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TRANSCRIPT
EVERYDAY ENGL I SH
BOOK ONE
LANGUAGE LESSONS
FOR INTERMED IATE GRADES
BY
JEAN SHERWOOD RANKIN
WITH A FOREWORD BY
R ICHARD BURTONProfessor o f the English Language and Literature in the University o f M innesota
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHTED BY
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY1902
FOREWORD
The essential facts about language offer a practical problemrather than a science . Teaching should be synthetic , illustrative ,not the harmful and apparently unrelated analy sis of the theoryridden student .
The prope r emphasis should be put upon custom , usage , inall matters of speech . The more mature the scholar , the moreshould rules be brought into the foreground and the philosophy o f
language be presented ; whereas with younger students the rightattitude toward speech can be largely inculcated in the vita l wayof i l lustration and example , so that the interest is ma inta ined and
the fact brought home to the mind that what is learned has an
organic relation to da i ly living . To make good speech a sor t of
social obl igation wi l l impress a chi ld infinitely more than a l l theabstractions known as rules o f grammar .
There is no more interesting , even fascinating subj ect thanthat o f language use , whether relative to the o ld or young . Yet
vital books about language are the exception . There seems to be
a wellnigh fata l pena lty attached to the handl ing of such a theme ;to wit , the dry asdu st manner , a lack o f a l l freshness , color and
movement . This is a l l the stranger since we are all impl icated inthe questions o f the u se and abuse o f the mother tongue and notopic is more eagerly discussed or awakens a more a lert attention .
The l ittle vo lume here fo l lowing contains , i t seems to me , a
thoroughly acceptab l e treatment o f the principles o f language u sefor the guidance of chi ldren .
RICHARD BURTON .
The Un iver si ty of M innesota ,
M inneapolis .
445484
PREFACE
To those men and women , not a few , educators in fa ct as wel las name , who have freely assisted in the preparation o f this book ,by advice , by warning , and by making experimental test of thelessons and methods herein presented , a perpetual debt of obligation is glad ly acknowledged . In an undertaking p lainly iconoclastic , w ithout const ant cordia l encouragement from practicedworkers in the schoolroom even an unbounded fa ith in bettermethods might have given place t o discouragement . Altho theeducational press , representing the best l iterary culture of theUnited States , has long demanded the divorcing of language from
grammar in our intermediate school grades , y et heretofore nobook has answered this demand .
Aiming to become a direct means toward the betterment of
ou r living speech , Every day English begs to tell to you itsown simple story .
JEAN SHERWOOD RANKIN .
M inneapolis , M innesota .
M ay 30 ,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I . The Beginnings of SpeechII . First WordsIII . The Chief Use of LanguageIV . Living Language and I ts Law
V . A Ta lk About NamesVI . Your Own NamesVII . Class Names and Indi vidua lNames
VIII . Genera l and Spec ia l Terms
Parts and Materi a ls of ObjectsX . On Memorizing : What and How
XI A Letter D iaryXII . A Poem-StudyXIII . On Letter WritingXIV. On the Use of Ab
o
brev ia tions
XV . Picture Words and Word Pic turesXVI . Upon the ApostropheXVII . Our English and I ts Spelling : The Use of a Dic tiona ryXVIII . Certain Troublesome WordsXIX . Upon Certa in Niceties of Speech
Everyday Errors and Their CauseXXI . The Litera l and the FigurativeXXII . The Pleasure Derived from FiguresMEMORY GEMSAPPEND IX
For P up ils’
Ref erenceForms f or Letters and NotesDirections f or Capitali zationDirections for PunctuationList of Abbreviat ions in Common Use
For Teachers ; Helps and S uggestions
Notes Upon Text of LessonsPoems Suitable for Pupi ls ’ Reading 0 1 foi Class StudyIn Genera lFundamenta l Truths Concerning Language WorkIncidenta l Hints Upon MethodsSpec Ific SuggestionsSchoo l Libra ries and Pupi ls ’ Reading
INDEX
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNINGS OF SPEECH
AN INTRODUC TORY CHAT WITH CHILDREN
How many words do you suppose a child of ten or twelveyears uses as he has need ? [Guesses ] No wonder you guessfar f rom right
,for only lately have we begun to know much
about this matter . Probably each one of you knows about six
or seven thousand words . Yes , I said thousand, not hundred .
You look almost as if you did not believe this . Then I may
tell you that the average two-year-old child,if born of intell i
gent parents,uses about seven hundred different words . By
the time he is six months older he uses about fourteen hundreddifferent words in all . Of course he learns new words veryrapidly for the next few years
,and just how many he commands
at twelve years of age nobody yet knows ; but it is not lessthan the number I gave you .
You really look doubtful yet . So I shall tell you furtherthat one very bright child on his second birthday used overeight hundred difi erent words
,and must have known many
more that he did not use that day . You don ’t believe it ” ?Ah
,but you must believe it
,for a man sat quietly by all day
with pencil and paper and wrote down everything the child said .,
No wonder you are surprised. The man was surprised himself.
2 z tc z i EVERYDAY ENGLISH
A still more5
-wonderful case is that of V iola Olerich .
This little girl was adopted by a man who wished to test hisown ideas about teaching . He did not try to select a brightchild, and she was never made to study . When nearly twoyears old, she knew about twenty-five hundred diff erent namesand when three years old she could read well easy French
,
German,and English . Probably nearly all children could do
as well under similar conditions .Of course
,you do not use all your words in any one day
,
nor in any two days . But you will believe that you use a goodmany words in one day
,when I tell you that children of two
and one-half years babble away in baby - talk at the rate often thousand words a day . I for one am glad that they soonlearn to say less and to think more . What a noise we shouldhave
,if you should all keep on chattering at that rate !Suppose we had no words to talk with, what should We
do then ? “Make signs,
” you say . Yes,we could use signs
,
to be sure ; but would that be as convenient and satisfactory asis the way we have of talking now ? You do not look quitesu re about this
,so suppose you try for one recess, or for one
meal at home,to use only a sign language . How many will
try ? You may tell in class tomorrow how you liked this sortof language .
Perhaps no one has ever told you that long, long ago, ourvery remote forefathers
,who were savage men living in caves
and using implements of stone, talked to one another wholly bygestures and grimaces . Slowly, very slowly, they began to usesounds also for certain obj ects and actions, and to combinewords with gestures .
'
Then as they gained more and morewords
,they had less and less use for signs
,which at last were
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 3
dropped . Thus gesture language passed slowly into voicelanguage
,and this has grown, till it is like an immense tree with
thousands of branches and millions of leaves .Suppose that a family of very young children, even two or
three in number, were to be left orphans in some climate wherefruits and roots and warm sunshine should all combine to savethem from perishing would these children gradually make anew language for themselves You think they would ; andyou think right . Some very wise men believe that j ust in thisway have grown up the wholly different languages spoken bythe tribes of Indians in our western states .
But suppose one, only one very young child were to be leftforever alone
,would he
,do you think
,make himself a language
,
even of signs ? You shake your heads as if a little in doubt .Why would he not do so ? “ Because he has no one to talkwith
,
” you reply. I see you are ready now to tell me whylanguage has grown . Because men wished to say things to oneanother
,
” you answer . That is a good reason and the true one,
altho it is not the only one for our using language today .
How is it that children quickly come to know so manywords ? Thru their ears,
” you say . Very true,so it is to
be hoped that you all have good ears . Do you know what adeaf-mute is A child, as bright as any one of you, perhaps,who cannot hear words and so cannot learn to speak them .
Could you have learned to talk, if you had been born deaf ?Are you not glad that a way has been found to teach all formsof language to deaf-mutes
Sometimes a child who is growing deaf rapidly is sent to a
school where he is to be taught to “ read the lips . Can youdo this ? Try at recess to see whether or not you can ,
4 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Another question : Do animals have language Is it likeours ? When the dog begs
,
”dOes he use a language ? When
the pony went alone to the blacksmith to have a foot shod, didhe use language ? Just what is the difference between theirlanguage and ours ? You say
,
“They have no words .” Thatis it : not one new word has yet been made by all the animalstha t have ever lived . What ! did one little girl say her kittysays “Mew True
,but this sound is the whole of kitty’ s
language, and is not a word . Our words mew and bow-wow
do sound much like the sounds they name,but I think you
will not mistake one for the other .One thing more : what greater reason have we today for
wanting to know all about words than did those first people whohad to begin language ? We
“want to read books,you say .
Ah, yes ; we all want to read as well as talk, and so we need toknow all the good English words we possibly can and just howthey are used . Our English language is full of beautiful andwonderful things
,and no other study brings us more pleasure
than does this one about words and their use in good speech .
I give you here stories showing communication ”betweendogs, and examples of parrot-talk
A gentleman of wealth and position kept a number of dogs , amongthem a very large mast ifi and a Scotch terrier . At the close of one of
his summers in the country , he resolved to bring th i s terrier w ith him to
London . There being no ra i lway , the dog traveled w ith the servants in a
post-carriage , and, on h is arrival at the tOwn-hou se , _was brought ou t to
the stable , where a large Newfoundl and dog was kept as watch-dog . The
latter was not pleased by the intrusion ; and consequently the Scotchterrier had not been very long in his new home when this can ine masterof the stable , in the language of human beings , gave h im a soundthrash ing .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 5
The little an imal , of cour se , could never hOpe by h imself to chastisehis host for th is inhospitable welcome ; he passed the n igh t in a remotecorner, bu t in the morn ing cou ld not be f ound . On the th ird morn ingaf ter h is disappearance , however, he aga in appeared , but th is time not
alone ; for , to the amazement of every one , he entered the stable attendedby the b ig masti ff f rom Kent .
This great brute had no sooner arrived than he flew at the Newfoundland dog, who had so badly treated h is little f riend , and a severe contestensued , wh ich the little terrier h imself , seated at a short d istance , viewedw ith the utmost d ign ity and satisf act ion . The resu lt Of the battle wasthat the masti ff gave his opponent a tremendous beating ; and when he
had qu ite satisfied h imself , this great avenger f rom Kent scarcely wa itedto rece ive the recognition of h i s master, who had been sent for immediately on his arrival , bu t at once marched ou t of the stable , to the door ofwh ich the little terrier accompan ied h im , and was seen no more .
Some few days af terward , however, the gentleman received a letterfrom h i s steward in the country , informing him of the sudden appearanceo f the terr ierthere , and h is as sudden disappearance along w ith the largemast ifi ; and stating that the latter h ad rema ined away three or f ou r days ,during which they had searched in va in f or him , bu t that he had just thenreturned home aga in . It then ,
of course , became qu ite clear that the littledog, finding himself unable to pun i sh the town bully , had thought Of hi s“ b ig brother
”in the country , h ad traveled over the sixty miles which
separated them in order to ga in h i s ass i stance , and had recounted to himhis grievance ; i t was pla in also th at the masti ff h ad consented to come
and avenge h is old f riend , had traveled w ith h im to London , and , hav ingfulfilled his promi se , had returned home , leaving the little fellow f ree f romannoy ance in the future .
Condensed f r om Helping a Fr i end ,
" in Johannot’s Glimpses of the An ima te Wor ld .
”
A f ew years ago , I was the owner Of one [a parrot] wh ich we namedP0 11,
”to distingu ish her f rom “ Polly ,
”our other pet . She had lost her
beauty by a scald on the head , and never possessed the w inn ing way s qfher compan ion . She would , indeed , say , when the reason of her baldpate was asked , “ I
’
ve been scalded ; and whenever a bald-headed gentleReprinted by permiss ion o f th e publ ish ers , American Book Company .
6 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
man entered the room, she shouted to him, You ’ve been scalded , and
then , turn ing to her f riends wou ld cry out ,“ He
’
s been scalded !” She
coul d cry , “Hip, hip, hurrah ! three cheers for the queen !” cou ld sing and
dance to the tune of “ Polly , pu t the kettle on , we’
ll all have t ea ; and
would ask very peremptori ly for her meals , Thomas , f etch my dinnerPoll’s hungry !
”
She had one singul ar tra it : she caught everybody’
s laugh . I nevernoticed the pecu li arity of laughs in my f ami ly unti l Poll began to simu
late them . From the f emin ine g iggle to the masculine gu ffaw — f rom the
boisterou s laugh of the ch i ldren to the titter of the housema id , catch ingthe gamut of every member of our hou sehold , even to the suppressed hiccough of James the footman , whose good Engli sh breeding allowed only
the slightest demonstrat ion of any sentiment whatever Poll ” woulddeliver by the hour a series of laughs , which , amusing enough at first ,made her imitations at last an intolerable nu isance . When she once
began , noth ing woul d stop her . Indeed , when attacked by a gou t thatended her life , her very last breath shaped i tself into a giggle .
Whether i t i s possible entirely to eradicate bad habits in parrots isdoubtfu l . Capta in S impson u sed to duck his paroquet in the sea everyt ime i t swore an oath . The creature really connected an oath with a
dowse in the water , and gave up swearing . One day , in a f urious storm,
a man was washed overboard , and with great d ifficu lty was recovered . As
soon as he was drawn on deck , “ Polly kept hOpping around the circle ,shaking her head f rom S ide to s ide , and say ing gravely , You ’ve beenswearing ! you
’ve been swearing !”
A gentleman residing in Wi lmington , Delaware , owns an Amazonparrot . It possesses a fluency and variety of language rarely equ alled bythe Af rican gray . As soon a s her master returns f rom the office f or
d inner, Polly begins to salute h im in fondest expressions : “ Papa , dear,come and kiss your pretty green beauty ! Come in , come in , papa , andgive u s a ki ss , and a thousand more !” When the f ootman enters theroom , she say s to h im, bu t never to anyone else , “ Fetch my dinner,James — I
’~m hungry . Stup id f ellow ! I can
’t eat my head Off !”
To a
bachelor f riend , who f requently spends severa l weeks at the house , Pollyhas but one question , never pu t to any one else : Oh , you gay deceiver,
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 7
why did you promi se to marry me , and d idn ’t ? ” TO a gentleman,a
near ne ighbor , whom She had once overheard say ing , a t the after-dinnertable , “ The b ird ’s invaluable ; five hundred dollars wou ld not buy her ,
i f I owned her — would it , Polly ?”
she alway s addresses the sa lute themoment he appears , “ F ive hundred dollars woul d not buy Polly , i f youowned her ! Five hundred dollars ! Five hundred dollars ! Why , thebird ’s invaluable !”
Th i s Wi lmington parrot certainly d iscriminates between the sexesand between conditions in life . To a well-dressed young gentleman the
remark is , What a get -up! What a swe ll you are !”
To a young lady ,on the contrary , fondling and ki ssing , she say s , w ith great deference ,I s she not n ice ? — so n ice !
” Whereas , to a clergyman , who is detectedby h is dress , she i s exceedingly Off ensive , perpetually call ing ou t , Let
u s pray !”
Glory be to God !” Amen ! She was once lost , stayed
out over n ight , and g rief and searches ruled the d isconsolate household .
At daybreak, however, a workman , going to his j ob , was ha i led by Polly ,f rom a p ile of bricks , with the ca ll , Take me home ! Take me home !
”
Whether the n ight-chi lled b ird did or did not attach mean ing to the words ,i t i s certa in that the workman did , and tha t he made a good thing Ofbringing her home . I know of no gray parrot that has excelled th i s .
Condensed f rom Ta lki ng Bir ds” by N . S . D odge, in Johonnot
’s
Gimpses of the Anima te
EXERCIS ES
I . Or a l : A conversation lesson in which each pupilshall tell any story he knows illustrating the use of languageamong animals .
II . Suggested Supplemen tary Work : A reading lesson,
assigned for some future date,in which pupils may read short
selections found by themselves,illustrating the language of
bees,ants
,wasps, birds, cats, dogs, horses, monkeys, elephants,
or other animals .
Reprinted by permission o f the publishers , American Book Company .
CHAPTER II
FIRST WORDS
Who will tell today how you got on using only a gesturelanguage [Discussion] You say
' that you could beckon andcould Shake your fists ; you could Show anger and likes anddislikes . You could Show desires
,and affection for your
friends . I wish you now to tell something that you could notshow by signs . [Discussion ] I see you all agree that mostof the things learned at school could not be told by gesturelanguage .
Will you think for a moment about the way in whichcolored lights a re used to signa l trains ? Do you call this alanguage You know that ships say many things by means offlags
,and the weather bureau tells u s by flags also what the
weather will probably be . What is peculia r in all these systemsof signa ls ? You say that
“ they are a ll planned beforehand .
”
You are right : they all say a few things which are arrangedbeforehand . So these codes of signals are not languages .
On the whole,I j udge that you do not care to return to
the Sign language . I hOpe, however, that you will now feel adeeper interest in the natural Sign language used by your babybrothers and sisters . Some babies who are slow in learningwords
,manage to say a very great deal by theirpan tomimes of
signs .Can you tell me whether the makers of a language would
first make words for things seen , or for things not seen You
1O EVERYDAY ENGLISH
most children do . Sometimes, they manage to say a good dealwith Single words a lone . This is the way on e baby ta lked withthree words . He wan ted the man John to give the dog Jack abiscuit . He sa id : John ! Jack - biscuit and Johnu nderstood and Jack got the biscuit .
I hope you speak good English to your baby brothers andsisters . We should not forget that babies must learn overaga in a ll words that are first learned incorrectly . All baby-talkis pretty in babies
,but if kept up by a whole family as is some
times don e,the poor baby has a slow and hard time in learn ing
to talk well .You do not very often need to make names now
,for they
are ready made for your use . In fact,there are so many at
hand that it is often hard to choose one . Here is a little poemShowing just this thing
CHOOS ING A NAME
I’
v e a new -born baby s i ster,I w as n igh the first that ki ssed herWhen the nursing-woman brought herTO papa h i s in f ant daughter !And papa has made the offer,I sha ll have the n aming of her .
Now I wonder what would plea se herCharlotte , Julia , or Lou i sa ?Ann and Mary , they
’re too common ;
Joan ’
s too forma l f or a woman ;
Jane ’s a,prettier n ame , bes ide ;
But we had a Jane that died .
They wou ld say , i f’twas Rebecca ,
That she wa s a little Quaker .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 1 1
Ed ith ’
s pretty , bu t that looksBetter in old English books :Ellen ’
s lef t off long ago ;
Blanche i s out of f ash ion now .
None that I have named as yet
Are so good a s Margaret .Emi ly is neat and fin e ;What do you think of Caroline ?How I
’
m puzzled and perplexedWhat to choose or thi nk of next !I am in a little f everLest the n ame that I shou ld give herShould d isgrace her or de fame her
I w il l leave papa to n ame her !
M ary Lamb.
Which names were thought too common ? Which onewas out of fashion Which is a beautiful old English nameWhich one means the same as Jane Did you pronounce it inone syllable as you ought here Do you know what Margaretmeans ? Which one seemed to be best suited to a Quakerbaby Could you choose a name for a baby more quickly thanthis child did? I hOpe you pronounced papa properly . Thispoem was written by an English lady
,and in England all people
say mamma and papa. Here in our country,especially in the
West,it is more common to say mamma and papa ; so both
ways are right . But it is important to read the lines here asthe writer wrote them
,else you spoil the r hy thm,
or regularflow of the verse . Listen to your own voice as you read thelines
,pronouncing papa first one way and then the other .
Which way reads most easily and smoothly ? Mary Lamb,of
course,said papa. The story of Mary Lamb ’ s life is most sad
1 2 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
and dreadful,yet beautiful . Perhaps you can find someone who
will tell you about it , or you may hunt it up in your schoollibrary . Her story is also the story of a brother ’s love . If youwill learn that story quite fully
,one of you may tell it to the
class some day .
EXERC IS ES
I . M en ta l : Decide for yourselves which you like thebetter
,the poem by Mary Lamb
,or these rimes by a later
writer . Can you give any reason for your preference ? Do
not try to decide after a single reading. What name was thefavorite one in bo th cases ?
HOW THEY NAMED THE BABY
They talked o f Medora , Au rora , and Flora ,Of Mabel and Marcia and M i ldred and M ay ;
Debated the question of Helen , Honora ,Clarissa , Cami lla , and Phy ll is and Fay .
They thought of Marcell a , Estella , and Bella ;Considered Cecilia , Jeanette , and Pau line
Alici a , Adela , Annette , Arabella ,And Ethel and Eun ice , Hortense and Irene .
One liked Theodora , . another Lenora ;Some argued for Edith and some for Ela ine ,
For Madel ine , Adeline , L i lly , and Lora ;And then , a f ter all , th ey decided on Jane .
Copyri gh ted by Judge Company and publ i sh ed by permiss ion o f Judge.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 13
II . Or a l : Tell the story of your own first name, afterlearning from your parents how you came to have it .
III. Or a l : Give the history of the names of your State,
county,and city
,after learning all you can about these from
persons who can inform you .
IV . Wr i tten : If there is a younger child in yourfamily
,write the story of Naming the Baby .
” If there isnot
,write Naming My Dog or Naming My Doll .
PRELUDE
Words , words ,Ye are l ike b irds .
IVou ld I might f old you ,
In my hands hold youTi ll y e were warm and your f eathers a -flu tter ;
Ti ll , in your throats ,Tremu lou s notes
Foretold the songs y e wou ld u tter .
Words , words ,Ye are all birds !
Wou ld y e might lingerHere on my finger ,
Till I ki ssed each , and then sent you a -wingingWi ld , perf ect flight ,Thr ough mom to n ight ,
Singing and Singing and singing !Josephine P reston P eabody .
* From “ The Way f arers , and reprin ted by permi ssion o f the publ ishers ,Small , M aynard Company .
CHAPTER III
THE CHIEF USE OF LANGUAGE
You have said that you wish to know words so that youmay read and may talk with your friends . There is anotherreason lying back of these
,a reason greater than all others .
You might not guess it,so I shall tell you . W
l
e need languagein order to think. Until you have a word
,or name, for an
obj ect,you can only think of that obj ect by means of a mind
picture . It would be a very slow and hard way of thinking ifwe had to wait to make a mind picture for every word we use .
Of course,we could do a little slow thinking in this way ; but,
without language,we could not have risen above our own dogs
and horses.You can see how this is
,if you recall again the child born
deaf. Perhaps for years he may be considered an imbecile,
while,in fact
,a ll he needs to arouse him to mind life is the gift
of words . Words are the tools with which he thinks . With thefirst word he learns
,he begins a new act which will end only
when he dies . He has left his mind-picture life and has beguna life of thought . You can see that every new word with itsmeaning gives him more power to think . Even if he neverlearns to’ speak
,his chance for happiness has largely increased
with this new power . .
.
To think is of itself a power,and to
learn to think clearly is the highest and best obj ect of ourstudy of English . When you come to writing, the all-import
14
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 15
ant thing is that you write as you think . Then your writingwill breathe with the breath of your own life .
No one has trouble in speaking or in writing clearly if hebut think clearly . Do you not see
,then
,that unless you know
words with which to think,
many words,good Words, all sorts
of words,so that you may think all sorts of things exactly as
you wish to' say them,you can never carry your own thoughts
clearly or well to the minds of other people So, we may say,the a im of your study of English is to give you command ofyour mother tongue
,to t he end that you may think clearly and
be happy . Yes,I mean j ust that . It is real j oy
,real happi
ness,to think . To sit in the room of your own soul and think
beautiful thoughts is one of the greatest j oys on earth . Youmay be your own best guest, if you have your mind madeready to entertain yourself . Then seize all new words as ifthey were bits of gold
,and hold them for your very own ; for
every one gives you more power to think . Put them into thestrong bank of your mind
,and your mind will pay you interest
on them as surely as if they were real gold .
In this English language you were born and reared in it
you read and talk and buy and sell and marry and die ; and allyour life long, you may praise God in it and for it , and chieflybecause you learn to think thru it . Ah
,yes
,it is a noble
l anguage ; there is no better on earth . Then decide now tomake it more and more your own day by day .
Perhaps you will understand all this more thoroly if Itell you the story of a child who coul d never have learned tothink without the gift of words .
Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880 . At the age ofnineteen months, she lost entirely, as the result of a severe
1 5 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
fever,the senses of sight and hearing . She was thus cut off
from the language of the seeing and hearing world,which is
written for the eye and spoken for the ear, but has no nativeform for the sense of touch alone .
The mind of the untaught deaf-mute is in about the samecondition as that of the child before it has learned speech . Upto seven years of age
,Helen Keller lived very much such a life
as a beautiful household pet might live,which had no means of
communication with its owners . At this age a teacher was prov ided for her . Here is Helen Keller ’s own account of theirfirst work together . You can read the whole story ( writtenwhen she was twelve years old ) in the You th
’
s Compan ion forJanuary 4
,1894 .
The morn ing a f ter teacher came , I went to her room . She
gave me a beauti fu l doll . Then teacher took my hand and
slowly made the letters d-o-l—l w ith her fingers , at the same time makingme touch the doll . Of course I did not know the motions meant letters ,I did not know what letters were ; but I was interested in the finger -playand-tried to imitate the motions , and I th ink I succeeded in spelling dollin a very little wh i le . Then I r an down sta irs to Show my new doll tomy mother, and I am su re she was surprised and pleased when I held up
my little hand and made the letters for de ll .That a f ternoon , bes ides ( loll , I learned to spell pin and ha t ; but I
did not understand that everyth ing h as a name . I had not the least ideathat my finger
-play was the magical key that was to un lock my m ind’
s
pri son door and open w ide the w indows of my sou l .Teacher had been w ith u s nearly two weeks , and I h ad learned
e ighteen or twenty words , before that thought flashed into my mind , asthe sun breaks upon the sleep ing world ; and in that moment of i llumination the secret of langu age was revealed to me , and I caught a glimpse of
the beautifu l country I wa s to explore .
My teacher had been try ing al l the morn ing to make me understand
18 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
teachers learned to read to her with the hand . She has hadvery many books printed in raised letters for her own u se
,and
she has had various sorts of typewriting machines,one of them
being for Greek and one for algebra . At seven teen,she took
the preparatory examinations for Radcliffe College,passing in
German,French
,Latin
,English
,Greek and Roman history .
In German and English she received “ honors for especiallyfine work . Two years later
,at nineteen
,after a year of rest
and a year of study,she passed triumphantly the examinations
for entrance to Radcliff e College,which are the same as those
given for entrance to Harvard. She wrote in elementary and
advanced Greek,advanced Latin
,algebra
,and geometry ; passed
in all,and with credit in advanced Latin .
