Part 3

25. One of the children immediately arose and said, that a bird has no lips, but he has a bill; and that bill opens as the lips of a man do, and forms the mouth of the bird.

26. Yes, said the teacher; and now listen to me while I tell you the things you should always mention, when you are asked what a bird is,--

First, A bird is an animal. Secondly, It has two legs. Thirdly, It has two wings. Fourthly, It has feathers. Fifthly, It has a hard, glossy bill.

27. And now, said the teacher, you see that I was right when I told you that I had a hard question to ask you, when I asked What is a bird?

28. Now, if you will join all of these things which belong to a bird in the description which you give in answer to my question, What is a bird, you will then give a correct definition of a bird,--that is, you will tell exactly what a bird is, and no more, and no less.

29. A bird is an animal covered with feathers, having two legs, two wings, and a hard, glossy bill.

30. When you are asked what anything is, recollect what I have told you about a bird, and try to recall everything that you ever knew about the thing, and in this way you will be able to give a satisfactory answer.

31. This will also teach you to think, and that is one of the most important objects for which you go to school. It will enable you also to understand what you read; and you can always read those things best which you understand well.

LESSON XII.

_Reading and Spelling._

1. Another important thing for which you go to school is to learn how to spell. It is not always very easy to spell, because there are so many different ways in which the same letters are pronounced in different words.

2. That you may understand what I mean, I shall give an example, to show you how many different ways the same letters are pronounced in different words; and also another example, to show you how many different ways there are of spelling the same syllable.

3. To show you, first, in how many different ways the same letters are pronounced in different words, I shall take the letters o, u, g, h.

4. The letters _o, u, g, h_, are sounded or pronounced like the letter _o_ alone, in the word _though_. The letters _o, u, g, h_, are pronounced like _uf_, in the word _tough_.

5. In the word _cough_, the letters _o, u, g, h_, are pronounced like _off_. In the words _slough_ and _plough_, the letters _o, u, g, h_, are pronounced like _ow_; and in the word _through_, they are pronounced like _ew_, or like _u_.

6. In the word _hiccough_ the letters _ough_ are pronounced like _up_--and in the word _lough_, the letters are pronounced like _lok_.

7. There are many words which end with a sound like _shun_; and this syllable is spelled in many different ways, as you will see in the following example.

8. In the words _ocean_, _motion_, _mansion_, _physician_, _halcyon_, _Parnassian_, _Christian_, and many other such words, the last syllable is pronounced as if it were spelled _shun_.

9. You see, then, that in some words a syllable sounding very much like _shun_ is spelled

_cean_, as in ocean; in some it is spelled _tion_, as in nation; in some it is spelled _sion_, as in mansion; in some it is spelled _cian_, as in physician; in some it is spelled _cyon_, as in halcyon; in some it is spelled _sian_, as in Parnassian.

10. It is such things as these which make both reading and spelling very hard lessons for young children. If they think of them all at once, as the pendulum did of the eighty-six thousand times that it had to swing in twenty-four hours, it is no wonder if they feel discouraged, and say, I can't get these hard lessons.

11. But you must recollect that, as the pendulum, every time it had to swing, had a moment given it to swing in, so you also have a moment given you to learn everything in; and if you get a little at a time, you will, in the end, finish it all, if it be ever so large.

12. You have seen the workman engaged in building a brick house. He takes one brick at a time, and lays it on the mortar, smoothing the mortar with his trowel; and then he takes another brick, and another, until he has made a long row for the side of the house.

13. He then takes another brick, and lays that on the first row; and continues laying brick after brick, until the house gradually rises to its proper height.

14. Now, if the workman had said that he could never lay so many bricks, the house would never have been built; but he knew that, although he could lay but one brick at a time, yet, by continuing to lay them, one by one, the house would at last be finished.

15. There are some children, who live as much as a mile, or a half of a mile, from the school-house. If these children were told that they must step forward with first one foot and then the other, and must take three or four thousand steps, before they could reach the school-house, they would probably be very much discouraged, every morning, before they set out, and would say to their mothers, Mother, I can't go to school,--it is so far; I must put out one foot, and drag the other after it, three thousand times, before I can get there.

