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from the latitude, is slow, it being necessary in such a climate as ours to go more than sixty miles northward to perceive a difference of one degree.

2. Influence of Altitude.-The altitude, that is, the height above the level of the sea, lowers the temperature much more rapidly than the latitude. In fact, in an ascent up Mount Blanc, Saussure observed a decrease of temperature of one degree for a height of about 260 feet; and Humboldt found a similar decrease for about 400 feet on Chimboraco. Taking the mean between these, we have a diminution of one degree for 330 feet, which is nearly 1,000 times that produced by the latitude.

The increasing coldness of the air as we ascend the higher regions of the atmosphere is experienced by those who go up in balloons, and is further proved by the perpetual snows which cover the summits of mountains. It is owing to the extreme rarefraction of the air, which necessarily diminishes its absorbing power. It also results from the distance of the earth, which cannot warm the air by contact, and the great power which gases possess of letting heat pass through them. The law of the lowering of the temperature as we rise in the air is not known, on account of the many disturbing causes which tend to modify it, such as the wind, the degree of moisture, the hour of the day, etc. Experience teaches, that the difference in the temperature of two places at different elevations is not proportional to the difference of altitude, but for great heights the law is approximately true.

3. Influence of the Direction of the Winds. As the winds necessarily participate in the temperature of the countries over which they pass, their direction at any given spot has great influence upon the temperature of the air there. The warmest wind is that from the south; then come the south-east, south-west, west, east, north-west, north, and lastly the northeast. Further, the character of the winds changes with the seasons; the east wind, for instance, which is cold in winter, is warm in summer.

of London and Paris are variable; those of Pekin and New York excessive. The climates of islands are generally little varied, the temperature of the sea being pretty uniform, and hence the distinction between marine and continental climates. The characteristic of marine climates is, that the difference of temperature in summer and winter is always much less than in continental climates.

Distribution of Temperature on the Surface of the Globc.—The temperature of the air at the surface of the globe is subject to disturbing causes, so numerous and so purely local, that its distribution appears subject to no general law. All that can be done is to establish the mean temperature of each place by numerous observations. The highest observed temperature at the surface of the globe is that of Esne in Egypt, which was 116°, and the lowest that of Fort Reliance in North America, where it was 68° below zero, or 100° below freezing point; which gives a difference of 184° between the highest and lowest observed temperatures.

As navigators have never been able to reach the Poles on account of the ice, we do not know the temperature of those points. We only know that in each hemisphere the glacial pole-i.e. the coldest point, does not coincide with the terrestrial pole. In our hemisphere it is north of Behring's Straits, twenty degrees from the north pole. Many philosophers have attempted to ascertain the mean temperature of the north pole, and have arrived at various results, the discordance between which is in itself sufficient to deprive them of all claim to confidence. The temperature of the south pole is still more uncertain.

Temperature of Seas, Lakes, and Springs.-The temperature of the sea between the tropics is generally nearly the same as that of the air; in the polar regions the sea is always warmer than the atmosphere.

The temperature of the sea under the torrid zone is uniformly from 799 to 819 at the surface. It diminishes as the depth increases; and in temperate regions, as in tropical regions, the temperature of the sea at great depths is kept between thirty-six and thirty-eight degrees. The low temperature of the great depths is explained by the sub-marine currents which convey the cold water of the polar seas to the equator.

4. Influence of the nearness of the Sea.-The nearness of the sea tends to raise the temperature of the air and render it more uniform. In fact, it is observed that in the tropics, and especially in the polar regions, the temperature of the sea is always more elevated than that of the atmosphere. With regard to the uniformity of the temperature of the sea, experience shows that in temperate regions, i. e. from twenty-five to fifty degrees latitude, the difference of temperature between the maximum and minimum of the day does not exceed four or five degrees at sea, while on land it reaches twenty-two or twenty-seven degrees. In islands the uniformity of the tem-water at the maximum of density. perature is very perceptible, even during the greatest heat. On going into the interior of continents, winters at the same latitude are colder, and the difference between summers and winters is greater.