If a girl without eyes or ears such as you possess can dothis
,what cannot seeing and hearing boys and girls accomplish
if they have the wi ll to doI shall give you one more selection of her own
,an extract
from her diary written when She was thirteen years old
Dea r D ia ry : Today i s the thi rteenth of October , 1893, and I h avesome very pleasant n ews f or you . My studi es began today , and I am
very , very glad . I study Arithmetic , Latin , History , Geography , and
Literature . I am glad , because I want to lear n more and more aboutevery th ing in thi s beauti fu l , wonderfu l world . Every day I find how littleI know ; f or I catch glimpses on all sides Of treasures Of h istory , langu age , and science , a beauti fu l world o f knowledge , and I long to see
every thing , know everything , and learn everything . I do not f eel discour aged when I think how much I h ave to learn , because I know the dearGod has given me an etern ity in whi ch to learn i t .
I u sed to say I did not like Arithmetic very well , bu t now I havechanged my mind ; f or I see what a good , u sefu l study i t i s . It helps me
to th ink clearly and logically and strengthens my mind in many ways . I
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 19
try to be very calm and patient now when the examples seem very hard ,bu t sometimes in Spite of my great effort to keep my mind in the rightplace , i t will flutter like a little bird in a cage and t ry to escape into the
pleasant sunshi ne ; f or n ice and u sef u l as Ari thmetic is , i t i s not a s interesting a s a beautif u l poem or a lovely story .
Latin i s a very beau ti ful language , and I hOpe I shall be able to
speak and read much of i t when I go home next Spring . Already I beginto f eel better acquainted with the grand Old heroes of Rome
, since I knowa li ttle o f the language in whi ch they thought and ta lked so long ago .
I love Literature and History too , because they teach me abou t thegreat things that h ave been thought and dreamed and achieved in the
world , and help me to understand how the law Of good workethincessantly ,
Without ha lting , withou t rest ;Planting seeds Of knowledge pure ,Through Earth to ripen , through Heaven endur e .
From “Helen Kel ler Souven i r N o . 2 , publ ished
by the Vol ta Burea u , Wa sh ington , D . C . , and
cited by permiss ion .
EXE RC IS ES
I . M en ta l : Imagine yourself a child,or a deaf-mute
,
who had never heard the word hor se, yet who had seen a horsemany times . Now try to imagine how you would have thoughtthe idea
,hor se
,without any word to name that idea .
II . Or a l,and then Wr i tten : Have you ever come into
contact with any other language than your own ? When andwhere How did it sound to you ? Relate your impressions .
She spoke not ; but , so richl y f raughtWith language are h er glance and smi le ,
That , when the curtain f ell , I thoughtShe had been talking all the whi le .
Fra nces Sargent Osgood .
CHAPTER IV
LIVING LANGUAGE AND ITS LAW
I told you that language had grown till it is somewhat likean immense tree . Now a tree, even one of the evergreen sortkeeps putting out new leaves and branches from year to year
,
while some of its old twigs and leaves die or get broken off .
This is j ust what every living language does . It adds newwords every year and it loses others . It changes the manner inwhich some of its words are used, and the form and the meaning of other words . New words and forms of Speech pass frommouth to mouth and from ear to ear, till presently they creepinto written speech also, and then they must be put into thenewest dictionaries . The last edition of Webster ’s International
(dated 1900) contains more words and phrases than thepreceding edition . Many of these words came in with theCuban and Philippine wars . Others have been made purposelyby men of science to name new things .
So, you see, it is really the spoken word in our languagethat throbs with life as if it were the strong heart of a greatanimal . Once let the spoken word cease, and growth andchange would cease also and our language would soon die .
Certain languages, as the Greek and the Latin , are called dead.
This is j ust because they cannot now grow or change with thechanging u se of men
,since they are no longer spoken by any
living people . That i s,they are now merely fixed forms
,
neither gaining new words nor losing old ones . They have no
20
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 2 1
further use in the world except upon the printed page . Youmay liken them to pressed flowers, or to the rich, dark wood ofold furniture
,or to pea rls and ivory
,all of which were once
parts of living growths .These languages died because new people with a new
speech came into the place of the elder race . They woii ld havebeen wholly lost to the world had they not been preserved forcenturies in old manuscripts . These languages are not rich inwords as compared with our own English . For over a thou sandyears they have stood still while man and civilization have goneon together . Then you can easily see how the whole of a deadlanguage could not possibly tell the story of one day of ourmodern life and thought . A day , no
,n ot even of an hour
or minute . A dead language may have a ll the beauty of oldmarbles and fossils bu t it no longer breathes with the breathof man ’s life .
We need not fear that our own language will die,so long
as men speak more than they write and think more than theyspeak . Moreover
,it is quite probable that English may yet be
the language of the world . It is certain that it is more widelyused today than any other language . You may be glad thatyou were born to speak a simple and easy tongue like English
,
rather than the far more difficult Russian or the altogetherdreadful Chinese . English is the most simple of all modernlanguages . It has dropped almost all unnecessary forms
,and it
is always making changes which tend to make it still moresimple .
And yet,altho simple
,our language is rich in words with
which you may express every possible shade of thought . Youmay often have the choice of half a dozen or more words
22 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
for the same idea,each difi er ing from the rest by some slight
shade of meaning . Such words’ are called synonyms,and give
us one hint as to why and how we may wisely study words .I II your study of words you wi ll need for constant refer
ence the best dictionary you can possibly afford . But do notfancy that the chief use of the dictionary is to tell you thepronunciation of words . It is important to have a refined andaccurate pronunciation
,but it is much more important to think
noble thoughts and to have sufficient words at command wherewith to express those thoughts .
It is easy to make rules for a dead language,but it is
impossible to make fixed rules for a living language . Theonly certain rule for all times and all cases is this : (Observethe bes t u se. Oi "
,in other words
,we say
,Use i s the law of
language?) This does not mean your use, or my use, or the use
of any Ch e person , but the continued use of the people as awhole .
To show you how this law works,I may tell you that use
has given many words a new life . That is to say , a word may
have seemed dead and gone out of u se,or obso lete
,when
,all
at once,it has been called back to new life by the touch of a
loving hand or the sound of a living voice . So,we see
,it was
not really dead after a ll . You will find many words in thedictionary marked obsolete . Remember that this does notmean that they are surely dead .
A matter determined by use is the method Of our capita liz at ion and punctuation . No two persons agree e xactly in thesematters
,yet a ll follow certain general rules . When the u se of
our best writers seems to vary,one is at liberty to consult his
own At all events,every one should follow some one
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 23
method and be consistent with himself . He may not do oneway today and another tomorrow .
Our very best modern books and magazines are printedwith great care, and furnish a good field for observation of theuse of our best writers .
The printing-press has done much to fix forms and toestablish uniform use everywhere
,and our di ctionaries have
determined the spelling . We may be glad that we usually haveonly one way to spell a word
,even if it be not always the best
way. In the legends of the Middle Ages, the hero Dietrich vonBern had his name spelled in eighty-five different ways ; and
Shakspere ’s name in’
his own day was spelled in thirty different ways .
If you will consult the large dictionaries,you may see how
the form of English has gradually changed since the time whenit began to be written at a ll . Remember that our English oftoday is a very modern language
,only about six hundred years
old. To show you how different it has been from ~ your ownspeech
,I give you here an example of English as written three
hundred fifty years ago by the teacher of a learned andunfortunate princess
And one example , whether love or f eare d'
oth worke more in a ch i lde ,for vertue and learn ing , I w ill gladl ie report ; wh ich ma ie be hard w ithsome plea sure , and f o lowed with more profit . Before I went intoGerman ie , I came to Brodegate in Lecetershire , to take my leave o f thatnoble Ladie Jane Grey , to whom I w a s exceding moch beholdinge . Hir
parentes , the Duke and the Duches , w ith all the hou shoul d,Gentlemen and
Gentlewomen , were hunt inge in the Parke : I founde her , in her Ch amber ,readinge Phaedon P la ton is in Greeke , and that with as moch del ite , a s som
j entleman wold read a merie tale in Bocase . After salutation , and dewt ie
24 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
done , with som other tanlk e , I a sked h ir , wh ie she wold leese soch pastimein the Parke ? smi ling She an swered me : I wi sse , a ll the ir sporte in theParke i s bu t a shadoe to that plea sure , that I find in Plato : Alas goodfolke , they never f elt , what trewe plea sure ment . And howe came you
Madame , quoth I , to thi s deepe knowledge of pleasure , and what didch ieflie allure you unto i t : seinge , not many women , bu t ver ie f ewe men
have atteined thereunto ? I wi ll tell you , quoth she , and tell you a t roth ,which perchance y e wi ll mervell at . One of the greatest benefites , thatever God gave me , i s , that he sent me so Sharpe and severe Parentes , andso j ent le a scholemaster . For when I am in presence either of f ather ormother, whether I speake , kepe s i lence , sit , stand , or go , ea te , drinke ,be merie , or sad, be sowyng, pla iy ing, dauncing , or do ing an ie th ing els ,
I mu st do i t , a s i t were , in soch we ight , mesure , and number, even so
perfitel ie , a s God made the world , or else I am so sharpl ie taunted , socruell ie threatened , yea present l ie some tymes , w ith p inches , n ippes , andbobbes , and other wa ies
,wh ich I wi ll not name , f or the honor I beare
them , so without measure m isordered , th at I th inke my self e in hell , t illtyme cum , that I mu st go to M . Elmer , who teacheth me so j ent lie , SO
plea sant lie , with soch f a ire a lluremen tes to learn ing , that I thinke al l the
tyme nothing,wh i les I am w ith h im . And when I am ca lled f rom him
,I
f a ll on weep ing , because , what soever I do els , but learn ing , is fu l o f
grief , trouble , f eare , and whole m i sliking unto me : And thu s my booke ,hath bene so moch my pleasure , and bringeth day ly to me more pleasureand more , that in respect of i t , a ll other plea sures , in very deede , be bu ttr ifles and troubles unto me . I remember th i s ta lke gladly , both b icau sei t i s so worthy of memorie , and b icau se a lso , i t w a s the la st ta lke thatever I h ad , and the la st tyme , that ever I saw that noble and worthie
Ladie .
From “ The School Ma ster , by Roger Ascham
( died
You may feel added interest in this pathetic story if knowing that it concerns a princess scarcely out of girlhood, whowas called queen for a day , and then, with her equally youthfulhusband
,was beheaded
,a Victim to the ambitions of others .
26 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
The Bookman
I h ave read Robinson Crusoe and the last number of S t . N ichola s .
The Atlan tic (whose pages illustrate the beauty ofsimplicity)
I have read Robinson Crusoe and the la st number of St. Nicholas .
The Cen tury , S t . N icho la s , and Ou tlookI have read “ Robinson Crusoe ”
and the last number of “ St .Nicholas .
”
The N a tion and the P opu lar Science M on thly
I have read Robinson Cru soe and the la st number of S t . N ichola s .
Most periodicals agree in writing the names of ships initalics ; as, We crossed the Atlantic in the I/ucania .
“ THE SNOW ING or THE P INES
Sof ter than silence , sti ller than sti ll a i r ,Float down f rom h igh pine-boughs the Slender leaves .
The forest floor i ts annu a l boon receivesTh at comes like snowf a ll , tireless , tranqu i l , f a ir .Gently they glide , gently they clothe the bareOld rocks with grace . Their f a ll a mantle weavesOf paler y ellow than autumna l sheavesOr those strange blossoms the wi tch-hazels wear .Athwart long aisles the sunbeams p i erce the ir way ;High up, the crows are gathering f or the n ight ;The delicate needles fill the air ; the j ayTakes thr ough their golden mi st h is rad iant fli ght ;They f a ll and f all , ti ll at November
’
s closeThe snowflakes drop as lightly sriows on snows .
Thomas Wen twor th Higginson .
Reprinted by permi ssion o f the pub l i shers , Hough ton , M i th in Company .
CHAPTER V
A TALK ABOUT NAMES
Even when we a re grown,our speech must sti ll be made
up very largely of names for things that may or may not beseen . For this reason
,we sha ll spend some time in considering
different kinds of names . Most names stand for obj ects thatyou may picture in the mind . Shut your eyes and observewhether you have some sort of mind picture as I name veryslowly to you certa in things you all know
A rose ; — a boat ; — a tree ; - a cloud ; — a cat ; - a
dog a horse a mouse . I see by your faces that you didmake mind pictures of these things . Some of you probablyhad clear and distinct pictures ; others perhaps had rathervague or indistinct ones . [Discussion .]
You will not need to consider now all classes or sorts ofnames
,for it would take too long . Nor do I ask y ou to write
all the names you can think of in certain classes . Qf I did, youwoul d never be done writing) Your geography, your history,and your reading books are full of names of people and ofplaces . Then
,too
,all the persons you know
,and all the
obj ects you can think about,have their own particular names ;
and new names a lso for new things must be often made .
In fact,each one of you may be known by a score or more
of names . You are Americans,citizens
,persons
,children
,
pupils, sons or daughters, nephews or nieces perhaps, and possibly you are students also . I hope that in time some of you
28 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
may even become scholars . If you are members of any society,
or church,or if you have regular occupations
,you will also
have a name from each of these sources .Then you each have one or more Christian, or given ,
names as well as a surname . Sur means over or above. All
surnames were once given over or above the baptismal name,so
called because it was usually given in connection with someceremony of the Christian church . All surnames once showeda man ’s occupation, his estate, his place of living, some partienlar event with which he was connected
,some personal peculi
arity , or perhaps the given name of the founder of the family .
Thus the names ending in kin Show what the founder of thefamily was called
,since kin was an early English word for
li ttle. The children of Thomas became Tompkins ; of Simonbecame Simpkins of Timothy became Timkins ; of Walter,Watkins ; of Peter, Perkins, etc . You will be interested tolearn the meaning of many of our most common names, asSmith, Wright, Bailey .
Somewhat as Wilkins shows a little Will, so does JohnsonShow the son of John ; MacDonald, the son of Donald ; Fitzhugh
,the son of Hugh ; O
’
Neill,the grandson of Neill . The
Russian ending w i tz and the Polish sky also mean son of .
And so a lso the de, von,and van ,
in French, German , andDutch names Show an estate thru their meaning of .
We are apt to think that M a c belongs only to Scottishnames
,but the following old rime teaches you the real fact
By M ac’
and O ’
you’ ll always know
True Iri shmen , they say ;
But i f they lack both 0’
and M ac’
,
No Iri shmen are they .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 29
You may be surprised to hear that the Welsh ap,also
meaning son of , may be u sed many times in the same name ;hence a Welsh surname may recite the names of all one
’s ancestors and become one of the longest words in language .
There is an old story of an Englishman who did notknow of this use of ap,
who was riding after dark near aravine from which issued a cry for assistance from one whohad fallen in .
Who ’s there shouted the Englishman .
Jenkin s— ap— Griffith— ap—Williams— ap—Rees— ap—Evan— apRobin
,came the reply .
“Lazy fellows,half a dozen of you
,why can ’t you help
each other out ? ” exclaimed the Englishman, ignorant of thefact that he was addressing but one man .
An easy way to show descent has been much used by theWelsh
,and gives us many of our commonest names . Thus
Wi lliams means Wi lli am ’
s,as we would now write it ; Jones
means John ’
s so also Ha r r i s and Hughes .
The following lines suggest in charming manner why someman have first received the name N ightinga le
Somewhere in the y ears behind ,When men
’
s names were first assumedTi nker Tom or John the Smith ,Handier to travel withSomebody was thi s assignedNightingale . Belike there bloomedOn hi s cheek the badge of hea lth ,And he had , instead of weal th ,Mu sic for hi s gi f t , cou ld sing ,Play the fiddl e , lead the f olk
30 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Down the jolly danc ing-ring ;Make them thu s f orget their yoke ,I n some village long ago .
Merry l ad , who f a r and wideUp and down the country sidePiped bef ore the people so .
Thus , the name bespoke the man .
From Exi t N ightinga le, by R icha rd Bur ton .
*
Evidently, Charles Lamb felt some curiosity as to how his
own name had first been bestowed,as you will see from these
lines
ON HIS FAM ILY NAME
What rea son first imposed thee , gentle name ?
Name tha t my f a ther bore , and h is s ire ’
s s ire ,Without reproach ; we tra ce our stream no h igherAnd I , a chi ldless man , may end the same .
Perchance some shephard on Lincolni an pla ins ,In manners gu ileless a s h is own sweet flocks ,Rec eived thee first amid the merry mocksAnd arch a llusions o f h is f ellow swa ins .
Perch anc e f rom Sa lem ’
s holier fields returned ,With glory gotten on the heads abhorred ,Of f a ith less Saracens , some marti a l lordTook His meek title , in whose zea l he burned .
Wh ate ’
er the f ount whence thy beginnings came ,
No deed of mine sha ll shame thee , gentle name
Cha r les Lamb.
Reprinted by permi ssion o f the publ ish ers , Sma l l , May nard Company .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 31
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l and then Wr i tten : Make lists Of names
showing1 . relationshi p , as f a ther ;2 . office or membershi p , as mayor ;3. occupation , as cook ;
4 . water , as r ivu let
5 . land , a s pla in ;6 . relation to a town , as street ;
7 . surn ames of people you know ;8 . f eelings , actions , or powers , as love, growth ,
memory ,
9 . qualities of persons , as kindness ;10 . good or bad character, as thief ;1 1 . Indi an origin , as M ississippi ;1 2 . surnames telling somethi ng about the first persons
who used them , as Smi th .
II . Ora l : Discuss number twelve,and rearrange it
,clas
sifying into four parts, showing
occupation , as Baker , Wagner (wagoner ) , Nay lor ;
location , or estate , as Atwood, Field ;
1 .
2 .
3. person al pecul iari ty , or an event , as Longf ellow ;4 . descent , as al l names in son , kin , etc .
NOTE : Each one o f you should beg in now the keep ing of a wordbook , inwh ich y ou may preserve i n permanent f orm your studies upon words . A note
book h as been prepared f or th i s purpose , cal led Pup i l ’s Wordbook , or HelperNumber One . Th e pages are ru led specia l ly f or these exerc i ses . I f y ou do not
procure one o f th ese , get a blankbook , and w i th your teach er ’s ass istance ru le i t ,f rom day t o day , as th e exerc i ses demand . Put in to y our wordbook th e workassigned t o i t . Alway s copy work into y our wordbooks only a f ter care f ul correet ions , based upon approval by your t each er or discussion in Class .
II I. Wr i tten : Copy into the pages provided for thispurpose in your wordbooks the corrected results obtained from
32 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
the work of Exercises I and II . Add new names as foundfrom time to time
,keeping Exercise II well classified .
IV . 1 . Wr i tten List the Indian names of your ownState, with the meaning of each . Copy these upon the pageprovided in your wordbooks .
2 . Or a l : Discuss these in class,considering which are
the most musical in sound and the most beautiful in meaning.
ROSES ’ SONG
Sof tly sinking through the snow ,
To our winter rest we go ,Underneath the snow to houseTi ll the birds be in the boughs ,And the boughs wi th leaves be f a ir ,And the sun shines everywhere .
Sof tly through the snow we settle ,Little snowdrops press each petal .Oh , the snow i s kind and whi te ,Sof t i t i s , and very light ;Soon we shal l be where no light is ,But where sleep is , and where night is ,Sleep o f every Wind unshakenTill our Summer bids us waken .
Ph i l ip Bourke Marston .
34 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
It is also customary now to give a boy as first namesome surname that belongs in the family of his father ormother . Especially common Is It to find an oldest soncalled by his mother’ s surname . In some families
,the
mother’s surname is used as a middle name by all the children . This custom has many conveniences
,but is not in
general use .We have adopted into our English speech the Christian
names of nearly every known tongue . To Show you howmany forms a name may take, I have selected one for you toconsider in detail .
CHARLES : an old German name .
Mean ing : strong , manly , noble- Sp irited .
D iminu tive Charlie or Charley .
La tin I ta l ian Span ish and Portuguese French German
Carolus Carlo Carlos Charles Carl or Karl
REMARKS : The name Charles h as been borne by many emperors , kings , andprinces , thruout th e countries o f Europe . Greatest o f these wa s th e f amous
emperor Charlemagne ( Char les the Grea t or Ch arles I o f France .
The name Ch arles al so belong s to a river in Massachuse tt s wh ich has beenmade especial ly f amous by th e great wri ters l iving near i ts banks . See Long
f el low’s poem to th e River Charles .
Here you have five names all coming from the old GermanChar les . But this is not all, for each of these names has aform for women ; so that we get also the names Ca r oline,Car lotta , Car lota , and Char lotte. If you turn to CommonEnglish Christian Names in the dictionary, you will find thevarious forms for the names Caroline and Charlotte , each ofwhich is used as widely as is Charles . The diminutives Car r ie,Caddi e, Lottie, and Lina are all used more or less also, so you
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 35
will find in all about a dozen names for women growing out ofthis one name Cha r les .
Altho not all of us have names as beautiful in meaningas Charles and its derivatives, still, every one may make hisown name mean all good things to the friends who think ofhim by it . Some men have given a good or a bad name to allwho are like them . If I say
,
“Better be an Andre than anArnold
,
” you understand me as well as if I should say, Betterdie a patriot than live a traitor .” Here we use Andr e andArno ld as class names for all men who are of the same kindsas themselves . To have a good name in the very best senseis possible to every one .
It is so interesting to notice how a certain class of diminut ives came to be used
,that I think you will never forget, having
once been told . The use of mine before Edward, Oliver,Annie
,and Ellen gave the forms N ed, N o ll
,N an
,and N ell .
You can easily see how the n grew fast to the name in itsshortened form . The very word n i ckname illustrates this sortof change ; for an ekename (eke : the same) became misdivideda nekename ; and this finally grew into ni ckname. Perhaps
you can find other examples of this same change . I wonderwhether you could have guessed that Ter ry and Tr a cey arediminutives of Ther esa
,or that Casey is a diminutive of
Ca ther ine. If you once become interested in Christian names ,you will constantly discover new and interesting things aboutthem .
This chapter is headed Your Own Names . I wish thatyou would consider as your own
,in a broad but very true
sense, the Indian names le ft as a precious inheritance by theunfortunate natives whose rivers and lakes and prairies we now
36 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
call our own . The poem I give you here voices the feeling ofone who realized the hard fate of that early race .
IND IAN NAMES
Ye say they a ll have pa ssed away ,Tha t noble race and brave
That the ir light c anoes h ave vanishedFrom o ff the c rested wave ;
That ’
mid the forests wliere they roamed ,There rings no hunter’s shout ;
But their names a re on you r waters ,Ye may not wash them ou t .
They’re where Ontario ’
s bil lowLike ocean
’
s surge is curled ,Where strong Niagara ’
s thunders wakeThe echo of the world .
Where red Missouri bringethRich tribute from the West,
And Rappahannock sweetly sleepsOn green Virgi nia ’
s breast .
Ye say their cone- like c abins ,
Tha t c lustered o’
er the va le ,Have fled away like withered leavesBefore the autumn ga le ;
But their memory liveth on your hill s ,Their bapti sm on your shore ,
Your everlasting rivers speakTheir di a lect of yore .
Old Massachusetts wears i tUponher lordly c rown ,
And broad Ohio bea rs i tAmid his young renown
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Connecticut has wreathed itWh ere her qui et foliage waves ;
And bold Kentucky breathes i t hoarseThrough all her anc ient c aves .
Wachusett hides its lingering voiceWith in his rocky hea rt ;
And All eghany graves its toneThroughout his lof ty cha rt ;Monadnock , on his forehead hoar,Doth sea l the sacred trust ;
You r mountains bui ld their monument ,Though ye destroy their dust .
Ye call these red-browed brethrenThe insects of an hour ,Crushed like the noteless worm amidThe regions of their power ;
Ye drive them from their fathers ’ land ,Ye break of fa ith the seal ;
But can ye from the cou rt of HeavenExc lude their last appeal ?
Ye see their unresisting tribes ,With toilsome step and slow ,
On through the trackless desert pass ,A caravan of woe
Think ye the Eterna l Ear is deaf ?His sleepless vi sion dim ?
Thi nk ye the soul ’s blood may not cry
From that f ar land to Him ?
37
Mrs . Lydia H . Sigourney .
38 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
S UGGES TED EXERCIS ES
Wr i tten
I . Find out and write in your wordbooks as many diminu tives as possible of the following names
II . Find out and write in full all the names you can findof which the following are diminutives
,noticing that the same
diminutive may often stand for several names
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 39
III . Find your own first name,or some form of it
,among
the Common English Christian Names in the dictionary . Learnits meaning
,and write out all its foreign spellings, following
the form given with Char les . If your own name is not to befound
,choose another name . Do not be discouraged about the
pronunciation,but
,if necessary
,ask your teacher to help you .
Name any noted persons who have borne your first name .
IV . Find out all you can about your surname . Write itas it is and as it was, relating any changes that have come intoits spelling . What does it mean ? Name any great peoplewho have borne it . Copy the results of Exercises III and IVinto your wordbooks .
V . After consulting any books available,and after con
versation with your parents and others,make a list of all the
nicknames you can find that have been given noted persons .Preserve this list in your wordbooks for permanent referenceand for additions from time to time . Do not confound pennames (noms-de-plume) with nicknames, and do not includekings and queens .
VI . List and later copy into wordbooks the kings andqueens of England
,with the nicknames given each
,so far as
you can learn them . (Consult Dickens’
Child ’s History ofEngland and other English histories .)
VII . List and later copy into wordbooks the many oddnicknames that have been given to kings and princes of Francebearing the name Charles. (Consult any French History or theCentury Cyclopedia of Names .)
Or a l
VIII . Discuss in class one by one the results obtained inthe written exercises
,so far as these have been attempted .
CHAPTER VII
CLASS NAMES AND INDIVIDUAL NAMES
Names always do one of two things : they point out eithera whole class of similar things or else one member of such aclass . Class names are often called common
,because belonging
to many individuals at once ; whil e a name belonging to anindividual person or thing is calledpr oper , because it is peculiar,or proper
,to that alone . Individual means indivisible.
It is important that you recognize proper names readily,for you must always begin these with capital letters . Th is is aconvenient custom
,as we thus understand more quickly what is
read . A few hundred years ago no capitals or punctuationmarks were used .
