I'm going to." He never thought of that wood again until about
dinner-time, when he began to feel hungry.

When he got back, he found that dinner was over, and papa and mamma had
gone to ride. He found a piece of bread and butter, and sat down on a
Large rock, with his back against the stump of a tree, to eat it.

When it was all gone, Johnny began to think what he should do next. He
closed his eyes as people are apt to do when they think.

Presently he heard a score of voices about him. One was saying, "Wait a
bit"; another, "Pretty soon"; another, "In a minute"; another, "By and
by"; and still another, louder than the rest, kept screaming as loud as
it could, "Going to, going to, going to," till Johnny thought they were
crazy.

"Who in the world are you?" said he, in great surprise, "and what are
you making such a noise about?"

"We are telling our names," said they; "didn't you ask us to tell our
names?"

"No," said Johnny, "I didn't."

"O what a story!" cried they all in a breath.

[Illustration]

"Let's shake him for it," said one.

"No, let us carry him to the king," said another.

So they began to spin about him like so many spiders; for each one of
them carried a long web, and when that gets wound around a boy or a
girl, it is a very difficult thing to get rid of.

In a few minutes they had him all wound up--hands and feet, nose and
eyes, all tied up tight. Then they took him among them, and flew away
with him, miles and miles, over the hills, and up to a big cave in the
mountain. There he heard ever so many more voices, and it was noisier
than ever.

"Where am I?" he said, as soon as he could speak.

"O you're safe at home," answered Wait-a-bit, for he seemed to be the
spokesman; "and they have been expecting you for some time."

"This isn't my home," said Johnny, feeling very miserable and beginning
to cry.

"O yes, it is," said a chorus of voices. "This is just where such folks
as you belong. There are many of your fellows here, and you won't be
lonesome a bit."

They had begun to unwind the web from his eyes now, so he opened them
and looked about him. O what a wretched place it was!

Against the sides of the cave, stood long rows of boys and girls, with
very sorry faces, all of them saying over as fast as they could speak,
"Going to, going to!" "Wait a bit, wait a bit!" "Pretty soon, pretty
soon!" "In a minute, in a minute!" studying the names just as hard as if
they were lessons.

There were Delays, and Tardys, and Put-offs, with ever so many more; and
in a corner by themselves, and looking more unhappy than all the rest,
were the poor little fellows whose names were "Too late."


*       *       *       *       *


Directions for Reading.--Pupils should read loud enough for all the
class to hear them.

The words forming a _quotation_ should usually be spoken in a louder
tone than the other words in the lesson, as--

_"Johnny,"_ said his mamma, one day, _"will you bring me an armful of
wood?"_


*       *       *       *       *


Language Lesson.--Divide into syllables, accent, and mark the sounds
of the letters in the following words: _Carlo, armful, mountain,
unwind_.

What two words can be used for each of the following: _I'm, didn't,
let's, you're, isn't, won't?_

What other words could be used instead of _got_ (page 16, line 4)?[02]

Proper names should begin with capital letters: as, _Johnny, Carlo_.

Give three other words used as proper names in this lesson.


[02] paragraph 4 of this lesson


*       *       *       *       *




LESSON II.


de spair', _loss of hope_.

pro cras' ti na tor, _one who puts off doing any thing_.

res o lu'tions, _promises made to one's self; resolves_.

yon'der, _there; in that place_.

mon'strous, _of great size_.

gi'ant, _an unreal person, supposed to be of great size_.

hor'rid, _causing great fear or alarm_.

ex pect'ed, _thought; looked for_.


*       *       *       *       *




"I'M GOING TO."

PART II.


"O dear, dear! Where am I?" said Johnny in despair. "Please let me out!
I want my mamma!"

"No, you don't," said Wait-a-bit. "You don't care much about her, and
this is really where you belong. This is the kingdom of Procrastination,
and yonder comes the king."

"The kingdom of what?" said Johnny, who had never heard such a long word
in his life before.