16. You see, then, that although it may appear to be a very hard thing to learn to read and to spell so many words as there are in large books, yet you are required to learn but a few of them at a time; and if there were twice as many as there are, you will learn them all, in time.

17. I shall tell you a story, in the next lesson, to show you how important it is to know how to spell.

LESSON XIII.

_Importance of Learning to Spell._--ORIGINAL VERSION.

1. A rich man, whose education had been neglected in early life, and who was, of course, very ignorant of many things which even little boys and girls among us now-a-days know very well, lived in a large house, with very handsome furniture in it.

2. He kept a carriage, and many servants, some of whom were very much better educated than he was himself.

3. This rich man had been invited out many times to dine with his neighbors; and he observed that at the dinners to which he was invited there were turkeys, and ducks, and chickens, as well as partridges, and quails, and woodcocks, together with salmon, and trout, and pickerel,--with roasted beef, and lamb, and mutton, and pork.

4. But he noticed that every one seemed to be more fond of chickens than anything else, but that they also ate of the ducks and the turkeys.

5. He, one day, determined to invite his friends to dine with him, in return for their civilities in inviting him; and he made up his mind to have an abundance of those things, in particular, of which he had observed his friends to be most fond.

6. He accordingly sent his servant to market, to buy his dinner; and, for fear the servant should make any mistake, he wrote his directions on paper, and, giving the paper, with some money, to the servant, he sent him to the market.

7. The servant took the paper and the money, and set off. Just before he reached the market, he opened the paper, to see what his master had written.

8. But his master wrote so very badly, it took him a long time to find out what was written on the paper; but, at last, he contrived to make it out, as follows:

9. "Dukes would be preferred to Turks; but Chittens would be better than either."

10. What his master meant by dukes, and turks, and chittens, he could not guess. No such things were for sale at the market, and he did not dare to return home without buying something.

11. As he could find nothing like dukes nor turks, he happened to see a poor woman carrying home a basket full of kittens. This was the most like _chittens_ of anything he could find; and not being able to get what his master had written for, he thought his master meant kittens. He therefore bought the basket of kittens, and carried them home for his master's dinner.

LESSON XIV.

_Demos'thenes._--ORIGINAL.

1. There lived, a great many years ago, in Athens, one of the most renowned cities of Greece, a very celebrated orator, whose name was Demos'thenes.

2. But you will not understand what an _orator_ is, until you are told that it means a person who speaks before a large number of people, to persuade them what to do, or to give them information, or good advice.

3. Thus, when a minister or clergyman preaches a good sermon, and speaks in such a manner as to please all who hear him, convincing them of their duty, and persuading them to do it, he is called an orator.

4. Demos'thenes was not a clergyman, or minister, but he spoke before large assemblies of the Athenians, and they were very much delighted to hear him. Whenever it was known that he intended to speak in public, every one was anxious to hear him.

5. Now, I wish to show you how hard he worked, and what he did, to become a great orator.

6. In the first place, then, he had a very weak voice, and could not speak loud enough to be heard by a large assembly; and, besides this, he was very much troubled with shortness of breath. These were very great discouragements, and had he not labored very hard to overcome them, he never could have succeeded.

7. To cure his shortness of breath, he used to go up and down stairs very frequently, and run up steep and uneven places; and to strengthen his voice, he often went to the sea-shore, when the waves were very noisy and violent, and talked aloud to them, so that he could hear his own voice above the noise of the waters.

8. He could not speak the letter _r_ plainly, but pronounced it very much as you have heard some little boys and girls pronounce it, when they say a _wed wose_ for a _red rose_, or a _wipe cherwy_ instead of a _ripe cherry_.

9. Besides this, he stammered, or stuttered, very badly. To cure himself of these faults in speaking, he used to fill his mouth full of pebbles, and try to speak with them in his mouth.