Isothermal Lines.-When we join together on a map all the places whose mean temperature is the same, we obtain curves to which Humboldt was the first to call attention, and which are called isothermal lines. If the temperature of a place varied only according to the obliquity of the sun's rays, i. e. with the latitude, the isothermal lines would be all parallel to the equator; but as the temperature varies according to several local circumstances, and especially the altitude, these lines are always more or less devious in their course. However, at sea they are nearly parallel. The space between two isothermal lines is called an isothermal zone.

Climates. By climates are understood a certain number of isothermal zones, distinguished by their mean annual temperature. There are seven climates so distinguished:-1. A burning climate, from eighty to seventy-five degrees. 2. A warm climate, from seventy-five to sixty-eight degrees. 3. A mild climate, from sixty-eight to fifty-nine degrees. 4. A temperate climate, from fifty-nine to fifty degrees. 5. A cold climate, from fifty to forty-one degrees. 6. A very cold climate, from forty-one degrees to freezing point. 7. A freezing climate, below freezing point.

The temperature of lakes presents much greater variations than that of the sea. Their surface, which may freeze in winter, is heated in summer up to sixty-eight or seventyseven degrees. The bottom, on the contrary, preserves nearly the same temperature of thirty-nine degrees, which is that of

Springs, which arise from rain-water filtered into the crust of the earth at various depths, necessarily tend to the same temperature as the strata of earth through which they pass. Consequently, when they reach the surface of the soil, their temperature depends upon the depth to which they have attained. But if the spring is not abundant, its temperature is raised in summer and lowered in winter by that of the strata through which it passes. If the springs come from a very great depth, their temperature may far exceed the mean temperature of the place, and they then take the name of thermal springs.

In consequence of their high temperature, thermal springs acquire the property of dissolving several mineral substances which they meet in their course, and they are then called mineral springs. The substances which they hold in solution are most frequently carbonic, sulphurous, sulphydric, chlorhydric, and sulphuric acids; or sulphur, hyposulphites, sulphates, carbonates, chlorides, and iodides.

The temperature of thermal springs is not generally affected by the abundance of rain, or by drought; but it is affected by earthquakes, after which it has been found sometimes to rise and at other times to fall.

Distribution of Water over the Surface of the Globe.-The distribution of water over the surface of the globe exercises great influence upon climate. The waters of the globe are These climates are divided into constant climates, the tem- much more extensive than the land, and their distribution is perature of which, in summer and winter, does not differ very unequal in the two hemispheres. Indeed the extent of more than eleven or fifteen degrees; variable climates, the dif- water is about three times as great as that of the land. In the ference of whose temperature at the two extremes is twenty-southern hemisphere the surface of the seas is much greater nine to thirty-six degrees; and excessive climates, in which than in the northern hemisphere, being in the ratio of thirteen this difference is more than fifty-four degrees. The climates to nine.

BIOGRAPHY.

The depth of the sea is very variable. Generally it does not exceed a thousand or thirteen hundred feet; but in the open sea it is often four thousand feet, and somtimes the line has not reached the bottom though it has been lowered to a depth of thirteen thousand feet.

BIOGRAPH Y.-No. XXIX.

LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY,

Was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in the year 1791. She was the only child of her parents, and consequently was brought up with great tenderness. Her parentage was in that happy mediocrity which requires industry, yet encourages hope; and the habits of order and diligence in which she was carefully trained by her judicious mother have no doubt been of inestimable advantage to the intellectual character of the daughter.

