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Wilbur Lawton AKA John Henry Goldfrap

The Boy Aviators in Africa

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6905/6905-h/6905-h.htm

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Harry, poking about among the ruins of the deserted camp, had discovered several cans of gasoline that the raiders had overlooked. They formed sufficient fuel with the picric cakes that Frank still had a supply of, to drive the big aeroplane for several hundred miles if the wind conditions were favorable. But leave the river camp the boys dare not, for they realized that if Billy and Lathrop did manage to make their escape, they would, if possible, come back there. True, it was a chance so remote as to appear almost impossible, but under the circumstances even the shadow of a hope seemed to assume substance. And so they waited, and had been waiting, while the stirring events we have related had been happening to their missing chums. As if to add to their oppression, old Sikaso mooned about the camp, his eyes rooted to the ground in moody absorption and muttering to himself, "five go—three come back," till Frank angrily ordered him to stop. The realization that his gloomy prophecy seemed only too likely to be fulfilled, however, did not tend to relieve the situation.

La Nature

The Dodder

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 430

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8484/8484-h/8484-h.htm#17

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These enemies of our agriculture were scarcely to be regarded as injurious not very many years ago, for the reason that their sources of development were wanting. Lucern and clover are comparatively recent introductions into France, at least as forage plants. Other cultures are often sorely tried by the dodder, and what is peculiar is that there are almost always species that are special to such or such a plant, so that the botanist usually knows beforehand how to determine the parasite whose presence is made known to him. Thus, the Cuscuta of flax, called by the French Bourreau du Lin (the flax's executioner), and by the English, flax dodder, grows only upon this textile plant, the crop of which it often ruins. On account of this, botanists call this species Cuscuta epilinum. Others, such as C. Europæa, attack by preference hemp and nettle. Finally, certain species are unfortunately indifferent and take possession of any plant that will nourish them. Of this number is the one that we are about to speak of. Attempts have sometimes been made out of curiosity to cultivate exotic species.

Sarah A. Chrisman

Everyday Life as a Learning Experience

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https://www.commonlit.org/texts/everyday-life-as-a-learning-experience

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Even the clothes we wear every day are scrupulously patterned after Victorian antiques and nineteenth-century fashion plates. Clothes are incredibly intimate. They influence how we move, and at the same time record tiny details about us that seem too mundane to write down — things like whether the items in our pockets are light or heavy, or what we do with our hands when we don't have pockets at all. I sew all my own clothes by hand, and Gabriel's are made for him by a seamstress in Seattle. I'm an author; as with any true writer it's not just my profession but how I experience the world. I keep a diary every day, using an antique mother-of-pearl fountain pen I bought with part of my first book advance. I draft a lot of my manuscripts the same way: I enjoy this tangible connection to my words. (There have been some really interesting studies done showing the human brain processes information more thoroughly when it's written by hand as opposed to typed.) When I take notes from antique books and magazines I use a pencil to avoid dribbling ink on irreplaceable antique volumes.

G. A. Henty

The Paternosters

Among Malay Pirates: And Other Tales Of Adventure And Peril

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7346/7346-h/7346-h.htm#link2H_4_0016

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The wind was full on the Seabird's beam as she entered the broken water. Here and there the dark heads of the rocks showed above the water. These were easy enough to avoid, the danger lay in those hidden beneath its surface, and whose position was indicated only by the occasional break of a sea as it passed over them. Every time the Seabird sank on a wave those on board involuntarily held their breath, but the water here was comparatively smooth, the sea having spent its first force upon the outer reef. With a wave of his hand Tom directed the helmsman as to his course, and the little yacht was admirably handled through the dangers. "I begin to think we shall do it," Tom said to Jack Harvey, who was standing close to him. "Another five minutes and we shall be within reach of her." It could be seen now that there was a group of people clustered in the bow of the wreck. Two or three light lines were coiled in readiness for throwing.

Rabindranath Tagore

THE CASTAWAY

Stories from Tagore

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33525/33525-h/33525-h.htm

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It was hard to tell Nilkanta's age. If it was about fourteen or fifteen, then his face was too old for his years; if seventeen or eighteen, then it was too young. He was either a man too early or a boy too late. The fact was that, joining the theatrical band when very young, he had played the parts of Radhika, Damayanti, and Sita, and a thoughtful Providence so arranged things that he grew to the exact stature that his manager required, and then growth ceased. Since every one saw how small Nilkanta was, and he himself felt small, he did not receive due respect for his years. Causes, natural and artificial, combined to make him sometimes seem immature for seventeen years, and at other times a mere lad of fourteen but far too knowing even for seventeen. And as no sign of hair appeared on his face, the confusion became greater. Either because he smoked or because he used language beyond his years, his lips puckered into lines that showed him to be old and hard; but innocence and youth shone in his large eyes.

FLORENCE HOLBROOK

THE STORY OF THE FIRST GRASSHOPPER.

THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22420/22420-h/22420-h.htm#Page_83

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In a country that is far away there once lived a young man called Tithonus. He was strong and beautiful. Light of heart and light of foot, he hunted the deer or danced and sang the livelong day. Every one who saw him loved him, but the one that loved him most was a goddess named Aurora. Every goddess had her own work, but the work of Aurora was most beautiful of all, for she was the goddess of the morning. It was she who went out to meet the sun and to light up his pathway. She watched over the flowers, and whenever they saw her coming, their colors grew brighter. She loved everything beautiful, and that is why she loved Tithonus. "Many a year have I roamed through this country," she said to herself, "but never have I seen such bright blue eyes as those. O fairest of youths," she cried, "who are you? Some name should be yours that sounds like the wind in the pine trees, or like the song of a bird among the first blossoms."

Adapted by Anna McCaleb

CUPID AND PSYCHE

Journeys Through Bookland V3.

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5902/pg5902-images.html

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Once upon a time, in a far-off country whose exact location no man knows, there lived a king whose chief glory and pride was in his three beautiful daughters. The two elder sisters were sought in marriage by princes, but Psyche, by far the most beautiful of the three, remained at her father's home, unsought. The fact was, she was so lovely that all the people worshiped her as a goddess, while no man felt that he was worthy to ask for her hand. "Shall a mere mortal," they said, "venture to seek the love of Venus, queen of beauty?" When Psyche learned of the name they had given her she was frightened, for she knew well the jealous, vengeful nature of the goddess of beauty. And she did well to fear; for Venus, jealous, angry, was even then plotting her destruction.

Masood A. Shammas, Hira Shammas, Samiyah A. Rajput, Dildar Rajput Ahmad, and Gulzar R. Ahmad

Art Materials Can Be Dangerous! How Can You Reduce Your Risk?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00006

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Metallic compounds and a number of other chemicals can cause damage to the DNA in our body. Our DNA carries the information that guides all the activities being performed in our cells, organs, and bodies. This information is vital and should not be damaged or altered. In a normal cell, if there is any damage to DNA, it is fixed by DNA repair and maintenance systems. However, if a cell or an organ is continuously exposed to a chemical or metallic compound that has ability to damage DNA, then the damage to the DNA becomes excessive. Excessive or continuous damage to DNA is risky because the following things could happen. Some of the damage may be left unrepaired, causing changes in the information carried by the DNA or if this damage occurs in the regions of DNA where repair genes are located, the repair system could become either defective or overactive. Both of these problems can lead to a further increase in the number of changes in the DNA.

G. K. Chesterton

The Flying Stars

THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/204/204-h/204-h.htm

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The winter afternoon was reddening towards evening, and already a ruby light was rolled over the bloomless beds, filling them, as it were, with the ghosts of the dead roses. On one side of the house stood the stable, on the other an alley or cloister of laurels led to the larger garden behind. The young lady, having scattered bread for the birds (for the fourth or fifth time that day, because the dog ate it), passed unobtrusively down the lane of laurels and into a glimmering plantation of evergreens behind. Here she gave an exclamation of wonder, real or ritual, and looking up at the high garden wall above her, beheld it fantastically bestridden by a somewhat fantastic figure. "Oh, don't jump, Mr. Crook," she called out in some alarm; "it's much too high." The individual riding the party wall like an aerial horse was a tall, angular young man, with dark hair sticking up like a hair brush, intelligent and even distinguished lineaments, but a sallow and almost alien complexion.

