Part 2
Towards the close of their second day's journey the sky began to darken, and a violent storm of hail and rain completely penetrated the cloaths of our poor travellers. However, as they had been always accustomed to the inclemency of the weather they did not much mind it, and Cicely, who was an excellent mother, took care to prevent her boy from feeling any inconvenience. In this manner they proceeded for several miles, till at length a large stone in the winding of the road overturned the carriage and dashed all the outside passengers with violence to the ground. Poor Cicely was killed on the spot; John had his leg and three of his ribs broken, but little Robert escaped unhurt. This unfortunate family were carried to a neighbouring farm-house, a surgeon was sent for who set John's leg, but all attempts to recover Cicely were fruitless, a stronger and more powerful hand than that of the surgeon had for ever closed her eyes! The melancholy intelligence was for some hours concealed from her husband, but at length he enquired for his wife, and soon discovered in the mournful countenances of those around him that she was no more. This fatal news, together with the pain of his leg and side, so agitated his mind, that his fever increased to a very alarming degree; and the third day from that on which the accident happened, poor John Wortham lay a lifeless corpse by the side of his beloved Cicely.
The humane farmer into whose house they had been carried when the coach overset, ordered them to be decently buried. Little Robert attended at their funeral, but was quite unconscious of his loss, though he sadly cried for that nourishment he would never more receive from the breast of a mother.
When the undertaker's bill and other expences were paid, farmer Hodson found that no more than six guineas remained for the young orphan. The trunks and pockets of his parents were carefully searched, but no paper appeared that gave the least information either of the name or residence of the unfortunate pair. Hodson made every enquiry that seemed most likely to lead to a discovery of little Robert's remaining relations: he advertised the circumstance in several papers, but in vain, and he at length gave up the fruitless search. Though by no means in flourishing circumstances himself, yet he had not the heart to send the poor orphan to the parish, and as he had no children of his own, it was agreed, with his wife's consent, to bring him up as their adopted son. Dame Hodson took the greatest care of her little nursling, and she had the satisfaction of seeing his daily improvement in health and good humour.
As Robert grew in years, he discovered to his kind friends a heart framed for the reception of every noble and virtuous sentiment: by the time he attained his twelfth year he was their chief delight, and the affectionate supporter of their declining years. Time passed on, Hodson could not labour as he had done, and two bad years, joined to his infirmities, reduced the family to much distress. Now was the time for the farmer to reap the reward of his generous compassion to a forlorn infant. Robert, ever industrious, earned enough with his own hands to maintain his benefactors. Were they sick, Robert was their nurse--were they sad, Robert was their comforter--he read to them, cheered their drooping spirits, and smoothed the pillow of declining years.
It happened about this time, that a gentleman of the name of Goldworthy, bought a large estate in the county where farmer Hodson resided; he heard the story of young Robert, and felt greatly interested for the whole family. He visited them, and found the accounts that had been given him were strictly true, and from that time he resolved to be their friend. Mr. Goldworthy, though master of a large fortune, and consequently placed above the reach of many misfortunes to which the more indigent are exposed, yet possessed a heart always alive to the distresses of others.--He determined with Hodson's consent, to take charge of young Robert, and fit him for some respectable employment, where he might have a larger scope for the exercise of his virtues and more abundant means for gratifying his generous disposition. Hodson with gratitude accepted Mr. Goldworthy's proposal; but no temptation, however alluring to his youthful mind, could induce our hero to quit his old and earliest friends, till Mr. Goldworthy promised to remove them to a cottage adjoining his own house, where they should be furnished with every thing necessary to their support. Here they spent many happy years, and had the heartfelt satisfaction of seeing their beloved boy grow up a respectable and worthy member of society, a useful assistant to his benefactor, and a friend to the poor.
* * * * *
"Dear mamma," said Anne, "I am quite delighted with farmer Hodson and his wife: they deserved Mr. Goldworthy's kindness to them, and what a sweet little boy Robert must have been!"
_Mrs. Harley._ Yes, my dear, he was an excellent youth, and his good conduct met its reward in the affection of his friends. I wish you, my dear child, to be convinced, from this story, that there is no situation in life, however humble, which does not afford opportunities for exercising those duties recommended to us by our Saviour.--To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to comfort the afflicted, is, to a certain degree, in the power of us all. You may be in a situation that will enable you to dispense comfort to many; but in relieving strangers, never forget the duties you owe to your own family; be mild and submissive when they correct you, obedient to their wishes, attentive to their instructions, and endeavour by the affectionate gratitude of your conduct, to repay the many hours of anxious solicitude they must spend on your account.
