1. i feel sure that she did not know me, for she cried out, "oh, granny! here is a nasty fly on my bread and honey. i dare say that the horrid thing has been crawling all over it!

2. "i wish a spider would come and catch it!" went on rose, quite crossly, "for i do not like to kill it myself!" and here she gave me a little poke with a fork. but not hard enough to hurt me.[pg 85]

3. "why, rose, what is the matter?" said her granny. "i thought that you were fond of the little, busy, useful flies that come to dance and play in the house?"

4. "well, i cannot see what good they do," said rose, "getting into the cream and sticking on to the bread and honey." something had put little rose out of temper. but i felt sure it would not last long.

5. "i wish he would not get on to my plate," said she, bending down her face to hide it, for she began to feel ashamed. "but i will not hurt him."

6. and she took one of her granny's knitting needles in her hand. i shook with fear when i saw this great spear coming; but rose used it in a most gentle and kind way.

7. she lifted my body out after setting my legs free, and though i felt strained and tired after it, i left nothing behind me, no, not even any of the brushes and combs on my feet.

8. "i will put him out into the garden," said she. but, as my wings had got no honey[pg 86] on them, i saved her the trouble, by flying away.

9. if rose had only known half the trouble i had in washing my feet after the honey, she would have been ready to forgive me for tasting her lunch.

10. "i am glad you did not go on feeling cross with the poor little fly, rose," said mrs. sutton. "we should miss them much if we had none, for they help to keep our houses sweet and clean.

11. "no maid with her broom could get at all the tiny cracks and corners where the flies go. the eyes of no woman in the world could see what the fly can.

12. "do you know that his round ball of eye is made up of many hundreds of bits, and that each bit can see a new way?"

13. rose clapped her hands. "then can the fly see a hundred ways at once?" said she. "oh, how i wish i could do that!"

14. "you can move your eyes about," said her granny, "which does just as well. the fly cannot move his. and you would not like to be born in the kitchen sink, would you?"[pg 87]

15. "is that where flies are born?" said rose, drawing near to her granny and looking into her face.

16. "yes," said mrs. button, "the fly is born in a sink, or in any place where dirty stuff is found. the young flies eat the dirty stuff and get rid of it. i will tell you some day how the little things come into the world."

write: after being set free from the honey the fly went off. he cleaned his legs and went back to the old lady. she told rose that flies were of great use.

questions: 1. what did rose use to lift the fly up? 2. in what way did she use the knitting-needle? 3. what did the fly feel when he saw the knitting-needle coming? 4. what can the fly do to keep a house clean? 5. what sort of eye has the fly? 6. tell me where flies are born?