he printed a newspaper and sold copies to the railway workers.
One day in August, 1862, Edison saw a little boy playing on the tracks at a station. A train was coming near quickly, and the boy was too frightened to move. Edison rushed out and carried the boy to safety. The boy?s father was so thankful that he taught Edison how to send messages by railway telegraph. Edison soon became very good at it and later he left home to work in different cities. This gave him a start in life. At that time he was just a boy of sixteen.
12.THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE
Once upon a time there was an old fisherman. He went fishing very early every morning, but he never cast his net more than four times a day.
One morning, he went out early to the sea. He cast his net for the first time, and drew in the body of an animal. He cast it a second time, and drew in an old basket full of sand. He cast it a third time, and drew in a lot of stones. It seemed he would have nothing to take home that morning.
Day had now broken, and he cast his net for the last time. After some time, he began to drew the net in. He found it was very heavy. But there were not any fish in it. Instead he found a jar with a lid. He shook the jar, but could hear nothing. So he took off the lid and looked inside. He could see nothing. After a while a light smoke came slowly out of the jar. Then little by little, the smoke grew heavier and thicker until finally it turned into a terrible Genie!
“Get down on your knees,” said the Genie, “for I’m going to kill you.” “Why? Didn’t I set you free from the jar?”
“That’s why I’m going to kill you, but I’ll let you choose how you’re going to die.”
“But why?”
“Listen, and I will tell you my story.”
“I was one of the spirits in heaven. But I did not want to obey Solomon’s orders. So one day, he put me in this jar and threw it into the sea.
“During the first hundred years of my stay in the sea, I made a promise that if anyone set me free I would make him very rich. But no one came. During the second hundred years, I promised that if anyone set me free I would show him all the treasures in the earth. But still no one came. During the third hundred years, I promised that if anyone came to set me free, I would make him king over the earth.
“Still no one came. Then I became very angry, and decided that if anyone should set me free I would kill him at once. Now you have come and set me free. So you must die, but I will let you say how you want to die.”
The fisherman was not frightened. He said: “Since I must die, I must. But before I die, answer me one question.”
“All right, but be quick.”
“Were you really in the jar? You are so big and the jar is so small that it could hardly hold one of your feet.”
“Of course I was in the jar. Don’t you believe me?”
11
“No, and I won’t until I’ve seen you in the jar with my own eyes.”
When he heard this, the Genie changed again into smoke. Slowly the smoke went back into the jar. When all of it was in the jar, the fisherman quickly put the lid on and threw it back into the sea.
13. LOOK CAREFULLY AND LEARN
My friend Carl will never forget a certain professor. This professor taught him chemistry at the university. He was an ordinary-looking little man with thick glasses, but he had a strange way of making his classes lively and interesting. And the lessons he taught were not easily forgotten.
Carl remembers one of his first lessons from this professor. After the students were all in the chemistry lab, the professor brought out three bottles. One was filled with kerosene(煤油), one with castor oil, and one with vinegar. “Now watch carefully,” said the professor. “Pay attention to everything that I do.”
He then filled a cup with some of the kerosene, some of the castor oil and some of the vinegar. As the students watched with fascination, he mixed the three together. After that, he held up one of his fingers and showed it to the class. He then dipped it into the cup. After a few seconds he took his finger out. “Now watch,” he said. “Remember, you must do everything that I do.”
He put a finger in his mouth and sucked it. He nodded with a smile. Then he handed the cup around the class of students. Each student dipped a finger into the mixture and sucked it. Each immediately made a face. The mixture tasted horrible.
When the cup was at last returned to the professor, he shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry,” he said to the class, “but none of you watched carefully enough. Yes, I sucked a finger, but the finger I put into my mouth was not the one I had dipped into the cup.”
It was their first important lesson as students of chemistry and they never forgot it.
14. THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
Once upon a time there were six blind men who lived in a village in India. Every day they went to the road nearby and stood there begging. They had often heard of elephants, but they had never seen one, for , being blind, how could they?
One morning an elephant was led down the road where they stood. When they heard that an elephant was passing by, they asked the driver to stop the beast so that they could have a \ Of course they could not look at him with their eyes, but they thought they might learn what kind of animal he was by touching and feeling him. For, you see, they trust their own sense of touch very much.
The first blind man happened to place his hand on the elephant's side. \\
The second grasped one of the elephant's tusks and felt it. \\
12
The third happened to take hold of the elephant's trunk. \said. \
The fourth opened both his arms the closed them around one of the elephant's legs. \blind you are!\
The fifth was a very tall man, and he caught one of the elephant's ears. \person must see that this elephant isn't like any of the things you name.\a huge fan.\
The sixth man went forward to feel the elephant. He was old and slow and it took him quite some time to find the elephant at all. At last he got hold of the beast's tail. \are!\fan. Any man with eyes in his head can see that he's exactly like a rope.\
Then the driver and the elephant moved on, and the six men sat by the roadside all day, quarrelling about the elephant. They could not agree with one another, because each believed that he knew just what the beast looked like.
It is not only blind men who make such stupid mistakes. People who can see sometimes act just as foolishly.
15. THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
Many years ago there lived an Emperor, who cared more for fine new clothes than for anything else. He had different clothes for every hour of the day.
