SixWayParagraphs B

1 Feathery Homes

Did you know that there is a kind of bird that can sew? This bird, called the tailorbird, uses its beak as a needle. It sews leaves together in the shape of a cup. Then it lines the cup with straw and lays its eggs there.

Each species builds its own special kind of nest. The most common materials used for nests are grasses, twigs, and feathers. A bird must weave these materials into a nest. Imagine building a house without cement or nails to hold it together!

A weaverbird builds a nest that looks like a basket. The nest is shaped like a pear with a hole in the middle. The hole is the door of the nest.

The ovenbird makes a nest that is very solid. The nest is made of mud. Like a sculptor, the ovenbird molds the mud into the shape of an oven and then lets it dry in the sun. The sun bakes the mud, making it very hard.

Not all birds make their homes in branches. Some birds build their nests on the ground, while others bury their eggs under the ground. And some birds do not build nests at all. For example, a bird called the fairy tern lays its eggs right on a branch. It tiptoes on the branch and balances its eggs very carefully so they won't fall. So, when you look for nests and eggs in the branches of trees and bushes, remember that some nests may be right under your feet!

2 Outsmarting the Enemy

When a garden warbler sings from trees or bushes, no one can see it. The colors of this songbird match the colors of the leaves. When an animal blends in with its surroundings, its enemies can't see it either. This kind of protection is called camouflage.

Birds must protect themselves from their enemies. Sometimes this means having to fight. Sometimes it means fooling the enemy. Sometimes it means being able to escape. Birds must also protect their eggs and their young. Cats, rats, and foxes love eggs for breakfast. They prowl around looking for eggs and young chicks to eat. How can birds defend themselves against such enemies?

Each species has its own way of defending itself. Birds called common terns fight with their beaks and claws. In a swarm, they peck and scratch at anyone who comes too close to their nests. Ostriches protect themselves by escaping. They can't fly, but they can run very fast on their long, muscular legs. These birds can reach speeds of up to forty miles per hour. How fast is that? Well, if the wind blows this hard, it can rip huge branches from trees.

A bird called a killdeer has a lot of courage. It cares very much for its young. It would rather die than see its eggs eaten by a fox. If a fox wanders toward the nest, the killdeer pretends to be hurt. Dragging one wing, it hops away from the nest and draws the hungry fox after it.

3 Rain Forests

Tropical rain forests grow near the equator, in the hottest parts of the world. Rain forests are always wet. The moisture just never dries up.

The trees in a rain forest are very tall and have very few limbs. The leaves are all at the top. They form a high ceiling. Very little sunlight comes through the leaves. Inside a rain forest it is as dark and quiet as a church.

There are very few low-growing plants on the rain forest floor. Walking through a rain forest is like being at a circus's high trapeze show—the most exciting things are happening high above the ground. Monkeys swing on vines, with baby monkeys on their backs. Large snakes crawl from branch to branch. Giant bats make squeaky noises.

The animals that stay near the ground are fascinating, too. The gentle tapir, which looks like a small horse with a long nose, covers itself with mud from head to foot. When the mud dries, it forms a kind of armor. It protects the tapir from biting insects. Another ground animal is the anteater. It has a long, sticky tongue that works like a fly trap. But the tongue is really an ant trap. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner the anteater eats nothing but ants, ants, and more ants.

4 Put a Lid on It

Sports have always been ruled by the weather. Rain, sleet, snow, and cold called the plays. Baseball fans often sat in the rain without cover, waiting for the sun to come out and the game to begin. Football lovers sometimes took days to warm up after sitting through a freezing cold Sunday game. For both sports fans and players, the domed stadium was like something out of a dream. A huge plastic bubble kept out rain and snow. There was heat to keep things comfortable year round.

Domed stadiums have clearly changed the course of sports. Still, they did have their problems at first. Most of these problems were discovered and solved at the Houston Astrodome. This was the world's first stadium with a lid. For the fans, it was great. But there were some problems for the players. Baseball outfielders had the most difficult time. They had to learn to catch in a field with a roof. At first this was almost as difficult as playing in the dark. The panes of the roof were light colored, to let sunlight in. Sunlight was needed to keep the grass on the field alive. But the light roof blended too well with the white baseball. Fly balls seemed to drop out of nowhere. Even skilled fielders were making errors. Finally, the decision was made to paint the panes of the roof dark. The problem was solved. What about the grass? Well, the real grass was dug up and replaced with artificial turf!

