out the whole lesson to show that he knows it.

The boys are taught to count. They learn by using balls set in a
frame. The frame is like the frame of a slate. The balls slide on
wires. With the balls they learn to add and subtract.

They also learn how to write, but they have no pens or pencils. They
write with small brushes dipped in ink. Each boy makes his own ink.
He puts some water on a stone and then rubs a cake of ink in the water.
This makes a fine black ink called India ink. Then the boy fills his
brush and begins at the top, right-hand corner of the paper. He writes
toward the bottom of the sheet. He puts one word under another instead
of beside it as you do. Then he begins a new line at the top, and
writes to the bottom again.

[Illustration: Chinese writing.]

Chinese books are printed in the same way. Where do you think a
Chinese book begins? A Chinese book begins where our books end.

In China many girls and women have very small feet. When they are
babies their feet are bound up tightly. They sometimes wear iron
shoes. Then their feet never grow, but are so very small that they
can hardly walk. Poor parents know their girls will have to work hard,
and so do not bind their feet.

Chinese girls make beautiful paper flowers. They paint pictures. They
sing and play. Some of them pick the snow-white cotton in the fields.
Some of them take care of the silk-worms that spin the soft silk.