But just then he heard a heavy foot-fall, and a great voice that sounded
like a roar, saying, "Has he come? Did you get him?"

"Yes, here he is," said Wait-a-bit, "and he'd just been saying it a
little while before we picked him up."

Johnny looked up and saw a monstrous giant, with a bright green body and
red legs, and a yellow head and two horrid coal-black eyes.

"Let me have him," said the giant. So he took him up just as if he had
been a rag-baby, and looked him all over, turning him from side to side,
and from head to feet.

O but Johnny was frightened, and expected every moment to be swallowed!

"Let's see," said the giant; "he always says 'Pretty soon.' No, that
isn't it. What is it, my fine fellow, that you always say to your mamma
when she asks you to do any thing for her?

"It isn't 'Pretty soon,' nor 'In a minute.' What is it? They all mean
about the same thing, to be sure, and bring every body to me in the end;
but I must know exactly, or I can't put you in the right place."

Johnny hung his head, and did not want to tell; but an extra hard poke
of the giant's big finger made him open his mouth and say with shame,
that he always said, "I'm going to."

"O that's it!" said the giant. "Well, then, you stand there."

So he unwound a bit of the web from his fingers--just enough so that he
could hold the Procrastinator's Primer--and stood him at the end of a
long row of children, who were saying over and over again, just as fast
as they could speak, "Going to, going to, going to, going to," just
that, and nothing else in the world.

Johnny was tired and hungry by this time, and longed to see his mamma,
thinking that, if he could only get back: to her, he would always mind
the very moment she told him to do any thing.

He made a great many good resolutions while he stood there. At last the
giant called him to come and say his lesson.

"You shall have a short one to-day," said he, "and need say it only a
thousand times, because it is your first day here. To-morrow, you must
say it a million."

Johnny tried to step forward, but the web was still about his feet, so
he fell with, a bang to the floor.

Just then he opened his eyes to find that he had rolled from the rock
to the grass, and that mamma was calling him in a loud voice to come to
supper, and this time he didn't say, "I'm going to."


*       *       *       *       *


Directions for Reading.--The words in quotation marks should be read in
the same manner as in Lesson I.

Read words in dark type in the following sentences with more force than
the other words:

"Has he _come?_ Did you _get_ him?"

Words that are read more forcibly than other words in a sentence are
called _emphatic words_.

Which are the _emphatic words_ in the following sentences?

"You shall have a short one to-day."

"I must know exactly."


*       *       *       *       *


Language Lesson.--Divide into syllables, accent, and mark the sounds
of the letters in the following words: _extra, primer, moment,
coal-black_.


*       *       *       *       *




LESSON III.


remark'able, _worthy of notice; unusual_.

moist'ure, _wetness; that which makes wet_.

absorbed', _sucked up; drunk up_.

with'er, _lose freshness_.

starched, _stiffened, as starch_.

germ, _that from which the plant grows; bud_.

hand'some, _pleasing in appearance; very pretty_.

clasped, _surrounded; inclosed_.


*       *       *       *       *




THE BEAN AND THE STONE.


"I think I ought to be doing something in the world!" said a little
voice out in the garden.

"Pray, what can you do?" asked another and somewhat stronger voice.

"I think I can grow," answered the little voice.

If you had seen the owner of the little voice, perhaps you would not
have thought him any thing remarkable.

It is true he had on a clean white coat, so smooth and shining that it
looked as if it had been newly starched and ironed, and inside of this,
he hugged two stout packages.

The coat had only one fastening; but that fastening extended down the
back, and was a curious thing to see.

It looked just as if the coat had been cut with a knife, and had
afterward grown together again. It was like a scar on your hand; and a
scar it is called.

"Yes, I ought to be growing," said the little voice, "for I am a bean,
and in the spring a bean ought to grow."

Now you know how the coat came by its scar, for the scar was the spot
which showed where the bean had been broken from the pod.