10. He had a habit, also, of making up faces, when he was trying to speak hard words; and, in order to cure himself of this, he used to practice speaking before a looking-glass, that he might see himself, and try to correct the habit.

11. To break himself of a habit he had of shrugging up his shoulders, and making himself appear hump-backed, he hung up a sword over his back, so that it might prick him, with its sharp point, whenever he did so.

12. He shut himself up in a cave under ground, and, in order to confine himself there to his studies, he shaved the hair off of one half of his head, so that he might be ashamed to go out among men.

13. It was in this way that this great man overcame all of his difficulties, and, at last, became one of the greatest orators that have ever lived.

14. Now, whenever you have a hard lesson to read, or to study, think of Demos'thenes, and recollect how he overcame all his difficulties, and I think you will find that you have few things to do so hard as these things which he did.

15. When your teacher requests you to put out your voice and speak loud, remember what Demos'thenes used to do to strengthen his voice, and you will find very little trouble in speaking loudly enough to be heard, if you will only try.

LESSON XV.

_Hard Words._

1. In one of the former lessons, you were taught how to read long and hard words, by taking them to pieces, and reading a part of a word at a time.

2. I promised you also that this book should not be filled with hard words; but I did not promise that there should be no hard words in it.

3. Having taught you how to read hard words, I propose, in this lesson, to give you a few long words to read,--not for the purpose of understanding what they mean, but only to make you able to read such words, when you find them in any other book.

4. The best way of getting rid of all difficulties, is to learn how to overcome them, and master them; for they cease to be difficulties, when you have overcome them.

5. Demos'thenes, as I told you in the last lesson, had a very hard task to perform, before he became a great orator. You, also, can become a good scholar, if you will take pains to study your lessons, and learn them well.

6. Before you read any lesson to your teacher from this book, it is expected that you will study it over, and find out all the most difficult words, so that you may read them right off to him, without stopping to find them out, while he is waiting to hear you read them.

7. Now, here I shall place a few hard words for you to study over, to read to your teacher when you read this lesson to him; and he will probably require every one in your class to read them all aloud to him.

8. I wish you not to go up to your teacher to ask him to assist you, until you have tried yourself to read them, and find that you cannot.

9. There are some words that are not pronounced as they are spelt, as I have taught you in a former lesson.

10. Such a word as _phthisic_, which is pronounced as if it were spelled _tis´ic_, I dare say would puzzle you, if you had never seen it before; but before you go up to your teacher, to ask him any questions, you should read over the whole of your lesson, and perhaps you will find, in the lesson itself, something that will explain what puzzled you; and thus you could find it out from your book, without troubling your teacher.

11. Here are some of the long words I wish you to read.

12. Organization, Theoretical, Metaphysical, Metempsychosis, Multitudinous, Arithmetician, Metaphysician, Hyperbolical.

13. Apotheosis, Indefeasible, Feasibility, Supersaturated, Prolongation, Meridional, Ferruginous, Fastidiousness.

14. Haberdashery, Fuliginous, Exhalation, Prematurely, Depreciation, Appreciability, Resuscitate, Surreptitious, Interlocutory.

15. Sometimes the letters _a e_, and _o e_, are printed together, like one letter, as in the words Cæsar, Coelebs, and then the syllable is pronounced as if it were spelled with _e_ alone, as in the following words:

16. Diæresis, Aphæresis, OEcumenical, Æthiop, Subpoena, Encyclopædia, Phoenix, Phoebus, Æolus.

17. When there are two little dots over one of the letters, they are both to be sounded, as in the word Aërial, which is pronounced a-e-ri-al.

18. The letter _c_ is one which puzzles many young persons who are learning to read, because it is sometimes pronounced like _k_, as in the word _can_, and sometimes like _s_, as in the word _cent_; and they do not know when to pronounce it like _k_, and when to sound it like _s_.

19. But if you will recollect that _c_ is sounded like _k_ when it stands before the letters _a_, _o_, or _u_, and that it is sounded like _s_ before the letters _e_, _i_, and _y_, you will have very little trouble in reading words that have the letter _c_ in them.

