Lesson:

1. Frank was a very talkative little boy. He never saw a new thing without asking a great many questions about it.


2. His mother was very patient and kind. When it was proper to answer his questions, she would do so.


3. Sometimes she would say, 'You are not old enough to understand that, my son. When you are ten years old, you may ask me about it, and I will tell you.'


4. When his mother said this, he never teased any more. He knew she always liked to answer him when he asked proper questions.


5. The first time Frank saw an hourglass, he was very much amused; but he did not know what it was.


6. His mother said, 'An hourglass is made in the shape of the figure 8. The sand is put in at one end, and runs through a small hole in the middle. As much sand is put into the glass as will run through in an hour.'


7. Frank watched the little stream of sand. He was impatient, because it would not run faster. 'Let me shake it, mother,' said he; 'it is lazy, and will never get through.'


8. 'Oh yes, it will, my son,' said his mother, 'The sand moves by little and little, but it moves all the time.


9. 'When you look at the hands of the clock, you think they go very slowly, and so they do; but they never stop.


10, 'While you are at play the sand is running, grain by grain, The hands of the clock are moving, second by second.


11. 'At night, the sand in the hourglass has run through twelve times. The hour hand of the clock has moved all around its great face.


12. 'This because they keep work every minute. They do not stop to think how much they have to do, and how long it will take them to do it.'


13. Now, Frank's mother wanted him to learn a little hymn; but he said 'Mother, I can never learn it.'


14. His mother said, 'Study all the time. Never stop to ask how long it will take to learn it. You will be able to say it very soon.'


15. Frank followed his mother's advice. He studied line after line, very busily; and in one hour and a half he knew the hymn perfectly.