"What do you mean by growing?" said the other voice, which came from a
large red stone.

"Why," said the bean, "don't you know what growing means? I thought
every thing knew how to grow. You see, when I grow, my root goes down
into the soil to get moisture, and my stem goes up into the light to
find heat. Heat and moisture are my food and drink.

"By and by, I shall be a full-grown plant, and that is wonderful! In the
ground, my roots will travel far and wide.

"In the air, how happy my stem will be! I shall learn a great deal, and
see beautiful things every day. O how I long for that time to come!"

"What you say is very strange," said the red stone. "Here I have been in
this same place for many years, and I have not grown at all. I have no
root; I have no stem; or, if I have, they never move upward nor
downward, as you say. Are you sure you are not mistaken?"

"Why, of course I'm not mistaken," cried the bean. "I feel within myself
that I can grow; and I have absorbed so much moisture that I must soon
begin."

Just then the bean's coat split from end to end, and for one or two
minutes neither the stone nor the bean spoke. The stone was astonished,
and the bean was a little frightened. However, he soon recovered his
courage.

"There!" said he, showing the two packages he had been carrying; "these
are my seed-leaves. In them is the food on which I intend to live when I
begin growing.

"When my stem is strong enough to do without them, they will wither away.
My coat is all worn-out, too. I shall not need it any longer. Look
inside the seed-leaves, and you will see the germ. Part of it is root,
and part of it is stem. Do you see?"

"I see two little white lumps," replied the stone; "but I can not
understand how they will ever be a root and a stem."

"I do believe you are a poor, dull mineral, after all," said the bean;
"and if so, of course you can not understand what pleasure a vegetable
has in growing.

"I wouldn't be a mineral for the world! I would not lie still and do
nothing, year after year. I would rather spread my branches in the
sunshine, and drink in the sweet spring air through my leaves."

"What you say must be all nonsense," said the stone. "I can't understand
it."

But the bean grew on without minding him. The roots pushed down into the
soil and drank up the moisture from the ground. Then this moisture went
into the stem, and the stem climbed bravely up into the light.

"How happy I am!" cried the bean.

It ran over the red stone, and clasped it with long green branches,
covered with white bean flowers.

"O indeed!" said the stone. "Is this what you call growing? I thought
you were only in fun. How handsome you are!"

"May I hang my pods on you, so that they can ripen in the sun?" said the
bean.

"Certainly, friend," said the stone.

He was very polite, now that he saw the bean was a full-grown vine.


*       *       *       *       *


Directions for Reading.--Read in a conversational tone of voice, as in
Lessons I and II.

What word is emphatic in the third paragraph?


*       *       *       *       *


Language Lesson.--Syllabify, accent, and mark sounds of letters in the
words, _broken, packages, courage, polite_.

Tell in your own words how the bean grew.


*       *       *       *       *




LESSON IV.


elf, _a very small person; an unreal being_.

vex, _make angry; trouble_.

pon'dered, _thought about with care_.

streak, _line; long mark_.


*       *       *       *       *




TO-MORROW.


A bright little boy with laughing face,
Whose every motion was full of grace,
Who knew no trouble and feared no care,
Was the light of our household--the youngest there.

He was too young--this little elf--
With troublesome questions to vex himself;
But for many days a thought would rise,
And bring a shade to the dancing eyes.

He went to one whom he thought more wise
Than any other beneath the skies:
"Mother,"--O word that makes the home!--
"Tell me, when will to-morrow come?"

"It is almost night," the mother said,
"And time for my boy to be in bed;
When you wake up and it's day again,
It will be to-morrow, my darling, then."

The little boy slept through all the night,
But woke with the first red streak of light;
He pressed a kiss on his mother's brow,
And whispered, "Is it to-morrow now?"

"No, little Eddie, this is to-day;
To-morrow is always one night away."
He pondered awhile, but joys came fast,
And this vexing question quickly passed.

