had told you about them.

6. Perhaps you have a brother whose name is John, or George, or James,
or a sister whose name is Mary, or Jane, or Ann, or Lucy. You have
always heard them called by these names, ever since you, or they, were
quite young; and have noticed that when John was called, that the one
whose name is John would answer; and as each one answered when spoken
to, you learnt which was John, and which was Mary, and which was Lucy.

7. So also, when a certain animal, having two large horns and a long
tail, and which is milked every night and morning, passed by, you heard
some one say _cow_; and in this way you learned what the word _cow_
means.

8. So also, when water falls from the sky in drops, little children hear
people say it rains; and thus they find out what _rain_, means.

9. Now, when anybody asks you what any word means, although you know it
very well, yet it is a very hard thing to tell what it means,--that is,
to give a definition of it,--as you will see by the little story I am
about to tell you.

10. A teacher, who was very anxious to make his scholars understand
their lessons, once told them he had a very hard question he wished to
ask them, and that he would let the one who answered the question best
take the head of the class.

11. This teacher never allowed any of his pupils to speak to him without
first raising his right hand above his head, to signify that the child
had something to say; and when any child raised his hand in this way, if
he was not busy, he called upon the child to say what he wished.

12. In this way he prevented the children from troubling him when he was
busy; and in this way he also prevented them from interrupting each
other, as would be the case if several of them should speak at once.

13. On the day of which I am about to speak, he said to them, Now,
children, I have a very hard question to ask you, that does not require
you to study, but only to think about it, in order to answer it well;
and the one who gives me the best answer shall go to the head of the
class. The question is this: _What is a bird?_

14. Before they heard the question, they looked very sober, and thought
their master intended to puzzle them, or to give them a long sentence to
commit to memory. But as soon as they heard the question, they began to
smile among themselves, and wonder how their teacher should call that a
hard question.

15. A dozen hands were immediately raised, to signi