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Lucia Chamberlain

SCRAP

The Junior Classics, Volume 8: Animal and Nature Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8075/pg8075-images.html

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At the gray end of the afternoon the regiment of twelve companies went through Monterey on its way to the summer camp, a mile out on the salt-meadows; and it was here that Scrap joined it. He did not tag at the heels of the boys who tagged the last company, or rush out with the other dogs who barked at the band; but he appeared somehow independent of any surroundings, and marched, ears alert, stump tail erect, one foot in front of the tall first lieutenant who walked on the wing of Company A. The lieutenant was self-conscious and so fresh to the service that his shoulder-straps hurt him. He failed to see Scrap, who was very small and very yellow, until, in quickening step, he stumbled over him and all but measured his long length. He aimed an accurate kick that sent Scrap flying, surprised but not vindictive, to the side lines, where he considered, his head cocked. With the scratched ear pricked and the bitten ear flat, he passed the regiment in review until Company K, with old Muldoon, sergeant on the flank, came by.

Marie Neunez, Michel Goldman, Sylvie Goldman, Paul-Henri Lambert

Vaccines, Shots That Protect You

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00031

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When your grandparents were your age, many children suffered from measles, a disease affecting unvaccinated children, a disease caused by a virus. Most often, they would heal from it, but sometimes, the disease caused serious complications, involving the lungs or the brain, that could be deadly. Thanks to vaccination, measles nearly disappeared completely. This is also the case for several other childhood illnesses, such as poliomyelitis that caused paralysis of the legs. To date, we count more than 10 infectious diseases that are prevented thanks to vaccines. Unfortunately, not all children have the chance to be vaccinated: either because they live in areas of the world where vaccines are not available or difficult to access, or because their parents are against vaccination. In certain individuals, long-standing infections can cause cancer. For example, women infected with the human papilloma virus may develop cancer of a part of the uterus, an essential organ for human reproduction. Vaccination is the most efficient way to prevent this cancer from occurring.

Edith Howes

Wonderwings

Wonderwings and other Fairy Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20366/20366-h/20366-h.htm#Page_7

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Poppypink sat up in bed and yawned. "Why is everybody getting up so early?" she asked. "Is it a holiday?" The older fairies were dressing themselves and brushing their long fine hair. "Wonderwings is coming to see us," they said. "Jump up, little Poppypink." "Who is Wonderwings?" she asked. "You will see when you are dressed. Hurry, or you will miss her." The older fairies were dressing themselves and combing "The older fairies were dressing themselves and combing their long fine hair." "Oh dear! I am so sleepy," said Poppypink, and she yawned again. "I don't care about Wonderwings." She snuggled down into the bedclothes again, and went to sleep. Presently she was awakened by the sound of the sweetest singing she had ever heard, and a flash of brilliant colour went past her window pane of crystal set in pearl. "That must be Wonderwings," she said. "Oh, I must see her. I hope I am not too late."

Benjamin Franklin

POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC

Journeys Through Bookland, vol 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21864

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Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it and approved the doctrine, and immediately practiced the contrary, just as if it had been a common sermon. For the vendue opened and they began to buy extravagantly, notwithstanding all his cautions and their own fear of taxes. I found the good man had thoroughly studied my almanacs and digested all I had dropped on those topics during the course of twenty-five years. The frequent mention he made of me must have tired any one else; but my vanity was wonderfully delighted with it, though I was conscious that not a tenth part of the wisdom was my own which he ascribed to me, but rather the gleanings that I had made of the sense of all ages and nations. However, I resolved to be the better for the echo of it, and though I had at first determined to buy stuff for a new coat, I went away resolved to wear my old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. I am, as ever, thine to serve thee.

H. W.

OLD JIM

The Nursery, March 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 3 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28131/28131-h/28131-h.htm#Page_71

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One night, the hoseman (who sleeps upstairs in the engine-house, so as to be all ready if there is an alarm of fire) heard a great noise down below,—a stamping and jumping, as if the horses were getting ready to go to a fire, when there was no alarm at all. He went softly to the stairway, and looked down; and there was Jim, jumping over the shafts of the hose-carriage, first one way, then another, just to amuse himself. One day old Jim was in the yard behind the engine-house, and a man went out to catch him, and lead him in. But he rushed and pranced around the yard, and would not be caught. Then the man set out to drive him in; and what do you think Jim did? Instead of going in at the open door, he made a leap, and went in at the open window, without breaking a glass, or hurting himself in the least. No one who saw the window would believe that such a great horse could possibly have gone through it.

The Ukuqonda Institute with the participation of the Department of Basic Education of South Africa (DBE) with funding from the Sasol Inzalo Foundation(SaIF).

Mathematics Grades 4-6

http://ukuqonda.co.za/digicom/Grade-4-6-Mathematics/Maths_English_LB_Grade4_Book_lowres.pdf

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It is often useful to quickly make approximate answers for calculations. Imagine you buy items for R34 and R58 and do not have time to accurately calculate R34 + R58. It can help you to know that you need to pay about R30 + R60, which is R90. 34 can be rounded off to the nearest multiple of ten, which is 30. 58 can be rounded off to 60. 55 is equally far from 50 and 60. People all over the world have agreed to round off "upwards" in a case like this, so 55 is normally rounded off to 60. 678 rounded off to the nearest multiple of ten is 680. 678 can also be rounded off to the nearest multiple of hundred, which is 700. 634 rounded off to the nearest multiple of hundred is 600. 634 rounded off to the nearest multiple of ten is 630.

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REDUCING AND ENLARGING PLASTER CASTS.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 433

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9076/9076-h/9076-h.htm#14

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Ordinary casts taken in plaster vary somewhat, owing to the shrinkage of the plaster; but it has hitherto not been possible to regulate this so as to produce any desired change and yet preserve the proportions. Hoeger, of Gmuend, has, however, recently devised an ingenious method for making copies in any material, either reduced or enlarged, without distortion. The original is first surrounded with a case or frame of sheet metal or other suitable material, and a negative cast is taken with some elastic material, if there are undercuts; the inventor uses agar-agar. The usual negative or mould having been obtained as usual, he prepares a gelatine mass resembling the hektograph mass, by soaking the gelatine first, then melting it and adding enough of any inorganic powdered substance to give it some stability. This is poured into the mould, which is previously moistened with glycerine to prevent adhesion. When cold, the gelatine cast is taken from the mould, and is, of course, the same size as the original. If the copy is to be reduced, this gelatine cast is put in strong alcohol and left entirely covered with it. It then begins to shrink and contract with the greatest uniformity.

Charles Henry Hanson

The Funeral Games of Anchises

The Children's Hour, Volume 3

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14752/14752-h/14752-h.htm#Anchises

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The next contest was that with the cestus, the boxing-glove of the ancients, a formidable implement, intended not to soften the blows dealt by the boxers, but to make them more painful, for it was composed of strips of hardened oxhide. To the competitors in this sport—if such it could be called—Æneas offered two prizes,—the first a bullock, decked with gold and fillets, and the second a sword and a shining helmet. A noted Trojan warrior named Dares, a man of immense strength and bulk, who was also celebrated for his skill with the cestus, presented himself to contest this prize. He brandished his huge fists in the air, and paced vaingloriously backward and forward in the arena, challenging any one in the assembly to meet him. But there was no response; his friends were too well acquainted with his skill, and the Sicilians were awed by his formidable appearance. At last, therefore, imagining that nobody would venture to encounter him, he advanced to Æneas and asked that the prize might be given up to him.

wikipedia

Nebula

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

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There are a variety of formation mechanisms for the different types of nebulae. Some nebulae form from gas that is already in the interstellar medium while others are produced by stars. Examples of the former case are giant molecular clouds, the coldest, densest phase of interstellar gas, which can form by the cooling and condensation of more diffuse gas. Examples of the latter case are planetary nebulae formed from material shed by a star in late stages of its stellar evolution. Star-forming regions are a class of emission nebula associated with giant molecular clouds. These form as a molecular cloud collapses under its own weight, producing stars. Massive stars may form in the center, and their ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas, making it visible at optical wavelengths. The region of ionized hydrogen surrounding the massive stars is known as an H II region while the shells of neutral hydrogen surrounding the H II region are known as photodissociation region. Examples of star-forming regions are the Orion Nebula, the Rosette Nebula and the Omega Nebula.

