صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

1st. To prevent too frequent a recurrence of pauses; as,

Her lover sinks--she sheds no ill-timed tear;
Her chief is slain-she fills his fatal post;
Her fellows flee-she checks their base career;
The foe retires-she heads the rallying host.

2d. To produce a slighter disjunction than would be made by a pause; and thus at once to separate and unite; as,

Would you kill your friend and benefactor? Would you practice hypocrisy and smile in his face, while your conspiracy is ripening?

3d. To break up the current of sound into small portions, which can be easily managed by the speaker, without the abruptness which would result from pausing wherever this relief was needed; and to give ease in speaking; as,

That lame man, by the field tent, is untainted with the crime of blood, and free from any stain of treason.

RULE.

Whenever a preposition is followed by as many as three or four words which depend upon it, the word preceding the preposition will either have suspensive quantity, or else a pause; as,

He is the pride of the whole country.

Most of the rules given above, and especially those respecting the emphatic nominative and contrasted words, are illustrated by the following

EXERCISE.

1. It matters very little what immediate spot may have been the birth-place of such a man as Washington. No people can claim no country can appropriate him. The

boon of Providence to the human race his fame is eter nity and his dwelling-place

creation.

2. Though it was the defeat of our arms and the dis

[blocks in formation]

as if nature was endeavoring to improve upon herself that all the virtues of the ancient world

and

were but so many

of

Scipio it was re

studies preparatory to the patriot of the new. Individual instances no doubt there were splendid exemplifications some single qualification. Cæsar was merciful ~ was continent Hannibal was patient. But served for Washington to blend them all in one and like the lovely master-piece of the Grecian artist to exhibit in one glow of associated beauty the pride of every model and the perfection of every master.

4. As a general he marshaled the peasant into a vetcran and supplied by discipline the absence of experience. As a statesman he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advantage. And such was the wisdom of his views and the philosophy of and the statesman

his counsels

almost added

that to the soldier

the character of the sage.

5. A conqueror

he

he was untainted with the crime of blood he was free from any stain of treason

a revolutionist for aggression commenced the contest and his country called him to the field. Liberty unsheathed his sword neces

[blocks in formation]

hesitation. Who like Washington after having emancipated a hemisphere resigned its crown and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land he might almost be said to have

7. How shall we rank thee

created?

upon glory's page,

and just less than sage! reflects less praise on thee,

Thou more than soldier

All thou hast been

Far less

than all thou hast forborne to be.

OBSERVATION TO TEACHERS.

In order to form finished readers, it will be necessary, after pupils have thoroughly mastered Part First, for them frequently to review the more important elements of clocution. In Part Second, they should be required to study each reading lesson, and learn the definitions and pronunciation of the words given at the bottom of the pages, before attempting to read. The judgment and taste of the pupils should constantly be called into exercise, by requiring them to determine what principle, or principles, of clocution, each reading lesson is best adapted to illustrate.

THE

NATIONAL FOURTH READER.

THE

PART II.

EXERCISES IN READING.

1. SPRING.

HE old chroniclers' made the year begin in the season of frosts; and they have launched us upon the current2 of the months, from the snowy banks of January. I love better to count time from spring to spring; it seems to me far more cheerful, to reckon the year by blossoms, than by blight.

2. Bernardin de St. Pierre, in his sweet story of Virginia, makes the bloom of the cocoa-tree, or the growth of the banana,' a yearly and a loved monitor" of the passage of her life. How cold and cheerless in the comparison, would be the icy chronology of the North ;- -So many years have I seen the lakes

locked, and the foliage die!

3. The budding and blooming of spring, seem to belong properly to the opening of the months. It is the season of the quickest expansion, of the warmest blood, of the readiest growth; it is the boy-age of the year. The birds sing in chōrus in the spring-just as children prattle; the brooks run full-like the overflow of young hearts; the showers drop easily--as young

'Chron' i clers, historians.- Cůr' rent, a regular flow, or onward movement; progress.--3James H. Bernardin de St. Pierre, the celebrated author of "Paul and Virginia," lived between 1737 and 1813.—* Banå'na, a tall West India plant, and its fruit, which is valued for food.— 'Môn' i tor, an adviser.--- Chro nol' o gy, the method of computing time, and ascertaining the dates of events. Ex pån' sion, spreading cut, like

the opening of the leaves of a flower.

the valley, to that spot of sky where the company of clouds is loitering; and with an easy shifting of the helm,' the fleet of swimmers come drifting over you, and drop their burden into the dancing pools, and make the flowers glisten, and the eaves drip with their crystal bounty. The cattle linger still, cropping the new-come grass; and childhood laughs joyously at the warm rain;—or under the cottage roof, catches, with eager ear, the patter of its fall.

D. G. MITCHELL.

[blocks in formation]

THE

Are with us once again,

And promises of summer spot

The hill-side and the plain.

2. The clouds around the mountain tops
Are riding on the breeze,

Their trailing ǎzure3 trains of mist
Are tangled in the trees.

3. The snow-drifts, which have lain so long,
Haunting the hidden nooks,

Like guilty ghosts have slipp'd away,
Unseen into the brooks.

4. The streams are fed with generous rains,
They drink the way-side springs,
And flutter down from crag to crag,
Upon their foamy wings.

5. Through all the long wet nights they brawl,

By mountain homes remote,

Till woodmen in their sleep behold

Their ample rafts afloat.

6

'Helm, an instrument for steering a boat; here means direction given to the clouds.-2Spot, mark.--3 Azure (åz' èr), light-blue; sky-colored. - Håunt' ing, intruding on; disturbing; frequenting, as an apparition or spirit. Ghost, apparition; the soul of a person who is dead.-Brawl, make a great noise.

« السابقةمتابعة »