[HisToRY) HISTORY: The Plantagenets WORLD AFFAIRS: Living in Japan SCIENCE OF MATTER: Air and water SCIENCE OF LIFE: Our hair ‘The camel PUZZLE PAGE QUIZ PAGE ENGLISH: Can you spell? ARTS AND CRAFTS: Painting flowers MATHEMATICS: All about area STORY PAGE: A tall story TOWNS AND CITIES: Mexico City GEOGRAPHY: By sea to London Qis0ks Penal and Sone Led had by Purell and Sons, Led, Gu House, 2 Portman Street, London, W Primed tn Great Britain ‘Tus 18 the story of three kings who ruled England from 1154 to 1216. ‘Their family name was Plantagenet, The first of these kings was named Henry, and he was the father of four sons. Two sons followed him on the throne of England - Richard and John. The Plantagenet family was a very quarrelsome one. ‘The sons did not get on at all well with their father. ‘Their mother made a habit of siding with the sons against him. Father and sons all had very bad tempers. Henry had only been in England for three short visits before he became King Henry II of England at the age of 21, He already ruled half of France. With this new kingdom his lands stretched from the Scottish border in the north for 900 miles to the Pyrenees mountains far to the south on the border of Spain, In those days a king did not stay in one plate and rule from one capital city, All through his reign Henry travelled up and down and about his lands on horse~ back. He was always on the move. He never seemed to get tired. Indeed he found it very hard ever to sit still, even in church. And everywhere he travelled he tried to make the government of his lands more efficient. There was much in England for Henry II to do, since the country had been in a state of great disorder for many years before he became King, Wealthy landowners, hhad got into the habit of doing very much what they liked, with the help of their own private armies of soldiers. ‘Henry's first problem in fact was to get back the royal 338 Richard the Lion Heart. castles which various nobles had seized and did not want to give up. Then he had to bring some order into the government of the country. Henry got more order by training many more officials to do jobs in an orderly way. For example, clerks began to keep written records of the cases tried by judges and of the judgements given. So lawsuits became less a matter of luck as to what the judge remembered about similar cases before. Now, too, Henry set up a central office to keep his accounts, and to receive all taxes. Henry's new civil servants, as we should call them today, were all clerks in those days, because they were all clerics ot clergymen in the Church. Few other people then learned to write. King John.Henry also wanted more order in Church affairs. The Church then had its own law courts, and any cleric could avoid trial, even for murder, in the King’s courts. Hengy thought this wrong. He hoped to get this system changed by choosing a great friend of his to be Arch- bishop of Canterbury. With this friend, Thomas Becket, he had hunted and played chess and discussed endlessly all the problems of the kingdom. But when Becket became Archbishop he stood up firmly for all the rights of the Church, Henry flew into one of his most terrifying rages. Four knights heard him cursing Becket. They went off on their own and murdered Becket on the steps of the altar in Canterbury cathedral. This shocking murder undid all Henry's efforts to bring more order into relations between Church and State. King Henry was a Frenchman who spent a lot of time riding round England and getting to know it. His son Richard knew nothing about England when he became King. He spent only five months in England during the whole of the ten years he was King. Richard’s chief interest was in the Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from the Moslems (FINDING out No. 12). After the Crusade he spent the rest of his reign trying to stop the King of France from capturing Normandy. King Richard the Lion Heart was as energetic as his father, and also as bad-tempered. But he never had time to govern England, Richard was killed in 1199 in France during a fight about some buried treasure. ‘Then his brother John became King. John had been the baby of the family and had always been spoilt by his father and mother alike, He was very clever, and he could be very charming if he wanted to be. But he had just as bad a temper a8 his father and brother. He was also lazier. Early in his reign he lost Normandy to the King of France. So he had plenty of time to ride round England-as his father had done. But John made enemies everywhere he went. In his own way John tried to improve the government of his kingdom. He tried to get every penny of taxes to which he thought he was entitled. But the nobles did not trust him to be fair and just, as his father had been. John tried to get his own way by making the nobles fear him if they would not trust him, But the nobles banded together in their own interests. They forced him to sign a Great Charter, or Magna Carta as they called it in Latin, ‘Magna Carta put down in writing