Part 2

6. The teacher then asks him to read it over six times more; and the little boy finds that, before he has read it to his teacher so often as the six times more, he can say it without his book before him.

7. In this way, that little boy will find, that it is not, after all, so hard work to get what he calls a hard lesson; because all that he has to do, is to read a small portion of the lesson at a time, and to repeat the reading of that small portion until he can repeat it without the book.

8. When he has done this, he can take another small portion of the lesson, and do the same with that, until, by degrees, he has learnt the whole lesson; and then he will feel happy, because he knows that his teacher, and his parents, will be pleased with him.

9. But some pupils say to themselves, when they have a lesson to learn, I do not want to study this lesson now; I will study it by and by, or to-morrow morning.

10. But, by and by, and when to-morrow comes, they feel no more disposed to study their lesson than they did when the lesson was first given to them.

11. Now, my little friend, if you wish your time at school to pass pleasantly, do not say to yourself, I will get my lesson by and by, or to-morrow, but set yourself about it immediately, learn it as quickly as you can, and I will assure you will not only make your teachers and your parents happier, but you will be much happier yourself.

LESSON VI.

_The Author to the Pupil._

1. In the first lesson, I told you that I would show you how to understand what is in this book; and how you may, with very little assistance from your teacher, be able to read all the hard words that you find in any book.

2. Many little boys and girls are very fond of running out of their places in school, and going up to their teachers with a great many unnecessary questions. This always troubles the teacher, and prevents his going through with all his business in time to dismiss you at the usual hour.

3. Whenever you meet with any real difficulty, that you cannot overcome yourself without his assistance, you should watch for an opportunity when he is at leisure, and endeavor to attract his attention quietly, and without noise and bustle, so that your fellow-pupils may not be disturbed, and then respectfully and modestly ask him to assist you.

4. But if you are noisy and troublesome, and run up to him frequently with questions that, with a little thought, you could easily answer yourself, he will not be pleased with you, but will think that you wish to make trouble; and, perhaps, will appear unkind to you.

5. I will now endeavor to show you how you may understand what is in your book, so that you will have no need to be troublesome to your teacher.

6. In the first place, then, always endeavor to understand every line that you read; try to find out what it means, and, if there is any word that you have never seen or heard of before, look out the word in a dictionary, and see what the meaning of the word is; and then read the line over again, and see whether you can tell what the whole line means, when you have found out the meaning of the strange word.

7. Now, as you can understand everything best when you have an example, I will give you one, as follows. In the tenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, at the first verse, there are these words:

1. "There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

2. "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, and gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always."

8. I suppose you know what most of the words in these verses mean, except the word _centurion_ in the first verse, and the word _alms_ in the second.

9. Now, if you look for the word _centurion_ in the dictionary, it will tell you that _centurion_ means a military officer, who commanded a hundred men. Thus you find that Cornelius was a soldier; and not only that he was a soldier, but that he was an officer, that commanded soldiers.

10. Again, if you look for the word _alms_ in your dictionary, you will find that it means money given to the poor; and thus you find that Cornelius was a very good man, and not only prayed to God, but also gave much money to assist the poor.

11. You see, then, how useful a book a dictionary is at school, and how important it is that you should have one. If your parents cannot give you a very good one, any one is better than none.

12. But if you have no dictionary, or if you cannot find the word you wish to find in the dictionary, you must then wait for a convenient time to ask your teacher, and he will always be pleased to find that you are trying to understand the words in your lesson.

13. If you have a dictionary, and do not know how to find out the words in it, ask your teacher to show you; and when he has showed you how to use it, be sure never to pass over a single word without knowing what it means.

LESSON VII.

_How to find out the Meaning of Words._--ORIGINAL.

1. Many years ago, when I lived in a small town, near the Merrimac river, a little Spanish girl came to board in the same house.

2. She could speak very well in her own language; but the people in her country speak a language very different from ours: and when she first began to speak, she heard nothing but Spanish words; and she learned no other.

3. She could not speak a word of English, and did not understand a word that was spoken to her by any of the family.

4. Her parents were very rich, but they placed her in the family, that she might learn to speak English.

5. She had no dictionary to turn to, to look out the meaning of words; and if she was hungry, she could not ask for bread, and if she was thirsty, she could not ask for water, nor milk, nor tea, for she did not know the meaning of either of the words, _water_, _tea_, nor _milk_.

6. Perhaps you would be puzzled to tell how she could learn to speak English, if she had no one to teach her, and had no dictionary to inform her about the words.

