hair in order. When he wrote his name I noticed that his finger-nails
were clean.

"Don't you call those things letters of recommendation? I do; and I
would give more for what I can tell about a boy by using my eyes ten
minutes than for all the letters he can bring me."




LESSON XLIV

SALT

Salt is an every-day article, so common that we rarely give it a
thought; yet, like most common things, it is useful enough to be ranked
among the necessaries of life. "I could not live without salt," would
sound to us exaggerated in the mouth of any one. Have you ever fancied
that you could do without it?

How would meat taste without salt? Would not much of our vegetable
food be insipid, if we neglected this common seasoning? And even the
"daily bread" demands its share.

Where is this salt found, that we prize so little, yet need so much?
The sea furnishes some, and salt-mines and salt-springs give the rest.
Most of the salt used in this country is obtained from the water of
certain springs. Among the richest of these springs are those at
Salina, now a part of the city of Syracuse, New York. Forty gallons of
water from these wells yield one bushel of salt.