ing arbutus, wild geranium, Indian pipe, adder's tongue and many 

 otliei's. You cannot find them all at once. In fact it may be several 

 days before you lind any. In the meantime I want you to think 

 about another topic for study which I shall suggest. 



* * * 



Near my home there is a noisy little creek which will soon begin 

 its spring work. Day after day, year after year, I have watched it 

 rushing along on its way to the river; yet it always has something- 

 new to tell me, some new song to sing. I have never traced it to 

 its source, but somewhere on the mountain side it began its young 

 life many years ago. It flows through a narrow valley, rather steep 

 banks rising on either side. Do you think Nature made this chaimel 

 so that it might have a place in which to run easily along ? No. 

 Starting on the hillside, the little stream began to work away as if 

 it knew that it must. From the way it rushes onward I cannot help 

 thinking it is ambitious to become a Mississippi some day, or for all 

 I know, it may have aspirations toward being an Amazon. 



Young streams sometimes have very hard tasks. If you were 

 with me on a summer day, you would hear my little creek making 

 a great noise about a piece of work it has to do. Standing in its 

 way is a hard layer of rock — so hard that Junior Naturalists would 

 have to hammer with all their strength to break a piece. The 

 stream did not turn back when it found this rock. No ; it just 

 tumbled over and is now doing its best to get it out of the way. 

 The more the little waterfall tumbles the better pleased I am. I 

 love to hear it. 



Now, I have told you that a stream broadens and deepens its own 

 valley and that it grinds off hard rocks which it finds in the way. 

 Naturally you will think that, in order to grind, it must have tools 

 with wliich to work. Of course it does, but as a description of the 

 tools used by streams is to be a part of your next lesson, I shall not 

 tell you anything about them. AVhat are they ? 



1 wish you would watch a brook or river at work. You will see 



it wearing away the land and carrying a load of rock material down 



stream. Sometimes it will try to carry too much at once and will 



be obliged to leave some of it along the way. River bars which 



39 609 



