Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/110

106 The worth-while inventions that the Government has patented are kept and shown in model form at Washington. You may see models of the first American steam engine, the first steamboat, the first telephone, the first automobile, and the first aëroplane there. One sees other interesting collections, too, models of new ships from the Navy Department, fish, fishing nets, and hatcheries that the Fish Commission has prepared, and wax soldiers made by the War Department and dressed in all styles of uniforms.

Your town museum of natural history is filled with similar objects. It may have a room showing how other peoples live, or one where you may look at birds. There is a collection of grains, of wool, cotton, and linen, and an old spinning wheel that a Pilgrim mother long ago used. The museum hag a suit of armor worn by a knight in the days your story books tell about, and the guns that saved your land in the time of the Revolution.

Every boy and girl can help with these collections of interesting objects. Learn all that you can about them. You would not think of marring anything in your museum, or scratching the walls or furnishings, or tracking in dirt. Uncle Sam needs you to help keep order and neatness wherever such gifts are shown to the public.