One day two cheats camt to see the Emperor. They called themselves weavers and said that they knew how to weave cloth of the most beautiful colors and designs in the world. They also said that the most interesting thing about the cloth was that clothes made of it would be invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his office.
\put them on, I shall be able to find out which men in my empire are unfit for their offices. And I shall be able to tell who are wise and who are foolish. This cloth must be woven for me right away.\
The Emperor gave the cheats some gold in order that they might begin their work at once. So the two men set up two looms and pretended to be working very hard. They asked for the most beautiful silk and the best gold thread. This they kept for themselves. And then they went on with their work at the empty looms until late into the night.
After some time had passed, the Emperor said to himself, \wonder how the weavers are getting along with my cloth.\their offices could not see the cloth. Though he believed that he ought to have nothing to fear for himself, he wanted someone else to look at the cloth first.
The Emperor thought a while and decided to send his old Prime Minister to see the cloth. He thought the Prime Minister a wise, honest man who was more fit for his office than anyone else. So the old Prinme Minister went into the hall where the cheats were working at the empty looms.
\But he was careful not to say so.
The men who were pretending to weave asked him to come closer. They pointed to the empty looms and asked him if he liked the design and the colors.
13
The poor old Prime Minister opend his eyes wid wider, but he could see nothing on the looms.
\that I could not see the cloth.\
\ most beautiful!\will tell the Emperor how wonderful they are.\
The Emperor was pleased by what the Prime Minister told him about the cloth. Soon after, he sent another official to find out how soon the cloth would be ready. The same thing happened. The official could see nothing, but he sang high praise for the cloth. When he got back, he told the Emperor that the cloth was beautiful indeed.
All the people in the city were now talking about this wonderful cloth which the Emperor had ordered ro be woven for so much money.And they were eager to know how wise or foolish their friends and neighbors might be.
16.THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES(Continue)
Now at last the Emperor wished to go himself and see the cloth while it was still on the looms. He took with him a few of his officials, including the old Prinme Minister and the official who had already been there.
As soon as the weavers heard the Emperor coming, they pretended to work harder than ever, though they were not weaving a single thread through the empty looms.
\the cloth magnificent?\said the official and the Prime Minister. \a splendid design! And what colors!\they said, while pointing to the empty looms. They thought that everyone else could see the wonderful work of the weavers though they could not see it themselves.
\horrible! But I mustn't let anyonek now.\
\
The officials could see no more than the Emperor, but they all shouted, ‘Beautiful! Excellent! Magnificent!\made of this splendid cloth for the coming great procession.
They Emperor nodded. He cried hard to pretend to share in the pleasure of his officials and gave each of the weavers a medal.
The night before the procession, the two men had their lights burning all night long. They wanted everyone to see how hard they were workingon the Emperor's new clothes. At last they cried, \ Then the Emperor arrived with his hgh officials.
\of the mirror,\
The Emperor was then undressed, and the cheats pretened to dress him in his new clothes. The Emperor turned from side to side in front of the mirrior.
\fit! What a splendid design! And what colors!\
\
14
nice fit?\And he turned again in front of the mirror, in order to make the others think he was looking at his new clothes.
\ And so the procession began.
The Emperor walked in the middle of the procession, through the streets of the city. And all the people standing by and those at the windows cried out, \clothes are! What a perfect fit!\
No one dared say that he could not see the Emperor's new clothes. Suddenly a little child's voice was heard:\ \
\ What the child had said was whispered from one to the other.
\
The cry was taken up and soon everyone was noddng and saying,\ON!\
The Emperor heard the cries. He felt very silly, for he knew that the people were right. But he thought, \
So the Emperor held his head higher than ever. And the two officials who were following him took great trouble to hold up higher the train of the robe that wasn't there at all.
17. NAPOLEON'S THREE QUESTIONS
A story is told about a Swede who wanted to join Napoleon’s Grand Army. One evening some of Napoleon’s soldiers were drinking together when a young Frenchman brought friend to their table. He expained that his friend was a Swede and knew no French, but this Swede admired Napoleon so much that he wanted to join the French army and fight for him.
The soldiers looked up and saw a tall young man with blue eyes, a friendly face, strong arms and broad shoulders. They like him at once.
The officers saw that he was just the right sort of man, so they accepted him and he became one of Napoleons soldiers. His new friends smoothed away the difficulties. He fought bravely in many battles and gained their respect. However, his knowledge of French remained very weak, because he was not good at learning languages, but this did not prevent him from fighting hard. Several yaears later, word came that Napoleon himself was coming to inspect them, and the Swede was warned that the great man world probably ask him some question. There was some difficulty in expaining this to the Swede, but when at last he understood he became very anxious. “The Swede won’t understand the questions.” One of the Frenchmen said, “What can he do?”
It was well know that Napoleon always asked the same three questions, I and usuall in the same order. The first question was, “How old are you?” The second was, “how long have you been in my army?” And the third was, “Did you serve in either of my last two campaigns?” The Swede could not possibly remember all these words and so his friends decided to teach him only the answers in their proper order. They gave him a lot of practice. Whenever possible, one of them would stop him, make him stand at attention, and ask him the three questions. “How old are you?” he would demand, and the Swede would answer, “Twenty-three, sir.” Then his
15