ashes, careering here and there. One after another faded out as quick as the wind, and that they called "seeing the children come out of school," and the last spark was the old schoolmaster. One of them thought he had already gone, but the next moment there came another spark. "There goes the schoolmaster!" they said. Yes; they knew all about it; they should have known who it was who went there; we shall get to know it, but they did not. All the old paper, the whole bundle, was laid upon the fire, and it was 300n alight. "Ugh!" it said, and burst out into bright flame. Ugh! that was not very agreeable, but when the whole was wrapped in bright flames, these mounted up higher than the flax had ever been able to lift its little, blue flowers, and glittered as the white linen had never been able to glitter. All the written letters turned for a moment quite red, and all the words and thoughts turned to flame.

"Now, I am mounting straight up to the sun," said a voice in the flame; and it was as if a thousand voices said this in unison; and the flames mounted up through the chimney and out at the top, and more delicate than the flames, invisible to human eyes, little tiny beings floated there, as many as there had been blossoms on the flax. They were lighter even than the flame from which they were born; and when the flame was extinguished and nothing remained of the paper but black ashes they danced over it once more, and where they touched the black mass the little red sparks appeared.

The children came out of school and the schoolmaster was the last of all. That was fun. And the children sang over the dead ashes,

Snip-snap-snurre,
Bassellurre,
The

song is done."

But the little invisible beings all said: "The song is never done; that is the best of all. We know it and, therefore, we are the happiest of all." But the children could neither hear that nor understand it; nor ought they, for children must not know everything. -Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales.

THE FLAX.

MORNING TALK.

We have found that some plants give us food, some drink, others medicine, some wood with which to build homes, and still others give us pleasure by their beauty and fragrance.

There is one other thing plants give us, and that is cloth with which to make articles for table use, and articles of clothing. Can you tell me the names of these plants?

Let the pupils tell you of all the ways in which linen may be used and write list of all the things they have seen which were made of this cloth.

Let the pupils try to discover the difference between the linen and cotton handkerchiefs which have been brought to school, and speak of the durability of linen and its usefulness in bandaging, etc. Question them as to of what table-cloths and napkins are made, and why this material is used for this purpose.

The tow which is made of the coarser threads of the flax is used to clean guns, and linen cloth makes the coolest and most comfortable bandages which wounded soldiers and other sick people can use.

Speak of the use made of linseed oil, by artists, painters, and the men who make our furniture.

Show children picture of the old-fashioned spinning-wheel and let them imitate the sound made by it. Let the youngest pupil find or make words containing the y, the spinning-wheel sound. Let them practice making small and capital y's for the writing lessons.

Find and read to the children the story called the "Flax Fairies" or "Maud's Linen Handkerchief" in June, 1897, Primary Education, or the following poem.

Tell or read also Andersen's story of the flax.

If possible have some stalks of flax to illustrate the story. It might be planted in a box in the window, several weeks before

the story is told, and after the story has been told and illus strated, have the flax drawn or painted.

LANGUAGE.

Let pupils write all they can about flax or linen for their language lesson, and illustrate these neatly written papers with stalks of flax or borders of the little blue-eyed flower.

SEAT WORK.

Write list of all things or articles of clothing made of linen.

THE FLAX FLOWER.

LITERATURE.

Oh, the little flax flower!

It groweth on the hill,

And, be the breeze awake or 'sleep
It never standeth still.

It groweth, and it groweth fast;
One day it is a seed,

And then a little grassy blade

Scarce better than a weed.

But then out comes the flax flower

As blue as is the sky;

And "tis a dainty little thing,"

We say as we go by.

Oh! 'tis a goodly little thing,

It groweth for the poor,

And many a peasant blesseth it

Beside his cottage door.

He thinketh how those slender stems

That shimmer in the sun

Are rich for him in web and woof

And shortly shall be spun.

He thinketh how those tender flowers

Of seed will yield him store,

And sees in thought his next year's crop

Blue shining round his door.

Oh, the little flax flower!

The mother then says she,

"Go pull the thyme, the heath, the fern,
But let the flax flowers be!

It groweth for the children's sake,
It groweth for our own;

There are flowers enough upon the hill,

But leave the flax alone!

The farmer hath his fields of wheat,
Much cometh to his share;

We have this little plot of flax

That we have tilled with care."

Oh, the goodly flax flower!

It groweth on the hill,

And, be the breeze awake or 'sleep,
It never standeth still.

It seemeth all astir with life

As if it loved to thrive,
As if it had a merry heart
Within its stem alive.
Then fair befall the flax field,

And may the kindly showers
Give strength unto its shining stem,
Give seed unto its flowers!

-Mary Howitt.

MORNING TALK.

COTTON.

I am thinking of another plant which gives us cloth for clothing. If you wish to see it growing, you will have to go south. It grows as high as your desk and sometimes higher. It has dark green leaves and yellowish flowers that look something like the hollyhock. The blossom changes to white later in the day and then to pink.

If we could make another visit two months later we would find these flowers had changed to pods and the pods were filled with something white. If you looked very carefully you would see that this white material was filled with seeds.

By and by the pods burst open and out pop great bunches of soft white-what? It seems as if the bushes are covered with snow balls when the pods on a whole field are open. Has anyone ever seen a seed-pod or ball of cotton? (Show a pod and pictures of cotton fields. Draw upon the board a picture of the cotton plant.) The boys and girls and men and women gather this cotton and carry it in baskets to the barn. Here it lies until it is dry, then the seeds are taken out and it is packed in bales as you see it here (show tiny bale, or picture of a bale) and sent to the mills.

Here it is spun into threads and then the weaver weaves it into cotton. Some of the thread is wound around spools and we use it-in what way?

Let pupils tell of all the ways in which cotton cloth is used. How many have on some article of clothing made of cotton? Explain that the calico is cotton cloth dyed or printed. Ask pupils to bring scraps of cotton cloth, cotton batting, spools of thread, etc. Let them ravel out the threads to see how the cloth is woven. Compare the cotton with linen and woolen materials. Let pupils tell you the difference. Where does the woolen cloth come from? Which cloth do we use in summer? in winter?

DRAWING.

Let pupils draw seed pod of cotton; the small bale used in the language lesson.

Ask pupils to bring small scraps of calico cut out in the shape of a circle, square, triangle or oblong, and paint them. Select simple, easy designs that will not be too difficult.

LITERATURE.

"The Cotton Song," Plan Book; "Cotton Field Stories," Child World; "A Useful Plant," Primary Education, June, '94. "The Cotton," Harper's Third Reader.