The sun is all the time heating the water on the land and in the sea, and changing it into vapor, which rises in the air. We cannot see the vapor; but it is in the air around us.

If the vapor in the air is suddenly cooled, a strange thing happens. Some of it quickly changes back into water. You have often seen, in the early morning, little drops of water hanging like pearls upon the blades of grass.

Now, where do these drops come from? They come from the air. The vapor in the air floats against the cold grass and leaves, and is cooled and changed into tiny drops of water. We call this dew.

Of what use is dew?

If the night is quite cold, the dew will freeze. It is then called frost. You have seen the frosty window pane with the beautiful pictures upon it.

Make a picture of the window as you remember it, covered with the pretty things made by the frost.

When vapor rises high in the cool air it is turned into very small drops of water or minute crystals of ice, and we can see it floating about in the air. It is then called a cloud. Almost any clear day you may see clouds form and then seem to melt away.

You have seen on a blue sky, light, fleecy feather-clouds. They are very high up, and it is very cold where they are. You have also noticed the clouds at sunset with their beautiful colors. As the sun sank lower and lower, how did they change, in shape and color?

When clouds are low down, near the earth, we call them fogs or mist.

If clouds are cooled, the little particles of water gather into large drops and fall as rain. If the drops should freeze in falling, we would call them hail.

What shape are the raindrops? Of what use is the rain?

Sometimes, when it is very cold, the moisture in the air freezes before it forms into drops, and falls in the beautiful flakes we call snow. Have you ever seen snowflakes through a microscope?

Snow keeps the roots of plants warm. Many plants would die in winter if it were not for the snow. What other uses has snow?

Observe the clouds; fog, rain, snow, dew, frost, and tell what you have noticed.

Write what you have seen or noticed about vapor, clouds, rain, etc.

Have you ever seen a brook or creek? A river? Is there a brook or river near here? Who can tell where it begins? where the water conies from that fills it? where it goes? Let us try to understand this.

As vapor rises into high, cool air, or is carried with the air in winds up the sides of mountains, it turns into water again, and comes falling down as rain.

Now think where the rain that falls on mountains must go. Some of the water runs off on the surface, down the mountain slope. Some sinks into the ground, and runs along in little streams below the surface. It will appear again, bubbling out of the mountain side as a spring. The spring is the beginning of a river.

Did you ever see a spring? Where was it? Was it shaded by trees? Where did the water come from? Did you drink from it? Was the water pure and cold? Where did the water go after leaving the spring?

From the spring flows a tiny, thread-like stream, so small that we can easily step across it. This little stream is called a rill.

Other rills meet this, and form a larger stream, which is called a brook or creek.

Let us have another chat about the river. We may fancy that we are following it in its course to the sea. We shall then learn for ourselves many things we do not know about rivers.

We will begin our journey at its source. Here it is a little rill, formed by water that trickles from a spring, or by the melting of snow.

As it flows on, it is joined by many other little streams, until it grows to be much larger.

There is a large word used for a stream that feeds another stream. Do you know what it is? The word, is tributary. Tributaries are often called branches.

Before we leave this part of the river, I wish you to learn another hard word.

You have seen the water run off the roof of a shed. The ridge; or highest part of the roof, divides the rain that falls on it, so that part of the rain flows down the one side, and part of it flows down the other side.

Now, hills, like the roof of a house, send off streams on both sides. When it rains, or the snow melts, some of the water goes down on one side, some on the other. And that is why the hills which divide or part the waters of streams are called a water-parting or water-shed.

Let us now go further down the stream.

Here we see it rushing rapidly down a steep slope. Its waters foam and dash between the great rocks that lie in the stream. Such places in the river are called rapids. Can you tell why they are so called?

The stream flows on. It has now reached a high ledge of rock. Over this it leaps, making a great foam and noise.

When the water of a river falls over high rocks, it is called a waterfall or cataract.

You may have seen the Falls of Niagara, the greatest waterfall in the world.

Would you like to know more about brooks and rivers--about the work they do?

Notice what happens when it rains. Little tiny streams are formed, which chase each other down the slopes. See how they cut away the loose soil and carry it off. Notice how muddy this loose soil makes the water. What becomes of this loose soil, or mud?

