And buttercups must always be
The same old tiresome color,

While daisies dress in gold and white,
Although their gold is duller.

"Dear robin," said this sad young flower,
"Perhaps you'd not mind trying
To find a nice white frill for me,
Some day when you are flying."

"You silly thing!" the robin said,
"I think you must be crazy;

I'd rather be my honest self,
Than any made-up daisy.

"You're nicer in your own bright gown,
The little children love you.

Be the best buttercup you can,
And think no flower above you.

"Though swallows leave me out of sight,

We'd better keep our places;

Perhaps the world would all go wrong
With one too many daisies.

"Look bravely up into the sky,
And be content with knowing
That God wished for a buttercup

Just here, where you are growing."

-Sarah Orne Jewett.

Read the poem aloud in turn, stanza by stanza.

Close your books.

Write the story of the poem.

How do you write the conversation in the story?

Answer each of the questions in a sentence.

1. Where is the horse?

2. What is he trying to do?

3. What is the rider trying to do?

4. Do you think the horse will throw the rider? 5. What name might you give to the picture?

Perhaps you have been on a farm or on a ranch and have seen men breaking horses, or perhaps you have seen daring horseback feats in a Wild West show or in the moving pictures.

Tell the class what you have seen.

Some of you may have learned to ride a horse or a pony.

Tell about your first experience in learning to ride.

149

FORMING GOOD SPEECH HABITS

There are certain little words that you need daily and hourly, and that you think you know quite well. But you do not really know them unless the habit of using them is so firmly fixed that you never substitute a traitor word for them. Practice saying these expressions over and over again. Do not repeat them five times to-day and forget about them to-morrow. Return to them frequently. Say them until your ear is so accustomed to the sound of them that your speech will unconsciously respond. When that happens,

Write sentences containing these expressions. Read your sentences to the class.

150

A STORY TO FINISH

I am an old, old stove, and I have lived in this schoolroom for many, many years. During my life here I have seen queer things happen. One hot day in June, when the windows and doors were all open,

Complete the sentence.

Continue the story, sentence by sentence, until the paragraph is finished.

What must each sentence do? What kind of ending sentence must you make?

What is the paragraph thought?

Write it as the title of the story. Be sure to leave a blank line between the title and the story.

Tell the story that might be told by:

1. The hall clock.

2. The kitchen clock.

3. The armchair by the fireside.

4. The old oak tree.

5. The old cherry tree.

6. An old scratched desk in the schoolroom.

7. The pump.

8. A ragged schoolbook.

9. An old gun.

10. A doll in the toy-closet. 11. The attic stairs.

151

BUILDING A VOCABULARY

USING SYNONYMS

Substitute for each of the italicized words in the following sentences a word expressing the same idea. Such a word is called a synonym.

If any other change has to be made in the sentence in order to use the new word correctly, tell what change has been made.

1. Work is good for everyone.

2. The sky was brilliant.

3. The private showed great courage in battle.

4. The boy replied, "Yes, I will go as quickly as possible."

5. I asked him to go on an important errand for me. 6. Henry gave his friend a book on his birthday. 7. I took the apple mother offered me, instead of the orange.

8. I received many Christmas presents.

152

GETTING A PLAY FROM A POEM
COLUMBUS

Behind him lay the gray Azores,

Behind the gates of Hercules; Before him not the ghost of shores,

Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said, "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.

Brave Admiral, speak; what shall I say?”
"Why say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"