energies. Many have acknowledged their obligations to him; among them such men as Carlyle, Tyndall, and Lowell. Emerson was a thinker, and he has told us to look out when that rare personage appears. Truth was the sole object of his search; his maxim was that every man must think his own thoughts, and avow them calmly and fearlessly. 4. His style, at first involved and obscure, became of late years clear, vigorous, and packed full of meaning. He had the poet's imagination and love of the beautiful, and graces of style that are not surpassed by any other English essayist. He had also a clear common sense and native shrewdness that entitle him to the name of the "Yankee Plato." a 5. There were in Emerson's face and manner mingled sweetness, grace, gravity, and simplicity which cannot be portrayed. He was loved and revered by all who knew him. 6. A. Bronson Alcott thus speaks of Emerson: "Poet and moralist, Emerson has beauty and truth for all men's edification and delight. His works are studies. And any youth of free senses and fresh affections shall be spared years of tedious toil,-in which wisdom and fair learning are, for the most part, held at arm's length, planet's width, from his grasp,-by graduating from this college.. 7. "His books are surcharged with vigorous thoughts, a sprightly wit. They abound in strong sense, happy humor, keen criticisms, subtile insights, noble morals, clothed in a chaste and manly diction, fresh with the breath of health and progress. 8. "We characterize and class him with the moralists who surprise us with an accidental wisdom, strokes of wit, felicities of phrase-as Plutarch, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Saadi, Montaigne, Bacon, Selden, Sir Thomas Browne, Cowley, Coleridge, Goethe." 46. BEHAVIOR. This extract affords an example of unimpassioned, thoughtful essayreading. 1. The power of manners is incessant,-an element as inconcealable as fire. No man can resist their influence. There are certain manners which are learned in good society, of that force, that, if a person have them, he or she must be considered, and is everywhere welcome, though without beauty, or wealth, or genius. 2. Give a boy address and accomplishments, and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortunes where he goes. He has not the trouble of earning or owning them; they solicit him to enter and possess. We send girls of a timid, retreating disposition to the boardingschool, to the riding-school, to the ball-room, or wheresoever they can come into acquaintance and nearness of leading persons of their own sex; where they may learn address, and see it near at hand. 3. A main fact in the history of manners is the wonderful expressiveness of the human body. If it were made of glass, or of air, and the thoughts were written on steel tablets within, it could not publish more truly its meaning than now. Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. * * * 4. The face and eyes reveal what the spirit is doing, how old it is, what aims it has. The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues, with the advantage, that the ocular dialect needs no dictionary, but is understood all the world over. When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first. If the man is off his center, the eyes show it. You can read in the eyes of your companion, whether your argument hits him, though his tongue will not confess it. 5. There is a look by which a man shows he is going to say a good thing, and a look when he has said it. Vain and forgotten are all the fine offers and offices of hospitality, if there is no holiday in the eye. There are eyes, to be sure, that give no more admission into the man than blueberries. There are asking eyes, asserting eyes, prowling eyes; and eyes full of fate,—some of good and some of sinister omen. 6. I have seen manners that make a similar impression with personal beauty; that give the like exhilaration, and refine us like that; and, in memorable experiences, they are suddenly better than beauty, and make that superfluous and ugly. But they must be marked by fine perception, the acquaintance with real beauty. They must always show self-control: you shall not be facile, apologetic, or leaky, but king over your word; and every gesture and action shall indicate power at rest. Then they must be inspired by the good heart. 7. There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. 8. There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have a headache, or sciatica, or leprosy, or thunderstroke, I beseech you to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all the housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts, by corruption and groans. Come out of the azure. Love the day. Do not leave the sky out of your landscape. From EMERSON'S ESSAYS. Distinct articulation is essential to good pronunciation. The best way of training the organs of articulation is by means of forcible phonic spelling, first in concert, and, afterwards, individually. In the following exercises, first pronounce each word clearly and forcibly, then spell it by sound, and pronounce it again. Teachers not familiar with phonic spelling can restrict the exercises to forcible pronunciation. br rb dr rd rdz rz rt spr skw sks skt sps I. EXERCISES IN ARTICULATION. broom, brute, breathe, bread, brown. spring, sprăng, sprùng, sprite, sprāy. sts thr lm zm wh whêre, wheat, when, which, whạt, wheel. lāden, sådden, glădden, bûrden, härden. heärken, tāken, wäken, wēaken, liken. ōpen, hǎppen, weapon, cheapen, deepen. heaven, seven, elěven, oven, given. dn kn pn vn II. ORTHOEPY. 1. WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED [By giving the wrong vowel sound]. First, require the class to pronounce in concert; then allow each pupil in turn to pronounce one or more words. fi nä ́le mã tron man'gy pōr'trait pre face pre ́late rǎth ́er ră'tion al răil ́ler y sälve sauce sau çer sau'sage seârçe seârçe ́ly sau cy stånch staff |