Diamonds in the United States

Most of the world's diamonds come from Africa，but there is one place in the United States where they are found．It is near Murfreesboro，Arkansas．


Diamonds were first found near Murfreesboro in 1906．About fifty thousand diamonds have come from this field．One forty－caratdiamond was the largest ever found in North America．But most of the stones were too small to make mining worthwhile．Soon all mining stopped there．Today a visitor to Murfreesboro can hurt for diamonds himself．


A few diamonds have been found in sand and gravel along the Great Lakes，too．But none of these were in their original blue ground．They may have been formed far to the north and carried south by the last great glaciers．

The Necktie through Thick and Thin

From hat to shoes，men's clothes are useful．Only one piece of clothing is worn just for decoration．It is the necktie，or cravat．The necktie is left over from the time when men wore ruffles，ribbons，and tassels．


Beau Brummel was an Englishman of the early 1800's．He was famous for his fancy clothes．The story is told that he used to invite guests just to watch him knot his white cravat．


Now，perhaps，even the necktie is going out of style．It has been getting smaller and smaller for hundreds of years．It started out as a piece of lace and turned into a silk bow．Then it became a triangle that was tied around the neck．Now many neckties are no wider than a piece of string．

Who First Made Ice Cream

Most Americans think that ice cream is as American as baseball and apple pie．But ice cream was known long before America was discovered．


The Roman emperor Nero may have made a kind of ice cream．He hired hundreds of men to bring snow and ice from the mountains．He used it to make cold drinks．Traveler Marco Polobrought back recipes for chilled and frozen milk from China．


Hundreds of years later，ice cream reached England．It is said that King Charles Ienjoyed that treatvery much．There is a story that he bribed his cook to keep the recipe for ice cream a royal secret．


Today ice cream is known throughout the world．Americans alone eat more than two billion quartsa year．

Earthworms that Help Improve the Soil

The earthworm is a useful animal．Out of the ground，it is food for other animals．In the ground，it makes rich soil for fields and gardens．


Earthworms dig tunnels that loosen the soil and make it easy for air and water to reach the roots of plants．These tunnels help keep the soil well drained．


Earthworms drag dead leaves，grass，and flowers into their burrows．When this plant material decays，it makes the soil more fertile．


No other animal is so useful in building up good topsoil．It is estimated that in one year fifty thousand earthworms carry about eighteen tons of fine soil to the surface of an acre of land．One worm may add three quarters of a pound of earth to tho topsoil．

The Three Ways of Man to Preserve Meat

Finding enough meat was a problem for primitive man．Keeping it for times when it was scarce was just as hard．Three ways were found to keep meat from spoiling：salting，drying，and freezing．


People near salty waters salted their meat．At first they probably rubbed dry salt on it，but this preserved only the outside．Later they may have pickled their meat by soaking it in salt water．


In hot，dry lands，men found that they could eat meat that had dried while it was still on the bones．They later learned to cut meat into thin strips and hang it up to dry in the hot air．


Men in cold climates found that frozen meat did not spoil．They could leave their meat outside and eat it when they pleased．

How the Hawaiian Is lands Were Built

Volcanoes have been erupting on the earth for millions of years．More than five hundred still erupt today．These are called active volcanoes．Volcanoes are located in belts or chains．They are found where the earth's crust is weak．The weak spots let the hot rock escape when the volcano erupts．


Many volcano belts are mountain ranges along the edges of continents．One belt runs along the western coast of South America up through the western part of the United States．Other volcanoes are found in ocean basins．


About three－fifths of all active volcanoes in the world are in the Pacific Ocean．Many of these volcanoes erupt under the water．The Hawaiian Islands were built by volcanoes that began erupting under water and finally reached the surface of the ocean．

A Giraffe that Did Not Believe in Himself

In Africa I heard a story about a giraffe that did not believe in himself．


The giraffe's mother bad left him when he was a few days old because she couldn't feed him． For three years he lived in the warden's house and played with the children．Then he grew too large for the house．


The family decided that he should return to his fellows．They took him to join a herd of wild giraffes．


One look was enough for the giraffe's small brain．He could not believe that such extraordinary animals existed．Or that he was one of them！He turned and bolted．


The family took him back several times．In the end they gave up．Now their giraffe lives by himself near the warden's house．

The Antarctic，a Desert of Ice All Year Round

The antarctic is actually a desert．It is the only continent on the earth without a river or a lake．


The antarctic is all ice all year round．The warmest temperature ever recorded there is zero，at the South Pole．Explorers used to think that a place so cold would have a heavy snow－fall．But less than ten inches of snow falls each year．That is less than half an inch of water．Ten times that much moisture falls in parts of the Sahara．