some of the things that the King must not do, For example, one sentence in it was: TO NO ONE WILL WE SELL, TO NO ONE WILL. WE REFUSE OR DELAY JUSTICE. In later years Englishmen used to repeat these words and give them much more meaning than either King John or the nobles did when Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede on June 15th, 1215.The great Bronte at of Buta Citexo is showing her dolls to Noriko-San. On the top shelf are the Emperor and Empress, and on lower shelves the members of their court. Neatly all Japanese girls hhave a set of dolls like this which they bring out for the Girls’ Festival. The boys have a festival of their ‘own when cloth carp fly from poles outside their houses, ‘The carp is a fish known for its strength and courage. There are many other special days which the people of Japan celebrate. On New Year's day they decorate their homes with pine and bamboo. The boys fiy huge paper kites and the girls put on their best kimono, the Japanese national dress. Everyone eats o-mochi, a special rice dish, land after the feast they play Ayakuninisshu, a card game played only at New Year. ‘The Japanese have straight black hair and dark eyes. ‘They are smaller than the peoples of Europe and America If you are over 5 ft. 9 in. tall, you have to bend your hhead when going through the doorway of a Japanese house. You must remember to leave your shoes outside so that you do mot damage the straw mats which cover the floors. These mats are called tatami. In the house there are sliding doors instead of walls. In one of the cupboards are futon, a kind of thick eider- down which the Japanese roll up during the day, and put fon the floor at night to sleep on. There is a low table in the dining-room, and cushions arranged on the floor round it. When a meal is served, each person sits on a ‘cushion and eats with sticks from the bowls on the tray in front of him. ‘The Japanese enjoy sashimi, sliced raw fish. Another popular food is sukiyaki, a mixture of beef, onions, mushrooms, bamboo sprouts, beans and other vegetables. ‘The woman with a child strapped to her back is going through the gateway of a shrine, There are many temples and shrines in Japan. On feast days they are filled with visitors. The Daibutsu-den, the Hall of the Great 340 =a Buddha, has the largest bronze statue in the world. Its over 1,000 years old, ‘The boys dressed in loose white clothes are practising Judo, a kind of wrestling. Heavy-weight wrestling (sumo) is also popular. Just over 100 years ago, Japan’s ports were closed to foreign ships, and there was a law sentencing to death any foreigner who entered the country. But today Japan is a busy trading country. (See FINDING ovT, numbers 11 and 12) Questions 1. What do the following words mean: futon, sashimi, atari, kimono? 2, How do the Japanese eat their meals? 3, Name two popular Japanese sports. ‘Answers on page 354.S SS AIR AND WATER ‘SCIENCE OF WATTER Ir you WERE asked what are the two commonest sub- stances found on the earth, what would you give as your answer? You would be right if you said air and water. If someone then asked you, what is the difference between air and water, you would probably say that air is a gas and water is a liquid, But there is also another very important difference. To help you understand we are going to learn about mixtures and compounds Have you ever picked up a bottle of something and read on the label, “shake well”? All the substances in this bottle are mixed up, and will work together when they are used. This is often the case with bottles of medicine. When you let them settle dows again after shaking, you can often see some of the substances separ- ately. At the bottom you might see a powder and on top a liquid. This is an-example of a mixture. When different sub- stances are mixed up together but don’t change into new substances we call this a mixture, ‘You can always separate out the various substances in a mixrure some way or other. It isn’t always very easy ‘of course ~ but it can be done. Ifyou made up a mixture of sand and sugar in a jar, can you think how you could separate the sand and sugar again? The longest way round would be to pick out the grains of sand one by one! ‘The simplest way would be to our some water into the jar. ‘The sugar would then dis- solve in the water. Sand does not dissolve, and when the water was poured off the sand would be left behind. ‘When you put sugar and sand together and shake them up no new substances are formed. Sometimes though, ‘when substances are put together, they combine to form a new substance. The new substance is quite different from the two substances which made it. It is not a mixture, itis a compound. ‘When a few iron nails are made wet with water and left in the air, after a few days they are covered with rust. A new substance, which we call rust, has been made from the iron nails, water and the air. Rust is a quite different substance from the iron, the water and the air which are used to make it. Rust is a compound, A few weeks ago, we learnt that air was a mixture of ‘two gases ~ oxygen and nitrogen. When a candle is burnt in the air it uses up oxygen but leaves the nitrogen. This is rather like dissolving the sugar out of a mixture of sand and sugar. Believe it or not, water as well as air is made of two ‘gases, But in water the two gases are combined - they are ‘not just mixed up as they are in air. Water is a quite different substance from the two gases that make it. Can you now see an important difference between air and water? Air is a mixture, but water is a compound.