Genie H. Rosenfeld

Invention and Discovery

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It No. 16

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15326/15326-h/15326-h.htm

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A great sea monster has been washed ashore on the coast of Florida, and men who study natural history are much interested in it. What is left of the creature is said to weigh eight tons, and no one can tell exactly what kind of a fish it is, because it appears to have been tossed by the waves for a long time, and has been partly destroyed by them. Those people who have seen it think that it is a kind of cuttlefish, but that the arms, or tentacles, as they are called, have been broken away from it. These arms must have been from one to two hundred feet long. It is now only a huge body without much shape to it. Photographs and careful descriptions of it have been sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and to Yale College, and the scientific men there expect to be able to decide what it is by comparing it with other known kinds of mollusks.

Uncle Sam

THE YOUNG LAMPLIGHTER

The Nursery, May 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 5 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28133/28133-h/28133-h.htm#Page_129

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Wallace, being a small boy, calls to his aid his father's saddle-horse. This horse is a kind, gentle creature, and as wise as he is kind. He and Wallace are about the same age, and have always been good friends. So when Wallace puts the saddle on him every evening, just before dark, the horse knows just what is going to be done. He looks at the boy with his great bright eyes, as much as to say, "We have our evening work to do, haven't we, Wallace? Well, I'm ready: jump on." Wallace mounts the horse; and they go straight to the nearest lamp-post. Here the horse stops close by the post, and stands as still and steady as the post itself. Then Wallace stands upright on the saddle, takes a match from his pocket, lights the lamp, drops quickly into his seat again, takes up the bridle, gives the word to the horse, and on they go to the next lamp-post.

Frederick Douglass

Letter from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/letter-from-frederick-douglass-to-harriet-tubman

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You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day – you in the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt, "God bless you," has been your only reward. The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have. Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you. It is to me a great pleasure and a great privilege to bear testimony for your character and your works, and to say to those to whom you may come, that I regard you in every way truthful and trustworthy.

Lesley Koyi, Brian Wambi

Day I left home for the city

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/#

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The city bus was almost full, but more people were still pushing to get on. Some packed their luggage under the bus. Others put their things on the racks inside. New passengers clutched their tickets as they looked for somewhere to sit in the crowded bus. Women with young children made them comfortable for the long journey. I squeezed in next to a window. The person sitting next to me was holding tightly to a green plastic bag. He wore old sandals, a worn-out coat, and he looked nervous. I looked outside the bus and realized that I was leaving my village, the place where I had grown up. I was going to the big city. The loading was completed and all passengers were seated. Hawkers still pushed their way into the bus to sell their goods to the passengers. Each one was shouting the names of what was available for sale. The words sounded funny to me. A few passengers bought drinks, others bought small snacks and began to chew.

Marcel Deprez

ON AN ELECTRIC POWER HAMMER

Scientific American Supplement, Nos. 362

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8687/8687-h/8687-h.htm#18

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The iron cylinder weighs 23 kilogrammes; but, when the current has an intensity of 43 amperes and traverses 15 sections, the stress developed may reach 70 kilogrammes; that is to say, three times the weight of the hammer. So this latter obeys with absolute docility the motions of the operator's hands, as those who were present at the lecture were enabled to see. I will incidentally add that this power hammer was placed on a circuit derived from one that served likewise to supply three Hefner-Alteneck machines (Siemens D5 model) and a Gramme machine (Breguet model P.L.). Each of these machines was making 1,500 revolutions per minute and developing 25 kilogrammeters per second, measured by means of a Carpentier brake. All these apparatuses were operating with absolute independence, and had for generators the double excitation machine that figured at the Exhibition of Electricity. In an experiment made since then, I have succeeded in developing in each of these four machines 50 kilogrammeters per second, whatever was the number of those that were running; and I found it possible to add the hammer on a derived circuit without notably affecting the operation of the receivers.

Giacomo Rizzolatti; Fausto Caruana

How Do We Feel the Emotions of Others?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00036

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Surprisingly, one of the most important mechanisms that we use to understand and react to others' emotions is not really all that complicated: it depends on the activity of parts of the brain usually involved in the control of our own actions and emotions. In the 1990s, researchers discovered that when we observe another person performing an action, this event is detected by both the visual part of the brain and also the motor part, i.e., the part of the brain that typically controls our movements. The motor system is equipped with specific neurons (brain cells) that have a double function. Like other neurons in the motor part of the brain, motor neurons help us perform our own actions, such as grasping a glass of water. However, different from other neurons in the motor part of the brain, these neurons are also activated when we observe the same actions performed by others! Since these neurons mirror the observed action of another person in our own motor system, they are called "mirror neurons".

wikipedia

Post-classical_history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-classical_history

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History

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Finally, communication and trade across Afro-Eurasia increased rapidly. The Silk Road continued to spread cultures and ideas through trade and throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. Trade networks were established between West Europe, Byzantium, early Russia, the Islamic Empires, and the Far Eastern civilizations. In Africa the earlier introduction of the Camel allowed for a new and eventually large trans-Saharan trade, which connected Sub-Saharan West Africa to Eurasia. The Islamic Empires adopted many Greek, Roman, and Indian advances and spread them through the Islamic sphere of influence, allowing these developments to reach Europe, North and West Africa, and Central Asia. Islamic sea trade helped connect these areas, including those in the Indian Ocean and in the Mediterranean, replacing Byzantium in the latter region. The Christian Crusades into the Middle East (as well as Muslim Spain and Sicily) brought Islamic science, technology, and goods to Western Europe.

French Foreign Office

ATROCITIES OF THE WAR - PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY

The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16331/16331-h/16331-h.htm#ATROCITIES_OF_THE_WAR

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You are not mistaken in believing that the people of this country love justice, seek the true paths of progress, and have a passionate regard for the rights of humanity. It is a matter of profound pride to me that I am permitted for a time to represent such a people and to be their spokesman, and I am proud that your King should have turned to me in time of distress as to one who would wish on behalf of the people he represents to consider the claims to the impartial sympathy of mankind of a nation which deems itself wronged. I thank you for the document you have put in my hands containing the result of an investigation made by a judicial committee appointed by the Belgian Government to look into the matter of which you have come to speak. It shall have my utmost attentive perusal and my most thoughtful consideration. You will, I am sure, not expect me to say more. Presently, I pray God very soon, this war will be over.

Edith Wharton

The House of Mirth

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/284/284-h/284-h.htm

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On the threshold he paused a moment, feeling for his latchkey. "There's no one here; but I have a servant who is supposed to come in the mornings, and it's just possible he may have put out the tea-things and provided some cake." He ushered her into a slip of a hall hung with old prints. She noticed the letters and notes heaped on the table among his gloves and sticks; then she found herself in a small library, dark but cheerful, with its walls of books, a pleasantly faded Turkey rug, a littered desk and, as he had foretold, a tea-tray on a low table near the window. A breeze had sprung up, swaying inward the muslin curtains, and bringing a fresh scent of mignonette and petunias from the flower-box on the balcony. Lily sank with a sigh into one of the shabby leather chairs.

Mara L. Pratt.

THE LITTLE FERN.

De La Salle Fifth Reader

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10811/10811-h/10811-h.htm

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A great many centuries ago, when the earth was even more beautiful than it is now, there grew in one of the many valleys a dainty little fern leaf. All around the tiny plant were many others, but none of them so graceful and delicate as this one I tell you of. Every day the cheery breezes sought out their playmate, and the merry sunbeams darted in and out, playing hide-and-seek among reeds and rushes; and when the twilight shadows deepened, and the sunbeams had all gone away, the little fern curled itself up for the night with only the dewdrops for company. So day after day went by: and no one knew of, or found the sweet wild fern, or the beautiful valley it grew in. But - for this was a very long time ago - a great change took place in the earth; and rocks and soil were upturned, and the rivers found new channels to flow in.

