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6. "Oh, mamma!" said Amy.

"Oh, Amy!" said her mamma.

7. "I can't be a biped," said Georgie. a horrid thing, I know."

"It's

8. "Is it?" returned Mrs. Dudley. "Then I'm afraid that I must be a horrid thing, for I am a biped, whether you are or not.”

9. Both the children exclaimed again, mamma!"

Oh,

So she said, "Do you know that the word biped means a creature that has two feet? Has Georgie more than that?"

10. Amy laughed and said, "No;" and then she asked what things were called that had four feet.

11. "Things?" repeated her mamma. "I suppose you mean animals. Well, they are called 'quadrupeds;' a dog is a quadruped, and so is a horse. I wonder whether Gip would be offended if you called him a quadruped?”

12. Georgie laughed, and asked what monkeys are called.

13. "There are some monkeys that go on all fours, and some that walk on two legs like us, but all monkeys' feet will serve them for hands too; so it is thought better to describe them as four-handed animals. You see, therefore, that there are two-footed, four-footed and four-handed animals."

14. "But I am not a beast, mamma," replied Georgie, indignantly.

and so you are.

15. "I did not say you were, my boy," returned his mother. "I called you an animal, You are quite as much an animal as Gip is; but you are not a beast, for you have something which a beast has not, and that is a soul which will live for ever."

16 "Oh, good!" suddenly exclaimed Georgie. "There's my quadruped Gip home again, after all;" and the dog came bounding through the gate and ran up to lick the hands of his little

master.

XIII.—THE JACK-O'-LANTERN.

THE wagon rolled into the yard with a load of large, plump, golden-cheeked pumpkins. "Now, where shall we put them?" asked Rollo. 2. "Yonder, on the grass, is a good place," replied Jonas. "Pile them up, and we will leave them for a few days to dry in the sun." Jonas began to unload the wagon; he rolled the pump kins toward Rollo, who piled them on the grass. The old white cow, standing on the road, stretched her neck over the fence and eyed the pumpkins with eager desire.

3. "Here is a green one, Jonas; shall I pile it up with the rest?" "No." said Jonas: "it will

66

not ripen. It is good for nothing but to give to the pigs or to make a Jack-o'-lantern." A Jack-o'-lantern!" said Rollo; "what is a Jacko'-lantern ?" "Did you rever see one?" asked Jonas. "No," said Rollo; "what is it?"

4. "Why, you take a pumpkin and scoop out all the inside; then you cut eyes and nose and mouth in it; at night you put a candle inside and carry it out in the dark, and it makes a great grinning face of fire.'

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5. "But what a curious name! Why is it called so?" "I do not know; but I suppose the name means Jack-with-a-lantern, or a 'man with a lantern,' for Jack is used as a sort of nickname for a man.

6. “Oh, Jonas, may I make one out of this green pumpkin?” "Yes, you may do so. First bring the pumpkin to me; I will mark it for you."

7. Rollo brought the pumpkin, and Jonas, taking out his knife, marked a circle just below and all round the stem.

8. "There," said he; "that is for the cap. Now you must get a case-knife and make a deep cut all around this mark; then the cap will come off if you pull it by the handle. Then dig out the inside with an old iron spoon, leaving the shell about as thick as your finger."

9. Rollo got the knife and spoon; then, seat

ing himself on a log in the yard, he proceeded to make his Jack-o'-lantern, while Jonas went off to his work in the garden.

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10. Before Rollo had quite completed his plaything he became tired, and concluded to leave it a little while and go and look for Jonas.

11. "Well, Rollo, have you finished the Jacko'-lantern?" "No," replied Rollo; "I was tired; so I thought I would come and help you work and ask you to tell me a story."

12. "I do not think of any story just now, but

I can give you some advice." "Very well," said Rollo; "give me some advice."

13. "I will tell you two rules my old schoolmaster used to teach me. - one for work and one for play. His rule for work was this:

'What is once begun

Must always be done.'"

14. Rollo laughed at hearing this rule, and asked if all his old master's rules were in poetry. 15. "His second rule," continued. Jonas, "was for play. It was this:

'When you have done your play

Pat all your things away."

16. "I think this is an excellent rule," said Rollo; "for children often lose their playthings by leaving them about when they have done playing. I never leave my things ying about." 17. "Indeed!" said Jonas. "Where is your Jack-o'-lantern? Have you put that away?" "No; but that is not finished yet."

18. "Then you have broken beth of my old master's rules. You have left your work unfinished because you were tired of it, and you did not put away your playthings when you had done with them. Now let us go home." They walked toward the house.

19. "Rollo! Rollo! see there!" ex claimed Jonas as soon as they came in sight of the yard. Rollo

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