Fill a jar with water. Put in a handful of mud from the nearest stream. Shake the jar, and the water is muddy. Let it stand awhile. What do you notice? The water is clear, and the soil has settled to the bottom.

Follow the streams to the valley where they unite to form a river. When does the load of mud it carries settle? Here, where the water scarcely moves, we find some of the soil spread out over the ground near the river banks.

You have seen a river overflow its banks. When the water went down, it left a layer of rich mud, which made the soil very fertile.

Have you never seen the low ground on the banks of rivers covered with rich grass and clover?

Well, these fertile meadows were formed out of the loam that has been washed down the streams from the far-off hills and mountains.

Look at the jar again. Which settled first, the coarse material or fine loam? What kind of a deposit will be made in the upper course of a river? What kind toward the mouth?

High up in the valley, when the river is low, we see pebbles in its bed; lower down, the pebbles are worn into gravel; and as we get still farther down, we find the gravel ground into sand.

Examine the stones found along the shore of a brook or river. Some are quite smooth and round. They were not always so, but had sharp edges. Do you know what made them round?

When there are heavy rains, the rushing water sweeps large stones down the mountain side and into the valley. As they are carried down the stream, the stones, by rubbing against each other, are smoothed and rounded and ground into pebbles. The pebbles themselves are ground at last into gravel and fine sand.

This is what the streams are doing everywhere--plowing deep furrows in the sides of the mountains, grinding the pebbles and sand into fine soil, and carrying it into the valleys below.

Where have you seen a river like the one spoken of in the poem? Are rivers born? What is meant by "My nurse the April showers"? "I flirted with the flowers"? Explain the last stanza.

A drawing made to show a room, or a house; or the school-yard, or even a village, is called a plan.

You all know what a pond is. Is there a pond near where you live? Did you ever fish in it? Did you ever walk round it?

When a stream, on its way to the ocean, flows into a basin or hollow in the land, the water spreads out and fills it. A hollow in the land filled with water is called a lake, or, if it be quite small, a pond.

What is a lake made of? What is round it? Suppose some one who never saw a lake were to ask you what a lake is, what would you say?

What do we find in lakes? Would you not like to sail on a lake?

In the hollows among mountains are great numbers of beautiful lakes. In their clear waters may be seen the mountains, the forests, and the sky, as in a looking-glass. At night the moon and stars may be seen below you as plainly as above.

Here is a picture of a pretty lake in a valley.

In the picture we see a narrow strip of land which extends far out into the water. You will notice that the land has water all round; except at one place.

What is the name for land that has water on all sides but one? What is a peninsula? An island, as we have learned, is a piece of land with water all round it. Now, sometimes we see a piece of land that has water nearly all round it. This form of land is called a peninsula. The word peninsula means almost an island.

How would you change this peninsula to an island? What is the difference between a peninsula and an island?

The narrow neck which joins the peninsula to other land--just as the neck joins the head to the body-is called an isthmus, which means neck.

Here is another picture which I wish you to look at. You see where the shore bends like a bow; and the water runs a little way into the land.

Can you think of anything else that is bent like this? Yes-a bay-window.

Now, when I tell yon that bay means the same as bow, you can almost guess the name for this bend in the land. It is called a bay. You will easily remember that little word.

A wide opening or bend in the land, into which the water flows, is usually called a bay.

Sometimes, when the opening in the bend is long and narrow, it is called a gulf.

On the next page is shown a narrow strip of water joining two larger bodies of water. The name given to this narrow passage is strait, a word meaning narrow.

As an isthmus connects two bodies of land, so a strait connects two bodies of water.

After a rain make little lakes, rivers, bays, etc. Perhaps you may find some already made.

See whether you can find in the magazines and books at home pictures of gulfs, bays, peninsulas, etc.

Write the following: A peninsula is land almost surrounded by water.

An isthmus is a neck of land joining two larger bodies of land.

A gulf or bay is a portion of some large body of water extending into the land.

A strait is a narrow passage of water that joins two larger bodies of water.

Uncle Tom had been telling Fred and me about many strange places he had seen. Last of all, he told us about some high mountains he had climbed. We wanted to climb one very much. So father said he would go with us up a high hill not far from the city.