The little snow that falls in Antarctica never melts．It continues to pile up deeper and deeper year after year and century after century．When the snow gets to be about eighty feet deep it is turned to ice by the weight of the snow above it．

The Small Black Ants，Nature's Clean—up Crew

The small black ants that we see running back and forth in the grass are the same ants that annoy us by coming to our picnics uninvited．They are not trying to make pests of them－selves，but are only doing the housekeeping job they were made for．They are nature's clean－upcrew．


One of these ants，scouting in the grass，finds the trail of an injured beetle．In some mysterious way the news spreads．Soon there are two ants，then a few more．Then a dozen or more are running around the beetle．Enough ants will come to put an end to it．


When the beetle is dead，the ants carry it away to their underground burrows．The efficient ants leave nothing in the grass but the empty shell．

Sen Otters off the Coast of California

sea otters off the coast of Californiahave an unusual method of getting food．They dive to the floor of the sea to find the shell－fish they like．


When an otter brings a shellfish to the surface of the water，he floats on his back and puts the shellfish on his chest．Then the otter digs the meat out of the shell with his teeth．


Sea otters are especially fond of shellfish with a very hard shell．When the otter brings up one of these，he also brings a stone．He puts the stone on his chest，holding the shellfish in his front paws．He takes a wide swing and smashes the hard shell on the stone．Then he has no trouble getting at the meat in the shell．

A Temperature Change on the Moon

Astronomers can tell just how hot the surface of the moon gets．The side of the moon toward the sun gets two degrees hotter than boiling water．The night side reaches 243 degrees below zero．


In an eclipse，the earth's shadow falls on the moon．Then the moon's temperature may drop 300 degrees in a very short time．


A temperature change like this cannot happen on the earth．Why does it happen on the moon？Astronomers think that the surface of the moon is dust．On the earth，rocks store heat from the sun．When the sun goes down，the rocks stay warm．But the dust of the moon cannot store heat．So when the moon gets dark k，the heat escapes quickly．The moon gets very cold．

How the Falls of Iguassu Was Discovered

In 1542，Alvar Cabeza de Vaca and his small band of soldiers guided their boats down a jungle river．It was the Iguassu，which now marks the boundary between Brazil and Argentina．Never had the explorers seen a river so beautiful．


At one point the men heard a strange rumble in the distance．It grew louder as they went on．Puzzled and afraid，they rounded a bend．Directly ahead of them the river vanished，plunging with a roar over the brink of a great chasm．


The men fought the swift current and managed to reach shore just in time to keep from being swept over the brink．Then they crept out on the wet rocks and looked into the churning caldron below．They had discovered the greatest waterfall that had ever been seen by white men－the falls of Iguassu．

The Hognose Snake，One of Nature's Clowns

The hognose snake，sometimes called the puff adder，is one of nature's clowns．Some people think that he is deadly poisonous．Actually，he's just a harmless fellow who spends most of his time huntingtoads．


The puff adder gets his name from being a terrific bluffer．He will swell up，hiss，and strike viciously to frighten you away．If that doesn't work，he will flatten out，making his head look like a cobra's．


He has one more trick——playing dead．He goes limp，opens his mouth wide，and rolls over on his back so that he couldn't possibly look more dead．


Unfortunately，this trick is spoiled by his one—track mind．If you pick him up he lies still．But turn him over and he will thrash about wildly，trying to turn himself belly up again．

A Tornado that Makes Red Rain

A tornado can do a lot of damage The wind of a tornado rushes at great speed around a funnel—shaped cloud．It travels in a path a few hundred feet wide and about twenty－five miles long．As the wind circles counterclockwise，the funnel spirals higher and higher．The force of the wind sucks up water，dirt，and objects，and carries them along with it．It may drop them again many miles away．Houses and huge trees have been drawn into tornado funnels．At sea，ships have been nearly sunk by tornadoes dropping water on them．


East of Australia，people talk about a“rain of blood”．This is caused by a tornado picking up red dust and mixing it with water to make red rain．There are even stories abut a rain of fish and frogs caused by a tornado sucking them up and then dropping them．

Mascara 眉笔

　Use two kinds of mascara in three coats to get lash density. No single mascara offers both definition and thickness, and that's why there are so many mascaras on the market. Use an eyelash curler to curl lashes first—this will open the eye and groom the lashes. This is a very important step to get a beautiful result! Start with a defining mascara for two coats. Wipe the wand off before the first coat to prevent clumping. Apply coat in three strokes, starting from the inner eye, then center eye, and then the outer corner. Do a second coat with the same mascara and let set for a minute. Use a thickening mascara for the third and final coat to fill in the defined lashes and create a full lash.