LiBRARY OF CONGRESS, LB ^' c? §§»?? Gupijrigljt Tfn ShslfL-Jsl? UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. - — ~ ** * 1 i n "LETTBKS AID LANCTCL NUMBERS ON! ;PYRIGHT *£ By J. H. STICKNEY. BOSTON D APPLETON8C0 SAM FRANCISCO CorniiGHT by L>. APPLETON & CO., 1 APPLETONS' Elementary Reading Charts, FORTY-SIX NUMBERS. Prepared by PvEBEGCA D. FJCKOFF. Price, -with Patent Supporter, complete, $10.00. Designed to make learning to read a pleasant pastime. Designed to cultivate the observing powers of children. Designed to teach the first steps of reading in the right way. Designed to train the mind of the child by philosophical methods. Designed to furnish the primary classes with a variety of interesting occupations in school-hours. Every step in advance is in a logical ore er of progression and development. The beautiful and significant illustrations are an especially noticeable and attractive feature of these charts. Every chart in the series has in view a definite object, which is thoroughly and systematically developed. Pictures, objects, and things are employed, rather than ab- stract rules and naked type. They are in accord with the educational spirit of the day, and with the methods followed by the best instructors. They are the only charts planned with special reference to the cultivation of language and the power of expression. They follow the natural method of teaching, appealing to those faculties of the child that are most easily awakened, and inciting correct mental processes at the outset. These charts introduce a new and improved mode of sus- pension while in use, a feature of much practical value. These charts should be in every primary -school room in the country. D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, Mew York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. INTRODUCTION. The following treatise is a guide and key to other books — the teacher's half of a work not here given in full. The constant reference that is made to its other half renders it impossible that it shall be intelligently read apart from the following named series of school text-books by the author : " Letters and Lessons in Language," Numbers One to Four. General Explanation of the Series. The principle upon which the teaching is based is that of showing the powers and beauties of language in natural ways as a preparation for the later study of language sciences. It is our belief that these offices of words can be felt and appreciated long before they can be grasped under general principles or defined in general terms. There is a natural interest in names, while that in nouns is artificial. To discuss the use of 2 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. " dainty," "fiery," and "noble," as they describe Gamarra, Barry Cornwall's blood-horse, is quite another thing from creating an interest in a sen- tence for the prudential consideration, immedi- ately brought to light, of teaching adjectives. These grammatical considerations are entirely omitted in this preparatory course. A month's time will suffice to teach the structural frame-work of the English language and prepare pupils for beginning ordinary gram- matical analysis, if taken when such study is pertinent in a school course. To begin by study- ing words only to refer them to one or other of the parts of speech, with children of eight or nine years of age, and to keep this knowledge in constant review for five years that it may then serve a useful purpose, has long been condemned as lacking both economy and good sense. Yet every school series provides a dilution of its grammar in an elementary book which teaches imperfectly what its successor is supposed to teach in full. Finding this elementary book in pupils' hands, the teacher endeavors to inspire interest in it, and to attain success ; and to do this uses language lessons and selections in literature chiefly in their grammatical aspect. The doctrine of the present book is that a diluted grammar is not the best preparation for subsequent grammatical knowledge. A natural study of the language forms of INTRODUCTION. 3 selected readings, in which ulterior ends are kept out of sight, yet in which each exercise is the stepping-stone to a higher, will bring school- children at twelve or thirteen years of age to the place where they will grasp at once the necessary technical forms for explaining language construc- tions, and begin to appreciate the rules and prin- ciples which regulate English usage. This time can not be hastened. To appear to anticipate it by teaching definitions to children at eight or ten is manifestly a mistake, since it robs them of opportunities for better culture. This is in brief the object of the present work. The author realizes fully the extent to which it is an innovation, and asks all who be- lieve in its principle, to give it the cordial help that every book, and especially every new book, needs at the hands of those who teach it. If pupils, while pursuing its studies, fail somewhat in the glibness which often attends entirely thoughtless and meaningless recitation, it may be at some personal cost that the teacher insists that the work is the more healthful and profitable for this very lack. The sections into which this manual is divided correspond with the successive lessons in the three divisions of the pupil's books, giving equal place to Invention — the language of thought — Conversation upon the offices of words and the construction of standard products in Literature. BOOK I SECTION I. Invention. — The Beginning of a Story. Word Study. — Letter One. Ways of Naming. Literature. — The Belfry Pigeon. The difficulties of new work are chiefly at the beginning. A thread of method found, it is soon easy to follow it. The manual will therefore develop 'at some length the earlier les- sons, thus suggesting models for those not so fully wrought out. The first pages of Letters and Lessons are left blank for the pupil's use in recording a story in six successive chapters. This is believed to be the most elementary exercise in continuous com- position. The oral teaching which follows, though somewhat abridged in form, will set the class afloat on the sea of this new enterprise, the winds and currents of which it will then be safe to trust for successful progress. STUDIES IN STORY- WHITING. 5 A Story. [Letters and Lessons, Book I, page 1.] An Oeal Lesson. Teacher. The lower half of the cover-page of your book [Letters and Lessons, Book IJ contains its table of contents. Notice what is given as the work of Part One. Pupil. Invention. A Story of Country Life. T. To what page of the book does it refer you? P. Page one. T. Turn to it, and tell me what you find. P. A picture. T. Is the picture the first thing on the page? P. No. Part First is at the head of the page. T. That is the heading for this part or division of the book. What follows it? P. " A Story of Country Life." T. What is that? P. The story-heading or title. T. What is contained in the brackets? P. " See third page of cover." 7. Turn to it, and tell me what it contains. P. A letter to explain the story. T. Turn back to page one. T. And what comes next? P. The word "By." T. Who can tell me what that means? John may. P. There is space below for a name. T. Whose name? P. In my book it would be my own name. T. What would the name indicate? P. That the story is written by the person named. T. In what sense do you use the word " written "? P. It means composed* T. Yes, composed means put together; invented would 6 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. be a more exact word, and in the table of contents this part of your work is called invention. What is the use of the picture? P. To illustrate the story. T. Explain the line below it. P. The gentleman is saying it to the boy in the car. T. What part of the story does the picture represent? P. Leaving home. Saying " Good-by." Beginning the journey. T. For to-morrow's lesson you may read the letter on the cover-page, examine the picture, and invent the story as far as the picture carries it. Second Oral Lesson. THE PICTUEE AND LET. TER. Teacher. What is the subject of the picture ? Pupils. A Leave-taking. Going on a Journey. Scene in a Railroad Depot. Saying " Good-by," etc. T. Who are the persons? What other leave-taking preceded this? Where did it take place? Between what parties? What transpired between? T. Where are these children going? For what pur- pose? For how long a time? At what time of day will you suppose them to begin the journey? What is the length of the journey, and what time will it require ? Will you admit of any delays? At what time will the children reach their destination? What do you observe about the gentleman, and what account can you draw from the picture? On which car of the train and in which seats of the car are the children seated? What baggage may they be supposed to have taken ? Go back now to the beginning of the matter, and settle the following points: Who proposed the visit? What led to the suggestion? Who seconded it, and in what words STUDIES m STORY- WRITING. 7 and ways? What objections and difficulties may have had to be overruled and obviated ? Tell all this in the words in which it is supposed to have been expressed. What preparations were needful, and what persons en- gaged in them? What time must have elapsed before arrangements were completed for the safety of the going? What acts and anticipations filled the minds and time of Charles and Helen? Picture the final act of leaving home, and the getting to the railroad station. A lively imagination will find no difficulty in throwing an air of reality about this scene, and supplying the minor details. Perhaps a fine autumn morning woke in the mother's mind the remembrance of the delights of her childhood in the clear October days, and called forth the expression of it at the family breakfast-table. Perhaps some out- burst from Charles or Helen gave the impetus. Possibly a letter from one of the Baxter family brought the invita- tion, or it may be that the need of a new school building threw unexpected time on the hands of the children, and so an unusual opportunity. Among these and other hypotheses the class must choose one, and, adopting it, make the form of the story correspond. Map out the story in. class with the degree of detail which tin grade and attainment of the pupils are found to demand. Remove the diffi- culties to the extent of putting every child at ease about undertaking the work, and do not al- low the impression to be taken that the kind of work is in any sense exceptional. 8 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Kequire the result to be written upon slates or practice paper, and call for the reading of as many papers as the time may allow. Give pref- erence to the average talent of the class, and as- sume for the unread papers what has been found to be true, both in excellences and defects, of those that are read. Offer criticism and sugges- tion as each exercise is read, and make occasion to teach anything of value that the exigency may allow or suggest. If the exercise has been written fairly, give the pupils the encouragement of knowing that you are satisfied. Give pupils time to correct errors and revise work, then file the papers. Third Oral Lesson. THE JOURNEY. The incidents of the journey, the meeting at the end of the route, the ride in the carriage, the arrival at the farm, and the experiences until bed-time, may be developed as a part of the first chapter of the continued story. Ways of Naming-. [See pages 19 and 20, Book I. Letters and Lessons.] ORAL LESSONS TO FOLLOW THE READING OF THE CORRE- SPONDING LETTER IN THE PUPiL^ BOOK. What is a name ? It is a word by which a person or thing is called or known. As applied to persons, it answers the questions, " Who is he ? " and " What is he ? " A person may have many names, yet there is but a single answer to the question, " What is his THE STUDY OF NAMES. 9 name ? " This is his personal or individual name. It is recorded in the register of the town or city in which he lives, and is the usual means of identifying him. Other names are general ; that is, they are not the special property of any single person to the exclusion of others. Individual names have no meaning in them- selves. They stand as the word-representation of the individuals to whom they belong. If they could mean anything they might often grow to be inappropriate to the persons bearing them. Refer to our use of such names as Faith, Patience, Smith, Baker, and explain that the words lose their real meaning when applied to persons. General names have in most cases a meaning that can be clearly defined and illustrated. Examples : Who is he ? He is Frederic Baker, the son of Dr. Baker. What is he ? He is the organist at St. Paul's Church, and a teacher of music. I am told he is also a fine singer. Ask and answer similar questions in a variety of ways in case of both real and imaginary persons. What is your name ? George Henry Emerson. Who or what are you ? I am the janitor of this building. What are you besides ? I am a blacksmith by trade. I am an Englishman, a freemason, a republican, a church- man, and a citizen. Count the names this person takes to himself. 