The times., 1897-04-25

the instructors at the Seaside Home dis
covered was the disposition on the part OF
the children to adduce theories 10 explain
all natural phenomena SAND craDs 90
backward, one small scientist discovered,
because they have eyes in their talls, ana
flatter themselves that they are progress
ing straight ahead. The air bladder or
the common seaweed was regarded Dy
another investigator as the regular dlet OF
the sea creatures, and bitter were MS dis-
appointment and resentment because the
sand crabs refused to regard 1t IN the
light OF an edible, and hastily dug holes
or retreat in the sand when it was pre-
sented for their consideration. III was
commonly agreed that tides are caused by
the antics OF huge animals far out in "the
river" by which title the Atlantic ocean
is usually designated. Thunder was va
rously described as Gods anger, the
rain tryin' to get out, clouds bunliin'
together and ''lightnin' hittin' on the
clouds" A five-year-old girl couldn't re-
member ever having heard thunder pe-
fore, although she had seen lightning.
This was explained by the fact that she
lived next to a me tai foundry and had sup
posed that 10 he the origin or allbg noises.
Another tiny maiden mildly expressed
the opinion that the thunder came De
cause 1 been bad which is reminiscent
of the remark made, when the storm
burst. by the alarmed and deprecatofy Jew
whose hunger had got the better OF his
orthodoxy: IAN this fuss over HUE
bit of ham,
Considerable mystery surrounds tie dis-
covery b Y little Italian girlthat the light
ming kills allthe spiders, the most plausible
guess being that of one of her playInatcs,
who explained:
.sShc's awful scared of spiders, an she's
awful scared of Iightnin', too, an l guess
she thinks the lightnin amt no good IN
less 1t kills the spiders
Nothing could shake little Maria's sfanch
faith in her theory, and one day, after
storm, she was discovered triufnphanty
| pointing out half dozen deceased web
| spiders as proof of her claim there was
| trouble when some of the others accused
| he- of having killed the spiders herself
/ and showed her fifty live ones. She became
| very Indignant, indeed, and declared That
| the specimens were alive only because,
| seeing the storm coming, they had climbed
| the trees In time and got into their nests.
| That was fancfui idea of one of the
! Youngsters that the sand SPIDERS who live
| in s:lk-Iiued pits Of their own architec-
| ture, are guardians Of buried treasure.
MANY OF the little ones were consumed
| with a desire TO act as aids to nature a
..four-o' clock" which failcdt to open prompt
! " on time, was taken In charge by little
| crippled girl, who had learned That this
| flower unfoIds when the sun Is Striking.
| Shading it with her hands, sl!c was heard
| to demonstrate with it.
ssWhy don't you wake up? It'sIate. Now
i IN helping you, and it sail nice and shady
wake up. lazy thing, wake upi''
Not far from the house q robins nest with
eggs in it was discovered, and some OF the
boys were with difficulty restrained from
rohhug it Presently they began TO take
| proprietary interestIn the household IN The
s.tree, and watched patiently for the eggs
to hatch One day an instructor found the
| pair Of robins i'm fIantic condition, oh irp-
| inr and scolling at a small toy, who sat
hatless on the ground under the tree.
where's your. hat, johnny he asked
.sUp there said johnny. pointing up at
the nest, where his round hat was securely
placed.
What is IL doing up there? Haven't
told you that you mustn't disturb the
birds?''
Amt tlisturbin 'em. I'mhelpin 'em out.
They must get terribly tired settin' up there
all day, so / Just put m hat over their eggs
TO give 'cn a rest They're kinder ratified
now :" he added, but they will catch on
pretty quick"
After the eggs hatched out there was a
circle of youngsters under the tree every
dav to watch for the cavernous-ruo-thed
! heads stuck over the side Of the nest
The Matching was taken is subject for a
practical lesson in one of the classes None
of the little girls in this class knew the
origin of chickens except that they came
from the market,
Ever have eggs?'' asked the teacher.
| ''Yessun."
"WelI. what becomes of the eggs?''
I'VE eat efn. They're awful good"
YES. but il the eggs are kept, what be
comes of them
This was "a poser for u time. Then q
bright ten year-Old piped up, closing heI
nose with an expressive gesture:
'sIknow. Theyget broke and-oh, phew"
That lesson had TO be begun at the other
| end Most Of the comparisons OF the stun
children are wrong end TO. plum was
regarded as very beautiful, an d Just like
the color of a lady's breastpin.' This was
fr n a cash girl in an east side department
store. A street arab discovered that The
common hairy bear caterpillar looked
like the brush the street cleaners use. The
discovery made by one of the girls thai
a clover stem was kind o like plush wa!
enthusiastically approved by the others.
In the matter of the COmmonest articles
of food the average Of ignorance was as
toaishlng Most of the children who ha6
any ideas on the subject at all believed
that potatoes grew on trees. When clas
was taken to see potatoes dug one of th
boys remarked:
II know potato amt root, but VIII!
} amt lt?''
} MIX was an accepted fact without
known origin to most Of them. 1T
made at the stores, = was the usual Tepl
to question about it. A little girl salt
she had once seen q COW driven through
her street, and was much amazed to know
that milk came from cows
5 'Do they have to kill the cow" sh
asked.
Another severely criticised cattle uro
: learning that they ate grass 1t WASH
. a nice thing, at all, she declared; but, TO
the life Of her, she couldn't tell why
Cream on the milk was regarded wit
j great suspicion. Butter was made frnr
salt. one child said, while another in
e clined TO the view that eggs entered int
1 the composition. and a third held out tia
4 it was lard painted yellowr' Perhaps
was in her tenement! The mothers VIII
h came down to the home were aim ost a
a ignorant in many cases, as their CHI