Claudine Van Rooyen and Halio Makutane

The goat that ate the spinach

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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"What happened to my spinach?" she demanded to know. Sipho was so scared that he could not talk. While they were standing in the garden, Thabo arrived. "Thabo, do you know anything about my spinach?" asked grandmother. "No, grandmother. I don't know anything about the spinach," replied Thabo. "Did you two boys leave the gate open? I told you never to leave it open." "No, grandmother!" said the boys with one voice. The two boys started to blame each other. They began to argue. Grandmother heard them arguing and called them. Grandmother asked them what they were arguing about. The boys told her the truth about the spinach. They admitted to grandmother that they had left the gate open. They were very sorry. Grandmother was very kind. In a calm voice she said, "I hope you two boys have learned your lesson. You must never leave the gate open again."

simple wiki

Homo_sapiens

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

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Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man") is the binomial nomenclature (also known as the scientific name) for the human species. Homo is the human genus, which also includes Neanderthals and many other extinct species of hominid; H. sapiens is the only surviving species of the genus Homo. Modern humans are sometimes called "anatomically modern humans". Homo sapiens considers itself the most influential species on the planet, but many species of life, mostly plants and protists, have had a much greater effect on the outside of Earth and its air. The recent African origin of modern humans is the mainstream model describing the origin and dispersal of anatomically modern humans. The hypothesis that humans have a single origin was published in Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871). The concept is supported by a study of present-day mitochondrial DNA, and with evidence based on physical anthropology of fossil humans.

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PHYSICS WITHOUT APPARATUS.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 363

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8452/8452-h/8452-h.htm

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The problem thus proposed may be solved by means of electricity. Take a goblet like the one that supports the pipe, and rub it briskly against your coat sleeve, so as to electrify the glass through friction. Having done this, bring the goblet to within about a centimeter of the pipe stem. The latter will then be seen to be strongly attracted, and will follow the glass around and finally fall from its support. This curious experiment is a pretty variation of the electric pendulum; and it shows that pipe-clay--a very bad conductor of electricity--favors very well the attraction of an electrified body. Tumblers or goblets are to be found in every house, and a clay pipe is easily procured anywhere. So it would be difficult to produce manifestations of electricity more easily and at less expense than by the means here described.

W. S. Karajich

THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS

The Junior Classics, Volume 1

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3152/pg3152-images.html

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A certain man had a shepherd who had served him faithfully and honestly for many years. One day, as the Shepherd was tending his sheep, he heard a hissing noise in the forest, and wondered what it could he. He went, therefore, into the wood in the direction of the sound, to learn what it was. There he saw that the dry grass and leaves had caught fire, and in the middle of a burning circle a Snake was hissing. The Shepherd stopped to see what the Snake would do, for the fire was burning all around it, and the flames approached it nearer and nearer every moment. Then the Snake cried from amid the fire. "Oh, Shepherd! for heaven's sake save me from this fire!" The Shepherd stretched out his crook over the flames to the Snake, and the Snake passed along it on to his hand, and from his hand it crawled to his neck, where it twisted itself round.

Mary Macleod

How the Sheriff Took Sir Richard Prisoner

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html

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Robin meanwhile had left the castle, and had gone back to the greenwood, and Little John, as soon as he was whole from the arrow-shot in his knee, went and joined him there. It caused great vexation to the sheriff to know that Robin Hood once more walked free in the forest, and that he had failed of his prey; but all the more he was resolved to be revenged on Sir Richard Lee. Night and day he kept watch for that noble knight; at last, one morning when Sir Richard went out hawking by the riverside, the sheriff's men-at-arms seized him, and he was led bound hand and foot to Nottingham. When Sir Richard's wife heard that her husband had been taken prisoner, she lost no time in seeking help. Mounting a good palfrey, she rode off at once to the greenwood, and there she found Robin Hood and all his men. "God save thee, Robin Hood, and all thy company! For the love of heaven, grant me a boon! Let not my wedded lord be shamefully slain. He is taken fast bound to Nottingham, all for the love of thee!"

Henry Gilbert

King Arthur's Knights The Tales Re-told for Boys & Girls

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22396/22396-h/22396-h.htm

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In the days when King Arthur had established his kingdom, he was called Emperor of Britain and its three islands. Nevertheless, there were kings who were rulers in their own lands, but they held their sovereignty of Arthur and had done homage to him and sworn fealty. In Wales there were two kings, in the north were eleven kings, and these he had conquered in a great battle by Sherwood Forest; in Cornwall were two kings, and in Ireland three kings, but all gave service to the great King Arthur. That part of Cornwall which was called the lands of Tintagel formed the kingdom of a prince named Mark, and he owed certain yearly tribute or truage to King Anguish of South Ireland. It befell one day that King Anguish sent a messenger, who came to King Mark as he sat in hall, and said: 'Sir king, my master bids me say that the truage which you owe unto him is unpaid for seven years past, and if it be not paid he will demand of you double the sum.'

Dawit Girma, Yirgalem Birhanu

Abebech, the female bajaj driver

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/#

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A bajaj is a three-wheeled vehicle. It is used in town to move fast from place to place. In our community, driving is a male-dominated activity. Females are usually not involved in it. One day, Abebech asked her parents to give her money to take driving lessons. Her parents said to her, "This work is not good for girls. What would people say?" However, Abebech said, "I have the ability to do anything other people do." She convinced them. Her parents permitted her to start taking driving lessons. Abebech successfully completed the training. Her parents discussed what to do next. Afterwards they agreed to buy a bajaj for her. So, Abebech started to drive a bajaj on Debre Birhan roads. One day Abebech had a great idea. She posted at the back of her bajaj a notice with her phone number on it. The notice read, "I transport for free, pregnant women, mothers who have delivered, and children." Women and mothers whose children got sick all called Abebech. Abebech earned money by transporting people. She continued to give free service to people who did not have money.

wikipedia

Mercantilism

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

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Mercantilism arose in France in the early 16th century soon after the monarchy had become the dominant force in French politics. In 1539, an important decree banned the import of woolen goods from Spain and some parts of Flanders. The next year, a number of restrictions were imposed on the export of bullion. Over the rest of the 16th century, further protectionist measures were introduced. The height of French mercantilism is closely associated with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister for 22 years in the 17th century, to the extent that French mercantilism is sometimes called Colbertism. Under Colbert, the French government became deeply involved in the economy in order to increase exports. Protectionist policies were enacted that limited imports and favored exports. Industries were organized into guilds and monopolies, and production was regulated by the state through a series of more than one thousand directives outlining how different products should be produced

Edgar Allan Poe

ELEONORA

THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE VOLUME II

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2148/2148-h/2148-h.htm

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Thus it was that we lived all alone, knowing nothing of the world without the valley—I, and my cousin, and her mother. From the dim regions beyond the mountains at the upper end of our encircled domain, there crept out a narrow and deep river, brighter than all save the eyes of Eleonora; and, winding stealthily about in mazy courses, it passed away, at length, through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer than those whence it had issued. We called it the "River of Silence"; for there seemed to be a hushing influence in its flow. No murmur arose from its bed, and so gently it wandered along, that the pearly pebbles upon which we loved to gaze, far down within its bosom, stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content, each in its own old station, shining on gloriously forever.

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm

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One night — it was on the twentieth of March, 1888 — I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again.

D.

