yinal] FIRST GRADE READERS 377 



"Mrs. Tabby Gray told stories to ker kittens." She could also tell 

 interesting stories to the person who can observe closely. 



"Help'. Help:" lie cried; "I am buried alive.'" This is said by a 

 squash seed. A squash seed must be buried alive in order to grow 

 into a healthy plant. 



"Bees don't care about the snow 

 I can tell you why that's so 

 Once I caught a little bee 

 Who was much too warm for me." 



Rather of a pointless point. 



"And the milkweed laughed and laughed, 

 It laughed so long that the pod burst." 



Some interesting truths about milkweed pods. Contrast, with 



milkweeds that laugh, for educational value. Each pod has a 



spring-like stem. When the wind blows the spring shakes the 



seeds out and they are blown away. As long as the pod is green 



and growing it cannot burst even though it laughed harder than 



ever. When the pod stops growing it begins to dry. It then 



shrinks and splits at the seam. The pod opens toward the outside 



of the plant instead of toward the stem. The seeds, therefore, 



are not apt to catch onto any part of the plant and they are ready 



to be taken in any direction. When the pod first opens its exposes 



the seed. As these seeds ripen the silk dries and becomes exposed 



to the wind. As the seeds are arranged on top of each other, like 



shingles, they are not distributed at one time. Some of the seeds 



thus have a greater chance of being distributed at a favorable 



time. 



"The world is so full of a number of tthings, 

 I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 



This has become ironical. School readers in the future should 

 be 100 per cent democratic. 



"Quack, quack, quack!" said the little duck. 



This was on the day that it hatched. Little ducks do not 

 quack. 



"But the Half-chick only laughed," and said, — "I'm off to see the 

 Ths sum and epitome of absurdity. 



The pictures of first grade readers are fashioned after the style 

 of the stories. Many include such pictures as: pig crying; 

 kitten baking pie; hen wearing a thinking cap; wolf blowing a 

 house down; a fairy pulling the seed coat off a squash seedling; 

 kittens knitting mittens; duck with an umbrella; fly weeping; 