Mother did not need to call us in the morning, for we woke up very early. The sky in the east was bright, and we knew that soon we should see the sun. We wanted to start at once, but mother said it would be better to have breakfast first.

We put on thick shoes that the stones would not easily cut. Father gave each of us a stout stick to help us climb. Fred had a knapsack, in which mother put some bread, cold meat, crackers, and a cup to drink from. In one corner we put some towels.

We were soon outside the city, walking along the road. We passed a village, and went through fields and woods. By and by we could see the land before us rising higher and higher. We saw no longer such beautiful farms and gardens as we had passed.

In a little while we reached the foot of the hill and began to ascend. As we went up the slope, we came to steep, rugged places that were hard to climb, where we needed our sticks. The trees were smaller, and there were many bushes. There were large rocks, too, in the sides of the hill. At the foot, the weather was quite warm, but it grew cooler and cooler the higher we went.

"On the summit at last!" cried Fred, as we reached the top.

From where we stood, we could see the city with its little straight streets, that look so wide when we walk on them. We could see the house-tops, too, and the church steeples. Then father showed us the village we passed; and the woods we went through. But the trees looked like bushes, and some men at the foot of the hill looked no larger than the baby.

Down the mountain, a little way, we found a spring where the water was clear and cool. Here we sat down on a rock, and ate the lunch we had brought. While we rested, we watched the little rill that flowed from the spring--

Down the hill, it was larger, and we saw other rills flowing into it. When it reached the valley, it was much larger; and farther down, father said, boats could sail on it.

Before us, in the valley, lay a large sheet of still water.

"Oh, how pretty!" exclaimed I.

"Yes, that is a lake," said father. "How beautiful it looks as the sunlight plays on its smooth surface! It reflects in its clear water the sky and the trees around it."

"I can see an island in the lake," said Fred. "Vessels are sailing all round it."

"Are all islands small, like that?" he asked.

"Oh, no!" said father. "Some islands are hundreds of miles round, and have many people living upon them."

Fred then pointed to a piece of land extending out into the water, and asked whether that, too, was an island.

"No," replied father, "that is a peninsula. It is land almost surrounded by water. And the narrow neck which joins the peninsula to the mainland is called an isthmus.

"You see the bend in the land, with the water from the lake running in?" asked father.

"Yes," said Fred.

"That is called a bay. Around every ocean, which is a much larger body of water, there are many such bays.

"The narrow strip of water, which a boat is just entering, is called a strait. The strait separates the island from the mainland."

Stretching far away to the east was flat, level land, which father called a plain. Scattered here and there were many farmhouses and quiet villages. Little bright, sparkling streams wound their way like silver threads through the green grass of the meadows. It was a lovely scene indeed!

The sun was already low in the west as we made ready to return. As it set--

What vegetables grow in your neighborhood?

Of which do we use the roots as food? Of which the leaves? Of which the seeds? Of which the stems or stalks?

Which is the most useful garden vegetable? There is no common garden vegetable so highly thought of as the potato. How are potatoes planted?

Answer the questions in writing so as to make a little composition about vegetables.

Wheat and corn are called grain because they are small, hard seeds What other kinds of grain can you name?

Which of these grains is used the most? Which makes the choicest flour?

Some kinds of wheat are sown in the spring. These are called spring wheat.

Winter wheat is sown in the fall. A few days of sun and rain, and the plants spring up like grass, remaining green through the winter.

What color does the wheat turn as it ripens? When it is ripe what is done with it?

For what is the flour of wheat used?

What is sometimes done with the stalks, or straw?

Indian corn is one of the most useful of plants. Do you know why it is called Indian corn? It is because the Indians first raised it.

When is corn planted? How is the land prepared for planting? What is done to the corn while the plants are small? When does it ripen? How tall does it grow?

What is the stem of the corn called? What are the flowers on the stalk of corn called? On what do the grains of corn grow?

What use is made of the green stalks and leaves? What use is made of the ripe grain? For what are corn-husks largely used?

Sweet corn, if boiled when green, is an excellent vegetable. It is preserved by canning.