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

The Nursery, No. 109, January, 1876, Vol. XIX. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21047/21047-h/21047-h.htm#THE_CHRISTMAS_PRESENTS

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Mr. D. had promised to give his wife a beautiful rattan rocking-chair as a Christmas present. It was his employment to sell these articles. In due time, Mrs. D. called at his place of business, and selected a chair; but, as she sat enjoying it for a few minutes, a new idea came into her mind, and she told her husband that she would gladly do without her present if he would give Jennie and Alice (their two little daughters) each a chair. Her husband agreed to this; and on Christmas Eve he took home with him two elegant little rocking-chairs. Leaving them in his garden, he went into tea, and, after taking his seat at the table, said to his children, "I have a story to tell you, and it is a true story. Would you like to hear it?"

Nathaniel Hawthorne

True Stories of History and Biography

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15697/15697-h/15697-h.html

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Now, the chair in which Grandfather sat was made of oak, which had grown dark with age, but had been rubbed and polished till it shone as bright as mahogany. It was very large and heavy and had a back that rose high above Grandfather's white head. This back was curiously carved in open work, so as to represent flowers and foliage and other devices, which the children had often gazed at, but could never understand what they meant. On the very tiptop of the chair, over the head of Grandfather himself, was a likeness of a lion's head, which had such a savage grin that you would almost expect to hear it growl and snarl. The children had seen Grandfather sitting in this chair ever since they could remember anything. Perhaps the younger of them supposed that he and the chair had come into the world together, and that both had always been as old as they were now. At this time, however, it happened to be the fashion for ladies to adorn their drawing-rooms with the oldest and oddest chairs that could be found.

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Invention and Discovery

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It No. 51

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16031/16031-h/16031-h.htm

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Another ingenious postal device which has just been put on trial is the scheme for registering letters yourself. The first thing to do is to put a ten-cent piece in the slot. The coin opens a small registering window, and reveals a pad on which you write the address of the registered letter, and also an aperture through which the letter is to be dropped. The letter must first have been stamped with a two-cent stamp. After the letter is mailed, the sender pulls a handle until a gong rings and a receipt is then pushed out toward the sender. This receipt is in fact the second half of the order which he himself has written. As soon as the receipt is given the machine locks itself, and nothing will unlock it but a fresh dime in the slot. Worn coins, or those that are not full size and weight, are instantly rejected by the machine. The coin, after entering the machine, passes over a very delicate balance, and if it is found to be light or bad when it is weighed, the machine throws it out on the floor in front of the would-be registerer.

MRS. HENRIETTA R. ELIOT

TELLING A STORY

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

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40754/40754-h/40754-h.htm#Page_65

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"One day, when I begged for one of the stories, my aunt told me that I couldn't hear about Jack O'Nory or his brother, because Mother Goose never told the stories about them; that she just began, and then thought better of it. After that I didn't ask any more; but I said to myself, 'If ever I get big, I'll find out those stories.' And so, sure enough, I did. And I am going to tell one of them now,—the one about Jack O'Nory himself. "'It is a story that all came of his having a great liking for buns. Jack lived in the next house to Mother Goose, and every morning, if she peeped between the curtains, she was sure to see Jack waiting on the pavement for the bun-man. You see the bun-man went around very early, so that people could have their buns for breakfast. "'But one morning Jack slept too late, and, when he ran out, the bun-man had already gone by and was almost out of sight. Jack ran after him, but could not catch him.

NIKOLAY V. GOGOL

THE CLOAK

BEST RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13437/13437-h/13437-h.htm

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Akaky Akakiyevich was born, if my memory fails me not, in the evening on the 23rd of March. His mother, the wife of a Government official, and a very fine woman, made all due arrangements for having the child baptised. She was lying on the bed opposite the door; on her right stood the godfather, Ivan Ivanovich Eroshkin, a most estimable man, who served as the head clerk of the senate; and the godmother, Arina Semyonovna Bielobrinshkova, the wife of an officer of the quarter, and a woman of rare virtues. They offered the mother her choice of three names, Mokiya, Sossiya, or that the child should be called after the martyr Khozdazat. "No," said the good woman, "all those names are poor." In order to please her, they opened the calendar at another place; three more names appeared, Triphily, Dula, and Varakhasy. "This is awful," said the old woman. "What names! I truly never heard the like. I might have put up with Varadat or Varukh, but not Triphily and Varakhasy!" They turned to another page and found Pavsikakhy and Vakhtisy.

Leif Christian Stige

The Polar Sea Ice Melts: What Happens to the Fish Under the Ice?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2020.00091

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Polar cod is one of the most numerous fish species in the northern Barents Sea. The Barents Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean, which is the sea area north of Europe, Asia, and America, with the North Pole at its center. Sea ice covers the central parts of the Arctic Ocean all year-round. In areas farther south, the sea ice melts in summer and freezes again in fall. Even farther south, there is no sea ice at all. In recent decades, the temperatures on earth have risen due to human activities. As a result, much of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has melted. Many areas that were previously ice-covered year-round are now ice-free in summer, and many areas that were previously ice-covered in winter and ice-free in summer are now ice-free year-round. One area where these changes are taking place is the Barents Sea.

Winny Asara

Chicken and Millipede

https://www.digitallibrary.io/en/books/details/96

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Chicken and Millipede were friends. But they were always competing with each other. One day they decided to play football to see who was the best player. They went to the football field and started their game. Chicken was fast, but Millipede was faster. Chicken kicked far, but Millipede kicked further. Chicken started to feel angry. They decided to play a penalty shoot-out. First Millipede was goal keeper. Chicken scored only one goal. Then it was Chicken's turn to defend the goal. Millipede kicked the ball and scored. Millipede dribbled the ball and scored. Millipede headed the ball and scored. Millipede scored five goals! Chicken was furious that she lost. She was a very bad loser. Millipede started laughing because his friend was making such a fuss. Chicken was so angry that she opened her beak wide and swallowed Millipede. As Chicken was walking home, she met Mother Millipede. Mother Millipede asked, "Have you seen my child?" Chicken didn't say anything.

simple wiki

Age of Enlightenment

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

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Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States believed the Enlightenment's ideas. For example, the idea that a government's job is to benefit all of a country's people not just the people in power was very important to them. They made this idea about a government "for the people" one of the most important parts of the new United States Constitution and the new American government they created. The Enlightenment's ideas were also important to the people who fought in the French Revolution of 1789. In some countries, kings and queens took some of the Enlightenment's ideas and made changes to their governments. However, they still kept power for themselves. These kings and queens were called "enlightened despots." Examples include Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Gustav III of Sweden. During the Age of Enlightenment, as more and more people began to use reason, some began to disagree with the idea that God created the world. This caused conflicts - and, later, war.

Samuel Butler

Ex Voto

http://www.online-literature.com/samuel-butler/ex-voto/3/

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I have never seen it, but must search for it next time I go to Varallo. Torrotti presently says that the country being sterile, the people are hard pressed for food during two-thirds of the year; hence they have betaken themselves to commerce and to sundry arts, with which they overrun the world, returning home but once or twice a year, with their hands well filled with that which they have garnered, to sustain and comfort themselves with their families; and their toil and the gains that they have made redound no little to the advantage of the states of Milan and Piedmont. He again declares that they maintain their liberty, neither will they brook the least infringement thereon. And their neighbours, he continues, as well as the dwellers in the valley itself, are interested in this; for here, as in some desert or peaceful wilderness, the noble families of Italy and neighbouring provinces have been ever prone to harbour in times of war and trouble.

wikipedia

Mid-ocean_ridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-ocean_ridge

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At the spreading center on a mid-ocean ridge the depth of the seafloor is approximately 2,600 meters (8,500 ft). On the ridge flanks the depth of the seafloor (or the height of a location on a mid-ocean ridge above a base-level) is correlated with its age (age of the lithosphere where depth is measured). The depth-age relation can be modeled by the cooling of a lithosphere plate or mantle half-space. A good approximation is that the depth of the seafloor at a location on a spreading mid-ocean ridge proportional to the square root of the age of the seafloor. The overall shape of ridges results from Pratt isostacy: close to the ridge axis there is hot, low-density mantle supporting the oceanic crust. As the oceanic plate cools, away from the ridge axis, the oceanic mantle lithosphere (the colder, denser part of the mantle that, together with the crust, comprises the oceanic plates) thickens and the density increases. Thus older seafloor is underlain by denser material and is deeper.