5 Two Unhappy Firsts

People enjoy talking about “firsts.” They like to remember their first love or their first car. But not all firsts are happy ones. Some involve accidents or other sad events. Few people enjoy recalling the firsts that are bad.

One of history's bad but important firsts was the first car accident. Autos were still young when it happened. The crash took place in New York City. The year was 1896. The month was May. A man from Massachusetts was visiting the city in his new car. At the time, bicycle riders were still trying to get used to the new sets of wheels on the road.

In the accident, no one is sure who was at fault. In any case, the bike and the car collided. The man on the bike was injured. The driver of the car had to stay in jail and wait for the hospital report on the bicycle rider. Luckily, the rider was not killed.

Three years later, another automobile first took place. The scene was again New York City. A real estate broker named Henry Bliss stepped off a streetcar. He was hit by a passing car. Once again, no one is sure just how it happened or whose fault it was. The driver of the car was put in jail. Poor Mr. Bliss became the first person to die in a car accident.

6 Sea Turtles

Did you know that a turtle can lay twelve eggs in one minute? A large sea turtle lays around 150 eggs at a time. She lays all these eggs in just a few minutes.

Large sea turtles live in the warm seas of the world. Except for when they lay their eggs, they spend their whole lives in water. When it is time to lay their eggs, the females swim to land. They usually return to the place where they themselves were born. How they find their way back there is a mystery.

When they reach shore, the big, heavy turtles crawl slowly up to the high water mark. Using their flippers, they pull themselves along the sand. They must struggle like mountain climbers to attain their goal. When they finally reach dry sand, they rest before beginning the difficult task of laying eggs.

The turtles lay the eggs in deep holes and cover them with warm sand. The sand protects the eggs from harm. Then the females leave them. After a few weeks, if you happened to be walking along the beach, you might see the sand begin to shake in one spot. Then you would see tiny black balls coming out of the sand. The tiny heads of baby turtles!

Baby turtles have a built-in sense of direction. As soon as they are hatched, they head for the water. Once the babies swim out to sea, they don't touch shore again until it is time for them to lay their own eggs.

7. The Whale Clan

If you're looking for a whale, you have a whole family of creatures to choose from. The papa of the whale family is, of course, the whale itself. But there are other members as well. Relatives, you might say.

Few people realize that dolphins are part of the whale clan. In fact, many people do not realize that dolphins aren't fish. Fish breathe through gills and lay eggs. The dolphin does neither. Dolphins, like all the members of the whale clan, are mammals. They breathe air, and they have babies like land mammals and feed them with milk. Dolphins are fascinating to watch. They can leap high out of the water and perform turns in the air. These leaps give the dolphin time to breathe.

Porpoises also belong to the whale family and are very much like dolphins. The main difference between dolphins and porpoises is the size and shape of the snout. The dolphin's nose is long and thin. The snout of the porpoise is short and stubby. Both creatures are smart and friendly to humans.

Not all the members of the whale family are friendly. Perhaps the difference in mood has to do with size. The giant whale is much grumpier than the smaller dolphin or porpoise. An angry whale can be hard to ignore. Perhaps this trait helped to inspire the story of Moby Dick, the Great White Whale who sank a ship and caused the crew to drown.

8 Give Them a Hand

Right is right. Right? Of course. But is left wrong? Well, the ancient Romans thought so. As far as they were concerned, left-handed people were mistakes of nature. Latin, the language of the Romans, had many words that expressed this view. Some words we use today still have this meaning. The Latin word dexter means “right.” The English word dexterous comes from this word. It means “handy.” So, right is handy. But the Latin word for "left" is sinistra. The English word sinister was derived from this word. Sinister means “evil.” Is it fair to call righties handy and lefties evil? Well, fair or not, many languages have words that express similar beliefs. In Old English, the word for left means “weak.” That isn't much of an improvement over “evil.”

