MR. BROWN, THE SHOEMAKER. "Of course you know Mr. Brown's shoe-shop; it is the principal shop in the town." Ion. "I know it; Cousin Anne showed it to me the other day, and said that all her shoes were bought there." "So they are. I remember when Mr. Brown came to live in the town. There was an old shop in the London-road which had been shut up for many years; and one day, as I passed, I saw that it was opened, and that there was in the window a model of a foot with corns on it; there was also a board with 'REPAIRS NEATLY EXECUTED written upon it. "A great many people were glad to see the new shop, for before, John Welt, of the High Street, was the only shoemaker in the town. "But John Welt did not like the new shop; he said that he had been able hitherto to make and mend all the shoes, and he did not want any help. Everybody, however, did not think so. It was found that Brown repaired shoes very neatly, and did not charge so much as John Welt; besides, he was more civil, so that he very soon had plenty of work to do. "Brown soon found out that he was not liked. When he came to the town he called on Mr. Welt, and said that he should be very glad to help him whenever he could be of service; but he did not meet with a civil reply. Brown, however, kept his temper; whenever he met Mr.Welt in the street he greeted him with a friendly nod; but Welt, instead of replying, would turn away his head. Still Brown determined to be civil to him; and one day, as they met in a narrow lane, he stopped to speak to him. But it was of no use; Mr. Welt was only more rude than before. "Welt had made up his mind that he wouldn't like Brown, and when he went home he told his wife so. 'If he thinks he will gain anything by being civil to me,' he said, he is mistaken.' "The next day John Welt was in his shop, and Mr. Speller, the master of the National School, was also there, being measured for some boots, when a little girl entered, with a message from Brown. "If you please, sir,' she said meekly, father says could you oblige him with some patent leather like this; he has not any left.' "John Welt felt rather sur there. I am afraid that he is a bad man-very bad.' "The schoolmaster began to think so too; he was the parish clerk as well as a teacher; and, when he formed an opinion of another man, it was always a most serious question with him whether he went to church or chapel. As he left the shoemaker's house, he determined to make more inquiries about Brown, and, after two or three days, he heard several things which caused him to think that Mr. Brown was' a bad man.' 6 "A few weeks afterwards there were many more people who had the same opinion of Mr. Brown. It was said that there was a great mystery' about him; and he found, to his cost, that many who had been his customers would not now enter his shop." THE FOX AND THE CAT. A FOX and a cat, as they travelled one day, "How great," said the fox, "to make justice our guide!" So onward they journeyed, and moralized still, Till they came where some poultry picked chaff by a mill. And made, spite of morals, a pullet his prize; A mouse just then chanced from her covert to stray, A spider who sat in her web on the wall, The faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame, RECAPITULATION, &c. W. I THINK, papa, that you kingdom is arranged into two are in a difficulty. P. Why, Willie? W. Because, when you began to teach us natural history, you said that the animal kingdom is divided into four sub-kingdoms: 1. Vertebrated animals, You then showed us that the 1st sub-kingdom is divided into four classes 1. Mammals. 2. Birds. 3. Reptiles. 4. Fishes. Now, if you are going to teach us all natural history, we have yet to learn of the three classes of vertebrated animals; afterwards we shall have to learn all the classes in the sub-kingdom, articulated animals; then all the classes in the sub-kingdom, molluscous animals; and, again, all the classes of radiated animals. So I think that you must be in a difficulty; you have only four more numbers of PLEASANT PAGES to publish; how will you print the lessons on all these classes?. P. I will answer your question soon; but let me first show you that we have as much work left undone in our BOTANY lessons. You may remember (see vol. iv., page 52) that the vegetable sub-kingdoms 1. Flowering Plants. 2. Flowerless Plants. You may also remember (see vol. iv., page 281) that the subkingdom flowering plants, are arranged into two classes 1. Plants whose stems grow from within. EXOGENS. 