Your own names are proper,or peculi ar
,to each one of you
,
and you learned long ago to begin every part of your names witha capital . You also learned to use capitals for your town
,county
,
and state . Every person and every town,every important body
of water and of land,every important event
,in fact
,everything
that is of especial note, has been given its own proper name .I hope you have already noticed that cap itals are used in
beginning names
1 . of the‘days of the week ;
2 . of the months o f the y ear ;3. o f the Bible , Holy Scriptures , and every
book and division of the Bible ;4 . of Deity or God .
42 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
You will notice here that not a ll class names can be dividedinto proper names at last . This depends upon whether or notmen have given proper names to its individual members .
In the cla ss apples you have the smaller classes russet,
gr eening, pippin , sw eet apple, sour apple, and others, all ofwhich can be divided into individual sorts. Among these youmay find Ba ldwin
,Spi tz enberg, Ta llman Sweet, and Wea lthy ,
all of which are proper names . The man who developed the“Wealthy ” apple pa id his wife a pretty compliment, did henot
,in giving her this delicious namesake ?Here are some old rimes full of proper names
A CALENDAR
Thirty day s hath September,April
,June
,and November ;
All the rest have th irty -one,
Excepting February alone ,Which hath bu t twenty -eight in fine ,Til l Leap-year gives it twenty-nine .
THE B IRTHDAY WEEK
Monday’
s bairn i s f air in the f ace ;Tuesday
’
s ba irn is full o f grace ;Wednesday
’
s bairn i s the ch ild of woe ;
Thursday’
s bairn has f ar to go ;Friday
’
s bairn i s loving and giving ;Saturday
’
s bairn works hard f or a living ;But the bairn that i s born on the Sabbath dayI s lucky and bonny and wise and gay .
You can probably guess from the con text, or connection ,the meaning here of all doubtful or new words . I have given
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 43
you a Scottish version of the B irthday Week . Perhaps youwould like to see this old English one . I wonder which youwill like the bett er .
Born on a Monday , f air of face ;Born on a Tuesday , ful l of God
’
s grace ;Born on a Wednesday , merry and glad ;Born on a Thur sday , sour and sad ;
Born on a Friday , godly given ;Born on a Saturday , work f or a living ;Born on a Sunday , never sha ll want ;So there’ s the week , and the end on
’
t .
I wish I might quote for you several more of these rimesof the week . Certain of them refer to spinning
,to cutting the
nails,to marrying
,and to sneezing . They are individual
examples of a very old class of verse and are called folklore .It would be interesting for you to collect into a scrapbook forclass reference all the examples of folklore you can gathertogether . Folklore includes myths
,proverbs
,r Imes, tales,
legends,and superstitions long current among the people .
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l : As the teacher reads the following commonnames, let each pupil in turn give a corresponding proper name :
M an , woman, boy , girl , author, blacksmi th , grocer, book , teacher,
min ister, ofl‘icer , war , battle , hero , heroine , ocean , city , state , mountain ,
cape , gul f , river, sea .
II . Or a l As the teacher reads the following propernames, let each pupil in turn give some class name in which thename given might be included. The terms man
,person
,indi
44 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
vidual,human being
,child
,may in most cases be taken f or
granted,and more distinguishing terms be selected .
George Washington ,Grace Darling , Abraham Lincoln , Charles
D ickens , Robert Lou is Stevenson , Rosa Bonheur, Theodore Roosevelt, theChildren ’
s Hour,”S t . N icholas , General Grant, Chi cago , Atlantic,
Mississippi , Euclid Avenue , the Earth , Sacramento , San Francisco ,Ontario
,Switz erland , Ru ssia , Ital y , Illinois , America , Madagascar,
Florence Nightingale , Longf ellow , Edward VII , Henry Hudson ,Napoleon ,
Thames , Westminster Abbey , the Revolution , Queen Victori a , SolomonTecumseh , Francis Parkman , Monday , January , Juno , Vul can ,
Ca storand Pollux , “ Star-Spangled Banner,” St . Matthew , Froebel , WilliamM cKinley ,
“ Uncle Tom’
s Cabin .
”
NOTE : I t i s evident that i f the class contribute , one by one , class names
f or each o f th ese proper names , the result w ill be a characteri z at ion ; thusWi l liam McKin ley i s a t once general , governor, president , statesman , hero , and
martyr . Castor a nd Po l lux are a constel lat ion , ar e heroes o f mythology , are
twins . I t i s expected th at the pup i ls w ill prepare f or these ora l exercises byconversation wi th parents and oth ers .
III . Wr i tten : Let each pupil write upon the board’
all
class names he can think of for one proper name in Exercise II .IV . Fi r s t Or a l
,and then Wr i tten : Make lists of proper
names included in the following class names . After discussion,
copy them upon the pages provided in your wordbooks .
1 ocean 7 county 13. author 19 building2 lake 8 battle 14 pres ident 20 street3 river 9 soldier 15 poem 21 territory4 . gulf 10 . month 1 6 book 22 traitor5 i sland 1 1 day 1 7 magazine 23 pupil6 peak 1 2 explorer 18 . newspaper 24 local firm
NOTE : Do not t ry to complete th e l i sts in Exerc ise IV at one wr i ting .
Add to them f rom time to time as y ou have opportuni ty .
CHAPTER VIII
GENERAL AND SPECIAL TERMS
Will you please to tell me which word in each ofpairs of words includes the gr eater number of objects
plant flower animal horse dog mastiffman negro flower violet tree oak
You answer at once,the former one of each pair . Now tell
me, which one in each pair makes the better picture in yourminds
,and hence means the more to you ? You say the latter
one,and this is also correct . In fact
,violet means all that
flower means, and flower means all that plan t means, not innumber
,but in na tur e or kind. To put this another way, it
will require more words for you to tell me all you know aboutthe violet than to tell all you know of a plant in general .
This shows that vio let means much more to us than plan t does .We call these pairs of names general and special terms .
You see at once how useful special terms are . To say I sawa policeman leading a horse
,
” gives a much clearer picture thanto say I saw a man leading an animal .” If you tell me yourfather has three cows
,I know much less than if you tell me he
has one Durham,one Jersey
,and one Holstein . You must
notice and acquire many special terms if your language is toconvey to others exact ideas of what you mean . Conversationwith your parents andothers, reading, study of the dictionary,
45
46 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
all these will he means toward this end . Observation of thelanguage of people who know any one thing well will perhapsbe your best teacher .
I have given you many exercises in class names,under
which I wish you to write the special obj ects or the smallerclasses which these general names include and hence mightmean . I have given you the general name r oof because Iwish you to look at the pictures in the back of the dictionaryunder Architecture, in order that you may tell me about theroofs on your own houses and barns . If you tell me that yourbarn has a sharp roof
,I am not sure what you mean
,but if you
say it has a gable roof, I shall understand and shall have aclearer mind picture . I have given you the term ha ck becauseI wish you to learn just what hack means . Remember that aword which is to you an empty and meaningless name is of nomore value than would be a tool of which you can not findthe use .
Suppose we talk together a little while about the classname car r iage. If a thief were escaping in a coup! and youcould only tell a policeman that you saw him leave in a ca r
r iage, there would be less likelihood of his capture than if youwere able to use the exact special term . Will you please tolook in the back of an unabridged dictionary at the picturesgiven under Vehicles for Land Locomotion ? You see at oncethat car r iage may mean a great many different things . Norare all names for car r iage among those pictured . You mightadd to the list the terms omni bu s
,wagon , phaeton , dr ag, car i
o le and Car rya ll, char io t,cu r r i cle, cab
,s tage, hansom,
hack
and ha ckney , br ougham,velocipede, bicycle, tr icycle, and
au tomobi le.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 47
In “The Diverting History of John Gilpin, byCowper, John
’s wife says
To -morrow is our wedding day ,And we will then repa irUnto the Bell at EdmontonAll in a chai se and pa ir .
My sister and my sister’s child ,Myself and children thr ee ,Will fill the chai se , so you must rideOn horseback after we .
”
As John ’ s wife had probably not attended school, we mustpardon her poor English . The story also tells that a boy wentalong to drive the chaise to the Bell Tavern, or Inn . So, thatchaise was well filled . The poem is too long to give herein full
,but I hope you all know the story .
Here is the tale of a trick played by a clergyman upon thedriver of a hackney coach . Your teacher may tell you themeaning of the words you cannot guess .
He [Swift] was going , one dark evening , to di ne with some great man
and was accompanied by some other clergymen to whom he gave theircue . They were all in their canonicals . When they arrive at the house
the coachman opens the door and lets down the steps . Down steps theDean ,
'
very reverend in hi s black robes ; af ter him comes another personage , equally black and di gn ified ; then another ; then a fourth . The
coachman , who recollects taking up no greater number, i s about to put upthe steps , when another clergyman descends . Af ter giving way to thi sother , he proceeds wi th great confidence to toss them [the steps] up,
when lo ! another comes . Well,there cannot , he thinks , he more than six .
He is mi staken . Down comes a seventh , then an eighth ; then a ninth ;all wi th decent interval s ; the coach , in the meantime , rocking as i f it were
48 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
giving birth to so many demons . The coachman can conclude no less .
He cries out , The devi l ! the devil ! ” and i s pr eparing to run away , whenthey all burst into laughter . They had gone round as they descended ,and got in at the other door .
From Essay on Coaches , by Leigh Hun t .
I believe our hackmen today do not u sually speak of taking up
” people ; neither do they “ toss up” their steps
,as it
seems they once did.
Here are two stanzas from an odd old song
Then answered ’Squ ire Morley , Pray get a calash ,That in summer may burn , and in winter may Splash ;I love dirt and dust ; and ’
tis alway s my pleasureTo take with me much of the soil that I measure .
But Matthew thought better ; for Matthew thought right ,And hired a chariot so trim and so tight,That extremes both of winter and summer mi ght pass ;For one window was canvas , the other was glass .
Ma tthew P ri or .
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l D r i ll : Which is the more general term in
these pairs of words ?
dish cup quadruped dog man blacksmithsofa furniture person pupil sandstone rockbuilding barn cottage house cha ir seat
II . Or a l D r i ll : Which is the most special term in eachof the following groups of words
man laborer blacksmith plan t oak treebird eagle bird of prey f ood-plant maize cul tivated plant
50 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
use it ? (I hope none of you ever have this disposition ! ) Do
you know the name of the hood or top that can be raised orlowered Has the rockaway a ca lash-top If a woman wearsa calash
,what has it like the pictured vehicle ? What is a
jump-seat rockaway ? Can you tell a coup! from a hansom ?Which one has a seat elevated behind for the driver ? Justwhat does hackney -coach meanWhy would it be difficult to give a satisfactory picture for
the names ca r t,dr ag, cab, wagon , br ougham,
omnibu s,s tage,
car iole, car rya ll, ha ck, pha eton? What is the slight differencebetween a cha ise and a cur r icle? Which of the picturedvehicles have seats for footmen Which one would you choosefor a picnic party Can you name at least three special termsfor each of the general terms coach, ca r t, wagon? What is a
j inr ikisha? A ba ckboard? If you can procure the catalog ofa carriage manufactory
,you will find there the latest names for
fashionable vehicles of a ll sorts . Whether or not you cananswer all the questions I have suggested
,I hope that
,at least
,
you have an increased respect for the very useful general termca r r iage, and all that it may mean . We say it has a verylarge extent of meaning . In your reading of English stories
,
you will often meet some of these specific terms . If you shouldbecome able to answer these questions
,you will be better pre
pared some day to read and enj oy the essays upon coacheswhich have been written by De Quincey, Leigh Hunt, andWashington Irving
,all three famous for use of the purest and
best English .
CHAPTER IX
PARTS AND MATERIALS OF OBJECTS
You begin to see the value of both special and general terms .This lesson will give you another good way for increasing yourstock of special names . For a day or two you may consider theparts and the materials of certain obj ects . To learn what youneed to know
,you may find it necessary to question your parents
and friends, the shoemaker, the blacksmith , and many otherpeople . However
,the asking of questions respectfully at a
proper time is one of the best ways for getting information .
I sha ll not give you for study anything so complicated asa ship or an engine ; for only persons who have studied thoseobj ects long and carefully could tell much about their parts .
However,any one of you who wishes to do so may use the term
engine or ship in pla ce of one of those given in your exercises .This little rime shows at least that its writer knew some
thing about a gun . How many Johns did John Ball shoot ?
“ John Patch made the match ,And John Clint made the fli nt ,And John Pu zz le made the muzzle ,And John Crowder made the powder ,And John Block made the stock ,And John Brammer made the hammer ,And John W iming made the priming
,
And John Scott made the shot ;But John Ball shot them all .
”
From “ Golden Rod Books . By permiss ion o f the publ ishers , Univers ity Publ ish ing Company .
52 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
A good game for you to play now is ca lled Three Kingdoms
,
” or Guessing .
” If you have a large number of players,
first divide into equal parties by choosing sides . Each sidemust have its own room and must send a guesser out ofhearing . A word may now be decided upon to be guessed
( each side in turn choosing a word) . Suppose a certain shoe isagr eed upon . All observe that it has cotton lining
,iron nails
,
brass eyelets,and leather soles and uppers . The guessers are
ca lled back each into the room of the other party. A guessermay ask,
“Does it belong to the mineral kingdom ? Yes .”
Has it any part belonging to the vegetable kingdom ?Yes . Is it partly animal ? ” “Yes .” “Then it belongs toall three kingdoms ? ” “Yes and so on . These questions areanswered in turn by the ones not guessing . The next step isto locate the obj ect
,if possible . Is it in America ? ” and so
forth . A good guesser will be very rapid in his questions, andwill often locate an obj ect In a few minutes . The side guessing the obj ect first may choose a player from the Opposite side,who must leave his own side and join the other ; or, sometimes,merely the words guessed on each side are counted to see whichside wins . It is not considered fair play to a sk Does it beginwith A? with B and so on ; for any child who can spellcould guess things that way
,and this would imply no skil l in '
asking questions . Do you think it easy to ask good questionsNot for everybody
,I am sure .
Would you like to read a few lines showing how a man
who loves and understands a steam-engine in all its parts hasthrown his thought about it into rime
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 53
The crank-throws give the double-bass , the f eed-pump sobs an’
heaves ,An
’
now the main eccentrics start their qu arrel on the sheaves :
Her time , her own appo inted time , the rocking link-head bides ,Till — hear that note ? the rod ’s return wh ings glimmerin
’ through theguides .
They’re a ll awa
’
! True beat , full power , the clangin’
choru s goesClear to the tunnel where they sit , my purrin
’ dynamos .
Fra sky light-lif t to f urnace -bars , backed , bolted , braced an’
stayed ,An
’
singin ’ like the Mornin’ Stars f or j oy that they are made .
From “McAndrews’ Hymn ,
”by Rudyard Kipl ing .
‘
It is not necessary for you to understand all about anengine in order to enj oy the poetry of this “ Song 0
’
Steam .
”
Study the two following extracts from Oliver WendellHolmes’ One-Hoss-Shay,
” and consider how thoroly heneeded to know the parts and materials of a chaise in order todescribe the Shay . A listing of parts such as this is calledenumer a tion
,and is one sort of descr iption . If possible
,
obtain the poem and read the entire story .
T So the Deacon inqu ired of the vi llage f olkWhere he cou ld find the strongest oak ,Tha t cou ldn ’ t be split nor bent nor broke ,That was f or spokes and floor and si lls ;He sent f or lancewood to make the thi lls ;The c rossbars were ash f rom the stra ightest trees ,The panels of whitewood , that cuts like cheese ,
Bu t lasts like iron f or th ings like these ;The hubs of logs f rom the Settler ’s ellum ,
Last of its timber ,— they coul dn ’t sell ’
em ,
Never an axe had seen their Ch ips ,Reprinted by k ind permi ss ion o f Mr . Kipl ing and o f h is publ ish ers .
f Repr inted by permi ss ion o f Hough ton , M ifll in Company , authori z edpubl ishers o f Holmes
’ works .
54 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
And the wedges flew from between their lips ,Their blunt ends f ri z z led lik e celery -tips ;Step and prop- iron , bolt and screw ,
Spring , tire , axle , and linchpin too ,Steel o f the finest , bright and blue ;Thoroughbrace bison - skin , thick and wideBoot , top, dasher , f rom tough Old hideFound in the pi t when the tanner died .
That was the w ay he put her through .
There ,”
said the Deacon , naow she’ l l dew !
First of November , the Earthqu ake-day ,
There are traces of age in the one-hoes shay ,
A genera l flavor of mi ld decay ,But nothing loca l , as one may say .
There couldn ’ t be , for the Deacon ’
s art
Had made i t so like in every partThat there wasn ’ t a chance for one to start .For the wheels were j ust a s strong as the thi lls ,And the floor w as j ust as strong as the sills ,And the panels ju st as strong as the floor
,
And the Whipple- tree neither less nor more ,And the back-crossbar as strong a s the f ore ,And spring and axle and hub encore .
And yet , a s a whole, i t is past a doubtIn another hour it will be worn ou t !
EXERC IS ES
I . Ora l ; Wr i tten f or cla ss and la ter Wr i tten in w ord
books Give ( a ) the parts and (b) the materials of
1 boat 4 . f ruitcake sewing 10 . shoe
2 . umbrella 5 . furn ace machine [or bonnet]3 house 6 chandelier 8 gun I 1 h arness
[or wagon] [or clock] 9 . j ackkni f e 12 . bicycle
[or table]
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 55
II . Sugges ted : Let each pupil bring to class any oneobj ect he may select, and name there its parts and its materials .
III . Suggested A game in which each pupil may reador recite the parts and materials of some object
,while the rest
of the class guess what is described .
IV . Sugges ted : Definitions of any sort rapidly read orrecited by the teacher while the class guess the object defined .
I si f t the snow on the mountains below ,
And their great pines groan aghast ;And all the night ’
t is my pi llow wh ite ,Wh ile I sleep II
}the arms of the blast .
That orbed maiden , with white fire laden ,
Whom mortals c a ll the moon ,
Glides glimmering o ’
er my fleece- lik e floor
By the midn ight breezes strewn ;And wherever the beat of her unseen f eet ,Whi ch on ly the angels hear,
M ay have broken the woof of my tent’
s thin roof ,The stars peep beh ind her and peer ;
And I laugh to see them whi rl and flee ,Like a swarm of golden bees ,
When I widen the rent in my wind-bui lt tent ,Till the c a lm rivers , lakes , and seas ,
Like strips of the sky f a llen thr ough me on h ighAre each paved with the moon and these .
I am the daughter of earth and water ,And the nursling of the sky
I pass through the pores of the ocean an . shoresI change , but I cannot die .
From The Cloud, by P ercy Bysshe Shelley .
CHAPTER X
ON MEMORIZ ING : WHAT AND HOW
LULLABY S ONGS
Since we all wish to think, to talk, and to read since alsowe wish to speak correctly and to read understandingly
,we
shall need to consider a great deal of the best English that hasbeen written . This is the pleasantest as well as surest road tocorrect speech .
One cannot begin too early the habit of memorizing bitsof choice English . I hope you do not memorize trash . Besure that whatever you decide to commit or entrust — toyour memory for its safe and permanent keeping is worthy ofbeing kept there forever . All such mental stores will accumu
late interest as truly as does money put into a bank . Determine to memorize much , but only what has real value . It isundesirable that you memorize verba tim — that is
,word f or
word — in your history and geography lessons ; for these arenot written in English so noble that you would wish to retain itthruout life . We say of them that they are not literature ; andby literature we mean all verse and prose that is written bestand that is most worthy of preservation .
But for another reason,you should not memorize anything
which you really expect to forget : because you will therebydevelop a parrot-like memory which loses as quickly as itacquires . All good literature is valuable for its form as wellas for its thought . But the important thing in many school
56
58 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
thus : Rock-a-by, baby, your cradle is green Rock-a-by , baby,upon the tree-top ; By, Baby Bunting ?
The English of Mother Goose is called co lloqu ia l, or suchas belongs to common conversation . Mother Goose is not thebest literature
,altho she is very musical and makes good jog
trot tunes for the baby’s dandling or trotting . However,as
you are all old enough for something better than Mother Goose,
I sha l l give you here several beautiful lullabies . I hope thatyou long ago learned to sing Alfred Tennyson
’s “ Sweet andLow .
” Be sure to include this song in your school lullabybook . I hope too that you will find someone to sing you theone I give you here from Walter Scott . In both of these themelody as commonly heard is beautiful .
O hush thee , my babie , thy sire was a knight ,Thy mother’ s a lady both lovely and bright ;The woods and the glens , f rom the towers which we see
They all are belonging , dear babie , to thee .
Oho ro , i ri ri , cadul gu lo ,
Oho ro , iri ri , cadul gu lo .
0 f ear not the bugle , though loudly i t blows ,It calls bu t the warders that gu ard thy repose ;Their bows would be bended , their blades wou ld be red,
Ere the step of a f oeman draw near to thy bed .
Oho ro , iri r i , cadul gu lo ,
Oho ro , iri ri , cadul gu lo .
O hush thee , my babie , the time soon will come ,
When thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and dr um ;
Then hush thee , my darling , take rest wh i le you may ,
For stri f e comes with manhood and waking with day .
Oho ro , i ri r i , cada l gu lo ,
Oho ro,iri ri , cadul gu lo .
Wa lter Scott.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 59
Here is a charming lullaby which a seal mother is supposedto sing to her baby seal . Do you not almost feel the regularrocking of the waves as you repeat the lines ?
Oh , hush thee , my baby , the n ight i s beh ind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green .
The moon , o’
er the combers , looks downward to find u s
At rest in the b illows that ru stle between .
Where billow meets bi llow , there sof t be thy p illow ;Ah , weary wee flipper ing , curl at thy ease .
The storm sh a ll not wake thee , nor Sh ark overt ake theeAsleep in the arms o f the slow-Swinging seas .
Rudya rd Kipli ng fi
The comber s (from comb) are long, curling waves thatcomb the beach
,perhaps
,and look like masses of white combed
wool . Flipper ing means a little flipper, j ust as duckling mean sa little duck . The broad fins of a fish are ca lled flippers .
I wonder how you will like this odd old lullaby written toTitania
, Queen of the Fairies
Fir st Fa iry
You spotted snakes with double tongu e ,Thorny hedge -hogs , be not seen ,
Newts and blind-worms , do no wrong ;Come not near our f a iry queen .
Choru s
Philomel , with melodySing in our sweet lul laby ;Lu lla , lulla , lullaby ; lu lla , lu lla , lullaby !Never h arm , nor spell , nor charm ,
Come our lovely lady nigh !So , good n ight , with lu llaby .
Reprinted by kind permis s ion o f M r . K ipl ing and o f h is pub l i shers .
60 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
S econd Fa iry
Weaving spiders , come not here ;Hence , you long-legg
’
d spinners , hence ;Beetles black , approach not near ;Worm , nor sna il , do no o ffence .
Choru s
Ph ilomel , with melodySing in our sweet lullaby ;Lu lla , lulla , lu llaby ; lu lla , lu lla , lul laby !Never h arm , nor spell , nor charm ,
Come our lovely lady n igh !So , good night , with lu llaby .
Wi l liam Shakspere .
The newt is a small lizard,and the blind-worm is not a
worm but a little reptile,like a short snake
,with eyes so small
that it was thought to be blind . Philomel is the Englishnightingale
,famous for its beautiful s inging . Can you not feel
the music in the lines All poetry should sing to you .
Here is a lullaby which a very patient mother,named
Cr i ssel,or Griselda
,was supposed to sing to her babies . We
do not often now see the word wanton thus used as pet namefor a roving
,frolicsome thing
Golden slumbers kiss your ey es ,Smiles awake you when you rise .
Sleep , pretty wantons , do not cry ,
And I will s ing a lullabyRock them
,rock them , lull aby .
Care is heavy , therefore sleep you ;You are care , and care mu st keep you .
Sleep , pretty wantons , do not cry ,
And I wi ll sing a lul labyRock them , rock them , lullaby .
Thoma s Dekker .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 6 1
It is hard to choose among so many charming songs, but Ithink you will like one other old English song that is also fullof music if you read it properly . Be sure to accent the firstsyllable
,Ba
,making it as long as S ing ba together in the last
stanza ; and read as if Bd— loo— loo were one word . We do nothear this old word (baloo, or balow, or balou ) often now, althoa few recent writers have used it . It was made of old nurserysyllables used to lull babies to sleep, hence it came to mean anylullaby song . It has been out of use
,but seems to be coming
back again . This lullaby is so musical that it almost sings itself.
Baloo , loo , lammy , now baloo , my dear .Does wee lammy ken that i ts daddy
’
s no here ?
Ye’
re rocking ful l sweetly on mammy’
s warm knee ,But daddy
’
s a -rocking upon the salt sea .
Now hush-a -by , lammy , now hush-a-by , dear ;Now hush - a -by , lammy , f or mother i s near .The wi ld wind i s raving , and mammy
’
s heart ’ s sa ir ;The wild wind i s ravi ng , and y e dinna care .
Sing baloo , loo , lammy , sing ba loo , my dear ;Sing baloo , loo , lammy , f or mother i s here .
My wee bairn ie’
s dozing , i t’
s dozing now fine ,
And , oh , may its wakeni ng be bli ther than mine !Lady N a i r ne .
An American poet,Eugene Field
,alone has written more
than a dozen charming lullabies . We may well call him thePoet of Lullabies . One that boys and girls are sure to like iscalled Wynken
,Blynken
,and Nod ”
A Z ealand lullaby, founded upon Z ealand folklore, may beinteresting to you . You can find the whole story in Whittier ’sKallundborg Church in The Tent on the Beach .
6 2 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
And Esbern listened , and ca ught the soundOf a Troll-wi f e s inging undergroundTomorrow comes Fine , f ather thine :Lie still and hush thee , baby mine ;Lie sti ll , my darling ! next sunriseThou ’lt p lay with Esbern Snare
’
s heart and eyes !
Ho ! ho ! quoth Esbern ,“ is that your game ?
Thanks to the Troll-wi fe , I know his name
I hope you will learn to understand and hence to love theScottish dialect, which is full of the most charming songs . Igive you one Scottish lullaby . Obtain also for study
,if pos
sible,another one called Cuddle Doon .
