

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17160/17160-h/17160-h.htm#Page_307

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I make no comment; you can imagine the half-sick, utterly disgusted man who glared at that audience over his desk that night. And yet it was a good audience, thoroughly refined and appreciative, and very glad to see me. I was very anxious about this lecture, for it was a venture of my own, and I had been told that Atchison was a rough place—energetic but coarse. I think I wrote you from St. Louis that I had found there were only three actual engagements in Kansas, and that my list which gave Kansas City twice was a mistake. So I decided to take Atchison. I made a hundred dollars by the lecture, and it is yours, for yourself, Nan, to buy "Minxes" with, if you want, for it is over and above the amount Eliza and I footed up on my lecture list. I shall send it to you as soon as the bulk of the pressing claims are settled.