Guided Conversation

1. Say what you know about the history of stamps in Great Britain.

2. Find some facts about the history of stamps in Russia.

Text c. Collecting Stamps

Jack: There was a foreign letter for you this morning, wasn't there, Dad? May I have the stamp?

Mr. Brown: Where was it from? Oh, Switzerland. Wait a minute and I'll give you the envelope. I hope I haven't torn it up. No, here it is.

Mary: Why do you collect stamps, Jack? I'd rather collect coins, like George.

George: You can learn a lot from stamps if you're interested in them, just as you can from coins.

Jack: Yes, geography and history.

George: And arithmetic and languages.

Mrs. Brown: What does that Swiss stamp teach you, Jack?

Jack: I don't know. There's a lake on it, and a castle, and mountains and trees.

Mr. Brown: Well, doesn't it show you what the scenery of Switzerland is like?

Jack: Yes, but it doesn't say it's Switzerland, It says “Helvetia”.

Mr. Brown: That's the Latin name for Switzerland. Do you know what those mountains are?

Mary: They must be the Alps. Perhaps that big one is Mt. Blanc.

Jack: Mt. Blanc isn't in Switzerland. It's in France.

Mary: Well, they might put it on a Swiss stamp if they can see it from Switzerland.

M. Brown: What's the name of the lake?

Jack: It might be any lake.

Mr. Brown: With that castle on it?

Mary: Oh, I know. We've been reading a poem called “The Prisoner of Chillon”. That must be Lake Geneva.

Mrs. Brown: Who wrote the poem?

Mary: Lord Byron. He was a great poet.

George: Now we' re doing literature. We've started poetry.

Jack: But the stamp doesn't teach literature.

Mr. Brown: No, but it makes one ask questions and reminds one of things. If it weren't for Byron's poem, we should never hear of the Castle of Chillon in England. Now, what about language?

Jack: There doesn't seem to be anything but “Helvetia” and “10”.

Mr. Brown: Ten what?

Jack: That's Swiss money, I suppose.

George: Yes, they don't use pounds and pence in Switzerland. Ten CENTIMES. A hundred CENTIMES in a FRANC. Now we're on to arithmetic. How many FRANCS in a pound?

Jack: I don't know. Do you?

George: No, but I should soon find out' if I went to Switzerland and had to spend money. Dad knows.

Mr. Brown: I'm afraid I don' t. Ail I know is that the pound is worth less the older I get. To come back to languages - what language do they use m Switzerland?

Mary: Isn't there a Swiss language?

Mr. Brown: No, they use French, German or Italian according to the part of the country in which they live. Many of the educated people know all three.

Mrs. Brown: And English as well.

Mr. Brown: Yes, they're good at languages. They need them and they have to use them. You boys and Mary would soon be good at French if you had to ask for everything you wanted in it.

Mary: How long have you been collecting coins, George?

George: By next December I shall have been collecting for three years. Uncle Arthur gave me some for a Christmas present. Why don't you collect something, Mary?

Mary: Why should I? I don't see any fun in it. But I can't help liking Jack's stamps. They're very pretty. Let me look at those Italian ones.

Mrs. Brown: Not now. It's supper time.

Jack: What are we having?

Mrs. Brown: Wait and see.