10 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. RELATIONSHIPS GIVE NAMES TO PEOPLE. One may be a son, brother, father, uncle, cousin, and nephew ; or daughter, sister, mother, aunt, and niece to different persons, and so be called by all these names. Or one may stand in the relation to another of friend, adviser, companion, comrade, or foe. The laborer is put into relation to an employer ; the servant to a master or mistress. A pastor, priest, or deacon holds a relation to a church, a leader to a band, a foreman to a class of workmen. In a meeting of citizens one is named presi- dent, another secretary, etc. A city names one man a mayor, others aldermen, etc. While under a physician's care one is called a patient. "When employing a lawyer one is a client. To the mer- chant with whom he deals one is a patron. Persons liv- ing in the same section of a town call each other neigh- bors ; others are acquaintances or strangers. All these are ways of naming. NAMES EXPRESS TRAITS OF ' CHARACTER. A little child in a family answers to the names, sun- beam, fairy, bird, flower, and also to mischief, rogue, tease. An idle person going from place to place begging is called a vagabond or tramp. There are names for those who serve their country and for those who betray it. No person can habitually tell falsehoods, commit theft or any other crime without acquiring a name appropriate to his character. Dickens, in his " Child's History of England," gives the nicknames of the different kings, showing personal peculiarities or traits. Names of animals are often given to persons to express some ruling tendency. THE STUDY OF NAMES. 11 Care must be taken to distinguish between names, or words by which persons may be called, and epithets, words which only describe. We may say that a person is cunning-, or we may call him a fox. We describe a per- son by saying he is wise, and call him a scholar. Neither "wise" nor "cunning" is a name. A convenient test for a word, to tell if it is a name, is the use of a or aist before it. We can say, " He is a patriot," or "he is patri- otic," but not " a patriotic " unless we add a name, as, for example, citizen, or soldier. NAMES DENOTE OCCUPATION. Trades and professions give names by which persons following them are called or known. From carpentry, the art of cutting and joining tim- ber to frame and finish buildings, we have the words carpenter and joiner, to name the people practicing it. Smith names a man who works upon metals and helps to form the names blacksmith, silversmith, gold- smith, etc. It will be easy and useful to compass the usual trades and w T rite the list of names as a spelling lesson. To be trusted in the practice of medicine a person must have acquired special knowledge and passed exami- nation in it, for which he received a degree and the right to be called doctor. Many of the higher kinds of learning give distinctive names. Rank in office and membership in societies give titles, which are either attached to the personal name or used in place of it. Classify the following names as directed under num- bers 1, 2, 3, 4, on page 20 : Servant, companion, master, overseer, gardener, stu- dent, pianist, inventor, chemist, Jew, Christian, Spaniard, sovereign, coward, wife, benefactor, tyrant, duke, prince, lion, boor, fop, villain, miser, spendthrift, caretaker, spy, 12 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. peasant, Protestant, daughter, ancestor, relative, towns- man, odd fellow, colonel, private, chum, wheelwright, clerk, pioneer, philosopher, forger, grandson. Explain the names in the following selected lines? " I'm to be queen of the May, mother ; I'm to be queen of the May." " Do you think, blue-eyed banditti ! Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old mustache as I am Is not more than a match for you all ? " "Gamarra is a dainty steed." (See page 40 of L. and L.) " Green little vaulter in the sunny grass, And you warm little housekeeper Who class with those who think the Candles come too soon." " Go ye, and tell that fox, Herod, Behold, I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways and be wise." " Charles is the drone of the hive, the black sheep of the flock." He is my kinsman. The pastor called to-day. Miller. I believe I hear the rogue. Who's there ? King. No rogue, I assure you. Miller. Little better, friend, I believe. Pray, who are you ? What's your name ? King. What authority have you ? Miller. Sir, I am John Cockle, the miller of Mansfield, one of His Majesty's keepers, and I will let no suspicious fellow pass this way, etc. Alexander. What, art thou that Thracian robber of whose exploits I have heard so much ? Chief. I am a Thracian, and a soldier. A lex. A soldier ! a thief, a plunderer, an assassin ! the pest of the country ! THE STUDY OF NAMES. 13 CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES. Most personal names have two parts — the first, from being publicly given in the ceremony of baptism in the' Christian Church, is called the Christian name ; the second or last is the surname. It is generally the name of the family to which one belongs. There was a time when a single name was sufficient, but the trouble of inventing original names led to the cus- tom of repeating the same name until it had become too common to distinguish its possessor. As an example of this, let any person count the Johns of his acquaintance. This occasioned the necessity for added names, and finally for the fixed surname. The latter often arose from some circumstance in a person's life. John of the Adams family became John Adams. Jacob, the tailor, named himself Jacob Taylor, and added the same surname to the names of all his children. Robert, the miller, became the head of a numerous posterity bearing the name Miller, though none of his name should adopt his calling. Fitz, mean- ing son, and O', grandson, headed long lines of names, such as Fitzhugh, Fitzpatrick, Fitzgerald, O'Brien, O'Con- nell, O'Neal. Allen, of the hill, became Allen Hill, and he of the dale Allen Dale. Walter, son of Dennis, wrote himself Walter Dennison, and his son Dennis perhaps became Dennis Walterson. In process of time surnames became fixed. NAMES FOR ANIMALS AND PLANTS. Words to designate animals, except in the case of pets and such as come into personal con- nection with people, are general. 14 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. A particular horse may have an individual name, known to his owner and a small circle of his owner's friends, but the nameAorse belongs to the class of animals of which a Gamarra or a Koland is one member. Any single animal might be so distinguished ; and the more intelligence an animal displayed, the more like a human being it appeared, the more interest there would be in giving it a special name. Persons who are fond of pets treat them as if they were almost human, and teach them to answer to an individual name. Pupils in a class can furnish examples to illustrate this kind of naming, but must not forget that but a very insignificant part of the animal creation rise to such a dignity. The names of plants and animals, especially of unfa- miliar ones, often have the appearance of being individual. This comes from the fact that names of the persons who bring them first to notice are given to them with slight al- teration. The question to ask over a name, to test its kind, is this : u Does it belong to this one thing, or to this and others like it ? " NAMES OF THINGS AND PLACES. In the same way that a pet bird may bear an individual name, anything may that the person owning or using it chooses to treat like a com- panion or friend, or to consider as a single thing having a particular interest. Thus a kite, a boat, a ship, an engine, or any toy or machine may have its individual name as well as its general or real one. The heavenly bodies were at one time be- lieved to be either the substance or the expression of the gods, and each had its particular name. The study of astronomy could not well be carried on without these in- dividual names. THE STUDY OF NAMES. 15 Continents, states, cities, towns, rivers, lakes, gulfs, bays, oceans, seas, mountains, great plains and valleys, and all other striking features of the earth's surface as it is known by man, need and have distinct individual names by which they are called and known. There are hundreds of cities and but one Chicago, hun- dreds of waterfalls and but one Niagara. It is this that gives the individual name its value as a means of desig- nating a particular person, place, or thing. The general name, by grouping things in classes, according to their resemblances, comes to have a definite meaning. The study of the marks, by which things are thus classified under a single word, follows in a subsequent lesson. The teacher will readily see that the question over a great many names — " Is this name gen- eral ? " or is it " individual ? " — extends and clears the conception of names, and so precludes the ne- cessity of continuing the question — " Is this a name \ " after it has become tiresome. One other question has also this cumulative value ; it is this : " Under what general name is this individual one comprised ? " Answers : " John Andrew is included under the general name man." The name " Ohio " belongs to the class name " State." 16 STUDIES AV LANGUAGE. A Study in Poetry. The Belfry Pigeon- By N. P. Willis. HELPS TO ORAL INSTRUCTION. Three special points enter into tins exercise, as treated in the children's book, page 37. 1. A study of the meaning and office of words. 2. The arrangement of rhyming and rhythmic lines. 3. Change of diction involved in telling the story in other words. New subjects are, as a rule, treated to best advantage by taking but a little at a time. No one selection in poetry should be made to carry the burden of an exhaustive treatment. There are words in even simple reading whose meaning the children may not be safely challenged to in- terpret. The teacher shows wisdom in avoiding such, knowing that the sentence may be compre- hended in spite of an obscure word. In the present lesson neither thoughts nor words are above the easy grasp of children of nine or ten years. Two forms of questioning under slightly varied expression cover the first of the above- named points, as in the following cases : 1. Where was the nest built? On the cross-beara. 2. What is told by " on the cross-beam " ? Where the nest was built. A STUDY IN POETRY. 17 1. To what kind of bird did the nest belong? A pigeon. 2. What is told by " of a pigeon " ? The kind of bird that built the nest. 1. How was the nest built? g 2. What is the word " well " used to express ? At the first questioning use form number one ; and at a later one, number two. To use both together gives an uncomfortable appearance of cross-questioning. Do not force a meaning beyond its place in the poem. " With the morning air " is of little value, except for filling the line, a necessity laid upon the post as distinct from the story-teller. Let the pupils observe this, and try to meet the difficulty in some other way. Find place for question or explanation upon the following points : What longer expression does "there" recall? The word "track" means (1) the course taken by any moving thing, and (2) the mark left by such a course. Which is it in this case ? " Wary " is a good word, which is not yet in the natural vocabulary of the pupils. The old form is " ware," and means cautious, vigilant, watchful against danger, as in beware and aware. It is a picture-word describing the bird as it comes down to the street for the grains dropped by passing teams. By what expressions is the fact of a clock on this church-spire indicated ? A little license is taken in the use of "chime" for clock-striking, which resembles the real chime only in 18 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. requiring a number of strokes to carry a single mean- ing. What meaning is gathered into the words " whatever " as used in the poem ? Quote the following lines, omitted in the children's books for lack of space : " When the tongue swings out to the midnight moon ; When the sexton cheerily rings for noon ; When the clock strikes clear at morning light ; When the child is waked with nine at night ; When the chimes play soft in the Sabbath air, Filling the spirit with tones of prayer ; Whatever" etc. It is sufficient for a first lesson in metrical composition to note the rhymes, the even length of lines, and the use of capital letters. In story poems, with the exception of a few humorous ballads, .the musical rhythm takes a subordinate place. The writing of the story in other words may wait till subsequent lessons have helped to give a larger freedom in expression ; but the questions of the teacher may without difficulty lay the foundation for such an exercise. What did the pigeon do? Was the nest a home for all the year? Who observed its life and told its story ? What feelings did its ways awaken in the poet? SECTION II. Invention. — Chapter Two of the Story Chisholm. Wokd Study. — Letters Two and Three. Picture Words. Litekature — Perseverance. The Fly. The Story. Chisholm. [Letters and Lessons, page 4.] Life in the country anywhere will serve as the basis for the description of the experiences of Charles and Helen. Some pupils in every school-room have had similar experiences, and a little questioning by the teacher will bring them to remembrance. 