Lift up your heart with gratitude to the great God who made you, and, when you reflect on the many blessings you enjoy, never, if you do meet with little disappointments, give way to discontent and murmurings. Remember, it is easy to be good humoured when every thing happens agreeably to our wishes: it is only by cheerfully submitting to the opposition of them that a really good temper is proved. We must now hasten to our other business, or we shall not have time to finish it before dinner.
_Anne._ I am quite ready to attend to you, dear mamma; Grammar, I think, is to be the subject of our lesson. What is the meaning of the word Grammar?
THIRD LESSON.
_Mrs. Harley._ The shortest definition I can give you of Grammar, is I believe, my dear, by saying, that it is the art of speaking and writing a language correctly. By parts of speech are meant the different kinds of words of which a language is composed: ours is the English language, and it contains _nine_ parts of speech, which are,
The Article, The Noun or Substantive, The Pronoun, The Adjective, The Verb, The Adverb, The Preposition, The Conjunction, The Interjection.
Do you think you can remember their names, Anne.
_Anne._ I will try do so, mamma.
_Mrs. Harley._ I will now give you a short explanation of them. An article is placed before a substantive to limit or determine its meaning; the articles are _a_, _an_, and _the_; _a_ or _an_ is called the _indefinite article_, because it does not point out any particular object: _the_ is called the _definite article_ because it determines what particular object is meant. Do you understand this explanation, my dear?
_Anne._ Perfectly mamma; _a_ man, _an_ orange, mean any man, or any orange; but _the_ man, _the_ orange, refer to some particular man or orange.
_Mrs. Harley._ Quite right, _a_ you perceive is used before a consonant and _an_ before a vowel.
A noun is the name of a _person_, _place_, or _thing_. Nouns are divided into _proper_ and _common_; _proper nouns_ are the names of particular persons, places, or things, common nouns are the names that belong to all persons, places or things of the same kind. Give me some examples.
_Anne._ Anne, Clapham, Limetree, are proper nouns; girl, village, tree, are common nouns.
_Mrs. Harley._ _Gender_ is the distinction of sex; there are three genders, the _masculine_ which denotes the male kind as, a man: the _feminine_ which denotes the female kind as, a woman: and the _neuter_ which denotes things without animated life as, a cabbage.
_Number_ is the distinction of one from many: there are two numbers, the _singular_ which speaks of one; and the _plural_ which speaks of more than one. Tell me some nouns with their genders and numbers.
_Anne._ I know that mamma is a noun of the feminine gender and singular number; men is a noun masculine and plural; table is neuter and singular.
_Mrs. Harley._ Very well. A _Pronoun_ is used to avoid repeating the noun as, Frederic was good, and _he_ went out. There are four kinds of pronouns. _Personal pronouns_, as, _I_, _me_; _thou_, _thee_; _he_, _him_; _she_, _her_; _it_: _we_, _us_; _you_; _they_, _them_. _Possessive pronouns_ which denote property, as, _my_, _mine_; _thy_, _thine_; _his_; _her_, _hers_; _its_: _our_, _ours_; _your_, _yours_; _their_, _theirs_; _whose_, _ones_, and _anothers_. _Relative pronouns_ which refer to a noun going before or coming after them; they are, _who_, _whom_, _which_, _what_, and _whether_. _Demonstrative pronouns_ point out some particular object; they are, _this_, _these_; _that_, and _those_.
_Anne._ I don't think I can remember all these words without reading them over a great many times, but I quite understand the use of the pronoun, for it would be very awkward to say, Mary played, Mary laughed, and Mary danced; I ought to say, Mary played, she laughed, and she danced.
_Mrs. Harley._ I am pleased with your attention. The _adjective_ explains the _quality_, _colour_, _form_, _size_, or any other property of the noun, as, good, blue, square, large. The signification of adjectives may be increased or diminished, and this is called _comparison_; there are two degrees of comparison, the comparative, which increases or diminishes the quality, is formed by adding _er_ to the adjective in its positive state; the superlative increases or diminishes the comparative to its last degree, and is formed by adding _est_ to the adjective in its positive or original state, as long, longer, longest; short, shorter, shortest. When the adjective consists of more than two syllables, the comparative and superlative are formed by prefixing the words more and most to the adjective; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful. Some adjectives differ entirely from these rules in forming their comparison, as, good, better, best; bad, worse, worst. Now, some examples.
_Anne._ Fine is an adjective because it is a quality, black because it is a colour, coarse is an adjective in its positive state, brighter is the comparative degree, and youngest is the superlative.
