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THE WONDERFUL PUDDING.

Card, comb with a thing called a card.
Ea-ger-ly, with great interest; anx-
iously.
Em-ployed', made use of; engaged.
Looms, weaving machines.

Ma-te-ri-als, the things it was made of.
Pre-pared', got ready.
Pro-cure, get; obtain.

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Promised us, said we should have.
Reck-oned, taken into account.
Re-moved', taken away.

Smelt-ers, men who melt the iron ore
to get the iron.

Sur-prised', in a state of wonder; astonished.

U-su-al, common, ordinary.

OUR Uncle Robert one day came to us, and asked us to dinner. He said he would give us a pudding, the materials* of which had given work to more than a thousand men !

"A pudding that has taken a thousand men to make! Then it must be as large as a church!" "Well, my boys," said Uncle Robert, "to-morrow at dinner-time you shall see it."

Scarcely had we taken our breakfast next day, when we prepared* to go to our uncle's house.

When we got there, we were surprised to see everything as calm and quiet as usual.

At last we sat down to table. The first dishes were removed*. our eyes were eagerly* fixed on the door-in came the pudding! It was a plum-pudding of the usual* kind—not a bit larger!

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This is not the pudding that you promised* us," said my brother.

It is, indeed," said Uncle Robert.

"O uncle! you do not mean to say that more than a thousand men have helped to make that little pudding?"

"Eat some of it first, my boy; and then take your slate and pencil, and help me to count the workmen," said Uncle Robert.

"Now," said Uncle Robert, "to make this pudding we must first have flour; and how many people must have laboured to procure* it! The ground must have been ploughed, and sowed, and harrowed, and reaped. To make the plough, miners, smelters, and smiths,-wood-cutters, sawyers, and carpenters, must have laboured.

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"The leather of the harness for the horses had to be tanned, and prepared for the harness-maker. Then, we have the builders of the mill, and the men who quarried the mill-stones, and made the machinework of the mill.

"Then think of the plums, the lemon-peel, the spices, the sugar;-all these come from distant countries; and to get them hither, ships, ship-builders, sail-makers, sailors, growers, merchants, and grocers, have been employed.*

"I am sure

"Then we need eggs, milk, and suet." "Oh, stop, stop, uncle!" cried I. you have counted a thousand!"

"I have not reckoned" all, my child.

for the sauce-pan.

We must

cook the pudding, and then we must reckon colliers who bring us coal, miners who dig for tin and iron Then there is the linen of the cloth it was wrapped in. To make this we must reckon those who grow the flax, and gather it, and card* it, and spin it, and weave it, and all the workmen who make the looms and machines."

Robert and I both said we were quite satisfied that there were more than a thousand men employed.

QUESTIONS. To how many men had the pudding given work? What kind of pudding was it? What was its size? How could that pudding employ so many men? Were the boys satisfied?

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Two travellers were . . . . . . in a wood, and . . . . to trees. One

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exclaimed,―

"Oh, I am undone !"

"Are you," said the other joyfully; "then I wish you would .. me."

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Cey-lon, a large island in Asia, south | Ex-act-ly, without mistake; precisely.

of India.

Em-ploy', make use of.

In-ter-est-ing, pleasing; amusing.
Ob-sta-cle, anything in the way.

En-gin-eer', one who makes railways, Sat-is-fied, pleased with its work. and other great works. Sev-er-al, more than one; a good many.

IN the Island of Ceylon,* there are large herds of wild elephants. Many have been caught and tamed, and made useful in helping to build bridges, houses, and churches.

Travellers tell us, that some of them are as careful about the neatness of their work as men could be! An elephant has been known to step back a few yards to see if it had laid a block of wood or

stone straight; and then, if not satisfied,* to return and push it into its right place!

Some years ago, an engineer* in Ceylon had to lay pipes to convey water nearly two miles, over hills and through woods where there were no roads. Το help him in his work, he had to employ* several* elephants; and nothing could be more interesting* than to watch the way in which the elephant engineers did their work.

Lifting up one of the heavy pieces of pipe, and balancing it in its trunk, each animal would march off with its load, and carry it safely over every obstacle,* to the place where it was to be laid. When it reached the spot, it would kneel down and place the pipe exactly* where the driver wished.

Once, when one of the elephants found it hard to get one of the pipes it had brought fitted into another, it got up and went to the end of the pipe, and putting its head against it, soon forced it into its right place.

In a show of wild beasts at Bath, some years ago, there was a large good-natured elephant. Among the crowd that went to see it was a baker. He thought it a clever thing to tease the elephant, by pretending to give it a cake, and then pulling away his hand.

The elephant bore this for some time well enough, but at last it got angry. Putting its trunk out of the cage, it caught the baker round the waist, lifted him to the top of the caravan, and bumped his head with great force against the roof.

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