Edwin C Taylor

A Chat about Pottery

St. Nicholas Magazine Volume 5 No. 2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15373/15373-h/15373-h.htm#pottery

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When the lads reached home they told their plan to Willie's sister Matie, and then all three determined to carry it out. "Rap-a-tap, tap," sounded briskly at the library door after supper. "Come in," was the response, and in bounded the three children, their faces lighted up with smiles at the prospect of spending an evening with Uncle Jack. "Welcome, youngsters," said he, in a cheery tone. "But you look as if you were expecting something; what is it?" "Oh, Uncle Jack, we want you to tell us all about pottery," cried the boys. "Yes, please do," chimed in Matie. "All about pottery? Why, my dear children, that's very like asking me to tell you all about the whole world, for a complete history of one would be almost a history of the other; and I could hardly do that, you know," said Uncle Jack, with a smile. "Willie said you could talk about pottery all night," cried Matie. "And so I might, dear, and not get further than the ABC of its history, after all," answered Uncle Jack.

MARY DEY

SAM AND HIS GOATS

The Nursery, August 1881, Vol. XXX A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42157/42157-h/42157-h.htm#Page_234

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One day, when Sam was playing in the yard, his papa came driving home from town, with something tied in the bottom of the wagon. When he saw Sam, he stopped the horse and called, "Sam, come here, I have something for you." Sam ran there as fast as he could, and—what do you think?—papa lifted two little goats out of the wagon, and put them down on the ground. One goat was black and one was white. Sam was so glad he did not know what to to do. He just jumped up and down with delight. Then the dog Jack came running out to see the goats too; but he did not like them much. He barked at them as hard as he could; but the goats did not mind him at all. Pretty soon mamma came to see what Sam had. When she saw the goats, she said, "Why, papa, what will become of us if we have two goats on the place?" But she was glad because Sam was glad; and Sam gave his papa about a hundred kisses to thank him for the goats.

T. von Bethmann-Hollweg

England Caused the War

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18880/18880-h/18880-h.htm#England_Caused_the_War

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We are not yet at the end of our sacrifices. The nation will continue to support those sacrifices with the same heroism as hitherto, for we must and will fight to a successful end our defensive war for right and freedom. We will then remember how our defenseless compatriots in hostile countries were maltreated in a manner which is a disgrace to all civilization. The world must learn that no one can hurt a hair on the head of a German subject with impunity. It is evident to us who is responsible for this—the greatest of all wars. The apparent responsibility falls on those in Russia who ordered and carried out the mobilization of the Russian Army; the real responsibility, however, falls on the British Government. The Cabinet in London could have made the war impossible if it had without ambiguity declared at Petrograd that Great Britain would not allow a Continental war to develop from the Austro-Serbian conflict.

AMY STEEDMAN

KNIGHTS OF ART STORIES OF THE ITALIAN PAINTERS

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/529/529-h/529-h.htm

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It was more than six hundred years ago that a little peasant baby was born in the small village of Vespignano, not far from the beautiful city of Florence, in Italy. The baby's father, an honest, hard-working countryman, was called Bondone, and the name he gave to his little son was Giotto. Life was rough and hard in that country home, but the peasant baby grew into a strong, hardy boy, learning early what cold and hunger meant. The hills which surrounded the village were grey and bare, save where the silver of the olive-trees shone in the sunlight, or the tender green of the shooting corn made the valley beautiful in early spring. In summer there was little shade from the blazing sun as it rode high in the blue sky, and the grass which grew among the grey rocks was often burnt and brown. But, nevertheless, it was here that the sheep of the village would be turned out to find what food they could, tended and watched by one of the village boys.

Major Commandant Dieckmann

PROCLAMATION POSTED AT GRIVEGNEE, Sept. 8, 1914

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20521/20521-h/20521-h.htm#Why_Belgium_Was_Devastated

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Before the 6th of September, 1914, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, all arms, munitions, explosives, and fireworks which are still in the hands of the citizens must be surrendered at the Château des Bruyeres. Those who do not obey will render themselves liable to the death penalty. They will be shot on the spot, or given military execution, unless they can prove their innocence. All inhabitants of houses in Beyne-Heusay, Grivegnee, Bois de Greux, and Fleron must remain at home after sunset, (at present 7 o'clock P.M., German time.) The aforesaid houses must be lighted as long as any one remains up. The entrance door must be shut. Those who do not conform to the regulations expose themselves to severe penalties. Any resistance to these orders will be followed by sentence of death. The Commandant should meet no opposition whatever in these domiciliary visits. Each inhabitant must open all the rooms of his house without even a summons. Whoever makes any opposition will be severely punished.

Mike Kubic

Napoleon Bonaparte

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/napoleon-bonaparte

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There is no question about Napoleon's overwhelming, single-minded, and for a time triumphant drive to expand his power and rule all of Europe. He set out on that quest already as a young lieutenant in the French Army when, following the 1792 fall of the French monarchy, he left his native Corsica and moved to Paris. A member of a low-ranking nobility, he made allies with important leaders of the French Revolution and was quickly promoted to general. In 1795, he won his first battle by defeating a royalist uprising, and the same year he fought against the armies of Austria and Italy. He later told an aide that after one of his early victories, "I no longer considered myself a mere general, but a man called upon to decide the fate of peoples." Napoleon was 26 years old, and the way he answered his calling was by fighting what one biographer called a series of "unnecessary wars." In 1798, he persuaded the revolutionary Directorate that ruled the French Republic to put him in charge of an ambitious expedition to Egypt and Syria.

simple wiki

Software

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software

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Technology

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Computer software (often called just software) is a set of instructions and associated documentation that tells a computer what to do or how to perform a task or it can mean all the software on a computer, including the applications and the operating system. Applications are programs that do a specific thing, such as a game or a word processor. The operating system (Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, etc.) is software that helps the applications run, and controls the display and the keyboard. The word software was first used in the late 1960s to show the difference from computer hardware, which are the parts of a machine that can be seen and touched. Software is the instructions that the computer follows. Before compact discs (CDs) or Internet downloads, software came on various computer data storage media like paper punch cards, magnetic discs or magnetic tape.

Isaac Asimov

Youth

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31547/31547-h/31547-h.htm

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The swaying had come to a halt and it was dark. The Explorer was not comfortable in the alien air. It felt as thick as soup and he had to breathe shallowly. Even so— He reached out in a sudden need for company. The Merchant was warm to the touch. His breathing was rough, he moved in an occasional spasm, and was obviously asleep. The Explorer hesitated and decided not to wake him. It would serve no real purpose. There would be no rescue, of course. That was the penalty paid for the high profits which unrestrained competition could lead to. The Merchant who opened a new planet could have a ten-year monopoly of its trade, which he might hug to himself or, more likely, rent out to all comers at a stiff price. It followed that planets were searched for in secrecy and, preferably, away from the usual trade routes. In a case such as theirs, then, there was little or no chance that another ship would come within range of their subetherics except for the most improbable of coincidences. Even if they were in their ship, that is, rather than in this—this—cage.

M.

WHY WOULDN'T THE KITE FLY?

The Nursery, February 1881, Vol. XXIX A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40753/40753-h/40753-h.htm#Page_45

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Jack and Fred sat on the steps, trying to think of something to do. They had spent their morning in digging wells and ditches in the sand; for it was vacation-time, and they were living down by the sea. Just before dinner they had been in bathing. Since dinner they had been over in the fields, picking up long feathery grasses to put in mamma's vases. And now, what should they do next? At last, Jack thought it would be fine fun to make a large kite, much larger than any they had ever seen. Fred said he would help; and off they ran to get sticks, tacks, paper, paste, and string, so as to have every thing ready. When they could think of nothing else that was needed, they set to work. Jack cut and tacked the sticks together, just as the smaller ones were in his little old kite; while Fred cut the papers, and made the tail.

