Brooks's Readers: First Year

place   sweet   glad   ever   humble

OUR HOME

wood   branches   tall   small

THE TREES

Jack   sailor   sea   waves   storm

THE SAILOR BOY

REVIEW

LITTLE  BOPEEP

winter  summer  sleds  bring  were

THE SNOW

One morning in winter Grace heard her mother calling her.
"Come here, Grace! Come here, and look out of the window."
Grace ran to the window and looked out. What do you think she saw?
The snow was falling.
The ground was white with snow.
"Oh, mother," said Grace, "how pretty it is! Everything is white with snow.
Where does the snow come from?"
"It falls from the clouds," said her mother. "In summer the clouds bring rain. In winter they bring snow."

At school the boys and girls were glad.
"It snows! It snows!" they said.
"Now we shall have a fine time.
We can make snowballs.
We can ride on our sleds.
We can play in the snow."

playthings   happy   silk   masts   gold

MY SHIP AT SEA

earth   Christmas   angels   heaven

CHRISTMAS BELLS

be     over   spring   mind
frozen   bare   sunny   South

THE BIRDS IN WINTER

One morning Marian looked out of her window. The snow was falling.
"How cold the wind blows," she said.
"The trees are all frozen and bare. The brook is frozen over.
The pretty robin's nest is full of snow.
There are no birds in the woods. Where do the birds go when winter comes?"
"They fly to the sunny South, where the snow does not come," said Robert.
"They will come back to us in the spring. They will sing glad songs and build new nests."

Out in the snow a little bird was hopping.
"See, Robert, see!" said Marian.
"That little bird did not fly to the sunny South.
"How cold it must be! Its little feet must be frozen."
"That is a snowbird," said Robert.
"It likes the snow. It does not mind the cold. It stays here all winter."

farm   farmer   helps   been

DRIVING THE COWS

Robert lives on a farm.
His father is a farmer.
Robert helps his father.
He helps take care of the chickens and the lambs.
Sometimes he drives the cows to the meadow.
Sometimes he drives them home at night.
"Where are the cows, Robert?"
"I think they are in the meadow."
"Will you not drive them home? It is time to milk them."
"Yes, father, I will bring them home. I like to drive them.
I will take the dog with me.

Come, Don. You know how to drive the cows.
You may come with me.
There they are by the meadow brook.
See, they are drinking from the brook.
Drive them, Don! Drive them home.
There they go! What a fine thing it is to live on a farm!"

Frank   seen   never  would
city   street   river   tools

THE BOX OF TOOLS

Frank lives in the city. He has never seen a farm. He has never seen a brook.
He has never heard the robins singing in the tree tops.
A river runs by the city. Sometimes Frank goes down to the river to see the boats and ships.
Sometimes he plays in the street by his home.
The street is not a good place to play.
Frank has many playthings, and he is as happy as any farmer boy.
He would not be happy on a farm.

seasons   autumn   gone   warm   green

SPRING

Winter has gone. Spring has come.
There is no snow on the ground now.
The days are warm and bright. The sun is high in the sky.
Soon the ground will be green with grass.
There are wild flowers in the woods now.
All the birds have come back from the South.
The robin is here. He is building a nest in the old tree.
Soon there will be some little blue eggs in the nest.
The old owl did not go South. But he is glad that spring has come.

goat
fox
buzz

THE FIVE GOATS

Five goats were in a field.
There they found green grass to eat, and good water to drink.
At night the farmer's boy and his little sister came to drive them home.
One night the goats wanted to stay in the field.
The little girl ran after them. But she could not drive them out.
"Now I will try," said the boy.
So the boy ran after the goats. But they would not go out for him.
Just then a dog came by.
"Let me try," said the dog.
"I have more legs than a boy. I can run faster."
He ran after the goats.
He barked and barked. But the goats would not go out of the field.
Soon a fox came to see what the dog was doing.
"Let me try," he said. "I know more than a dog, and I can run fast."
The fox ran after the goats. But he could not drive them out of the field.
"Let me try," said a horse that was looking on. "I am big and strong."
But the goats would not go out for the horse.
A busy bee came into the field.
"Buzz! buzz!" it said. "I think I can drive them out. Let me try."
"What can you do? You are too little to drive goats," said the boy.
"You are smaller than I am," said the little girl.
"You can not bark," said the dog.
"You don't know much," said the fox.
"You can't run round the field on four feet," said the horse.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!" said the bee.
"We will see; we will see;" and away it flew.
It flew by the big goat's ear.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!" it said.
The goat looked up. "What is that?" he said; and he ran out of the field.
The little goat looked up. "If you go out, I will go out," he said; and out he ran.
"So will I. So will I. So will I," said the three white goats; and all ran out of the field.
Then the boy and his sister drove the goats home.
"If the bee had not helped us, what could we have done?" they said.

butter   cream   bread   churn

dish    pans   fresh   turns

MAKING BUTTER

Do you know how I make butter? I will tell you.
Every day the cows give us fresh milk.
Ned brings the milk to the house.
I have some large tin pans. At night I put the fresh milk in these pans.
In the morning I find yellow cream on the top of the milk.
Then I take off the cream and put it in my churn.
I churn and churn till the cream turns to butter.
I take the butter out.
I leave the buttermilk in the churn.

Here is one of my butter balls.
It is on a little dish.
Bennie and Marian like butter.
They like bread and milk, too.
All boys and girls eat bread.
Do you like bread and butter?

MARY AND THE BROOK

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WORD LIST

Most of these words are also included in the word lists at the heads of the various Lessons. Some regularly formed derivatives are omitted.