Not very long ago, southpaws were often forced to write with their right hands. Doctors have since found that this can be very harmful. You should use the hand you were born to use.

People who use their left hands are just starting to get better treatment. But why all the name calling in the first place? One reason may be that there are not as many left-handed people as there are right-handed people. People who are different are often thought to be wrong. But attitudes do seem to be changing. Fair-minded right-handed people are finally starting to give lefties a hand.

9 Six-Legged Workers

Can you imagine being able to lift fifty people at once and carry them? You'd have to have superhuman strength. Well, you may be surprised to know that tiny ants do have this kind of strength. An ant can lift a load fifty times heavier than itself! Ants must often carry food to their homes from places that are far away. To do this, they must be very strong.

Ants live in tunnels that twist and turn in many directions, like the roots of a gnarled old tree. Thousands of ants can live in one nest. The tunnels are divided into parts. Each part serves a special purpose.

The royal chamber is the place where the queen ant lays her eggs. The queen spends her whole life laying eggs. She never leaves her chamber, except to start a new nest. Worker ants must bring food to her.

The worker ants in an ant colony have many different jobs. Some workers pull the eggs from the royal chamber into a room called the “nursery.” There, they help larvae climb out of their shells. Larvae are the baby ants when they first come out of the eggs. In the nursery, there are workers who look after the larvae until they become full-grown ants. Some workers look for food and store it in the granary, where seeds are kept. Others dump leftovers in the rubbish room. Ants have their own complete, busy world hidden in tunnels under our feet!

10 The Collapsing Road

The young couple was very lucky. The back tires of their car stayed on the road. Otherwise, the car—and its passengers—would have fallen right into a pit twenty feet wide and thirty feet deep!

The man and woman were coming home from a party. They were enjoying the landscape around Swansea, Wales. Suddenly, they found the front of their car leaning into a huge hole. The car barely hung on to the edge of the pit. It swayed back and forth like the arm of a balance.

In their precarious position, the couple knew that each movement they made could be a matter of life and death. Slowly, slowly, they edged toward the backseat. Then each opened a back door. And on the count of three, they jumped out together. The accident was so scary that they ran along way before they calmed down. But later they returned to see what happened. They found that a big chunk of the road had sunk into the ground! At the bottom of the pit lay their car—roof down and wheels up.

Was this mystery of the sunken road ever solved? It turned out that an abandoned mine shaft lay under the road. It had collapsed and taken the pavement with it. Layers of tunnels intersect beneath the city of Swansea. The tunnels were built so many years ago that no one knows where they end or begin. The tunnels are shaky, like those that ants build in the sand. It's even possible that the entire city might collapse.

11 A Whale of a Story

There has been, in history, a man who was swallowed by a whale and lived to tell the tale. The man's name was James Bartley. The records to prove his unusual experience are in the British Admiralty.

This story takes place at a time when whales were hunted for meat and oil. Bartley was making his first trip on the whaling ship Star of the East. Suddenly the lookout sighted a huge sperm whale. The whalers knew it was a huge whale by the size of the spray it blew into the air. They lowered their small boats. James Bartley was in the first longboat. The men rowed until they were close to the whale. A harpoon was thrown and found its mark. It sank into the whale's flesh. The maddened beast crashed into the boat, snapping its tail at the men and the wreckage of their boats. When the survivors were picked up, James Bartley was missing.

Shortly before sunset, the whale was finally captured. The sailors tied the whale's carcass to the side of the ship. Because of the hot weather it was important that they cut up the whale right away. Otherwise, the meat would begin to rot and the oil would begin to spoil. When they got to the stomach, they felt something moving about wildly. They thought it would be a big fish still alive inside. But when they opened the stomach they found James Bartley. After this trip, Bartley settled in Gloucester, England, and never returned to sea.

12 The Hermit

Most people like living with other people. But some people just have to be by themselves. Take Bozo Kucik, for example. For over eighty-four years Bozo lived all alone on a desert island.

In 1888, when Bozo was only sixteen, his father left him on a little island off the coast of Croatia. He kissed Bozo goodbye and said, “I hope all goes well with you, my son.” Then the father got back in his boat and sailed home without his son. How could he do such a thing, you ask? Well, Bozo had asked him to.

