nt? There! I can spare
you three each from to-day's dinner.'

6. The children were glad to have them. 'I wish we could see them grow,'
said Dora. 'What happens, mother, when they are in the earth?'

7. 'Do you mean, How do they begin to grow? Well, the weather must be
rather warm, and the earth moist, and the pea swells itself out till it
bursts open its thin coat. The little root goes down to fasten it firmly
in the ground, and to look for food. Then the little stem and the two
leaves come up to get air and sunshine. That is how it begins.'

8. 'What food is there in the ground? What food do the roots find?'

'Lime and iron'----

'Iron!' cried Harry.

9. 'Yes, there is iron in green peas! There are sugar, too, and starch,
and fat, and water, and other things. Some come out of the earth, some
come out of the air and the sunlight, and some the plant makes for
itself. Oh, it is a very clever plant! But all plants are clever, I
think.'

IRON AND METAL.

pock'-ets
mar'-bles
wrapped
size
heav'-y
weight
light'-er
though
cop'-per
thought
zinc
met'-als
sup-pose'
wheat
i'-ron
ket'-tle

1. 'What have you in your pockets, father?' asked Harry, pulling at
them. 'Nuts? stones? marbles?'

'Put your hand in, and find out. Here, Dora, you can try the other
pocket.'

2. In went two hands, and out came little hard lumps, each wrapped in
paper. The children laid them on the table in a row, and wanted to know
what they were.

[Illustration: 'What have you in your pockets, father?']

3. They were not nuts, nor marbles, and not quite like stones. They were
all about the same size, but one was very heavy. Harry and Dora held it
in their hands to feel how heavy it was.

4. 'That is a bit of lead,' said their father. 'Which do you think is
the next in weight?'

'This red one. It is a good deal lighter, though!'

'That is called copper. Now, what comes next?'

5. They were not sure, but thought that iron came next, and then tin,
and then zinc. Their father told them these names as they went on. He
told them also that all these things were metals, and had been dug out
of the earth.

6. 'Suppose we make a box to keep them in?'

'Oh yes!' cried both.

'And if we find any more things like these, we will put them in.

7. 'Would you put in a buttercup?'

'No, no!'

'Or a grain of wheat?'

'No, it is not at all like these.'

'Or a bit