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When the king noticed me he was very kind and polite. I told him I came from the beautiful country called America, and would like to visit all the interesting places in his country. He sent a guide to show me the way. I saw the great wall, seventy miles long, which three Roman emperors, Agricola, Hadrian and Serverus had built; but the wall was crumbling to ruins, and the grass and weeds were growing all over it. I drank some cool water from the wells which the Romans had sunk, and sat on the Stonehenge, one of the altars that the Druids had built before the Romans invaded the islands.

After that I went to Cornwall, and the Britons showed me the ruins of King Arthur's castle. I also visited the tin mines, and talked with the miners. They told me that in stormy weather, when they are at work, they can hear the noise of the waves thundering above their heads; and I think it must have been the angry waves beating against the rugged sea-coast of Cornwall that awoke me in the middle of my dream.

HELEN KELLER.

OCTOBER 10, 1890.

No attempt has been made to make her lessons in zoölogy and botany formally scientific. I have introduced these studies thus early in her education, for the purpose of cultivating her senses, furnishing themes for thought, and improving her language. That they have served these purposes will be seen from the following essays.

EXERCISE IN BOTANY.

PLANTS have two kinds of organs. They are organs of vegetation, consisting of roots, stem and leaves, and those of reproduction, consisting of flowers, fruit and seed. The organs of vegetation nourish the plant and enable it to grow. Those of reproduction form new plants. Roots grow downward, and take part of the nourishment from the soil. They send off little branches, called fibres or rootlets. Stems grow upward, and bear leaves and flowers.

Leaves are usually thin, flat and green, turning one face upward to the sky, and the other toward the ground. They make the foliage, and take part of the food from the air. In the leaves the food is changed into something that will nourish the plant; and the food, after it is digested, makes the plant grow.

The smallest geranium and the largest tree are alike in their organs, only the tree is more extended. Plants reproduce new plants by seeds. First they bloom. Then the blossom develops into the fruit, and the essential part of the fruit is the seed. The essential part of the seed is the embryo. It is a little plantlet, ready formed in the seed.

Flowers are more interesting to us because of their sweet fragrance, exquisite shapes and delicate texture. Flowers consist of a calyx, corolla, stamens and pistil. The calyx and corolla make what is called the floral envelope. They protect the stamens and pistils. Calyx is the Latin name for flower-cup. The calyx is the outer covering of the blossom. The corolla is the inner set of leaves. The corolla usually has bright colors, and is very beautiful. The leaves of the calyx are called sepals, and those of the corolla petals. The stamens in the morning-glory are fastened to the bottom of the corolla, and there are five of them. Each stamen consists of two parts, filament and anther. The filament is the stalk, and the anther is a case at the top of the filament, containing pollen. The stamens and the pistil are the essential parts of the flower. The pistil is the body in which the seeds are formed. The morning-glory has one pistil. The rose and buttercup have a great many.

The pistil consists of three parts: the ovary at the bottom, which becomes the seed-vessel; a slender part in the middle, called the style; and the stigma at the top. Some of the pollen is blown on the stigma to make the seed ripen. The ovules are the little bodies that form the seeds. Some flowers do not have all these parts. The filament and style are sometimes absent, for they are not necessary. The ovary, stigma and anther are always present. The corolla, stamens, and sometimes the calyx, fall off after blooming; but the ovary remains, and becomes the fruit. So the fruit is the ripened ovary. It may be a strawberry, a peach, a grain, a nut or a pod, -- like the lily pod, or morning-glory pod. The radical is the stemlet of the embryo, and cotyledons are the seed-leaves. The seeds do not begin to grow as soon as they are ripe. They lie dormant fur a long while, -- in most plants until the next spring after they ripen, and in some until the spring after that.

EXERCISE IN ZOÖLOGY: The Bee.

THE bees, ants, wasps, hornets and ichneumon flies belong to the order Hymenoptera. Bees are the most perfect of all the insects. There are solitary bees and social bees. The solitary bees live in holes in the earth, like the ants, or in silk-lined earthen cocoons. The social bees live in large communities, and they have a queen to reign over them.

A hive contains three kinds of bees: First, a queen bee, distinguished from the others by the greater length of her body and shorter wings. Second, worker-bees, and these are all females, but they do not lay eggs. There are many thousands of them in a hive. They are the smallest-sized bees in the hive, and they are armed with a sting. Third, drones, or males. There are about 1,500 drones in the hive; and they are larger than the workers, and of a darker color, and they make a greater noise in flying. They have no sting. All the work of the community is done by the workers. They make the wax and construct the cells and collect the honey and feed the brood. The drones are the father-bees. The queen bee lays all the eggs. The eggs remain about three days in the cells before being hatched. Then a little white, worm-like animal makes its appearance. This larva is fed with honey for some days, and then changes into the pupa. After passing a few days in this state, it comes out a perfect winged insect.