A QUEER PEOPLE.
One evening, as Captain Perry was sitting by the fireside at his home in Liverpool, his children asked him to tell them a story.
"What shall it be about?" said the captain.
"O," said Harry, "tell us about other countries, and the curious people you have seen in them."
"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Mary. "We were much interested, while you were away the last time, in reading 'Gulliver's Travels' and 'Sindbad the Sailor.'"
"You have seen as wonderful things as they did, haven't you, father?" said Harry.
"No, my dears," said the captain. "I never met such wonderful people as they tell about, I assure you; nor have I seen the 'Black Loadstone Mountain' or the 'Valley of Diamonds.'"
"But," said Mary, "you have seen a great many people, and their different manners and ways of living."
"Yes," said the captain, "and if it will interest you, I will tell you some of the curious things that I have observed."
"Pray, do so!" cried Harry, as both the children drew close to him.
"Well, then," began the captain, "I was once in a country where it was very cold, and the poor people could scarcely keep themselves from starving.
"They were clothed partly in the skins of beasts, made smooth and soft by some particular art; but chiefly in garments made from the outer covering of an animal cruelly stripped off its back while alive.
"They lived in houses partly sunk below the ground. These houses were mostly built of stones or of earth hardened by fire.
"The walls of the houses had holes to let in light; but to prevent the cold air and rain from coming in, they were covered with a sort of transparent stone, made of melted sand.
"As wood was rather scarce, they used for fuel a certain kind of stone which they dug out of the earth, and which, when put among burning wood, catches fire and makes a bright flame."
"Dear me!" said Harry. "What a wonderful stone! Why didn't you bring a piece home with you, father?"
"I have a piece, which I will show you some time," replied the captain. "But to go on with my story.
"What these people eat is remarkable, too. Some of the poor people eat fish which had been hung up and smoked until quite dry and hard, and along with it they eat the roots of plants, or coarse, black cake made of powdered seeds.
"The rich people have a whiter kind of cake upon which they spread a greasy matter that is obtained from a large animal. They eat also the flesh of many birds and beasts when they can get it, and the leaves and other parts of a variety of vegetables—some raw and others cooked.
"For drink they use the water in which certain dry leaves have been steeped. These leaves, I was told, came from a country a great distance away.
"I was glad to leave this country because it was so very cold; but about six months after, I was obliged to go there again. What was my surprise to find that great changes had taken place!
"The climate was mild and warm, and the country was full of beauty and verdure. The trees and shrubs bore a great variety of fruits, which, with other vegetable products, were used largely as food.
"The people were gentle and civilized. Their dress was varied. Many wore cloth woven from a sort of wool grown in pods on bushes.
"Another singular material was a fine, glossy stuff used chiefly by the rich people. I was told that it was made out of the webs of caterpillars, which to me seemed quite wonderful, as it must have taken a great number of caterpillars to produce the large quantity of the stuff that I saw.
"These people have queer ideas about their dress. The women wear strangely figured garments, and adorn their heads, like some Indian nations, with feathers and other fanciful head-dresses.
"One thing surprised me very much. They bring up in their houses an animal of the tiger species, having the same kind of teeth and claws as the tiger.
"In spite of the natural fierceness of this little beast, it is played with and caressed by the most timid and delicate of their women and children."
"I am sure I would not play with it," said Harry.
"You might get an ugly scratch, if you did," said the captain.
"Aha!" cried Mary; "I've found you out: you have been telling us of our country and what is done at home all this while!"
"But we don't burn stones, or eat grease and powdered seeds, or wear skins and caterpillars' webs, or play with tigers," said Harry.
"No?" said the captain. "Pray, what is coal but a kind of stone; and is not butter, grease; and wheat, seeds; and leather, skins; and silk, the web of a kind of caterpillar; and may we not as well call a cat an animal of the tiger kind, as a tiger an animal of the cat kind?
"So, if you will remember what I have been describing, you will find that all the other wonderful things that I have told you of, are well known among ourselves.
"I have told you the story to show that a foreigner might easily represent every thing among us as equally strange and wonderful, as we could with respect to his country."
Directions for Reading.—Point out breathing-places in the last paragraph.
Name the emphatic words in the last paragraph.
Pronounce carefully the following words: vegetable, foreigner, beasts, products, across, again, also, apron.
Language Lesson.—Let pupils express the meaning of what is given below in dark type, using a single word for each example.
Houses built of earth hardened by fire.
The walls have holes to let in the light.
They were covered with a sort of transparent stone.
They drink water in which dry leaves have been steeped.
Many wore cloth woven from a sort of wool grown in pods.
LESSON XXIV.
lin'net, a kind of bird.
com pare', be equal; have similar appearance.
wor' ried, troubled; anxious.
hum'ble, meek; lowly.
mis'chiev ous, full of mischief; troublesome.
grub, dig up by the roots.