_Mrs. Harley._ A _verb_ is a word which signifies _to be_, _to do_, or _to suffer_. Verbs are divided into _neuter_, _active_, and _passive_. Neuter verbs merely signify being, or that kind of action which has no effect upon any thing beyond the performer, as, _I am_, _I sit_, _I walk_. (You may distinguish those neuter verbs that seem to imply action from active verbs by their making a complete sense by themselves, whereas active verbs always require a noun or pronoun after them to finish the sense.)
_Active verbs_, denote action as, I eat, I love, I work. _Passive verbs_, denote suffering, they are only the _participle passive_ of an active verb with a tense of the neuter verb _to be_ before it; as, _I am loved_, _you are dressed_.
Any word is a verb before which you can place a _noun_, a _pronoun_, or the word _to_, as _Mary talks_, _he works_, _to be_. The different times when actions are performed are called _tenses_, there are properly only three, the present, as _I am_, the past as _I was_, and the future as _I shall be_; but these are subdivided into others; and there are a great many other things relating to verbs, which you shall learn when you are a little older.
_Anne._ Thank you, mamma, I believe I understand all that you have told me about verbs, except the meaning of _participle passive_.
_Mrs. Harley._ A _participle passive_, my dear, is that part of a verb which follows a tense of either of the verbs _to have_, or _to be_. Some people consider it a distinct part of speech.
_Adverbs_ denote _time_, _place_, _manner_, and _quantity_; therefore you may always know them by recollecting their meaning: _to-day_, _there_, _prettily_, _much_, are adverbs.
Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and to shew the relation between them. They require some word after them to complete the sense; as, come _to_ me, _up_, _down_, _to_, _from_, _for_, are prepositions.
Conjunctions join words and sentences together, as you _and_ I are going, _but_ she stays at home.
Interjections express some emotion of the mind as, Alas! Oh! Ah!
I am afraid, my dear, you are quite tired of this long lesson, but I don't expect you to remember all I have told you; we will talk over a _very_ small portion of it every day, and then in time you will be able to tell me what part of speech any word is that I may ask you.--I will give you a little example to shew you what I mean and then you shall run away.
The rose in your nosegay was very beautiful a little while ago; but alas! it is now quite dead!
_The_, an article definite--_rose_, a substantive, neuter gender, singular number--_in_, a preposition--_your_, a possessive pronoun--_nosegay_, a substantive--_was_, a verb neuter past tense--_very_, an adverb--_beautiful_, an adjective--_a_, an article indefinite--_little_, an adjective--_while_, a substantive--_ago_, an adverb--_but_, a conjunction--_alas!_, an interjection--_it_, a personal pronoun neuter gender--_is_, a verb--_now_, an adverb--_quite_, an adverb,--_dead_, a verb, participle passive.
* * * * *
Children might soon understand that a case in grammar signifies the different terminations of nouns and pronouns. A noun has two cases, the nominative which simply names the object: it generally precedes the verb, and answers to the questions who? which? what? The genitive denotes possession and is formed by adding an apostrophe, and the letter _s_ to the nominative; it answers to the question whose? When the plural nominative ends in _s_ the apostrophe only is added: ex. _Anne_ plays. Who? Anne.--_Mary's_ gown. Whose? _Mary's._--_Birds'_ feathers. Whose? _Birds'._
A personal pronoun has two cases the _nominative_ and the _objective_. The nominative precedes the verb, and requires it to be of the same person and number as itself; it answers to the questions, who? which? what? The objective follows the verb, and answers to the question whom? ex. _I_ dance, who? _I._--We love _her_, whom? _her._
SINGULAR. PLURAL.
_Nom._ _Objec._ _Nom._ _Objec._ I Me We Us Thou Thee You You He Him They Them She Her It It
The accusative case of the relative pronoun _who_ is _whom_.
_CHAPTER IV_
SUNDAY.
_Mrs. Harley._ Come hither, my love: you know that to-day is called _Sunday_, and is set apart for the observance of _religious_ duties.
You have read in the Bible that God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that therein is, in the space of six days, that he rested on the seventh, and called that day holy, ordering his people so to observe it, and to abstain from every kind of labour throughout its duration. Therefore, the Jews, to whom this commandment was originally given, keep their sabbath on Saturday, the last day in the week; but Christians, who have been taught the blessed religion of Jesus, begin the week with praising God. No command for changing the day of worship seems ever to have been given, either by our Saviour or the apostles; but we know that it was the custom of the earliest Christians, even during our Lord's time, to meet together on the first day of the week for the purpose of holding religious assemblies; and all nations which have embraced the religion of the New Testament have adhered to this practice.