‘A SMALL Boy once decided that he wou! on his sister’s head. He took her lovely 0 his left hand, and, while she sat reading a book, b with his right hand to pick out little wisps. As bi so he carefully counted the hairs in each wisp so that after half an hour, he had in his right hand 1,500 ha But they made a very little bunch. Most of his sist. hair had still to be counted. At this moment the owner of the hair became tired of reading and went out into the garden. It is just as well that she did, for she had quite a lot of hair. In it there were probably more than 100,000 hairs. Enough to keep the boy counting for almost a day and a half! ‘There was nothing special about this particular sil’s hair. Most people, except those who are bald, have , ‘between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs on their heads. Each haair lasts for about four years. Then the hair falls out and a new one grows in its place. Hairs grow at about three-quarters of an inch each month. ‘Many animals are completely covered in hair, and it seems likely that our carly ancestors had “coats” of hair too. No doubt they needed this woolly covering to keep them warm. We humans, however, have too little hair to keep ourselves warm all the year round, though some of the hair which we have is very useful for other purposes. Eyelashes help to keep dust and grit out of our eyes. Eyebrows stop drops of sweat from running into the eyes from the forchead. No doubt you have noticed that the eyelashes and the eyebrows are different from the hair on the head. ‘They never grow long. But did you know that many more short hairs can be found on nearly every part of the body? Lock carefully at your arms and legs for a moment, and you will see them. This hair is called anugo. It grows ‘everywhere, except on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and the tips of the fingers and toes. As people get older their hair grows more slowly, and ‘often it loses its colour, This is why older people often have hair which is grey or white. Some unfortunate men have hair which stops growing altogether. So after fa time they become rather bald, Luckily this seldom happens to women, So the little girl who read a book while her brother tried to count the hairs on her head will never lose her lovely locks. Questions 1, Horo fast does your hair grow? 2, Why are your eyelashes useful? “Anstcers on page 354.PUZZLE PAGE In each of these groups one of the shapes is different in some way from the rest. Can you see which are different? Answers to the pucsles on this page are on page 354. d Classes The first three words have a similar meaning. One of the others also has a similar meaning, but not the other two, Write down from the column on the right the word that has a meaning similar to those on the left. Example: brave bold courageous ~ ready daring stupid. Ansiver: daring, (@) cheerful pleasant joyful - quick happy expert. (b) brief short concise ~ slow rude condensed. (©) beautiful lovely handsome ~ charming massive heavy (@ calm mild placid ~ sunny scene quiet (©) hard difficult tricky ~ unusual puzzling flexible. (©) cold chilly freezing - cool weather unpleasant. () scarce rare uncommon - specimen few small. (h) keen eager ardent - follower player enthusiastic. @ fierce savage untamed ~ wild unfair generous. Gj). sharp astute shrewd - rough tongue clever. Analogies Fill in suitable words in the spaces provided. Example: Bellow is to bull as coo is to pigeon. (a) Hum is to bees as ... is to steam. (©) Bachelor is to spinster as master is to . (©) Colt is to filly as turkey-cock is to (@) Unele is to aunt as heir is to .. (©) Landlord is to landlady as hero is to... (6) Duke is to duchess as baron is to... (@) Crocodile is to reptile as whale is to .. (h) Milk is to drink as bread is to... @) Grass is to lawn as leaves are to ... ) Cushion is to armchair as pillow is to... (&) Pull is to push as arrive is to...1. What town did Joshua 9. What is a quadrille? take? (a) a monkey. (@) Jericho. (©) a dance. (b) Jerusalem, (©) a disagreement. (© Gaza, (@) a four-sided figure, (@) Damascus. to. Which country is not in 2. Which canal did Ferdi- Africa? rand de Lesseps build? (a) Zanzibar. (@) Panama Canal, (b) Ghana. (b) Caledonian Canal. (©) Trinidad, (©) Suez Canal, (@) Sudan, (@ Corinthian Canal. 11, What is maize? 3. Who signed the Magna (a) thick bushes. Carta? (b) a kind of corn. (2) Edward I, (©) a large lump. (b) Richard I. @) a muddle, (©) King John. 12, What is a person who is “ (@) Edward the Confessor. “down at heel”? 