She early exhibited indications of genius. Perhaps the loneliness of her lot, without brother or sister to share in the usual sports of childhood, had an influence on her pursuits and pleasures. We are by no means in favour of establishing precocity of intellect as the standard of real genius. Still, it is true that many distinguished persons have been marked in childhood as extraordinary; the opening blossom has given forth the sweet odour which the rich fruit, like that of the Mangostan, embodies in its delicious perfection. At eight years of age the little Lydia was a scribbler of ryhmes; like Pope, "lisping in numbers." Her first work was published in 1815. It was a small volume, entitled, "Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse." Before this, however, she had fortunately met with a judicious and most generous patron. To Daniel Wadsworth, Esq., of Hartford, belongs the tribute of praise which is due for drawing such a mind from the obscurity where it had remained "afar from the untasted sunbeam." In 1819 Miss Huntley was united in marriage with Charles Sigourney, a respectable merchant of Hartford, Connecticut; a gentleman of cultivated taste and good literary attainments. From that period Mrs. Sigourney devoted her leisure to literary pursuits; she has produced a variety of works, each and all having one general design-that of doing good.

It

In 1822 she published "Traits of the Aborigines of America;" a descriptive and historical poem in five cantos. depicts with truth, and often with much vigour, the condition of the red man before the arrival of his European conqueror, and has passages of deep tenderness and wild beauty. Yet, written as it is in blank verse, and rather discursively, the impression it leaves on the mind is not powerful.

Mrs. Sigourney's next work was in prose-"A Sketch of Connecticut Forty Years Since," published in 1824. During "Poems," the ensuing fourteen years she sent forth "Poetry for Children," "Sketches; a Collection of Prose Tales, etc.,' "Zinzendof," "Letters to Young Ladies," and "Letters to Mothers." All these were favourably received by the American public, and gave the author a warm place in the heart of the people.

In 1840 Mrs. Sigourney went to Europe, visiting England and Scotland in the summer, and passing the winter in Paris, where she received much kindness. She returned to her home in Hartford during the spring of 1841. While on her visit, a volume of her selected poems, superbly illustrated, was published in London, and soon after her return, "Pocahontas," the most carefully finished of her long poems, came out in New York. In 1842 her "Pleasant Memories in Pleasant Lands," a record in prose and verse of her wanderings abroad, was issued; and in 1846, "Myrtis, with other Etchings and was published. Since then she has sent out Sketching, an excel"Water-drops; several works, among which are A volume of her lent contribution to the temperance cause. "Poems," beautifully illustrated, was published in 1848. The talents and industry of Mrs. Sigourney have won for her a good reputation; and though critics have attempted to disparage her genius by accusing her of imitating Mrs. Hemans, yet her works are esteemed by Christians as the most useful of their class. An American critic has well defined the powers of this truly American poetess; "Mrs. Sigourney's

"

works express with great purity and evident sincerity the
tender affections which are so natural to the female heart, and
the lofty aspirations after a higher and better state of being
in art as well as nature. Love and religion are the unvarying
which constitute the truly ennobling and elevating principle
elements of her song; if her powers of expression were equal
to the purity and elevation of her habits of thought and feeling,
she would be a female Milton or a Christian Pindar. But
though she does not inherit

'The force and ample pinion that the Theban eagles bear,
Sailing with supreme dominion through the liquid vaults of air,'
she nevertheless manages language with ease and elegance,
and often with much of the curiosa felicitas, that refined feli-
city' of expression, which is, after all, the principal charm in
poetry. In blank verse she is very successful; the poems
that she has written in this measure have not unfrequently
much of the manner of Wordsworth, and may be nearly or
The predominance of hope with devotional feeling has in-
quite as highly relished by his admirers."
Her muse has been a comforter to the mourner. No poet has
clined Mrs. Sigourney to elegiac poetry, in which she excels.
written such a number of these songs, nor are these of necessity
melancholy. Many of hers sound the notes of holy triumph
and awaken the brightest anticipations of felicity-ay,

the skies.

"Teach us of the melody of heaven."