W ILLIE WINKIE
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the town ,
Up-sta irs and doom-sta irs in hi s nicht-gown ,
Tirl in’
at the window , cry in’
at the lock ,“Are the weans in their bed ? — f or it
’
s now ten o’
c lock .
Hey , Wi llie Winkie , are ye comin’
ben ?
The cat’s singin ’
gey thrums to the sleepin’
hen ,
The doug ’s speldered on the floor , and disna gie a cheep ;But here ’
s a waukrif e laddie that w inna f a ’
asleep .
Ony thing but sleep , ye rogue glower in’ l ike the moon ,
Rattlin ’
i n an a im j ug w i’
an a im spoon ;Rumblin
’
,tumbl in
’ roun ’
about , craw in’ lik e a cock ,
Skirlin’ like a ’ kenna-what — waukn in
’
Sleepin’
f olk .
Hey , Wi llie Winkie ! the wean’
s in a creel ,Waumblin
’
aff a bod ie ’
s knee like a vera eel ;
Ruggin’
a t the cat ’s lug , and ravellin’
a’
her thrums
Hey , Wi llie Winki e See , there he comes !
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 63
Weary i s the m ither th at h as a stoor ie wean ,
A wee stumpie stoussie th at canna r in hi s lane ,That has a ba ttle aye w i
’
sleep before he ’ ll close an ce
But a kiss frae a ff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me .
Wi l l iam Mi l ler.
I hope you will read this poem until you feel its musicsings to you . To make sure you understand it, I give you herea translation into modern English . Many of its words nowcalled Scottish were once the common English form .
Little Winking W illie runs through the town , up-stairs
and down-stairs in his night-gown , rattling at the window, crying at the lock,
“Are the children in bed ? for it ’s now teno ’clock .
Hey, Winking Willie ! are you coming in ? The cat’s
singing droning songs to the sleeping hen ; the dog’s stretched
out on the floor,and does not give a peep but here ’s a wakeful
little boy who will not fall asleep .
Anything but sleep, you rogue ! staring like the moon ;
rattling in an iron pitcher with an iron spoon ; murmuring,tumbling
’round and about,crowing like a cock
,screaming like
I know not what wakening sleeping folks !Hey, W inking Willie ! the child
’ s in a fit twisting off abody ’s knee like a very eel ; pulling at the cat S ear and confusing all her songs
,Hey
, Winking Willie ; see there he comes !Weary is the mother who has a stirring [uneasy] child, a
little stumpy [like a stump, stout and thick] , sturdy one, thatcannot run alone ; that has a battle always with sleep beforehe’ ll close an eye ; but a kiss from off his rosy lips gives strengthanew to me .
We seem to have no English word for s toussi e, a strong,
64 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
healthy child ; nor for gey meaning considerable, or long-drawnout ; a gey whi le equa ls a considerable while . Willie Winkieis the Scottish equiva lent for the English Sand Man orDust Man
,
” who according to traditions of folklore goes aboutat night throwing sand or dust into wakeful eyes that shouldbe asleep .
I hope you like Willie Winkie, and that many of youwill commit it to memory . The prince of song makers
,Robert
Burns,wrote nearly always in the Scottish dia lect, and no one
can aff ord not to understand it readily .
EXERC IS ES
I . Wr i tten Find in some volume of your school library,
or anywhere you can,a lullaby that you consider especially
plea sing . Copy th is lullaby,and read it aloud in class .
II . Wr i tten : Learn from the oldest persons you knowlullab ies sung in their own childhood . Copy every lin e carefully
,upon a typewriter if possible . If the lullaby be an old
one and partly forgotten,copy a s much of it as you can obtain .
At the bottom of the page write your name, age, location , thedate
,and the name of the person giving you the song. After
these lullabies have been read in class, bind or paste them intoa lullaby book for future school use .
III . M en ta l,and then Wr i tten : Try to write a little
lullaby of four,six
,or eight lines . Be sure that it will s ing.
If you succeed,show your teacher what you have written .
6 6 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
diary . There must enter into any real letter the wish to tellsomething to another ; and there must enter into a real diarymuch of one ’ s inmost thought . To write j ust what you thinkabout things and about people will make your letters or diaryof real interest and value to your friends .
I ask you to begin now a full account of yourself and ofall that touches your everyday life
,telling this in your own
everyday English,in as short
,plain words as possible .
Do not fear that any object or event is too small or toomean to interest others
,if only it interests yourself. Two of
our most famous short poems were written upon The Grasshopper and the Cricket
,
” as the result of a merry challengefrom Keats to Leigh Hunt . Thus you see i t is the way onelooks at common obj ects that invests them with beauty andcharm . Your fairy godmother
,your own fancy
,may transform
all your mental ore into gold,if you will but let her have her
own way with your pen .
When, fifty years from now,your grandchildren coax you
to tell stories about your own childhood, as some of them surelywill
,perhaps you will look up your first letter diary and read to
them many of its stories ; they will certainly like these best ofall . It is possible
,too
,that this book
,if carefully kept, may
some time furnish yourself great pleasure thru all that it will
recall .But if your imagination cannot jump ahead fifty years to
your own possible old age , you can at least fancy that eachletter is written to your mother , to your father, to your teacher,to your closest friend
,to any distant or imaginary person . Or
you may , if you choose, personify your own book and addressyour letters My dear Diary,
” as Helen Keller did.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 6 7
I hope that everyone reading your di ary will be able to see
you there, your home, your family, your pets, your books, yourdaily tasks and play, your good times and your bad times, yourambitions
,and your disappointments .
Remember that you are free to talk about any subj ectwhatsoever. Otherwise
,you would have a composition book
,
not a real di ary ; and I wish these books to be true to theirname . Talk to yourself about the things that you like to talkabout ; but be sure your pen merely talks for your tongue, andthat it does not preach
,nor try to teach an imaginary reader or
audience . The outline given for your guidance is merelysuggested . If you prefer some other order
,follow your own
choice ; and I shall be pleased if you have a decided preferenceof your own .
The letters, or the diary, should be written in a good-sizedblankbook with margin
,this book being used for no other
purpose . * Each day should have its own full date upon thefirst line at the right
,or within the margin at the left ; thus,
Monday,November 24
,1902 .
Boys and girls,I know
,seldom choose to copy their letters
yet I think it would be best for you to copy into this bookfrom a first draft
,so that you may be sure of saying just what
y ou wish to say, without getting your ideas or your sentencesinto a tangle .
First of all,make a little outline or list of the things you
wish to mention,so that your account may be clear and orderly .
See that each sentence tells some one complete thought ; also,see that each paragraph tells about some one subdivision of the
A special notebook h as been prepared f or this purpose called Pupi l’sLetter Diary , or Helper Number Two .
68 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
subj ect . Thus in treating a parlor you may have : ( 1) Itsgeneral form,
Including size,height
,and shape ; (2) its doors,
how many and how placed ; (3) its windows, how placed (4) itswalls
,their color
,and covering
,if any (5) its floor, material,
appearance, covering ; (6 ) its furniture, piece by piece ; (7) itspictures or other furnishings ; (8 ) other items . This outlinewill fill seven or more paragraphs . Such outlines will varywith each room you are to describe ; and an orderly arrangement will help to good paragraphing . Of course
,I do not
need to ask you to remember to inden t every paragraph .
These letters will not be read aloud in class,without your
permission,and you shall not be greatly blamed in case you
occasionally misspell a word, so long as you steadily gain on thewhole . Your spelling will improve if you constantly watch foryour own errors . Remember
,in particular
,that an untidy or
an illegible letter is never complimentary or respectful to theone to whom it is written .
The famous stories of Robinson Crusoe and of the SwissFamily Robinson are not really diaries at all, but are tales putinto the diary form for the sake of greater seeming reality .
Both stories a re,however
,founded upon actual fact in regard
to the situation of the person s concerned . The diary methodhas always been used more or less in story telling, and is a
favor ite today with some of ou r best author s .Among the many famous diaries, there are three which
you will be sure to enjoy when you are somewhat older .One of these gives the best obtainable picture of coloniallife in New England . It was written by Judge Samuel
Sewa ll of Boston, the very man who married Hannah Hull,daughter of Captain John Hull, mintmaster . You may remem
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 69
her that she is called Betsey in the story of the“Pine Tree
You see in Judge Sewall ’s diary a wise and brave Puritan,who was afraid of thunderstorms
,believed in signs
,drove a nail
into a new house or church for a charm,helped condemn the
Salem “witches,
” yet aft erward publicly confessed his sin, asking prayers for God ’s pardon . Especially interesting andamusing are the minute accounts of his various courtships
,two
of which secured him his second and third wives,after the good
Betsey had gone to her reward .
The second diary was made up by Henry D. Thoreau ofextracts from his numerous diaries
,with a volume each for
Spr ing, Summer,Au tumn
,and Winter . This series is among
the most precious of our American writings .The third diary is older in date than the others
,but is
younger in thought and feeling . It is the best possible historyof manners for the period in which it was written
,and is as
interesting as a story . W e cannot help liking the merrywriter
,whose cheery and thankful disposition brightens every
page . This man, Samuel Pepys, the son of a tailor, became an
officer of state under Cha rles the Second . He tells us that hesaw King Charles the First beheaded
,and likewise the first
blood shed in revenge for that deed ; how one day he saw acertain man hanged
,he looking as cheerful as anyone could
in that condition .
” We read of his ailments and their cures ;his vexations and worries ’
his gayeties and j ests ; his winningsand losings his plasterings and upholster ings his preciousmusical instruments and the songs he so loved to sing to th
’
em .
We know where,when and what he a te and drank
,and in
In Grandf a th er’s Ch a ir , by Nath an ie l Hawth orne .
70 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
whose company. We see him ou ' Lord’s Day listening to goodsermons and dry sermons, fine anthems and anthems i ll sung
,
at which latter Charles II made free to laugh . We see himimpatient over his wife’s carelessness in laying up her expensivenew finery
,but we also see him always sorry after his impa
t ience, and he says,“ But we were friends again
,as we are
always .” We see him teaching his wife music and delighted overher aptitude . When they attend a fine wedding
,he says
,
“Butamong all the beauties there
,my wife Was thought the greatest .
”
We see him at thirty years of age rising at four in themorning for several successive days to learn the multiplicationtable
,which was all the trouble he met withal in his arith
metique,”
and we see him spending a forenoon memorizingHamlet’ s To be
,or not to be.
”And yet he has all the
interest common at that day in gold buttons and silver buttons,
long cloaks and short cloaks,Velvet and silk and cloth garments
for himself and for his wife . We are glad or sorry with himin his good or in his bad luck . We are interested, too, in themany quaint customs he relates
,as that of Charles II wearing
purple for mourning . In a word,we live with him in his own
day and world . Incidentally we absorb much knowledge ofthe everyday English of that period, and we note both strangeand familiar turns of speech .
Because he is always honest and truthful, we forget hismisdeeds and oft broken resolutions, and remember only to beamused over his ever fresh repentance .
The following few lines from this famous Diary will showyou the manner of speech in which it was written
I having but three pence in my pocket made shif t to spend no more ,whereas i f I had had more I had spent more , as the rest did , so th at I see
EVERYDAY ENGL ISH 71
it is an advantage to a man to carry little in his pocket. So
home to dinner where I f ound my wife making of pies and tarts to try heroven with , but not knowing the nature o f i t , di d heat i t too hot , and so a
li ttle overbake her things , bu t knows how to do better another time .
To the theatre,where was acted Beggars ’ Bush , i t being very
well done ; and here the fir st time that ever I saw women come upon thestage . [January 3,
It is strange what weather we have had all this winter ; no cold at
al l ; but the way s are dusty and the flyes fly up and down and the rosebushes are ful l of leaves , such a time of the year as was never known inthi s world before here .
Af ter dinner Tom and I and my wif e to the theatre and
there saw The S il ent Woman .
”The first time that ever I did see i t
and i t i s an excellent play . Among other thi ngs here Kinaston , the boy ,
had the good turn to appear in three shapes : first , as a poor woman in
ordinary clothes , to please Morose ; then in fine clothes , as a gallant andw as clearly the prettiest woman in the whole hou se , and lastly as a man ;
and then likewise di d appear the handsomest man in the house . And thenby link to my cosen Stadwicke
’
s .
The boy f ailing to ca ll u s up a s I commanded , I was angry , andresolved to whi p him f or that and many other f aul ts today .
Home , and to be as good as my word , I bade Will get me a rod , and he
and I called the boy , and there I reckoned all hi s f au lts and wh ippedhim soundly , but the rods were so small I fear they did not much hur t tohim , but only to my arm, which I am a lready , within a quarter of an hour ,not able to stir almost .
S UGGES TED OUTLINE FOR PUPIL ’S LETTER DIARY
Monday . All that has happened on the two precedi ng day s .
Tuesday . 1 . A ful l and kindly account of yourself and your
own family , one af ter another , including in each case height , f orm , hair ,f eatures , dress , habits , employments , likes and di slikes and pleasures ;giving , fir st of all , an honest description of your self as you fancy youmight appear to someone else .
72 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
2 . Later , of any other persons whom y ou consider of interest ; of
any characters whom you have followed thru a book ; or of any imaginarycharacters whom you may choose to picture to your own mind .
Wednesday — A description of your own home and lif e , describing( 1 ) Your own town or Village ; i ts size , na tionali ty , popul ation ,
interesting and important f eatures ;( 2) your own street and what can be seen on i t ;
(3) your own house ;
(4 ) the rooms in i t , one or more at a time , until all the interior h asbe en pictured ;
( 5) the barns and any other outside f eatures of interest ;( 6 ) your pets and any other an imals at your home ;
( 7 your f avorite work , game , pictur e , story , book , f riend , poem ,
hero or heroine , room , house , town , c limate , li f e , with full account ofreason s f or pref erence ;
( 8 ) a fu ll account of the things you can do , includi ng their pleasantand unpleasant f eatures and their u sefulness to yourself or to others ;
( 9 ) your chief desires and hopes .
Thursday— A story , learned f rom hearsay ; or summarized from a
story or book previou sly read ; or invented f rom your own fancy ; or what
you wou ld like to do i f you were a bird , an animal , your own pencil , aSouth Sea Islander , an influential public citizen , or any other person or
thing than what you are .
Fr iday — A full explanation of some domestic , agricultural , or man
u f acturing process or occupation ; or o f the hab its and customs of any
creature , person , or class of people ; or a statement of the good and bad
points abou t any one mode o f li f e , place of dwelling , etc . ; or later, thereasons why you like a certain book , or picture , or person .
[On thi s day , i f possible , consult ch iefly observation and judgment ,rather than memory of what has been read .]
NOTE — In beginn ing th e diary , y ou may , i f you l ike , treat first th e Tuesdaytopic , and af ter th is , beg in the narrat ion o f actual events .
74 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
II . M en ta l : Consider whether or not paragraphinghelps to the understanding of what we read
,and why.
III . M en ta l : Remembering that in all careful writingeach group of sentences r ela ting to some one poin t shouldmake a single paragraph, study carefully your own first pagesand observe ( 1 ) whether you have paragraphed as
' well as
possible ; (2) whether you have indented each paragraph .
NOTE : D o th is bef ore beginning to copy into the b lankbook y ou are to use
f or your letter diary .
W INTER
The frost is here ,And fu el i s dear ,And woods are sear,And fires burn clear ,And f rost is hereAnd has bitten the heel of the going year .
B ite , f rost , bite !You roll up away f rom the lightTh e blue woodlouse , and the plump dormouse ,And the bees are still
’
d , and the fli es are kill’
d ,
And you bite f ar into the heart of the house ,But not into mine .
Bite , frost, bite !The woods are all the searer,The fuel is all the dearer ,The fires are all the clearer,M y spring i s all the nearer,You have bitten into the heart of the earth ,But not into mine .
Alfred Tennyson .
CHAPTER X II *
A POEM— STUDY
Whenever the busy days Of school life allow,each one
should see us becoming familiar with a masterpiece of literature .This work every person must do largely by himself ; but todaywe may all give ourselves into the hands of a master writer,our own poet Longfellow . From his lips we shall learn a storyand lesson of the beautiful .
THE NORMAN BARON '
I‘
In his ch amber , weak and dy ing ,Was the Norman baron ly ing ;Loud , without , the tempest thundered ,
And the castle-turret shook .
In this fight wa s Death the ga iner ,Spite of vassa l and reta iner ,And the lands h is sires h ad plundered ,
Written in the Doomsday Book .
By his bed a monk was seated ,Who in humble vo ic e repeatedMany a prayer and pater-noster ,From the missa l on his knee .
And , amid the tempest pea ling ,Sounds of bells came f a intly stea ling ,
* Th is ch apter may wel l be studied about th e middle o f D ecember . I t s
order in relat ion t o oth er ch apters'
need not be regarded .
f Repr inted by permiss ion o f Hough ton , M ifli in Company , au th ori z ed publ isher s o f Longf el low
’
s works .
76 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Bells , that from the neighboring kloster ,Rang for the Nativi ty .
In the hall , the serf and vassalHeld , that ni ght , their Chri stmas wassail ;M any a carol , old and saintly ,Sang the minstrels and the waits ;
And so loud these Saxon gleemenSang t o slaves the songs of f reemen ,That the storm was heard but f aintly
Knocking at the castle-gates .
Til l at length the lays they chantedReached the chamber terror-haunted ,Where the monk , with accents holy ,
Whispered at the baron ’
s ear .
Tears upon his eyelids glistened ,As he paused awhi le and listened ,And the dy ing baron slowly
Turned hi s weary head to hear .
Wassail for the kingly strangerBorn and cradl ed in a manger !King , like David , pri est , like Aaron ,
Christ is born to set us free !
And the lightning Showed the saintedFigures on the easement painted ,And exclaimed the shuddering baron ,
M iserere , Domine !
In that hour of deep contri tionHe beheld , with clearer Vi sion ,
Through al l outward show and f ashion ,
Justice , the Avenger , ri se.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 77
All the pomp of earth had vanished ,Falsehood and deceit were banished ,Reason spake more loud than passion ,
And the tru th wore no disguise .
Every vassal of hi s banner ,Every serf born to his manor,All those wronged and wretched creatures ,
By hi s hand were freed again .
And , as on the sacred missalHe recorded their dismissal ,Death relaxed his iron features ,
And the monk replied , “Amen !
Many centuries have been numberedS ince in death the baron slumberedBy the convent’s sculptur ed portal ,M ingling with the common dust .
But the good deed , through the agesLiving in historic pages ,Brighter grows and gleams immortal ,
Unconsumed by moth or rust .Henry Wadswor th Longf el low.
I . Read and re read this poem, until you get its story.
II . Try to picture to your own mind the scenes indi cated1 . The chamber in the castle
,where lies the dying baron
,
weak,helpless
,shaken by the thunder peals that rock his castle
turret ; the form of the monk, repeating from the mass-bookupon his knee the communion service for the dying
,his voice
low and humble as becomes his station ; amid the tempest gusts,a faint sound of bells , telling that the monastery near by proclaims the sacred night of Christ’s birth ; the silence of the
78 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
chamber scarcely broken by the low tones of the monk,and
its quiet the more awful by contrast with the howling stormoutside .
2 . In sharp contrast to the baron ’s chamber,see next a
picture of feasting and song and merriment . I n the great hallof the castle
,the baron ’s retainers
,from lordly vassal to mean
est serf,hold Christmas revelry
,apparently ignoring
,but per
haps unaware of,the condition of their lord. The holy
,
ancient carols are sung by Norman minstrels and Saxon gleemen ; and the waits, or watchmen , piping upon their horns, addto the volume of the sound . The Saxon wassail ” ( waesha el
,be well) is drunk for the welfare of Christ
’s cause uponearth .
3. The song rises to the chamber above . It reaches themonk’s ears . His voice pauses in repeating the prayers, andhis tears fall . The baron also hears and listens . As he notesthe words
,Christ is born to set us free,
”his heart is stirred
with a[
strange tenderness . At this moment, the lightningthrows out into startling distinctness the beautiful figures ofsaints
,wrought in the stained glass of the great windows, and
he exclaims in sudden remorse,“Pity, O Lord !
”
( Ill iser er e
Domino.)4 . See him now eager to undo the wrongs done by his
f athers to the Saxons, whose persons they had enslaved, and
whose lands they had seized, writing these down as their ownforever m the great Norman Domesday Book, which was toremain unchanged t ill
‘
the day of Doom .
5 .,Now, as his last act, see him record upon the holy
mass-book the words which make free the serfs, who were
attached to the soil in its transfer almost as if they had been
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 79
trees or buildings, and also the greater vassals who owed himduty as overlord, and who had fought for him in his wars .
See peace come to the stern face when he has at last obeyedthe demands of Justice, the Avenger .
”
6 . And,last of all
,behold a low
,rounded Norman arch
ornamented with sculptured z igz ag,spiral, and dogtooth patterns,
marking the doorway of the convent where the proud baronwas laid to rest .
Having heard this story,we
,too, are glad that the good
deed was done,and that it has lived immortal thru the ages .
From among many I select one beautiful old carol
CHRI STMAS CAROL
As Joseph was a-walking ,He heard an angel sing,
This night shall be the birthni ghtOf Christ our heavenly King .
Hi s birth-bed shall be neitherIn housen nor in hall ,
Nor in the place of paradise ,But in the oxen ’
s stall .
He neither shall be rockedIn silver nor in gold ,
But in the wooden mangerThat lieth in the mould .
He neither shall be washenWith white wine nor with red,
But with the fair spring waterThat on you shall be shed .
80 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
He neither shall be clothedIn purple nor in pa ll ,
But in the f air , whi te linenThat usen babies all .
”
As Joseph was a-walking ,Thus did the angel sing ,
And Mary’
s son at mi dnightWas born to be our King .
Then be you glad , good people ,At this time of the year ;
And light you up your candles ,For His star i t shi neth clear .
Old E nglish .
The Saxons had a quaint custom of wassailing otherthings than persons
,as you may see from the following old
lines :
Wassai le the Trees , that they may beareYou many a Plum , and many a Peare ;For more or lesse f r uits they will bring ,As you doe give them Wassailing .
Rober t Herri ck .
The lif e o f the M iddle Ages concentrated itself in the vast castle hall ,where the baron looked down f rom h is upper dais on the retainers whogathered at h is board .
John Richard Green .
Songs and legends were the literatu re of the Anglo-Saxons .
Games of every sort were the lawful amu sements of idle hours and of
f estivals . In the e ighth century a laboring man was disgracedamong hi s f ellows i f he could not sing to the harp :
Cha r les P earson .
82 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
IV . M en ta l : In men,oxen
,chi ldr en
,br ethr en
,and Line
( cows) , we have a few relics of the ending en,very common in
early English . Find in the old Christmas carol quoted in thischapter three other words which formerly had this ending.
V . Or a l : A class discussion upon Christmas customsin various lands .
VI . M en ta l : Read also The Three Kings,by Long
fellow .
VII . Or a l : The reading or reciting of a program ofChr istmas carols, these to be collected by pupils from allpossible sources .
CHRISTMAS TIDE
Chri stmas tide is a time o f cold ,Of weathers bleak and of winds a -blow ;
Never a flower fold on f oldOf grace and beauty tops the snowOr breaks the black and bitter mold .
And yet’
tis warm for the ch i ll and gloomGlow with love and with chi ldhood ’s glee
And yet’t i s sweet — with the rich perfume
Of sacrifice and of cha rity .
Where are flowers more f air to see ?
Christmas tide 1t is warm and sweetA whole world s heart at a Baby
’
s f eet !R ichard Bur ton .
Reprinted by permi ss ion o f th e publ ishers , Smal l , Maynard Company .
CHAPTER XIII
ON LETTER WRITING
People write more letters today than ever before . This ispartly because pen
,ink
,and paper are no longer expensive
,and
partly because modern civilization has made readi ng, writing,and composition a part of every child’s education .
Letters are now probably Shorter, on the whole, than everbefore
,and some persons fear that the beautiful art of fine
letter writing is in danger of becoming lost . Other persons,
whose opinion we may trust, assure us, on the contrary,that
never before has the world been so full of graceful and elegantletter writers .
Every letter is excellent which tells of interesting thingsin a simple and natural way . People write best
,therefore
,
about the things that touch themselves most closely ; for it isin these that their interest lies . The informal or familiar letteris the one most frequently written . In its ideal form it is
simply a pen chat between two good friends on matters ofmutual interest
,with the personal note prominent . It must not
be overwise or overwitty, and it must not labor in its flow .
Moreover, its chief aim can no longer be that of news carrier,
for the daily newspaper long ago relieved it of this onceimportant office .
Some very poor talkers prove to be excellent letter writers .You may care to know that Oliver Goldsmith, whose pen seemsto flow of itself
,was a total failure in conversation . The
84 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
careful writing out of you r chit-chat will be one of the suresta ids toward learning to converse well . First and last and allthe time one must be frank and sincere
,or the written words
will not ring true . In proportion as the soul of the writershines out between the lines will the letter be of value
,for
every glimpse of a human soul is precious and to be held inreverence .
In formal or semi-familiar letters,it is customary to place
the address of the writer at the close of the letter . No betteradage can be taken to heart here than that familiarity breedscontempt .” Therefore
,err on the Side of formality in address
ing strangers and mere acquaintances . The most formal com
mun ications of all will say he,she
,and they , instead of I , we,
and you . Observe this upon all formal invitations . This is avery convenient fashion for all kinds of Short notes to personswith whom you have too Slight acquaintance to u se the morefamil iar forms .
Whil e it is impossible to lay down general rules for everysort of letter
,there is one rule that always holds good : The
beginning and the close of a letter mus t be cou r teous and su i ted
to i ts occa s ion,whi le i ts gener a l tone mus t conf orm to a ll the
cir cums tances under which i t i s wr i tten .
Absolute freedom is allowed in the beginning and in theclose of friendly letters . Intimate friends may be whollyinformal . A noble letter of Sympathy from one man to anotherbegan
,
“Ned I can not tell you how grieved I am over theterrible news . A loving letter from a father to his daughterbegan
, Well, Ella, I could not come to you this week .
”
Every formal signature should Show the sex of its writer,and that of a lady should also Show whether or not she is
i
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 85
married . Initials alone may be used by men , but . it is betterform to write the first name in full . Julius E. Smith is a moredignified and distinctive Signature, hence more desirable, thansimply J . E. Smith .
A lady still unmarried may sign herself Ella A . Brown toher friends
,while for strangers She will write (Miss) Ella A .
