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THE

NURSERY

_A Monthly Magazine_

FOR YOUNGEST READERS.

VOLUME XXIX.--No. 2.

    BOSTON:
    THE NURSERY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
    NO. 36 BROMFIELD STREET.
    1881.




    Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1881, by
    THE NURSERY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
    In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.


[Illustration: JOHN WILSON

& SON.

UNIVERSITY PRESS.]



[Illustration: Contents.]


IN PROSE.

                                                 PAGE
    Almost ready for Launching                     33
    Louis's new Plant                              36
    "One-old-cat"                                  39
    What is the Horse doing?                       40
    Why wouldn't the Kite fly?                     45
    Drawing-Lesson                                 49
    Bertie at his Uncle's                          50
    Rich and Poor                                  56
    Red Coral Beads                                58


IN VERSE.

                                                 PAGE
    The Would-be Travellers                        37
    A Queer Kitten                                 42
    How Blue-Eyes watched for the New Year         43
    The New-laid Egg                               47
    The Good Ship "Rosa Lee"                       54
    The Snow-Fairies                               57
    His Royal Highness                             62
    Nursery Song (_with music_)                    64


[Illustration: ALMOST READY FOR LAUNCHING.

VOL. XXIX.--NO. 2.]




ALMOST READY FOR LAUNCHING.


HERE we have a picture of a ship on the stocks, with a gang of men hard
at work giving her the finishing touches. There are full twenty-six men
in sight.

What are they doing? Well, most of them, I think, are calkers. Do you
know what that means? I will tell you.

After the frame of a ship is set up, the timbers firmly bolted and
braced, and the planking put on and fastened, inside and out, the next
thing to be done is to make the seams water-tight.

For this purpose, slivers of oakum, rolled up in the hand, are driven
into the seams between the planks. When the seams are filled, they are
covered with melted pitch or rosin to preserve the oakum from decay.
This process is called calking.

Most of the men seen in the picture are doing this work, but not all of
them. Some are driving in the oakum with a tool called a calking-iron.
Some are putting on the pitch. I will leave it for you to find out what
the others are doing.

If we could look on deck and on the other side of the ship, we should
see men at work there too. Hark! Don't you hear the sound of their
hammers? All is bustle, but there is no confusion. Every man knows what
to do, and does his work with a will.

After the calking is done, the painters will take their turn. They will
put on two or three coats of paint; then the carvers and gilders will
make a handsome figure-head; every thing will look as neat as a new pin;
and then it will be time to be thinking of a name for the vessel, for,
if I am not mistaken, the ship will be ready for launching. Let us
fancy that we are present at the launch. I think I see her now gliding
into the deep water that awaits her.

She floats away from her cradle. She sits like a duck upon the water.
She is staunch and strong and tight. So far the work has been well done.
What comes next?

[Illustration]

The riggers will now take her in hand. Masts and yards and shrouds and
sails will soon be in their places. Soon we shall see her in the harbor
all ready for sea; and by and by, with sails all set and streamers all
afloat, she will move gracefully down the bay. May she always have fair
winds and prosperous voyages!

                                                  UNCLE CHARLES.




LOUIS'S NEW PLANT.


LOUIS moved to a new home last spring, and, to his delight, had the use
of a plot of ground for a garden. Beans, morning-glories, and other
common plants, edged the little space; but his mamma planned to have
some new thing in the centre.

So they planted three or four peanuts. Louis expected to raise peanuts
enough for the whole neighborhood; and one lady to whom he mentioned it
engaged a bushel on the spot.

In due time a little plant appeared, carrying one of the nuts on its
head; but, finding that too much of a load, it left the parent nut on
the surface of the ground, and sent bright green leaves up, and