THE CHURCH-CLOCK AND THE SUN-DIAL.

sun'-di-al, a flat slab of stone with steel or brass plate to mark

the shadow of the sun.

rift, break or opening.

1. It was a gloomy day, and the sun had hidden himself behind the clouds. A church, which stood in the middle of the churchyard, had a very pretty clock, which was very proud of its looks and its bright face with letters all over it in gold.

2. Not far from the church stood a sundial. And on this day, when the sun was hiding his face, the clock began to talk to the sun-dial.

3. How stupid you are!' said the clock ; 'you stand there as dull as a post, and as dumb as a stone. You never tell the hour till the sun looks out and gives you a hint to speak. I go merrily round, day and night, summer and winter, never stopping -whether the sun shines or not.

4. 'I tell the people the time to rise, the time to go to dinner, the time to go to bed; and I tell them when to come to church. Just listen, I am going to strike now—one -two-three-four. There! How stupid you look!

word!'

You cannot say a single

5. The sun at that very moment looked out from behind a dark cloud, through a clear blue rift in the sky. It shone upon the sun-dial, and showed, by the shadow cast from the metal plate, that the clock was fully half-an-hour behind the right time.

6. The clock was now silent, and felt very sorry for what he had said; but the dial smiled at his boastful rashness. A thoughtful silence is better than much talking or boasting.

EXERCISES.-1. Pronounce and write:

2. Mention or write down the names of six things in the lesson.

3. Tell which of the words in section 3 are nouns, and which

1. The cow gives us many good things; and among the best things she gives us are butter and cheese. Butter is made from

cream; and cheese from milk, or from cream, or from both milk and cream.

2. The cow spends the long summer day eating the sweet tender grass; and, when she has eaten enough, she lies down to rest. At early dawn and also in the evening the cows are brought home from the fields; and their udders are heavy with rich warm milk.

3. When the dairy-maid has milked the cow, she carries the milk to the dairy and pours it into wide shallow pans. There it stands in the cool fresh room, upon stone shelves, until the cream has risen to the top. The cream is then skimmed off and made into butter.

4. Cream is made into butter by churning. There are many kinds of churns. The most common sort is a kind of barrel, with a pole passing through the middle.

5. This pole has a handle. Fastened to it in the inside of the barrel are three or four pieces of flat board, with holes in them here and there.

6. The handle is turned round; the boards strike the cream and move or churn it about;

and small lumps of butter at last begin to come. It is only the solid part of the cream that is changed into butter; the thin part is called butter-milk, which is a very nice drink. It is often given to the pigs, and it makes them fat.

7. The greatest care must be taken that every part of the churn is sweet and clean; or the butter will be sour. It has therefore to be washed every day, and scoured and cleaned both with hot and with cold water.

8. Cheese is made in another way. When milk becomes sour, the white part becomes curd, and the thinner part is called whey. Now cheese is just this curd squeezed into a solid mass.

9. But the curd from which cheese is made is not the curd of milk left to get sour. The curd for cheese is got by mixing a fluid called rennet with the milk.

10. Rennet is got from the stomach of a calf by steeping the stomach in water. This is then poured into the milk; and in a short time the curd begins to come, and the whey is strained off.

11. The curd is then put into a cheese-vat.