Bozo's father was a poor peasant who couldn't afford to feed his seven children. So he called his sons together and asked them to decide their own futures. Bozo chose the life of a hermit.

During the years that Bozo lived alone, World Wars I and II were fought. But Bozo never heard about them. In 1972, a crew of fishermen visited his island. They tried to talk to Bozo. At first the old hermit ran away. Finally, he let the men into his windowless stone hut.

The fishermen talked with Bozo for over two hours. They told him all about the two world wars he had missed. When they asked his age, Bozo guessed he was one hundred years old.

They asked if he wanted to go home. But Bozo said no. So the fisherman wished Bozo well and left him alone again—just as his father had eighty-four years before.

13 Forever Amber

Amber is a substance that lasts and lasts. Scientists are very glad of this. Without amber, we would not have many of the world's important insect remains. Amber is a hard, yellowish-brown resin found in the earth. It is translucent, which means you can see through it. It is known for its ability to preserve things.

Long ago, amber was not as hard as it is today. It was soft and gummy. Insects that weren't careful about where they walked often got trapped in it. The poor bugs that got caught in the sticky amber died. But they were forever preserved. The golden resin worked like a wax mold. It shaped itself around the insects. The resin hardened as the bodies of the dead insects slowly fell into decay.

The last traces of the insects trapped in amber have been gone for thousands of years. But the imprints of their bodies remained fixed in the hardened resin. Although the bugs are gone from the earth, their imprints remain for us to study. Many of these imprints are very fine and detailed. Preserved imprints of creatures and plants that once lived are called fossils. They help scientists learn more about life on earth in the past.

14 Jumbo

Jumbo the elephant is one of the most famous animals that ever lived. He was the biggest elephant and the proudest possession of the British Crown.

In April of 1882, Jumbo was shipped to a zoo in the United States for a visit. He was an instant success. P. T. Barnum had heard of this giant and the great crowds he attracted. Barnum decided that he would like to have Jumbo in his circus. He thought of a way to get him.

Barnum knew that elephants in captivity have periodic fits of violence. He waited for Jumbo to have such a fit. When it happened, he asked the zoo to sell him the elephant. Jumbo was sold to Barnum, who paid on the spot. Jumbo became the star of the circus. Barnum made a fortune on this star.

But one day tragedy struck Jumbo. It was after a show. The elephant was being led back to his cage near the railroad tracks by his trainers. Suddenly a bright light blinded them. A train whistled, and brakes screeched as the engineer tried to stop. Dazzled by the light, Jumbo charged right into it. There was a crash that chilled the hearts of those who were there. The confused animal had run head-on into the train's engine. Jumbo died of a broken neck.

15 Stunt People

They are daredevils. They are in great physical shape. They are not movie stars, but they make a lot of money. These brave folks—stunt people—are the hidden heroes of many movies.

Stunt people were around long before films. Even Shakespeare probably used them in fight scenes. To be good, a fight scene has to look real. Punches must land on enemies' jaws. Sword fights must be fought with sharp swords. Several actors are usually in a fight scene. Their moves must be set up so that no one gets hurts. It is almost like planning a dance performance.

If a movie scene is dangerous, stunt people usually fill in for the stars. You may think you see Tom Cruise running along the top of a train. But it is probably his stunt double. Stunt people must resemble the stars they stand in for. Their height and build should be about the same. But when close-ups are needed, the film focuses on the star.

Some stunt people specialize in certain kinds of scenes. For instance, a stunt woman named Jan Davis does all kinds of jumps. She has leapt from planes and even off the top of a waterfall. Each jump required careful planning and expert timing.

Yakima Canutt was a famous cowboy stunt man. Among other stunts, he could jump from a second story window onto a horse's back. He invented the famous trick of sliding under a moving stagecoach. (Maybe you've seen this stunt in TV westerns.) Canutt also figured out a new way to make a punch look real. He was the only stuntman ever to get an Oscar.

16 A Dragon That Flies

Although it doesn't breathe fire, this dragon can fly. And what a beauty it is. By far the scariest thing about the dragonfly is its name. This double-winged, fast-flying insect is totally harmless. It has large, deep eyes that can detect the smallest movements. Its body may be bright blue and red or a vivid green. Dragonflies in flight look like dancing spots of color in the light of a midsummer's day.