2. Plants with stems growing from without. ENDOGENS. 2. Polypetalous flowers, with "perigynous" stamens (growing from the calyx). CALYCIFLORÆ. 3. Monopetalous flowers. 4. Apetalous flowers. MONOCHLAMIDE. Class 2, ENDOGENS, is divided into two sub-classes 1. Complete flowers. 2. Incomplete flowers. Supposing that we were to study these two classes, exogens and endogens, and the subclasses in each L. And the tribes in each sub-class; and the species and varieties of each tribe. P. Yes; if we were to do that, it would be a work of some years. Even then, you see, we should still leave the second sub-kingdom, the flowerless plants, untouched. Thus you may get a faint idea of the labour we should have before us, if we intended to study natural history thoroughly (or, rather, all that men know of nature). Now, I can get out of the difficulty which Willie spoke of at first. W. How, papa? P. By asking you another question. How can you expect me to give you, in PLEASANT PAGES, the whole history of the animal and vegetable kingdoms? Order 1. CELASTRACEE. Plants resembling the Holly. a (Parts.) 4 or 5 sepals, which are "imbricated"; 4 or 5 petals; 4 or 5 stamens, which alternate with the petals. The disk (or receptacle) is large and fleshy. The ovary contains 3 or 4 cells, and is either one or many seeded (it is immersed in the fleshy disk). In size these plants are mostly "shrubs," and the flowers are not conspicuous. b The varieties are the Holly, the Spindle-tree, the Bladder-nut, &c.; they form the order CELAS c (Uses of this Order.) The berries of the buckthorn produce a bright yellow dye; the juice of the berries forms a strong purgative medicine. Sap green, jujube, &c., is procured from the juice of some species; strong emetics and astringent medicines from the bark; the wood forms the best charcoal for gunpowder. Order 3. LEGUMINOSE. Plants resembling the PEA. a (Parts.) The ovary is the great distinction of this order, having the form of a legume or "pod," such as that of the pea. The pod is one-celled, generally many seeded, and the pistil has a simple stigma and style. In the seeds there is no separate albumen, but the two large fleshy cotyledons, and the embryo, fill up the interior of the seed. The stamens are 10 in number; in some species they are distinct, in others they form one bundle (are "monadelphous"), in others they form two bundles (are diadelphous). The corolla has 5 petals; the calyx has 5 small sepals, united into one tube. In size and form these plants differ very much; they are herbaceous, or shrubby, or are trees; some have twining stems. The leaves are mostly compound, being ternate, pinnate, or bipinnate; some of the leaves have large stipules, two at the base of the petiole, and two at the base of each leaflet; the leaf stalk frequently ends in a tendril. In one division of the order, which contains the pea, scarlet runner, beans, &c., the flowers are papilionaceous (or butterfly shaped); that is to say, the upper petal is large and spreading, and is called the standard; the two lower petals are small, and stand forward, and are called the wings; they partly cover the two lowest petals, which are joined together into a keel. In other divisions of this order the petals spread regularly. b (Varieties.) The principal plants of the order are the Peas, Beans, Lentils, Vetches, Lucerne, Clover, Trefoil, Furze, Heaths, Brooms, Laburnums, Lupins, Tamarinds, Senna, Logwood, Brazilwood, Rosewood, Cassia, Sensitiveplant, &c.; these are arranged in three divisions, and they form the order LEGUMINOSE. e (Uses of this Order.) These plants, which are distributed over all the quarters of the globe, are highly useful to man. (1) The fleshy cotyledons of the peas, beans, lentils, &c., contain albuminous matter called legumin, and thus supply wholesome food. Clover and lucerne afford equally nourishing food for cattle. (2) The pod of the Tamarind contains a fine acid pulp, which is useful as a preserve, or for cooling fever-drinks. (3) Logwood and Indigo yield purple and dark blue dyes. (4) Brazil - wood, Rosewood, &c., afford excellent timber. (5) Senna and Cassia yield valuable medicines. (6) The Acacia tree yields gum arabic. (7) The Laburnum has beautiful flowers. (8) The Sensitive-plant, &c., have interesting peculiarities of structure. P. We will continue the outline of this sub-class in our next lesson. |