Southern marshes and uncultivated lands have many plants that bear beautiful and interesting seed-packets and fruits. The magnolia tree has a large, dull red, cone-shaped fruit that is beautiful in contrast to the dark, glossy leaves that surround it. The great bunches of berries on the umbrella tree or the china ball tree, as the children call it, make a good study in greens for a water-color lesson. The pecan and other nuts may be drawn on the branch with a few leaves. Then later the detailed drawings may be made of the matured nuts, shoving the different coverings and the kernel. There are also the rose-hips to be found on some varieties of the rose; the purple flowering beans; the large Japanese persimmons, as well as the small varieties of this fruit that are cultivated in the North; then there are the apples, pears, plums and fruits described in our September "Nature and Art" lessons. The pupils should be encouraged to make sketches and notes of the fruits and seeds that mature during the vacation season. In the districts where rice is cultivated they should watch the time the grain is planted, the period required for the flooding of the fields, the appearance of the leaves and the grain at different stages of development. The garden offers many excellent vegetables for the color lessons. There are the egg-plant, ripe cucumber, squashes, carrots, beets, radishes, and peppers of various varieties. The best work may be trimmed and mounted for use at Thanksgiving time, and these same fruits and vegetables and seed receptacles used as a motif for conventional designs to be applied to the programs, invitations or booklets made for special autumn festivals. Work out the designs first on the blocked or "squared" paper. 1 Song and prayer. FIRST WEEK 2 Scripture: Joshua 1:8. (The only place the word success occurs in the Bible.) 3 Lines to be memorized by pupil-a few minutes of There is always a way to rise, my lad, But the road that leads to Mount Success Does not pass by the way of Chance; It goes through the stations of Work and Strive, Through the Valley of Persevere, And the man that succeeds while others fail Must be willing to pay most dear. For there's always a way to fall, my lad, Always a way to slide, And the men you find at the foot of the hill, All sought for an easy ride. So on and up, though the road be rough, There is room at the top for the fellow who tries, Tuesday Story: The Lotus-eaters, from Homer's Odysseus, Book IX, the story to be prefaced by a brief history of the Trojan War. 1 Scripture: Ecclesiastes 9: 12. Pleasures can undo a man at any time, if yielded to. Wednesday Purpose a condition of success. Felltham into a mighty city. Columbus succeeded in discovering Thursday Story: The Land of the Cyclops, from Homer's 1 Devotional. 2 Scripture: The simple believeth every word; but This ear of corn, with its several hundred grains, all came from a single grain. It took work to produce it. The ground had to be prepared, the corn planted, and then carefully cultivated. When the corn was matured it then had to be harvested, and thus it is that I have this ear. And thus it is with life. It takes work to get an education. The seeds of knowledge are planted in the mind in school. The teacher shows how to prepare the lesson. The pupil works, works, works. Thus is the cultivating done. The exercise strengthens and develops. The pupil's mind is enlarged and he becomes like the strong stalk of corn. The useful knowledge he acquires in school is like the starch stored in the pith of the stalk. He goes from school, and enters some useful career. The knowledge he has acquired 3 Proverb: He who follows two hares is sure to catch is turned into account in his service to his fellow-men. neither. A sportsman saw in a paper an advertisement of a sure receipt to keep shot from scattering. He sent twenty-five cents to learn the secret, and received this: "To keep a gun from scattering shot, melt the shot and make them into a single bullet." Each act and deed of service rightly done is like a grain on this corn. It takes work to bring these results. Without work the ground refuses to produce the ear of corn, but grows around the weakly stalk a crop of burrs and weeds. There is a plant in South America that in its growth Tuesday Story: The Bag of Winds, to be told by teacher. always bends to the north. If a traveler on the prairie loses his way, he can get his bearings and determine his direction by looking at this plant. There are young men who are like this plant. In their growth they become fixed on a certain career and they never let misfortunes lead them to deviate from it. They remove obstacles. They work their way through school if they have no money. They overcome weaknesses of body. They turn stumblingblocks into stepping-stones. They succeed. New Jersey has a long sea coast, with no great city, for lack of a good harbor. New York, with one good harbor, has builded See Homer's Odyssey, Book X. 1 Devotional. A few years ago the great astronomer, W. S. Burnham, a stenographer in the Chicago law courts. After his day's work was over he spent his evenings in the study of Astronomy with such books and equipment as his small mcans could command. This opened the way for him to add more to our knowledge of double stars than any other man of his time. The activity of the flea comes from effort. It jumps. Its power is relatively great. It can jump a long distance for its size. Though not more than an eighth of an inch in length it can jump over a yard. In the same proportion a lion ought to jump two-thirds of a mile. The termite or white ant constructs habitations many yards in height, which are so firmly and solidly built that the buffaloes are able to mount them as observatories. These mounds are made of particles of wood joined together by a gummy substance and are able to resist even the force of a hurricane. The largest pyramid in Egypt is only one hundred and forty-six yards high-about ninety times the average height of a man. The nests of these ants are a thousand times the height of the insect that constructs them. The achievements of the flea and the ant are incentives to man to great effort. Proverb: Let him that is cold blow the coal. 3 Motto: