Parker's Second Reader Part 3

11. It was a very large one, with very large letters; and as I was very fond of hearing them read, and of looking over the book while some one was reading aloud, I noticed that whenever the reader came to the letters e, a, u, he called them O; and thus I found out that water, in their language, was called O, but was spelt e, a, u.

12. In the same manner, I found out the words, or names, which they gave to bread, and sugar, and b.u.t.ter, and meat, and figs, and oranges, and lemons, and pine-apples.

13. And now, perhaps, you may be able to find out how the little Spanish girl, mentioned in the last lesson, learned the meaning of English words that she had never heard until she came to live in the family where nothing but English was spoken.

14. She was obliged to listen, when any one spoke, and watch to see what was wanted; and in the same manner in which I found out the meaning of O, and what to call bread, and sugar, and b.u.t.ter, and meat, and figs, and oranges, and other fruits, she learned to call things by their English names.

15. But, in order to do this, she was obliged to listen very attentively, to try to remember every new name that she learned; and, by so doing, in less than a year she could talk almost as plainly as any one in the house.

16. It was very easy for her to learn the names of things, because she heard them spoken very often. Such words as _chair_, _table_, _water_, _sugar_, _cake_, _potato_, _pudding_, and other words which are the names of things she could see, she learned very quickly.

17. But such words as _come_ and _go_, or _run_ and _walk_, and the little words _to_ and _from_, and _over_ and _under_, or such words as _quickly_ and _slowly_, and many other words of the same kind, she could not learn so easily.

18. In the next lesson perhaps you will find out how she learned the meaning of these words.

LESSON IX.

_The same subject, continued._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. There was a small family living very near to your residence, my young friends who are reading this lesson, consisting of the father, the mother, and four young children.

2. The oldest was a boy of twelve years old, the next was a little girl of about eight, the third was another pretty little girl of six, and the youngest was an infant boy, only nine months old.

3. As you may well suppose, the baby, as he was called, was the delight, not only of the father and the mother, but also of his elder brother and his two sisters.

4. The oldest brother had a dog whose name was Guido,--an Italian name, which is p.r.o.nounced as if it were spelt Gwe'do.

5. The dog had learned to love the dear little baby as much as the rest of the family; and very often, when he was lying on the floor, the baby would pull his tail, or his ears, or put his little hand into the creature's mouth, and Guido would play as gently with him as if he knew that the baby was a very tender little thing, and could not bear any rough treatment.

6. Nothing pleased the whole family, and Guido among the rest, so much, as to hear the baby try to say _papa_, and _mamma_, and _bub_, and _sis_; for he could not say _brother_, nor _sister_, nor p.r.o.nounce any other words plainly.

7. The youngest sister was very fond of making him say these words; and every time the little creature repeated them to her, she would throw her arms around his little neck, and hug and kiss him with all the affectionate love her little heart could express.

8. She often used to dress her little doll as prettily as she knew how; tying its frock on one day with a pretty blue ribbon, and on another with a red one; for she had noticed, that whenever the doll was newly dressed, the dear little baby would look very steadily at it, and hold out its little arms towards it; and then she would carry it to her little brother, and say to him, "Dolly,--pretty dolly,--bub want to see dolly?"

9. One day she had dressed her doll in a very bright new dress, with very gay ribbons, and was carrying it towards her father to show it to him, when suddenly she heard the baby cry out, "Dolly!"

10. She immediately ran with delight to her little brother, holding up the doll in its new s.h.i.+ning dress, and repeated her usual words, "Dolly,--bub want dolly?"

11. The baby, delighted, looked up in its mother's face, and laughed, and crowed, and giggled, and in its delight again repeated the word "Dolly!"

12. Pleased with her success, the little sister was unwearied in her efforts to make her little brother repeat other words; and day by day she was gratified to find the list of words which he lisped was growing in length.

13. By the unwearied endeavors of father, mother, brother and sisters, this pretty little baby, by the time that it was three years old, could speak plainly anything that was repeated to him, and had learned the names of almost everything that he saw about the house, the yard, and the street.

14. But it was observed that Guido, the dog, although he could not speak a word, had also learned the names of many things; and when George, the oldest son, told him to go and bring his ball to him, Guido would wag his tail, and go up into George's chamber, and look about the room until he had found the ball; and then he would run down the stairs, and dropping the ball at his young master's feet, look up in his face, expecting that George would throw it down for him to catch again.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

15. The baby, however, learnt words and names much faster than Guido; for although Guido knew as much as any dog knows, yet dogs are different creatures from children, and cannot learn so much nor so fast as children can, because it has not pleased G.o.d to give them the same powers.

16. Now, perhaps you may wish to know who this interesting family were of whom I have been speaking; and you will probably be surprised to learn, that all I have told you about this little baby is true of every little baby, and that the manner that every infant is taught to speak is the same.

17. It is the same manner as that in which the little Spanish girl, mentioned in the seventh lesson, was taught to speak the English language.

LESSON X.

_Words._--ORIGINAL.

1. I told you, in the last lesson, how an infant child first learned to speak, when it was taught by its father and mother, and brother and sisters.

2. I intend to show you, in this lesson, how the little child learned the meaning of a great many words himself, without the a.s.sistance of any one else.

3. He was very fond of Guido, the dog, and watched everything he did, especially when his brother George was playing with him.

4. When George called Guido, and said to the dog, "_Come here_, Guido,"

the little boy could not help noticing that Guido _went to_ George.

5. When George's father or mother called George, and said, "Come here, George," the little child saw that George _went to_ his father, or his mother.

6. Now, n.o.body told the little child what George, or his father, or his mother, meant by the word _come_; but he always saw, that when any one said to another, "_Come_," that the one who was spoken to always _moved towards_ the person who called him, and in this way the little child found out what his father or his mother meant by the word _come_.

7. It was in this way, my young friend who are reading this lesson, that you, yourself, learned the meaning of most of the words that you know.

8. When you were a little child, like the infant of whom I have been speaking, you knew no more about words, or about speaking, than he did.

9. But, by hearing others speak and use words, you learned to use them yourself; and there is no word ever used, either in books or anywhere else, that you cannot find out its meaning, provided that you hear it used frequently, and by different persons.

10. I will now give you an example, to show you what I mean. I will give you a word that you probably never heard of before; and although I shall not tell you what the word means, I think you will find it out yourself, before you have read many more lines of this lesson.

11. The word _hippoi_ is the word that I shall choose, because I know that you do not know the meaning of it; but I wish you to read the following sentences in which the word is used, and I think that you will find out what _hippoi_ means, before you have read them all.

12. In California, and in Mexico, and in most parts of South America, there are many wild _hippoi_, which feed on the gra.s.s that grows wild there.

13. The Indians hunt the _hippoi_; and when they catch them, they tame them, and put bridles on their heads, and bits in their mouths, and saddles on their backs, and ride on them.

14. A carriage, with four white _hippoi_, has just pa.s.sed by the window, and one of the _hippoi_ has dropped his shoe. The coachman must take him to the blacksmith, to have the shoe put on.