LESSON 1.- WORD STUDY. fun'ni est in side' pump'kin coun'try Dex'ter PHIL DEXTER'S JACK-O'-LANTERN. แ Oh! mamma, mamma! do come! come, quick!" said little Ned. It was a dark night. Ned was looking out of the window. "I see the funniest looking man," he said. "Do come and look at him. Where his eyes and nose and mouth ought to be, he has great holes. And they are all full of light. Isn't he funny? He must be all on fire inside his head!" "Don't you know what that is, Ned?" asked his big brother, Joe. "That's a jack-o'-lantern. It is made out of a pumpkin; it must be Phil Dexter's. His grandfather gave him the pumpkin. He has been up in the country, you know, mamma, and he brought the pumpkin home. "I could make one if I had a pumpkin. He cut holes for the mouth and eyes and nose, and put a candle inside. The light is a candle, Ned; don't you see? There, he has gone." "I wish our grandpapa lived in the country," said Ned, so that we could have a jack-o'-lan tern." 66 “I'll make one, anyway," said Joe. “I know I can, out of something." Joe sat very still till tea time. He was thinking how to make his jack-o'-lantern. When tea was over, he went up into the attic. No one saw him for a long time. Little Ned got sleepy and went to bed. At last Joe came down. 66 Now, mamma," he said, "if you will give me two cents to buy a candle, I will show you as good a jack-o'-lantern as ever was made." He ran to the store close by, and soon came back with his candle. Then he went into the front hall and shut the door. "Now come into the hall, if you please," he said very soon; "Jack wishes to see you. But you must shut the door, or else put out your light." His mamma turned the gas very low, and they all went into the hall. There sat Mr. Jack, looking as bright and smiling as you please. Joe had found a round box in the attic. He cut eyes and a nose and a mouth, and set a candle in it. It made a very fine Jack. As soon as it was dark the next night, he took it out of doors, and came close to the window for Ned to see. "We have our jack-o'-lantern now," said Ned, "if we haven't a grandpapa up in the country to give us a pumpkin." In a few days all the boys had made jack-o'lanterns. Joe said the town was full of men with fires inside their heads. SLATE WORK. Phil Dexter's jack o lantern. One rainy day papa made two ships for his little girls. They were about a foot long. It pleased the girls very much to see the ships made. They had little, white sails; and tiny flags floated from the tops of the masts. And they were gayly painted. Sixon put his nose into the paint pail, so he was painted, too. But it soon wore off. was the dog. Sixon Mabel's ship was painted blue and had a blue flag. She called it the "Bluebell." Nelly's was bright red. She thought a long name would sound the best. So she named hers 66 The Pride of the Seas." When the pleasant weather came again, the two sisters had fine times sailing their ships. They were careful little girls, and their papa let them go down to the lake to play as often as they liked. There was a little cove, with a bright, sandy beach near their home. They sent the ships across this cove from one side to the other. Back and forth they went safely for awhile. But one day a stray breeze caught the little "Bluebell." She did not sail across to the other side, as she had done before. She went out past the point, and away into the great, wide lake. The wind was strong. The blue banners floated in the air, and she sailed away and away, till at last she was quite out of sight. "Let's play she has gone to California," said Nelly sadly, as she stood watching her. |