chores. --From "Being a Boy."


DEFINITIONS:--Factotum, a person employed to do all kinds of
work. Indispensable, absolutely necessary. Perpetually,
continually. Centiped, an insect with a great number of feet.
Economize, to save. Dispatch, diligence, haste. Penstock, a
wooden tube for conducting water. Chores, the light work of the
household either within or without doors.

EXERCISE.--Call you tell of anything else that a boy on a farm
must do? What advantages has a country boy over a city boy? What
advantages has the city boy?



MEDDLESOME MATTIE.

Oh, how one ugly trick has spoiled
The sweetest and the best!
Matilda, though a pleasant child,
One grievous fault possessed,
Which, like a cloud before the skies,
Hid all her better qualities.

Sometimes, she'd lift the teapot lid
To peep at what was in it;
Or tilt the kettle, if you did
But turn your back a minute.
In vain you told her not to touch,