BOOK I.

He sat down on the rug with her.

THE CAT.
PART 1.

walk´-ingthoughtknewsheaths
watchedstrokedsmoothwon´-der
groundfore´-pawsyawnmis-take´
shak´-ingtoesstretchedclaw

1. Pussy came walking along the garden-path. Harry watched her, and saw that she did not like the damp ground.

2. She jumped over the pools, and then began to run, shaking her paws as she got to the house.

3. 'Now, a dog does not mind wet feet,' Harry thought; 'he will go into the water, but Pussy will never go into the water.

4. 'She does not even use water to wash herself. Come here, Pussy! You don't like to wet your nice fur, do you?'

5. As Harry was always kind to pussy, she let him pick her up and carry her into the house.

6. He sat down on the rug with her, and stroked her glossy back. One of her fore-paws rested on his hand, and he began to look at it.

7. 'Here are five toes,' he said, 'but what funny toes they are!' He gently turned the paw over, and saw the sharp nails drawn in under the fur.

8. The cat knew that he would not hurt her, so she kept her claws in, and let him feel them on the outside.

9. He found under the paw a soft smooth pad. 'Now I know how it is that she can walk so softly!' he said. 'This must help her to walk in that way.'

10. Here pussy gave a great yawn, and stretched out both her paws, claws and all. Harry saw the sharp nails like hooks, and watched them go back into their sheaths. Then she curled herself up on his lap.

11. He took hold of one of her hind-feet, and found only four toes upon it. 'I wonder if this is a mistake,' he said, 'or if the other one is the same.' Yes, it was just the same: there were four toes, with a claw at the end of each.

Cat's Paw.

THE CAT
PART 2.

knivespouredtouchcoun´-tries
bot´-tomcleanroughpeo´-ple
shouldsauc´-erkit´-chenthought
tear´-ingtonguecous´-insbe-lieve´

1. 'What long sharp teeth she has got!' cried Harry, as pussy sat up and opened her mouth. 'They look like knives. There are two at the top, and two at the bottom!

2. 'I should not like my finger to be in the way when you shut your mouth. Your teeth must be for tearing and cutting: I am sure you do not chew your food as I have to do.

3. 'And what a way you have of drinking!

'Here, pussy, would you like some milk?' said Harry, and getting up, he poured a little milk into a clean saucer.

4. The cat ran to it, and Harry went down on the floor close by to watch her drinking it.

5. He saw that pussy's tongue was not smooth like his own, but had tiny points all over it. It came into his mind that she had once licked his face, and her tongue had a 'scrapy' feeling.

6. 'Do it again, pussy, dear,' he said, but she went on lapping up the milk.

'May I touch your tongue, then, with one of my fingers?'

7. But pussy did not like this. Then Harry took a drop or two of the milk into the palm of his hand. And when the cat had taken all she had in the saucer, she came and licked up the milk in his hand.

8. She went on licking even when all was gone, and Harry was able in this way to feel how rough her tongue was.

9. Just then his mother came into the kitchen, and Harry told her what he had been doing.

She asked:

'Have you looked at pussy's eyes?'

10. 'They are funny eyes,' he said; 'they are green, but there is not much of them to be seen.'

'Not just now,' said his mother, 'but she can open them wide when she likes. Then she can see even in the dark.'

11. 'In the dark, mother? Well, she is not a bit like me!'

'No, she is not like you. But she has plenty of cousins. Her cousins are the big lions and tigers, that live in hot countries, and eat sheep and horses, and even people when they can get them.'

12. Harry thought a little, and then said: 'If I were as small as pussy is now, and if pussy were as big as I am now, I believe she would eat me!'

THE DOG.

fol´-lowedwin´-dowwatchedBer´-nard
moth´-ernoisefriendshep´-herd
hun´-gryla´-zybur´-iedwrong
lone´-lybe-cause´e-nough´talk´-ing

1. A poor lost dog followed Harry and his little sister home from school, and tried to come into the house.

2. They shut the door; but, when they opened it again, the dog was still there.

3. He looked so sad that they begged their mother to give him some food. Then they said: 'We can't turn him out again to be hungry and lonely! Let us keep him till some one comes for him.' And very soon all three were happy at play in the garden.

4. The cat sat up on a window-sill, and looked at them. She did not seem to like the fun. What a noise they all made!

5. 'How much nicer he is to play with than pussy!' said Dora. 'He is not nearly so lazy as pussy.

6. 'Look, he is wagging his tail with joy! Now, if pussy wags her tail, it means that she is cross. But I think I like her round face better than his sharp one.'

7. 'I don't,' said Harry. 'See how bright he is, and how he looks as if he would like to do something for us!'

8. 'That is because we have been kind to him. Hi, good dog!' and Dora threw her ball to the very end of the garden, and watched her new friend run after it.

9. 'Do you think, Harry,' she asked, 'that he would save us if we were buried in the snow?'

St Bernard Dog.

'No, he is not a dog of that kind, and is not big enough. The big St Bernard dogs save people when they are lost in the snow.

10. 'But all dogs are good for something. Look at the shepherd's dog.'

'What can he do?'

11. 'Oh, he is a wise fellow! He knows just where his master means the sheep to go, and, if they go the wrong way, he turns them back, and never hurts one of them. Why, the shepherd does nothing but walk on, telling the dog now and again what to do.'

The Sheep Dog.

12. Here a dog barked on the road outside, and the dog in the garden pricked up his ears and barked too.

'They are talking to each other,' said Dora.

BUTTERCUPS.

chil´-drenhun´-grypiec´-esmid´-dle
flow´-ersbas´-kethair´-ybreak
dai´-syoughtyel´-lowleaves
chainsbut´-terthreadsseeds

1. One day the children were out in the fields, running races, picking flowers, and making daisy-chains!

2. When they began to feel tired and hungry, they got milk and cake out of mother's basket, and had a long rest on the dry, warm grass.

3. 'How these buttercups shine!' said Dora; 'they look like gold!'

'Gold-cups, they ought to be called, not butter-cups,' said Harry. 'They look like cups, don't they?'

4. 'But they would not hold water like real cups. Look at this one; it is in five pieces.'

5. 'Five? Oh yes! And look underneath. There is another sort of cup with five leaves in it.'

'Only it is not bright and golden, but green and hairy.'

6. 'Now, you found that out, and I found the five yellow leaves. It is my turn again. I can see yellow threads standing up in a ring all round the middle of the cup, and their tops are thick.'

7. 'It is my turn now! In the very middle there is a green heap. It looks as if the yellow threads were taking care of it.'

'Oh, the heap is all made up of little round things! Look, I can pull it to pieces.'

Butter-cup.

8. 'So can I,' said Harry; 'here is one, here is another! They are not round after all, do you see? Each is round at the bottom, but has a little bent horn at the top.'

9. 'They must be seeds. I will break one open. Oh no! Just look, there is a little ball inside. Have you found a ball in yours?'

'Yes, there is a ball in every one. It must be a seed, or a little egg.'

10. 'Birds have eggs,' said Dora, 'plants have seeds.'

'Well, it is all the same thing,' said Harry.

'I think the green thing with a horn is only a case to take care of the seed.'

11. 'All these things seem to take care of each other. First, the green leaves at the back take care of the yellow cup.'

'And the yellow cup takes care of the yellow threads.'

'And the yellow threads take care of the green cases.'

'And the green cases take care of the seeds.'

Daisies.