was very quiet indeed, and they almost forgot about
him. After some time they thought of him and some one went to the
trunk and asked: "Hello, Robert. Do you want to come out now?" No
answer came. They opened the trunk and found poor little Robert nearly
dead. The doctor had to be called, and he worked long and hard to
restore the poor boy to health.

The air which we breathe out is not fit to be breathed in again. We
soon use up, in this way, all the pure air about us. So we must have a
fresh supply. As soon as Robert had breathed in all the good air that
was in the trunk, there was nothing left but poisoned air. If fresh
air had not been given to him by opening the trunk, he could not have
lived three minutes longer.

Nothing is so needful to health as good, pure air. Whether you are in
the schoolroom or in the house, remember this. Bad air is so much
poison, and the more we breathe it the worse it gets. The poison is
carbonic acid, and to breathe it long is certain death.

Not many years ago, during a storm at sea, a stupid sea-captain ordered
his passengers to go below in the hold of the vessel. Then he covered
up the hold, so that no fresh air could enter. When the storm was over
he opened the hold, and found that seventy human beings had died for
want of pure air.

Through his gross ignorance of the laws of life, he had done all this
mischief. Remember what I say: insist on having good air; for impure
air, though it may not always kill you, is always bad for your health.

LESSON III

COFFEE

Coffee is made from the berries of a tree called the coffee plant, or
coffee tree. This tree grows in some of the hot countries of the
world, as Brazil, Cuba, Arabia, and Java. The best coffee comes from
Arabia. But most of the coffee that is used in this country comes from
Brazil.

When first known, the coffee tree was a wild shrub growing among the
hills of Caffa, in the northeastern part of Africa. But when people
learned what a pleasant drink could be made from its berries, they
began to take it into other countries, where they cultivated it with
much care.

There is an old story told of a shepherd who, it is said, was the first
to use this drink. He noticed that after his goats had fed on the
leaves of a certain tree--the coffee plant--they were always very
lively and wakeful. So he took some of the leaves and berries of the
plant, and boiling them in water, he made a drink for hims