4- Complete this proverb, (a) poor and shabby. A stitch in time . . (b) away from home. (2) Makes fine weather. (©) dishonest. (b) Saves nine. @ obedient. (©) Is worth a dime. 13, Where is Cape Canaveral? (@ Keeps the fish om the (a) Australia, line, (©) Russia. 5. Where were the last Olym-(¢) France. pic Games held? (@ America. (@) Athens. 14. Which of these countries (b) Rome. has no sea-line? (© Melbourne. (@) Norway. @ London. (b) Guatemala. 6. Which of these countries (¢) Switzerland. has the largest population? @) Pakistan. (a) India. 15, Where is the Achilles (b) Indonesia, tendon? 7 (© The USSR. () eye. @ China, (b) arm, 7. Where docs the Shah — (¢) neck. (@) ankle. 16. What is a musket? (@) an old gun. (b) a kind of rose. (© asea fish. 8, Where does the Danube 17. What river is Paris on? flow to? (a) the Loire. (a) Red Sea (b) the Rhone. (b) Black Sea, (©) the Garonne. (©) Caspian Sea. (@) the Seine. (4) Baltic Sea. Answers on page 354.Diners ‘Man can tive in the desert only if he has enough water to drink. The camel is often man’s companion in the desert. Tt does not need to drink so much water so often. ‘When the camel does drink, it can take in a large amount of water in a short time. Then it can go for weeks, and even months in the winter, without drinking again. Tr used to be thought that the camel stored water in its hump. This is not so. The hump is mainly fat. The camel has no store of water in any one part of its body. But the fat in its hump is turned into water and energy as the animal needs it. The secret of the camel’s lack of thirst is thatit manages to save, or conserve, the water ithas. It does this in several ways. ‘The usual temperature of our bodies is about 98:4°F. If we are ill, we sometimes have a “temperature”. ‘This means that our temperature is higher than 98-4°F and we feel hotter than usual. We also sweat more when our temperature rises above 98'4°F. ‘The camel, however, can have a very high “temperature” ‘SCIENCE OF LIFE) up to 105°F -before it starts to sweat. At night its temperature falls to 93°F. In the morning the sun has to warm up the camel a great deal before it starts to sweat. This takes a long time. The camel sweats only during the hottest hours of the day. So it loses less water by sweating than man. If we lose a large amount of water, we lose it from our blood. The blood becomes so thick that the heart cannot pump it around the body. The heat in the body cannot be carried to the skin surface quickly enough to be lost. ‘As a result man dies of overheating, ‘The camel does not lose much water from its blood. It loses water from the other parts of its body. So its blood does not thicken. ‘The camel is also different from man in that most of its fat is in its hump. We have a layer of fat all over our bodies under our skins. This helps to keep the heat of our bodies in. The camel, with no layer of fat, can get rid of its extra heat more easily. The camel's shaggy ‘coat stops the hot sun from reaching the skin surface and warming it up. In all these ways the camel solves the problems of lack of water in the desert. It is much more suited to living in hot desert lands than we are. 345Can you spell? You nave by now had a good deal of p and writing better English. You ha ance of writing varied and interesting sente: of using fresh and vivid words in yo and stories You have also learnt how to r you have written u very best that you can do, This is hard = it is also fun, What a grand feeling get when we have done something as well 2s can! But you will have noticed that so far we b: mentioned spelling. This is not because we gotten all about it: spelling is too important No, what we wanted you to do was t0 prove t0 you what fun learning to write better English can be~ this we are sure you will have done by now (On the leftis a picrure ofa very great and wise Ene! man. Some of you may have already guessed who he is, No? Well, he is Dr. Samuel Johnson. Before you read on, you may like to try to some facts about him. When and there was he When and where did he dic? Where was he buried twas he by profession? Why did te call him a very sr wise Englishman? Most important of all at prese find out hoz he is connected with spelling. Perhaps you are a bad speller: your heart may have sunk into your boots at the very mention of before we begin to talk about spelling, ourselves by remembering one of Dr. Johnso sayings. Before his time, people spelled very they pleased. During his lifetime, though, grew up that everybody should spell alike ~ scholars recommended that there should be “steadiness and ‘uniformity in spelling”. Dr. Johnson's comment on this was: “This recommendation of steadiness and wif spelling does not proceed fro combinations of letters: happiness." So, you see, even if you are a poor speller, you need not be very unhappy about it, Nevertheless, spelling is important, as we all know, and anyone can improve his ne much nfl spelling if he wishes. + CORRECT SPELLING DEPENDS ON CORRECT word and what order they come in. sees