20. So also the letter _g_ has two sounds, called the hard sound, and the soft sound. The hard sound is the sound given to it in the word _gone_; the soft sound is that which is heard in the word _gentle_.

21. The same rule which you have just learnt with regard to the letter _c_ applies to the letter _g_. It has its hard sound before _a_, _o_, and _u_, and its soft sound before _e_, _i_, and _y_.

22. There are, it is true, some words where this rule is not applied; but these words are very few, so that you may safely follow this rule in most words.

23. The letters _ph_ are sounded like _f_. The letters _ch_ are sounded sometimes like _k_, as in the words _loch_ and _monarch_, and sometimes like _sh_, as in the words _chaise_ and _charade_; and they have sometimes a sound which cannot be represented by any other letters, as in the words _charm_ and _chance_.

24. I suppose that you have probably learned most of these things which I have now told you in your spelling-book; but I have repeated them in this book, because I have so often found that little boys and girls are very apt to forget what they have learned.

25. If you recollect them all, it will do you no harm to read them again, but it will impress them more deeply on your memory. But if you have forgotten them, this little book will recall them to your mind, so that you will never forget them.

26. I recollect, when I was a little boy, that the letter _y_ used to trouble me very much when it began a word, and was not followed by one of the letters which are called vowels, namely, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_. I knew how to pronounce _ya_, _ye_, _yi_, _yo_, _yu_; but one day, when I was studying a lesson in geography, I saw a word which was spelt _Y, p, r, e, s_, which puzzled me very much.

27. I knew that the letters _p, r, e, s_, would spell _pres_, but I did not know what to call the _y_. After studying it a long time, I found that the letter _y_, in that word and some others, was to be pronounced like the long _e_, and that the word was pronounced _Epres_, though it was spelled _Y, p, r, e, s_.

28. Perhaps you will be able, when you grow up, to write a book; and to tell little boys and girls who go to school, when you have grown up, how to read hard words, better than I have told you.

29. If you wish to do so, you must try to recollect what puzzles you most now, and then you will be able to inform them how to get over their difficulties and troubles at school; and when they grow up, I have no doubt that they will feel very grateful to you for the assistance you have given them.

LESSON XVI.

_Fire,[A]--a Conversation between a Mother and her little Daughter._

_Daughter._ Mother dear, you told me, the other day, that nobody knows what _light_ is, except the Great Creator. Now, can you tell me _what fire is_?

_Mother._ I fear, my child, that you have asked another question which I cannot directly answer. What fire is, is known only by its effects.

_Daughter._ And what are its effects, mother?

_Mother._ Some of its effects are as well known to you, my dear, as they are to me; and I shall, in the first place, call to your recollection what you yourself know about _fire_, before I attempt to give you any further information in relation to it.

_Daughter._ Why, mother, I am sure I do not know what fire is.

_Mother._ No, Caroline, I know that you do not know what fire is; neither do I, nor does any one, except the Great Creator himself. This is one of his secrets, which, in his wisdom, he reserves for himself.

But you certainly know some of the effects of fire. For instance, you know that when you have been out into the cold, you wish, on your return, to go to the fire. Now, can you tell me what you go to the fire for?

_Daughter._ Why, certainly, mother; I go to the fire to warm myself.

_Mother._ And how does the fire warm you, my dear?

_Daughter._ Why, it sends out its heat, mother; and I hold out my hands to it, and feel the heat.

_Mother._ And where does the heat come from, Caroline?

_Daughter._ Why, the heat comes from the fire, mother.

_Mother._ Then, my dear, you know at least one of the effects of fire. It produces, or rather sends out, heat.

_Daughter._ But does not the fire make the heat, mother?

_Mother._ If you had a little bird, or a mouse, in a cage, and should open the door and let it out, should you say that you _made_ the little bird, or the mouse?

_Daughter._ Say that I made them, mother?--why, no; certainly not. I only let them go free. God made them. You told me that God made all things.

