A FUNNY HORSESHOE.
"What a funny horseshoe!" said Charlie, "It has no holes for the nails!"
I looked up and saw that he had taken up a small "horseshoe magnet."
"Why that isn't a horseshoe," I said. "It's a magnet."
"Magnet! What's that?"
Charlie turned it over in his hands, and pulled the bar a little. The bar slipped so that it hung only by a corner.
"Never mind," I said, as he looked up with a scared expression. "It isn't broken. Put the bar back."
Charlie put it back, and it sprung into place with a sharp click.
"That's funny!" he cried again. "What made it jump so? And what makes it stick? It doesn't feel sticky."
"We call it magnetism," I said. "Now, take hold of the bar, and see if you can pull it straight off."
"I can't. It sticks fast."
"Pull harder."
Charlie braced himself for a strong pull. Suddenly the bar came off, and he went tumbling backward.
"What did you say makes it hold so hard?" said he, getting up.
"Magnetism," said I again.
"But what is magnetism?"
"I couldn't tell you if I tried; but I think you could learn a great deal about it with that magnet. You will find a lot of things in that box that may help you."
Saying this, I left him to pursue his studies as best he could. When I came back, I found him more puzzled than when I left him.
"That's the queerest thing I ever saw," he said. "Some things just jump at it as though they were alive; some things it pulls; and some things it doesn't pull a bit."
"That's a very long lesson you have learned," I said. "What does it pull?"
"These," he said, pointing to a pile of things on one side of the box. "And these things it doesn't pull."
"Let us see what you have in this pile," I said, looking at the first little heap; "keys?"
"Trunk keys," said Charlie. "It doesn't pull door keys. I tried ever so many."
"Try this key," said I, taking one from my pocket. "This is a trunk key. See if the magnet pulls it."
"No-o," said Charlie, thoughtfully, "it doesn't; but it pulled all the rest of the trunk keys I could find."
"Try this key to my office door."
Charlie tried it, and to his great amazement the key stuck fast to the magnet.
"Surely," said I, "it pulls some door keys, and fails to pull some trunk keys."
Charlie was more puzzled than ever. He looked at the keys, thought a moment, then picked up my trunk key, and said: "This key is brass; the rest are iron."
"That's so," I said.
"And all these door keys that the magnet didn't pull," he continued, "are brass, too. Perhaps it can't pull brass things."
"Suppose you try. But first see if there are any brass things that the magnet pulled."
Charlie looked them over. Then we tried the casters of my chair, and all the other brass things we could find, none of which the magnet would pull.
"There's no use in trying any longer," said Charlie. "It won't pull brass."
"Then, there's another matter settled," I said. "The magnet does not pull brass. Is there any thing else it does not pull?"
"Wood," said Charlie. "I tried lots of pieces."
"Any thing else?"
"Stones," said Charlie, eagerly.
"What are these?" I asked, holding up a couple of heavy stones he had put among the things the magnet pulled.
"I guess I put those there by mistake," said Charlie, testing with, the magnet a number of stones in the other pile.
"Try them," I said.
"O!" he said, as the magnet lifted them; "I forgot. It does lift some stones."
"Well, what else have you in that pile of things the magnet did not pull?"
"Glass, leather, lead, bone, cloth, tin, zinc, corn, and a lot of things."
"Very well. Now let us see what the magnet does pull."
"Iron keys," said Charlie, "and nails."
"Here's a nail in this other pile."
"That's a brass nail. The magnet pulls only iron nails."
"What else have we in this pile?"
"Needles, hair-pins, screws, wire—iron wire," he added quickly. "Brass wire doesn't stick, you know."
"How about this?" I asked, taking a small coil of copper wire from my desk.
"I guess that won't stick," said Charlie. "Because that's copper wire, and the magnet doesn't seem to pull any thing that isn't iron."
Much to Charlie's satisfaction, the magnet did not pull the copper wire. Then I took up two stones, one rusty red, the other black, and said: "What about these?"
"I guess they must have iron in them too," said Charlie. "Have they?"
"They have," I replied. "They are iron ores from which iron is made. Why did you think there was iron in them?"
"Because they wouldn't have stuck to the magnet if there wasn't."
"Quite true. So you have learned another very important fact. Can you tell me what it is?"
"The magnet pulls iron," said Charlie.
"Good," said I; "and it is also true that the magnet does not pull—"
"Things that are not iron," said Charlie.
"True again," I said. "So far as our experiments go, the magnet pulls iron always, and never any thing else."
"But what makes it pull iron?"
"That I can not tell. We see it does pull, but just how the pulling is done, or what makes it, no one has yet found out.
"For convenience we call the pulling power magnetism. You may keep the magnet, and at some other time, I will tell you more about it."
Language Lesson.—Name six words in the lesson, each of which is made up of two words by leaving out letters.
Write out the two words in each case.
What is the name of the mark which shows the omission of letters?
Point out the statement, command, question, and exclamation in the sentences given below.
"O, isn't it a funny horseshoe!"
"Put the bar back."
"What made it jump so?"
"The magnet pulls iron."
LESSON XVIII.
ex pos'es, shows.
mi mo'sa, a tree that grows in Africa.
mot'tled, marked with spots of different color.
re sem'bling, looking like.
ap proach', coming near.
pub'lic, open to all; free.
va'ri ous, different; unlike in kind.
de fend', take care of; protect.
gait, manner of stepping.
pre vents', keeps from; stops.
ca' pa ble, having power; able.