7. But it was not many days before she could say "_bread_," if she was hungry, and "_water_," if she wanted to drink; and I was very much surprised to find how soon it was, at the dinner-table, she could ask for meat, or potato, or pudding; and, at tea-time, for tea, or milk, or sugar, or butter, or bread.

8. I have no doubt that you would like to know how this little Spanish girl learned to speak all of these words. I do not intend to tell you quite yet, but I think you will find out yourself, if you will read the next lesson.

LESSON VIII.

_The same subject, continued._

1. About twenty years ago, I was very ill, and, for a long time, my friends thought I never should recover.

2. By the very attentive care of my physician, and by the devoted attention of my wife, I unexpectedly grew better; and the doctor said that I must take a voyage for the recovery of my health.

3. A kind friend, who was going to the West Indies, in a vessel of his own, very generously offered to take me with him, and I gratefully accepted the offer.

4. We sailed from Boston early one morning, and were soon out of sight of the land. I was quite ill during the voyage; but fortunately the voyage was a short one, and we reached the place of our destination on the fourteenth day after we sailed.

5. The island, where we landed, was a beautiful spot; and lemons, oranges, pine-apples, and many other delicious fruits, were growing out in the open air.

6. The people who lived on this island did not speak the English language; and the family with whom I was to reside could speak only in French.

7. I observed, at dinner-time, that some of the persons at the table held out their tumblers to the servant, and said something which sounded to me like _O_.

8. I often heard this word; and every time it was spoken, _water_ was brought, or poured out, or something was done with _water_.

9. I then made up my mind that this word that I thought was O meant water; and I found out afterwards that I was right, except that I did not spell it right.

10. This I discovered by means of the Bible, from which the family used to read.

11. It was a very large one, with very large letters; and as I was very fond of hearing them read, and of looking over the book while some one was reading aloud, I noticed that whenever the reader came to the letters e, a, u, he called them O; and thus I found out that water, in their language, was called O, but was spelt e, a, u.

12. In the same manner, I found out the words, or names, which they gave to bread, and sugar, and butter, and meat, and figs, and oranges, and lemons, and pine-apples.

13. And now, perhaps, you may be able to find out how the little Spanish girl, mentioned in the last lesson, learned the meaning of English words that she had never heard until she came to live in the family where nothing but English was spoken.

14. She was obliged to listen, when any one spoke, and watch to see what was wanted; and in the same manner in which I found out the meaning of O, and what to call bread, and sugar, and butter, and meat, and figs, and oranges, and other fruits, she learned to call things by their English names.

15. But, in order to do this, she was obliged to listen very attentively, to try to remember every new name that she learned; and, by so doing, in less than a year she could talk almost as plainly as any one in the house.

16. It was very easy for her to learn the names of things, because she heard them spoken very often. Such words as _chair_, _table_, _water_, _sugar_, _cake_, _potato_, _pudding_, and other words which are the names of things she could see, she learned very quickly.

17. But such words as _come_ and _go_, or _run_ and _walk_, and the little words _to_ and _from_, and _over_ and _under_, or such words as _quickly_ and _slowly_, and many other words of the same kind, she could not learn so easily.

18. In the next lesson perhaps you will find out how she learned the meaning of these words.

LESSON IX.

_The same subject, continued._

1. There was a small family living very near to your residence, my young friends who are reading this lesson, consisting of the father, the mother, and four young children.

2. The oldest was a boy of twelve years old, the next was a little girl of about eight, the third was another pretty little girl of six, and the youngest was an infant boy, only nine months old.

3. As you may well suppose, the baby, as he was called, was the delight, not only of the father and the mother, but also of his elder brother and his two sisters.

4. The oldest brother had a dog whose name was Guido,--an Italian name, which is pronounced as if it were spelt Gwe´do.

5. The dog had learned to love the dear little baby as much as the rest of the family; and very often, when he was lying on the floor, the baby would pull his tail, or his ears, or put his little hand into the creature's mouth, and Guido would play as gently with him as if he knew that the baby was a very tender little thing, and could not bear any rough treatment.

6. Nothing pleased the whole family, and Guido among the rest, so much, as to hear the baby try to say _papa_, and _mamma_, and _bub_, and _sis_; for he could not say _brother_, nor _sister_, nor pronounce any other words plainly.

7. The youngest sister was very fond of making him say these words; and every time the little creature repeated them to her, she would throw her arms around his little neck, and hug and kiss him with all the affectionate love her little heart could express.

8. She often used to dress her little doll as prettily as she knew how; tying its frock on one day with a pretty blue ribbon, and on another with a red one; for she had noticed, that whenever the doll was newly dressed, the dear little baby would look very steadily at it, and hold out its little arms towards it; and then she would carry it to her little brother, and say to him, "Dolly,--pretty dolly,--bub want to see dolly?"