what the letters really are and what their order isaleoays 19 s¢¢ ie are and what "The key to good spelling is to take iin cvery news coord you meet what letters order they come in Of course, we agree with Dr. Johason = you should not make yourselt happy even if you are a poor speller. But if you are, we believe that you should begin now to cure yourself — poor spelling is such an_unnecessary wndicap, Dr. Johnson's dictionary In 1755 Dr. Johnson's dictionary was published. ‘This, was the first great dictionary of the English languag and the father of all the dictionaries that followed, including the one you yourself use. It consisted of two big volumes. One of its purposes vas to offer a general guide to spelling. In doing so, it fixed the spelling of all those words which even educated people were spelling as they pleased ~ “without steadiness, and uniformity”. After the dictionary was published, no educated person dared to spell a word in any other way than that given in, the dictionary for fear of being called an ignoramus. A plan to improve your spelling There are two kinds of spelling mistakes you make: 1, Words~ often very simple ones~ that you aleays misspell, xe words that you misspell the very first time that you crite them. We suggest that you call the words that you alays misspell your pers Why “personal? Ne- cause no two people make exactly the same spelling nistakes, They nid no one else’ss and nly you yourself ean cure them! Keep a little notebook like the one tetow. Head it “Spelling ~ My Personal Enemies”, Make a list of those words that you aleuys spl erogly. Remember that there will only be a part of the word that gives you trouble = pethaps only one or tvo letters, Write this part of the word in capitals of « different colour. Below you can sce the beginning of ag list of enemies, ‘As you learn the corrcet spellings, you need only concentrate upon the part of the word that you get wrong. (In the list below, for instance, itl was having a good deal of trouble with “beautiful”, wasn't she?) Can you say why she wrote words in brackets after three of her enemies? She had a very good reason, and you could do the same with many words, Next weck we will deal with the second kind of spelling mistake, and give you the rest of the Spelling Plan, wre yours. alone 's personalIr You HAVE not painted a picture in oils before, one of the best subjects to start with is a bowl or pot of flowers. The reason for this is that you can arrange it to suit yourself. The light and shade will not alter, and the ‘model will be quite still while you paint. ‘Almost all lowers are fun to paint. They have bright, rich colours and very attractive shapes. If you like, you can choose your blooms all of the same colour, but it is probably better to have variety. With most kinds of flowers it is best to have a dark background, to show up the arrangement. As a contrast to this, you can place the vase on a light-coloured cloth. When painting flowers you should not have a patterned foreground or otherobjects there. If you do, you will tend to take the eye away from the flowers themselves. When you have arranged your flowers in a vase, put them against the background. Now walk round them until you find the position you like best. When you have found this position you are ready to paint. AAs we said in the last article, the best way to draw-in with oils is to mix up a little burnt umber with French ultramarine and plenty of turpentine substitute. With your small, round brush use this paint to do your draw- jing. Don’t forget to look hard at your model. Half- close your eyes, so that the flowers and the leaves are ‘brought down to their simplest shapes. It is these shapes that you want to draw in, Keep everything simple. ‘When you have finished the rough drawing, the next step is to paint the background. Always paint those parts which are the farthest away first. The background in this case is dark. It might be a piece of black paper or, if you have an old curtain, that will do very well. For putting in the background use a flat brush if you have one. But you must be careful which kind of stroke you use. If oil colour is put on with long, continuous strokes, such as the house-painter uses, when it is dry it will look unpleasant. The reason for this is that the bristles of your brush leave little ridges of paint which will catch the light and make it difficult to see the picture properly. Therefore put on your background with a kkind of cross-hatching stroke. ‘When you get near the flowers, make quite sure that the background is carried well between the flowers and leaves, Then when the flowers are painted there will be no specks of white canvas, paper or board showing through. ‘The next thing to paint is the vase. We have chosen 1 glazed earthenware pot. Reflected light at the sides of the pot can be put in by adding a little yellow ochre and white, The light in this picture is coming from the left, ‘0 you will get a crisp highlight on the side of the pot. [ARTS ANDER The cloth on which the flowers are