But it came again with the shades of night:
"Will it be to-morrow when it is light?"
From years to come, he seemed care to borrow,
He tried so hard to catch to-morrow.

"You can not catch it, my little Ted;
Enjoy to-day," the mother said;
"Some wait for to-morrow through many a year--
It always is coming, but never is here."


*       *       *       *       *


Directions for Reading.--In reading poetry, pupils should notice the
emphatic words, and give them proper force.

Example.

"_Mother_,"--O word that makes the home!--

"_Tell_ me, when will _to-morrow_ come?"

The two dashes in the first line of the preceding example are used
instead of a parenthesis, and have the same value.

When there is no pause at the end of a line (see first line, third
stanza), it should be closely joined in reading to the line which
follows it, thus making the two lines read as one.


*       *       *       *       *




LESSON V.


ap'pe tite, _wish for food_.

a muse'ment, _play; enjoyment_.

gaunt, _lean; hungry looking_.

spe'cies, _kind_.

oc curred', _took place; happened_.

en cour'age ment, _hope given by another's words or actions_.

di rec'tion, _way; course_.

dusk'y, _very dark; almost black_.

sin'gu lar, _unusual; strange_.


*       *       *       *       *




AN ADVENTURE WITH DUSKY WOLVES.

PART I.


"During the summer and winter, we had several adventures in the
trapping and killing of wild animals. One of them was of such a
singular and dangerous kind, that you may feel interested in hearing
it.

"It occurred in the dead of winter, when there was snow upon the ground.
The lake was frozen over, and the ice was as smooth as glass. We spent
much of our time in skating about over its surface, as the exercise
gave us health and a good appetite.

"Even Cudjo, our colored servant, had taken a fancy for this amusement,
and was a very good skater. Frank was fonder of it than the rest of us,
and was, in fact, the best skater among us.

"One day, however, neither Cudjo nor I had gone out, but only Frank and
Harry. The rest of us were busy at some carpenter work within doors.

"We could hear the merry laugh of the boys, and the ring of their skates
as they glided over the smooth ice. All at once, a cry reached our
ears, which we knew meant the presence of some danger.

"'O Robert!' cried my wife, 'they have broken through the ice!'

"We all dropped what we held in our hands, and rushed to the door. I
seized a rope as I ran, while Cudjo took his long spear, thinking it
might be of use to us. This was the work of a moment, and the next we
were outside the house.

"What was our astonishment to see both the boys, away at the farthest
end of the lake, but skating toward us as fast as they could!

"At the same time, our eyes rested upon a terrible sight. Close behind
them upon the ice, and following at full gallop, was a pack of wolves!

"They were not the small prairie wolves, which either of the boys might
have chased with a stick, but of a species known as the 'Great Dusky
Wolf' of the Rocky Mountains.

"There were six of them in all. Each of them was twice the size of the
prairie wolf, and their long, dark bodies, gaunt with hunger, and
crested from head to tail with a high, bristling mane, gave them a most
fearful appearance.

"They ran with their ears set back and their jaws apart, so that we
could see their red tongues and white teeth.

"We did not stop a moment, but rushed toward the lake. I threw down the
rope, and seized hold of a large rail as I ran, while Cudjo hurried
forward armed with a spear. My wife, with presence of mind, turned back
into the house for my rifle.

"I saw that Harry was foremost, and that the fierce wolves were fast
closing upon Frank. This was strange, for we knew that Frank was by far
the better skater. We all called out to him, uttering loud shouts of
encouragement. Both were bearing themselves manfully, but Frank was
most in danger.

"The wolves were upon his heels! 'O they will kill him!' I cried,
expecting the next moment to see him thrown down upon the ice. What was
my joy at seeing him suddenly wheel and dart off in a new direction."


*       *       *       *       *


Directions for Reading.--This lesson should be read with spirit, and
in a full, clear tone of voice.


*       *       *       *       *