Parker's Second Reader Part 5

3. To show you, first, in how many different ways the same letters are p.r.o.nounced in different words, I shall take the letters o, u, g, h.

4. The letters _o, u, g, h_, are sounded or p.r.o.nounced like the letter _o_ alone, in the word _though_. The letters _o, u, g, h_, are p.r.o.nounced like _uf_, in the word _tough_.

5. In the word _cough_, the letters _o, u, g, h_, are p.r.o.nounced like _off_. In the words _slough_ and _plough_, the letters _o, u, g, h_, are p.r.o.nounced like _ow_; and in the word _through_, they are p.r.o.nounced like _ew_, or like _u_.

6. In the word _hiccough_ the letters _ough_ are p.r.o.nounced like _up_--and in the word _lough_, the letters are p.r.o.nounced like _lok_.

7. There are many words which end with a sound like _shun_; and this syllable is spelled in many different ways, as you will see in the following example.

8. In the words _ocean_, _motion_, _mansion_, _physician_, _halcyon_, _Parna.s.sian_, _Christian_, and many other such words, the last syllable is p.r.o.nounced as if it were spelled _shun_.

9. You see, then, that in some words a syllable sounding very much like _shun_ is spelled

_cean_, as in ocean; in some it is spelled _tion_, as in nation; in some it is spelled _sion_, as in mansion; in some it is spelled _cian_, as in physician; in some it is spelled _cyon_, as in halcyon; in some it is spelled _sian_, as in Parna.s.sian.

10. It is such things as these which make both reading and spelling very hard lessons for young children. If they think of them all at once, as the pendulum did of the eighty-six thousand times that it had to swing in twenty-four hours, it is no wonder if they feel discouraged, and say, I can't get these hard lessons.

11. But you must recollect that, as the pendulum, every time it had to swing, had a moment given it to swing in, so you also have a moment given you to learn everything in; and if you get a little at a time, you will, in the end, finish it all, if it be ever so large.

12. You have seen the workman engaged in building a brick house. He takes one brick at a time, and lays it on the mortar, smoothing the mortar with his trowel; and then he takes another brick, and another, until he has made a long row for the side of the house.

13. He then takes another brick, and lays that on the first row; and continues laying brick after brick, until the house gradually rises to its proper height.

14. Now, if the workman had said that he could never lay so many bricks, the house would never have been built; but he knew that, although he could lay but one brick at a time, yet, by continuing to lay them, one by one, the house would at last be finished.

15. There are some children, who live as much as a mile, or a half of a mile, from the school-house. If these children were told that they must step forward with first one foot and then the other, and must take three or four thousand steps, before they could reach the school-house, they would probably be very much discouraged, every morning, before they set out, and would say to their mothers, Mother, I can't go to school,--it is so far; I must put out one foot, and drag the other after it, three thousand times, before I can get there.

16. You see, then, that although it may appear to be a very hard thing to learn to read and to spell so many words as there are in large books, yet you are required to learn but a few of them at a time; and if there were twice as many as there are, you will learn them all, in time.

17. I shall tell you a story, in the next lesson, to show you how important it is to know how to spell.

LESSON XIII.

_Importance of Learning to Spell._--ORIGINAL VERSION.

1. A rich man, whose education had been neglected in early life, and who was, of course, very ignorant of many things which even little boys and girls among us now-a-days know very well, lived in a large house, with very handsome furniture in it.

2. He kept a carriage, and many servants, some of whom were very much better educated than he was himself.

3. This rich man had been invited out many times to dine with his neighbors; and he observed that at the dinners to which he was invited there were turkeys, and ducks, and chickens, as well as partridges, and quails, and woodc.o.c.ks, together with salmon, and trout, and pickerel,--with roasted beef, and lamb, and mutton, and pork.

4. But he noticed that every one seemed to be more fond of chickens than anything else, but that they also ate of the ducks and the turkeys.

5. He, one day, determined to invite his friends to dine with him, in return for their civilities in inviting him; and he made up his mind to have an abundance of those things, in particular, of which he had observed his friends to be most fond.

6. He accordingly sent his servant to market, to buy his dinner; and, for fear the servant should make any mistake, he wrote his directions on paper, and, giving the paper, with some money, to the servant, he sent him to the market.

7. The servant took the paper and the money, and set off. Just before he reached the market, he opened the paper, to see what his master had written.

8. But his master wrote so very badly, it took him a long time to find out what was written on the paper; but, at last, he contrived to make it out, as follows:

9. "Dukes would be preferred to Turks; but Chittens would be better than either."

10. What his master meant by dukes, and turks, and chittens, he could not guess. No such things were for sale at the market, and he did not dare to return home without buying something.

11. As he could find nothing like dukes nor turks, he happened to see a poor woman carrying home a basket full of kittens. This was the most like _chittens_ of anything he could find; and not being able to get what his master had written for, he thought his master meant kittens. He therefore bought the basket of kittens, and carried them home for his master's dinner.

LESSON XIV.

_Demos'thenes._--ORIGINAL.

1. There lived, a great many years ago, in Athens, one of the most renowned cities of Greece, a very celebrated orator, whose name was Demos'thenes.

2. But you will not understand what an _orator_ is, until you are told that it means a person who speaks before a large number of people, to persuade them what to do, or to give them information, or good advice.

3. Thus, when a minister or clergyman preaches a good sermon, and speaks in such a manner as to please all who hear him, convincing them of their duty, and persuading them to do it, he is called an orator.

4. Demos'thenes was not a clergyman, or minister, but he spoke before large a.s.semblies of the Athenians, and they were very much delighted to hear him. Whenever it was known that he intended to speak in public, every one was anxious to hear him.

5. Now, I wish to show you how hard he worked, and what he did, to become a great orator.

6. In the first place, then, he had a very weak voice, and could not speak loud enough to be heard by a large a.s.sembly; and, besides this, he was very much troubled with shortness of breath. These were very great discouragements, and had he not labored very hard to overcome them, he never could have succeeded.

7. To cure his shortness of breath, he used to go up and down stairs very frequently, and run up steep and uneven places; and to strengthen his voice, he often went to the sea-sh.o.r.e, when the waves were very noisy and violent, and talked aloud to them, so that he could hear his own voice above the noise of the waters.

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8. He could not speak the letter _r_ plainly, but p.r.o.nounced it very much as you have heard some little boys and girls p.r.o.nounce it, when they say a _wed wose_ for a _red rose_, or a _wipe cherwy_ instead of a _ripe cherry_.

9. Besides this, he stammered, or stuttered, very badly. To cure himself of these faults in speaking, he used to fill his mouth full of pebbles, and try to speak with them in his mouth.

10. He had a habit, also, of making up faces, when he was trying to speak hard words; and, in order to cure himself of this, he used to practice speaking before a looking-gla.s.s, that he might see himself, and try to correct the habit.

11. To break himself of a habit he had of shrugging up his shoulders, and making himself appear hump-backed, he hung up a sword over his back, so that it might p.r.i.c.k him, with its sharp point, whenever he did so.

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12. He shut himself up in a cave under ground, and, in order to confine himself there to his studies, he shaved the hair off of one half of his head, so that he might be ashamed to go out among men.

13. It was in this way that this great man overcame all of his difficulties, and, at last, became one of the greatest orators that have ever lived.