HOWARD R. GARIS

THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND OR Camping out with Grandpa

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25477/25477-h/25477-h.htm

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You have already met Theodore, or Teddy or Ted Martin, and his sister Janet, or Jan. With their mother, they were spending the long summer vacation on Cherry Farm, the country home of Grandpa Martin outside the town of Elmburg, near Clover Lake. Mr. Richard Martin, or Dick, as Grandpa Martin called him, owned a store in Cresco, where he lived with his family. Besides Ted and Jan there was Baby William, aged about three years. He was called Trouble, for the reason I have told you, though Mother Martin called him "Dear Trouble" to make up for the fun Ted and Jan sometimes poked at him. Then there was Nora Jones, the maid who helped Mrs. Martin with the cooking and housework. And I must not forget Skyrocket, a dog, nor Turnover, a cat. These did not help with the housework—though I suppose you might say they did, too, in a way, for they ate the scraps from the table and this helped to save work.

CK 12 Curriculum

CK-12 Third Grade Science

https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-third-grade-science/

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mid

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PG

Should places at the same distance from the equator have the same climate? You might think they should. Unfortunately, you would not be correct to think this. Climate types vary due to other factors besides distance from the equator. So what are these factors? How can they have such a large impact on local climates? For one thing, these factors are big. You may wonder, are they as big as a car? Think bigger. Are they bigger than a house? Think bigger. Are they bigger than a football stadium? You are still not close. We are talking about mountains and oceans. They are big features and big factors. Oceans and mountains play a huge role in climates around the world. Only one of those factors is latitude, or distance from the equator. Mountain ranges can cause local climates to vary. For example, mountain ranges can block moisture. This places to be dry in areas that would otherwise be wet. Major climate types are based on temperature and precipitation. These two factors determine what types of plants can grow. The types of plants are very important. Animals and other living things depend on plants.

wikipedia

Kingdom_of_Prussia

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

Info

History

start

CC BY-SA 3.0

PG-13

The Kingdom of Prussia (German: Königreich Preußen) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918 and included parts of present-day Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium and the Czech Republic. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, where its capital was Berlin. The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a great power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia, which became a military power under Frederick William, known as "The Great Elector". Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more commonly known as Frederick the Great, the third son of Frederick William I. Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War, holding his own against Austria, Russia, France and Sweden and establishing Prussia's role in the German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power.

simple wiki

Meteorology

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

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Science

whole

CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL

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Meteorology is the science that focuses on the Earth's atmosphere. People who study meteorology are called meteorologists. Meteorologists record air pressure, wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, weather patterns, and other information. Meteorologists use this data to understand weather and to predict it. Meteorology is a major branch of earth science. Meteorologists study the causes of particular weather conditions using information obtained from the land, sea and upper atmosphere. They use computerized and mathematical models to make short and long-range forecasts concerning weather and climate patterns. A variety of organizations use meteorological forecasts including: transport services, particularly air and sea travel; the shipping and sea fishing industries and sailing organizations; the armed forces; government services, e.g. for advice on climate change policy; farmers; public services; the media; industry and retail businesses; insurance companies; health services. In addition to forecasting, meteorologists study the impact of weather on the environment and conduct research into weather patterns, climate change and models of weather prediction.

Katharine Pyle

The Black-Eyed Puppy

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62551/62551-h/62551-h.htm

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Tommy had to go to school every day, and while he was away I either stayed in the house or played in the backyard. I had some bones out there and an old rubber ball someone had thrown over the fence, and I played with them. Now and then a cat scrambled up on the fence and walked along it, and I barked at the cat. Once one fell off in our yard and I almost caught it, but it put up its back and spit at me, so I thought I'd better not, and it ran up the fence again and jumped over into the next yard. The other dogs never would play with me. I think maybe Bijou would have liked to, but he was ashamed. The other dogs seemed to think it was common to play. Mary used to take them out for a walk in the street every day, with a leather strap fastened to each of their collars so they wouldn't run away or get lost. I wished I could go too; but she never took me.

Mrs. G.

A MONKEY STORY

The Nursery, April 1878, Vol. XXIII. No. 4 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28143/28143-h/28143-h.htm#Page_110

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"One day Bella went to the city, and brought home a fine new bonnet in a large bandbox. During the evening she showed it with great pride to the young ladies; and, unknown to her, Jocko enjoyed the sight of the ribbons and laces and flowers from behind the parlor sofa. "Like Bella herself, he was fond of finery; and the bonnet seemed to him a very fit garment for a monkey to wear. So the next morning, while Bella was busy in the kitchen, Jocko went to her closet, took out her bandbox, dressed himself in the bonnet, and stole down the back-stairs. "Bella, hearing a noise, looked around, and there he was, his head literally lost in a sea of red and yellow ribbons. With a shout of rage, she seized the broomstick, and hurried after the thief. But before she could reach him, Jocko had mounted two flights of stairs, leaped out on the porch, and climbed up to the roof of the house.

Sir Edward Grey

The Allies' Conditions of Peace

The European War, Vol 2, No. 2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15479/15479-h/15479-h.htm

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In recent years we have given Germany every assurance that no aggression upon her would receive any support from us. We withheld from her one thing—we would not give an unconditional promise to stand aside, however aggressive Germany herself might be to her neighbors. Last July, before the outbreak of the war, France was ready to accept a conference; Italy was ready to accept a conference; Russia was ready to accept a conference; and we know now that after the British proposal for a conference was made, the Emperor of Russia himself proposed to the German Emperor that the dispute should be referred to The Hague. Germany refused every suggestion made to her for settling the dispute in this way. On her rests now, and must rest for all time, the appalling responsibility for having plunged Europe into this war and for having involved herself and the greater part of the Continent in the consequences of it.

Jane Oliver

GRANDMOTHER'S STORY

The Nursery, No. 109, January, 1876, Vol. XIX. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21047/21047-h/21047-h.htm#GRANDMOTHERS_STORY

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At that time there were no steamships and no regular packets from Europe. The only way of coming was by a merchant-vessel. So Bernard, who was looking and longing for the arrival of his brother, did not think it strange when six weeks passed away without bringing him. But when two months passed, and he did not appear, poor Bernard began to be anxious. Four months, five months, six months, passed. Nothing was heard of John. Not a word came from Mr. Trainier. More than a year passed away, and still, there was no news. Bernard was in despair. One August day (it must have been, I think, in the year 1805), when my father had occasion to visit Boston, he took Bernard with him; and, while there, went with him to call on Mr. Duprez, from whom they hoped to hear some good news.

Dr. Flamm

Aim of Submarine Warfare

The European War, Vol 2, No. 3

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15480/15480-h/15480-h.htm

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Anybody who wants to fight England must not attempt it by striving to bring against England larger and more numerous battleships and cruisers. That would be not only unwise but also very costly. He must try another method, which makes England's great sea power completely illusory, and gives it practically no opportunity for activity. This method is the cutting-off of imports by submarine fleets. Let it not be said that the attainment of this end requires a very great deal of material. England, as can easily be seen from the map, possesses a fairly limited number of river mouths and ports for rapid development of her great oversea trade. Beginning in the northeast, those on the east coast are mainly the Firth of Forth, the mouths of the Tyne and Humber, and then the Thames; in the south, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Plymouth, with some neighboring harbors; in the west, the Bristol Channel, the Mersey, the Solway, and the Clyde. These are the entries that have to be blocked in order to cut off imports in a way that will produce the full impression.

