What minerals have you seen? Let us think. There is iron, which is used to make our stoves. Tin is used to coat many of our dishes. Copper is used in making wire and in many other ways. Gold and silver are used for money. They are also used in making dishes and jewelry.

There are so many different minerals. Where do you suppose they are all found? We cannot go out in the hills and pick these minerals up in the form in which we see them. They are rough and dirty, and mixed with rock when first found. They

have to go through many processes before they come out pure and bright.

If you were hunting for gold or silver, would you look in the valleys where grain and fruit are raised or would you go into the mountains?

Minerals come out of the earth, but they are not often found in the soil. We would not be apt to find them in the garden or grain-field. Minerals come from the hard rocks in the mountains.

In the valleys the rocks are buried deeply by the soil. In the mountains the rain has washed the soil away from the rocks, leaving them quite bare in many places. This is where we should go to hunt for minerals.

Here is a man who can tell us something about minerals. He has spent many years hunting for them, and digging among the rocks. He is called a

miner.

He says that minerals are found in thin layers in the rocks. These layers or veins reach ever so deeply into the earth. Hundreds and hundreds of feet the miner digs down through the rocks as he follows a little vein of ore. He gets far from the light of day and has to use a candle to work by.

The holes which the miner digs are called shafts. They appear very much like wells. The miners ride up and down in what is called a cage. The cage

looks like the elevators which are found in tall build

ings in cities.

Mining is dangerous work.

Sometimes the

miners do not have good air to breathe. They are often hurt by falling rocks or by powder explosions.

Some mines have been dug nearly a mile deep. Would it not seem strange to ride down nearly a mile into the solid earth? The deep mines are often very hot. hot. The men can stay in some of them only a little while at a time.

There is much water in most deep mines. We

have learned that there are little underground streams running through the cracks in the rocks. The shafts and tunnels cut some of these, and this is the reason the mines are so wet.

It is hard and dangerous work to get the shining yellow gold. Men go all over the world hunting for it. What an interesting story gold might tell us — a story of how it was buried deep in the earth ever so long ago, and how the miners found it and brought it to the surface.

To get the gold from the rock sticking to it the ore is put in a mill. The mill is a noisy place with heavy stamps of iron rising and falling all of the time. The stamps crush the rock and set the gold free. At last it comes out clean and bright.

Most of the mines are found in mountainous

countries. If you will look upon the map of your country or state you can tell where the mines are. You can imagine that in each mountain range which you see pictured upon the map there are hundreds of little holes. You can You can imagine also that these little holes are full of busy men. They are going in and out of the holes like so many ants, digging long underground passages and bringing the rock to the surface.

QUESTIONS.

Mention the different minerals which you have seen.

Which is the most valuable?

Which is the heaviest?

If there are mines near your home, tell what you have seen men doing there.

If you were looking for minerals where would you go? Why?
Are there minerals underneath the soil of the valleys?

Why do not men mine in the valleys?

In what way is mining dangerous?
What is the most useful mineral?
Why are some mines hot?

How deep have men been in the earth?
Give some of the qualities of gold.