1. The old-fashioned country house may be described with its homespun carpets, and furni- ture a generation old. Go with the children to the great attic, where still more ancient days may be recalled ; to the barns, filled in October, so that children can climb to the highest beams ; the tool-house, where every branch of industry is rudely carried on to meet the needs of farm life, and where it is to be supposed the little boat is made that we see pictured on page 16. The chapter closes with an exercise in letter- 20 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. writing. Insist that your pupils represent Master Charlie as a real boy, who writes because he has something to say beside the dead forms of con- ventional letter-writing. Study in Poetry. Perseverance. [Letters and Lessons, page 38.] EXAMPLES OF EEOITATION. " A swallow,'" tells the name of the bird. " In the spring," tells the time. " Came," tells what the bird first did. " Essayed," tells what she did afterward. " To our granary," names the place. " 'Neath the eaves," fixes the place more ex- actly. " To make a nest," tells why she came and what she tried to do. Go on thus to the end of the poem. 2. Explain the two uses of the word " foot " as a standard of measure. It is not safe to measure poetry by counting syllables, though it holds in this case. The measure is from one ac- cent to another, taking in the unaccented or slightly accented syllables between. The ear determines it. 3. Story in other words. Examples of result : A remarkable instance of the perseverance of birds was shewn in the spring by a swallow that attempted to build a nest under the eaves of a corn-barn on our farm. With leaves and straw for a frame-work, and mud for THE STUDY OF WORDS. 21 plaster, she patiently worked for days to make herself a home ; but the structure was delicate, and in some way it was broken and thrown down before she had finished it. She was not discouraged by the misfortune, but with the help of her mate gathered new materials and rebuilt the nest. The work was nearly done, only lacking a few more feathers for lining its broad floor, when, either by accident or cruel design, it was again utterly ruined. Still she did not lose heart. The third effort was made, and now she is rewarded by a safe home, and by three tiny birdlings, whose calls I heard last night. The efforts of pupils may not result in a perfectly smooth style of story. It is not to be expected at the outset. Read to them every creditable attempt that is made; and count each good item as a valuable step. Gather from the aggregate stories the best expressions, unite them into a whole, and let it be copied into the books. The lesson upon the Fly on the opposite page of the pupil's books is an easier study of similar kind. Give it to the class without explanation, and let them do what they can upon it. The Study of Words. [Letters and Lessons, page 23.] PIOTUEE MEANING. This letter (Number Two of Letters and Les- sons) introduces an unpretentious study of the so-called Presentative Elements of Language. 22 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. In natural, fragmentary way, pupils will bring to expression the various ideas for which a word is the sign. By doing so in class-recita- tion, the thoughts of each become the common wealth. The word of this lesson is not simply the name of a thing or person, but the sign of an idea. It is not essential to our purpose that the ele- ments of a conception shall be either accurate or full. For example, the language study of the word " stars " may differ from the astronomical. Fanciful notions may be entertained and ex- pressed, and the teacher neither affirm nor reject them. In general, however, whatever is touched should be brightened and cleared of false color- ing. A study of the word " stars " will illustrate the unfinished character which may consist with a profitable language-exercise at this stage of school progress. EXAMPLE OF OEAL INSTBUOTION. THE STAE8. Teacher. Who will give me some person's idea of the stars — either a true or a false ? P. They are lamps or lights in the sky. T. When are they lighted and when put out ? P. They are lighted at evening, and they go out when the morning comes. P. They rise and set like the sun. P. They are not lighted and put out. They shine all the time, only we do not see them. T. During the day when we do not see them, are the THE STUDY OF WORDS. 23 same stars shining for the other half of the world, and is the sky that we see an empty one ? P. If the sun were covered, we should see stars in the daytime ; would they be the same ones we see at night ? T. That is a good question, but I am not telling you about stars to-day — you are telling me. What do you think ? Can you tell the names of any stars ? P. The Pleiades, the Dipper, Venus, Jupiter, Mars. T. Are all these stars of the same kind ? P. No. Some are planets like our earth, and some are like the sun. The Pleiades and the Dipper are groups of stars. T. What different ideas do you think people have of the distance of the stars ? P. They are beyond the clouds. P. They are millions of miles away. T. What of the distance from each other ? P. Some of them are very near together, as, for ex- ample, the Pleiades. P. They only appear so because they are so far from us. They are really very far apart even when they seem nearest together. T. Of what use are they to the people of the earth ? P. They give light when the sun does not shine. T. Can you quote any lines about them ? T. The Bible account of the creation tells us that they are for signs and for seasons, for days and for years — that God set them in the firmament to rule over the day and over the night. Gen. i, 17, 18. What does it mean by ruling ? P. I should think it meant that the day lasted while the sun was in sight, and that the stars rising and setting told the time of night. 24 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. T. They were the first clocks then. Is not that one thought of them ? T. The year of the planet Mercury is only a quarter of our year, and that of Saturn is nearly thirty of ours ; do either the sun or the stars rule that for them, do you think ? Let this and other conversation go on until the special lines of conception have been touched. Correct any really false impressions as far as may be possible. When the opportunity offers, read to the class from " On the Leads," " Other Worlds than Ours," and other excellent books, as a means of instruction apart from language training ; but, when a sufficiently full conception of the meaning of the word for the present need has been reached, turn the attention back upon the purpose for which the conversations have been conducted, namely, to show that the word " star " is the name and sign for all that stars mean, or ever will mean, as more is known of them. Summarize this meaning for their better' grasp. To some, they are only lights to relieve the darkness of the night. To some, they are like the face of a clock, telling time of day and time of year — a guide in traveling by land or sea. To some, they are an expression of the glory of the great universe of worlds, and their courses are a proof of the greatness and love of God. The astrologers tell fortunes by means of TEE STUDY OF WORDS. 25 them, and watch them to tell beforehand what is to be their luck in various enterprises. Study city in a similar way, and prepare the statements for the lesson upon u The Woods " on the following page. These lessons, as has been remarked, are not designed for finished statements in connected form. They take the place in language-study that artists' sketches do in drawing and painting. Examples: The artist's idea of a tree gives promi- nence to its form, its mode of branching, the appearance of its foliage, the effect of light and shade upon it. The botanist's to its mode of growth. He compares it with other trees and plants, and finds a class which can include it. The forester or woodman looks at a tree for its timber, which he values in amount and quality. Others value it for shade, for beauty, or for fruit. The word tree is its sign to all. One person thinks of friendship simply as the liking people may have, one for another. To others it means, in addition, a willingness to bear hardships, or practice self-denial in order to serve. And it may come to mean that friendship implies readiness to cause pain, to be misunderstood and to suffer that another may be benefited. These are degrees in the strength or meaning of the word. SECTION III. Invention. — Chapter Three. Bow the Days %>assed. Conveksation. — Class Names. Picture Phrases. Liteeatuee. — The Skylark. The Story. How the Days Passed. Take into the story- telling now a little of the animal and plant life, which are the dis- tinguishing characteristics of a country farm. The horses, two for farm work and one for family use, cows, pigs, sheep, hens and chick- ens ; the harvesting of grain and fruit, the husk- ing, nutting, and apple-paring parties, are but examples of what the children have to draw upon. The lengthening autumn evenings, the frosty nights, and rains filling the streams, are occasions for making each day new in interest and incident. A few things plainly pictured have more power than the simple enumeration of a great many, into which pupils fall if left to themselves. A considerable amount of oral recitation of incidents supposed to be real in the case of the children of the story will greatly improve the final result. GLASS NAMES. 27 GENERAL TEEMS OK CLASS NAMES. [Letters and Lessons, page 24.] It belongs to the teaching in this connection to show that, while a name has a clear, fixed meaning, it may stand for things very unlike. The study of the word " carriage " [Letter Three] introduces the idea of general and spe- cific terms, that is, of higher and lower classes. If asked, " What is a phaeton ? " the pupil answers, " A kind of carriage " ; and the same answer may be repeated over barouche, brougham, brett, coupe, coach, carryall, or the rudest car or cart. The questions, however, lead the mind to appreciate that the answer, in each case, refers the thing to a higher class, but tells none of its distinguishing marks. Twenty examples are not too many to fasten this truth in the mind. Kindness, justice, benevolence, and honesty, belong to the class virtues. Star, planet, moon, sun, to the class heavenly bodies. Define the following things by referring each to its class : 1 Builder, 2 cooper, 3 blacksmith, 4 thrush, 6 terrier, * potato, 7 corn, 8 silver, 9 bread, 10 cap. The illustration of the truth by diagrams may be found to be helpful. It will certainly be interesting. 28 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Let a circle represent whatever is named by the word buggy ; another, the word wagon ; and others, each sepa- rate kind of carriage named by the pupils. The aggre- gate of the circles must then illustrate the higher class "carriage"; and a single large circle may gather the smaller ones within its circumference, thus: If asked, " What is a carriage f " the answer pushes the mind still further from distinguishing marks belonging to any single kind by referring the thing to a still higher class. " A carriage is a vehicle" which higher term includes, in addi- tion to all carriages, the sled, boat, balloon — " anything that carries." Recitation upon this subject takes such forms as the following : 1. The word instrument names a large class of differ- ent things. Knife names a smaller class within the larger, and penknife a class smaller still, within the class knife. The relation of the terms may be represented thus: Cir- cle one, the large class instruments, contains space for many classes besides knife ; and circle two, other kinds of CLASS NAMES. 29 knife than the penknife, which is represented by circle three. 2. The word photograph names a particular kind of picture. The class " picture " is larger than the class u photograph," since it includes, besides photographs, paintings, engravings, chromos, drawings, etc., as per diagram. 3. The word sled names a class within the class vehicle. It has all the picture-meaning of vehicle, and its own particular marks or points besides ; but it names a very small class, while vehicle names a large one. 30 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. 