XXXII.-CHILDREN'S PRATTLE. in-crease', to enlarge; vermehren. de-scrip'-tion, sort; Art; Klasse. in-tel-lect ́-u-al, having the power of understanding; verständig; geistig hervorragend. rec-om-men-da'-tion, favorable mention; Empfehlung. prat'-tle, childish talk; Geschwäß. groom of the Chambers, a certain officer of a royal household; Kammerherr. a-kim'-bo, with the hands on the hip; die Arme in die Seite ge= stemmt. bon'-bon, a candy; Bonbon; Zuckerpläßchen. ed'-it-or, one who prepares a work for the press; Redaktör. ex-ceed'-ing-ly, very much; außerordentlich. a-jar', partly open; halb offen. spit, an iron bar on which meat is roasted; Bratspieß. treas'-ure, anything highly valued; Schaß. 1. At a rich merchant's house, there was a children's party; and the children of rich and great people were there. The merchant was a learned man; for his father had sent him to college, and he had passed his examination. His father had been a cattle dealer, but always honest and industrious; so that he had made money, and his son the merchant had managed to increase his store. 2. Clever as he was, he had also a heart; but there was less said of his heart than of his money. All descriptions of people visited at the merchant's house, well-born as well as intellectual, and some who possessed neither of these recommendations. 3. Now it was a children's party; and there was children's prattle, which always is spoken freely from the heart. Among them was a beautiful little girl, who was terribly proud; but this had been taught her by the servants, and not by her parents, who were far too sensible people. Chambers, which is a "I am a child of the 4. Her father was groom of the high office at court, and she knew it. court," she said; now she might just as well have been a child of the cellar, for no one can help his birth; and then she told the other children that she was well-born, and said that no one who was not well-born could rise in the world. It was no use to read and be industrious, for if a person was not well-born, he could never achieve anything. 5. "And those whose names end with 'sen'," said she, "can never be anything at all. We must put our arms akimbo, and make the elbows quite pointed, so as to keep these 'sen' people at a great distance." And then she stuck out her pretty little arms, and made the elbows quite pointed, to show how it was to be done; and her little arms were very pretty, for she was a sweet-looking child. 6. But the little daughter of the merchant became very angry at this speech, for her father's name was Petersen, and she knew that the name ended in "sen"; and therefore she said as proudly as she could, "But my papa can buy a hundred dollars' worth of bonbons, and give them away to children. Can your papa do that?" 7. "Yes; and my papa," said the little daughter of the editor of a paper, "my papa can put your papa and everybody's papa into the newspaper. All sorts of people are afraid of him, my mamma says; for he can do as he likes with the paper." And the little maiden looked exceedingly proud, as if she had been a real princess, who may be expected to look proud. 8. But outside the door, which stood ajar, was a poor boy, peeping through the crack of the door. He was of such a lowly station that he had not been allowed even to enter the room. He had been turning the spit for the cook, and she had given him permission to stand behind the door and peep in at the well-dressed children, who were having such a merry time within; and for him, that was a great deal. 9. "Oh, if I could be one of them!" thought he, and then he heard what was said about names, which was quite enough to make him more unhappy. His parents at home had not even a penny to spare to buy a newspaper, much less could they write in one; and worse than all, his father's name, and of course his own, ended in "sen", and therefore he could never turn out well, which was a very sad thought. And this is what happened on that evening. 10. Many years passed, and most of the children became grown-up persons. There stood a splendid house in the town, filled with all kinds of beautiful and valuable objects. Everybody wished to see it, and people even came in from the country round to be permitted to view the treasures it contained. 11. Which of the children whose prattle we have described could call this house his own? One would suppose No, no; it is not so very easy. The it very easy to guess. house belonged to the poor little boy who had stood on that night behind the door. He had really become something great, although his name ended in "sen",-for it was Thorwaldsen. Hans Andersen. NOTE.-Thorwaldsen, one of the most eminent of modern sculptors, was born in 1770, on the sea between Iceland and Copenhagen, and was the son of a Danish carver in wood. He resided for many years at Rome; but returned to Denmark in 1838, and died in 1844. XXXIII.-FORMS OF WATER. veg′-e-ta-ble, belonging to plants; den Pflanzen zukommend. grand'-eur, splendor of appearance; Pracht. mag-ic force, Zauberkraft. con-vert', to change; verwandeln. bulk, mass; Masse. ex-pand', to enlarge; sich erweitern. ir-re-sist ́-i-ble, not to be withstood; unwiderstehlich. bomb'-shell, a hollow globe of iron filled with powder; Bombe. av-a-lanche', a snow-slip; Lawine. con-trol', power to direct or check; Gewalt. pro-pel', to drive forward; vorwärts treiben. 1. In whatever form we find water, whether as solid, liquid, or gas, it is one of the most beautiful objects in nature. In its liquid state, it is a necessity of life. Without it, there could be no grass, nor trees, nor fish, nor beasts, and, in fact, neither vegetable nor animal life could exist. 2. In the form of ice, it furnishes an excellent playground for the boys and the girls, as they are all very fond of skating. In glaciers, icebergs, and snow-capped mountains, it forms objects of beauty and grandeur, and often of terror. 3. In the form of steam, it does so much for us that it is quite impossible to tell what a slave it is. Does it not seem wonderful that a drop of water is able to exist in any of these three forms, and that a little more or less heat is the magic force that converts it from one form to another? 4. You have seen many times, during the winter, large lumps of ice floating on the surface of rivers, lakes, or streams. By floating, it tells us that ice is lighter than water, or that any bulk of water is heavier than the same bulk of ice. room. 5. When water freezes, it expands and must have more The force with which it expands is an irresistible one. Nothing can stop it. Large bomb-shells have been burst by being filled with water, and then allowing it to freeze. 6. Let us observe some of the results which are entirely owing to frozen water being lighter than liquid water. When a river is frozen over, only the surface is changed into ice, and the thickness of this layer depends on how long the frost continues. 7. How different it would be if ice were heavier; for then it would sink as fast as it formed, and each layer of water, as it came to the surface, would share the same fate, till the whole stream or lake would become a mass of solid ice. In this case, one hard winter in northern countries would destroy the fish and all other animals that live in the water. 8. Great masses of ice, called icebergs, or icemountains, are sometimes seen floating in the ocean. When encountered during a fog, they are the terror of sailors. Did you ever ask how these have been formed? They are not formed at sea, but on the land in higher latitudes. 9. The huge masses that float from the Arctic Ocean have been carried down as parts of the glaciers of Greenland to the coast. There they meet with the dashing waves, which break off large portions of them, and these float southward as icebergs. 10. By bearing in mind how much lighter ice is than sea-water, and by knowing how far the iceberg extends above the surface of the ocean, we can estimate how much is still hidden beneath. Solid ice is about one-twelfth lighter than water; but as an iceberg is not entirely solid, it varies between one-ninth and one-eighth lighter. 11. As some of these floating masses are more than a hundred feet out of water, we may have some notion of what a huge mass the whole thing is. We will no longer wonder that the enormous force which they exert when in motion is sufficient to crush any ship which has the misfortune to be caught between two of them. 12. The avalanches of ice and snow, so common in mountain regions, are other instances of frozen-water formations. These are very dangerous, because they come so unexpectedly rushing down the mountains, and burying men and animals in their descent. 13. We have seen that water expands with great power |