She "leaves not the trophy of death at the tomb," but shows us the "Resurrection and the Life." Thus she elevates the hopes of the Christian and chastens the thoughts of the worldly-minded. This is her mission, the true purpose of her heaven-endowed mind; for the inspirations of genius are from heaven, and, when not perverted by a corrupt will, rise upward We must not omit to record that Mrs. Sigourney is, in as naturally as the morning dew on the flower is exhaled to private life, an example to her sex, as well as their admiration in her literary career. She is a good wife and devoted mother; and in all domestic knowledge and the scrupulous performance of her household duties, she shows as ready acquaintance and as much skill as though these alone formed her pursuits. Her literary studies are her recreations surely as rational a mođe of occupying the leisure of a lady as the morning call or the

evening party.

As a specimen of the lively and practical style in which Mrs. Sigourney treats what may be termed "Home" subjects, the following is subjoined :—

THE THRIVING FAMILY.
A SONG.

Our father lives in Washington,
And has a world of cares,
But gives his children each a farm,
Enough for them and theirs.
Full thirty well-grown sons has he,
A numerous race indeed,
Married and settled all, d'ye see,
With boys and girls to feed.
So, if we wisely till our lands,
We're sure to earn a living,
And have a penny too to spare
For spending or for giving.
A thriving family are we,

No lordling need deride us;
For we know how to use our hands,
And in our wits we pride us.
Hail, brothers, hail!

Let nought on earth divide us.

Some of us dare the sharp north-east;

Some clover-fields are mowing
And others tend the cotton-plants
That keep the looms a-going;

Some build and steer the white-wing'a ships,
And few in speed can mate them;

While others rear the corn and wheat,
Or grind the corn to freight them.

And if our neighbours o'er the sea
Have e'er an empty larder,

To send a loaf their babes to cheer
We'll work a little harder.
No old nobility have we,

No tyrant king to ride us;
Our sages in the capitol
Enact the laws that guide us.
Hail, brothers, hail!

Let nought on earth divide us.

Some faults we have, we can't deny,
A foible here and there;
But other households have the same,
And so we won't despair.

T will do no good to fume and frown,
And call hard names, you see,
And what a shame 'twould be to part
So fine a family!

'Tis but a waste of time to fret,
Since Nature made us one,
For every quarrel cuts a thread

That healthful Love has spun.
Then draw the cords of union fast,
Whatever may betide us,

And closer cling through every blast,
For many a storm has tried us.
Hail, brothers, hail!

Let nought on earth divide us.

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING.
No. VIII.

REQUISITES IN THE TEACHER FOR GOOD
GOVERNMENT.

1. SELF-GOVERNMENT It has frequently been said that no man can govern others till he has learned to govern himself. We have no doubt of the truth of this. If an individual is not perfectly self-possessed, his decisions must fail to command respect. The self-government of the teacher should be complete in the following particulars:

1. As to the passion of anger. The exihbition of anger always detracts from the weight of authority. A man under its influence is not capable of doing strict justice to his pupils. Before entering upon teaching, therefore, a man should somehow obtain the mastery over his temper, so that under any provocation he can control it. He should consider that in school his patience will often be severely tried. He should not expect, indeed, that the current of affairs in school will for a single day run perfectly smooth. He should, therefore, prepare for the worst, and firmly resolve that, whatever unpleasant thing shall occur, it shall not take him entirely by surprise. Such forethought will give him self-command. If, however, from his past experience and from the nature of his temperament, he is satisfied he cannot exercise this self-control, he may be assured he is the wrong man to engage in teaching. A man who has not acquired thorough ascendency over his own passions, is an unsafe man to be intrusted with the government of children.

popularity by the one, or give themselves greater authority by the other. This is a very mistaken notion; for children have more discernment than most men give them credit for, and they usually see directly through such a flimsy disguise,-and the teacher becomes ridiculous rather than great in their estimation, whenever he takes any such false position.