Brown . After marriage,social custom
,business convenience,
and good taste all decree that She use her husband’s customarySignature
, prefixing M r s . By observing this custom a womanShows delicate respect to her husband
,while at the same time
She consults her own natural dignity and refinement which suggest that her Christian name be not given needless prominenceor publicity . Widows need not now use their own givennames
,unless they so choose . Formerly
,M r s . E lla E . Day
was supposed to indicate the fact that Mrs . Day is a widow . A
married woman must use her own given name in signing legaldocuments and professional or other business papers . She may
also Sign thus to her intimate friends,while to mere acquaint
au ces She should use the more dignified social form .
Good taste and the teachings of conscience alike forbid usto commit to paper unkind or doubtful statements . Tattle orgossip about our friends and neighbors is the most undesirableof all material for one ’ s letters . To chat about things andevents rather than about people is a wise course, unless wehave only kind things to say . AS we grow older and wiser welearn to place our interests less and less in the small and petty .
Hence, an early avoidance of all unkind gossip is the rightstart toward leading our thoughts to the best things in life .
Few people are called upon to write formal compositions ;but frank, sunshiny letters are possible to all, and are a sure
86 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
means of conferring plea sure .
‘To write as you talk will be tocarry your own presence to friends who should consider yourletter as the next best substitute for your own company .
Remember,that your friends do not want from you an essay or
a sermon ; what they do want is a glimpse of you .
Business letters are the very Opposite of friendly ones .Here one needs to study how to say the most in the fewestwords . A business letter may well be written and rewritten tillit can be no further condensed . Here every item of heading
,
address,and Signature must be accurate and complete . Thus
you see a t once that the model writer of business letters may bea failure in the friendly epistle ; while the friend whose pen chatwe most enj oy may make a poor shift at business writing . Bypractice
,however
,one may easily excel in both .
Midway between very familiar letters and those strictlyupon business lies a large class of social communications whichexpress a ll possible Shades of respectful formality
,as well as
every form and degree of courtesy . Notes of invitation,of
regret,of congratulation
,of condolence and sympathy
,of intro
duction,are a few of the most common . In brief social forms
one may follow any good model . In letters not to one ’sintimate friends
,good taste and social u sage alike demand
that we state clearly and in correct form when,where
,by
whom,and to whom
,the letter is written . There are reasons
for this rule besides those of convenience ; and to disregardgood form in letters of courtesy is properly considered to Showa lack of good breeding. The following hints will be foundvaluable
As to mechan ica l detai ls , a legible hand is of first importanc e .
Flouri shes are n ot in good taste . To abbrevi ate c ommon words shows
EVERYDAY ENGL ISH 87
indolenc e and lack of‘respect f or one
’
s correspondent . All numbersexcept dates and the number of a house shoul d be expressed in words ,and the street number should be written in full . Black ink and unrul edpaper are most approVed : lined paper hints that the writer lacks Skil l .A note may be written upon pages one and three i f longer than thi s , theorder shou ld be one , two , three , f our . A mode now somewha t preval enttakes the order , four , one , two , three . This method has some advantages
,
bu t is not common ly employ ed . The close S hou ld harmoni z e with the sa l
u tation whi ch h as preceded . Thu s , the close , Ve respec tful ly ,”shoul d
not f oll ow My dear S ister . In formal bu siness letters , M iss or M rs .
in parentheses Should precede the signatures of women . All pre-titles are
more respectful i f wri tten ou t in fu ll , exc ept M r . and M rs , whi ch are
a lways abbreviated,and D r .
,wh ich usu a lly i s . The best au thoriti es
regard abbrevi ations Gem , Ool . , Capt . , P res , etc ., as impolite . They are
certa inly not in the bes t taste and are not indorsed by our best public ations . Wri te The Reverend before the names of clergymen . M istress
i s sti ll u sed in England and Scotland as pre-title , bu t in America we have
shor tened it to M iss and to M r s . The plura l of M iss Sm i th i s the i ll iss
Smiths, and the plura l of M rs . Smith i s the M rs . Sm iths . A woman
shoul d not herself use nor be addressed by her husba nd’
s pre-title ; a s
,
M rs . Sena tor Brown , M rs . Genera l Jones . When us ing post-cards , omitsalutation and complimentary close and a ll confidenti a l communi cati ons .
It is a breach of good manners to read the superscriptions upon envelopesand post-c ards o f other people , or to read the post-cards entrusted to one
’
s
self for delivery . It is unwise to comb ine bus iness and persona l a ffa irs inthe same letter .
I give you here examples of letters written by two of thegreatest masters of English that the race has ever produced .
One of these is part of a familiar letter written to his own littledaughter by the man who composed our great Declaration '
of
Independence . The second is by a man who used a woodenshovel for his scratchbook
,yet who so trained himself that his
letters are correct in every least detail . His penmanship was
88 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
careful to the point of elegance . His Spelling,punctuation
,
and capitalization were as conscientious as his manner ofexpression .
The first letter was long held dear by a great queen andempress . Here is its story
Queen Victori a was an assiduous collector of autographs , and it i san interesting and curious f act that one of the most precious treasures ofher large collection i s a letter wri tten by Thomas Jefferson to h is daughterMartha when she was eleven years old . Her Maj esty f requently showedi t to American visitors . Although Jefferson was an uncompromi singenemy of England throughou t h is entire life , cherishi ng an unreasonablehostility to every thing Bri tish , Queen Victoria admired him as much as
did any American . The Simplicity of his lif e and the tender interest hemanif ested toward h is children seemed to touch her heart .
She obtained this letter from M rs . Randolph , the daughter of
Mr . Jefferson , some time af ter his death . Her f ad for collecting autographs w a s then at i ts height , and she requested the f oreign office at
London to secure f or her a typical example of Mr . Jefferson ’
s writing .
Mr . Vai l , the British charge at Washington , f orwarded the request toMrs . Randolph , who , appreciating Queen Victoria ’ s character, and knowing her love f or children , selected a letter which She had received f rom her
f ather during her chi ldhood . It is dated Annapoli s , November 28 , 1 783,and is addressed to “ My dear Patsy .
” Af ter expressing the sorrow hefelt in parting with her at the school in which she was placed, hesay s
The acqui rements which I hope you wi ll make under the tutors Ihave provided f or you will render you more worthy of my love , and i fthey cannot increase i t , they will prevent i ts diminution . With respectto the di stribution o f your time , the following i s what I should approve
From eight to ten practice music .
From ten to one dance one day and draw another .From one to two draw on the day you dance and wri te a letter
next day .
90 EVERYDAY ENGLI SH
But I c annot refra in f rom tendering to you the consolation th at maybe f ound in the thanks of th e republic they di ed to save . I praythat our Heavenly Father may a ssuage the angui sh of your bereavement ,and leave you only the cheri shed memory of the loved and lost and the
solemn pride that must be your s to have la id so costly a sacrifice upon th ealtar of freedom .
Very respectfully yours ,ABRAHAM LINCOLN .
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l : Discover by discussion the consensus of classopinion upon the following topics
1 . Some u ses sui table to the various standard sizes of paper,namely
foolscap ( about eight by thirteen inches )letter paper ( about eight by ten inches or a trifle larger)c ommerc ia l note ( about five by eight inches )packet note ( about fiveand three-fourths by nine inches )note ( all sma ller sizes)
2 . The desirabi lity or otherwise of hi gh ly colored papers and inks .
3. The desirabili ty of havi ng paper and envelopes matched or
nearly a like in color , Size , weight , etc .
4 . The advantage or otherwise of wax as compared with gummedsurf ac es .
The hygiene of using a sponge rather than the tongue f or
moistening gummed su rfac es .
6 . Some probable reasons for f requent changes in the sty le of
f ashionable note papers .
7 . The sizes , tints , and weight of paper a lways in good taste ,and , on the whole , most convenient .
8 . S ome good reasons in f avor of unrul ed paper .9 . Some reasons why everyone should be able to wri te a good
looking page without the a id of lines upon or underneath the sheet used .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 91
10 . The correct manner of foldi ng commerc i a l note and letterpaper so that each wil l fit the envelope common ly used for either .
1 1 . A simp le ru le to cover all c ases where a stamp shoul d be
enclosed for reply .
12 . Some obvious good featur es of the plan for learmng a foreignlangu age thru correspondence with some one in a foreign country , thissystem being now actua lly employed in severa l places in this country ;some possible disadvantages a lso .
13. The politeness or otherwi se of sea ling a note to be delivered bya f riend .
II . Sugges ted Or a l
1 . With samples in the hands of pupi ls , di scuss a collection of
forma l invita tions and declinations , or regrets , wh ich h ave been in actua luse . Let these be gathered f rom any ava i lable source by pupil s and
teacher and kept for ref erence . Consider i tems of spac ing , arrangement ,printing or engraving , etc .
, as matters of custom and of ta ste .
2 . In the same manner , discuss a Similar collec tion of all the dif
f erent bills , bi ll-heads , and rec eipted bil ls th at the cla ss c an coll ect ,noting simi lari ties and difi erences and any other interesti ng points .
3. In lik e manner , discuss a collection of blank and of cancelledbank checks . Determine in th is di scussion whether a bank check i s a lsopractica lly a receipt ; a lso
,how many times it may be u sed as a receipt
and to whom it has thi s u se last .4 . In l ik e manner , di scu ss a collec t ion of a ll sorts of short adver
t isements , collected f rom some of the best possible publications . Afteragreeing upon a f ew model forms , paste these for future ref erenc e upon a
sheet Of mani la or other st i ff paper .5 . A report f rom committees of the class who sha ll have obta ined
inf ormation ( 1 ) as to whether the name o f the county on ma i l sent to verysma ll towns is necessary to insure sa f e delivery , or is chi efly desirable as
an a id to rapid posta l service ; ( 2 ) as to the work done inside one o f
Uncle Sam ’
s ma il cars ; ( 3) as to the most common annoyances to postalclerks in the matter of unsa t isf actory addresses ; ( 4 ) as to how minuteshould be the items o f a letter heading to ensure prompt return ma il ; ( 5)
92 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
a s to what sort o f bus iness f orm the'
average self -supporting citizen wi llprobab ly most of ten need to make out .
III . Suggested Wr i tten
1 . Write formal notes of invitation , Of acceptance , of dec linationwith regrets , for a picn ic or some other socia l gathering .
2 . Make ou t in correct f orm a b i ll to your teacher f or a ll your schoolproperti es to the least item, with a reasonable valuation a ssigned to each .
Wri te her a receipt also f or the total amount Of the bi ll .3. Assuming th a t you have become a self - supporting citizen ,
writeout your own receipt to some other person f or ca sh f or rent , f or borrowedmon ey , f or c ash due you f or board , and f or any other item you
'
select .
4 . Wri te ou t a suitable advertisement of something wanted or for
5 . Answer in a s good form a s possible an advertisement cut f roma newspaper .
6 . State an imaginary but possible case where omi ssion or error inlocation ,
date , address , or signature , gave rise to some fortunate result orto the reverse . Make th is as explicit as possible , and if convenient , writein story form .
FORBEARANCE
Hast thou named al l the birds without a gun ?
Loved the wood-rose , and lef t i t on i ts stalk ?At rich men
’
s tables eaten bread and pulse ?Unarmed , f aced danger with a heart of trust ?And loved so well a high behavi or ,In man or maid , that thou f rom speech ref ra ined ,Nobi lity more nobly to repay ?0 , be my f riend , and teach me to be thine !
Ra lph Wa ldo Emerson .
Reprinted by permiss ion o f Hough ton , M i tfl in Company , auth or i z ed publ i shers o f Emerson ’
s works .
94 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
including the year, is given . How absurd the poems in LessonVII would look
,if the names of months and of days had been
abbreviated ! To employ as few abbreviations as possible is asafe rule
,and is also in accordance with the present wise
tendency among good writers . In calendars the names of thedays are Often abbreviated to save space . In a diary
,also
,
this may possibly be allowed. But in formal letters and notesthe full form Should be used in accordance with the u sualpractice of our best writers of literature . Thus you may writeFebruary twen ty
-second, or February 22, or Feb. 22 , 1900, butnever Feb: 22 . The textbooks indorsing this incorrect formshow in their own pages of literature that it is not good formafter all . Then do not by your own usage indorse forms whichwell-printed publications condemn as ignorant and shiftless .
It is required by courtesy that in written addresses wealways use the titles M aster
,M iss
,M i s ter
, or M is tr ess . Thetwo former are never abbreviated, and the two latter alwaysare . The only other title besides Mr . and Mr s . that is usedalone is Dr . for D octor . And whil e you may see a Signreading D r . Smi th
,you will do well to remember that Doctor
Smi th is a better form wherever the initials are omitted . Youmay use either of the following forms
P rof essor Ca se, or P rof . A. B . Ca se
S uper intendent Ca se, or S upt . A. B . Case
Capta in [Colonel , Genera l] Ca se, or Capt . [Col . , Gen ] A . B . Ca se
The Reverend Mr . Ca se, or the Rev . A. B . Ca se
The Honora ble Mr . Ca se, or the Hon . A . B . Case
While you may omit the the in writing the two last titles,you mus t not Omit it in oral speech, hence it is safer always to
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 95
write it . Notice the t itle of a certain modern novel, TheHonorable Peter Stirling .
”
AS the u se Of titles is chiefly to Show respect, it is urgedby some very particular persons that pre-titles Should always bewritten in full, even when the initials occur also . Since no oneobj ects to the full form
,you are certain to give no offence when
you thus write every title in full . Certainly, the appearance ofa written name is far more pleasing to the eye when no titlesare cut off. P r of essor Richard T. E ly is a more courteousform than P r of . R : T. Ely but remember always that P r ofE ly , Rev . Smi th, and Similar forms are not to be found in themost carefully printed publications .
Here are two other important cautionsI . You must not abbreviate the name of a State, unless
the name Of town,or Of county
,precedes . Even then it is
better form to write all out in full,and many business houses
now require that the names of States be always written in full .Thus you may write Au s tin
,M ower Coun ty , M inn .
,or Austin
,
M innesota , or even Au s tin,M inn .
,but never I n Ill inn .
2 . You may not use the abbreviations A .M, P i ll ,
orM unless a given hour or day precedes
,as 12 M ; Tu esday
AJII .
The title E sq . for E squ ir e is sometimes used instead ofM r . as a mark Of especial respect . It is usually given in theUnited States as a sign of the legal profession
,and in England
to all literary and professional men . AS a mere mark of respectit is now used less than formerly . When ‘
u sed,it is separated
from the surname by a comma,as
,A . B . Ca se
,E sq .
The title Honor able is gi ven , in the United States, to al lmembers and ex-members of Congress and of State legislatures,
96 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
to j udges, j ustices, and certain other j udicial and executiveofficers . B e careful to use pre-titles in addressing all personsto whom they rightfully belong.
While abbreviations are seldom desirable in written forms,
they are doubly rude in oral language . To Say“ Prof” and
Supe for Professor and Superintendent is not respectful,for
one cannot put a period into the voice to Show that no discourtesy is intended .
If you are in doubt as to how to address a gentleman,
remember that M r ., oral or written, is always respectful and ingood form. Since no dignity
,however great
,Should ever be
claimed by its owner,it follows that no person will ever use
titles of any sort in his signatures,except in official documents .
A hotel register bears simply the names Theodor e Roosevelt,
Cyru s N or thr op,James K. Hosmer .
The term pr of essor has come to be incorrectly conferredupon nearly every male teacher . Hence there has come to bea quiet effort on the part of many real professors to return tothe Simple title M r . Any title used improperly loses thereby itsespecial meaning and becomes less honorable and distinctive .
You wi ll not write Zif r . before a name when you writeE sq . after it , and you will not write D r . before a name whenyou have a title reading Doctor after the name
,such as M .D .
,
D .D .,or LL D . Neither will you use Rever end when you use
D .D . We say of this use that the greater title includes theless . Thus you see that there may often be two or threecorrect ways of writingl the same name .
A t the back of this book may be found a list of abbreviations ; but it is less important that you know how to write these,than that you remember not to use them in ordinary manuscript .
98 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
You ’ve won the great world’s envied prize ,And grand you look in people
’
s ey es ,
With H O N and L L‘
D ,
In big brave letters , f a ir to see ,
Your fist , old f ellow ! o ff they goHow are you , Bill ? How are you , Joe ?
You ’ve worn the judge ’
s ermined robeYou ’ve taught your name to h alf the globeYou ’ve sung mankind a deathless strain ;You
’ve made the dead past live again ;The world may call you what it will ,Bu t you and I are Joe and B ill .
The chafiing young f olks stare and say ,
See those old bu ffers , bent and gray ,They talk like f ellows in their teens !M ad, poor Old boy s , that
’
s what i t means ,And shake their heads they little knowThe throbbing hearts o f Bi ll and Joe !
How B ill forgets his hour of pride ,Wh ile Joe sits smiling at h is side ;How Joe , in spi te of time
’
s di sguise ,Finds the old schoolmate in hi s eyes ,
Those calm, stern eyes that melt and fillAs Joe looks fondly up at Bill .
Ah , pensive scholar , what is fame ?A fit ful tongue of leaping flame ;A giddy wh irlwin
'
d’s fickle gust ,That li f ts a pinch of mortal dust ;A few swift y ears , and who can ShowWhich dust was Bi ll and which was Joe ?
The weary idol takes his stand ,Holds ou t his bru ised and aching hand ,
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 99
While gaping thousands come and go ,
How va in i t seems , th is empty show !Ti ll a ll a t once h is pulses thri ll ;"
l‘
is poor old Joe ’
s God bless you , Bi ll
And sha ll w e breathe in happ ier spheresThe names th at plea sed our morta l earsIn some sweet lull o f harp and songFor eart h-born sp irits none too long ,Just wh ispering of the world belowYVhere th is wa s Bi ll , and th a t w as Joe ?
NO matter ; wh i le our home is hereNO sounding name is ha lf so dear ;When fades a t length ou r lingering day ,Who c ares wha t pompous tombstones say
?
Read on the heart s that love us sti ll ,H ie j acet
*‘ Joe . H ie j a cet Bill .Ol iver Wendel l Ho lmes .
THE BOYS THas any Old f ellow got mixed with the boys ?I f there h as , take h im out , withou t maki ng a noise .
Hang the Almanac’
s cheat a nd the Ca ta logue ’
s spite !Old Time is a lia r ! IVe
’
re twenty ton ight !
We’re twenty ! We
’re twenty ! Who says we a re more ?
He’
s tipsy , young j ackanapes Show h i m the door !Gray temples a t twenty ? Yes ! wh ite i f we pleaseWhere the snowflakes fall thickest there ’s nothing c an f reeze !
W a s i t snowing I spoke of Excuse the mi stake !Look close , you wi ll not see a Sign of a flake !We want some new garlands foI those we h ave shed ,And these a re wh ite roses in plac e o f the red .
La t in here l ies .
1 Reprinted by perm iss ion o f Hough ton , M ifil in Company , authori z ed pub
l isher s o f Ho lmes ’ works .
100 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
We’ ve a trick , we young f ellows , you may have been told,
Of talking ( in publ ic) as i f we were old ;
That boy we call Doctor,”and th is we ca l l Judge °
I t’
s a neat little fict ion , o f course i t ’s a l l fudge .
That f ellow’
s the Speaker , - the one on the right ;Mr . Mayor ,
”my young one , how are you tonight ?
That’s our Member o f Congress ,” we say when w e cha ff
There ’s the “ Reverend What’s-h is-name ? don ’t make me
laugh .
That boy with the grave mathematica l lookMade believe h e h ad written a wonderfu l book ,And the ROYAL SOCIETY though t i t w as tr ue
SO they chose h im right in a good j oke i t was , too !
There ’
s a boy , w e pretend , with a three-decker bra in ,
That cou ld h arness a team with a logica l cha inIVhen he spoke f or our manhood in sy llabled fire ,We called him The Justice ,
”bu t now he
’
s “ The Squ ire .
And there ’s a n ice youngster of excellent pith ,Fate tri ed to concea l him by n aming h im Smith ;Bu t he shouted a song f or the brave and the f ree
,
Ju st read 0 11 h is meda l , My Country ,”
of thee !
You hear that boy laughi ng ? You think he ’
s a ll fun ;
Bu t the angels laugh , too , a t the good he has doneThe chi ldren laugh loud a s they troop to his c a ll ,And the poor man th a t knows him laughs loudest of a ll !
Yes , we’re boy s, a lways play ing with tongue or with pen ,
And I sometimes have asked , Sha ll we ever be men ?
Sha ll we a lways b e youthfu l , and laughing , and gay ,Ti ll the last dea r c ompanion drops smiling away ?
Then here ’s to our boyhood , its gold and i ts gray !The stars of i ts winter , the dews Of i ts M ay !
CHAPTER XV
PICTURE WORDS AND WORD PICTURES
Today you may begin to think about the pictures in words .Shut your eyes after reading each of the following expressionsand try to decide at what point you obtain a clear mind pictureof some one obj ect .
A flowerA blue flowerA sma ll blue flowerA sma ll , blue Spring flower
Can you guess what flower I have in m indThe word violet is upon some lips
,and anemone and he
pa tica upon others . If I had added the word f r agr an t, perhapssome Of you would have guessed the blue English violet, whoseleast tiny blossom proclaims its own presence as loudly as if itspoke .
Try to form a mind picture for the following group ofwords :
A gorgeous , state ly , nodding , speckled flower, found wi ld and a lsoin cul tivation .
Country children have the advantage here, and some ofthem will think at once of the tiger lily . If I had said instead,A s tifi
’
,s ta tely , sca r let Ju ly flower , they might have guessed
the meadow lily,which on our Western pra iries weaves thick,
soft carpets for cloud shadows to walk upon . If, instead of
102
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 103
wild lilies,I had named a trolley car
,it would have been the
city children who would a t once have had the clearer mindpictures . Any picture word may ca ll up to you all that youhave ever known in connection with that word . If
,besides
remembering the obj ect, you also see a clear mind picture ofthe thing itself
,you possess within your own mind a source of
much pleasure,in the recalling of familiar scenes and faces .
Observe that the same word brings different pictures todifferent persons . The same group of words meant violet,
anemone,or hepa tica , according to your diff erent mind pictures .
So, too, the word home means to each of you a different placeand a diff erent mind picture .
The more Special,or specifi c
,a term is
,the clearer mind
picture it will bring . That is to say,special terms are better
picture words than general terms . Thus vio let,r ose
, pansy ,
each gives you a more distinct picture than f lower .
By a simple diagram you can see how each added descr iptive term limi ted
, or conf ined, your thought to a smaller classthan before, while your pictures grew at the same time moreand more distinct . The diagram can be arranged in many ways
,
according as you consider one or another point first in order.
l 04 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Thu s , we may suppose that A inc ludes a ll fl owers ; B inc ludes all
bluefl owers ; C inc ludes a ll sma ll blue flowers ; D inc ludes a ll sma ll, blue,spr ingflowers E inc ludes a l l sma ll
, blue , spr ing v iolets .
Here is another way of picturing to the eye the smallerclasses included in a larger class
I f the c irc le A inc ludes a ll li lies , we may suppose that B ,C , D , and
E represent va riously tiger lilies , lemon li lies , meadow li lies , and li lies of
the va lley . Wha t li lies a re here excluded f rom the sma ll circles ?
You may notice that while the word f lower includes moreObj ects
,it means much less than the word vio let . In other
words,while f lower has greater extent
,vio let has greater con
tent,or mean ing. The word vio let means even more than the
picture phrase,sma ll
,blu e
,spr ing f lower , which also indicates
similar flowers . I - hope you see by this how much more onepicture word may often mean than another apparently moreimportant in itself.
Observe the following expressions,which might also be
diagramedA little red schoolhou se .
A white , vine-covered cottage.
106 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
I give you for study today a poem full of very beautifulword pictures . You can scarcely read the poem too Slowly .
The quiet,sober voice will slowly call up picture after picture
in dull,gray colors of late fall . This poem was a favorite with
Abraham Lincoln,and it deserves a ll the thought you are able
to give it . You may not understand every line at first . Somelines you may not fully understand for a good while ; but, asyou read it over and over
,trying to see every one of its
remarkable word pictures,and then come back to it again after
weeks,or perhaps months
,you will find that i ts beauty and
meaning have grown into your soul and become a part ofyourself.
THE CLOSING SCENE
Within this sober realm of leafless trees ,The russet year inha led the dreamy a ir ,
Like some tanned reaper in h is hour of case ,
When all the trees are ly ing brown and bare .
The gray barns , looking f rom their hazy hills ,O
’
er the dim waters w id’
n ing in the va les ,Sent down the a ir a greeting to the mi lls ,On the du ll thunder of a lternate fla il s .
All s ights were mellowed , and a ll sounds subdued ,The h ills seemed f art her , and the stream sang low ;
As in a dream the distant woodman hew’
d
His winter log , with many a muffled blow .
Th’
embattled forests , erewhile armed in gold ,Their banners bri ght with every martia l hue ,
Now stood like some sad beaten hosts o f old ,
Withdrawn af ar in time’
s remotest blue .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 107
On Slumb ’rou s wings the vu lture tri ed his flight ,The dove scarc e heard h is singing mate ’
s compla int ,And like a star , slow drown ing in the light ,The vi llage church-vane seemed to pa le and f aint .
The sentinel cock upon the hillside crew ;Crew thrice , and a ll was sti ller than beforeS ilent till some reply ing wanderer blewHis a lien horn , and then wa s heard no more .
Where erst , the j ay withi n the elm’
s tall c rest ,Made garru lou s trouble round the unfledged young ;
And where the oriole hung his swinging nestBy every light wind like a censer swung ;
Where sang the noi sy masons of the eaves ,The busy swa llows c irc ling ever near ,Foreboding , as the ru stic mind believes ,An early harvest and a plenteous year ;
t ere every bird which charmed the verna l fea stShook the sweet slumber f rom its wings at morn ,
To warn the reapers of the rosy east ,All now was songless , empty , and forlorn .
Alone , f rom ou t the stubb le piped the qua i l ,And c roaked the crow , through a l l the dreary gloom ;
Alone the pheasant , drumming in the vale ,Made echo to the di stant cottage loom .
There was no bud , no bloom upon the bowersThe Spiders wove their thin shrouds night by night ;
The thi stle-down , the on ly ghost of flowers ,Sa iled slowly by passed noiseless ou t of sight .
