15. As he was about to bid her farewell his heart smote him at the idea of parting with her forever. "My dear lady," said he, while he kissed her hand tenderly, "I owe you much more than my tongue can tell. You have watched over me in this long and tedious journey; you have lightened my burden, cheered my fatigues, chased away my fears, and given me courage in the place of despondence. Had it not been for you, I had long since lain down and died in the path, or had lingered in misery by the way. 16. "Pray tell me your name; and oh, if it be possible, tell me the art by which you have taught me to conquer difficulties, to rise above doubt, to triumph over indolence, murmuring, and despondence!" The lady replied as follows: 17. "Listen, youth, for I tell you an important secret. My name is Cheerfulness, and all my art lies in a single sentence-Always make the best of it." So saying, the lady departed, and was seen by the youth no more; but he now perceived the force of the lady's words, and practising accordingly, he soon possessed the great art of securing happiness, and of making himself agreeable to others. LESSON CVI. PUN'DIT, & learned man among the SAN GUINE, (Latin sanguis, blood,) STRICK'EN, struck, wounded. VAN, the front, especially of an army. PRONUNCIATION.- Cheer'ful 22, fear'ful 22, po'et 1b, sanʼguine 24, swallow 6. ALL'S FOR THE BEST. 1. ALL'S for the best, be sanguine and cheerful; 2. All's for the best, if a man would but know it; 3. All's for the best; set this on your standard, the rest, 4. All's for the best; be a man, but confiding; TUPPER. PRONUNCIATION. Show'er-y 3b, put 33, them-selves' 1, win'dow 6, chat'ter-ing 36, im-me'di-ate-ly 3c, re-proof' 1, Feb'ru-a-ry 9, mit'ten 4c, shiv'er-ing 36, Phil'a-del-phi-a 7, ve'hi-cle 32c, Can'a-da 7. SIGNIFICANT ANECDOTES. 1. THE GREAT-COAT. 1. TOM LACKWIT was about to journey from Philadelphia to Canada in a stage-coach. It was the first of November, and a mild Indian summer day. As he was getting into the vehicle, his mother said, "Tom, you had better take your great-coat." "No, mother," said Tom, "I shall not want it." And away he went. 2. For two or three days the weather was pleasant, and the traveler did very well without his great - coat. But at length the skies became black; the winds began to sigh and bellow in the woods; and finally flurries of snow fell like feathers over the hills. 3. At the same time the air grew chill, and Tom, gathering himself into one corner of the coach, his shoulders up to his ears, his heels drawn upward, and his hands between his knees, sat shivering, chattering, and musing upon his great-coat. 4 "What a fool I was," said he, internally, "not to take my mother's advice! However, it is all too late. I must shiver here for a fortnight, night and day, and all because I did not bring a greatcoat!" 2. THE STORMY DAY. 1. Ir was a half-drizzly, half-showery day, such as is apt to put nervous people in a bad humor with themselves and every body else. Job Dodge sat brooding over the fire, immediately after breakfast. His wife addressed him as follows:-"Mr. Dodge, can you not mend the latch of that front door to-day?" "No," was the answer. 2. "Well, can you not mend the handle of the water-pail?" "No." "Well, can you fix a handle to the broom?" "No." “Well, can you not put up some pins for the clothes in our chamber?" "No." 3. "Well, can you not repair that north window, so that the rain and snow will not drive in?" "No, no, no!" answered the husband, sharply. 4. He then took his hat, and was on the point of leaving the house, when his wife, knowing that he was going to the tavern, where he would meet some of his wet-day companions, asked him kindly to stop a moment. 66 5. She then got her bonnet and cloak, and said to her husband, "You are going to the tavern; -with your leave, I will go with you." The husband stared. 'Yes," said the wife; "I may as well go as you. If you go, and waste the day, and tipple at the tavern, why should not I do the same?" 6. Job felt the reproof. He shut the door, hung up his hat, got the hammer and nails, and did all his wife had requested; and sat down by his fire at night, a better and a happier man. Gentleness had conquered where angry words would have failed. 3. THE BOY AND HIS MITTENS. 1. I was going round the corner of a church, some time in February. It was the morning of one of those days when the mercury in the thermometer was hovering about the chill point of zero. Streets, side-walks, trees were all sheeted in ice. 2. I chanced to notice a small boy, standing with his back to the basement-wall of the church; his cheeks glistening in the keen wind, the tears flowing down his face, and a kind of blubbering sound issuing from between his chattering teeth. His little red hands were bare, but in one of them he held a pair of mittens. He was the picture of distress and helplessness. 3. I went up to him, and asked him why he was crying. "My fingers are cold," said he. "But why do you not put on your mittens?" said I. "Because my fingers are so cold," said he. "But can not you put them on?" said I. "Oh, yes, I can put them on," said the boy, "but it hurts." 4. "Men are but children of a larger growth," thought I. This boy, rather than bear the slight pain of putting on his mittens, will run the risk of freezing his fingers; in the same way do many men act in regard to matters of the deepest importance. Rather than bear a slight inconvenience, they will expose themselves to the greatest evils. 5. When I see a man spending his time in idleness, with the prospect of certain misery, rather than make a little exertion to be industrious, I think of the boy and his mittens. When I see a man refusing to leave off tippling, because it is hard, I think of the boy and his mittens. DREAR, dismal, gloomy. LESSON CVIII. PER CHANCE', by chance, perhaps. SAD, gloomy, cheerless. SEV'ER, to be parted. WANE, to be diminished, to decrease, to decline. PRONUNCIATION -Moun'tain (moun'tin) 1c, shrub 23, and 29, pictured 17 and 18, borrowed 6, heav'en 4d, giv'en 4d, to'ward 266. THE RIVAL BUBBLES.-AN ALLEGORY. 1. Two bubbles, on a mountain stream, Went dancing down'mid shrub and thorn. 2. The stream was narrow, wild, and lone, As if they loved the whirling shock. 3. Each leaf, and flower, and sunny ray 4. Thus on they went, and side by side They kept in sad and sunny weather; 6. But soon the mountain slope was o'er, With their first morning beauty glowed. 7. They parted, and the sunny ray That from each other's love they borrowed, While other bubbles round them sorrowed, 8. That ray was dimmed, and on the wind 9. They parted; yet in sight they kept, And if, perchance, the eddies swept Each sought to gather in its train. 11. They strove, and, in the eager strife, shore 12. The leaves, the flowers, the grassy 13. But all was dim and drear within, And envy dwelt where love was known, Were traced where truth and pleasure shone. 14. The clouds grew dark, the tide swelled high, But, riding on the billows, nigh Each other now the bubbles swung. 15. Closer and closer still they rushed LESSON CIX. VOCAL GYMNASTICS. REFER TO CAUTION 17.-Among the most difficult words to pronounce with exactness and without affectation are words ending in ture. In practising the following exercises sound this termination full, regardless, for the time, of the sense and the accent. Thus read creature as if spelled creat'yure, and dwell on the last syllable, and even exaggerate the sound, so as to make it tell fully and roundly on the ear. There is no danger that you will not hereafter clip it enough. (1.) The creature acted according to its nature. (2.) The pasture was full of vultures. (3.) He shows composure in his features. (4.) It was a beautiful lecture. (5.) The hero in the picture is presented in a triumphant posture. (6.) The fields are clothed in verdure. (7.) The critics venture to assail a book with strictures. (8.) Future generations will bless the name of Washington. |