and _out of their holes_ change places, and substitute _birds_ and _worms_
for _they_ and _they_, and see whether the meaning would be clearer.
Clearness is worth all it costs. You cannot take too much pains to be
understood.

+First-hand Knowledge+.--As you know, we get our knowledge in two ways. We
get it by seeing and by thinking about what we see; and we get it by
listening to other people and reading what they have written. What we get
by seeing, by observation, is first-hand knowledge; what we get from others
is second-hand knowledge. Both kinds are useful; we cannot have too much of
either. But the kind that it does us most good to get and is worth most to
us when got is first-hand knowledge. This especially is the kind which you
should make your compositions of. In the first two paragraphs of the
selection above, Darwin is telling what he saw, and in the third he is
explaining what he saw. That is why what he says is so fresh and
interesting.

And just one thing more. If such a man as Charles Darwin thought it worth
his while to spend much time in studying and experimenting upon angleworms
and then to write a large book about them, surely you need not think
anything in nature beneath your notice.

ORIGINAL COMPOSITION.

Tell in two or three short paragraphs what you have observed of some worm,
insect, or other creature, and what you think about it.

+To the Teacher+.--We suggest that what is said above be read by the pupils
and discussed in the class, and that the substance of it be reproduced in
the pupils' own language. Such reproduction will serve as a lesson in oral