_Anne._ Thank you, mamma. Will you now perform your promise of giving me a new morning and evening prayer?
_Mrs. Harley._ In the evening I will, my dear; but at present, I wish to give you a short account of the contents of the books contained in the sacred volumes. As yet you have only read detached parts of them, and before you proceed to a more general perusal, it may be useful to have some distinct idea of the whole. The account I shall give you I have chiefly extracted from Dr. Prettyman's Elements of Christian Theology.
All the books of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew, excepting a few passages towards the conclusion of the volume, which appear in the Chaldee tongue. The English translation used in all our churches was begun and completed in the reign of James the first.
The five first books of the Bible are, Genesis, which begins with an account of the creation of the world, and ends with the death of Joseph.
Exodus, which relates the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt; their bondage in that country, deliverance by Moses, and the promulgation of the law.
Leviticus, which describes the offices and duties of the Levites and priests.
Numbers, which contains an account of the numbering of the people in the wilderness when a very miraculous increase was found to have taken place since the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt.
Deuteronomy, which contains a repetition of the civil and moral law, and ends with the death of Moses. These five books are called the Pentateuch, and were written by Moses. They contain the history of 2552 years and a half.
Joshua, contains an account of the conquest and division of Canaan among the twelve tribes, and ends with the death of Joshua. This book is supposed to have been written by himself, excepting the last few verses, which were added by one of his successors.
Judges gives an account of the Jewish history from the death of Moses to that of Sampson. It was most probably written by Samuel.
Ruth contains the history of the person of that name, a native of Moab: she married Boaz an Israelite, and was the great grandmother of David. This book is generally ascribed to Samuel. The first book of Samuel completes the government of the Judges, and relates the appointment of Saul to be king of Israel, the rejection of his family, and the anointing of David.
The second book of Samuel continues the history of David after the death of Saul. Most probably, Samuel wrote the first 24 chapters of the first book, and the prophets Gad and Nathan the remainder of it, and all the second.
The first book of Kings commences with an account of the death of David, and continues to that of Jehosaphat.
The second book of Kings continues the history of the kings of Judah and Israel to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. These books were probably compiled by Ezra, from the records which were kept both at Jerusalem and Samaria of all public transactions.
The two books of Chronicles contain a great many genealogical tables, and various circumstances omitted in the other historical books of Scripture.
Ezra, continues the Jewish history from the edict of Cyrus (which permitted the Jews to return to their own land, and rebuild their temple,) to the reform effected among them, by Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra wrote part of this book in Chaldee.
Nehemiah gives an account of his own appointment to the government of Judea, and his administration to the year of the world 3595, at which period the scripture history closes.
Esther, contains the history of a Jewish captive of that name, who by her good qualities gained the affections of Ahasuerus, and was by him raised to the throne of Persia. It is supposed that by Ahasuerus is meant Artaxerxes Longimanus. There is great diversity of opinion concerning the author of this book; it has been ascribed to Ezra, to Mordecai, and to the joint labours of the great synagogue.
Job, contains the history of a man remarkable for his piety and patience, under severe afflictions. The author of this book is very uncertain. Some ascribe it to Moses, others to Job himself.
The Psalms, are a collection of hymns in praise of God, written by different persons, but as the greater part of them was composed by David, they are generally called the Psalms of David.
The Proverbs, are a collection of short sentences, written by Solomon, in which much excellent advice is contained.
Ecclesiastes, is supposed to have been written by Solomon, after he repented of the idolatry and sin into which he fell, towards the close of his life, and with the design to point out the vanity of worldly pursuits, in order to induce men to prepare for that state, where there will be no vanity nor vexation of spirit.
The Song of Solomon, is a pastoral dialogue, supposed to have been written by him, upon his marriage with the daughter of Pharoah.
It is universally allowed that the 16 Prophetical Books, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which describe the desolation of Judah, during the Babylonian captivity, and prophecy the still greater misfortunes to be suffered at a future time, were written by the persons whose names they bear.
The four great prophets were, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.--The twelve minor prophets were, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The books of the New Testament were all originally written in Greek; except St. Matthew's Gospel, and St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, which many commentators suppose to have been originally composed in Hebrew, and then immediately translated into Greek; but opinions in this respect are much divided.
The Four Gospels, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, give an account of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Saviour.
The Acts of the Apostles written by Luke, gives an historical account of the progress of Christianity after our Saviour's ascension. The latter part of the book is confined to the history of Saint Paul, of whom St. Luke was the constant companion for many years.