Mr. Abbot, in his "Teacher," states a fact which well illustrates this point. "Many years ago," says he, "when I was a child, the teacher of the school where my early studies were performed closed his connection with the establishment, and, after a short vacation, another was expected. On the appointed day the boys began to collect, some from curiosity, at an early hour, and many speculations were started as to the character of the new instructor. We were standing near a table with our hats on,and our position, and the exact appearance of the group, is indelibly fixed on memory,-when a small and youthful-looking man entered the room and walked up towards us. Supposing him to be some stranger, or rather, not making any supposition at all, we stood looking at him as he approached, and were thunder-struck at hearing him accost us with a stern voice, and sterner brow :-'Take off your hats! Take off your hats, and go to your seats.' The conviction immediately rushed upon our minds that this must be the new teacher. The first emotion was that of surprise, and the second was that of the ludicrous; though I believe we contrived to smother the laugh until we got out in the open air."

i

The true rule is to act the part which is agreeable to nature. The teacher having gained the self-command just insisted upon, and having in him the spirit of kindness and a desire to be useful, should assume nothimg unnatural for effect. His manner should be truly dignified, but courteous.

3. As to his treatment of those pupils that are marked by some peculiarity. There will usually be some pupils who are very backward, and perhaps very dull, or who may have some physical defect, or some mental eccentricity. The teacher should be able to govern himself in all his remarks concerning such pupils. He should avoid all allusions to such singularities before the school; and it is the height of injustice-we were about to say, of malevolence-for him ever to use those low and degrading epithets so often found upon the teacher's tongue,such as dunce, thickskull, and the like. Is it not misfortune enough for a child to be backward or dull, without having the pain and mortification increased by the cruelty of an unfeeling teacher? The teacher should take a special interest in such children; he should endeavour to enter into the feelings of their parents, and to treat them in such a way as to encourage rather than crush them.

II. A CONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITY TO GOVERN. We can generally do what we firmly believe we can do. At any rate, a man is more likely to succeed in any enterprise when he has the feeling of self-reliance. The teacher, by reflection upon the importance of good government to his success, and by a careful study of the means to be employed and the motives to be presented, should be able to bring himself to the determination to have good order in his school, and so fully to believe he can have it, that his pupils shall detect no misgivings in him on this point. Whenever they discover that he has doubts of his success in governing, they will be far more ready to put his skill to the test. It would be better that a young teacher should decline to take a difficult school, rather than enter it without the full belief of his ability to succeed. We would not wish to be understood by these remarks to be encouraging an unreasonbe founded upon a reasonable estimate of his powers, compared with the difficulties to be overcome. What we recommend is, 1 that the teacher should carefully weigh the difficulties, and candidly judge of his own resources, and then undertake nothing which he thinks is beyond his ability. If, after this, he believes he can succeed, other things being equal, success is almost certain.

2. As to levity and moroseness of manner. Either extreme is to be avoided. There are some teachers who exhibit suchable and blind presumption. A confidence in one's ability should a frivolity in all their intercourse with their pupils, that they can never command them with authority, or gain their cordial respect. This is a grievous fault; and the teacher should at once find an antidote for it, by serious reflection upon the responsibility of his position. If this will not cure it, nothing

else can.

There are others who are characterised by a perpetual peevishness, so that a pleasant word from them is indeed a strange thing. They can never expect to gain the affections of their pupils; and without securing the love of children, the government of them will never be of the right kind. This habit of snappishness should be broken up at once.

There are some very young teachers who sometimes assume one or the other of these peculiar modes of address, or perhaps bath, to be used alternately, fancying that they will gain

III. JUST VIEWS OF GOVERNMENT. 1. It is not tyranny, exercised to please the one who governs, or to promote his own convenience. The despot commands for the sake of being obeyed. But government, in its proper sense, is an arrangement for the general good,—for the benefit of the governed as as well as of the ruler. That is not good government which seeks any other object. The teacher should so view the matter; and in establishing any regulations in school, he should always

inquire whether they are suggested by a selfish regard to his he is confident he decides right; any delay is better than own ease, or whether they spring from a sincere and disin-hasty error. But his delay, in all matters of government, terested wish to promote the improvement of the school. should have reference to a true knowledge of his duty; when that is clearly known, he should be decided.