Ogot Owino

Thunder and Lightning

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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Whenever Lightning was angry he used to go around burning houses and knocking down trees. He made a frightening noise, "Pia-la-la-la, pia-lala-la!" He damaged farms, and even sometimes killed people. Whenever Lightning did these things, his mother would call out to him in a very loud voice, "Bumrambo-la-la-la, la-bum!" She tried to make him stop causing damage. But Lightning did not care about what his mother said. He would cause problems for everyone when he was in a bad temper. At last, people complained to the king. So the king ordered that Thunder and her son should leave the village. He sent them to live far away from people's houses. This did not do much good. When Lightning was angry he still burnt forests, "Pia-la-la-la, pia-la-la-la!" The flames sometimes spread to farms and burned them. So people complained to the king again.

By GRACE E. SELLON

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Journeys Through Bookland Volume Four

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7013/pg7013-images.html

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Always a leader in these amusements was Henry Longfellow. His lively nature found especial delight in social pleasures. In fact, when he was but eight months old his mother discovered that he wished "for nothing so much as singing and dancing." Then, too, he was fond of playing ball, of swimming, coasting and skating and of all the other ordinary games and sports. However, he was an especially thoughtful boy, and even from his earliest years was a very conscientious student and took pride in making a good record at school. During the years passed at the Portland Academy, where he was placed when six years old, he worked so industriously and with such excellent results that although he found it very hard—too hard in fact—to be perfect in deportment, his earnest efforts were recognized by the master of the school who sent home from time to time a billet or short statement in which Henry's recitations and his general conduct were highly praised.

ANNA LIVINGSTON

HOW THE SHEEP WERE SAVED

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

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42161/42161-h/42161-h.htm#Page_360

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"My poor sheep!" exclaimed the farmer. "They will be buried in the snow. They will perish with the cold." He dressed as quickly as possible, called all his men, and his good dog Watch, and started out. It was slow work getting through the snow-drifts. Poor Watch was almost buried sometimes. But the men helped him out, and on he ran again, leaping after them like the good faithful dog he was. At last they came to the place where the sheep had been left. Not one could be seen; but in a corner of the field there was a huge pile of snow, about which Watch began to scratch and howl. By this they knew that the sheep were all huddled under the snow. The men set to work with their shovels; but for some time no sound came from the sheep. It was so cold that some of the men got discouraged, and wanted to give up the search, and go home.

Lyndon Orr

The Romance of Devotion. Vol 1-4

Famous Affinities of History

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4693/4693-h/4693-h.htm

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As to the scene, it must be remembered that the Egypt of those days was not Egyptian as we understand the word, but rather Greek. Cleopatra herself was of Greek descent. The kingdom of Egypt had been created by a general of Alexander the Great after that splendid warrior's death. Its capital, the most brilliant city of the Greco-Roman world, had been founded by Alexander himself, who gave to it his name. With his own hands he traced out the limits of the city and issued the most peremptory orders that it should be made the metropolis of the entire world. The orders of a king cannot give enduring greatness to a city; but Alexander's keen eye and marvelous brain saw at once that the site of Alexandria was such that a great commercial community planted there would live and flourish throughout out succeeding ages. He was right; for within a century this new capital of Egypt leaped to the forefront among the exchanges of the world's commerce, while everything that art could do was lavished on its embellishment.

From The London Times, Oct. 17, 1914. By its Special Correspondent lately in Antwerp

The Belgian Soldier

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

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

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I walked one day back toward Antwerp, along that awful road which ran by Contich and Waerloos to Waelhem. Daily along that road the German shells fell nearer to the city, so that whenever one went out to the place that he had visited yesterday he was likely to find himself disagreeably surprised. One day I found myself, (I would not have been there had I known it,) perhaps a mile inside the range of the enemy's guns. A Red Cross car had dropped me and picked up wounded men instead, and there was nothing for it but to walk back along the road. Along the road from the foremost trenches came a dozen Belgian soldiers, just relieved after twenty-four hours of what it is difficult to describe otherwise than as hell. Muddied from head to heel, they could hardly drag their feet along, and, glad of any company, I fell in and walked with the last straggler of the little band, while the shrapnel with its long-drawn scream—whew-ew-ew-ew-bang!—broke on either side of us.

Padraic Colum

THE BUILDING OF THE WALL

The Children of Odin The Book of Northern Myths

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24737/24737-h/24737-h.htm#Page_6

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Now the truth is that Svadilfare was tired of working day and night. When he saw the little mare go galloping off he became suddenly discontented. He left the stone he was hauling on the ground. He looked round and he saw the little mare looking back at him. He galloped after her. He did not catch up on the little mare. She went on swiftly before him. On she went over the moonlit meadow, turning and looking back now and again at the great Svadilfare, who came heavily after her. Down the mountainside the mare went, and Svadilfare, who now rejoiced in his liberty and in the freshness of the wind and in the smell of the flowers, still followed her. With the morning's light they came near a cave and the little mare went into it. They went through the cave. Then Svadilfare caught up on the little mare and the two went wandering together, the little mare telling Svadilfare stories of the Dwarfs and the Elves.

Sarah Parsons Doughty

Playing Santa Claus

Playing Santa Claus and Other Christmas Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54803/54803-h/54803-h.htm#playing

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Caroline and Emma were willing to do as their mother thought best; but they begged her to buy a few books and toys, because they thought it would make the little girls so happy. They felt very happy to find that six dollars would buy so many things. There was not only a pretty dress for each little girl, and some warm stockings and shoes, but also a dress for Mrs. Drayton; and there was still money enough left for two pretty books, two dolls, and some other toys. To these, Mrs. Meredith proposed that Caroline and Emma should add some of their own books and playthings, which they could well spare; and she said that she had several articles, which would be useful to Mrs. Drayton, which she would put with those they had bought. The little girls could hardly contain their delight when they saw all these nice presents packed in one large basket, and another one filled with tea, sugar, pies, cakes, a roasted chicken, and some other articles of food, that Mrs. Drayton and her children might have a good Christmas-dinner.

Charlotte M. Yonge

How Catherine Douglas Tried to Save King James of Scotland

Junior Classics Vol. 7

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6302/pg6302-images.html

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King James himself, brave and handsome, and in the prime of life, was the blithest of the whole joyous party. He was the most accomplished man in his dominions; for though he had been basely kept a prisoner at Windsor throughout his boyhood by Henry IV of England, an education had been bestowed on him far above what he would have otherwise obtained; and he was naturally a man of great ability, refinement, and strength of character. Not only was he a perfect knight on horseback, but in wrestling and running, throwing the hammer, and "putting the stane," he had scarcely a rival, and he was skilled in all the learned lore of the time, wrote poetry, composed music both sacred and profane, and was a complete minstrel, able to sing beautifully and to play on the harp and organ.

wikipedia

Watergate_scandal

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

Info

History

start

CC BY-SA 3.0

PG

Watergate was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the early 1970s, following a June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis. The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included such "dirty tricks" as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Alexandra Paz & Alex C. Keene

What Can a Blind Fish Teach Us About Sleep?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00103

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CC BY 4.0

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There are some obvious differences between the rivers and caves inhabited by the different populations of A. mexicanus. Perhaps the most obvious is the lack of light in the caves, which are hidden from sunlight. The constant temperature in caves and the lack of sunlight prevents plant growth, which would normally form the bottom of the food chain. The two major sources of nutrition within the caves are probably bat droppings and nutrients that are swept into the caves during seasonal flooding. The lack of light has another significant effect on cave inhabitants: eyes are not particularly useful. We believe that, when fish were first trapped in caves, those with smaller eyes were more likely to survive and produce offspring because smaller eyes helped them to save energy. After many generations, survival of fish with smaller eyes eventually resulted in fish that completely lack functional eyes. Mexican cavefish and other organisms that lost their eyes this way rely on their other senses instead, like smell, taste, or sensing waterflow. Scientists wonder whether eye loss, and the changes in other senses that accompany eye loss, influence the amount of sleep cave-dwelling fish need.

