read and understand about the great world God has máde, and all the things in it,--to know about plàces, and people, and beasts, and birds, and fishes, and flowers,* and to have our mind full of thoughts about them.

The Primary Reader is meant as the third step in learning to read. The first step was the Primer; the second, the Primary SpèllingBook; and now, having looked back, on the ground we have gone over, we may look forward, to take a view of the road before us. Children who can read well in this Réader, will be ready to go on to the New Testament, and to a large spelling-book, and then to other books, such as are read in gràmmar schools.

It is pleasant to be all the while going on in the path of learning, as we grow up. This is the sure way to be happy, and useful, and respected, when we are men and women.†

* The grave accent denotes, besides the falling inflection, a degree of emphasis which is distinctive, but not so strong as that indicated by italics.

† Most of the lessons being stories and descriptions, require, comparatively, but little marking; as in these, the emphasis is indicated by the incidents or the objects of the piece. In the first lesson, it seemed important to exemplify emphasis and inflections somewhat closely, so as to secure an early attention to them.

But teachers who find any embarrassment in attempting to apply the marks for inflection, may dispense with them, and

LESSON II.

HOW BOOKS ARE MADE.

Ir takes many things, and many people, and a great deal of work, to make a book. First, men get rags; then they bleach and boil them, till the rags are boiled into thin paste. When this paste is dried, it is paper. Next, a man takes pen and ink, and writes, on sheets of paper, the words that make the sense of the book, and teach us the thoughts of his mind. Books, then, are made up of words; and words stand for things and thoughts. When the man who writes the book with his pen, has done it all in writing, he sends it to the man who prints it. The printer takes little letters made of metal, which are called types, and puts them together, so as to spell out all the words which the other man wrote. Then he takes thick ink, and puts it over all the letters; and then he presses on sheets of paper over the types; and the ink leaves the mark of every letter on the paper. This* | is printing.

trust to the ear only. The marks are offered as aids, merely: they are not considered indispensable to instruction. Lesson I. is presented only as a specimen of the method.

* A panse sometimes occurs, where no comma or other point is used.

After all this is done, the printed paper is sent to the bookbinder; and he folds it into sheets, and cuts it into leaves. The leaves are placed together, and then fastened and bound with glue, and paste, and pásteboard,* and leather. Sometimes the book is stamped and gilt on the back and the corners; sometimes the leather is coloured; and sometimes silk is used instead of leather. So it takes a great many things, and a great many people, and a great deal of work, to make a book. We should use books with great care, and always keep them clean and nice.

LESSON III.

TREES.

JAMES and his father were walking in the fields, on a very warm day, in summer; and, after they had walked for some time, James said he was very tired, and wished his father would stop awhile, when they came to a great tree, not far off. They soon came to the

*When a "series," or succession of words, connected by a conjunction, expressed or understood, at the close of a sentence, has no strong emphasis, the rising inflection takes place on the last word or clause but one.

tree; and James's father told him, that they would stay there, in the shade, and rest for a short time.

"How cool and pleasant it is, here!" said James. "What a large tree this is! It is larger than a house. Its boughs bend down, till they almost sweep the ground, as the wind blows them. Did it take long to grow so large, father?"

.

"Yes; many, many years," said his father. "It is very old. Your grandfather says it was a large tree when he was a little boy. He says his grandfather planted it, when it was a slender thing,-not so thick as your arm; and it has grown, and grown, till, now, it is so very large, that it covers this house, and the yard, and the road, with its great branches, and its pleasant shade."

"Grandfather's grandfather planted it! That must have been lòng ago," said James.

"I

can not think of so long a time. I can not think so far back: it puzzles me. It seems to me as if I were lost, when I think about it."

James's father then told him, that when he grew older, he would be better able to think about it; as his mind would then be clearer and stronger, and that then he would be able

to read and understand about things that happened long ago.

"This tree, James," said his father, "is called an elm. That great tree, under which the cattle are lying, is an oak. See how far it spreads out its branches! It shades all those cattle, and keeps them cool; so that they can rest in quiet, and enjoy this refreshing breeze. "That great oak was once a little acorn. All oak-trees grow from acorns. They sprout up from the ground, little, tiny shoots, at first, and so grow on, every year, till they are large trèes, -so large, that, when they are cut down, and sawn into planks and boards, houses and ships are built with them.

"Those trees, beyond the oak, are pines. How tall and straight they are! The boards of the floor, and the doors, and the beams and joists of the house, are made from the wood of such trees. Men cut them down with àxes, and trim off their limbs, then saw the stems, across, into lògs, and then draw the logs to the sawmill, where they are sawn, lengthwise, into planks and boards.

"We call pine-trees èvergreens, because they do not drop their leaves in winter, like other trees, but keep them on, at all seasons, and so look always green."