poison, and the more we breathe it the worse it gets. The poison is
carbonic acid, and to breathe it long is certain death.

Not many years ago, during a storm at sea, a stupid sea-captain ordered
his passengers to go below in the hold of the vessel. Then he covered
up the hold, so that no fresh air could enter. When the storm was over
he opened the hold, and found that seventy human beings had died for
want of pure air.

Through his gross ignorance of the laws of life, he had done all this
mischief. Remember what I say: insist on having good air; for impure
air, though it may not always kill you, is always bad for your health.




LESSON III

COFFEE

Coffee is made from the berries of a tree called the coffee plant, or
coffee tree. This tree grows in some of the hot countries of the
world, as Brazil, Cuba, Arabia, and Java. The best coffee comes from
Arabia. But most of the coffee that is used in this country comes from
Brazil.

When first known, the coffee tree was a wild shrub growing among the
hills of Caffa, in the northeastern part of Africa. But when people
learned what a pleasant drink could be made from its berries, they
began to take it into other countries, where they cultivated it with