4t. An apple is a fruit, but not every fruit is an apple. A pippin and a russet are apples, but not all of the apples. Compare the terms handle and knob, metal and tin, ornament and bracelet, clothing aud coat. Picture Phrases or Distinguishing Marks. [Letters and Lessons, page 25.] The work of Letter Four shows the. action of words upon each other. It leads to the later study of modifiers in grammar ; and the dis- crimination of the extent and content of terms which is the foundation of logical reasoning. It is the opposite of the process by which class- names arise. Beginning with a general but vague term, it brightens the picture meaning, shutting out all of a large class excejrt itself, by adding words that are its distinct peculiarities. Examjrte : The word sky as standing for the expanse above our heads is vague; " blue sky " is a more distinct mental picture ; " deep-blue sky " calls for a clearer pict- uring; and u a patch of deep-blue sky in the midst of white clouds " is a particular definite thing that the mind can see. That which is added to " sky " to make this picture excludes all other kinds of sky, as the use of russet or pippin excluded the other kinds of apple. The same result is reached in both cases, though by an opposite process. The vague general term loses in extent, as can be shown by diagram. It gains in picture-power or content. DISTINGUISHING MARKS. 31 It will often happen that no single word can be found for a class within a class, or for a par- ticular thing. Under furniture, we may wish to name the kind that is used in a home as distinct from that of an office, a railroad station, or a parlor-car. Having no single word, we add " household " to furniture, and are clearly understood. The word "household" limits the wideness of meaning in furniture. Try the effect of adding such words as kitchen, chamber, parlor, library, dining-room — and draw diagrams to represent the relative extent of meaning. In another line of modifying, try the terms faded, fresh, worn, old-fashioned, modern, etc. ; and in still another, cheap, costly or expensive, well-made, durable, etc. In choosing examples, do not go outside or beyond the pupil's range. The idea will be illustrated again and again as the work goes on. It is only important to be clear as far as the work goes. The study is unquestionably valuable as a mental training. The description of various kinds of carriage, indicated in Letter Four, may be extended to any variable things under a single class-name. The unabridged Webster's dictionary will be a safe reference for the teacher, though she may simplify the language for her young class. 32 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. A Study in Rhythm. The Skylark— James Hogg. [Letters and Lessons, page 40.] This poem is chosen on account of its musical flow. The diction is above the children, yet its beauties will not be lost upon them. Let it be committed to memory. The curves that stand over against it in the books indicate a phrasing of the lines according to rhythm. The irregular phrasing of the " Bel- fry Pigeon " and " Perseverance " may be called phrasing by sense, and this of the present lesson a phrasing by sound. All poetry admits of both, prose of but one method. If the teacher is musical, she may set the lines to simple melody in triple measure, so as to count time-beats which correspond to the syllables of the metrical feet, thus : One, two, three, one, two, three, One, two, three, one, two, three, One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one. Bird of the wilderness, Blithesome and cumberless, Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea. The last foot contains only a single strong syllable. Read in connection with this lesson the letter on page 45 of the pupil's book, and introduce such poems from the reading-books in use as best illustrate strongly-marked rhythm. SECTION IV. Invention. — Chapter Four. Picking Apples. Conversation. — Letters Five and Six. The Study of Things. Doing and Being. Literature. — Did you Speak f Grasshopper and Cricket Sonnets. The Story. Picking Apples. Let the pupils draw a story from the illustra- tion at the head of the chapter, and let the writ- ten work be chiefly conversational. This will give opportunity for dwelling upon the use of quotation marks. Distinguish between the direct and the indi- rect quotation ; for example : 1. " I can't carry so many," said Helen ; " you make me do all the hard part." 2. Helen finally complained that the hard part of the work fell to her, and that she could not carry so many. Tell which is directly quoted, which indirect- ly. Quotation marks include only the words of direct quotation. Most conversations, especially among children, 34 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. embrace language contractions which require the use of the apostrophe. The most common are the omissions of the vowel in not, after can, must, does, do, have, and ought, and the joining of its consonants to the preceding word. Require the writing of these forms. Picturing Things by Words. [Letters and Lessons, page 28.] Lessons of this kind are valuable in creating interest in the subject of language-training. The j succeed in the degree in which the impres- sion is deepened that language is a wonderful thing, and the power to use it skillfully a great attainment. After reading the letter with the class and requiring pupils to find each part in a specimen umbrella, and tell its use, the teacher says : " 1 have in mind a parasol that I will try to picture to you. Its staff is, etc. The handle is, etc. . . . " Can you imagine how it looks % " In a girl's school let ladies' costumes be de- scribed, and let pupils question, if the picture lacks in any particular needful for their mental seeing. It will be easy to multiply examples for this kind of training. The teacher's reading at the time may supply things, persons, and scenes CONFERS A TION.— WORDS. 35 which will appeal to the interest of her class and cultivate their power of mental vision. When their time for work comes, choose very simple studies and accept fragmentary statements. Read the picture poem, " Did you Speak ? " on page 48 of the pupil's books. Words of Action and State. [Letters and Lessons, page 29.] Letter Six calls upon pupils to distinguish words that affirm, as distinct from words that name or that express quality. As this is a first lesson, it will be sufficient to gather and present to sight a large number of striking examples. The " work " that is done by these words is, in simple language, the telling (that is, affirming or stating) what a thing does, has, or is ; or un- der other time relations did, had, or was ; will do, will have, or will he. Questions, such as the following, call to mind more specific words under the general ones that head the letter. Examples: What do you do with your hands and arms ? Different pupils answer : I knit, crochet, sew (mend, hem, stitch, baste, run) ; I sweep, dust, iron ; I write, draw, cipher ; I whittle, play the piano, drive a horse, roll a hoop ; I carry things ; I knock ; I strike ; I clap; I comb my hair; I black my boots. There is no end to the list. 36 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. For the use of is, and the words of its class, call attention to the fact that, though without it we could say " the red rose," we could not make the statement, " the rose is red." " Sick Mary " does not convey the same meaning as " Mary is sick." " White snow " might imply something quite different about other snow; but "snow is white" states a fact.. Knifeblade differs from " the knife has a blade." The statement of an action or condition calls into notice the element of time. The Germans call the verb the time-word. No technical treat- ment of the subject is needful at this stage — present, past, and future are words that grammar uses, but does not monopolize. Pupils will understand, without the help of grammar, whether a statement or word-form implies present, past, or future time, and may express its changes to correspond with either. " I lie in bed to-day," " I lay in bed yester- day," " I shall lie there to-morrow," are examples of useful repetition around irregular forms. The regular ones need no school exercises. The reading of the letter upon this subject makes a nucleus around which to gather points of teaching or criticism in ordinary speech, points of questioning upon the office of words in read- ing, and the partial identification of this third great class of words in language. LITERATURE. 37 The Grasshopper and Cricket— Leigh Hunt. [Letters and Lessons, page 41.] This lesson is fully developed in the books of the pupils, and needs no suggestions. The author would emphasize. the suggestion, elsewhere given, that as many of these gems of thought and models of beautiful expression be committed to memory as can be made consistent with the powers of the pupils. The expression of the teachers 'personal enjoyment in them will go far toward inspiring similar taste in pupils. Boys, no less than girls, need a good sub- stratum of elevated thought to keep the stand- ards of life high and its affections simple and pure. SECTION V. Invention. — Going to the Corner. Word Study. — Review. Literature. — Gamarra and Roland. The Story. Going to the Corner. The material for this chapter embraces the fording of the river by Charlie, made exciting by the swelling of the streams in the recent rain, and the attempt to ford at a new place; also the account of a miscellaneous country store, which to city children seems to contain in epitome the entire business street of a town. Dry goods, fancy goods and trimmings, cloth- ing, hats, boots and shoes, groceries, medicines,, perfumes, tools, hardware, hay, feed, and grain, with a host of things besides, the one store- keeper brings forth at call from some odd place of storing. The post-office also has its corner, and a revolving cylinder, crossed with tapes, holds and advertises all the mail matter, including, on this occasion, a letter post-marked with the name of their own home, in the well-known hand- writing of their mamma. REVIEW. 39 They occupy a half -hour in deciding how to spend their pocket-money, watch the other pur- chasers, and the meeting of neighborhood farmers around the stove in the center of the great aisle, then go home to read aloud their letter, which the pupils must invent and write. The explanatory letter on page 3 of the cover of their books will give all needful help. A Review. [Letters and Lessons, page 33.] Lesson - I. What general term includes blacksmith, phy- sician, soldier, gentleman, Indian, savage ? By what marks could each of the six classes of men be separately distinguished? The blacksmith, by being at work at his forge, by wearing a leather apron, by strong, muscular arms, often by sooty hands, and a face browned by the hot, bright fire of the forge. The physician, by being seen driving (perhaps in a covered buggy) rapidly through the town each day, as if on business, calling at houses where there are sick per- sons; by his questions to the patient; by the writing of a prescription or the giving of medicine. What marks a soldier? By what conduct is a gentle- man known ? What are the race characteristics of the Indian, and what kind of life marks the savage? Lesson II. Individual Terms. — How do words like Santa Claus, Franklin, Venus, etc., differ from those of Lesson I ? Picture a person who personates Santa Claus. Tell by what you remember Benjamin Franklin and the other persons named ? 40 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. What picture have you for Niagara? How does your imagination of St. Louis differ from that of New York? How does the sun differ from the moon ? Can you distinguish Venus from Jupiter ? Lesson III. Conception^] Terms. — The general idea of ocean is a vast body of water. Limiting words emphasize other thoughts of it, as, the blue ocean, the white-capped, stormy ocean. Words for describing the country are quiet, lonely, beauti- ful, dreary, fertile, barren, hot, or cold. For example, Lap- land is a cold, dreary country. Lesson IV. After explaining the poetical lines of this exercise call upon the pupils to quote a line that pictures the loneliness of the sea ; one that shows it in opposite character. What tells of its constant changefulness, and what of its unchanging character? What couplet calls attention to it as a purifier of the atmosphere ? What to its immensity of volume? What to safety upon its waters ? Lesson V. Do not require pupils to use the words and phrases of the book in telling a story of a storm at sea r except in so far as they wish. The point of the lesson is, to impress the idea of the suggestiveness of words. The question is, *' Do these phrases help you to picture a storm ? " Lesson VI. The subjects in this lesson are abstract words, and the requirement in each case an individual picture. "Poverty" may call to the mind of one a case of family sickness and destitution ; to another, lines from Little Gretchen. Accept whatever illustrates the meaning. Lesson VII. This lesson carries the class back to the umbrella study. Let the parts and qualities be noted in LITERATURE. 