Amid all this , in this most cheerless am,
And where the woodb ine sheds upon the porch
108 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
I ts crimson leaves , a s i f the yea r stood there ,Firing the floor with hi s invert ed torch
Amid all this , the centre of the scene ,
The white-ha ired matron ,with monotonous tread ,
Plied the swi f t wheel , and with her j oy less mien ,
Sat like a Fate , and watched the fly ing thread .
She had known sorrow . He had wa lked with her ,Of t supped , and broke with her the ashen crust ,
And in the dead leaves , still She heard the stirOf his b lack mantle tra iling in the du st .
Whi le yet her check wa s bright with summer bloom ,
Her country summoned , and She gave her all
And twice war bowed to her hi s sable plume ,Re-gave the swords to rust upon the wa ll ;
Re-gave the swords but not the hand that drewAnd struck for liberty the dy ing blow ;
Nor h im who to h i s Sire and country trueFel l
’
mid the ranks of the invading foe .
Long , bu t not loud , the droning wheel went on ,
Like the low murmurs of a h ive at noon ,
Long but not loud the memory of the goneBreathed through her lips a sad and tremulou s tune .
At last the thread w as snapped , her head was bow’
d ;
Li f e dropped the distaff through hi s h ands serene
And loving neighbors smoothed her careful shroud ,While Death and Winter c losed the Au tumn scene .
Thomas Buchanan Read.
l l 0 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
VI . Sugges ted Supplementary Work : Let some poemof Longfellow ’s
,as Rain in Summer
,
” “ The BeleagueredCity,
” or “The B irds of Killingworth,
” be read or studied inclass
,observing the descriptive terms u sed .
NOTE : As many rec itat ions as poss ible may h ere be g iven to sui table
s ingle poems by American o r E ngl ish wri t ers , f ol lowing ou t th e method o f study
indicated i n Chapters X II and XV . See Appendix f or suggested poems .
Already , c lose by our summer dwelling ,The Easter sparrow repeats her song ;A merry warbler, she ch ides the blossoms
The idle blossoms that sleep so long .
The bluebird chants , f rom the elm ’
s long branches ,A hymn to welcome the budding year .
The south wind wanders f rom field to forest ,And softly whispers , The Spring i s here .
Yet these sweet sounds of the early season ,
And these f a ir sights of i ts sunny days ,Are only sweet when we fondly listen ,
And only fa ir when we fondly gaze .
There is no glory in star or blossomTi ll looked upon by a loving eye ;
There i s no f ragrance in Apri l breezesTi ll breathed with j oy as they wander by .
From An I nvi ta tion to the Country ,”by Wi ll iam Cu l len Bryant .
*Reprinted by permission o f D . Appleton Company ,pub l ish ers o f Bryant’s
complete works .
CHAP TER XVI
UPON THE APOSTROPHE
There is a useful little mark called the apostr ophe, whichyou should at once learn to use correctly
,i f you have not
already done so . It has the form of a comma, and was once
given the name high comma by two little girls who did notknow its real name .
The apostrophe Shows something left out . At the timeMr . Samuel Pepys wrote his diary, certain forms in both written and Spoken language were changing very rapidly . Fromthe pages of his diary I select the following for your thoughtful consideration
I followed Besse her messenger .Charles h i s name .
At Roger Pepy s h is wedding .
I sta id writing of the day it s passages .
Now these expressions according to our use
written thusI followed Besse ’
s messenger .Charles’ name .
At Roger Pepy s’ wedding .
I staid writing o f the day’
s passages .
also express the same idea by writing
I followed the messenger of Besse .
The name of Cha r les .
The wedding of Roger P epys .
The passages of the day .
1 1 2 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Before the days of Pepys,while our language was in itsAnglo -Saxon and early English form
,the relation we now
express by of had been shown by a little ending es placed aftera word and forming part of it . Thus hor s was hor se, whilehor ses meant of a hor se or belonging to a hor se. In Wednes
day we still see this es,the word being once Wodnes-dacy ,
that is,day of Woden , or Woden
’ s day .
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this e wasgradually replaced by the apostrophe ( the form with his andher
,used by Pepys
,being a very popular
,but Shortlived fashion) .
Then , after this was done, people could see upon the pri nted pagethe difference between hor ses
,meaning mor e than one hor se
,
and hor se’s,meaning of a hor se or belonging to a hor se. A
little later they began also to put an apostrophe after hor seswhen they meant q f hor ses or belonging to hor ses : as thus,hor ses
’
.
This has proved to be an advantage in clearness, SO thisway of writing has been kept up .
While ’
s at the end of a word very often Shows ownership ,or possession
,it may also show au thor ship,
or igin , hind,
mea sur e,or some other relation . In general
,these relations
may be expressed by the word of , as you will see by theexamples in your exercises .
In case a name ends already in s, we may, if we choose,
write after it the apostrophe alone when we wish to Showpossession or the of relation . Usage permits either method .
The second 8 is not usually to be sounded as a separate syllable .
Adopt your own method after careful study of the exercisesand after class discussion .
One other rather rare use of the apostrophe is Shown in
1 14 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
I have said that either don ’
t or doesn ’
t may be used in
place of does no t . This is a point upon which opinions differ .Certain writers urge that since he do not is no longer goodEnglish , we should never say he don
’
t. Other authorities,
equally noted,say that the swiftest and most direct form is
always best,and that for mere convenience we Should use he
don’
t that he don ’
t is correct historically,and that don ’
t may
also be considered a further contraction Of doesn’
t . Of course,
neither don ’
t,doesn
’
t,can
’
t,won
’
t,nor sha
’
n’
t would appear inreally formal or polished Speech
,and here we are talking about
conversationa l language merely . Discuss this question freelyin class and decide by vote which form you will indorse
,by
your own use . Remember that since no one obj ects to hedoesn
’
t,by adopting that form you will be certain not to give
Offence . But remember,also
,that no book makes rules for
language . All a book can do is to say : Such and such waysof speech were used by this man , or by that group of men if
think them wise users Of language,follow their example .
ce,whenever usage is divided
,as in this case, you may
consult your own j udgment and good tas It will be wellfor you to watch for these forms in your re and to decidethus which one you prefer .
There is a very important lesson for you,h iding away
beneath th is discussion . It is this Begin now to find out foryourselves what is good usage in English . Go to the largestand best dictionary you can find and look up every doubtfulpoint .
f Ref u se to believe what you see in this book or in anybook regarding good usage
,unless it is reinforced by citations
from the best’
writers in English . In nine cases out of ten,
usage allows more than one form,and it is seldom that one may
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 1 15
say,This and this a lone i s cor r ect . Therefore , let you r own
inquiry always be,not Wha t is the cor r ect f orm but, Wha t i s
the better u se
And remember here what has been said before, and will besaid again and again
,that no other one thing will so quickly
make you good users of language as this habi t of close obser
va tion . It is by beginning early to exercise j udgment andtaste that you will at last come to possess
,and to express easily
and naturally,swift
,sure j udgment and unerring good taste .
Observe the application of this lesson in the followingextract from Dickens’ The Christmas Carol
Ha, ha ! laughed Scrooge
’
s nephew . Ha , h a , ha !
I f you Shou ld happen , by any un likely chance , to know a man moreb lest in a laugh th an Scrooge ’
s nephew , a ll I can say i s , I should like toknow him , too . Introduce h im to me , and I
’ll cultivate h is acqu a intanc e .
It is a f air , even-handed , noble adjustment of things , that , wh ilethere i s infection in di sea se and sorrow , there is nothing in the world so
irresistibly contag iou s as laughter and good-humor . When Scrooge ’
s
nephew laughed in thi s way , holding hi s sides , rolling his head , and twi sting h is f ace into the most extravagant contortions , Scrooge ’
s niece , by
marri age , laughed a s heartily as he . And their assembled f riends , beingnot a bit behi ndhand , roared ou t lustily .
Ha , ha ! Ha , ha , ha !”
He sa id tha t Chri stmas was a humbug , as I live cried Scrooge ’
s
He believed it , tooMore Sh ame for him , Fred ! ” s aid Scrooge ’
s niece indignantly .
Bless those women ! they never do anything by ha lves . They are a lwaysin earnest .
“ He’
s a comical old f ellow , sa id Scrooge ’ s nephew ,that’s othe
truth ; and not so pleasant as he might be . However, hi s off enses carrytheir own punishment , and I have noth ing to say aga inst h im .
”
I am sure he is very rich , Fred ,”hinted Scrooge ’
s niece .
“Atleast you a lways tel l me so .
”
1 1 6 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
What of that,my dear ?
”said Scrooge ’
s nephew . Hi s wea lthis of no u se to him . He don ’t do any good with it . He don ’t make h imself comfortable with i t . He ha sn
’ t the satisf action o f thinking — ha , h a ,
ha that he is ever going to benefit us with i t .
”
I have no patienc e with him , observed Scrooge ’s niece . Scrooge ’
s
n iece’
s sisters , and a ll the other ladies , expressed the same opin ion .
“ Oh , I have ! said Scrooge ’
s nephew . I am sorry f or him : Icou ldn ’t be angry with him i f I tried . IVhO su ffers by hi s i ll whims ?
Himself , a lway s . Here , he takes i t i nto his head to di slike u s , and he
won ’t come and dine with u s . What’s th e consequ ence ? He don ’t losemuch Of a dinner . ”
Indeed , I think he loses a very good dinner ,”interrupted Scrooge ’s
n iece . Everybody else sa id the same , and they mu st be a llowed to havebeen competent judges , becau se th ey had j ust had d inner ; and , with thedessert upon the table , were clustered round the fire , by lamplight .
“Well , I am very glad to hear i t ,”sa id Scrooge ’
s nephew because
I haven ’t any great f a ith in these young housekeepers . IVh at do you say ,
Topper ?
Topper had clearly got h is ey e upon one of Scrooge'
s n iec e’
s sisters ,for he answered that a bachelor wa s a wretched outcast , who had no rightto express an Opinion on the subj ect . Whereat Scrooge ’
s niece’
s S i sterthe plump one with the lace tucker , not the one with the roses — blu shed .
EXERC IS ES
I . Wr i tten and Or a l : Write after each of the followingnames an apostrophe and 8
,following it by some word begin
ning with s,as
,sake
,s tag
”,say ings, s tor ies
,so ldi er s . Then
decide whether or not you prefer to omit the s in certain ofthese cases ” If in one
,why not in all ? Pronounce each
expression and decide w hether or not the form with of wouldsound better .
*The words acqua i ntance , conscience , goodness , and Jesus , when u sed in th e
possessi ve sense ( usua l ly f o llowed by sake ) , ar e genera l ly wri t ten wi th th e apost rophe f o llowing , but wi th ou t th e s .
CHAPTER XVII
OUR ENGLISH AND ITS SPELLING : THE USE OF ADICTIONARY
If,as I hope, you have begun to write in your diurna l,
*or
j ourna l,or diary
,every day
,it is probable that you are thinking
more than before about the spelling of words .I mentioned to you a while ago that hero of the Middle
Ages,Whose name managed to get itself spelled in eighty-five
ways . Now,I presume
,some conscientious girl is thinking
,
“ I wonder which was the right way ! ” and I fancy I hear aboy say
,Well , I gu ess it can
’t make much difference how we
spell it,after a ll !
”And in both of these remarks there is
wisdom . For,if there is a right way in any matter
,we Should
seek and follow i t. But in the days of brave Dietrich von Bern,
there was no one right way ; so it made little difference how hisname was spelled .
You remember,I hope , as an early lesson told you
,that
spoken speech a lways precedes written . Even those worldepics
,the Iliad and the Odyssey
,said to have been composed
by the blind Homer,lived long
,from generation to generation
,
wholly by word of mouth,sung and related by wandering
bards . Then,at last
,they were reduced to writing and have
become today your inheritan ce and mine .
This leads me to tell you a secret, not yet generally known .
Diurna l i s an o ld f orm no t now in u se . It i s t h e doublet o f j ourna l . Al l
three words come from th e L at in dies , day . I n th e t ime o f Pepy s , diurna l was as
common a t erm as dia r y . Th e ch ange f rom d to j i s o f ten f ound .
1 18
EVERYDAY ENGL ISH 1 19
I would whisper it to you, if I m ight, for fear someone may tellyou it is not the truth . But as you grow older, even if notnow
,you will know for yourselves the truth of what I say .
And this is the Secret : Our spelling a s i t exists today i s
la rgely a ma tter of a cciden t,and often a very bad accident, at
that . Upon some of your faces, no doubt, a relieved smiletakes the place of the anxious look put there by unsuccessfulstruggles with your spelling book . You certainly have mysympathy
,in case you are not ey e
-minded,that is, quick to
retain forms taken in thru the eye ; and it may comfort yousomewhat to be assured that your grandchildren will be sparedsome of your pains . You today
,however
,must spell English
as it is now written, no matter how hard you have to work .
Nevertheless,in a dozen words you may now take an easy,
natura l spelling . The directors of the National EducationalAssociation of our country have adopted in printed reportsthe twelve following spellings : tho and a ltho ; thor o and
thor of a r e ; thru and thruou t ; pr ogr am ; ca ta log, pr o log,
deca log, demagog, pedagog . I should advise you all to adoptthese forms
,f or they are certain soon to be the ones most
used, severa l of them be ing already endorsed by the latestdictionaries .
You may be glad, too, that the board appointed by ourGovernment has Simplified the spelling of many geographicalnames
,leaving Off the h in bu rgh and the ugh in bor ough .
The recent textbooks in science leave Off the final e in hundredsof words where it was formerly used .
It does not follow from this that you or I may Spell wordsin any careless way . The thing for you and f or me to do is totake the simplest form of spelling tha t has the sanction Of our
120 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
greatest scholars . These all agree that the spelling of EnglishShould be somewhat changed as soon as possible . We havedropped a k from a lmana ck
,rhetor i ck
,mu si ck
,and similar
words . We have dropped the u from such words as ha rbou r,
honou r, governour . A famous catchword in the spelling
schools Of fi fty years ago was phthi si c. This word is now
spelled as it has always been pronounced,simply tisic. Is it
not possible that some day we may be as w ise as the Italians,
who spell phi losophy and photogr aphy , fi losof ia and f oto
gr af ia 5’ And is it not probable that j ust as the It has dropped
from mu sick,so the useless e will drop from hypocr i te, opposi te,
and similar words ? Not that you or I may drop it now, butthat others who come after us will probably do so .
Our language can not be spelled wholly according tosound
,because it has many more sounds than characters to
represent those sounds . Moreover,no two communities
,no
two individuals even,pronounce exactly alike . But
,after all
,
we are today,more than ever before
,tending toward more
uniform and more Simple speech . How could this be otherwise when electricity and steam make neighbors of the mostdi stant peoples
A few years ago there was much talk over Vo lapuk, a so
called wor ld langu age, invented .
by a German scholar . Nowthis very wise man in eff ect asked One hundred twenty-fivemillions of English-speaking people to give up the Simplest language on the earth
,and to take in its place another language
full Of the little endings that English shed several hundredsof years ago . For u s now to adopt Volapuk, or German, orRussian
,would be like giving up a simple and convenient
machine in exchange for one that is complex and hard-running .
22 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
words . A Latin lexicon may well l ast you a lifetime ; not sothe dictionary of vigorous living English . But respect yourdictionary and hold it very dear ; for with it you can, if youwill
,conquer all English literature and make it your very own .
A great college president once said to a graduating class,
“ Ihave no doubt that I use my dictionary far more often thandoes any one of you .
The following extracts from the pen of Professor BranderMatthews of Columbia University Show you how an able writerof English looks a t these matters today
Language i s merely an instrument for the use of man ; and like a ll
other instruments , i t had to begin by being f a r more complica ted than isneedful . The wa tch used to have more than a hundred separate parts , andnow it is made with less than two-score . Greek and German are
old-f a shioned watches ; Ita lian and Danish and Engli sh a re watches of a
later style . Of the more prominent modern languages , German and Russianare the most backward , while English is the most advanced .
That there is no theory or practice of English orthography uni versa lly a cc epted today i s obvious to all who may take the trouble to observ e
f or themselves . The spelling adopted by the Centu ry Maga z ine is di ff erent f rom that to be found in Ha rper
’
s Magaz ine ; and this di ff ers aga inf rom that insisted upon in the pages of the Bookman . The Century ha s
gone a little in advance of American spelling genera lly , a s seen in
Ha rper’
s , and the Bookman is intentional ly reactionary .
And j ust as there is no system of English spelling tac itly agreedupon by a ll men of educ ation using the English langu age a t present , sothere is a lso no system Of English spelling consistently and continua llyused by our ancestors in the past . At no time in the longunrolling of English literature f rom Chaucer to Arnold ha s there beenagreement among those who u sed the language a s to any precise way inwhich its words shou ld be spelled .
From Parts o f Speech : Essay s on Engl ish . Reprinted by permiss iono f the publ ishers , Charles Scribner’s Sons .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 123
The orthography o f our language has never been fixed f or a dec adea t a time . And this understanding of the rea l f ac ts of the situation islikely to be enlarged in the immediate future by the wide c ircu lation of
many reprints Of the texts o f the great au thors o f the past in the exac tspelling Of the origina l edition . So long a s we were in the h abit of seeingthe works of Shakspere and Steele , of Scott , Thackeray , and Haw
thorne , a ll in an orthography which , i f not uni form exactly , did not varywidely , we were sorely tempted to say tha t the spelling which w as goodenough f or them is good enough for us and f or ou r chi ldren .
But when we have in ou r h ands the works of those grea t wri ters as
they were ori gina lly printed , and when we are f orced to remark that theySpell in no wise alike one to the other ; and when we discover tha t suchuni formity of orthography as they seem to have i s due merely to the
practice of the modern printing-offices and proof -readers — when thesethings a re brought home to us
,any supersti tiou s reverenc e bids fa ir to
vanish wh ich we may have had for the orthography we believed to beShakspere ’
s and Steele ’
s and Scott’s and Thackeray’
s and Hawthorne ’
s .
To di ffuse accurate inf ormation about the history of English orthog
raphy is the most pressing and immediate duty now before those of us
who wish to see our Spelling simplified . We must keep remindi ng thosewe wish to convince tha t we want their a id in helping a long the movement wh ich has in the past changed musique to mu sic
,r iband to r ibbon ,
phanta sy to fanta sy , oera to era , pheenomenon to phenomenon , and whichin the present is changing ca ta logue to ca ta log, aesthetic to esthetic, pro
gramme to program, techn ique to technic.
EXERC IS ES
1 . Ora l : Read the following sentences aloud in class,
pronouncing the words in ough like the other italicized word .or
words in the same sentence or group of sentences . Count thenumber of different sounds given in all to ough .
1 . My doughty cow w a s stuck f a st in a slough nea r the plow .
1 24 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
2 . One or two cups of wa ter may cure your h iccoughs .
3. Say“a s i f ,
” rather than a s though .
”Though i s a shortened
f orm of a lthough and shou ld be so u sed . Knead your dough l ightly , bu tthoroughlgfi
"
4 . The c a t sprang of the trough with a loud cough .
5 . As he went through he cried , S hough , shough , do
6 . The horse waded f rom the dock into the lough till h is houghswere well under wa ter .
7 . Every pufl'
of wind bore to ou r nostri ls the odor f rom the sough .
The slough f rom the sore wing o f the chough w a s a lso most offensive .
The slough of the snake w a s not tough and i t broke easily in my h ands .
The sough of the w ind showed that the night w a s growing rough .
II . 1 . Or a l : Learn by vote the class Opinion as tothe desirability of reforming the spelling of words in ough .
2 . M en ta l : Look up in a recent dictionary all theabove words in ough, and determine which ones may now bespelled in simpler form .
III . M en ta l : Find out if you can from a study of thearticle on Orthography in the first part of your Century
,or
Standard,or Webster’s Dictionary
1 . Whether t o r ed i s the older f orm o f ending'
in such words as
published, fixed, etc .
2 . Some o f the re forms in spelling for which we may thank Dr .Noah Webster .
Th e ref ormed spel l ings , tho and thr u , recommended by th e Nat iona l Educa
t ional Associat ion and adopt ed t hruou t t h e t ext o f th is book , a re not y et in
u niversal use ; theref ore th e older f orm is inc luded among these i l lustrations .
126 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
That is to say, The man f ells , f elled, or ha s f elled thetree . But the tree f a lls , f ell , or ha s f a llen . In other words
,
the f elling of the tree by the man caused the f a lling of the tree .When we f ell a seam
,we cause the edges of the cloth to
f a ll f la t, and they are sewed down in that position .
II . Mary lays the book here ; the book lies where she pu t i t .
She la id the book here ; th e book lay here , unti l now .
She ha s la id the book away , and it ha s la in neglec ted .
In other words,Ma ry ’s lay ing the book down caused the
ly ing of the book in that place .
The army lies inc amp . Cuba lies in the ocean . Oviparous anima lslay eggs . We lay a c able , bricks , plans , roads .
III . He ra ises h is kite and the kite r ises .
He ra ised his kite and the kite rose.
He ha s ra ised h is kite and the kite ha s r isen .
In other words,the r a i sing of the kite by the boyr caused
the r i sing of the kite .
IV . Mary sets her doll in the cha ir , and i t s its there now .
She set her doll in the ch a ir , and i t sa t there a ll night .She ha s set her dol l in the cha ir, and i t ha s sa t there uncompla in
ingly all day .
In other words,Mary ’ s setting her doll in the chair caused
the si tting of the doll in that place .
S et has a very wide u se in everyday language . We set a hen on
eggs , or we set eggs under a hen , and she s its patiently broodi ng for threeweeks . We set a box on end ; set a boy a t work ; set a table for dinner ;set a price , set things in order , set a saw ,
set a trap , set ou t a plant , setpearls in a ring , set a bone ; set ou r hearts on what we long f or ; and set
good or bad examples .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 127
Birds S i t on eggs or s it on a
i
branch or s it ( roost ) on their perches .
Our c lothes s it we ll or i ll , a ltho we speak o f the set of one’
s dress . Re
member that c lothes never set but si t or fi t . We s it down to restand we s i t up to wa tch .
“Will you sit ?”is a somewhat better expression
than “Will you sit down ? but e ither may be used .
Notice the correct use of these words in the following sentenoes, and watch for them in your everyday reading
We have testified of God tha t he r a ised up Christ , whom he ra isednot up, i f so be that the dead r ise not .
I Cor . xv . 15 .
Well may you see things well done there : adieu !Lest our old robes si t ea sier than ou r new .
Shakspere ,“ Macbeth .
M rs . Sterling was a woman whose skirt sa t well ; who adjusted herwa ist and patted her curls with a preoccupied a ir when she inquired a f ter
your welf are .
George E liot .
lVe lay a t St . Dizier the first n ight , and a t Langres the second .
Thomas Gr ay .
A law o f Charles the Fi fth ha s la in dormant ever since
his time .
Joseph Addison .
EXERC lS ES
I . Or a l : Use or,anima l
,enemy , an tagon is t, in place
of tr ee in the sentences of I .
II . Or a l : Use f a ll, f a lls , f el l, have (has or had) f a llen , ofmeteors, leaves, tides, rivers, prices, a curtain , a child and any
other suitable obj ects .III . Or a l : Use the names of each of your own books and
toys in place of the word book in II .
1 28 EVERYDAY ENGL ISH
IV . Or a l : Use flag, m a s t,monumen t,w r eck
,laugh, r io t,
plan t, cr op,signa l, pr i ces , f oods , money , br ead, in place of
ki te in III .
V . Or a l : Use r i se,r ises
,r ose
,have (ha s or had) r i sen , of
birds,fogs
,tides
,water
,bubbles
,a path
,a sound
,laughter,
a curtain,rebels
,insurgents
,and of any other suitable things .
VI . Or a l : Repeat each senten ce in I,II
,III
,and IV in
in ter roga tive or question form . As,thus
,D oes the man f ell a
tr ee,and does the tr ee f a l l? After each question
,read in
answer the corresponding statement a s given in I, II , III, andIV .
VII . Or a l : Let some boy“ tell exactly what is meant by set
ting a saw,explaining why it must be set in just that way .
VIII . M en ta l : Look thru your readers,observing carefully
every u se of any form of each one of these words .IX. Or a l : Bring to class and report there every instance
you can find in good literature of a correct use of any of thewords discussed in this lesson .
New are the leaves on the oaken spray ,New the blades of the si lky gra ss ;Flowers , that were buds bu t yesterday ,Peep f rom the ground where ’
er I pass .
These gay idlers , the butterflies ,Broke , to -day , f rom the i r winter shroud ,These l ight a irs , tha t w1nnow the skies ,Blow , j u st born , f rom the sof t , wh ite c loud .
From The New a nd the Old, by Wi l liam Cu llen Bryan t .*
*Reprinted by permiss ion o f D . Appleton Company , publ ish ers o f Bry ant ’scomplete works .
130 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Observe,again
,the same difference in the meaning of these
two words in the following sentences
I hope I c an go , but I am not yet well .I hope I may go , bu t my f ather may not consent.You may go , Charles , and see whether you c an unlock that door .M ay I ask you to open this door f or me ? I wi ll , i f I can .
O'an formerly meant I know you still con your lessons . M ay meant I have power,
” I am able 5” this meaning
was gradually absorbed by can . You see how much weakerin meaning both words have become .
M ight and cou ld are called past forms of may and can .
They are used in very much the same way as may and can,as
you will see by the following sentences
Mr . Brown told John he might stay over night .I wish you cou ld get your lessons without help f rom anoth er .She tried to walk all the way , but cou ld not .
M ay and might have other uses besides that of giving permission . They also express ( 1 ) uncertainty or doubt ; (2) possibility ; (3) desire . This you will see in the following
I may go and I may not .
I sa id that I might go and I might not .
He may recover i f he is c areful .The doctor sa id he m ight recover .M ay blessings go with you !He prayed that blessings might attend you .
The difference in the use of sha ll and of w i ll is nowinsisted upon by all teachers of English . This use involves avery nice sense of politeness . Sha ll once meant to owe, evento owe money and the unjust steward in the B ible story asks,
EVERYDAY ENGLI SH I3I
How much sha lt [scealt] thou? Sha ll thus implies whatcomes without one ’s own intention or wish ; while wi ll denotesdesire and choice . Wi ll is still often used in this originalstrong sense
,a s in the line
W e are h appy now bec ause God wi lls it .
