soft coal?
What is coal? Some day you wil be able to understand how coal was made, and how it got
deep down in the earth.
What article used with food is found in mines? Does al salt come out of the mines? How is the salt made that is not found in mines?
There are salt mines where men, women, and children live al their lives, and never see sun or sky. Many great rooms and galeries, with tal pilars to hold up the roof, are cut out of the salt. When lighted up with torches, they glitter as if studded with precious stones. It is like a fairy palace.
Some minerals are caled metals. Iron, gold, silver, copper, tin, and mercury are metals.
Iron is the most useful of al metals. Did you ever think what we
should do without this hard, strong metal? The folowing lines
tel some of the uses of iron:
Iron vessels cross the ocean.
Iron engines give them motion;
Iron pipe our gas delivers,
Iron bridges span our rivers,
Iron horses draw our loads,
Iron rails compose our roads;
Iron houses, iron wals,
Iron cannon, iron bals,
Iron lightning rods on spires,
Iron telegraphic wires,
Iron hammers, nails, and screws,
Iron everything we use.
IRO N MINE.
Steel is iron made very hard. Knives, axes, hatchets, and other
tools are made of steel. Many little things are made of steel. Mention some of them.
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Which is the most valuable of al metals? Is al the gold made into money? Is money made of
pure gold? Why? Name articles of ornament made of gold. Articles of use. Are gold
watches, chains, and rings usualy made of pure gold? Why? What do you cal the man who
makes these articles?
CASTING IRO N FRO M THE O RE.
Silver is the whitest and most lustrous of al the metals. What does "lustrous" mean? Is iron lustrous? Are silver articles usualy made of pure silver? Why?
Silver and gold are found among the mountains in the west. Sometimes they are dug out of
the ground. Sometimes they are found in rocks, and the rocks must be broken up before they can be taken out.
SO METIMES MEN WASH DO WN THE HILLS.
Sometimes men wash down the hils with streams of water in order to get at the silver or gold among the rocks.
Gold and silver are caled the precious metals because they do not rust, and on account of their scarcity.
Tin is white and bright, but too soft to make articles which shal be light and strong.
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it bright like tin itself.
A thin sheet of iron, covered with tin, is caled tin-plate. It is of this that our tin cups, pans, and kitchen utensils are made. A tin cup is realy made of iron.
Lead is a very heavy metal. It is so soft that it can be cut with a knife. It is used in making shot, and water pipes.
Do you know how shot is made? Did you ever see a shot-tower? Smal shot is made by
dropping melted lead through a sieve in rapid motion, from the top of a high tower. The drops fal into a vessel of water below. They are next polished and made black, and then are ready for sale.
You think, I suppose, that the lead pencil with which you write is made of lead. It is not made of lead, but of graphite, which is a kind of coal.
Copper is softer than iron, but harder than lead. It wil not rust. Cooking vessels are often made of copper.
Zinc is another valuable metal, and is almost the color of tin. Brass is made by mixing copper and zinc together.
Mention some articles made of brass.
Write five lines about tin.
Write five or more lines about coal.
Write what you know of iron, gold, silver, copper, lead.
LESSON XLII.
MORE ABOUT THINGS FOUND IN THE EARTH.
We have seen that there are many kinds of metals.
There are also many kinds of stone. Those which are
strong and do not crumble by exposure are useful for
building. The place from which stones are taken for
building is caled a quarry.
The more common stones are granite, sandstone;
limestone, marble, and slate.
We wil first examine a piece of granite.
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How hard and firm it is! What a beautiful clean surface
when polished!
Granite is used for steps, for paving streets, and for
sidewalk curbings. Are houses ever built of granite?
Can you think of other uses of granite?
Why is granite used for these purposes? It is easily
shaped. It is hard enough to give strength. It is
enduring. What does "enduring" mean?
This is a piece of sandstone, made of little grains of
sand. It wil crumble more easily than granite. What
does "crumble" mean? Brownstone, used in building, is
a kind of sandstone.