41 an orderly way. If the description of a watch begin with the case, let all that is to be said of it come before any study of the works. In general, let principal parts be first noted, then the secondary ones belonging to each, and let attention be given to the form in which the work is recorded. The Stormy Petrel— Barry Cornwall. [Letters and Lessons, page 43.] QUESTIONS AND NOTES. Who are a thousand miles from land, and what is it that is tossed and tumbled from billow to billow ? How are fleecy clouds treated by the stormy winds ? and what are the signs that the ship will have no better fate ? Name the order in which the parts yield to a power stronger than themselves, and tell what they are said to do when overpowered? How are the hearts on board like the ship itself, and what effect does the storm have upon them ? Consider now what this picture of a ship at sea in a storm has to do with a poem on the Stormy Petrel. Is it not also one of many home- pictures ? The name Petrel comes, it is said, from the stor} r of Peter the apostle walking on the sea. What line describes the strength and swift- ness of the bird's flight ? 42 • STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. What is his message to the sailor, and how is it often received ? To what does the poet compare the bird, and in what resemblance does he counsel him to con- tinue ? SECTION VI. Invention. — Boating. Good-by and Welcome Home, The Study of Words. — Equivalent Expressions. Literature. — Robert of Lincoln and a Revieio of all the Poems. The Story. A Boating' Experience. The same cause that made fording difficult renders boating easy. The children persuade their uncle and aunt that they may be trusted with the old flat-bottomed boat. The story may picture a happy afternoon upon the river or pond, and end with one of the many accidents to which such an adventure is liable. A single page is left to record the closing of the visit, the journey, and the home welcome. Having completed the list of studies, the re- maining time may be spent in revising the writ- ten work of the school term, drawing from it the amount which the blank pages of the book will contain, and in recording it with neatness and care. Free of other language work, the teacher may concentrate the entire attention upon these important elements of early training. 44 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Equivalent Expressions. [Letters and Lessons, page 35.] " The new neighbors are very poor." ' The lesson requires the pupil to express this statement in other words. First, throw out the word " neighbors," and we have as its equivalent " people who live near by " ; " new " implies that they have lately come ; with this help let the statement be made. Second, it is probably a family of people that has recently moved into the neighborhood. Make " family " and " recently " the points of change, and use the word " vicinity." Third, begin the statement with "Near us," and let the pupils tell how to complete it. Fourth, find other words for " poor " with which " very " can be used, and make new forms with any or all the foregoing changes. Fifth, substitute words for " very poor," such as " extremely destitute," " without the necessi- ties of life," " in great poverty," " in want of food and clothing," etc. Let the forms be writ- ten after having been first orally expressed. Treat the other exercises in a similar way. If pupils are slow in finding expressions, ques- tion or suggest. Let it be their work to appro- priate and remember. LITERATURE. 45 Robert of Lincoln— Bryant. [Letters and Lessons, page 43.] Call attention to musical flow, length of lin' «, rhyming words, and the truth of the portraits j for each of the two birds. It is desirable that the work should be com- pleted so that the closing days of a term may be spent in gathering the work into a whole and reviewing its general scope. The points which " Studies in Poetry " have mainly dwelt upon are the picture-making power in words, the distinc- tions of rhythmical movement as marks of sepa- rate poems, rhyming words, and equivalent ex- pressions. The last reading of the poems may touch upon all these points, and the pupils may act the role of the literary reviewer in studying them. BOOK II SECTION I. Liteeatuee. — The Settler's Cabin. Little Gustava. Woed Study. — Words of Relation. Invention. —Pioneer Life. The Settler's Cabin. [Letters and Lessons, page 1.] questions and suggestions. Rhythm. — The omission of "in" and "his" makes the arrangement of syllables perfectly regular in the metrical feet of the first four lines. These two words, needful for the sense, may yet be passed over so lightly as not to break the rhythm, as may also " a " in the first foot of the last line. Study the remaining stanzas in similar way. Pupils will be able to make their own defini- tion for an iamhus, first by referring it to the higher class metrical feet, and second by telling its distinguishing mark, as one of the kinds of feet. LITERATURE. 47 The Story. — The change from poetry to prose lays aside metrical movement, and some- times the especially poetical forms of expression. " Brawny double hands," " knees " for rafters, and " bare arms " for leafless branches, are strong- er figures than would be used in prose by young writers. Kinds of Wokds. — The picture-making words are noted, explained, and thrown out to call into prominence the so-called tmpresentative words / that is, those which do not present a picture to the mind. It is difficult to tell in all cases what such words do present. It may be an idea of the relation, direction, degree, cause, or tendency of the things, qualities, or acts which picture-mak- ing words have presented. A look at the ellip- tical stanza on page 3 shows that they carry no meaning by themselves. For present teaching, the meaning of each in its place, so far as it can be recognized, is sufficient. For example, we could not tell the place where the cabin was built without the help of " in." A cleared patch might be mentioned without " of," but the two things, patch and clearing, could not be named in connection but for its help. Of course the patch was larger than " double hands." It is the extreme smallness that the writer wishes to im- press vividly, as she does by using " scarcely more than." " And," in reading, means little more than the sign plus in arithmetic, and " with " helps also to put things together in the mind. 48 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. The exercise of dividing words into these two great classes is the preparation for future lessons leading to Parts of Speech. Little Gustava» This poem follows the same line of treatment as the preceding, except in the matter of rhythm in which the feet have three syllables, as a rule, with accent on the first. The first line lacks but a syllable of being regular dactyllic movement, but the study of each line would carry the pu- pils too far into metrical composition, and the teacher may leave it after counting a few of its lines, herself, to show the general character. The picture-words greatly predominate. Let the class count them in each stanza. If there is doubt about the personal pronouns, question to what each refers, and find the picture in the ref- erence, and not in the word itself. In the line of natural analysis ask such ques- tions as the following : What can you tell from the poem : of the time of day, time of year, and weather ? Describe, in the words of the poem, the cat, the hen, the doves, the dog, the sparrow, and crow. Quote the single word which tells in each case what Gustava does for her pets. The story will be retold easily, and in few words For example : CONVER&A TIOS.- WORDS. 49 " On one of the early spring mornings little Gnstava might have been seen," etc. " The Story of Pioneer Life " will call into exercise the pupil's geographical knowledge. Read, if possible, the poems by Miss Larcora on prairie life, " Elsie in Illinois," and " A Prairie Nest." The exercise having been written on practice paper, may be filed till near, the end of the term, then revised and recorded in the book. Words of Relation. QUESTIONS UPON THE POEM OF " THE BROOK." [Letters and Lessons, page 20.] '' I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, 1 ' etc. What is the relation between the coming in the first line of the brook's answer and the haunts ? or, What does the word " from " put into relation ? How are " coot and hern " put into relation with haunts ? " Of " commonly means possession — a man of wealth, eggs of birds, haunts of birds ; what is the relation between the haunts and these two kinds of bird i State the relation shown by " among '' — or tell what word puts " I sparkle " into relation with " the fern." With what is " valley " put into relation ? 3 50 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. In the same way tell the following points of relation : " I hurry " " thirty hills." " Or slip " " the ridges." "By," meaning past, joins " thorp," "town," and " bridges " in a relation to some act of the brook. What is it ? What connection is there between " I chatter " and " stony ways." " I chatter " and " sharps and trebles." " I bubble " and " eddying bays." u I babble " and " the pebbles." "I wind" and "a blossom," "a trout," "a grayling." Into what relation does a " foamy flake " come, and what connects the " waterbreak " with the gravel ? Return to this selection when Letter Twelve has been read, to show the use of " out " after sparkle ; " down " after hurry ; " about " and " in and out " after wind ; also, " here " and " there " ; " along," " on," and " forever." If the posin had been written especially in the interest of prepositions and adverbs it could not have been made to serve their purpose better. If the class studying these words of relation are intelligent enough to take their meaning readily, the teacher may classify the words some- what. CONVERSA TION.— WORDS. 5 1 " On," " upon," " at," indicate rest or place ; " toward," "from," "past," "through," imply motion ; "of" denotes possession or belonging; " for " means reason or cause ; " except " separates, as does also in a sense " against." All this definiteness, however, can well afford to wait its time and place in scientific grammar. SECTION II. Litekature. — Little Bell. The Magpies. Word Study. — Other Relations. Words of Reference. Invention. — Doing and Telling How. Opening an Or Little Bell. [Letters and Lessons, page 4.] ADDED QUESTIONS TO FOLLOW THOSE OF PUPIL'S BOOKS. Which metrical foot of the first line takes the em- phasis? Which is to be passed over most lightly? Does the quotation contained in the second and third lines admit of metrical accents at all? With what other line does the third correspond in length and movement ? What word tells the relation into which the bird and the beechwood are brought in the first line ? Is the rela- tion between tree and bird, or between tree and piped, according to the line ? How is the maiden said to be wandering? Usage re- quires that we use slowly to describe an act, slow to describe a thing. The poet breaks the rule for a better sound in his line, and in such a case we approve his doing so. In prose it would be an error. What is meant by "the while "? Read the fourth stanza as follows, and tell if its mean- ing is made more apparent : While the bonny bird poured LITERATURE. 53 his heart out (that is, sung his song of love), freely again and again, or over and over, under the morning sky, the sweetness in the childish heart below seemed to grow and grow, and to shine forth from the bright blue eyes in happy overflow. Try to do the same with the fifth stanza. Such exercises at each doubtful place will make, not only this, but all reading more in- telligent. The Magpies. [Letters and Lessons, page 5.] Read in connection with these verses the fable of " The Lion and the Mouse " (page 34, L. and L.), to show the interpretation of fables. Recall familiar fables of iEsop, where quarrels between animals resulted in the loss of that which occasioned the dispute, it being taken as a fee by the one who was chosen to decide between the parties. In this case quarreling led to battle, and no one gained ; the offending members — a beak and a claw — being all that was saved from destruction. Shape a story in class, leaving only language work for the effort of each pupil in writing. Other Relations. After the class-reading of Letter Ten, give simple statements, and require pupils to unite them by the aid of the words now brought into prominence for study. 54 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. For a new exercise write upon the board simple sentences, thus : I left home, | I was sick. I shall return, ) T ,, . T T 11 , ' 1 am better. I shall not go, j I will go, | I am able. If the connecting words are not readily sug- gested by the class, supplement the list by any that can be used, and require the pupils to trace the relations after finding the place for inserting them. The pairs of sentences may be taken in either order : I left home because when though, although before, after while, for I was sick. I was sick when but before, after I left home. Study of Examples by Transposition. Pleasure said : 1. I'll wake ray merriest measure, or 2. We'll sit beneath the red rose tree if 3. You choose ; and 4. We'll twine a wreath. CONVERSA TIOX.— WORDS. 