9. One day she had dressed her doll in a very bright new dress, with very gay ribbons, and was carrying it towards her father to show it to him, when suddenly she heard the baby cry out, "Dolly!"

10. She immediately ran with delight to her little brother, holding up the doll in its new shining dress, and repeated her usual words, "Dolly,--bub want dolly?"

11. The baby, delighted, looked up in its mother's face, and laughed, and crowed, and giggled, and in its delight again repeated the word "Dolly!"

12. Pleased with her success, the little sister was unwearied in her efforts to make her little brother repeat other words; and day by day she was gratified to find the list of words which he lisped was growing in length.

13. By the unwearied endeavors of father, mother, brother and sisters, this pretty little baby, by the time that it was three years old, could speak plainly anything that was repeated to him, and had learned the names of almost everything that he saw about the house, the yard, and the street.

14. But it was observed that Guido, the dog, although he could not speak a word, had also learned the names of many things; and when George, the oldest son, told him to go and bring his ball to him, Guido would wag his tail, and go up into George's chamber, and look about the room until he had found the ball; and then he would run down the stairs, and dropping the ball at his young master's feet, look up in his face, expecting that George would throw it down for him to catch again.

15. The baby, however, learnt words and names much faster than Guido; for although Guido knew as much as any dog knows, yet dogs are different creatures from children, and cannot learn so much nor so fast as children can, because it has not pleased God to give them the same powers.

16. Now, perhaps you may wish to know who this interesting family were of whom I have been speaking; and you will probably be surprised to learn, that all I have told you about this little baby is true of every little baby, and that the manner that every infant is taught to speak is the same.

17. It is the same manner as that in which the little Spanish girl, mentioned in the seventh lesson, was taught to speak the English language.

LESSON X.

_Words._--ORIGINAL.

1. I told you, in the last lesson, how an infant child first learned to speak, when it was taught by its father and mother, and brother and sisters.

2. I intend to show you, in this lesson, how the little child learned the meaning of a great many words himself, without the assistance of any one else.

3. He was very fond of Guido, the dog, and watched everything he did, especially when his brother George was playing with him.

4. When George called Guido, and said to the dog, "_Come here_, Guido," the little boy could not help noticing that Guido _went to_ George.

5. When George's father or mother called George, and said, "Come here, George," the little child saw that George _went to_ his father, or his mother.

6. Now, nobody told the little child what George, or his father, or his mother, meant by the word _come_; but he always saw, that when any one said to another, "_Come_," that the one who was spoken to always _moved towards_ the person who called him, and in this way the little child found out what his father or his mother meant by the word _come_.

7. It was in this way, my young friend who are reading this lesson, that you, yourself, learned the meaning of most of the words that you know.

8. When you were a little child, like the infant of whom I have been speaking, you knew no more about words, or about speaking, than he did.

9. But, by hearing others speak and use words, you learned to use them yourself; and there is no word ever used, either in books or anywhere else, that you cannot find out its meaning, provided that you hear it used frequently, and by different persons.

10. I will now give you an example, to show you what I mean. I will give you a word that you probably never heard of before; and although I shall not tell you what the word means, I think you will find it out yourself, before you have read many more lines of this lesson.

11. The word _hippoi_ is the word that I shall choose, because I know that you do not know the meaning of it; but I wish you to read the following sentences in which the word is used, and I think that you will find out what _hippoi_ means, before you have read them all.

12. In California, and in Mexico, and in most parts of South America, there are many wild _hippoi_, which feed on the grass that grows wild there.

13. The Indians hunt the _hippoi_; and when they catch them, they tame them, and put bridles on their heads, and bits in their mouths, and saddles on their backs, and ride on them.

14. A carriage, with four white _hippoi_, has just passed by the window, and one of the _hippoi_ has dropped his shoe. The coachman must take him to the blacksmith, to have the shoe put on.

15. The noise which _hippoi_ make is a very strange noise, and when they make it they are said to neigh (_pronounced na_).

16. The hoofs of cows and goats and sheep and deer are cloven; that is, they are split into two parts; but the hoofs of _hippoi_ are not split or cloven, and for that reason they are called whole-hoofed animals.

17. My father has in his barn four _hippoi_. One of them is red, and has a short tail; another is white, with a few dark hairs in his mane, or long hair on the top of his neck; the third is gray, with dark spots on his body; and the fourth is perfectly black, and has a very long tail, which reaches almost to the ground.