Richard Harding Davis

With the Allies

http://www.online-literature.com/richard-davis/with-the-allies/

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After the Germans occupied Brussels they closed the road to Aix-la- Chapelle. A week later, to carry their wounded and prisoners, they reopened it. But for eight days Brussels was isolated. The mail-trains and the telegraph office were in the hands of the invaders. They accepted our cables, censored them, and three days later told us, if we still wished, we could forward them. But only from Holland. By this they accomplished three things: they learned what we were writing about them, for three days prevented any news from leaving the city, and offered us an inducement to visit Holland, so getting rid of us. The dispatches of those diplomats who still remained in Brussels were treated in the same manner. With the most cheerful complacency the military authorities blue-pencilled their dispatches to their governments. When the diplomats learned of this, with their code cables they sent open cables stating that their confidential dispatches were being censored and delayed. They still were delayed. To get any message out of Brussels it was necessary to use an automobile, and nearly every automobile had taken itself off to Antwerp. If a motor-car appeared it was at once commandeered.

Gustave Flaubert

The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters

http://www.online-literature.com/gustave-flaubert/sand-flaubert-letters/

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You are boasting, moreover, when you undertake to be angry against everyone and everything. You could not. You are weak before sorrow, like all affectionate people. The strong are those who do not love. You will never be strong, and that is so much the better. You must not live alone any more; when strength returns you must really live and not shut it up for yourself alone. For my part, I am hoping that you will be reborn with the springtime. Today we have rain which relaxes, tomorrow we shall have the animating sun. We are all just getting over illnesses, our children had very bad colds, Maurice quite upset by lameness with a cold, I taken again by chills and anemia: I am very patient and I prevent the others as much as I can from being impatient, there is everything in that; impatience with evil always doubles the evil. When shall we be wise as the ancients understood it?

Samuel Butler

Life and Habit

http://www.online-literature.com/samuel-butler/life-and-habit/9/

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As with consciousness and volition, so with sudden unfamiliarity. It impresses us more and more deeply the more unfamiliar it is, until it reaches such a point of impressiveness as to make no further impression at all; on which we then and there die. For death only kills through unfamiliarity--that is to say, because the new position, whatever it is, is so wide a cross as compared with the old one, that we cannot fuse the two so as to understand the combination; hence we lose all recognition of, and faith in, ourselves and our surroundings. But however much we imagine we remember concerning the details of any remarkable impression which has been made us by a single blow, we do not remember as much or nearly as much as we think we do. The subordinate details soon drop out of mind. Those who think they remember even such a momentous matter as the battle of Waterloo recall now probably but half-a-dozen episodes, a gleam here, and a gleam there, so that what they call remembering the battle of Waterloo, is, in fact, little more than a kind of dreaming--so soon vanishes the memory of any unrepeated occurrence.

By Eugene Field.

EZRA'S THANKSGIVIN' OUT WEST

Good Cheer Stories Every Child Should Know

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19909/19909-h/19909-h.htm#EZRAS_THANKSGIVIN_OUT_WEST

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Ezra had written a letter to the home folks, and in it he had complained that never before had he spent such a weary, lonesome day as this Thanksgiving Day had been. Having finished this letter, he sat for a long time gazing idly into the open fire that snapped cinders all over the hearthstone and sent its red forks dancing up the chimney to join the winds that frolicked and gamboled across the Kansas prairies that raw November night. It had rained hard all day, and was cold; and although the open fire made every honest effort to be cheerful, Ezra, as he sat in front of it in the wooden rocker and looked down into the glowing embers, experienced a dreadful feeling of loneliness and homesickness. "I'm sick o' Kansas," said Ezra to himself. "Here I've been in this plaguey country for goin' on a year, and—yes, I'm sick of it, powerful sick of it. What a miser'ble Thanksgivin' this has been! They don't know what Thanksgivin' is out this way. I wish I was back in ol' Mass'chusetts—that's the country for me, and they hev the kind o' Thanksgivin' I like!"

Mrs. Alfred Gatty

THE FAIRY GODMOTHERS

The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11319/11319-h/11319-h.htm

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Time is a very odd sort of thing, dear readers. We neither know whence it comes nor whither it goes;—nay we know nothing about it in fact except that there is one little moment of it called the present, which we have as it were in our hands to make use of—but beyond this we can give no account of, even that little moment. It is ours to use, but not to understand. There is one thing in the world, however, quite as wonderful, and quite as common, and that is, the Wind. Did it never strike you how strange it was that the strongest thing in the world should be invisible? The nice breezes we feel in summer and the roughest blasts we feel in winter in England are not so extremely strong you will say: but I am speaking, besides these, of the winds called hurricanes that arise in the West Indian Islands, and in other places in the world. These dreadful hurricanes have at times done as much mischief as earthquakes and lightning.

wikipedia

Unstructured_data

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

Info

Technology

start

CC BY-SA 3.0

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Unstructured data (or unstructured information) refers to information that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a pre-defined manner. Unstructured information is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, numbers, and facts as well. This results in irregularities and ambiguities that make it difficult to understand using traditional programs as compared to data stored in fielded form in databases or annotated (semantically tagged) in documents. In 1998, Merrill Lynch cited a rule of thumb that somewhere around 80-90% of all potentially usable business information may originate in unstructured form. This rule of thumb is not based on primary or any quantitative research, but nonetheless is accepted by some. IDC and EMC project that data will grow to 40 zettabytes by 2020, resulting in a 50-fold growth from the beginning of 2010. Computer World states that unstructured information might account for more than 70%–80% of all data in organizations.

wikipedia

Elasticity_(physics)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasticity_(physics)

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The physical reasons for elastic behavior can be quite different for different materials. In metals, the atomic lattice changes size and shape when forces are applied (energy is added to the system). When forces are removed, the lattice goes back to the original lower energy state. For rubbers and other polymers, elasticity is caused by the stretching of polymer chains when forces are applied. Hooke's law states that the force required to deform elastic objects should be directly proportional to the distance of deformation, regardless of how large that distance becomes. This is known as perfect elasticity, in which a given object will return to its original shape no matter how strongly it is deformed. This is an ideal concept only; most materials which possess elasticity in practice remain purely elastic only up to very small deformations, after which plastic (permanent) deformation occurs.

Mary Macleod

Robin Hood and the Butcher

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html

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When the butchers opened their shops Robin boldly opened his, but he did not in the least know how to sell, for he had never done anything of the kind before. In spite of this, however, or rather because of it, while all the other butchers could sell no meat Robin had plenty of customers, and money came in quickly. The reason of this was that Robin gave more meat for one penny than others could do for three. Robin therefore sold off his meat very fast, but none of the butchers near could thrive. This made them notice the stranger who was taking away all their custom, and they began to wonder who he was, and where he came from. "This must be surely some prodigal, who has sold his father's land, and is squandering away his money," they said to each other.

Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 1 and 2

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/sense-and-sensibility-chapters-1-and-2

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Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart; — her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught. Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor's. She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent. The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.

James MacCreigh

Conspiracy on Callisto

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62476/62476-h/62476-h.htm

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"Course change!" gasped white-haired Stevens. "Good God!" The ship had reached the midpoint of its flight. The bells had sounded, warning every soul on it to take shelter, to strap themselves in their pressure bunks against the deadly stress of acceleration as the ship reversed itself and began to slow its headlong plunge into Callisto. But the two men had not heeded. The small steering rockets flashed briefly. The men were thrust bruisingly against the side of the corridor as the rocket spun lazily on its axis. The side jets flared once more to halt the spin, when the one-eighty turn was completed, and the men were battered against the opposite wall, still weightless, still clinging to each other, still struggling. Then the main drive bellowed into life again, and the ship began to battle against its own built-up acceleration. The corridor floor rose up with blinking speed to smite them— And the lights went out in a burst of crashing pain for Peter Duane.

