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There are many stories printed in this book, and you have had to write others of your own composition. You have learned some of the rules of narration or story-telling. Begin with a sentence or two that will help the reader to understand what follows. Tell things in the order in which they have happened. Stop when the story is finished. Write one of the incidents told in Lesson 228, making a composition of several paragraphs.

230. LANGUAGE LESSON

The stories written in Lesson 229 are to be criticised by the class. Mistakes may be marked by their abbreviations in the margin: Sp. (spelling), Cap. (capitalization), P (punctuation), (paragraphing), G (grammar). Papers should

be returned and corrected. cism for future use.

Remember these marks of criti

231. ORAL LESSON

THE DANGEROUS HOUSEFLY

There is an old saying, "As harmless as a fly"; and until recently the fly has been regarded only as an unpleasant but harmless nuisance. Had our forefathers known as much about flies as we now know, they might have made the proverb, "as dangerous as the fly." His origin and his habits are of the worst sort. He is, in short, a disgusting and dangerous pest.

He begins life in the filth of stables, in decaying garbage, and in other unsavory places, and increases with fearful rapidity. The adult fly will lay in manure or decayed matter a hundred eggs or more. In a day or two these hatch, and there is a cluster of tiny white maggots. In two or three days they enter the chrysalis stage; that is, they cover themselves with a tiny shell. In about a week the little fly emerges, complete in wings, legs, and all, and grows rapidly to full size.

Mak dal

He is now a restless, active creature, flying hither and thither and often traveling over a considerable distance. His appetite is impartial and his diet varied. He will feed upon the most disgusting filth, and come straight from this to lap the milk in your glass and to walk over the dessert on your plate.

His feet are wonderfully constructed. They have pincer-like claws, a soft pad overgrown with hairs in the center, and on the hairs a sticky substance that enables him to hold on to walls or ceilings. What seems to be his tongue is a long extended lower lip, rough coated on the inside, which he lets down to lick food or lap liquids. You can see it at work as he feeds.

Both lip and feet are, as you see, perfectly adapted to carrying deadly germs from his loathsome haunts and food into your house and your food. He used to be considered a useful scavenger,

A Business Letter

209

who helped to save us from disease. He is now known to spread such diseases as cholera, typhoid fever, and diphtheria. So he is hardly entitled to the mercy we used to ask for him. The person who is so gentle that he "will not hurt a fly" is not for that reason a good friend to his fellow men.

The common housefly has been associated with men for many centuries. There are references to him in some of the oldest literature in the world. But he seems not to have been known on this continent before the Europeans came. America gave to Europe corn, potatoes, and tobacco; and Europe has given us the English sparrow and the housefly along with more desirable things.

The scientists have told us also how to keep clear of the flies. Houses and grounds should be kept free of decaying organic matter, and stables should be screened, so as to cut them off from their breeding places. Our houses should be carefully screened and food kept free from their dangerous feet and mouths. Fly paper and fly traps can be bought everywhere. Your teacher, also, can probably tell you other means of protection. But don't forget that the "harmless fly" of the proverb is the dangerous fly of fact.

232. WRITTEN LESSON

A BUSINESS LETTER

Write a letter to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, requesting the officials there to send you one of the bulletins published by the department. You may wish to read the one that treats of mosquitoes and flies, and how they are to be exterminated; or you may wish for information on the cultivation of apples, peaches, or other fruits; or you may be interested in dairying, or in growing corn, wheat, potatoes, or garden vegetables. The Department issues many bulletins containing much accurate and valuable information.

P

233. LANGUAGE LESSON

TRANSITIVE VERBS

Most verbs tell of action. Play, fly, howl, jump, strike, are all verbs of action. Some of these tell of a completed action. The bird flies is a complete sentence. No other words are necessary. The verb flies tells of a complete action. What is the verb in each of the four following sentences? Is each sentence complete?

Edward plays.
Birds sing.

The dog. howls.

Pretty little Edna is running.

below on the left of the page. Why do not these verbs com

Now look at the expressions Are they complete sentences? plete the sense as did those in the four sentences above? Take one of these verbs, shuts. It makes no sense until you shut something. The action is incomplete until something is shut. So it is with all these verbs. Each expresses an

action that cannot take place until there is something for it to act on. There must be something to shut, carry, wash, bring, scrub, show, strike, hit, or wear.

In each instance the sense is incomplete. You feel like asking WHAT? In order to complete the sense, you add a word. Read the expression across the page. Now there is something to act on, and the sense is complete.

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The War on the Mosquito

211

Verbs that do not express a complete action are called transitive.

Words used to complete the action of verbs are called objects of the verb.

Verbs that express complete action and do not take an object are called intransitive.

In the following sentences select (1) the intransitive verbs, or verb-groups, (2) the transitive verbs, or verb-groups, and (3) the objects of the transitive verbs.

1. Why should you hurt a fly?

2. The fly begins life in filth.

3. The young fly grows very rapidly. 4. He is flying toward us.

5. Why do we fear him?

6. He brings with him dirt, danger, and disease.

7. He can walk on the ceiling.

8. Kill the flies and save the children.

234. ORAL LESSON

THE PESTILENT MOSQUITO

The mosquitoes are more widespread on the earth than man. They thrive alike in the tropics and in such cold, inhospitable lands as Alaska and Greenland. In upper Canada there are broad and fertile regions where the summer is made unendurable for horses and men by these little pests.

Pests though they are, their life history is interesting. The eggs, which are laid on stagnant water in a boat-shaped, floating cluster of two or three hundred, hatch in six to twelve hours. The young,

or larvæ, known as "wrigglers," live near the top of the water, breathing through a tube at the end of their tails, which they keep at the surface of the water. At the end of ten or twelve days they

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