I. A BROOK AND ITS WORK. {J. O. Martm.) 



On a raiiij day most of us are driven indoors and thus we miss 

 some of nature's most instructiv^e lessons, for in sunshine or rain 

 the great mother toils on, doing some of her hardest labor when her 

 face is overcast with clouds. Let us find our waterproofs, raise our 



umbrellas, bid deliance to the 

 pattering rain and go forth 

 to learn some of the lessons 

 of a rainj day. 



Along the roadside tlie 

 steady down-pouring rain col- 

 lects into pools and rills, or 

 sinks out of sight in the 

 ground. The tiny streams 

 search out the easiest grade 

 and run down the road, dig- 

 ging little gullies as they go. 

 Soon these rills meet, and, 

 joining their muddy currents, 

 flow on with greater speed 

 down the hillside until they 

 reach the bottom of the val- 

 ley and go to swell the brook 

 which flows on in sunshine 

 or rain. The water which 

 sinks into the ground passes 

 out of our sight for a time, 

 but its journey is also down- 

 ward toward the brook, 

 81. — The brook may he made the center of a ,, ^ ,^ m -• 



life theme. ^^^^^^S^^ ^^'^ s^^^' ^^*^"^' ^' ^ 



great sponge, holds it back 



and makes it take a slower pace than the rushing surface water. 

 The slower-moving underground water percolates through the 

 soil \intil it conies to a la^-er of rock, clay, or other impervious sub- 

 stance along the slope of which it flows until it is turned again to 



518 



III! 'i rV 