2. He should see the necessity of making the government uniform; that is, the same from day to day. If he punishes to-day what he tolerates to-morrow, he cannot expect the cordial respect of his pupils. Some teachers, not having learned the art of self-government, take counsel too much of their own feelings. To-day they are in good health and spirits, and their faces are clothed in sunshine; they can smile at any thing. To-morrow, suffering under bad digestion, or the want of exercise, or the want of sleep, the thunder-storm hovers about their brow, ready to burst upon the first offender. Woe to the luckless wight who does not seasonably discover this change in the condition of the weather. A teacher cannot long respect himself who is thus capricious; he may be sure his school will not long respect him.

3. He should so view government as to make it equal; that is, equal in its application to the whole school, the large as well as small scholars, the males as well as females. This is often a great fault with teachers. They raise up a sort of aristocracy in their schools, a privileged class, a miniature nobility. They will insist that the little boys and girls shall abstain from certain practices,-whispering, for instance-and most probably punish the offenders, while they tolerate the same thing among the larger pupils. This is cowardly in itself, and as impolitic as it is cowardly. The teacher makes a great mistake who begins his government with the small children, in the hope of frightening the larger ones into obedience. He should have the manliness and the justice to begin with the larger pupils; the smaller ones never resist, when authority is established with those above them. Besides this, the very class who are thus indulged are the very ones who soonest despise, and justly too, the authority of the teacher.

He should make his government impartial in every respect. He should have no favourites-no preferences, based upon the outward circumstances of the child, his family, or his personal attractions and the like. The rich and the poor should be alike to the teacher. He should remember that each child has a soul; and it is with the soul, and not with the wealth of this world, that he has to do. He should remember that a gem, as bright as a sunbeam, is often concealed under a rough exterior. It should be his work, nay his delight-to bring out this gem from its hiding-place, and apply to it the polish of a "workman that needeth not to be ashamed."

IV. JUST VIEWS OF THE GOVERNED. Notwithstanding the imperfection of human nature, as developed in the young, they have some redeeming qualities. They are intelligent and reasonable beings. They have more or less love of approbation; they have affection, and above all, they have a moral

sense.

Many teachers suffer in their government for want of firm. ness. They act upon the principle of personal convenience, as did the unjust judge mentioned in the parable. "And he would not for a while; but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will arise and avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." How often we hear something like this in the school-room. "May I go and drink?" says James in a peculiarly imploring tone. "No," says the teacher, promptly, and evidently without any reflection as to the de cision he has made. James very composedly sits down, eyeing the countenance of the teacher expressively, as much as to say, "I'll try you again soon.' Before long he observes the teacher quite busy with a class, and he again pops the question: "May I go and drink?" Stung at the moment with impatience at the interruption, the teacher answers instantly and emphatically, "No, no, James, sit down." James still watches his teacher's expression, and cannot discover there any signs of a mind seeking the path of duty, and he silently thinks to himself, "the third time never fails." So, after a minute or two, when the teacher is somewhat puzzled with a knotty question, and is on the point of nibbing a pen besides,-" May I go and drink, sir?" again rings upon the teacher's ear. "Yes, yes, yes! do go along; I suppose you'll keep asking till you get it."

Now James goes to drink, and then returns to philosophize upon this matter, perhaps as follows:-"I don't believe he stopped to think whether I needed drink or not; therefore hereafter I shall never believe he really means no, when he says it. He acts without thought. I have also found that if I will but ask several times, I shall get it. So I shall know how to proceed next time."-I do not know that any child would express this thought in so many words; but the impression upon his mind is none the less distinct.

Now the teacher should carefully consider the question addressed to him. How long since this child had water? Can it be necessary for him to drink so often? Then let the answer be given mildly, but decidedly-"No, James." The very manner, quite likely, will settle the question, so that James will not ask again. The answer once given should be firmly adhered to. It would even be better that James should suffer for the want of water than for the want of confidence in his teacher's firmness. In this way the teacher would establish his word with the school in a very few days; and his pupils would very soon learn that with him "no means no,” and “yes means yes"- —a matter of no small importance to the teacher of a school.