55 Sorrow said : 1. They're not for me when 2. That black cloud is in the west, and 3. It will storm to-morrow. Note that in this kind of relation a full state- ment is made in each part. Decide in which cases each statement would convey its meaning apart from the other. In case of sentences joined by and and but, this is often true. The words if and unless throw some doubt upon one or other of the parts of the compound sentence. In the study of poems, do not ash the use of a word if in your judgment the class as a whole would not easily perceive it if challenged to at- tention by your question ; but, if to know it would make the sense clearer to them, tell them plainly. Words of Reference. [Letters and Lessons, page 22.] The words of this lesson include the class pronouns as treated in grammar. The chief difference between the classes is that some fulfill also the office of conjunctions in connecting clauses. All that is desinble in present teaching is given in the letter. The use of the knowledge is to be shown only by ask- ing in a given case, "To what does this word refer," or the saying, without a question, in such 56 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. a case as " Quoth he," " he " refers to blackbird, " what " refers to the name that the blackbird wants to know, and " your " to little Bell her- self, in the line : " What's your name ? quoth he." The ordinary study of poems will afford ample occasion for questioning upon this class of words. A little knowledge of the figure called Per- sonification helps in analysis, since children's poetry is especially full of it. The examples of the letter represent the objects as persons speak- ing. It will be easy to find in the reading books of their grade examples of the use of the second person, that is, the person addressed, similar to the following : " White rose, talk to me, I don't know what to do; Why do you say no words to me, Who say so much to you." Or the third, a person spoken about, as in the example of " Sorrow and Pleasure," on page 6. Doing and Telling How. Opening an Orange. Read with the class the lessons that are wrought out in their books : Pointing a Pencil, and The Mysterious Apple. Enforce the neces- sity of a full, orderly statement of the method in every case. INVENTION. 57 If the lesson time comes when an orange can not be had, draw upon memory and imagination, and, when the season returns, draw the papers from the file, and test the correctness of the statements by following them in doin g the work. SECTION III. Litekatu-ke.— Little Sorrow. Battle of Blenheim, Wokd Study. — Words of Circumstance. Invention.— Hopeful and Fearful. The Story of Blen- heim. Little Sorrow. [Letters and Lessons, page 6.] Read in connection with this exercise the selections under Fable, Allegory, and Parable (L. and L., page 33). Let pupils decide to which class Little Sorrow belongs. Find other exclamations which might be equivalent expressions for " Woe's me ! " What is the meaning of " pipe " ? Explain the lines, " I have no heart" etc., and " I am too sore at heart." Find other expres- sions for the same thought and feeling. Compare " If it storm " with " If it storms." Both are authorized ; the former is like the com- mon expression, " If it should storm," the latter an equivalent for " If it does storm." Question upon the office of words in " a black cloud " — " the rain from me." " I want neither LITERATURE. 59 dance nor flowers." "If to-day we miss the storm, poor comfort ; 'twill surely come to-mor- row." These exercises touch upon every kind of word that has been studied, so making a review. The Battle of Blenheim— Southey. [Letters and Lessons, page 8.] POINTS FOE QUESTIONS. 1. Extent of Meaning in Words. — Compare the phrase, "an evening, 1 ' with u a summer evening"; "the old man," and " man " ; " stream," and " yon little stream " ; "men," and "many thousand men." Could the words Kaspar, Peterkin, or Wilhelmine be limited in their use other than they are by being indi- vidual names ? What effect do "old," "young," and "little," have as used with them? Of what are " duke " and " prince " names? What will you substitute for "quoth," a nay," " yon," in telling the story in your own words? What people had the right to call Prince Eugene "Our good Prince " ? Blenheim was a small Bavarian village. It happened to be the place for the heaviest battle of a series, and it was estimated that eighty thousand men fought on each side. The Duke of Marlborough led the English, an'd Prince Eugene the Austrians. Together they gained the "famous victory." The answer to little Wilhelmine's question was "the right to sit on the throne of Spain," which was claimed both by Charles of Austria, and Philip of France. The English helped Austria. 60 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Words of Circumstance. [Letters and Lessons, page 24.] The line, " Pretty maid, slow wandering this way," in the preceding exercise, makes natural opportunity for distinguishing between a word which describes a thing and one which describes an act or quality. Poety ignores, at pleasure, this formal dis- tinction of the adjective and adverb. In the line, " The glad bright sun shines warm at last," the question whether " warm " describes the sun or the shining may call out different opinions; so also in " Very calm and clear rose the praying voice," in the poem of this section. There is no occasion for making much account of the matter. If the point in the last example is to picture the voice, " calm and clear " are the words for doing it, calmly and clearly would correctly describe the rising ; and the distinction is very slight be- tween a voice and its rising. One or two plain examples may be in point at this time. The fuller treatment comes in con- nection with modifiers in Book Four, The Song of the Blackbird. " Now so round and rich, now soft and slow" is an example of describing things. " She spoke softly and slowly" illustrates de- scribing acts. The practical use of the knowledge is in the CON VERS A TIOX. - WORDS. 61 analysis of examples in reading, as a help to a finer apprehension of their meaning. The class marks of the adverb are very few. The kinds differ among themselves more than the class itself differs from the other great classes, except in the one particular of not describing or limiting things. The questions touching " how," " when," " where," " to what extent or degree," " in what direction," are practical and useful. Tell which of the above questions is appro- priate to each of the italicized words or phrases of the following studies from the lessons in poetry : " Up, away, the frisky squirrel hies." " The settler's rifle, bright and brown, Hangs high . . . on the rafter hooks." " And the yellow cat lies all of a curl In the lajy of a two years' blue-eyed girl." a Little Bell sat down amid the fern. 1 '' " Among the thistles on the hill, In tears, sat Little Sorrow !" " The sweetness seemed to grow and grow, And shine forth . . . in happy overflow." It is earnestly hoped that this kind of study will so commend itself to the teacher's good sense that she will see in it a means of studying litera- ture, and an indirect, but none the less effective, 62 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. method of improving the ordinary conversational language of every day life. Hopeful and Fearful. [Letters and Lessons, page 6.] Class papers upon this subject may be re- quired in dialogue form, thus presenting the say- ings of each person without comment. To avoid misunderstanding, the name of the speaker is given each time that he or she is repre- sented as speaking in dialogue or dramatic com- position. Let pupils tell what takes its place in ordinary stories. It is a good exercise to read a page of a story, selecting the sayings that it con- tains and omitting all else. The dialogue or drama inserts whatever is needful in the way of explanation, circumstances of time, place, etc., the entrance or exit of the speakers or others, and anything of action not suggested by the conversation in notes put within parentheses, as something apart from the dis- course of speakers, and so from the dialogue it- self. Tell the pupils ol the leading standard au- thors, in dramatic composition, at the head of which list comes Shakespeare, nearly all of whose productions were written to be acted upon the stage. LI1ERA1URE. 63 The Story of Blenheim. [Letters and Lessons, page 4fi.] This exercise in equivalent expression needs the aid of transposition, analysis, and a study of the facts to which the poem refers. If the teacher finds direction needful, the fol- lowing questions and statements may serve her purpose : What and where is Blenheim ? The battle referred to occurred on August 5, 1705, in the time of Queen Anne in England, and Louis XIV in France. It was an occasion of terrible loss of life on both sides. A memorable result was the gaining by Eng- land of the control of the Strait of Gibraltar, the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. What signs of the battle were to be found at Blenheim at the time of which the poem speaks? What one such sign led to Ivaspar's talk with his grandchildren ? Did he remember the battle himself ? What does the conversation show about the glory of war when its cause is not so plain as to be remembered ? What do you think was Southey's opinion \ SECTION IV. N Litekature. — The Barefoot Boy. The Swarfs Rest. Woed Study. — Studies in Comparison. Invention. — Leaf from Receipt Book. Preserving Flowers. The Barefoot Boy, and The Swan's Nest. [Letters and Lessons, pages 9, 10.] These two subjects are treated with sufficient fullness for present needs in the pupils' books. Observe the illustration of the rhythm on page 17, and quote lines that plainly indicate it. Studies in Comparison. [Letters and Lessons, page 24.] Knowledge not only begins, but proceeds by comparison. It is complete when it has discriminated all points of likeness and difference. It is probable that differences strike the mind first, resemblances being taken for granted. Snow is known practically when it is distin- guished from fog, rain, and hail. The blue of the sky is noticed after a succession of gray days. By rediscovering what others have known, CONVERSA TION.—GOMPA RI80N. 65 and tracing likenesses that have been recognized before, the pupil is put in the way of making new discoveries. To his own thought there need be no difference in the two cases. The value of study in this line should be plainly understood. It does not lie in the com- parison itself, but in the deeper knowledge and insight which comparison gives. In other words, it is a means rather than an end, whether in the simple parallels of school study or the classifica- tions of science, The working out of the ~Q.ve subjects given on page 26 should be somewhat after the follow- ing model. No one pupil, however, is expected to do all the work suggested. The Hen and the Drick. Both the hen and the duck are poultry birds. The hen is wholly domestic. Of the duck family the larger number are wild. The duck belongs both to the land and the water ; the hen only to the land. The hen has a round body, short, broad wings, and free, loose feathers. The duck's body is long and oval, flattened above and below. The feathers of the duck are close and smooth. The legs of the duck fall far back. It would tip for- ward in walking but for the long and wide-spreading toes. They are thrown backward in swimming and flying, and so are best placed for its three kinds of motion. The hen has small feet that support the body at the middle. They are wide apart, and she is a great walker. The bill of the duck is long, broad, and perforated. She picks her food from the mud. The hen's bill is short 66 STUDIES IN LANG UAGE. and stout, her feet, with their strong, blunt claws, bring her food to the surface of the ground, and she has only to take it with her bill. The sound of the duck is like the word quack, that of the hen like three or four words with the emphasis on the last but one. It is either a cluck or a cackle. 75- Preserving Flowers and Leaves. Other Doings. [Letters and Lessons, pages 38, 39, 42.] It is the office of a school to promote indi- rectly much that it does not specifically teach. All practical knowledge should be encouraged as of equal value with book-learning. Household work for boys and girls stands at the head of such practical skill, and the teacher may do some- thing toward creating an enthusiasm for it. INVENTION. 67 In a girls' school more than is suggested in their books under this head may be wisely at- tempted at home and reported at school ; and the range is such that boys as well as girls may choose from its list without exceeding their proper functions. Let a class recitation present orally each topic to be written before pupils are left to their individual work. This kind of composition should be marked by simple language, brief and direct statement, and orderly method. SECTION Y. Liteea-TUEe. — Lochinvar. A Chiles Talk in April. Woed Studies. — Simile. Metaphor. Invention. — Care of Sich. A Spelling Match. Loclriiivar — Scott. [Letters and Lessons, page 12.] Rhythm. — Turn to page 17 and observe how the movement, or rhythm, is illustrated. Draw upon slates the six lines of curves, making the arc of the curves as long as the slate will allow, and leaving space between the lines sufficient for ordinary writing ; then proceed to write the lines of a stanza of the poem within the curves, so as to phrase the poem according to the sound. This phrasing will for the future be called scanning. Meaning of Words. — Distinguish between the name " gallant," the quality " gallant," and the verb " gallant." The former is usually ac- cented on the last syllable, and means a court- eous, polite gentleman. When pronounced gal- lant the word is used to describe the highest courage. Lochinvar is contrasted with the das- CONVERSATION. 