The dragonfly has a long and respectable history. It was one of the first flying insects on the earth. To see this oldster of the insect world in action, head for a pond. Dragonflies live near the water. In fact, they lay their eggs right in the water

A dragonfly goes through several big changes before it becomes a flying insect. From the egg, a tiny creature called a nymph is hatched. It lives in the water, eating other small creatures that live in the pond. As the nymph grows, it becomes too big for its skin. Then it sheds the skin that is too small for it. Soon it grows a new one. This molting happens several times, until the insect is full grown. At this time it crawls up the stem of a water plant, out into the air. It squeezes its way out of its last skin as a full-fledged dragonfly.

After going through all that work to grow up, the dragonfly only lives for about a month. But for this short time it startles the hot summer air with its bright beauty.

17 A Dangerous Weather Maker

Thunderstorms are dangerous because they can give off lightning. Snowstorms can tie up traffic and strand people. But tornadoes cause some of the worst weather of all. Tornadoes are very strong columns of twisting air. They come out of rain clouds and form funnels. The funnels move along the ground, picking up anything in their path. Tornado winds can be over 300 miles an hour. Property damage can be terrible. Most of the world's tornadoes are in the United States. The flat middle section of the country—the Great Plains—is where many strike. Spring is the most common time for tornadoes. But they hit in other seasons, too. Tornadoes can be rated by the damage that their winds do. The worst tornadoes have winds between 261 and 318 miles an hour. They can lift a sturdy wooden house off its foundation. They can even carry cars through the air. Luckily, tornadoes this strong don't happen very often. The world's worst tornado happened in March 1925. It went through three states—Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. It killed about seven hundred people and injured over two thousand. In one small town, over two hundred people were killed. Many of the dead were school children. If you hear that a tornado is coming, look for a safe place right away. If you are indoors, go to a basement. If you are outside, lie flat on the ground. Treat these storms with respect.

18 Oldest, Youngest, or in the Middle?

Were you the first or last child in your family? Or were you a middle or only child? Some people think it matters where you were born in your family. But there are different ideas about what birth order means. Some people say that oldest children are smart and strong-willed. They are very likely to be successful. The reason for this is simple. Parents have a lot of time for their first child. They give him or her a lot of attention. So this child is very likely to do well. An only child will succeed for the same reason. What happens to the other children in a family? Middle children don't get so much attention. So they don't feel that important. If a family has many children, the middle ones sometimes get lost in the crowd. The youngest child, though, often gets special treatment. He or she is the “baby.” Often this child grows up to be funny and charming. Do you believe these ideas about birth order? A recent study saw things quite differently. This study found that first children believed in family rules. They didn't take many chances in their lives. They usually followed orders. Rules didn't mean so much to later children in a family. They went out and followed their own ideas. They took chances. And they often did better in life. Which theory about birth order do you believe? Look at your own family or your friends' families. Decide which idea fits what you see.

19 A Very Old Riddle

The people of old Greece and Egypt believed in mythology. The stories in myths were mostly about strange creatures. Some of these creatures were part human and part animal. One, the Sphinx, had the head of a woman and the body of a lion. The Sphinx lived high on a mountain peak over which a road passed.

People who traveled that road were never heard from again. Whenever travelers reached the peak of the mountain, the Sphinx would block the road and speak this riddle: "What goes on four feet in the morning, on two feet at noon, and on three feet in the evening?” No traveler in a thousand years had guessed the answer. And the Sphinx had eaten them all.

But one day a Greek traveler named Oedipus traveled that way. When Oedipus came to the mountain pass, the Sphinx leaped out. With a catlike grin, it asked its terrible riddle. Oedipus, wise with age, knew the answer immediately, but he teased the Sphinx by frowning and shaking his head. These strange actions made the Sphinx tense and upset. Then suddenly Oedipus shot forth the answer. The Sphinx was so upset that it jumped off the mountain to its death.

The answer Oedipus gave was simple: a person. Can you guess why this was right? In a person's morning, or childhood, he or she crawls on all fours. At noon, as an adult, a person walks on two legs. In the evening, old age, a person uses a third foot—a cane.