A large cornfield, with its tall, straight stalks, covered with green shining leaves and crowned by flowers, is a very pleasant sight.

Corn is sometimes called the national emblem. What does emblem mean?

What use is made of oats; barley, rye, and buckwheat? Some of these grains are useful in two or three ways.

There is another grain which we find on almost every table. It is rice. The rice plant, when growing, resembles wheat; but, unlike wheat, it needs a great deal of moisture. So the rice-grower sows it in fields which he can flood or drain at will.

Do you know what people live on rice without any meat at all? Ask your teacher to tell you how rice is raised in China and Japan.

You ought to find something to tell your teacher and classmates about the grains.

Perhaps you would enjoy drawing some of the grains you have seen.

Choose one of the grains, and write what you have Learned about it from conversation and observation.

Name some trees upon which grow things to eat. What do we call such trees?

What fruit trees have you seen? What do we call the place where many fruit trees grow?

Did you ever pick berries? What makes it hard to pick blackberries?

Name fruits that grow about here. Which grow on trees? Which on bushes? Which on vines?

Mention the different uses of these fruits.

The orange is one of the most delicious and wholesome of fruits. It grows only in the warmer parts of our country. In winter as well as in summer, the orange trees are loaded with golden fruit and fragrant blossom. The blossoms are white, and are very beautiful.

Name other fruits that grow in warm parts of the country.

People who live in cold countries need such food as will make them warm. What kinds of food are best in cold countries? What people live mainly on fish and the flesh of animals? Do any fruit trees grow in very cold countries?

What kinds of food are best in hot countries? The people cannot eat fatty food, for that would heat the body. Do we find in such countries grain, vegetables and cooling fruits for the people to live upon?

Write answers to some of the questions asked in the lesson, so as to make a composition about fruits.

What plant supplies us with much of our clothing? Name articles of clothing made of cotton.

Did you ever see a field of cotton? In the summer the young plant is covered with pretty, pale-yellow flowers. In the autumn you see the pod or boll which contains the cotton.

As the pod ripens, it bursts open. The cotton-field is now a pretty sight--the bright green leaves, yellow blossoms, and snowy cotton all mingled together. Form a picture in your mind of a field of cotton in bloom.

The cotton is now picked. The first thing is to separate it from its seed. This is done by a machine called a cotton-gin.

Now it is ready to be pressed in great bales and sent to market. It will, at last, go to the cotton mills and be spun into thread, then woven into muslin, calico, etc.

Are the seeds of any use? They contain a great deal of oil, which is pressed out by machinery. What is the name of this oil? What use is made of it?

There is another plant from which clothing is made.

Do you know what plant linen is made from? Linen comes from the flax plant.

Flax is a small plant which grows two or three feet high, bearing on the top a bunch of pretty blue flowers. A field of flax in bloom is a very pretty sight.

The flax does not grow in a pod like cotton. The stalk of the plant is covered with a bark, or skin, containing fibers. These fibers are spun into thread, which is woven into a cloth called linen.

The seeds are used for making an oil called linseed oil. For what is linseed oil used?

Do you think people who live in hot countries need the same kind of clothing as those who live in cold countries?

What kind of clothing should you think was needed in cold countries? Would such clothes be comfortable in hot countries?

There is a plant that yields no food, drink, or clothing, yet it is used in nearly every country in the world. Can you tell its name?

Every one has seen it growing. It is tobacco.

Do you think the tobacco plant is as useful as the cotton and flax plants?

Everybody eats sugar. Did you ever see a table set for supper without a sugar bowl?

The sugar in common use in this country is made chiefly from sugar-cane. The sugar-cane is a tall plant which looks much like Indian corn when growing. It is called the sugar-cane because it is filled with the sweet juice that is made into the sugar.

When the stalks are cut they are taken to a sugar mill. Here they pass between great rollers which press out the juice. The liquid is then boiled until it turns to sugar.

Much sugar is made from the sap of the sugar-maple tree. In the early spring the sap begins to rise. A hole is bored in the tree and a tube inserted, through which the sap passes to a bucket or other vessel placed to receive it. The sap is boiled in large kettles and becomes syrup. More boiling turns the syrup into sugar.

Write what you have learned of cotton and linen.