Frank was a very talkative little boy. He never saw a new thing1asking a great many questions about it. His2was very patient and kind. When it was3to answer his questions, she would do so. But sometimes she would say, "You are not4enough to understand that, my son. When you are ten years old, you may ask me about it, and I will tell you."
The first time Frank saw an hourglass, he was very much interested, but he did not know5it was. His mother said, "An hourglass is made in the6of the figure 8. The sand is put in at one end, and runs through a small hole in the7. As much sand is put into the glass as will run through in an hour."
When Frank watched the little stream of sand, he was impatient.8it would not run faster. "Let me9it, mother," said Frank. "It is lazy, and will never get through." "Oh yes, it will, my son, "said his mother. "The sand moves down little by little, but it moves all the time." "When you look at the10of the clock, you think they go very slowly. and so they do; but they never11.""While you are playing, the sand is running, grain by grain. The hands of the clock are moving, second by second. At night, the sand in the hourglass has run through twelve times. The hour hand of the clock has moved all around its face. This is because they keep working every12. They do not stop to think how much they have to do, or how long it will13them dodo it."
Now Frank's mother wanted him to learn a little poem, but he said, "Mother, I can14do it." 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." Frank15his mother's advice. He studied line after line, very busily and in one hour and a half he knew the poem perfectly.