VI. DEEP MORAL PRINCIPLE. The teacher should ever be a conscientious man; and in nothing is this more necessary than in the exercise of good government. In this matter the teacher can never respect himself when he acts from caprice or selfishness. His inquiry should be, What is right? What is justice-justice to my pupils-to myself? And if he could add to moral obligation the high sanctions of religious prinhis Maker, with the heartfelt inquiry-What wilt THOU have me to do?-then he would seldom err in the discharge of this trust. His pupils, seeing that he acted from fixed and deep principle, would respect his honesty, even if he should crosstheir desires.

All these qualities are considerably developed before they enter the school. The teacher should remember this, and prepare himself to address, as far as may be, all these. Love of approbation, as we have before seen, is not an unworthy motive to be addressed, and it is well known that many children are very easily controlled by it. It is not the highest motive, to be sure, nor is it the lowest. The affection for a teacher, which many children will exercise, is one of the most power-ciple, and could habitually and sincerely turn his thoughts to ful instrumentalities in governing them with ease. The conscience, early trained, is all-powerful. We allude to these principles of action once more, in order to say that the peculiar character of each should be well studied by the teacher He should understand the human mind so well as to be able to find the avenues to these better parts of the child's nature, remembering that whenever several ways are presented of doing the same thing, it is always wise to choose the best.

V. DECISION AND FIRMNESS. By decision, we mean a readiness to determine and to act in any event just as duty seems to dictate; a willingness to take the responsibility just as soon as the way is plain. By firmness, is meant that fixedness of purpose which resolutely carries out a righteous decision. Both of these qualities are essential to good government in the teacher. Much time is often lost by a teacher's vacillating when action is more important. Besides, if the pupils discover that the teacher hesitates and dreads to take any responsibility, they very soon lose their respect for him. We would not urge that a teacher should act hastily. He never should decide till

LESSONS IN ITALIAN GRAMMAR.-No. XLIII.

SYNTAX.-Continued.

OF PARTICIPLES.

Rule 70.-The Past Participle, used without an auxiliary, must agree in gender and number with the substantive to which it refers.

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Astenersi dal parlare, to abstain from speaking

Rule 72.-The past participle, used with any tense of the Da che egli è partito, since he verb avere, to have, is indeclinable.

men

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the king

slept long

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is gone

Dall' anno scorso, from the last year

Difendersi dagli ipocriti, to defend one's self against hypocrites

Ella ha dormito bene, she has I lupi han divorato la sua greg-Distinguere un cane da un lupo,

Ha preso la cosa sul serio, he

I gran principi hanno scmpre protetto le persone sapienti,

gia, the wolves have devoured his flock

mie sorelle non hanno ancora desinato, my cisters have not dined yet

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to distinguish a dog from a wolf Essere incalzato dal nemico, to

be pursued by the enemy. Fare una cosa da se, to do one thing of one's self Guardarsi da uno, to beware of

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I have no arms to defend myself

L'uomo dal mantello, the man of the cloak

A.

Non sono cose da dirsi, these are not things to say

Non è cosa da un pari vostro, it is not a thing becoming to a man like you Sono tempi da piangere, these

are times to weep Uomo da stento, a man to bear fatigue

Andate dal fornajo, go to the baker's

Andrò da mia madre, I will go to my mother's Vive da signore, he lives like a lord

Ha trattato da birbante, he has acted like a rascal Avete da fare? have you something to do? Datemi da lavorare, give me some work to do Dite da burla? do you speak in joke? Dite da vero? do you speak in earnest?

Egli fa da dottore, he sets up for a doctor Egli ha da due milioni di capi

tale, he has about two millions of capital Il re era da un canto, la regina

da un altro, the king was
on one side, and the queen.
on the other

Non v'è da ridere, there is no
reason for laughing
Uomo da bene, a good man
Visse da cento anni, he lived

nearly one hundred years Vi giuro, da galantuomo, I swear to you on the faith of an honest man Venite qui da me, come here

near me

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