_Mother._ Neither did the fire make the heat. It only made it free, somewhat in the same manner that you would make the bird or the mouse free, by opening the door of the cage.

_Daughter._ Why, mother, is heat kept in cages, like birds or mice?

_Mother._ No, my dear, not exactly in cages, like birds or mice; but a great deal closer, in a different kind of cage.

_Daughter_ Why, mother, what sort of a cage can heat be kept in?

_Mother._ I must answer your question, Caroline, by asking you another. When Alice makes her fire in the kitchen, how does she make it?

_Daughter._ She takes some wood, or some coal, and puts under it some pine wood, which she calls kindling, and some shavings, and then takes a match and sets the shavings on fire, and very soon the fire is made.

_Mother._ But does she not first do something to the match?

_Daughter._ O, yes; I forgot to say that she lights the match first, and then sets fire to the shavings with the lighted match.

_Mother._ But how does she light the match, my dear?

_Daughter._ Why, mother, have you never seen her? She rubs one end of the match on the box, where there is a little piece of sand-paper, and that sets the match on fire.

_Mother._ Is there any fire in the sand-paper, Caroline?

_Daughter._ Why, no, mother; certainly not.

_Mother._ Was there any fire in the match, before she lighted it?

_Daughter._ Why, no, mother; if there had been, she would have had no need to light it.

_Mother._ You see, then, that fire came when she rubbed the match against the sand-paper; and that the fire was not in the sand-paper, nor in the match.

_Daughter._ Yes, mother, but I did not see where it came from.

_Mother._ I am going to explain that to you, my dear, in the next lesson.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] This lesson, together with the two following lessons, is taken from a little book, called "Juvenile Philosophy," published by Messrs. A.S. Barnes & Co., 51 John-street, New York. It consists of nine conversations, between a little girl and her mother, on the subjects, Rain, Color, Vision or Sight, the Eye, Light, Fire, Heat and Wind.

LESSON XVII.

_The same subject, continued._

_Mother._ Did you ever see a person rub his hands together, when he was cold?

_Daughter._ O yes, mother, a great many times. I have seen father come in from the cold, and rub his hands together, and afterwards hold them to the fire and rub them again, and then they get warm.

_Mother._ And now, Caroline, take your hand and rub it quickly backwards and forwards, over that woolen table-cloth, on the table in the corner of the room, and tell me whether that will make your hand warm.

_Daughter._ O, yes, dear mother; I feel it grow warmer, the faster I rub it.

_Mother._ Here are two small pieces of wood. Touch them to your cheek, and tell me whether they feel warm now.

_Daughter._ They do not feel warm, nor cold, mother.

_Mother._ Now rub them together quickly a little while, and then touch them to your cheek.

_Daughter._ O, dear, mother! they are so hot that they almost burnt my cheek.

_Mother._ Yes, Caroline; and do you not recollect, when you read Robinson Crusoe, that his man Friday made a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together?

_Daughter._ O, yes, dear mother; and I have often wondered why Alice could not light her lire and the lamp in the same manner, without those matches, which have so offensive a smell.

_Mother._ It is very hard work, my dear, to obtain fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together; and it would take too long a time to do it. The two pieces of wood would grow warm by a very little rubbing; but in order to make them take fire, they must be rubbed together a great while.

_Daughter._ But, mother, if it takes so long a time to get fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, why can Alice set the match on fire so easily by rubbing it once on the sand-paper?

_Mother._ That is what I am about to explain to you, my dear. Here, take this piece of paper and hold it up to the lamp.

_Daughter._ It has taken fire, mother.

_Mother._ Now take this piece of pine wood, and hold that up to the lamp in the same manner, and see whether that will take fire too.

_Daughter._ Yes, mother, it has taken fire; but I had to hold it up to the lamp much longer than I did the paper.

_Mother._ Now take this piece of hard wood, and do the same with that.

_Daughter._ The hard wood takes longer still to catch fire, mother.

_Mother._ Yes, my child. And now I am going to make the hard wood take fire more quickly than the paper did.

_Daughter._ Dear mother, how can you do it?