Oh, see! the snow is falling now, It powders all the trees; Its flakes abound, and all around A ladder leans against the stack, and a man is standing near it. cut some more hay. This man has come out to His dog is standing near him. The man has been up the ladder, and has cut down as much hay as he can carry, and has tied it up in a bundle. You can see the bundle lying on the snow near him. LESSON XVII. THE WAY TO BE HAPPY. A hermit there was, who lived in a grot, And this answer he gave, when I asked him to tell: LESSON XVIII. WHAT IS EARTH? What do you ask?* What is the earth on which we live'? It is just what we make it. it for one thing, and some for another'. Some use If the school-boy thinks of nothing, and cares for nothing but play', then the earth is to him. merely a place for play'. If a man places all his thoughts upon getting riches', and cares for nothing else', then the earth is to him merely a place for making money'. What is earth', school-boy' ?-A place for my play'. *In this case the word "ask" takes the rising inflection, in accordance with the Note to Rule III., page 22. Several of the Rules are very happily illustrated in this Lesson. RULE IX.-Expressions of tender emotion, such as grief, pity, kindness, gentle joy, a gentle reproof, gentle appeal, gentle entreaty or expostulation, etc., commonly require a gentle rising inflection. EXAMPLES.-Mary'! Mary'! do' not do so'. My mother', when I learned that thou wast dead', Wretch even then', life's journey just begun'? RULE X.-Expressions of strong emotion, such as the language of exclamation not designed as a question, authority, surprise, distress, denunciation, earnest entreaty, reproach, terror, anger, hatred, envy, revenge, etc., require the falling inflection. EXAMPLES.-What a piece of work is man'! How noble in reason'! how infinite in faculties'! In action', how like an angel'! In apprehension', how like a God'! Woe unto you, Pharisees'! woe unto you, Scribes'! 1 NOTE.—But when exclamatory sentences become questions, they require the rising inflection. EXAMPLES.-What are you saying'! Where are you going'! They planted by your care'! No'; your oppressions' planted them in America'. LESSON I. OLD AGE AND YOUTH. Who is it that sits in the old arm-chair? You can see, by her face covered with wrinkles', by her long and bony fingers', and by her dim eye', that she is nearly at the end' of the journey of life'. How feeble she is! How old and weary she looks! How her steps totter when she walks'! She will soon sink into the grave'! Was she not once as young as you are'? Do you see her little grand-daughter by her side'? The little girl looks up into the face of her grandmother, and says, "Grandma', does that noise hurt you'? Do you want Charley to stop'?" Yes, Charley', why do you do so? Do not make such a noise'. Do not blow that noisy thing in the house'. Do not beat that drum here'. Charley', Charley', do' put them away`.* * The last sentence may become sufficiently intensive, and the entreaty sufficiently earnest and commanding, to require the falling inflection. A more earnest request -in the nature of a commandwould have required the falling inflection in the preceding sentences also. Thus, "Do not make such a noise'." But this would not have been the tone of affectionate entreaty. LESSON II. DON'T KILL THE BIRDS.* The little birds have been away during the win ter'; and now that the chilling storms of winter are over, they have come back again. How sweetly they sing'! Little boys', don't kill the birds'. There are the swallows. The air seems to be full of them. They were here last summer', but they went away before winter came'. They went a long way to the south', where it was warm'. *This is the language of authority, and must close with the falling inflection, in accordance with Rule X. But the sentences in the last verse of Lesson II. (except questions), and nearly all the sentences in Lesson III., are supposed to be in the language of earnest entreaty, and therefore require the rising inflection, in accordance with Rule IX. |