F. A. B.

GRANDMA'S STORY

The Nursery, September 1877, Vol. XXII, No. 3 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28137/28137-h/28137-h.htm#Page_88

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I am only five years old; but I have a great deal of trouble. Papa pulls my ears, and calls me a sad rogue; brother Tom asks me every night what new mischief I have been up to today; and poor mamma sighs, and says I am the most troublesome child she ever saw. But dear good grandma looks up from her knitting, and smiles as she says, "Tut, tut, daughter! Our Amy isn't any worse than a little girl I knew some thirty years ago." "O grandma!" cried I one day, "do please tell me about her; for I like to hear about naughty little girls. What was her name, grandma?" Grandma looked over her spectacles at mamma and smiled, and mamma nodded and smiled back. Then grandma said, "I think I will tell you of one of little Clara's capers; but mind, you are not to go and do the same thing the first chance you get."

Logan Marshall

LITTLE SNOW-WHITE

Favorite Fairy Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20748/20748-h/20748-h.htm#snow

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Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the clouds, a Queen sat at her palace window, which had an ebony black frame, stitching her husband's shirts. While she was thus engaged and looking out at the snow she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. Now the red looked so well upon the white that she thought to herself, "Oh, that I had a child as white as this snow, as red as this blood, and as black as the wood of this frame!" Soon afterwards a little daughter came to her, who was as white as snow, and with cheeks as red as blood, and with hair as black as ebony, and from this she was named "Snow-White." And at the same time her mother died.

Jefferson Davis

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 1

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19831/19831-h/19831-h.htm

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Usurpations of the Federal Government have been presented, not in a spirit of hostility, but as a warning to the people against the dangers by which their liberties are beset. When the war ceased, the pretext on which it had been waged could no longer be alleged. The emancipation proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, which, when it was issued, he humorously admitted to be a nullity, had acquired validity by the action of the highest authority known to our institutions—the people assembled in their several State Conventions. The soldiers of the Confederacy had laid down their arms, had in good faith pledged themselves to abstain from further hostile operations, and had peacefully dispersed to their homes; there could not, then, have been further dread of them by the Government of the United States. The plea of necessity could, therefore, no longer exist for hostile demonstration against the people and States of the deceased Confederacy. Did vengeance, which stops at the grave, subside? Did real peace and the restoration of the States to their former rights and positions follow, as was promised on the restoration of the Union?

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Enemies from Within' Speech

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/enemies-from-within-speech

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Six years ago, at the time of the first conference to map out peace — Dumbarton Oaks — there was within the Soviet orbit 180 million people. Lined up on the anti-totalitarian side there were in the world at that time roughly 1.625 billion people. Today, only six years later, there are 800 million people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia — an increase of over 400 percent. On our side, the figure has shrunk to around 500 million. In other words, in less than six years the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in our favor to 8 to 5 against us. This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of communist victories and American defeats in the Cold War. As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, "When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without but rather because of enemies from within." The truth of this statement is becoming terrifyingly clear as we see this country each day losing on every front. At war's end we were physically the strongest nation on Earth and, at least potentially, the most powerful intellectually and morally.

Mary MacGregor

HYNDE ETIN

Stories from the Ballads Told to the Children

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22175/22175-h/22175-h.htm#HYNDE_ETIN

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Then the little young Etin, for that was the name of Margaret's eldest son, took his mother's hand and called his six little brothers, and together they went through Elmond wood as fast as ever they could go. It may be that the mother led the way, it may be that so it chanced, but soon they had left the greenwood far behind and stood on an open heath. And there, before them, stood a castle. Margaret looked and Margaret smiled. She knew she was standing once again before her father's gate. She took three rings from her pocket and gave them to her eldest wee boy. 'Give one,' she said, 'to the porter. He is proud, but so he sees the ring, he will open the gate and let you enter. 'Give another to the butler, my little wee son, and he will show you where ye are to go.

Boston Cultivator

THE CROW

Scientific American Supplement, No. 385

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8950/8950-h/8950-h.htm

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Crows, said Dr. Riggs, have no crop, like a great many carnivorous birds. The passage leading from the mouth goes directly to the gizzard, something like the duck. The duck has no crop, yet the passage leading from the mouth to the gizzard in the duck becomes considerably enlarged. In the crow there is no enlargement of this passage, and everything passes directly into the gizzard, where it is digested. Dr. Riggs had raised corn and watched the operations of the crows. Going upon the field in less than a minute after the crows had left it, he found they had pulled the corn, hill after hill, marching from one hill to the other. Not until the corn had become softened and had come up would they attack it. In the fall they would come in droves on to a field of corn, where it is in stacks, pick out the corn from the husks, and put it into their gizzards. They raid robins' nests and swallows' nests, devouring eggs and young birds.

Eugene Field.

The First Christmas Tree

De La Salle Fifth Reader

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10811/10811-h/10811-h.htm

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Once upon a time the Forest was in a great commotion. Early in the evening the wise old Cedars had shaken their heads and told of strange things that were to happen. They had lived in the Forest many, many years; but never had they seen such marvelous sights as were to be seen now in the sky, and upon the hills, and in the distant village. "Pray tell us what you see," pleaded a little Vine. "We who are not so tall as you can behold none of these wonderful things." "The whole sky seems to be aflame," said one of the Cedars, "and the Stars appear to be dancing among the clouds; angels walk down from heaven to the earth and talk with the shepherds upon the hills." The Vine trembled with excitement. Its nearest neighbor was a tiny tree, so small it was scarcely ever noticed; yet it was a very beautiful little tree, and the Vines and Ferns and Mosses loved it very dearly.

W. T. Stead

The Lake of Gems

Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19461/19461-h/19461-h.htm#The_Lake_of_Gems

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Chang-ngan was the old capital of China, a very great city indeed, and Pin-Too, the master to whom Pei-Hang was sent was the wisest man in it. And there Pei-Hang soon learned what the world was thinking about, and many things besides. And as soon as he was eighteen he took the red silk out of his pigtail and the silver chain from his neck; for grown-up people do not need charms to protect them from the Genii—they can generally protect themselves. When he was twenty, Pin-Too told him he could not teach him any more. "It is time for you to go back to your parents, and comfort them in their old age," he said. He looked very sorry as he said it, for Pei-Hang had been his favourite pupil. "I will start tomorrow, Master," replied Pei-Hang, obediently. "I will leave the city by the Golden Bridge." "No, you must go by the Indigo Bridge, for there you will meet your future wife," said Pin-Too. "I was not thinking of a wife," observed Pei-Hang, with some dismay. And Pin-Too wrinkled up his eyes and laughed.

Edgar Allan Poe

Eleonora

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/eleonora

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Yet the promises of Eleonora were not forgotten; for I heard the sounds of the swinging of the censers of the angels; and streams of a holy perfume floated ever and ever about the valley; and at lone hours, when my heart beat heavily, the winds that bathed my brow came unto me laden with soft sighs; and indistinct murmurs filled often the night air, and once— oh, but once only! I was awakened from a slumber, like the slumber of death, by the pressing of spiritual lips upon my own. But the void within my heart refused, even thus, to be filled. I longed for the love which had before filled it to overflowing. At length the valley pained me through its memories of Eleonora, and I left it forever for the vanities and the turbulent triumphs of the world. I found myself within a strange city, where all things might have served to blot from recollection the sweet dreams I had dreamed so long in the Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. The pomps and pageantries of a stately court, and the mad clangor of arms, and the radiant loveliness of women, bewildered and intoxicated my brain.

Mahatma Gandhi

Freedom's Battle

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10366/10366-h/10366-h.htm

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Mr. Gandhi in moving his resolution on the creed before the Congress, said, "The resolution which I have the honor to move is as follows: The object of the Indian National Congress is the attainment of Swarajya by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means." There are only two kinds of objections, so far as I understand, that will be advanced from this platform. One is that we may not today think of dissolving the British connection. What I say is that it is derogatory to national dignity to think of permanence of British connection at any cost. We are laboring under a grievous wrong, which it is the personal duty of every Indian to get redressed. This British Government not only refused to redress the wrong, but it refuses to acknowledge its mistake and so long as it retains its attitude, it is not possible for us to say all that we want to be or all that we want to get, retaining British connection.

