"Now you are making fun of us!" cried the children: "that is one
of the easiest words in the world." And, to prove that their
father was mistaken, they both repeated, "N-o, no; n-o, no," a
great many times.

"I am not joking in the least. I really think it is the hardest
of all words. It may seem easy enough to you to-night, but
perhaps you cannot pronounce it to-morrow."

"I can always say it, I know I can;" said George with much
confidence--"NO! Why, it is as easy to say it as to breathe."

"Well, George, I hope you will always find it as easy to
pronounce as you think it is now, and that you will be able to
speak it when you ought to."

In the morning George went bravely to school, a little proud that
he could pronounce so hard a word as "Popocatepetl." Not far
frown the schoolhouse was a large pond of very deep water, where
the boys used to skate and slide when it was frozen over.

Now, the night before, Jack Frost had been busy changing the
surface of the pond into beautiful crystals of ice; and when the
boys went to school in the morning they found the pond as smooth
and clear as glass. The day was cold, and they thought that by
noon the ice would be strong enough to skate upon.

As soon as school was dismissed the boys all ran to the
pond,--some to try the ice, and others merely to see it.