20 Protect Your Hearing

Is your roommate's stereo playing too loud: Is the neighbor's leaf blower driving you crazy? The world seems to be getting noisier all the time. And you need to be concerned about it. All those loud sounds may actually damage your ears. Noise can affect your hearing in two ways. A very loud noise very close to the ear can injure it right away. An example might be the sound from a high-powered rifle. Aloud blast like this can leave scars on your inner ear tissues. You will hear less well as a result. (That is why people at shooting ranges wear coverings to protect their ears.) Much hearing damage comes more slowly. It occurs over a period of time. You have probably heard of people in rock bands who lose their hearing. The constant loud noise gradually damages their ears. But this can happen to other people as well. Loud noise comes from fireworks, from car horns in traffic, even from vacuum cleaners. Too much of any of these can affect your hearing. How can people protect their ears? One way is to use earplugs. Is the concertso loud that you can't hear what your friend is saying? Put the plugs in. And sometimes give your ears a rest. Go to that noisy basketball game tonight. But don't run your lawn mower tomorrow morning. As people grow older, their hearing skills gradually decrease. This is a fairly natural phenomenon. But hearing loss by age thirty is not natural. You can avoid it if

you are careful.

21. The Wizard of Wall Street

At the age of eighty, Hetty Green lived like a pauper in an unheated apartment. To save the cost of heating her food, she ate only cold eggs and onions. In order to save more money, Hetty wore newspapers instead of underwear. She had only the bottoms of her dresses cleaned. A very poor person, you say? No, Hetty was one of America's richest women! Hetty Green was born in 1835 in a rich section of Bellow Falls, Vermont. When her father died, she was left a large fortune. She took all of her money and invested it in the stock market. Her stocks did so well that she became known as “the wizard of Wall Street.” But though she was very rich, Hetty Green was extremely cheap. For instance, when her son, Edward, broke his leg, she refused to call for a doctor. She felt it would cost too much. So she carried her son to a charity hospital. Still, young Edward's leg got worse. Finally, the leg had to be removed to save the boy's life. But Hetty still didn't want to pay the hospital fee. Instead, in order to save more money, she had her son's operation done on the kitchen table in her rooming house. When Hetty died in 1916, she was worth over $120 million. Yet this tightfisted woman had lived as though she barely had a cent.

22 Surviving in Very Cold Climates

Imagine going to sleep in October and waking up in May! Animals such as marmots and ground squirrels stay warm by sleeping all winter. All this time, they do not wake up once. This special kind of sleep is called hibernation. During this sleep, the heart slows down, and the animal breathes more slowly. It doesn't move around, so it uses less energy. Animals like the marmot and the ground squirrel inhabit the coldest parts of the world. They need special talents to survive in these frigid places. Their furry coats keep them snug when the temperature falls below zero. It often gets this cold in the Arctic, a land that is just below the North Pole. Before the long winter, some animals eat and eat. After a while, they grow very fat. When winter comes, they live on the fat saved up in their bodies. The fat layers help keep them warm. Arctic animals also have other ways to beat the cold. Rabbits in the Arctic, for example, have very small ears. Small ears keep heat in, while big ears let it out. Small things usually keep heat in. Have you ever slept in a room that is very small and noticed how hot it can get? It rarely gets warm in the Arctic. But although summer seasons there are very short, the sun shines brightly. Plants seem to spring up before your eyes! Animals such as caribou look forward all year to summer, when they can eat fresh grass again. Every minute of sunshine is important to their lives.

23 Let's Shake on It

What could be simpler than shaking fruit from a tree? Well, the job is a lot tougher than you might think. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to shake a fruit tree. And a person who is a good apple tree shaker may not be a good cherry tree shaker. Different fruits take different shakes. As a rule, a slow, hard shake is best. This makes the fruit fall much faster than a light, quick jiggle. Most fruits have a set number of shakes per minute that will do the best job of getting them out of the tree and onto the ground. To shake down plums, try shaking the tree four hundred times per minute, moving the tree two inches at each shake. Experts say you'll get three times more fruit from the tree than you will if you shake eleven hundred times per minute at one inch per shake. Cherries, because they are smaller, need more jarring. A good rate of shaking seems to be about twelve hundred shakes per minute. Apples, like plums, need about four hundred shakes. Of course, some folks may choose to ignore all these expert directions for jiggling fruit. Can you actually imagine shaking a tree so many times? Besides, keeping track of all the numbers can be enough to drive some people up a tree.