Martin Pienkowski

Music is Good for Your Brain, but Don’t Blast it

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2015.00008

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The human brain is arguably the most complex structure known to science. A century ago, the German Korbinian Brodmann made the first serious attempt at cataloging this complexity. He divided the cerebral cortex, the biggest and uniquely mammalian part of the brain, into about 50 regions based on their anatomical appearance. These are now known as "Brodmann areas." In modern neuroscience, we understand that some of these anatomical regions have similar functions, while others play multiple roles. For example, Brodmann areas 39, 40, and part of 22 together make up "Wernicke's area," named after Carl Wernicke, another German. Wernicke's area is crucial for our seemingly effortless ability to make sense of words (as well as other forms of communication, such as sign language). When scientists first studied brains, they noticed that some parts were a bit darker in appearance than others, and called these "gray matter" and "white matter." We now know that gray matter is made up of billions of nerve cells or neurons. White matter consists of the neural cables or axons that connect different brain regions.

simple wiki

Liquid_crystal_display

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display

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The LCD uses technology called electro-optical modulation. This means it uses electricity to change how much light passes through it. Each pixel (block) of an LCD is made of a thin layer of molecules between two electrodes and two polarizing filters. The electrodes provide electric power to the liquid crystal layer, and don't block the light. Light travels with 'polarity' or direction, and a polarizing filter only lets light with one kind of polarity to go through it, like trying to slide a ruler through a narrow opening. Only when the ruler is lined up right, will it fit. These two filters are perpendicular to one another, so the narrow openings are in different directions. This means that without the liquid crystals between them, they would block all light from passing through – whatever light gets through the first filter will not fit through the second filter

Melissa R. L. Whitaker and Bonnie J. Stolzmann

Species Interactions and Ants

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00053

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Many interactions between species have winners and losers: one individual benefits, and the other one suffers. These are called negative species interactions. For example, predation is a type of species interaction in which one organism (a predator) eats another organism (the prey)—this is good for the predator but very bad for the prey! Different ant species can eat many different things, and some ants are important predators. Predatory ants often eat other insects like termites and caterpillars, while other ants eat only plants or fungus. Megaponera ants have only one food—termites—and these ants organize huge hunts in which worker ants infiltrate termite colonies, capture as many termites as they can carry, and bring the termites back to the ant nest to feed to their larvae. But even though many ants are predators, they can also be prey for other animals. Lots of animals like to eat ants: birds, ant eaters, even humans in some parts of the world! An animal that eats ants is called a myrmecophagous animal. The authors of this paper have eaten ant larvae that were specially prepared, and we can confirm that they are both delicious and nutritious.

J. W. SPENCER, B.A.Sc., Ph.D., F.G.S., Professor of Geology in the State University of Missouri.

THE ANCIENT MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES

Scientific American Supplement, No. 384

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8862/8862-h/8862-h.htm

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Throughout the third great geological Time--the Mesozoic--these rivers grew in importance, and the lowest portions of the Missouri began to form a tributary of some size. Still the Ohio had not united with the Mississippi, and both of these rivers emptied into an arm of the Mexican Gulf, which then reached to a short distance above what is now their junction. In point of time, the Ohio is probably older than the Mississippi, but the latter river grew and eventually absorbed the Ohio as a tributary. In the early part of the fourth great geological Time--the Cenozoic--nearly the whole continent was above water. Still the Gulf of Mexico covered a considerable portion of the extreme Southern States, and one of its bays extended as far north as the mouth of the Ohio, which had not yet become a tributary of the Mississippi. The Missouri throughout its entire length was at this time a flowing river.

Alisha Berger

A Day at the Carnival

https://www.digitallibrary.io/en/books/details/3764

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It's carnival day. Hooray! shouts Little Mouse. Hooray! shouts Littler Mouse. Hooray! shouts Tiny Mouse. They plan to ride every ride! "But don't lose me!" Tiny Mouse tells his brothers. They race each other on toy cars. They go up and down on the merry-go-round. They ride the winding caterpillar coaster. They take a spin on the Ferris wheel.The brothers walk to the balloon cart and they each buy a balloon. One balloon, two balloons... "Wait, where is Tiny Mouse? " Little Mouse and Littler Mouse run to the toy cars. Tiny Mouse isn't there. They run to the merry-go-round. Tiny Mouse isn't there. They run to the caterpillar coaster. Tiny Mouse isn't there, either. They run to the Ferris wheel. Thank goodness! The Little Mice each buy a glass of sugarcane juice. One glass, two glasses, three glasses!

Louisa de la Ramé (AKA Ouida)

Bebee

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13912/pg13912-images.html

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It was a pretty little hut, pink all over like a sea-shell, in the fashion that the Netherlanders love; and its two little square lattices were dark with creeping plants and big rose-bushes, and its roof, so low that you could touch it, was golden and green with all the lichens and stoneworts that are known on earth. Here Bébée grew from year to year; and soon learned to be big enough and hardy enough to tie up bunches of stocks and pinks for the market, and then to carry a basket for herself, trotting by Antoine's side along the green roadway and into the white, wide streets; and in the market the buyers—most often of all when they were young mothers—would seek out the little golden head and the beautiful frank blue eyes, and buy Bébée's lilies and carnations whether they wanted them or not. So that old Mäes used to cross himself and say that, thanks to Our Lady, trade was thrice as stirring since the little one had stretched out her rosy fingers with the flowers.

Percival Gibbon

The First Fight at Lodz

The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16363/16363-h/16363-h.htm

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Warsaw, Dec. 5, (by Courier to Petrograd.)—I have wired you previously of the German force which advanced around Lodz and was cut off south and east of the town. This consisted of two army corps—the Twenty-fifth Corps and the Third Guard Corps. The isolated force turned north and endeavored to cut its way out through the small town of Breziziny. It was at Breziziny that final disaster overtook them. The town and road lie in a hollow in the midst of wooded country, where the Germans were squeezed from the Vistula and pressed to the rear. They had fought a battle during the slow retirement of five days and were showing signs of being short of ammunition. On the fifth day they made their final attempt to pass through Breziziny. That was where that fine strategist and fighting man who held Ivangorod on the Vistula brought off the great dramatic coup for which he had been maneuvering.

Mrs. Dinah M. Craik

Brownie and the Cook

Junior Classics, Vol 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6577/pg6577-images.html

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Immediately Brownie changed himself into the smallest mouse possible; and, taking care not to make the least noise, gnawed a hole in the door, and squeezed himself through, immediately turning into his proper shape again, for fear of accidents. The kitchen fire was at its last glimmer; but it showed a better supper than even last night, for the Cook had had friends with her—a brother and two cousins—and they had been exceedingly merry. The food they had left behind was enough for three Brownies at least, but this one managed to eat it all up. Only once, in trying to cut a great slice of beef, he let the carving-knife and fork fall with such a clatter that Tiny, the terrier, who was tied up at the foot of the stairs, began to bark furiously. However, he brought her her puppy, which had been left in a basket in a corner of the kitchen, and so succeeded in quieting her. After that he enjoyed himself amazingly, and made more marks than ever on the white tablecloth; for he began jumping about like a pea on a trencher, in order to make his particularly large supper agree with him.

IRENE ELLIOTT BENSON

Ethel Hollister's Second Summer as a Campfire Girl

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14169/pg14169-images.html

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The next morning Ethel Hollister walked up to Barnard and put in her application for admittance. The following week upon her first examination she failed, but she entered the class with conditions. The girl studied hard and soon made good. She liked the girls of her class. They were intelligent, athletic, and agreeable. Her former friends and companions from La Rue's declared that of late—in fact, since she had become a Camp Fire Girl—Ethel Hollister had developed fads. This Barnard was one. But as Ethel kept on steadily progressing in college, and she was so very young—not yet seventeen—people began to consider her a girl of great ability and intelligence. Mrs. Hollister grew to be proud of hearing her praised on every side and Archibald seemed less worried over money matters. She was rather glad that things had changed. Perhaps it was all for the best, and people would respect them no less.

