1. Come quick, mamma! See how it snows! 2. The ground is almost covered; can't we have a sleigh ride?

3. I want to go out in papa's nice new sleigh. 4. Well, Stella, you will have to wait till the snow is deep enough.

5. When the ground is well covered, papa will be very glad to give his little daughter a ride.

6. So Stella kept running to the window about every five minutes to see whether the snow was deep enough.

7. She kept calling to her mother, "O, mamma! I am sure the snow is deep enough!" 8. Her mamma told her to be patient and be a good girl.

9. She thought that by the time papa came home the sleigh would run well.

10. So Stella watched for her papa from the front window.

11. When, at last, she saw him coming, she danced up and down for joy.

12. She met him at the door and called out, Papa, I want a sleigh ride in the new sleigh." 13. So her papa told John to harness the black horse.

14. Soon the sleigh was at the door. Then papa took mamma and Stella out to ride. 15. Before Stella got ready to go,

snowing.

it stopped

16. How fast the black horse trotted! 17. What a pleasant ride they had!

18. They rode three hours, and yet Stella did not get tired.

1. Did you ever see honey bees, Carrie?

No, but I have seen the honey they make, and I like to eat it.

2. Carrie, when you come out to the country again to see me, I will show you our honey bees.

3. Father has seven bee-hives. I often watch the bees as they go in and out.

4. There are hundreds of them. They go to a clover field near by to get honey.

5. They get their honey from the clover blossoms.

6. I do not go too near the hives, for I am afraid the bees might sting me.

7. Sometimes the bees want to fly away to a new home.

8. Then father says the bees are swarming.

9. Then he says, "Stella, get an old tin can and drum on it."

10. Mother gives me a tin pan, and I drum on it and make all the noise I can.

11. Uncle John laughs at my drumming and says, "Your drumming doesn't do any good."

12. Father says the bees would not light upon the trees so quickly if I did not drum.

13. After the bees light upon a tree, father saws off the limb they are on.

14. Then he puts an empty hive over them.

15. Soon they all go up into the hive. 16. After dark he puts the hive upon the long bench where the other hives are.

17. The bees work all summer getting honey. 18. Mother calls them the "busy bees" because they have so much to do and work so hard.

1. Come, Walter, let us go to the post-office.

The mail has just come in.

2. Who brought the mail to the post-office? 3. The man sitting in that carriage. He carries the mail for several villages.

4. How often does he go to these villages?

5. Once a day. He starts in the morning from the post-office near the railroad. He gets back again in the afternoon.

6. Doesn't a man come to your house with your letters?

7. O, no. When we want our letters and papers we must go to the post-office ourselves. 8. We don't. A letter-carrier brings our

letters.

9. That is because you live in the city. We don't have letter-carriers in the country.

10. Henry, how do you know the lettercarrier is coming?

11. Why, he blows his whistle and then rings our door-bell.

12. Then mamma knows it is the carrier, and she goes to the door quickly.

13. How does he carry the letters and papers?

14. In a leather bag. He has a strap over his shoulder to hold it.

15. He wears a gray cap and a gray coat. So do all the other carriers.

16. Mamma says they wear a uniform, because they all dress exactly alike.

17. Each carrier has a different number on

his cap.

Carrier number twenty-five brought

your letter to me.

18. Carrier number forty-eight took to the post-office the letter I wrote you.