True as the needle to the pole, or as the dial to the sun. Booth 4 The Faithful Standard Bearer. An old elephant was taken into battle on the plains of India as a standard bearer and carried on his back the ensign, the rallying point for the Poona host. The New York Press tells the story: At the beginning of the fight he lost his master. The "mahoot," or driver, had just given the word to halt, when he received a fatal wound and fell to the ground, where he lay under a heap of slain. The obedient elephant stood while the battle closed round him and the standard he carried. He never stirred a foot, refusing to advance or retire, as the conflict became hotter and fiercer, until the Mahrattas, seeing the standard still flying in its place, refused to believe that they were being beaten, and rallied again and again around the colors. And all this while, amid the din of battle, the patient animal stood straining its ears to catch the sound of that voice it would never hear again. At length the tide of conquest left the field deserted. The Mahrattas swept on in pursuit of the flying foe, but the elephant, like a rock, stood there, with the dead and dying, and the ensign waving in its place. For three days and nights it remained where its master had given the command to halt. No bribe or threat could move it. They sent to a village, a hundred miles away, and brought the mahoot's little son. The noble hero seemed then to remember how the driver had sometimes given his authority to the little child, and immediately, with all the shattered trappings clinging as he went, paced quietly and slowly away. 3 Motto: He that handles pitch shall defile his fingers. 4 Object Lesson. A piece of coal and a rotting apple. I have in this paper a piece of coal. I pick it up. Clean as my hands were you see how the coal has soiled them. I have here an apple that is rotting. Suppose I put it into a basket of sound apples. What will take place? They will soon begin to decay. One rotting apple in the middle of a basket of sound ones will soon rot them all. In like manner one evil boy may spoil a dozen good boys. The boy who uses profane or obscene language should be shunned. He is dangerous. Smutty and profane language will make a black heart. No self-respecting boy can afford to have his life contaminated by such influences. PLAYS AND PAGEANTS Mrs. Tulliver (anxiously) Maggie, my dear, come here! (Maggie throws down her book and runs to her mother, who pulls down her head to whisper to her) Your hair, my dear. Do go and get it brushed! I told you not to come in before going to Martha first. Maggie Of course, it is always my hair. I say, Tom, come upstairs with me. There's something I want to do before dinner. Tom (in surprise) Why, there's no time to play at anything before dinner! Maggie Oh, yes, there is! Tom Oh, all right then! Lots of time for this! Come on (Maggie and Tom go out. Mrs. Tulliver watches them out of sight and as they disappear, sighs.) Mrs. Tulliver Poor Maggie, so dark! She grows more like a Gypsy every day. And there's Sister Pullet's little one so fair! Dear me! But I must go about the dinner! The Aunts and Uncles will soon be here! (She rolls up her knitting and goes out.) SCENE II A Bedroom. Enter Maggie and Tom. Maggie goes at once to the bureau drawer and takes out a pair of scissors. Tom stands with his hands in his pockets watching her interestedly. Tom (as Maggie takes out the scissors, in an excited voice) What are the scissors for, Maggie? Maggie You'll very soon see. (Begins to cut her hair straight across.) in front of her to get the effect) Ha! Ha! Maggie, but you do look queer. Just look at yourself in the mirror. (Running for the hand glass.) See- just see! Maggie (stamping her foot and pushing To maway) Stop, Tom! Don't laugh at me. (Beginning to cry.) I never once thought of that. I only thought of that stupid hair. Of course I never expected to look pretty - I only hoped no one would ever find fault with my hair again. Tom Very well. Cry, if you will. It's all your own fault, you know. As for me, I smell dinner and I shall go downstairs at once. Goodby - I'm off! (He runs off.) Maggie (left alone, sits down dejectedly) Oh dear, I never could go down and face all their angry looks! And, of course, Lucy will look just so not a curl out of place. And there's to be apricot pudding and custard because all the uncles are coming to see about Tom's being sent to school. It was foolish - just foolish to cut my hair! (Breaks out sobbing. Tom re-enters.) Tom Maggie, you little silly, still crying? Why don't you come down to dinner? There are lots of goodies, I can tell you. I am a little sorry, but it is all your own fault, you know. Shall I bring you a bit of pudding when I've done and a custard and things? Maggie (brightening) Ye-es Tom Very well, then. (He goes out, but comes back almost immediately) But you'd better come, you know. There's dessert nuts and custard. Maggie Oh, Tom, I can smell how good it is. I believe I will go down! Tom Now that's sensible. Come on! (Exit Maggie and Tom.) SCENE III The dining room. At the table are Mr. Tulliver and Mrs. Tulliver, Mr and Mrs. Deane, Mr. and Mrs. Glegg, Mr. and Mrs. Pullet and Lucy. Mrs. Tulliver in the act of passing the gravy. Enter Tom and Maggie. They slip quietly into their places. Mrs. Tulliver (catching sight of Maggie and almost upsetting the gravy) Sakes! Whatever have you done now! Mr. Glegg (good-naturedly) Heyday! what little girl have we here? 'Pon my word, I don't know her! I wonder, now, is it some little girl that you have picked up in the road? Mr. Pullet (staring hard at Maggie) My! little Miss, you've certainly made yourself look very funny! Mrs. Glegg (severely) My! My! For shame! Little girls who cut their own hair should not come to sit with their Tom Say, Maggie, you best not. You'll catch it, uncles and aunts! you know! Maggie I'm always being told about my ugly hair; just you be still, Tom, and cut it across the back for me! Tom (cutting Maggie's hair as directed and then skipping Mr. Glegg (playfully) Yes, yes, she must be sent to jail! They'll cut off the rest of her hair there and make it even. Mrs. Pullet (pityingly) I do declare if she is not more like a gypsy than ever! |