Richard Harding Davis

Cuba in War Time

http://www.online-literature.com/richard-davis/cuba/

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There had been a full moon the night when the squad of soldiers marched out from town it was still shining brightly through the mists, although it was past five o'clock. It lighted a plain two miles in extent broken by ridges and gullies and covered with thick, high grass and with bunches of cactus and palmetto. In the hollow of the ridges the mist lay like broad lakes of water, and on one side of the plain stood the walls of the old town. On the other rose hills covered with royal palms that showed white in the moonlight, like hundreds of marble columns. A line of tiny camp fires that the sentries had built during the night stretched between the forts at regular intervals and burned brightly. But as the light grew stronger, and the moonlight faded, these were stamped out, and when the soldiers came in force the moon was a white ball in the sky, without radiance, the fires had sunk to ashes, and the sun had not yet risen.

IDA FAY

FEEDING THE SWANS IN WINTER

The Nursery, March 1881, Vol. XXIX A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40754/40754-h/40754-h.htm#Page_72

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It is a cold day in February. The icicles hang from the trees. The pond is partly frozen over. Mary and her dog Pug have come down to take a look at the swans. The swans are often fed by girls and boys in the summer; but in winter they have few visitors: so they are glad to see Mary, and waddle up on the ice to meet her. She feeds them with something that looks to me like a banana, and they eat it greedily. Pug looks on fiercely, as though he did not quite approve of their doings, and had half a mind to interfere. Take care, Pug: you had better keep in the background. A blow from a swan's wing would not be good fun to a small dog. Let the swans eat their luncheon in peace.

Core Knowledge Foundation

The Industrial Revolution: Changes and Challenges

https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CKHG_G6_U5_Industrial_Revolution_SR.pdf

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As the Industrial Revolution gained speed, factories sprang up in one city after another. These factories drew many workers from the countryside to the cities. Thousands of people who had lived according to the age-old rhythms of planting and harvesting began to live according to the new rhythms of the modern factory. By the late 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had spread beyond Great Britain. It had spread across the body of water called the English Channel to Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. It had also begun to enter a new phase of development. Great Britain had taken the lead during the first phase of the Industrial Revolution, which featured steam power, coal, and cotton manufacturing. During the second phase, which featured steel, electricity, oil, and gas, the United States took the lead. Like most great changes in human history, the Industrial Revolution has had positive and negative results. Generally speaking, the Industrial Revolution improved the lives of millions by making a great variety of goods more affordable and more widely available. Most importantly though, the Industrial Revolution provided new kinds of employment opportunities for people. But industrialization has also had less desirable consequences.

M. R. B.

"INCHES."

The Nursery, May 1881, Vol. XXIX A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40756/40756-h/40756-h.htm#Page_155

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His real name was Miles; but one of his papa's friends said that such a little chap was too small to be called Miles, and it would be better to begin with "Inches" and go up gradually: so we nicknamed him "Inches." His papa and mamma were Americans; but their little boy was born in Assam, and until he was four years old he had never seen any other country. Now, you will want to know where Assam is. I will tell you. It is a kingdom in India, lying west of China, and south of the great Himalaya Mountains. Some peaks of these mountains can be seen on a clear day from the house where Inches lived. One morning early, our little friend woke, and called out in the Assamese language (for he could not speak English), "Tezzan, take me." Tezzan his "bearer"—so a man-nurse is called in Assam—came quickly, and dressed his little charge. Then, after giving him a slice of dry toast and a nice plantain for his breakfast, he took the little boy by the hand, and started out with him for their regular morning-walk.

wikipedia

Precipitation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitation

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Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 (121,000 mi3) of water falls as precipitation each year, 398,000 km3 (95,000 cu mi) of it over the oceans. Given the Earth's surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres (39 in). Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall. Convective processes involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy precipitation, while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation. Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice. Mixtures of different types of precipitation, including types in different categories, can fall simultaneously. Liquid forms of precipitation include rain and drizzle. Rain or drizzle that freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass is called "freezing rain" or "freezing drizzle". Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice needles, ice pellets, hail, and graupel.

L. DE BRA

A Life- A Bowl of Rice

Twenty-Three Stories by Twenty and Three Authors by Dawson Scott and Rhys

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62347/62347-h/62347-h.htm

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The sugar-cane vendor eyed the other shrewdly. What was the gossip he had heard concerning Fa'ng, the famous old hatchetman? Was it not that the old man was always hungry? Yes, that was it! Fa'ng, whose long knife and swift arm had been the most feared thing in all Chinatown, was starving—too proud to beg, too honest to steal. "You have eaten well, venerable Fa'ng?" The inquiry was in a casual tone, respectful. "Aih, I have eaten well," replied the old hatchetman, averting his face. "How unfortunate for me! I have not yet eaten my rice; for when one must dine alone, one goes slowly to table. Is it not written that a bowl of rice shared is doubly enjoyed? Would you not at least have a cup of tea while I eat my mean fare?" "I shall be honoured to sip tea with you, estimable Bow Sam," replied the hatchetman with poorly disguised eagerness.

Walter John de la Mare

The Creatures

Twenty-Three Stories by Twenty and Three Authors by Dawson Scott and Rhys

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62347/62347-h/62347-h.htm

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It was the ebbing light of evening that recalled me out of my story to a consciousness of my whereabouts. I dropped the squat little red book to my knee and glanced out of the narrow and begrimed oblong window. We were skirting the eastern coast of cliffs, to the very edge of which a ploughman, stumbling along behind his two great horses, was driving the last of his dark furrows. In a cleft far down between the rocks a cold and idle sea was soundlessly laying its frigid garlands of foam. I stared over the flat stretch of waters, then turned my head, and looked with a kind of suddenness into the face of my one fellow-traveler. He had entered the carriage, all but unheeded, yet not altogether un-resented, at the last country station. His features were a little obscure in the fading daylight that hung between our four narrow walls, but apparently his eyes had been fixed on my face for some little time.

Maya Fowler

Tortoise finds his house

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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A little later they passed Ladybird. "Are you looking for something?" asked Ladybird. "Yes, Ladybird, I'm looking for my house. Have you seen it, by any chance?" Ladybird said, "No, I haven't, but I'll help you look!" She hopped onto Tortoise's back and on he went, with Snail and Sparrow and Ladybird on his back. They looked and looked, but there was no sign of a house. A breeze started to blow. A little later they passed Mouse. He was making a garland of daisies. "Are you looking for something?" asked Mouse. "Yes, Mouse, I'm looking for my house. Have you seen it, by any chance?" Mouse said: "No, I haven't, but I'll help you look!" She hopped onto Tortoise's back. "Wait, I can't leave my flowers behind." Tortoise waited. Mouse stretched and stretched and scooped up her daisies. Tortoise walked on, with Snail and Sparrow and Ladybird and Mouse on his back. They looked and looked, but there was no sign of a house.

wikipedia

Molecule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule

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A molecule is an electrically neutral group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their lack of electrical charge. However, in quantum physics, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, the term molecule is often used less strictly, also being applied to polyatomic ions. In the kinetic theory of gases, the term molecule is often used for any gaseous particle regardless of its composition. According to this definition, noble gas atoms are considered molecules as they are in fact monoatomic molecules. A molecule may be homonuclear, that is, it consists of atoms of a single chemical element, as with oxygen (O2); or it may be heteronuclear, a chemical compound composed of more than one element, as with water (H2O). Atoms and complexes connected by non-covalent bonds such as hydrogen bonds or ionic bonds are generally not considered single molecules.

simple wiki

Computer_program

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_program

Info

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start

CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL

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A computer program is a list of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Everything a computer does is done by using a computer program. A computer program is written in a programming language. Some examples of computer programs: A web browser like Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari can be used to view web pages on the Internet. An office suite can be used to write documents or spreadsheets. Video games are computer programs. A computer program is stored as a file on the computer's hard drive. When the user runs the program, the file is read by the computer, and the processor reads the data in the file as a list of instructions. Then the computer does what the program tells it to do. A computer program is written by a programmer. It is very difficult to write in the ones and zeroes of machine code, which is what the computer can read, so computer programmers write in a programming language, such as BASIC, C, or Java. Once it is written, the programmer uses a compiler to turn it into a language that the computer can understand.

