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Elson Basic Readers Book 3, 1931

The token length and LEX have stabilized (~13.5 and ~-51, so I didn't do all 10 samples).
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&&000 A Ride to Animal-Town p 11
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This story tells about an old rabbit who forgot something that everyone
should remember. Find out what he forgot.

One morning =BillyBeaver was riding to =Animal-town. The day was very warm.
So =JohnnyFox, who was pulling the cart, walked along slowly.
After a while =Billy saw a tired old rabbit resting by the side of the road.
"Are you going to =Animal-town," asked =BillyBeaver?
"If you are, you may hop in behind me."
The old rabbit hopped in, but he did not say a word.
After =Billy had bone a little way, =Rabbit said something.
He said it so very soft and low that =BillyBeaver could not understand him.
"What did you say, =Rabbit," asked =Billy?
"Oh, nothing."
"Yes, you did. You said something."
"Oh, I just said that your cart is hard to sit on."
"Then put your coat under you," said =BillyBeaver.
So the tired old rabbit sat down on his coat.
On and on walked =JohnnyFox very slowly.
Just as he was going by a green pond, the rabbit said something again.
He said it very soft and low.


&&000 The Simpleton p40
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This story is about a boy who was always doing queer things. His brothers
thought that he did not know very much, and called him a simpleton.
Find out if this was a good name for him.

One fine day a boy was walking down the road jingling some money in his
pockets. After a while he met a farmer with a basket on his arm.
"Good morning," said the boy. "What have you got in your basket?"
"Nothing on you," said the farmer crossly.
So the boy went on, jingling his money.
"What is that noise I hear," called the farmer?
"Oh," said the boy, "that is the money my brothers gave me.
They say I am a simpleton; so they gave me some money and sent
me away from home."
The farmer like the sound of =Simpleton's money. "See here," he said!
"I have a very fine goose in my basket, and I will sell it to you."
"That is such a fine goose," said =Simpleton, "that I will be glad to
buy it." At once he gave the farmer the money and took the goose.
As =Simpleton started to walk down the road, he saw a beautiful palace 
on the hill. "Whose palace is that," the called to the farmer?


&&000 Brother Green-Coat p74
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Aunt =Molly told =Betty a very interesting story about a queer little
friend of hers. As you read the story, see how soon you can guess who
this little friend was.

One warm day in spring =Betty and Aunt =Molly were sitting in the little
summer-house by the pool.
"I wonder," said Aunt =Molly, "how my little friend is, who lives in this pool."
"Why, who is he, Aunt =Molly," asked =Betty in surprise. "And what does he look like?"
"The first time I saw him he was very, very small," answered her aunt. "He was as
black as coal, and he had no arms or legs. He had only a big head and a long tail."
"Only a head and a tail," cried =Betty!
Her aunt smiled as she went on, "But in a few days I saw him again. Then his tail was
longer than before and, strange to say, he had two legs. The next time we met,
he was bigger still and had arms as well as legs, but his long tail was gone.
The last time I saw him, he was more than a hundred times as big as at first,
and he wasn't black at all; he was a beautiful green and white."
=Betty thought and thought. "Do you really see him in this pool, Aunt
=Molly," she asked?



&&000 The Wonderful Gardener p150
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Sometimes the things that people really do are far more interesting
than the magic things told about in fairy stories. Find out what the
man in this story did that seemed like magic.

Just a few years ago, there lived in our country a man who had a garden
that was like a magician's garden. In it grew many wonderful things.
There were plums that had no stones, and blackberry bushes without
thorns.
There was a tree covered with beautiful rose-colored fruit. This fruit
tasted something like a plum and something like an apricot.
There were daisies much larger than the field daisy. And there were
lovely red poppies which, in other gardens, had always been golden yellow.
Even the vegetables seemed to be enchanted. There were potatoes so very good
to eat that they were talked about everywhere.
All this sounds almost like a fairy story, but every bit of it is really true.
The name of the man who made these wonderful plants grow in his garden
is =LutherBurbank.
Sometimes boys and girls go to see a man who pretends to do magic things,
like pulling a rabbit from a hat. Those who are watching know that the
magician is only playing a trick. But there was no trick played when
=LutherBurbank grew a plum without a stone and made a walnut with
a shell as thin as paper.



&&000 The Fairy Shoes p224
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The gifts which fairies gave to people often did strange things.
In this story some fairy shoes played a good joke on =Timothy.

Once upon a time a baby boy was born in a little home in a country
far away. His parents were so happy that they gave a fine party,
and all the friends came. The baby's mother had a fairy godmother,
and of course she was invited, too.
"She is rich," said all the friends. "She will surely bring a
splendid gift." But when the fairy came, she brought with her only
a little paper package. How everyone wondered what was in it!
At last the fairy opened the package, and what do you think the
gift was? A small pair of shoes with copper tips!
"This is my gift," the fairy said. "It is not quite so poor as
it looks, for these little shoes will ever wear out. When they
grow too small for this little boy, they will be ready for
another, and another, and another. But there is something even
more wonderful about the shoes. The little feet wearing them cannot go
wrong.
"When you send your little boy to school in these shoes, they will
pinch his feet if he stops to play. When you send him on an errand,
they will remind him to go quickly, and they will see that he always
gets home on time."


&&000 Brave and Wise Deeds p 270
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Everyone loves to hear about the deeds brave men have done.
Some great heros will never be forgotten even though they
lived many hundreds of years ago.
In "Hero Stories," you will read about some of the greatest
heroes who ever lived. You will find out how brave and strong
and kind these people were, to win the love and honor which
people of all times have given them.
Many of the heroes we know about are grown men. But when you read
this part of the your book, you will find that one of the heroes
is a young boy, and that another is a dog so brave that he saves his
master's life.
As you read, try to think how you could be like these great men
in the things you have to do. Think what a wonderful thing it is to be
called a hero.



&&000 Joseph, the Ruler p271
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What kind of man do you think a good ruler should be? As you read this story,
you will find out why =Joseph was chosen to be a ruler.

Little =Joseph lived many years ago in the land of =Canaan. His father was a
rich man who had large flocks of sheep, and every day his sons led these
flocks to pasture.
As =Joseph grew older, his father sometimes let him go out into the
pastures with his ten big brothers. At first the brothers were very
happy together, but after a while some of the older boys began to think
that their father loved =Joseph more than he loved them.
One day =Joseph went out into the fields, dressed in a beautiful new coat
of many colors. His brothers looked at him in surprise, for they had only
sheepskin coats without sleeves.
"See the new coat that father gave me," said =Joseph! "Is it not beautiful?"


&&000 Jacques, a red cross dog p318
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Did you ever know a dog that did a very brave thing?
Find out how the dog in this story saved his master's life.

My name is =Jacques, and I am just a plain shepherd dog. But I did what I could
for my country during the World War. And because many people think dogs are not
good for much, I'd like to tell you of the things that some of us did on the
battle fields.
I lived with my kind master and his family in a little cottage in
=France about a mile from a big town. Besides my master and mistress,
there were =Francis, who was twelve years old, =Nannette, who was eight,
and little =Jean, who was two.
I was just a young puppy, five months old, and I was always getting under
someone's feet or barking at the wrong time or waking baby =Jean from her
nap. But I was learning a little every day, and my master said I was very clever
for my age.
We had only a little piece of land, with a horse, a cow, some rabbits, a few chickens,
and a small garden. Still, we were a very happy family.
Then, suddenly, the World War came, and one sunny day in the fall my good master
went away to fight for his little home and his country.