18. Now, from these sentences, I think you will see that _hippoi_ does not mean cows, or goats, or sheep, or deer; and I do not think it necessary to tell you anything more about it, except that it is a word that was spoken by the Corinthians and the Colossians and the Ephesians, the people to whom St. Paul addressed those epistles or letters in the Bible called by their names.

19. When you have read this lesson, your teacher will probably ask you what the word _hippoi_ means; and I hope you will be able to tell him that _hippoi_ means----[here put in the English word for _hippoi_.]

LESSON XI.

_Definitions._

1. In the last lesson, I gave you a word which you had not seen before, to find out the meaning of it, without looking in a dictionary.

2. I told you, in a former lesson, how the little Spanish girl found out the meaning of words which she did not know; and afterwards informed you how the infant child was taught to speak.

3. Now, I doubt not that you can speak a great many words, and know what they mean when you use them; but I do not think that you ever thought much about the way in which you learned them.

4. Perhaps you will be surprised to hear that everybody learns to talk and to use words in the same way that the little Spanish girl and the little infant learned them; that is, by hearing others use them in different ways, just as the word _hippoi_ was used in the last lesson.

5. Nobody ever told you, probably, the meaning of a great many words that you know; and yet you know them full as well, and perhaps better, than if any one had told you about them.

6. Perhaps you have a brother whose name is John, or George, or James, or a sister whose name is Mary, or Jane, or Ann, or Lucy. You have always heard them called by these names, ever since you, or they, were quite young; and have noticed that when John was called, that the one whose name is John would answer; and as each one answered when spoken to, you learnt which was John, and which was Mary, and which was Lucy.

7. So also, when a certain animal, having two large horns and a long tail, and which is milked every night and morning, passed by, you heard some one say _cow_; and in this way you learned what the word _cow_ means.

8. So also, when water falls from the sky in drops, little children hear people say it rains; and thus they find out what _rain_, means.

9. Now, when anybody asks you what any word means, although you know it very well, yet it is a very hard thing to tell what it means,--that is, to give a definition of it,--as you will see by the little story I am about to tell you.

10. A teacher, who was very anxious to make his scholars understand their lessons, once told them he had a very hard question he wished to ask them, and that he would let the one who answered the question best take the head of the class.

11. This teacher never allowed any of his pupils to speak to him without first raising his right hand above his head, to signify that the child had something to say; and when any child raised his hand in this way, if he was not busy, he called upon the child to say what he wished.

12. In this way he prevented the children from troubling him when he was busy; and in this way he also prevented them from interrupting each other, as would be the case if several of them should speak at once.

13. On the day of which I am about to speak, he said to them, Now, children, I have a very hard question to ask you, that does not require you to study, but only to think about it, in order to answer it well; and the one who gives me the best answer shall go to the head of the class. The question is this: _What is a bird?_

14. Before they heard the question, they looked very sober, and thought their master intended to puzzle them, or to give them a long sentence to commit to memory. But as soon as they heard the question, they began to smile among themselves, and wonder how their teacher should call that a hard question.

15. A dozen hands were immediately raised, to signify that so many of the children were ready to answer it.

16. Well, John, said the teacher, your hand is up; can you tell me _what a bird is_?

17. John immediately rose, and standing on the right-hand side of his seat, said, A bird is a thing that has two legs.

18. Well, said the teacher, suppose some one should saw off two of the legs of my chair; it would then be a thing that has two legs; but it would not be a bird, would it? You see, then, that your answer is not correct.

19. I will not mention the names of the other children who raised their hands; but I will tell you what the answers were which some of them made to the questions, and what the teacher said about each of their answers.

20. One of the children said that a bird is an _animal_ with two legs. But, said the teacher, all little boys and girls, and all men and women, are animals with two legs; but they are not birds.

21. Another child said that a bird is an animal that has wings. But the teacher said there are some fishes that have wings, and that fishes are not birds.

22. A bright little girl then modestly rose and said, A bird is an animal that has legs and wings, and that flies. The teacher smiled upon her very kindly, and told her that it is true that a bird has legs and wings, and that it flies; but, said he, there is another animal, also, that has legs and wings, and that flies very fast in the air. It is called a _bat_. It flies only in the night; but it has no feathers, and therefore is not a bird.

23. Upon hearing this, another bright-eyed child very timidly rose and said, A bird is an animal that has legs, wings and feathers. Very well, said the teacher; but can you not think of anything else that a bird has, which other creatures have not?

24. The children looked at one another, wondering what their teacher could mean; and no one could think what to say, until the teacher said to them, Think a moment, and try to tell me how a bird's mouth looks. Look first at my mouth. You see I have two lips, and these two lips form my mouth. Now, tell me whether a bird has two lips; and if he has not, what he has instead of lips.