Ritah Katetemera, Brian Wambi

Beloved daughter

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/#

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The parents gave a small pot as a gift to their daughter. Natabo loved that little pot. She loved to play with it. One day, by accident, the boys broke Natabo's pot. It broke into small pieces. The brothers did not know what to do. They threw the pieces into the bush. Natabo looked for her pot but did not find it. She got very upset and cried. She refused to eat anything. She begged her parents and brothers to find the pot, but they could not. Natabo became even more upset. She ran away and went to the forest. She climbed up the tallest tree in the forest. Natabo's parents searched for their daughter. They found her, and asked her to climb down. But she refused. They told her to come down, but she still refused. Natabo's brothers gathered and sang a song to ask her to come down. This is the song: "Our last born, come down and we can go home. We shall get a new pot!"

Austro-Hungarian statesman

WHY AUSTRIA ACTED

The European War, Vol 2, No. 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22460/22460-h/22460-h.htm

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On the other hand, it might be asked why the note, under these conditions, was issued at all. With nothing to check the victorious progress of the central powers in sight, with their ability to meet pressure in the economic field demonstrated, it might well be thought that it is a matter of indifference to them whether America continues her policy or not. That, however, is not the case. The problems of international law which this war has brought up are of far-reaching importance. The solutions reached will be standards of action for decades to come. For eminently practical as well as theoretical reasons, therefore, the monarchy is forced now not only to concern itself with the questions of the day, but also to feel its responsibility toward the future interests of mankind; and for this reason the Government thought it necessary to approach the subject under discussion—the more so because it felt that the previous debate pro and con had not, as it wished, led to the desired result, and because it believed that numbers of arguments specially laid down in The Hague Convention hitherto had escaped consideration.

simple wiki

Chinese_Civil_War

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War

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History

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After the fall of the Qing dynasty in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the country was thrown into turmoil. In the ensuing power vacuum, a large number of warlords seized control of different parts of the country. In order to defeat them and unify the country, Sun Yat-sen and the KMT sought help from foreign governments. Though he made pleas to several Western democratic nations, none offered to help. It was only after turning to the Soviet Union in 1921 that Sun found aid. The communist Soviet Union agreed to help the KMT, under the condition that the smaller Chinese Communist Party be allowed to join. In 1923 the Soviet Union, KMT, and CCP made an agreement, the Sun-Joffe Manifesto, that said the Soviet Union would help China have one government and not many governments. Mikhail Borodin traveled to China in 1923 to help change the KMT to make it similar to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CCP and KMT were joined in the First United Front.

wikipedia

Computer_hardware

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware

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Technology

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CC BY-SA 3.0

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Computer hardware (or simply hardware in computing contexts) is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system. Computer hardware is the physical parts or components of a computer, such as the monitor, keyboard, computer data storage, hard disk drive (HDD), graphic cards, sound cards, memory (RAM), motherboard, and so on, all of which are tangible physical objects. By contrast, software is instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Software is any set of machine-readable instructions that directs a computer's processor to perform specific operations. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system. The template for all modern computers is the Von Neumann architecture, detailed in a 1945 paper by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms.

Jasmine Stone Van Dresser

The Little Pink Pig and the Big Road

Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25359/25359-h/25359-h.htm#Page_185

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The little pig squealed and squealed, and the black and white thing rolled him and rolled him over, and kept saying "Bow wow!" But by and by he turned and went away. The little pig got up and tried to shake off the dust, but he couldn't shake it all off. He wanted to go home, but he had rolled over and over so much, that he couldn't tell where home was. So he ran into a cornfield to hide, till he was sure the black and white thing was gone. Pretty soon a man came along and found him in the cornfield and said: "Hello, pink pig, are you eating my corn?" "Oh, no!" said the little pig. "I would not eat your corn." "Then you should keep out of my cornfield," said the man. "I will take you home and shut you in a pen." And he took the little pink pig home and shut him up in a pen. "I do not want to be shut up. Please let me out," said the little pink pig.

Majken Brahe Ellegaard Christensen

How Do Stars Form?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00092

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A molecular cloud is very cold, only a few degrees above absolute zero which is the lowest temperature possible (also called 0°K). But, when gas and dust start to collapse in a region within the molecular cloud, it slowly heats up. This is a consequence of a law of physics, which tells us that, when matter is squeezed together, the density of the matter will increase, and the matter will start to heat up. The outer edge of a collapsing region will have a temperature of around 10° above absolute zero (also called 10°K), and the inner region will slowly heat up to around 300°K, which is around room temperature. When the collapsing region has reached a size of nearly 10,000 AU, it is called a pre-stellar core and is officially a star in-the-making. "Stellar" means star, so pre-stellar means, "before becoming a star." The word core refers to the gas and dust, which are now so dense that the term core is more precise than region or cloud. Also, this pre-stellar core will later become the interior core of the star.

A. A. Milne

A Word for Autumn

"Modern Essays SELECTED BY CHRISTOPHER MORLEY"

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38280/38280-h/38280-h.htm

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How delicate are the tender shoots unfolded layer by layer? Of what a whiteness is the last baby one of all, of what a sweetness his flavor. It is well that this should be the last rite of the meal—finis coronat opus—so that we may go straight on to the business of the pipe. Celery demands a pipe rather than a cigar, and it can be eaten better in an inn or a London tavern than in the home. Yes, and it should be eaten alone, for it is the only food which one really wants to hear oneself eat. Besides, in company one may have to consider the wants of others. Celery is not a thing to share with any man. Alone in your country inn you may call for the celery; but if you are wise you will see that no other traveler wanders into the room. Take warning from one who has learnt a lesson. One day I lunched alone at an inn, finishing with cheese and celery. Another traveler came in and lunched too. We did not speak—I was busy with my celery.

USHistory.org

To the Front Lines: America in World War I

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/to-the-front-lines-america-in-world-war-i

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The Germans felt they had done their part to warn Americans about the danger of overseas travel. The German government purchased advertisement space in American newspapers warning that Americans who traveled on ships carrying war contraband risked submarine attack. When the Lusitania departed New York, the Germans believed the massive passenger ship was loaded with munitions in its cargo hold. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the ship without warning, sending 1,198 passengers, including 128 Americans, to an icy grave. The Lusitania, as it turned out, was indeed carrying over 4 million rounds of ammunition. President Wilson was enraged. Wilson's Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, recommended a ban on American travel on any ships of nations at war. Wilson preferred a tougher line against the German Kaiser. He demanded an immediate end to submarine warfare, prompting Bryan to resign in protest. The Germans began a 2-year practice of pledging to cease submarine attacks, reneging on that pledge, and issuing it again under U.S. protest.

?

DIOSCOREA RETUSA

Scientific American Supplement, No. 388

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15417/15417-h/15417-h.htm

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One of the most elegant plants one can have in a greenhouse is this twiner, a native of South Africa. It has slender stems clothed with distinctly veined leaves, and produces a profusion of creamy white fragrant flowers in pendulous clusters, as shown in the annexed engraving, for which we are indebted to Messrs Veitch of Chelsea, who distributed the plant a few years ago. On several occasions Messrs Veitch have exhibited it trained parasol fashion and covered abundantly with elegant drooping clusters of flowers, and as such it has been much admired. When planted out in a warmish greenhouse and allowed to twine at will around an upright pillar, it is seen to the best advantage, and, though not showy, makes a pleasing contrast with other joyfully tinted flowers. It is so unlike any other ornamental plant in cultivation, that it ought to become more widely known than it appears to be at present.