Michelle T. Juarez

How Does a Fruit Fly Say “Ouch”?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2016.00027

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Every living animal uses some sort of specialized outer layer to protect itself and keep the inside of the body from leaking out, and also to prevent outside dangers from hurting the body. A breakdown in this outer layer triggers a wide range of reactions in an animal. When the outer layer is damaged, the animal must immediately turn on genes that help with repair of the outer layer and turn off genes of unwanted organisms. Many problems can happen when genes are not turned on and off properly. For example, if a repair gene is in the "on" state at the wrong time, then a large scar can form. Or, if the protection gene is in the "off" state at the wrong time, then an open sore can be an entrance for unwanted organisms and infections. Therefore, the balance between wound repair and protection is important to understand. We performed our research using action/reaction questions, meaning we performed an action on the fruit flies (injuring the fruit fly cuticle, which is similar to the skin, with a small needle) and then observed the fruit flies to see their reaction to the injury.

By Washington Irving

THE KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY OF NEW YORK

Title: Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24532/24532-h/24532-h.htm#THE_KNICKERBOCKER_HISTORY_OF_NEW_YORK

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Wherever the voyagers turned their eyes a new creation seemed to bloom around. No signs of human thrift appeared to check the delicious wildness of Nature, who here reveled in all her luxuriant variety. Those hills, now bristled, like the fretful porcupine, with rows of poplars (vain upstart plants! minions of wealth and fashion!), were then adorned with the vigorous natives of the soil—the hardy oak, the generous chestnut, the graceful elm—while here and there the tulip tree reared its majestic head, the giant of the forest. Where now are seen the gay retreats of luxury—villas half buried in twilight bowers, whence the amorous flute oft breathes the sighings of some city swain—there the fish-hawk built his solitary nest on some dry tree that overlooked his watery domain. The timid deer fed undisturbed along those shores now hallowed by the lover's moonlight walk and printed by the slender foot of beauty; and a savage solitude extended over those happy regions where now are reared the stately towers of the Joneses, the Schermerhornes, and the Rhinelanders.

George C. Towle

HUMPHRY DAVY AND THE SAFETY-LAMP

The Junior Classics, Volume 7

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6302

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Some of the stories told of his childish brightness are hard to believe. They relate, for instance, that before he was two years old he could talk almost as plainly and clearly as a grown person; that he could repeat many passages of "Pilgrim's Progress," from having heard them, before he could read; and that at five years old he could read very rapidly, and remembered almost everything he read. His father, the wood-carver, had died while Humphry was still very young, and had left his family poor. But by good-fortune a kind neighbor and friend, a Mr. Tonkine, took care of the widow and her children, and obtained a place for Humphry as an apprentice with an apothecary of the town. Humphry proved, indeed, a rather troublesome inmate of the apothecary's house. He set up a chemical laboratory in his little room upstairs, and there devoted himself to all sorts of experiments. Every now and then an explosion would be heard, which made the members of the apothecary's household quake with terror.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow a Tale of Two Roses

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/848/848-h/848-h.htm

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It was near six in the May morning when Dick began to ride down into the fen upon his homeward way. The sky was all blue; the jolly wind blew loud and steady; the windmill-sails were spinning; and the willows over all the fen rippling and whitening like a field of corn. He had been all night in the saddle, but his heart was good and his body sound, and he rode right merrily. The path went down and down into the marsh, till he lost sight of all the neighbouring landmarks but Kettley windmill on the knoll behind him, and the extreme top of Tunstall Forest far before. On either hand there were great fields of blowing reeds and willows, pools of water shaking in the wind, and treacherous bogs, as green as emerald, to tempt and to betray the traveller. The path lay almost straight through the morass. It was already very ancient; its foundation had been laid by Roman soldiery; in the lapse of ages much of it had sunk, and every here and there, for a few hundred yards, it lay submerged below the stagnant waters of the fen.

Thomas Bulfinch

A Roland for an Oliver

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html

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They met on an island in the river Rhone, and the warriors of both camps were ranged on either shore, spectators of the battle. At the first encounter both lances were shivered, but both riders kept their seats, immovable. They dismounted, and drew their swords. Then ensued a combat which seemed so equal, that the spectators could not form an opinion as to the probable result. Two hours and more the knights continued to strike and parry, to thrust and ward, neither showing any sign of weariness, nor ever being taken at unawares. At length Roland struck furiously upon Oliver's shield, burying Durindana in its edge so deeply that he could not draw it back, and Oliver, almost at the same moment, thrust so vigorously upon Roland's breastplate that his sword snapped off at the handle. Thus were the two warriors left weaponless. Scarcely pausing a moment, they rushed upon one another, each striving to throw his adversary to the ground, and failing in that, each snatched at the other's helmet to tear it away. Both succeeded, and at the same moment they stood bareheaded face to face, and Roland recognized Oliver, and Oliver, Roland.

A British Surgeon, in The London Times, Dec. 22, 1914

The Things the Wounded Talk About

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

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

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A few days ago I sat by the bedside of a wounded sapper—a reservist—and heard the story of life in a signal-box on a branch line in the North of England. The man was dying. I think he knew it. But the zest of his everyday life was still strong in him. He described the manner in which, on leaving the army originally, he had obtained his post on the railway. He told me that there were three trains each way in the day, and mentioned that on Winter nights the last train was frequently very late. This meant a late supper, but his wife saw to it that everything was kept hot. Sometimes his wife came to the box to meet him if it was a dry night. In the next bed there was a young Scotsman from a Highland district which I know very well. We were friends so soon as he learned that I knew his home. He was a roadman, and we talked of his roads and the changes which had been wrought in them of late years by motor traffic.

Mele Joab Silva Afonso

Ekai and the Domestic Animals

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/#

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Ekai keeps all sorts of animals in his father's homestead. His mother Mrs. Anok has always supported Ekai in the purchasing of the animals. Goats, chicken, chicks, cattle, rabbits and a dog are Ekai's favorite animals. During holidays Ekai with the help of his sister will take the goats out to graze in the nearby river banks, have fun and make sure all their livestock are satisfied. At the grazing banks Ekai would hold one of the goats after it has taken water confirming how the goats are growing fat each and every day. Ekai has a dog pet called Bony. Every time Ekai is around he would give Bony food and a hot shower with a shampoo, that makes Bony a happy and healthy dog. In the morning Ekai and his sister will give the birds food and water before he takes breakfast. Besides him Bony the dog would play and let no other wild birds to disturb their birds.

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FRIEDRICH WÖHLER

Scientific American Supplement, Nos. 362

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8687/8687-h/8687-h.htm#7

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At the age of eighty-two years, and full of honor, after a life actively devoted to scientific work of the highest and most accurate kind, which has contributed more than that of any other contemporary to establish the principles on which an exact science like chemistry is founded, the illustrious Wöhler has gone to his rest. After he had worked for some time with Berzelius in Sweden, he taught chemistry from 1825 to 1831 at the Polytechnic School in Berlin; then till 1836 he was stationed at the Higher Polytechnic School at Cassel, and then he became Ordinary Professor of Chemistry in the University of Göttingen, where he remained till his death. He was born, July 31, 1800, at Eschersheim, near Frankfort-on-the-Main. Until the year 1828 it was believed that organic substances could only be formed under the influence of the vital force in the bodies of animals and plants. It was Wöhler who proved by the artificial preparation of urea from inorganic materials that this view could not be maintained. This discovery has always been considered as one of the most important contributions to our scientific knowledge.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Story Girl

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5342/5342-h/5342-h.htm#link2HCH0001

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We were quite willing to go to bed; and presently we found ourselves tucked away upstairs in the very room, looking out eastward into the spruce grove, which father had once occupied. Dan shared it with us, sleeping in a bed of his own in the opposite corner. The sheets and pillow-slips were fragrant with lavender, and one of Grandmother King's noted patchwork quilts was over us. The window was open and we heard the frogs singing down in the swamp of the brook meadow. We had heard frogs sing in Ontario, of course; but certainly Prince Edward Island frogs were more tuneful and mellow. Or was it simply the glamour of old family traditions and tales which was over us, lending its magic to all sights and sounds around us? This was home—father's home—OUR home! We had never lived long enough in any one house to develop a feeling of affection for it; but here, under the roof-tree built by Great-Grandfather King ninety years ago, that feeling swept into our boyish hearts and souls like a flood of living sweetness and tenderness.

