No wonder Mr. Bell was proud of a horse
that knew so much and was so beautiful. Would you not like to have a
horse like Betty?

=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= When a horse
needs new shoes, where does its owner take it? What is the name of the
horse in our picture? Why did Betty come to the blacksmith shop? How
did she let the blacksmith know what she wanted? Does she seem pleased
with the shoe he is trying on? How can he make it fit? Why does he
heat the shoe red hot? Upon what does he place the red-hot shoe to
pound it into shape? On the blackboard draw a picture of an anvil.
What does the blacksmith use when he blows the coals to make a hotter
fire? With what does he hold the hot shoes? Why does he put them in
cold water before trying them on? How does he fasten the shoe on the
horse's hoof? Why does it not hurt a horse to be shod? What do you see
on the donkey's back? Of what is the dog afraid? What does the
blacksmith wear to keep the sparks from burning his clothes? Why is
that low gate placed in the doorway? To whom did Betty belong? Who
came to paint her picture? Why did he paint her in the blacksmith
shop? What makes you think she was well cared for? Why do you suppose
she is so gentle and patient? Where does the light in the picture come
from? Why do you like Betty?

=To the Teacher:= Have the pupils memorize the following lines from
Longfellow's _The Village Blacksmith_:

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

=The story of the artist.= Sir Edwin Landseer had three sisters and two
brothers who liked to draw and paint as well as he did. The father was
an artist, and he taught them all how to draw when they were very young.

They lived in the country, and often the father went with his children
for a walk through the fields. There were two very large fields
separated from each other by a fence with an old-fashioned stile for a
gate. This stile had several steps, and was built high so that the
sheep and cows could not jump over. One day when Edwin was six years
old, and so little that he had to be lifted over this stile, his
father tells us that "At his request I lifted him over, and finding a
scrap of paper and a pencil in my pocket, I made him sketch a cow."
After this Edwin came here ne