James Russel l Lowell .
Since it is polite to speak of one ’s self humbly, not a rro
gan tly , and to assume that others act of their own free will,our modern usage
,to express expectation
,has come to be
“shalling
” for ourselves and willing ” for other people .
Observance of this d ifference will mark at once the degree ofcare each of you gives to your own speech . The matter isreally very easy to master . Here it is in a nutshell
I . I sha ll go We sha ll goYou will go You wi ll go a ll f orete ll future ac tion .
He will go They will go
They might also be expressed thus
IYou expect to go expect to go .
He
Now note another group of forms
II . I will go We wi ll go ( 1 ) promise or.
You sha ll go You sha ll go imply ( 2 ) command ; orHe shall go They sha ll go either ( 3) determination ; or
(4 ) the inevitable .
These may be explained variously, according to circumstances
I wil l go [that is , I promise to be there] .
You sh a ll go [I command i t , a nd you dare not di sobey] .
He sha ll go [I am determined to have h im there] .
132 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
We wi ll go [nobody shall prevent it] .
You sha ll go [I promise you tha t plea sure] .
They sha ll go [wi lling or unwi lling] .
If you will emphasize slightly with your voice the sha ll
and the w i ll in Group II, determination and command will telltheir own story without any a id. Do you not see how conven ient it is to be able thus to express in writing a lso a niceshade of meaning ? N i ce
,I mean here
,in its correct sense of
exa ct orpa r ti cu la r . But unless you learn to feel this differencein the meanings of sha ll and of w i ll, you will not be able toexpress them in your own speech .
The fine u se of w i ll or of sha ll to express the inevitableor unavoidable is the one most often neglected . Observe howbeautifully it expresses the poet ’ s meaning in the following
passage :
Yet a f ew days , and theeThe a ll-beholding sun sha ll see no more ,In a ll h is course nor yet in the cold ground ,Where thy pale f orm w as la id , with many tears ,Nor in the embrace of ocean , sha ll existThy image . Earth , that nourished thee , sha ll c la imThy growth , to be resolved to earth aga in ;And , lost each human trace , surrendering upThine indivi dua l being , sha lt thou goTo mix forever with the elements ,To be a brother to the insensible rock ,And to the sluggi sh clod , wh ich the rude swa inTurns with h is share , and treads upon . The oak
Shall send h is roots abroad , and pierce thy mould .
Yet not to thy eterna l resting-placeSha lt thou retire a lone nor c ou ldst thou wishCouch more magnificent. Thou sha lt li e down
l 34 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
almost impossible to overcome them . In fact,if you begin in
youth merely to observe carefully the use in good literature ofa certain form
,you will almost unconsciously acquire an instinc
tive avoidance of the wrong form .
There is a very old story that will never be too old to helpchildren remember about sha l l and wi ll . This story relates ofa French passenger on an English ship that he unluckily fellinto the water, and cried out in terror, Nobody shall help me
,
I will drown Whereupon , he was supposed to be seekingdeath of his own choice, and was politely allowed to drown .
Shou ld and wou ld are the past forms of sha ll and w i ll, andfollow in the main the same use . They are especially used inexpressing condi tion . Thus
I shou ld go if I coul d a fford it .
He would go if he could afford it .
The most careful speakers observe this distinction , but inaccurate speakers confuse the two words .
Wou ld often expresses also the customary or habitual ; as,
She wou ld dream and dream by th e hour .
Shou ld may also express duty or obligation : as,You should
no t be idle .A word to you here upon another case of politeness in
speech . Just as courtesy requires that you allow others to passbefore you
,especially those older than yourself
,so also polite
ness in speech requires that you name yourself after others,saying
,he and I
,
” they and we .” As thus
M iss Smi th and we boys went to the woods .
Come to see M a ry and me.
He came to see you and me.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 135
Carefulness in thus giving preference to others in actionsin words implies an unselfishness that arises from a gentlenoble spirit . Remember that
Poli teness is to do and say
The kindest thing in the kindest way .
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l Discuss each of the following sentences untilsure of the exact meaning .
‘ If I shoul d ca ll , he woul d answer .Wh at should I do ? Wha t would you do ?I woul d not believe him i f I were you , f or he is known to be untrust
worthy .
I shou ld not believe him if I were you , f or his ta les a re wholly unbe
li evable .
Mary would go , a ltho her father sa id she shoul d not . When she
reached home , she f eared she should be punished .
He would not believe th a t h is f riend would betray him .
He could not believe that his friend would betray him.
I could not answer , i f I would .
I would that my tongue coul d utterThe thoughts that a rise in me .
Alf red Tennyson .
I would if I could ;I f I couldn ’t , how cou ld I ?
Mother Goose .
I f we f a i l , it can be no worse f or us . But we sha ll not fa il . The
cause will ra ise up armi es ; the cause will create navi es .
Daniel Webster .
II . Wr i tten : Gather from your readers or other colleetions of literature interesting sentences illustrating the cor
136 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
rect use of may , might, can,cou ld
,sha ll
,shou ld
,wi ll
,and
wou ld .
After discussing these in class,Copy the best instances
you have upon the pages provided in your wordbooks,giving
a lso the name of the writer of each phra se or sentence, as inthe la st three instances under Exercise I .
LULLABY
Rockaby , lullaby , bees in the clover !Croon ing so drowsily , cry ing so low ,
Rockaby , lullaby , dear li ttle rover !Down into wonderland ,Down to the under- land ,
Go , now go !
Down into wonderland go .
Rockaby , lullaby , ra in on the clover ,(Tears on the ey elids that waver and weep ! )Rockaby , lullaby bending i t over
Down on the mother-World ,Down on the other world ,Sleep , oh sleep !
Down on the mother-world sleep .
Rockaby , lu llaby , dew on the clover ,Dew on the ey es that wi ll sparkle a t dawn !Rockaby , lu llaby , dear little rover !
Into the stilly world ,Into the lily world ,Gone ! now gone !
Into the l ily world gone .
Josia h Gi lber t Ho l land.
Reprinted by permission o f th e pub l ish ers , Charles Scribner ’s Sons .
138 EVERYDAY ENGL ISH
Of course you can not correct errors in your speech,unless
these are brought to your attention . Hence,in order to sug
gest to you certain blunders that you may not have noticed, Ishall give you here a good many exercises for study
,closer
study perhaps than you may at first j udge necessary . I shallnot put incorrect sentences before your eyes and I hOpe thatnone may rise in your minds as you read correct ones .
While it is true that errors creep into the speech of evencul tivated persons
,it is well for us always to be cautious in say
ing of any remark that it is incorrect . We must be sure, firstof all
,that we know j ust what the speaker meant . Every
great writer or speaker uses language in new ways to suit hisown need . Thus it follows that usually we may select one ofseveral correct forms
,rather than merely rej ect one form that is
incorrect . All words are good and useful if only they are putinto the right place . Please to study carefully this list ofpopular blunders
,until you have the better expressions pictured
in your mind so clearly that they can not easily be driven out .Do not use
f or more than ; say He has more than twenty horsesfor ej ect say
“He e ff ected thi s by means of a strategem“A happy manner a ffects us all pleasantly .
”
aggrava te f or exa spera te, ir r ita te, a nnoy , or provoke . Aggravatemeans to increase or make worse . Say I mustnot let i t exasperate me ;
” “ Be not easily provoked ; His illness wa s aggravated by the badnews .
”
among for between ( by and twa in ) ; say“ Between the two ;
among them all .”
f or a t a ll ; say She c an not sing at all
f or tha t ; say Not that I h ave heard .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 139
a s l ives f or a s lief ; say I wou ld as lief go as stay .
as tho f or a s if ; say She looks as i f she would c onsent .a tta cted for a ttacked ; say The army was attacked at daybreak .
a ught , or ought , for naught ; say The symbol call ed naught is u sua lly included among the ten digits It is true , for aught
[anythi ng] that I know ; You ought to go .
”
NOTE : Naught comes f rom ne and a ught , and hence means not a ny th ing.
for ago ; say Several days ago .
for ca relessly ; say Thi s is done c arelessly .
for s ick or i ll ; say He looks very sick .
”
for badly of ; say I f ear he is badly o ff .
for beau tif ul ; say She looks beauti fu l and dressesbeau ti fu lly .
for af ter ea ch ; say Af ter each lesson .
f or bef ore every ; say Before every lesson .
”
f or a sser t , decla re ; say I assert tha t he knows the f acts .
f or came ; say He c ame last week .
for l ittle, tiny , pretty , w insome, amusing, a ttractive, lovely ,
cha rming ;‘
say She is a pretty child : “ His
pain and h is pleasure were both acute ; He is
a cunning dog and has sly tricks .
”
for deny tha t ; say I don ’t deny that he did .
for difi'
erent f rom ; say Mine is di ff erent f rom yours .
f or did ; say I did it .
f or doubt tha t ; say I don ’ t doubt that he di d .
for drowned ; say The horse was drowned .
”
for a ccept ; say She accepted the flowers gladlyf or un less ; say I c an ’ t go unless Nell goes too .
f or suspect or suppose ; say I suspec t she has heard thenews ; I suppose you go home often .
f or woman ; say I saw an elderly woman .
”
for flowed or f led ; say The river has flowed f or many
years in this course ; The th ief has fled the
country ; The b ird has flown away .
”
140
most
NOTEShakspere .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
f or stra nge , odd , u nusua l, q ua int , unexpected ; say How
strange that was !for well or ca ref u lly ; say You have done this well .f or ought ; say He ought to h ave gone last n ight .f or have ; say You have a dime and I have a nickel .for hurry ; say
“ Hurry , Tom , hurry !” “ The troops
hurried up the h i ll .f or in to ; say
“ I j umped into the pond and swam aboutin the water .
”
for I t i s I ; say It is I [he , she , we , they ] .
f or woma n , or madam ; say“What can I do f or you ,
madam ? ” Ask this sa leswoman .
f or tea ch ; say He teaches me music .
”
Lea r n f or teach was f ormerly good Engl ish , and to be f ound i n
See th e poem given later in th i s chapter .
for let ; say Let me go ! Leave me here .
f or f ewer ; say There are f ewer people here than Iexpected .
f or a s ; say Do it as I do .
f or a s if ; say He sang as i f he loved to sing .
f or lighten ; say It thundered and lightened .
”
for like ; say I like ari thmet ic I love my mother .for angry , cross ; say Nell w a s angry and the rest were
c ross a t the f a ilure o f the mad scheme .
”
for a lmost ; say We are a lmost home ; most of the h ardplac es are past .”
for many ;‘
say As many a s a hundred sheep .
for common ; say.
“ We have a common f riend ;a ff ection between Nell and Alice i s mutua l .
f or plea sing, sa ti sf actory , cha rming, good, h ind ; say Thi si s a plea sing story ; She h as a ch arming man
ner ; This work requires the nicest care ; An ice choice in words helps to express slight shadesof meaning .
”
142 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
for sea ted ; say They seated me next an old friend .
f or saw ; say“ I saw the circus go by .
”
for ra ther or somewha t ; say“ I am rather hungry and
somewhat ti red .
for stay ; say I am staying at home ;“ I can not stop
now .
f or these or those ; say“ See those boys ! See these
men .
these or those f or this or tha t ; say I like this kind and that kind ;I do not like these kinds nor those kinds .
this much f or thu s much ; say Thus much‘
f avor was shown ;Thus f ar shalt thou go .
”
tha t much for so much ; say“ Can you not show so much kindness ? ”
SO f ar he went .”
to home for a t home or home ; say“ He is home now ;
“ I wasa t home .
transpire for happen or occur ; say The event occurred lastf a ll ; “ The much -talk ed-Of secret has at lasttranspired .
”
f or away ; say“ Away down East .
f or way ; say“He lives a little way from here .
for unless ; say“ I can ’t go unless you go .
Exactness of meaning may often be attained merely bycare in the use of the
,a,and an . Observe how these little
words,called a r ticles, show the number of a r ticles or of
per sons referred to in any given case . Decide how many flagseach of the following expressions includes
A red, white , and blue flag .
A red, a wh ite , and a blue flag.
A red and wh ite , and a blue flag .
A red , and a blue and wh ite flag .
A red and blue , and a wh ite flag.
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 143
Decide also how many men each of the following expressions includes
We see here the man and soldi er .We see here the man and the soldier .We see here the man , soldier , and here .
We see here the man , the soldier , and the hero .
I give you here , for pleasure and for profit, a charmingstory nearly five hundred years old . It was told in the Saxon ,the Spanish , and the German tongues . In England it becamea popular ballad
,sung in a much Older form than that given
here . You will find it a good example of growth and changein English .
Read the lines in a merry and musical manner,marking by
a decided pause the change from one speaker to another .
KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY
An ancient story I le tell you anon
Of a notable princ e , that was c a lled King John ;And he ru led England with maine and with might ,For he did great wrong , and maintein
’
d little right .
And Ile tell you a story , a story so merrye ,
Concerni ng the Abbot of CanterburyeHow f or his house-keeping and high renowne ,
They rode poste for him to fa ir London towne .
An hundred men , the king di d heare say ,
The abbot kept in h is house every day ;And fif ty golde chaynes ,
if without any doubt ,In velvet coates waited the abbot about.
Golde chagues attendants or servants wearing gold ch a ins .
144 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
How , now , f ather abbot , 'I heare i t of thee ,Thou keepest a f arre better hou se than mee ,
And for thy house-keeping and h igh renowne ,
I f ear thou work ’
st treason aga inst my c rowne .
My liege , quo’
the abbot , I would i t were knowne ,I never spend nothing , but what is my owns ;And I tru st your grace wi ll do me no deere , *
For spending of my own true -gotten geere qL
Yes , yes , f ather abbot , thy f au lt it is highe ,And now f or the same then needest must dyeFor exc ept thou c anst answer me qu estions three ,Thy head shall be smitten f rom thy bodie .
And first , quo’
the king , when I ’m in this stead ,With my crowns of golde so f a ire on my head ,Among a ll my liege-men so noble of b irthe ,Thou must tell me to one penny what I am worthe .
Secondlye , tell me , w ithout any doubt ,How soone I may ride the whole world about .
And a t the th ird question thou must not shrink ,
But tell me here tru ly what I do think .
0 , these are hard questions for my sha llow witt ,Nor I cannot answer your grace as yet ;
But if you wi ll give me but three weekes space ,I le do my endeavor to answer your grace .
Now three weekes space to thee will I give ,
And that is the longest time thou hast to live ;For i f thou dost not answer my questions th ree ,Thy lands and thy livi ngs are forfeit to mee .
Deere, or dere h arm.
f Geers , gear : wealth .
146 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Wi th croz ier , and miter , and rochet , and cope ,Fi t to appear ’
fore our f ader the pope .
Now welcome , sire abbot , the king he did say ,
Ti s well thou ’
rt come back to keepe thy day ;For and i f thou canst answer my questions three ,Thy life and thy living both saved sh all bee .
And first , when thou seest me here in th is stead ,With my crowne of golde so f a ir on my head ,Among all my liege-men so noble Of b irthe ,Tell me to one penny what I am worth .
For thirty pence our Saviour w as soldAmong the f a lse Jewes , a s I have b in told ;And twenty n ine is the worth of thee ,For I thinke , thou art one penny worser than hee .
The king he laughed , and swore by St . BittelI did not th ink I h ad been worth so littel !Now secondly tell me , without any doubt ,
How soone I may ride this whole world about .
You must rise with the sun , and ride with the same ,
Until the next morning he riseth aga ine
And then your grace need not make any doubt ,But in twenty -four hours you
’ ll ride i t about .
The king he laughed , and swore by St . Jone ,I did not th ink i t could be gone so soone
Now f rom the third: qu estion thou must not shrinke ,But tell me here truly what I do thinke .
Yea , that shall I do , and make your grace merryYou thinke I
’
m the abbot of CanterburyBut I
’
m h i s poor shepheard , a s pla in you may see ,
Th at am come to beg pardon for him and f or mee .
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 147
The king he laughed , and swore by the masse ,
I le make thee lord abbot this day in h is place !Now naye , my liege , be not in such speede ,
For alacke , I can neither wri te ne reade .
”
Four nobles a weeke , then I will give thee ,For th is merry j est thou ha st showne unto mee
And tell the Old abbot when thou comest home ,
Thou hast brought h im a pardon from good King John .
EXERC IS ES
I . Ora l : 1 Discuss,stanza by stanza
,
“King Johnand the Abbot . Find in it four expressions
,not simply
archa ic,or old-fashioned
,but really incorrect according to
modern use .
2 . DO you prefer the old spelling bin or the modernform been Why ?
3. Explain anon,ma ine
,ma in tein
,liege, devise, s tead
(compare instead) ; cr oz i er , mi ter , r ochet, cope how is no tablepronounced here , and what does it mean when pronouncedno table ? What is the modern form of with maine and withmight
4 . How did the shepherd slyly flatter the king and puthim into good humor in answering the first question ? Toshow this
,do you emphasize one or wor ser
5. By explanation,show that can
,may , sha ll
,wi ll,
wou ld,and cou ld are correctly used in every instance in this
poem . Find a line where w i ll is used to express expectation ,when sha ll would have shown the inevitable . Which wouldyou prefer to use
6 . Point out the lack of uniformity in the use of con
148 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
tractions and Of quotation marks . In how many ways doesthe poem illustrate growth and change in English
II . M en ta l : Review Chapters IV ,XVI
,and XVII
observing how this poem illustrates the teaching Of each .
III . Or a l Make sentences of your own,u sing correctly all
the italicized words that are listed in this chapter as Often misused .
IV . Sugges ted M en ta l and Or a l : Study carefully thedifferent uses of the similar words in the following sentences,and then explain the idea carried by each
He stood firm ; he brac ed h imself firmly .
He looks bad and dissipated,and acts badl y .
Th i s kind of apple tastes sour , that kind sweet .
Those kinds do not sui t me these kinds do .
Only boy s take to swimming a s natura lly as ducks .
Only last summer I took lessons in draw ing .
Last summer I took lessons in drawing only .
I studied only an hour ; I read nearly two hours .
I only studied an hour ; the rest of the time I drew .
It i s a rea l trouble , and h e is very patient .He w as rea lly patient thru all .
Quote accur ately to the least word .
Tha t quotation did not sound accurate .
How qu ietly the snow f a lls how qu iet i t lies !His vo ice sounds ou t clear and distinct .Read clearly and distinctly , not too rapidly .
He smi led plea santly , but sa id , I do not f eel pleasant .In winter milk of ten turns bitter instead of sour .She smi led bitterly , and answered sou rly .
She looked ch arm ing , and sang charmingly .
He looked cross , and spoke crossly .
How sharply he looked a t i t ! How sh arp he looks !Her voice sounded sof t . She moved sof tly .
Answer promptly and,be prompt
CHAPTER XXI
THE LITERAL AND THE FIGURATIVE
W ill you name for me today all the Obj ects you can thinkOf that are keen or sharp ? [Discussion] I hear the namesknife
,scissors
,axe
,hatchet
,needle
, pin , dagger, tack, nail,fork
,sword
,stiletto, pen . All these Obj ects may possess the
quality of sharpness . Can you think of anything else that issharp Have you ever heard of a sharp voice
,a sharp look
,a
sharp answer,a sharp child
,or of sharp vinegar ? Some of
you have,and our greatest writer of English
, William Shakspere
,once wrote
,
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it isTo have a thankless ch i ld .
In a similar way we speak of wood,metal
,glass
,and stone as
being hard and we also speak of hard luck,of hard times
,of
a hard man , of a hard face or voice or disposition . We speak,too
,of bitter sorrow
,of bitter tears ; of soft tones, a soft heart,
soft colors ; of a cold manner, a cold look ; Of a warm heart anda cool head : and in a certain popular phrase we find “ themarble heart and the glad hand .
” We call sugar,honey
,
syrup,and candy
,sweet becau se they appeal to our sense of
taste ; and we call a rose and other fragrant flowers sweet,because they appeal to our sense of smell . Yet this is only onenarrow u se of the word sweet.
These widely different uses of sharp and of similar words
150
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 51
are called respectively li ter a l and figu r a tive. The former isthe plain
,matter-of - fact use, and the latter is the fanciful, or
poetic,and no t ma tter -Of -f a ct . If you should get into a
temper,which
,I trust
,none of you ever do you would
be pretty sure to ca ll names,or use offensive epi thets, and this
is one very common use of figures in colloquial language .Mothers Often talk largely in figurative language as they rocktheir babies to sleep with lullaby songs . Notice this in verymany lullab ies . For example
,in Eugene Field ’s “Armenian
Lullaby you may find the expressions,silver boat
,golden sea
,
diamond stars,emerald vine
,ruby wine
,amethyst deep of
the curtained skies,onyx eyes
,seven picture words
, a ll
inspired by the black-eyed Armenian baby,and every one taken
from a gem or precious stone ; and the entire poem is a succession of word pictures suited to an oriental child .
Epithets and expressions such as these are one kind of
figu res of speech . Language would be as dry as dust withoutfigures to relieve it . In fact without figures
,it could never
have become much of a language ; for do you not see that alllanguage had first Of all to be literal ? Then
,very soon
,the
literal terms for things seen began to be used for things not seen .
Much of the highest beauty in language comes from fig
ures, which brighten speech as flowers do a meadow . In yourlists of word pictures you will have chiefly figurative expressions . You see, at once, that the use of a figure implies theseeing of a likeness between obj ects . This power to see thingswith bodily eyes, and to see the likenesses between things withthe eyes of mind and soul
,is chiefly what makes great wr iters
or grea t artists or great inventors .How -much more important the figurative use Of a word
152 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
may be than its literal use will be clear to you after consideringthe most common uses Of sweet. Thus
, Shakspere says, amongscores of other examples, sweet mercy ; sweet sorrow ; sweetbird ; sweet shepherd ; my lady sweet ; sweet sprites ; sweetlullaby . Other writers mention sweet memory sweet solitudesweet revenge ; sweet disorder ; sweet melancholy ; sweet landof liberty ; sweet freedom
’s song ; sweet bells ; sweet visions ;sweet story of Old ; sweet joy ; sweet eyes sweet wind ; sweetpleasure ; sweet Auburn sweet spring sweet slumbers sweetmaid ; sweet air . SO
, too, more at length, you may see herethe word as used by four great writers
Sweet is true love , though given in va in , in va in ;And sweet is death who puts an end to pa in ;I know not which i s sweeter , no , not I .Love , ar t thou sweet ? then bitter death must beLove , a rt thou bitter ? sweet i s death to me
0 Love , i f death be sweeter , let me die .
Alf red Tennyson .
’
Tis sweet to hear the watchdog ’s honest barkBay deep-mouth
’
d welcome a s we draw near home
’
Tis sweet to know there is an eye will markOur coming , and look brighter when we come ;
"
I‘
is sweet to be awakened by the lark ,Or lull ’d by f alling waters sweet the hum
Of bees , the voic e of girls , the song of b irds ,The lisp of ch i ldren , and the ir earliest words .
Lord Byron .
You say tha t th is world to you seems dra ined o f a ll i ts
sweets At first I had hoped you only meant to insinu ate the h igh priceo f sugar ! but I am a f ra id you meant more . 0 Robert , I don
’t knowwhat you c all sweet . Honey and the honeyc omb , roses and violets are
” 1
154 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
when a dress,a picture , a bonnet, or a baby 18 said to be too
sweet for anything,
” and neither do we feel any pleasure inthat use . Like awf u l and hor r id and splendid and dr eadf u l,it has become ha ckney ed, or worn out . We call it a f aded
figu r e like the word r obus t,which really means made of oak
,
but which does not often now convey that meaning .
You will find that most writers Of good taste avoid todaythe word sweet
, except in its literal uses as applied to thephysical senses . I wonder whether any of you are helping towear out the figurative use of some word . Will you watchyour own speech
,and try to see
EXERC IS ES
I M en ta l : A s tudy of Spenser’
s“ Sweet I s the
Rose :
The la st poem quoted in this chapter w as written in the latter partof the sixteenth c entury , at the same time that Wi lli am Shakspere waswri ting his great dramas .
Brere you know at once f or em modern br ia r . Notic e that bough ,rough , tough , and enough were all riming words pronounced with on as
in f ound. Like the other words in ough given in our last lesson , theywere once spelled simply with ou or ow . Even now we see rough in row,
and rowdy , and in poetry we occ asionally see enow for enough . SO , a lso ,the word bough w e spell simply when we u se i t in bow ing, or inc lining thehead . Try pronounc ing a ll the ough words of this poem to rime withbough , and you will not f eel them strangers to you under their former names .
I f you h ave access to Webster’s International or to the Century Dic tionaryyou can ,
i f you like , find there all the older forms of these words .
Do you know the juniper , with a bluish -wh ite bloom upon i ts greenberries , and do you rec all how “ sharp the branches are to pluck, wi ththe sti ff yet f ragrant needles ? DO you know and love that oldtime
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 155
favori te , sweetbriar , or eglantine ? And does not i ts f ragranc e atone fori ts numberless thorns ?
Which cyprus Spenser meant is not c ertain . More than one sort ofcyprus y ields a f ragrant oi l . But the fir -bloom may well be our balsamfir with healing Odors stored away in its pine- like needles .
I f the word pill ( sometimes a lso pell ) had been written peel or evenpelt , as it has come down in modern use , you wou ld at once have guessedth e meaning o f bi tter pi ll . I am sure many boys and girls know the
taste of the bitter pi ll of our hickory nut .
The beauti fu l yellow broom , making golden patches in the Englishsummer landsc ape , i s called “
sour enough ,”either f rom the taste of a
medic ine made f rom i t , or , more probably , because of its sti ff , sh arpspines . It is a low bush , or shrub , in b lossom somewhat resembling our
whi te locust . When , some day , you shall have come to know well theword P lantagenet , you will never again forget the broom-flower , f amous in
song and story .
Perhaps you have gathered the lavender-colored blossoms of the wildonion or garlic . I f so , you know the il l - smelling root of one sort of moly .