69 tard, that is, coward, to whose .wedding he had come. Tell in what ways the bridegroom is pictured in different stanzas. The "galliard" (gay Lochinvar) gained the bride by strategy. Tell how it is pictured in the poem. Simile and Metaphor. [Letters and Lessons, pages 29 and 30.] The two marks of a simile are also those of a metaphor; namely, a gleam of likeness under essential difference ; and yet the two figures are distinct. Simile states a likeness. Metaphor implies an identity. Something of this belongs to a pupil's first impression of the two. It must, however, be taught by illustration rather than by abstract definition. Making metaphors is like what children un- derstand by " calling names." It is the attribut- ing of new names, epithets, or acts, from some recognized resemblance. The recognition of the resemblance is either a plain comparison or figure of speech, according as the things compared are or are not of the same nature. The boy's lips look as if they had been kissed by lips that had left their redness. The metaphor throws away the "as if,' ? and says, "kissed by 70 STUDIES IN~ LANGUAGE. strawberries." This distinction is not an un- profitable nicety even for children. Trace in similar way the process which re- sulted in lines like the following : " Every evening from thy feet Shall the cool wind kiss the heat." — (An act.) "Every morn shall lead thee through Fresh baptisms of the dew." — (A name or thing.) " All too soon these feet must hide In the prison-cells of pride." — (A name.) "Though the flinty slopes (of life) be hard.'''' — (A name and quality.) " Quick and treacherous sands of sin." " Made to tread the mills of toil Up and down in ceaseless moil." The rules of health are " mocked " by the safe way in which boys daily break them. The black wasp is a " mason," and the hornet an " architect " and an " artisan." The brook laughs, whispers, and talks " face to face." Of the nature of simile are the following : " All the world I saw or knew seemed a complex Chi- nese toy." " Like a colt's for work be shod." Recognizing a similarity between love and a river, the young Lochinvar says — METAPHOR.— SIMILE. 71 "Love swells like the Sol way, but ebbs like her tide," so making two similes. The old proverb that the course of true love never runs smoothly, makes a metaphor out of the same similarity. Classify the following selected lines by this test question, " Is the likeness stated or is it im- plied I " " Her soul was like a star and dwelt apart." " It mocks the skies, Or like a cradled creature lies." "I will take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea." " And on the wings of mighty winds came flying all abroad." " Your wings will have to be clipped, little runaway." u "We shall soon be on the wing again." " We are like stranded ships waiting a fuller tide." " Let your path in life be like footprints in snow, leaving marks but not stains." A Child's Talk in April. [Letters and Lessons, page 12.] Rhythm. — To be studied as that of the pre- ceding lesson. Meaning- of Words. — Study "cozy," "rec- oncilement," " wearied," " paternal," " enacting," 72 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. "embryo," "gradual," as here used. Describe a wren's nest, and tell the class of the wren's habit of bringing up two broods in the season — one in April, the other in the early autumn. Care of the Sick. [Letters and Lessons, page 40.] This subject is a useful one for general in- struction. Let the writing grow naturally out of the discussion. If any item of " care " is of especial interest, let it be the one to record as a means of keeping the knowledge gained. The less instruction about the way of writing the bet- ter ; when the work is done, make it the subject of careful criticism. Require the exactness of statement that belongs to explicit direction. A Spelling Match. [Letters and Lessons, page 41.] Conduct a review in spelling on this plan, and afterward require the class to describe the exer- cise. SECTION VI. Literature. — The Heritage. Flowers. Birds' Orchestra. "Word Study. — Degrees of Comparison. Contrast. Invention. — Croquet Playing. The Heritage. Flowers. The Birds' Orchestra. [Letters and Lessons, page 13.] The poems of this page may be taken together as STUDIES in comparison. " Heritage " is here used in its fullest extent of meaning. It covers all that comes as a result of different conditions in life — the pride that one who has been born to riches inherits so naturally that he hardly recognizes it till his circumstances change and he is obliged to "wear a garment old"; the helplessness that comes of never hav- ing been trained to self-support, and the lack of hardihood that belongs to a luxurious life. In contrast with these are set powers that are often developed by necessity in the case of " the poor man's son." In the first four stanzas the poet's sympathy seems to be with the poor ; in the fifth and sixth 4 74 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. he exalts each condition by showing its oppor- tunities, and in the seventh he groups both for their common value. These points the pu]3ils of a class may be led to discover and appreciate. In Flowers, appropriate metaphors show like- nesses and give names. The sunflower is intro- duced as the goddess Clytie, the tulip as a co- quette. The cowslip is a rustic, the violet a nun. Notice the two forms of the word queen. The former, quean, is the older word, but it fell into reproach as a name, and now is no compli- ment to those who are called by it. When the word " queen " came to be chosen as the title for the wife of a king, or the ruling lady of a king- dom, the other word dropped out of usual speech. In Birds' Orchestra the comparison is made with great delicacy and appreciation. The song of each bird is compared with the music of some instrument, yet no formal comparison appears. Degrees of Comparison. [Letters and Lessons, page 31.] Any grammar will furnish examples for word forms in comparison. The use of the " superla- tive " to describe what is highest of its kind be- longs to general speech, and only secondarily to technical grammar. It is a good w T ord to use INVEXTWW 75 with pupils to describe the extravagant use that is often made of words of highest degree. The point to emphasize is that only one thing of a kind can be "best," "prettiest," "largest," or finest " ; or, on the other hand, " worst," " ugliest," etc. The rule should be, " Deal sparingly with superlatives." The same caution holds in the use of the phrase " as tired as I can be " for ordinary fatigue, and the homely proverbs suggested in the verses of Letter Sixteen. Croquet Playing. [Letters and Lessons, page 44.] The paragraph notes afford sufficient help for an oral picturing of this well-known game, and the writing will present no peculiar difficulties if the teacher assures herself that the steps of the game are fully understood by each pupil before he attempts to write. It may be advisable to require the jmpils to ask questions that present the steps of the play in their order. SECTION YII. Literature. — Alice Brand. Songs and Hymns. Conversation. — Review. Invention. — Revision of Written Work. Alice Brand. [Letters and Lessons, page 14.] Ryhthm. — The second and fourth stanzas in- dicate the rhythm of this ballad more plainly than the first. Draw the curves as a preparation for recording the poem upon page 18. The Ballad Story. — The first section of the ballad pictures Lord Richard's experience in winning his bride, a common story in Scotch annals. What quality in the bride shows she was worth the winning? The second introduces the romance, common also to Scotch stories. The king of the spirits of the hill and wood resents the intrusion into his domain, and sends one of their captives, formerly a man, to effect, if possible, their banishment. The common superstition was that the elf -people always fled before the mention of the names of the real Deity. The hideous dwarf, having been REVIEW. 77 once a man, is supposed to be able to resist even the strongest expression of Christian trust and invocation. The third tells his experience with the Lord and Lad j. In which stanzas does LTrgan test their courage, and in which is the result told ? Lord Richard is supposed to be English, and to have come over the border on hunting expedi- tions or for other adventure, and so to have met the fair Lady Alice. Songs and Hymns. The short poems of pages 15 and 16 are de- signed for occasional recitation and use. They are strongly marked in their rhythm, which may he recorded, where this has not been already done, on page 18. General Review. The lessons of the book having been taken, it remains to the class to go through the book a second time to revise and record the inventive work, if it has not been already entered in the books, and to re-read the selections and letters. No other review is desirable, as the next books keep in mind the salient points of this one, and have the added advantage of fresh examples. BOOK III SECTION I. Conversation. — The Meanings in Words. Literature. — Chorus of Flowers. Discourse of Flowers. Hymn to the Flowers. Intention. — Boyhood of Benjamin Franklin. The Meaning of Words. The beginning of a new number in the books of this series, probably the entering upon a new term at school with a new teacher, and possibly, for some pupils, the added newness of beginning the series with this third book, make it a matter of economy to the teacher to have a good understanding of the aims of the author and the ends to be sought in the lessons. The fundamental principle underlying all the exercises is a knowledge of words in their living- ness. Letter One calls attention to the fact that a general dictionary definition is insufficient, that CONVERSATION— WORDS. 79 there must be a recognition of possible degrees in the force and clearness of words, and that each case of using is to be studied, if the meaning is not at once apprehended, for the value put upon the word by the author. This recognition of meaning is a natural act, performed in cases of simple usage unconscious- ly ; but it is also an essential element of training. For training purposes language should be chossn that taxes the mind a little in the effort needed to rise to the footing of the author. In common speech the need is not felt, and pausing to weigh and balance what is perfectly clear is felt to be wearisome and unprofitable. The method of conducting recitations should be simple and natural ; after a few lessons it should be so plainly uniform that both teacher and pupil seem to work under a natural law. Let the letter be read, and let such comments be made and such questions asked as are re- quired for its comprehension. If exercises are introduced, calling for thought on the part of pupils, let one or two. of them be orally devel- oped in such a way as pupils may be supposed to develop the others, at least in part, without aid. In the case of this letter call for statements using the word " home," and such quotations from the memory of the class as can be focalized around the word. 80 STUDIES W LANGUAGE. Read the exercises given below upon one of the occasional studies, and assign as the lesson for the following day examples upon slates or practice paper, using the words in their varied meanings and relations. The letter may then be left, and the study carried on in the selections under the head of literature. The constant reference to the dictionary on the part of the teacher will not be lost in its in- fluence as an example for the class. Whenever it can be done to advantage, employ a pupil to find the place for you and to read the definition to you. Word Studies. I will watch for an opportunity. The cat is on the watch for a bird. It is my watch now. You have a watch ; make it as secure as you can. Have you a watch ? "Watch, lest ye fall into temptation. It was the third watch of a winter night. POST. Posts are set for a fence. Post no bills. This is the post of a sentinel. We were on the first post of our journey. Shall you be at the Post meeting? Did the letter come by post ? He died at his post. LITERATURE. 81 WINCx. " O had I the wings of a bird ! " They that wait on the Lord shall mount up on wings, as eagles. We are on the wing again. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. The pea and the bean have wing-petals, and the seed of the maple is winged. Under his wings shalt thou trust. The windmill has its wings spread. The Chorus of Flowers— Leigh Hunt [Letters and Lessons, page 17.] This exquisite poem belongs to every one who can be taught to care for it. Its moral value is greater even than its intellectual. The Rhythm is treated in the pupil's book. Require the class to express in curves the verse form, and the stanza, as taught in Book II. Pause in study upon the following words I We thread the earth in silence. In silence build our bowers. The teachers of the end of use. Scorn all duller taste. Its wall speaks loftier truth. Our outward life requires them not. Whether man or May-fly profit of the lalm. Even the terror, poison, hath its plea. Till the gold-cups overflow. The butterflies come aping those fine thieves. $2 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Bound our rifled tops. Human speech avails not. Who shall say the flowers dress not Heaven's own bowers? Let the interpretation of words be always the substitution of the simple for the difficult. QUESTIONS AND NOTES. In what lines is it said, We are appropriate everywhere — we give laughter for mourning — where we find charms and beauties we make way for their free exercise ? In what way do March winds open the way for the spring flowers? From what do the flowers and leaves derive their color? How may Heaven and Nature be said to color them to suit their tastes? In the next stanza useful use- lessness is named as the painter. Explain these personifi- cations. Red is always represented as a warm and white as a cold color. So the roses and lilies are set in contrast. Quote the line that expresses the thought that the re- turn of the flowers interrupts unhealthy thoughts, and calls out such as the mind held, but did not openly enjoy. The May-fly is an insect whose life is said to be but a single day in length. What force is there in coupling it with man ? How does the vegetable world profit both man and animal ? Enumerate examples of food and medicine. What are the " talking rooms " of the bee? and what are the cups that overflow for men? Have you seen Guido's painting of the Aurora, where Apollo is surrounded by the nine beautiful figures in hu- man form ? The implied comparison makes the central organs of a flower the Apollo, and the petals the attend- ants that serve him. " The Greek mountain " represents LIT ERA TURE.—FL WERS. 83 the family of the gods, in the religion of Nature. The "sweet floor" represents the scenery of the heavenly world, corresponding to what we here call the ground. A Discourse of Flowers, and Hymn to the Flowers — Beecher. [Letters and Lessons, pages 19 and 31.] Read and comment upon in manner similar to the preceding. In the particular study of words note the use of the following : If there was not another creature on earth. If they would but question such flowers. Generally there is a disposition to undervalue. If Nature set a price for her blossoms. The mullein — a brave plant. A homely enthusiasm. Grape blossoms do not appeal to the eye. Finest stroke — happiest hit {idioms). What kind of figure is it that calls the sunset a "blos- soming of the clouds " ? An expression of countenance. Do you recall smiling flowers? — shy, proud, and home- like ones? Note the enumeration of melodious sounds. (See page 8.) The " vibrations " refer us to the mode in which sound and light come to us, in movements of the atmosphere, or the ether which surrounds and fills everything. The Chorus, Discourse, and Hymn make a kind of Flower Service, or ceremony of worship. Commit the hymn for recitation. 84 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. Rhythm. — Let the study of the class lead to the statement that " The Hymn to the Flowers," page 31, is written in iambics, with three lines of five and one of two feet to the stanza. (See page 32.) The Boyhood of Benjamin Franklin, [Letters and Lessons, pages 33 and 10.] If but a single copy of the Life of Franklin can be had, make the opening chapters the class reading-book for a time, and write upon the board the topics best adapted to the exercises in com- position. When the material for work has been read and well digested, give the class an hour of school time for writing the first chapter of the sketch, that necessary questions may be asked to recall the facts. Exchange of papers in the class, with marginal crosses to mark points for correction, should precede the teacher's examination and the record of the work in the blank pages of the book. SECTION II. Conversation. — Equivalent Expression. Psalms cxvii and xviii. Literature. — The Daisy, Grass, Dandelion, and Bramble. Invention. — Early Manhood of Franklin. Equivalent Expression. [Letters and Lessons, page 2.] If work in this line is new to the teacher, she may see its beginnings in Book I, page 35, with notes in the corresponding section of this manual. The familiar lines of the first stanza of " Ex- celsior" may be intelligently, though somewhat awkwardly, expressed in exactly reverse order, as follows : The Latin word " excelsior " was the odd inscription upon a flag, which over an icy, stony way was borne by a young man as he passed through an Alpine town, in the deepening evening twilight. It is not to be supposed that a class will read- ily supply appropriate connections to thread to- gether the parts of this or other statements. To 86 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. know that it can be done is a valuable point in language training ; to do it with aid is useful. The force of connecting words is kept in mind, as a review of the letters of Book II, and whatever there is in a class of aptitude for ex- pression is brought into healthful play. There is no better exercise in the whole field of lan- guage study, and the teacher will soon come to enjoy it no less than her class. STUDIES. 1 The birds 2 fared ill, 3 both small and great ; 4 They found B hardly 6 a friend 7 in all that crowd. It is not advisable to try to change " birds." " Fared ill " points to a sad, bad, unhappy, dis- astrous, or miserable condition. " Both small and great " covers the entire tribe. " They found " may be replaced by " There appeared to be," and u scarcely " will serve for " hardly." " A friend " in such a case is an advocate, a protector, a well-wisher, a sympathizer, or one who favors; and for "all that crowd" we may substitute " the entire company or gathering." Throwing aside the words and expressing the sentiment with no reference to them, is called recasting the thought, from an implied comparison with the process of casting metals. In this way a number of free translations may be made. The sympathy of the meeting was not in their favor. LITERATURE.— THE DAISY. 87 With scarcely an exception the entire race of birds was denounced. A higher meaning than Babylon could boast speaks from the meanest window-plant that is treasured in the homes of a crowded town. See page 31 for other examples of Equivalent Expression. Any book of Metrical Psalms and Hymns will further illustrate this kind of study. The Daisy. [Letters and Lessons, page 20.] BUKNS'S DAISY. Suppose the plowman had not been a poet, yet had lacked nothing of the gentle sympathy that inspired the verses. The thought would have taken a homelier form, such as the following : This is an evil hour for you, little flower. It is not in my power to spare you from being torn from the earth and crushed among the stubble. And, when the blow falls, it will not be the weight of your sweet neighbor, the lark, bending your stem as he mounts to hail the dawn. Patiently and cheerfully you have borne the cold bit- ing winds and storms of the north when first your slender form raised itself from the earth ; in modest content you have blossomed outside the shelter and protection of gar- den walls, and without praise or companionship you have spread your white mantle with its crimson tips to the sun in modest beauty ; but now the end has come, and you must perish before the plowshare, and lie low in the ground. 88 S TUDIES IN LANG FA GK An occasional paraphrase made for the class will encourage their labors in the same direction. It is unwise to require complete paraphrases from pupils. A line here or there, a stanza or two, that present no special difficulties, will fall to them, while the teacher's part will be to throw light upon an obscure passage, by a simpler, if more commonplace, rendering. Wordsworth's daisy. This second Daisy-study shows the different thoughts suggested by the same object. Quote also Montgomery's " There is a flower, a little flower, with silver crest and sparkling eye," and others, if you know them, that are less familiar. Both these poems are written in iam- bic verse. Repeat a line of each to show the equal length of lines, and call upon the pupils to study out the difference in the stanzas of the two. Make this lesson a review of metaphor and simile, as taught in Letters Fourteen and Fif- teen, Book II. The Yoice of the Grass. This may be passed with a single reading. Its meaning will be taken at sight, and the rhythm is too abrupt and irregular for a model. The beautiful tribute to the grass by Ruskin presents in most finished language an example of description. LITERATURE. 89 To the Dandelion— J. R. Lowell. The poems and studies of the preceding les- sons have come to us from across the ocean. The present lesson is from one of our leading American poets. The English daisy is a finer and more highly prized plant than our common field daisy, but the dandelion is our own plant. Make a word study by calling attention to the use of the following words and phrases : Compare "beside the way " with by the wayside. Explain the metaphor in " fringing with harmless gold,:' The choice of buccaneers as a name for the children rests upon their ruthless way of pulling dandelions, as if whatever they saw was a prize for their taking. What is meant by " God's value " ? Quote the lines that refer to heart-seeing. How is the bee pictured by a single word % Enumerate the memory-pictures brought to the poet's mind by the sight of the flower. What is meant by " peers " ? Compare the prodigality of Nature in the dandelion with that of the apple-tree in the " Dis- course of Flowers." The Bramble-flower. The subject of this poem is the wild raspberry. It belongs to the Rose family. The primrose, 90 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. hawthorn, and violet are spring flowers, the bramble comes later. What indicates that the poet has in mind a parallel between the seasons of the year and human life ? Describe the rhythm, the verse, and the stan- za form ? SECTION III. Conversation. — Proverbs. Literature. — The Almond Blossom. Daffodil. Willow. Palm Tree. Gentian and Ehodora. Invention. — Franklin in Public Life in Philadelphia. Proverbs. THEIR origin. Each proverb was the original saying of some person, and would have ended with him had it not seemed to others a clear way of expressing a general truth or principle. One after another people quoted it, and thus it came into general use. Example : A small spark may kindle a great fire ; or, A little leak will sink a ship. The occasion for using these proverbs is the wish to express the general truth that an appar- ently small circumstance may effect serious con- sequences. If the circumstance is an act, the first is the appropriate proverb ; if a waste, or neglect, the second is the better comparison. If the class do not readily respond to the 92 STUDIES IN LANGUAGE. questions upon the interpretation of proverbs, help them at first by giving the interpretation, and letting them identify with it the particular proverb that seems most appropriate. Examples: 1. Before entering upon an undertaking, consider whether your means are sufficient for complet- ing it. 2. If you will not yield to reason, you may be com- pelled by necessity. 3. Fit yourself for good service and you will not need to remain idle. 4. It is not a sign of skill to complain of your oppor- tunities and materials. 5. Perseverance will conquer great difficulties. 6. Watch against evil while you are working for good. 7. Time and effort are needful for success. " Poor Richard's Almanac," by Franklin, con- tains a large collection of practical proverbs re- lating to wisdom in every-day life. Quotations from it will be found in the books which pupils will read in preparation for writing a sketch of his life. The Study of Poems. [Letters and Lessons, pages 22-24.] " The Almond Blossom " and " The Willow " are written in trochaic verse, " The Palm Tree '' in iambics and anapests, and the remaining poems of this section in iambics. The length of lines in the different poems may be shown by counting and by scanning. LITER A TUEE.— POEMS. 93 1. One two, one two, one two, one, One two, one two, one two, one. 2. 0n;ie two, eauty. The Illustrations are fresh, graphic, and instructive works of art. The results of recent discoverv. including the last census, have been embodied, and the most trustworthy statistics and authorities have been consulted to insure correctness. Liberal terms made to schools for introduction and exchange. For prices and full information, address D. APPLETON & CO., New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco. "Excellent in conception. "Admirable in execution. 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