Mark Cartwright

Greek Government

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/greek-government

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The word democracy derives from the Greek demos, which referred to the entire citizen body. Although Athens has become associated with the birth of democracy (demokratia) from around 460 B.C., other Greek states did establish a similar political system, notably, Argos, Syracuse (briefly), Rhodes, and Erythrai. Athens is, however, the state we know most about. The assembly of Athens met at least once a month, perhaps two or three times, on the Pnyx hill in a dedicated space, which could accommodate 6,000 citizens. Any male citizen 18 years or over could speak (at least in theory) and vote in the assembly, usually with a simple show of hands. Attendance was even paid for in certain periods, which was a measure to encourage citizens who lived far away and couldn't afford the time-off to attend. Citizens probably accounted for 10% to 20% of the city-state's population, and of these it has been estimated that only 3,000 or so people actively participated in politics.

simple wiki

Sedimentary_rock

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimentary_rock

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Chalk, limestone, and dolomite are all basically made from calcium carbonate. This comes from a mixture of minerals and pieces of animals (especially animal shells). They are mostly formed in oceans. Shales, sandstones, and conglomerates are all clastic rocks. They are made from pieces of other rocks. The pieces may have come from erosion by water, ice or wind. Coal is made from ancient plants; oil and natural gas is also organic in origin. Some sedimentary rocks are made of just one type of sediment, all about the same size, such as sand. Other sedimentary rocks will have large and small lumps, and pieces of different types of rock. Well-known sedimentary rocks are sandstone and limestone. Sedimentary rocks may be found anywhere on Earth. When sedimentary rocks are heated and squeezed, they become metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks have a volcanic origin. Over a very long time, rocks get recycled, in two ways. When marine sediments are raised above sea level, they get weathered, and the pieces carried down to the sea. On a much longer time-scale continental plates may collide. Then one plate goes under the other (is subducted), and all its material is recycled, emerging much later.

Walter Lynwood Fleming

The Sequel of Appomattox A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2897/2897-h/2897-h.htm#Chapter07

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President Grant was anxious to complete the reconstruction and recommended to Congress that the constitutions of Virginia and Mississippi be re-submitted to the people with a separate vote on the disfranchising sections. Congress, now in harmony with the Executive, responded by placing the reconstruction of the three States in the hands of the President, but with the proviso that each State must ratify the Fifteenth Amendment. Grant thereupon fixed a time for voting in each State and directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the disfranchising clauses be submitted separately. As a result, the constitutions were ratified but proscription was voted down. The radicals secured control of Mississippi and Texas, but a conservative combination carried Virginia and thus came near keeping the State out of the Union. Finally, during the early months of 1870 the three States were readmitted. With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed. In June, 1868, Georgia had been readmitted with the first of the reconstructed States.

simple wiki

Regnal_year

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regnal_year

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A regnal year is a year of the reign of a monarch. It is from the Latin regnum meaning kingdom or rule. Some of the oldest dating systems were in regnal years. A regnal year usually begins on the date of a monarch's accession to the throne. Year one is counted from day one to the end of the first year of a monarch's reign. Then a second year of rule, a third, and so on. They would not have a zero year of rule. It is displayed as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. Every year of a monarch's reign falls within two calendar years, unless the reign began on the first day of the calendar year. When converting a regnal year in history to a calendar year, this can cause an error of one year. In England, from the 10th century until the late 13th century, the practice was to count the regnal year from the date of coronation. This was usually a later date than when a monarch was proclaimed king or queen.

Matete Lesele

Eclipse of Love

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/#

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The Sun kept the Earth warm while the Moon kept it stable during its rotations. Until one fateful day when everything changed. There was a big explosion in the sky, a big bang. The Moon and the Sun were separated from each other. Separated in both distance and time. They could not see each other anymore. They were both devastated and felt incomplete. They were both sad. They longed for each other's love. Their love was so strong that it transcended through time and space. But all was not lost as something was about to happen, something that will change everything. Something that will change their fate. Suddenly there was a force of extraction that caused them to move closer to each other every once in a while. Eventually the sun and the moon would be together during a process called Solar Eclipse. Finally, they were together, and they were very happy. It was not like before but that did not matter. What mattered was the time and space they had.

Penelope Smith

Share it fair!

African Storybook Level 4

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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It is a hot Saturday morning on the farm. Maya, Duksie and Doobie are helping Mama K in her vegetable garden. The children work all morning. They dig compost into the soil. They weed and water the garden. Then, they harvest what is ripe. Today each of the children will take home freshly picked strawberries, spinach and carrots. Mama K always gives the children a treat for helping her. Sometimes the treat is cake, chocolate, or long sweets that look like snakes. Sometimes it's apples, pears, or oranges. Mama K has only one rule. "Share it fair!" The children know they must share the treats equally, so they all get the same amount. Today Mama K has baked a round strawberry cake with pink icing and berries from her garden. The children wait on the grass for their treat. "Here you go!" smiles Mama K. "But remember the rule that everyone must get the same. Share it fair! Don't fight!" Maya has the first turn to share the cake. She uses the knife to trace lines in the icing. The others watch her. She does not cut the cake yet. The others must first agree if her way is fair.

Professor R. H. THURSTON

INSTRUCTION IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 433

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9076/9076-h/9076-h.htm#5

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The establishment of advanced courses of special instruction in the principal branches of mechanical engineering may, if properly "dovetailed" into the organization, be made a means of somewhat relieving the pressure that must be expected to be felt in the attempt to carry out such a course as is outlined below. The post-graduate or other special departments of instruction, in which, for example, railroad engineering, marine engineering, and the engineering of cotton, woolen, or silk manufactures, are to be taught, may be so organized that some of the lectures of the general course may be transferred to them, and the instructors in the latter course thus relieved, while the subjects so taught, being treated by specialists, may be developed more efficiently and more economically. Outlines of these advanced courses, as well as of the courses in trade instruction comprehended in the full scheme of mechanical engineering courses laid out by the writer a dozen years ago, and as since recast, might be here given, but their presentation would occupy too much space, and they are for the present omitted.

Irwin Russell

Sam's Birthday

St. Nicholas Magazine Volume 5 No. 7

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16173/16173-h/16173-h.htm#samsbirthday

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It seemed to Sam that the whole country around, as far as one could see, was transformed into one great field, in a perfect state of cultivation. But the growing "crop" was not one of cotton, or corn, or cow-peas, or sorghum, or anything else that he had ever before seen in such a place. Coming up out of the ground were long rows of very singular bushes, whereof the stalks were sticks of candy, and the leaves were blackberry pies, and over the whole field was falling a drenching rain of molasses. Sam, however, was most astonished at the curious fruit that the bushes bore. The twigs of some of them supported jew's-harps and tin trumpets; others bent beneath a wealth of fire-crackers and Roman candles; others, again, were weighted with his favorite sardines; and so on in endless variety. It is not at all surprising that the idea occurred to him that this crop ought to be "picked."

Johan C. Faust Christian März Sian F. Henley

The Carbon Story of a Melting Arctic

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00136

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ChAOS scientists are trying to find answers to questions, such as: how will the animals and microorganisms living on the seafloor respond to changes in sea ice and ocean processes? Will a decline in sea ice increase the supply of food to seafloor ecosystems? How will seafloor organisms change the way they recycle nutrients and carbon between the seafloor and the ocean? And, how will the amount of carbon stored in seafloor sediments change as global climate change continues? The Arctic is a very remote and hostile realm, into which only very few people will ever venture. By burning fossil fuels, humans have started a huge environmental change in a region where only a few people permanently live. We can expect that major changes in the Arctic ecosystem, and effects on carbon burial, will intensify as our planet heats up further. Since changes in the polar regions affect every one of us, no matter where we live, it is crucial to answer the fundamental scientific questions, so we can better understand the effects of these immense environmental changes on human civilization.