Meital Reches

Fighting Bacteria: How Can We Prevent Hospital-Acquired Infections?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00043

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An antibiotic is a compound that kills bacteria. Antibiotics stop essential cell activities that allow the bacteria to live. For example, some antibiotics harm the cell wall, and some prevent the bacteria from reproducing. The first antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered over 90 years ago. Since then, many other antibiotics have been found. Since the discovery and use of antibiotics, bacteria have evolved that resist antibiotics and multiply even when antibiotics are present. These are called "antibiotic-resistant bacteria." Antibiotic resistance evolves by mutations (genetic changes) in the bacterial DNA that allow the bacteria to survive in the presence of antibiotics. A year ago, the World Health Organization published a report on 12 different bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics. For these antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, solutions other than antibiotics must be found to kill the bacteria. My research group believes that, if we can prevent biofilm formation, we will be able to successfully fight the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM

Appeals for American Defense

The European War, Vol 2, No. 3

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15480/15480-h/15480-h.htm

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Careful investigation by our committees who have looked into the question of national defense brings to light the following conditions of affairs: According to official Government reports, there are barely 30,000 mobile troops in continental United States. These are distributed among fifty-two widely scattered posts, which would make it impossible to mobilize quickly at any given point. Even this small force is short of officers, ammunition, and equipment. Furthermore, it has no organized reserve. Our National Guard, with negligible exceptions, is far below its paper strength in men, equipment, and efficiency. Our coast defenses are inadequate, our fortifications insufficiently manned and without adequate organized reserves. Our navy is neither adequate nor prepared for war. This, our first line of defense, is inadequately manned, short of ammunition, and has no organized reserve of trained men. Our submarine flotilla exists chiefly upon paper. Fast scout cruisers, battle cruisers, aeroplanes, mine layers, supply ships, and transports are lacking. Target practice has been neglected or altogether omitted.

Ann Nduku

Hyena and Raven

African Storybook Level 5

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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When they reached the first piece of fatty meat, Hyena felt a jerk. One of Raven's tail feathers came off in his hand! Then there was another jerk, and another. Raven felt much lighter, and the ache in his tail was going. He sang: Raven's feathers, unpluck yourselves. Raven's feathers, unpluck yourselves. In response, Hyena sang the opposite: Raven's feathers hold on, don't unpluck yourselves. Raven's feathers hold on, don't unpluck yourselves. Finally, the feathers could not hold Hyena anymore. He was in the middle of nowhere in the sky. He jumped onto the fatty meat thinking that as he ate, the fatty meat would hold him. But as he tried to hold and eat the 'meat', all he felt was moist cloud! By now he was falling fast. "Help, help!" he shouted. But no one could hear him. Raven was lost in the clouds. Hyena fell on the ground with a crash and lay silent for some minutes. He woke up howling in pain, with a broken leg and dark scars all over his body. From that day to now, Hyena limps and he has many scars on his body. He has never been able to fly.

USHistory.org

Indus Valley Mysteries

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/indus-valley-mysteries

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The ruins of two ancient cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (both in modern-day Pakistan), and the remnants of many other settlements, have revealed great clues to this mystery. Harappa was, in fact, such a rich discovery that the Indus Valley Civilization is also called the Harappan civilization. The first artifact uncovered in Harappa was a unique stone seal carved with a unicorn and an inscription. Similar seals with different animal symbols and writings have since been found throughout the region. Although the writing has not yet been deciphered, the evidence suggests they belonged to the same language system. Apparently, Mesopotamia's cuneiform system had some competition in the race for the world's first script. The discovery of the seals prompted archaeologists to dig further. Amazing urban architecture was soon uncovered across the valley and into the western plains. The findings clearly show that Harappan societies were well organized and very sanitary.

M.

PLAYING SOLDIER

The Nursery, June 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 6 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28134/28134-h/28134-h.htm#Page_167

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Little Mary lives in Boston. She has no brothers or sisters to play with her, and no mother. But her papa plays with her a great deal. There is one game she has with him that is very entertaining to others who are looking on. At least so her aunts and uncles thought on Thanksgiving evening, when it was played for their amusement. I have called the game "Playing soldier." Mary was the captain; and her papa was the soldier. This is the way it was done: Mary went to her papa, who was standing, and placed herself in front of him, with her back against him. "Shoulder arms!" shouted the little captain; and her tall soldier immediately put her on his left shoulder, in imitation of the real soldier, who holds his musket or gun against that place. "Forward march!" shouted our little captain again; and her soldier marched forward with a quick step. "Halt!" cried she after he had marched back; and he stopped at once. "Ground arms!" was the next command; and the soldier put his captain down on the floor in front of him just as she had stood before—and the play was over.

Oscar Wilde

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/lord-arthur-savile-s-crime

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As soon as she had gone, Lady Windermere returned to the picture-gallery, where a celebrated political economist was solemnly explaining the scientific theory of music to an indignant virtuoso from Hungary, and began to talk to the Duchess of Paisley. She looked wonderfully beautiful with her grand ivory throat, her large blue forget-me-not eyes, and her heavy coils of golden hair. Or pur they were — not that pale straw colour that nowadays usurps the gracious name of gold, but such gold as is woven into sunbeams or hidden in strange amber; and gave to her face something of the frame of a saint, with not a little of the fascination of a sinner. She was a curious psychological study. Early in life she had discovered the important truth that nothing looks so like innocence as an indiscretion; and by a series of reckless escapades, half of them quite harmless, she had acquired all the privileges of a personality. She had more than once changed her husband; indeed, Debrett credits her with three marriages; but as she had never changed her lover, the world had long ago ceased to talk scandal about her.

Alexis Torres, Michael C. Hout

Pupils: A Window Into the Mind

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00003

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The opening at the center of your eye allows light to enter it, enabling you to gather information about the world around you, but the opposite is true, too—insights can be gained about what is going on in your brain based on the behavior of your pupils. The pupil is the opening at the center of the eye that appears as a black dot surrounded by the colored part of the eye, the iris. The iris is a muscle in the eye that functions like the diaphragm of a camera. The iris responds to the amount of light entering the eye by adjusting the size and diameter of the pupil (the aperture), in order to allow the appropriate amount of light into the eye (the camera). Light travels through fluid in the eye and is then absorbed at the back of the eye, in an area known as the retina. The retina is covered in specialized cells called photoreceptors (think of this part of the eye as the film of a camera where the picture is captured). Photoreceptors gather information from the light and send it to the brain to be processed into the image you see.

Arthur M. Winfield

The Rover Boys in New York or, Saving Their Father's Honor

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5003/5003-h/5003-h.htm

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During the past year, a room had been added to the house and this was used as a library and sort of office combined, being provided with a substantial safe and two roller-top desks. One of the desks was used exclusively by Anderson Rover for his private letters and papers. When sick the man had given Dick the extra key to the desk, telling him to keep it. The father trusted his three sons implicitly, only keeping to himself such business affairs as he thought would not interest them. The boys sat down and, led by Dick, began a careful inspection of the many letters and documents which the roller-top desk contained. A large number of the papers and letters they knew had no bearing on the affair now in hand. But presently Dick took up some letters of recent date and scanned them with interest.