24 Slow but Sure

Nowadays the Indianapolis 500, one of the world's most famous car races, takes about three-and-a-half hours to run. If the Indy 500 had been held in 1895, it would have taken almost three days. The horseless carriage had just been invented a short time before. Top speeds back then were much lower than they are today. For most people, just seeing a car move without a horse pulling it was thrilling enough. The driver's main concern was making sure the car didn't break down.

One of the first car races was held in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day in 1895. Folks crowded the streets to gawk at the new machines. The route of the race went through the heart of town. The cars were to go out to a nearby suburb and back. The race covered a distance of about fifty-four miles. That's less than one-tenth the distance at Indy. The drivers cranked up their engines and prayed that they wouldn't conk out. Then they were off. The race proved too much for some of the cars. Perhaps they couldn't withstand the high speeds. The winner of the contest was J. Frank Duryea. He got the checkered flag a bit more than seven hours after he started. He had covered the grueling distance at an average speed of 7.5 miles per hour. That is slower than a modern marathoner can go on foot. Even so, as Duryea finished, the crowd went wild.

25 Scallops and Clams

Scallops and clams are both mollusks—shelled sea creatures with soft bodies. Yet they have more differences than similarities. Scallops and clams both feed by pulling water through their shells and straining out tiny plants and animals as their food. Both shellfish are popular prey for many other sea creatures. But when it comes to searching for safety, they have very different ways.

The scallop lies on the floor of the ocean in shallow to fairly deep water. Its curved shell raises it just above the sand or gravel on the bottom. It looks almost helpless lying there. But don't let it fool you. There is a ring of tiny eyes peering out from the scallop's shell. At the first sign of an enemy, the scallop takes off, swimming by jetting spurts of water out behind it. It's a very fast swimmer.

Any clam that dared to lie in full view on the ocean floor would quickly be eaten. Clams make a tasty meal for starfish, crabs, or carnivorous snails. They move very slowly and cannot swim at all. They find safety by burrowing deep into the mud or sand. Their long necks stretch like periscopes, up to the top of the sand. Just the tip of the neck pokes out to get food for the clam. If anything comes near, the neck can quickly be pulled back within the shell. The clam stays safe below the surface, two or three feet down.

26 Joker's Wild

Watch out for practical jokers. They'll do almost anything for a laugh. One such prankster was Moe Drabowsky. He was a baseball relief pitcher. Relief pitchers are standby players who replace the starting pitcher in a game if he is pitching badly. If the starting pitcher is throwing well, relief pitchers have nothing to do. They just sit around in the bullpen and hope the manager calls them to play.

Waiting around in the bullpen gave Moe lots of time to think up jokes. But his best joke was played after he retired from baseball. Moe was sitting at home watching his team play on television. It would have been a boring game for him had he still been on the team. The starting pitcher was doing great. He hadn't given up a single run. The relief pitchers wouldn't be likely to play in this game. The last thing they'd expect would be a call from the manager. The thought gave Moe a mischievous idea. He still remembered the bullpen phone number. Moe dialed it from his living room. A startled relief pitcher answered. Using a voice that sounded like the manager's, Moe growled, “Warm up and get ready to play.” The star pitcher gaped at the man in the bullpen who was getting ready to pitch. Everyone stared at the manager in disbelief. The poor manager could only scratch his head. A thousand miles away, Moe Drabowsky sat in his living room watching the event on TV and laughing.