standing is white. This colour should be put on in the same way as you did the background. Do not forget the shadow cast by the pot and flowers Before you paint the flowers themselves, you must put in the stems and leaves. It is a great temptation when painting a lot of leaves to mix up one green and put it over them all. But, if you look carefully at your model, you will see that some leaves are in shadow and some in light. So, mix a slightly different green for cach leaf, and your picture will be much more alive. French ultra marine with one or both of your yellows can make an enormous number of different greens. ‘Now to the flowers themselves. For these you will need your round brush. Before you start to mix your flower colours make sure that the brush is very clean. Rinse it several times in some turpentine substitute in a jam jar. Then wipe it thoroughly on an old piece of rag. If you don’t do this, it will be impossible to get bright, clean colour. Oil painting is different from water-colour, because with oils you can get texture as well as colour. So, when painting the flowers, look carefully at them and try to see how their petals grow. Then, with your round brush and plenty of colour, try and imitate the petals with lively strokes. Put plenty of colour on the brush so that the paint is thick and stands out well. Once again, don’t forget light and shade. Finally, stand back so that you can see your picture with the model. Look carefully to see if a few more strokes of light or dark can be added to bring out certain parts. But be careful that you do not go on painting too long. If you do, you will make your picture dull and over-worked. ‘An oil painting takes quite a long time to dry; so, if you can, lean it face to the wall in a cupboard or some place which will Keep the dust away from it. Try different shapes Sor flowers and leaves. 39(WATHEMATICS WHEN WE TALK of the area of anything, we mean the amount of surface. Perhaps “surface” is difficult to unde stand. If you look up this word in a dictionary you will find it has many meanings. So let us take an example. Look at the page on which these words are printed. Run your hand over the page. You are now feeling the surface. The edges of the page enclose the whole surface of it. If You put FINDING OUT on the table it will cover up part of the surface of the table. The surface of the table is larger than the surface of one page of FINDING OUT. ‘Now here are some coloured shapes. The surface of the red shape is smaller than the surface of the yellow shape. So we say that the red shape has a smaller area, eae Can you decide which shape has the largest area? Can you put the different coloured areas in order? Find the smallest, then one a little larger, and so on. Perhaps you found this hard. ‘The trouble is that the same area can be all sorts of shapes. Just by looking it is not easy to see differences. ‘These four shapes are all the same area! They look different, but the areas are the same. abd To show you that this is so, our artist has now drawn them on squared paper. Now count up the number of little squares in each shape. You will find that the number is the same. Have a look round. How many flat surfaces can you see? If you are inside a room you will find many. ‘The walls are flat. So is the floor. There will be flat surfaces fon furniture. It is a good idea to make a list. But every thing has surface whether it is flat or not. ‘We have talked about the area of this page already. Its a flat surface when it lies on the table. Now pick it up and bend it. The area of the page is still the same. ‘Now look around you and see how many curved areas, you can find. One area that is quite large is the area of your body. Have you ever thought how much skin you have? Look at your hand. ‘There is quite a large surface there. Do you think the area of the skin of your hand is larger than the area of this page of FINDING OUT? How can we find out? Put your hand flat on the page. The page is bigger. But the skin covers every part of your hand. We must take this into account. ‘Think about this problem and try to find the answer by experi- ‘menting. If we bring two surfaces together and place one flat on the other we can say which is bigger. But this does not tell us how big. We need some units to measur area, just as we need units to measure length or weight or time ~ or anything else. ‘The units we use are square units, Here is one of them. tis a square inch. You could draw and make a square inch for yourself Each side must be exactly an inch long. All the corners must be right angles. If you make some square inches and cover a surface with them you can say how big itis. Of course, this is not always easy to do. Try covering your hand with square inches! Measuring curved surfaces is, always difficult unless we know some mathematics. You will learn all about this as you grow older. But we can use mathematics now to measure some areas. This will save alot of trouble. Let us see how we can use mathematics to find the area of a shape like this: 5