27 The Mysterious Iceman

Put yourself in these tourists position. You are walking an icy mountain path in the Alps in Europe. Suddenly you spot a body on the ground, face downward and stuck to the ice. You think someone may have been murdered or in a fatal accident. So you rush back and call the police. The police, however, quickly realize that this body is different from others they've found on the mountain. For one thing, it is mostly undamaged. For another, its skin is dried out, like a mummy's. And with it is a knife with a small stone blade. The body turned out to be much older than the tourists could have guessed. When specialists had a chance to examine it, they discovered it had been there for about five thousand years How could a body stay preserved for all this time? Two things probably helped. First, the place where the man died was somewhat sheltered, so animals couldn't get at it. Then he was quickly covered by falling snow. Wind blowing through the snow probably “freeze-dried” his body, removing all moisture from it. Objects found with the body told something about the Iceman's life. He wore a well-made fur jacket and pants. He clearly had been hunting, for he carried arrows, and animal bones were nearby. He also had a braided grass mat for sitting or sleeping on. Perhaps he was exhausted when he lay down for the last time. The body was found in 1991, when some of the ice on the mountain melted. Searching for the cause of the Iceman's death, scientists put the body back into cold conditions—and hoped.

28 They'll Eat Anything

You know that pearls grow inside oysters, but would you ever think to look for diamonds inside an ostrich? Well, a hunter once shot an ostrich and discovered, to his great surprise, that the big bird had swallowed a bunch of diamonds. How could such a strange thing happen?

Like many other birds, the ostrich swallows small stones that stay inside its “gizzard.” The gizzard is a bird's second stomach. It is where the food is ground up. The small stones help to grind up the food so it can be digested. The small stones do the chewing, because birds don't have teeth. In the case of the ostrich with the diamonds, the bird simply had expensive taste in rocks. He used the diamonds to help digest his dinner.

Diamonds and stones aren't all that an ostrich will swallow. If there are no stones around, it will eat just about anything. Sadly for ostriches in zoos, this can be a fatal habit. The tendency to swallow anything it sees has caused the death of many an ostrich. Cruel or careless people often throw things into the bird's living space. They throw keys, coins, and even large objects such as horseshoes. The ostrich swallows them without hesitation. Coins can be the worst. Inside the ostrich they wear down to a razor-sharp edge. They will cut open the bird's gizzard from the inside. When one young zoo ostrich died, 484 coins weighing more than eight pounds were found in its gizzard.

29 No Laughing Matter

Never laugh at a snow-covered mountain! Laughter and yelling during the avalanche season can trigger a deadly pile of snow. Huge snow slides are most common in mountains where there are steep slopes that are well buried in snow and ice. The snow builds up slowly and lands very softly. This can create a very touchy, unstable situation. Tons of snow may be held up by only the friction between snowflakes. The deep snow is like a house of cards. The slightest movement can cause it to tumble. As soon as something slips, a great mass of snow will come crashing down the mountainside. Slides may be started by sound vibrations. They may also be started by the weight of wet, melting snow. Once an avalanche has been triggered, the cause no longer matters. Moving down a steep slope, it picks up great speed and added snow. Some avalanches travel as fast as 200 miles per hour. The force of an avalanche will mow down anything in its path. Whole houses have been swallowed up by these fast-paced piles of snow. The wind that is caused by an avalanche is almost as destructive as the snow itself. Winds from an avalanche have been known to travel as fast as those of a tornado. So, when approaching a thickly snow-covered mountain, speak softly

30 Abe's Favorite Story

If he hadn't turned to politics, Abe Lincoln might have done well as a comic. It has been said that he was always ready join in a laugh at his own expense. There is one particular story that he always told with great glee. In his early days as a lawyer, Lincoln was on the “circuit.” This meant going from town to town to hear and judge legal cases. During one of these many trips, he was sitting in a train when a strange man came up to him. The stranger looked at the tall, gawky lawyer quite sternly and explained that he had something he believed belonged to Lincoln. Lincoln was a bit confused. He had never seen the man before. He didn't see how a total stranger could have something of his. Lincoln asked him how this could be. The stranger pulled out a gleaming penknife and began to explain. Many years before, he had been given the pocketknife. He had been told to keep it until he was able to find a man uglier than himself. Lincoln's eyes always sparkled when he reached this part of the story. He was never considered a handsome man. The stranger had decided that Lincoln was ugly enough to deserve the knife. The story always brought smiles to the faces of the audience that heard it. The tale itself was funny. But even more delightful was the fact that a man as great as Lincoln could still laugh at himself.