But Spenser may here have re f erred to the magical moly of Homer , withmi lk-white flowers and ink -black root , given Ulysses by Hermes as a
charm against Circ e ’
s power .Would the common proverb , Every rose has i ts thorn , convey
nearly the same idea as the ninth line ? DO you think of any other common proverbs suggested by other lines ? Edmund Spenser here uses the
word sweet e ight times o f things that appea l to one or other of the senses ,
and in the n inth line he li f ts it up to inc lude everything in li f e that wemay worthily desire . Do you think it tru e that di fficu lty of acqu irementmakes most things to be coveted the more Ha s Spenser given us a
wise h int in the two last lines ? Why , indeed , shou ld you or I care about ,or take a ccount of , sma ll drawbacks , a
“ little pain ,
”in seeking with
utmost strength the things that bring us endless j oy ?I hope that some of you may choose to commit this fine Old poem to
memory so thoroly that it shall never be forgotten past recall .
156 EVERYDAY ENGL ISH
11. M en ta l a nd Or a l : We speak litera lly of gabblinggeese ; a bu z z ing saw ; bi tter chocolate ; a chi l ly breeze ; ha rdwood ; gr een leaves ; r ipe fruits ; sof t foods ; boi ling water ;sha rp teeth ; gr a cef u l children ; a happy ch ild ; a s ly fox ; a
gr inn ing clown ; a f lying bird . Use each of these epithetsfiguratively of as many things as possible .
III . M en ta l : Try to find in your own thought somegood reasons for the use of figures in language . Are they u se
ful chiefly for convenience or for pleasureIV . W
'
r i tten Begin in your wordbooks a collection ofpleasing w ord pictures chiefly or wholly literal
,citing the
author wherever known . If literal and figurative language arecombined
,as is common
,underscore the words not used literally .
THE RHODORA
In M ay , when sea -winds pierc ed our solitudes ,I f ound the f resh Rhodora in the woods ,Spreading i ts leafless blooms in a damp nook ,To plea se the desert and the sluggi sh brook .
The purple peta ls , f a llen in the pool ,Made the b lack water with the ir beauty gay ;Here might the red-b ird come h is plumes to cool ,And cou rt the flower that cheapen s h is a rray .
Rhodora ! i f the sages ask thee whyTh is cha rm i s wasted on th e earth and sky ,
Tell them , dear , that i f eyes were made f or see ing ,Then Beau ty i s i ts own excu se for beingWhy thou wert there , 0 riva l of the roseI never thought to ask , I never knewBut , in my simple ignorance , supposeThe self - same Power th at brought me there brought you .
Ra lph Wa ldo Emerson
Repr inted by permi ss ion o f Hough ton , Mifli in Company , authori z ed publ i sh e rs o f Emerson’
s works .
158 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
chattering brook, of an angry wind ; Longfellow says,
The wood-fire clapped its hands of flame and Lowell,
Hang my idle a rmor up on the wa llLet i t be the sp ider’s banquet hall .
Tennyson gives these pictures
The black bat , n ight , h as flown .
The Old Year lies a -dy ing .
He dragged his eye-brow bushes down , and made
A snowy pent-hou se f or hi s hollow eyes .
These figures give u s pleasure, at the same moment, inseveral different ways . Perhaps we make swift mind pictures ;perhaps we recognize new and interesting resemblances ; perhaps we delight in the beauty of the language for its own sake .
You may have seen some child wear a string of amber
heads,or may have noticed some other beautiful article made
from amber . Your geography tells you that amber is foundwashed up on the shores of certain seas . For many years noone knew its origin , altho it is now supposed to be the resin Of
pine forests that lived when Earth was young . The quickfancy of John Milton
,who was a master weaver of figures
,
seized upon this word amber and painted a beautiful word picture with it . He speaks of a sea nymph with amber -dr opping
ha ir ; and at once our thought paints a mermaid sitting beneaththe salt sea waves with amber pearls rolling off her yellow locks .
That this figure may give us pleasure depends upon several things : first
,upon our knowledge of the color of amber, of
its precious nature,and of its sea origin second, upon our rec
ogn iz ing '
swiftly the resemblance in color between pale yellow
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 159
amber and flaxen tresses third,upon our ability to form a
mind picture corresponding to the word picture ; and, last,upon our own feeling for the beauty of the poet
’s fanciful ideaas to the origin of amber .
It follows from this that if a beautiful figure gives nopleasure
,or if it conveys no meaning whatever
,the reason may
lie in one ’s lack of knowledge . We cannot r e-cognize, or knowagain, what we have never known before . Hence it follows,also , that figurative language is Often a sealed treasure box tothe ignorant mind . Happily
,figures need not be drawn from
Obscure sources in order to be beautiful ; and literature is fullof imagery that is simple enough for a young child .
Here is an example of this
The night has a thou sand eyes ,
And the day but one ;
Yet the light of the bright world diesWith the dy ing sun .
The mi nd has a thou sand eyes ,And the hea rt bu t one
Yet the light o f a whole li f e diesWhen love is done .
Francis W. Bourdi l lon .
another
When Freedom from her mountain heightUnfurl
’
d her standard to the a ir ,
She tore the azure robe o f ni ght ,And set the stars o f glory there
She mingled with its gorgeous dy esThe milky ba ldric of the skies ,And striped i ts pure , celestia l white ,
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
With streaki ngs o f the morning light ;Then f rom hi s mansion in the sun
She c a ll’
d her eagle-bearer down ,And gave into his mighty handThe symbol of her chosen land .
From TheAmerica n Flag, by Joseph Badman
Dr ake.
Ba ldr ic means a belt ; here, the Milky Way . Are you sofortunate as to have your own bedroom window look towardthe east ? If so
,have you learned to know and to love those
wonderful streakings of the morning light ” to be seen f roquently for a little while j ust before the sun rises ? If youhave
,you wi ll at once recognize the resemblance between our
barred banner and the crimson-barred sky . After this famousstanza is familiar to you , I fancy that the poet
’s name for thosewonderful sky effects will come often to your mind .
I shall give you here two of the most famous morningsongs that the English language knows . The first is literal
,
except for the word dew-pearled .
Browning.
In this poem the child Pippa,filled with youth and hope and
j oy, exulting in the common , everyday features of the spring
The year'
s at the springAnd day
’
s a t the mom ;
Morni ng ’s at seven ;The hillside ’
s dew-pearled ;The lark ’s on the wing ;The sna il ’s on the thornGod ’
s in his heavenAll ’s right with the world
Rober t
16 2 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
be not natural,it may still be cultivated to a large extent ; and
if so be that cultivation does not develop it,then there 18 left
you the beauty of the literal and matter-Of-fact . Beauty ofevery sort is God ’s best gift to us ; and you shoul d set yourface to find it
,somewhere
,everywhere if possible.
One who becomes master Of words and of the ideas thatthey name turns them to his use as deftly and naturally as
birds weave all sorts Of material into beautiful homes . Thereal trouble with most awkward talkers and writers is that themental cupboard is as bare as Mother Hubbard’s ; or, to use adiff erent figure
,if you feed only straw into your menta l thresh
ing machines,they can yield no wheat kernels Of beautiful
speech . Only the same old st raw, threshed over and overagain
,will be poured forth
,less and less beautiful with every
successive passage,until at last it must become mere chaff .
EXERC IS ES
I . Or a l : Discuss the figures of the following poem asfully as need be
,to explain the resemblances
SPRING
Now that the winter ’s gone , the earth hath lostHer snow-wh ite robes and now no more the f rostCandies the grass or casts an icy c reamUpon the silver lake or c ry sta l streamBut the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth ,And makes i t tender ; gives a sac red birthTo the dead swa llow wakes in hollow treeThe drowsy cuckoo and the bumb le-bee .
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
EVERYDAY ENGLISH 63
In tri umph to th e world the youthf ul spring !The va lley s , hills , and woods , in rich a rray ,Welcome the coming o f the longed-for M ay .
Thomas Carew .
II . M en ta l,and then Wr i tten : Determine which figure
in the poem is most pleasing to yourself, and which gives youthe clearest mind picture . Try to explain why .
III . Or a l : With readers in hand, discuss the figuresoccurring in several selections assigned by your teacher .
IV . Wr i tten : Begin a collection of short and beautifulfigures
,to be gradually transferred
,after approval by your
teacher,to the pages provided for the same in your wordbooks .
Cite the author of each quotation,wherever known .
V . M en ta l : Try to decide in your own mind upon someone beautiful feature of the coming of spring in your ownhome
,not named in Thomas Carew
’
s poem . Explain ordescribe this to yourself in the most fitting language possible .
VI . Wr i tten The same .
APPRECIATION
TO the sea -shell ’s spira l round’
Tis your heart th at brings the soundThe soft sea -murmurs that you hearWith in , a re c aptured f rom your ea r .
You do poets and their songA grievou s wrongIf you r own sou l does not bringTo their h igh imaginingAs much beauty as they s ing .
Thoma s Ba i ley Aldrich .
Reprinted by permi ssion o f Hough ton , M iflfl in Company , authori z edl i shers of Aldrich ’
s works .
MEMORY GEMS
A REASSURANCE
With what doubti ng eyes , 0 sparrow,
Thou regardest me ,
Underneath yon spray of yarrow ,
Dipping cautiously .
Fear me not , 0 little sparrow ,
Bathe and never f ea r ,For to me both pool and y arrow
And thyself are dear .Arch iba ld Lampma n .
A CHILL NIGHT
What can lambkins doAl l the keen night through ?Nestle by their woolly mother ,The careful ewe .
What can nestlings doIn the nightly dew ?Sleep beneath the ir mother ’s wingTil l day breaks anew .
I f in field or treeThere might on ly beSuch a warm , sof t sleeping-plac eFound for me !
Chr istina G. Rossetti .
From “ Lyrics o f Earth ,
”and reprinted by permi ss ion of the publ ishers ,
Small , Maynard Company .
164
1 6 6 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
A CHRI STMAS CAROL *
There ’
s a song in the air !
There ’
s a star in the skyTh ere ’
s a mother’s deep prayerAnd a baby
’
s low cry !
And the star ra ins its fire wh i le the Beauti fu l Sing ,For the manger of Beth lehem cradles a king .
There ’
s a tumu lt of j oyO
’
er the wonderfu l birth ,For the Vi rgin ’
s sweet boyI s the Lord of the earth .
Ay l the star ra ins its fire and the Beauti fu l sing ,For the manger of Beth lehem cradles a king .
In the light Of “that starLie the ages impearled ;And that song f rom af arHas swept over the world .
Every hearth i s aflame , and the Beautiful SingIn the homes of the nations that Jesus is King .
We rejoice in the light ,And we echo the songThat comes down through the nightFrom the heavenly throng .
Ay ! we shout to the lovely evangel they bring ,And we greet in hi s cradle our Saviou r and King .
Josiah Gi lber t Hol land .
Crowds of bees are giddy with clover,
Crowds o f grasshoppers skip at our f eet ,Crowds of larks at their matins hang over,Thanking the Lord f or a li f e so sweet .
From D ivided , Jean Ingelow .
From Complete Poetical Wri t ings ,” and reprinted by permission Of the
publ ishers , Charles Scribner’s Sons .
MEMORY GEMS 16 7
THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKETGreen little vau lter in the sunny grass ,Catching your heart up a t the fee l of JuneSole vo ice that ’s heard amidst the lazy noon ,
When ev’
n the bees lag at the summon ing brassAnd you , warm little housekeeper , who classWith those who think the candl es come too soon ,
Loving the fir e , and with your tricksome tuneNick the glad si lent moments a s they pass I0 sweet and tiny cousins , that belong ,One to the fields , the other to the hearth ,Both have your sunshine both , though small , are strongAt you r clear hea rts and both seem given to earth
To sing in thoughtful ears thi s natural song ,Indoors and ou t , summer and winter , Mirth .
Leigh Hunt .
THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKETThe poetry of ea rth is never dead .
When all the birds are faint with the hot sunAnd hide in cooling trees , a voice wi ll runFrom hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead .
That i s the grasshopper ’s ; he takes the leadIn summer luxury , he ha s never doneWith hi s delights f or , when tired out with fun ,
He rests at ease benea th some pleasant weed .
The poetry of earth i s ceasing never .On a lone winter eveni ng , when the frost
Has wrought a si lence , f rom the stove there shrill sThe cricket’ s song , in warmth increasing ever,And seems to one in drowsiness half -lost ,
The grasshopper ’s among some grassy hi lls .
John Kea ts .
Ye living flowers that Skirt the eterna l frost !Ye wi ld goats sporting round the eagle ’
s nest !Ye eagles , playma tes Of the mounta in storm !Ye li ghtnings , the dr ead a rrows of the c louds !Ye signs and wonders of the element !Utter forth God, and fill the hi lls with praise !
From Hymn Bef ore Sunr ise in the
Chamouny ,”Samuel T. Coleridge .
1 6 8 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
When beechen buds begin to swell ,And woods the blue-bird’s warble know ,
The y ellow Violet’
s modest bellPeeps f rom the last year
’
s leaves below .
From The Yel low Violet , Wi l liam Cu llen Bryant .
*
Flower in the cranni ed wa ll,
I pluck you ou t of the cranni esHold you here , root and a ll , in my hand ,Little flower bu t i f I could understandWhat you a re , root and all , and a ll in a ll ,I shou ld know what God and man i s .
Alf red , Lord Tennyson .
Will no one tell me wh at she sings ?Perhaps the pla intive numbers flowFor Old , unh appy f ar-Off things ,And ba ttles long ago :
Or is i t some more humble lay ,Fami l iar ma tter of to-day ?
Some natura l sorrow , loss . or pa in ,
Tha t h as been , and may be aga in ?
Whate ’
er the theme , the ma iden sangAS if her song could have no ending ;I saw her singing at her work ,And o
’
er the sickle bendingI li stened , motionl ess and sti ll ;And , a s I moun ted up th e h ill ,The music in my heart I bore ,Long a f ter i t wa s heard no more .
From The Sol i ta ry Reaper , Wi ll iam Wordswor th .
The f resh savann as of the SangamonHere rise in gentle swells , and the long grassI s mixed with rustling hazels . Scarlet tuf tsAre glowing in th e ‘
green , like flakes Of fire ;
The wanderers of the pra irie know them well ,And call that brill i ant flower the Pa inted Cup.
From The P a inted Cup,
” Wi ll iam Cu l len Bryant .*
Reprinted by permi ssion of D . Appleton Company , publ i sh ers o f
Bryant’s complete Works .
1F
0 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
What c an I give Him,
Poor a s I am ?If I were a ShepherdI wou ld bring a lamb ;
I f I were a w ise man ,
I woul d do my part ,Yet what I can I give him,
Give my heart .From “A Chr istmas Carol ,
”Christina G. Rossetti .
My heart leaps upwhen I beholdA ra inbow in the Sky
SO was it when my lif e began ;SO is it now I am a man ;
SO be it when I Shall grow Old ,Or let me die !
Wi l liam Wordsworth .
THE EAGLE
He clasps the crag with hooked hands ;Close to the sun in lonely lands ,Ring
’
d with the azure world , he stands .
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ;He watches f rom h is mountain walls ;And like a thunderbolt he fa lls .
Alf red, Lord Tennyson .
THE MEADOW LARK
A brave little bird that fears not God ,A voice that breaks f rom the snow-wet clodWith prophecy of sunny sod ,
Set thick with wind-waved goldenrod .
From the first bare clod in the raw , cold spring ,From the last bare clod , when f all winds sting ,The f arm-boy hears his brave song ring,And work
‘
for the time is a pleasant thing .
Hamlin Gar land.
Reprinted by permission of the au thor .
APPEND IX
FOR PUPI LS ’ REFERENCEForms for Letters and NotesDirec ti ons for Capita li zationDirec tions for PunctuationList Of Abbrevi ati ons in Common Use
FOR TEACHERS ; HELPS AND SUGGESTIONSNotes Upon Text of LessonsPoems Su itable f or Pupil s ’ Reading or f or Class StudyIn Genera lFundamenta l Truths Concerning Langu age WorkIncidenta l Hints Upon MethodsSpec ific SuggestionsSchool Libraries and Pupi ls ’ Reading
LETTER FORMS
[BUSINESS] [SOCIAL]
P lace , in f u llDa te
Sa luta tion
Body of Letter
Complimentary Close
Inside Address
SUPERSCRIPTIONS
S treet and Number
Oak Knol l
1 74 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
9334 PLEASANT AVENUE ,
CHICAGO , ILLINO I S ,March 2 , 1902 .
TO HIS EX CELLENCY SAMUEL R . VAN SANT,Governor of the S ta te of M innesota .
Your Excellency : [or , S ir ]
I have the honor to beYour obedient servant ,
(M iss ) ELLEN E .
’ DAY.
241 6 EAST BROADWAY ,LOUISVILLE , KY. ,
M ay 8 , 1902 .
Messrs . JAMES MCCUTCHEON COMPANY ,New York City .
Gentlemen
Very truly ,Mrs . CHARLES H . GRAVES .
(F)LOUI SVILLE , KENTUCKY ,
M rs . FREDERICK TURNER , August 1 7 , 1902 .
P ittsburg, P ennsylva n ia .
My dea r Mrs . Tu rner
Sincerely yours ,Plea se address , KATE E . GRAVES .
RALEIGH , NORTH CAROLINA . (M rs . CHARLES H . GRAVES . )
NOTE S ir i s ch iefly used in official correspondence . My dear Mr .
Smi th ”i s a more f ormal , h ence more respect f ul , salu ta t ion than Dear M r . Smi th .
”
I t i s also more f orma l t o u se one’s f u l l name in signature th an to use mere in i t i al s
or the last name a lone , since to omi t th e i ni t ials imp lies closer acquain tance thannot to do so . DO not omi t the ch ief subj ect o f thought , a s in Rece ived yourlet ter last night ,” Wen t h ome last week , etc . To wri te Yours , etc. or
“Respt . y’
r s ,”or t o abbreviate any o f th e words o f th e salutat ion or compl imen
tary c lose , i s now cons idered rude . Observe th e f ollowing f orms
Gentlemen Dear Frie nd , Yours truly , Fa i th f ully yours ,Dear S ir : My dear Friend , Very truly y ours , Lovingly y ours ,My dear S ir : My dear M i ss Smi th , ReSpect f ully , Yours very sincerely ,Ladies : Dear Uncle Tom , Very respect f u l ly , Gratef u lly y ours ,Madam My dear Mother , Cordial ly yours , Your loving daught er.
APPENDIX 175
LETTER FORMS S OC IAL
[P ersona l Note]24 1 6 EAST BROADWAY ,
LOUI SVILLE , KENTUCKY ,January 1 6 , 1902 .
Dea r M r s . S cott
The book to whi ch you kindly c a lled my a ttention a f ew weeksago has been read . I wish to express my pleasu re in the reading , andalso my agreement with your own estimate of i ts va lue .
S incerely your f riend ,To MRS . J . L . SCOTT , KATE E . GRAVES .
500 Drexel Bou leva rd .
[Note th e d i fference in s ignature Of th e same person in Forms E , F, and G ,
and the ch ange o f address in Form F. ]
(H ) [Note wi th Gift]Mr s . Wa lden presents her compliments to Miss French , and begs
her to accept th is li ttle remembranc e , with be st wishes for the New Year .156
‘
Dayton S treet ,January first , 1902 .
( 1 ) [Note of Excuse]Wil l Miss Dearborn be kind enough to excuse Harry Wh ite from
school a t eleven O ’c lock th is morning , and by so doing greatly ob lige h ismother, M rs . A . B . Whi te .
1 654 P a rk S treet ,Wednesday morning .
[Note of Invi ta tion ]Mr . and M rs . Henry F . Montague present their compliments to
Mrs . N . M . Jerrold , and request the pleasure of her company on Wednes ~
day eveni ng , June the thi rd , at eight o’
c lock .
1 024 Highland P la ce,May the thi rtieth .
(K) [Note of Acceptance]Mrs . N . M . Jerrold acc epts with pleasure the invitati on of Mr.
and Mrs . Montague for the evening of June the third .
20 Regen t S qu a re ,May the thirty -fir st .
1 76 EVERYDAY ENGL ISH
[Note 0f Regr et]M rs . N . M . Jerrold regrets that a previous engagement wi ll prevent
her accepting Mr . and M rs . Montague ’ s invitation for the evening of June
20 Regen t S qu a r e,M ay the th irty -first .
(M ) [Note of In troduction]My dea r M r . Smi th
The bearer , Miss Brown , wishes to obta in more defini te inf ormationrelating to your rec en t advertisement in the Times . She i s a refined and
intell igent young woman , who may be reli ed upon to do well any work sheis wi lling to undertake . It gives me pleasure to introduc e her to yourattention .
Very c ordia lly your s ,M rs . SAMUEL S . GLOVER .
[Ca rd Note]
[ENVELOPE] [CARD ]
NOTE : Between acqua intances and f riends , a f ew l ines upon a cal l ing cardis a s imple and sui table method f or many f orms o f not es expressing compl iment ,
congra tu lat ion , i ntroduct ion , acknowledgmen t , e tc .
Th e name o f th e S t ate i s Of ten omitted f rom th e superscription wh en not
n eeded, and City or“ Town ” wri tten instead , th i s imply ing th a t th e l etter or
card does not go to anoth er town . Th e French wri te E n Vi l le ( In Town ) t oindicate th e same th ing . When th e note or card i s not sent th ru the ma i l , no wordneed be used ref erring to th e town . An Old f orm st i ll somewh at in vogu e i s thatof th e word Present ,”mean ing near at h and . Th e w ord Addressed ,
”also u sed ,
h as i t s commerc ial sense o f be ing intrusted t o th e care o f anoth er . Thu s a superscript ion may read Mr. John Smith , Present ,” or Mr . John Smith , Addressed .
”
1781
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
DIRECTIONS FOR CAP lTAL lZ AT ION
Begin w i th a capi ta l letter the first word of
1 . Every sentence , whether in the form of sta tement , of question , or of exclamation .
2 . Every line of poetry .
3. Every direct quotation .
NOTE : Th is does not apply to mere f ragmen t s o f sentences , o r to
a quota t ion introduced by tha t , a s , whether , or a S imi lar con
nect ing word .
4 . Every direc t qu estion , or expression treated like a quotation ,
or a s a sentence with in a sentence .
NOTE : D irect quo ta t ions and direc t quest ions a re in th e exac t
words o f t h e auth or ; i ndi rec t quotat ions or quest ions maynot be exac t l y quo ted , and o f ten beg in w i th tha t .
5 . Every item o f a f orma l list o f numbered pa rticul ars .
Begin w ith capi ta l letters proper names of every sort,and the ir
abbrevi ations , including1 . Christi an names , surnames , nicknames , and pen
-names .
2 . Geograph ic a l , historica l , and loc a l proper names , whenstanding a lone , or immediately f ollowing proper names .
3. All names applied to Deity .
4 . The Bible , Scriptures , and the books and pa rts o f the Bible .
5 . Chu rch , when used a s Opposed to the world , and a lso anyindividua l chur ch soc iety .
Titles of books , documents , essay s , poems and other writings .
Officia l titles and titles of nob i lity u sed with proper names or
taking the place of proper names a lso a ll specific titles .
8 . Names of the days of the week and months of the year , butnot of the seasons unless personified .
9 . Ea st , West , etc ., when referring to certa in regions , bu t not
when denoting di rection .
10 . Words denoting f ami ly relations when used with the propername of the person or in place of the proper name .
1 1 . Names of things personified .
12 . Words naming noteworthy dates , epoch s , events , obj ec ts ,poli tica l parties , assoc iations , etc.
13. Words derived from proper names , exc ept when the ir use
ha s become genera l and no longer closely assoc iatedwith the origina ls .
The second parts of compound words u sed as titles .
Q
C}
NOTE : In general beg in w i th a cap i ta l let ter any name t rea tedalways , or f or the t ime being , as a proper name .
III .
IV .
APPEND IX 179
Wr ite w ith capita ls I a nd O, and usua lly the Roman numera ls , I , V ,
X , C , D , M .
Capita lization c annot be abso lute ly governed by rul es . Espec i a lempha si s , or defini tion , sometimes dema nds that a word bec apita lized .
ILLUS TRAT IONS OF CORRECT. CAP ITALIZ AT ION
1 .
2 .
3.
Every correctly written sentence illu strates thi s .
See any poem quoted in this book .
Lincoln sa id , “ Our fathers brought forth upon th is continent a new nation .
”But , Lincoln sa id that “
our
f athers brought forth 'upon this continent a new
nation .
He a sked , Are you fond o f reading ? Th is has been a much
discussed question , Ought the United Sta tes to annexthe Ph ilippines ?
The list of rules on the Opposite page , and of illustrationson this page a lso many other li sts in th is book .
Abraham Lincoln , Honest Abe,The Grea t Emanc ipa tor ;
Timothy Titcomb .
The Rocky Mounta ins , the Oh io River , Sta ten Island , Euc lidAvenue , State Street , Ya le Place , the Sta te of Wi sconsin , New York City , Province of Quebec , CookCounty , Lyons Township ; Chic ago Board of Trade ,St . Lou is City Ha ll : but , Beyond the mounta ins , acrossthe river, on th is street , the la rgest city , county of
Cook , township o f Lyons , every board of trade , a t thecity ha ll . Alway s Sta te when referring to one of the
United States .
God ; Christ ; Jesus ; the Fa ther ; the Infini te One ; th e HolySpirit .
The Psa lms ; the Deca log ; the Old Testament ; the Gospels ;the Epistles .
The Church at large ; the First Methodi st Church : but , Eachloca l church .
Uncle Tom’
s Cabin ; the Declaration Of Independence ;Lincoln ’
s Gettysburg Address ; Whi tt ier’
s BarefootBoy .
”
180 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Mayor Seth Low , the Duke of York , the Czar of Russia ,President Roosevelt , Doctor Brown ; “ Thank you ,
Judge ; ” “ The C olonel wil l be here soon ;”
a lway sPresident when ref erring to the President of the Un itedStates : but , The president of Brownton Bank ; a kingof limi ted power ; many college presidents a ll the lordsin the British peerage .
Tuesday ; M ay ; When Spring smi les , we forget Winter ’sf rown : but , This f a ll , next spring .
The boundless West , the Ea stern States , East Minneapoli s ,South St . Pau l , the North Side : but , In eastern New
York , northwestern Minnesota .
I had a letter f rom Mother ; We h ad a visit f rom Unc leJohn : but , I saw my mother ; I s your uncle a t home ?
Oh , Columbia , daughter of liberty ; “When Freedom .
tore the azu re robe of n ight ; ” O Beau ti ful ! myCountry ! Bid Time and Nature gently Spare the
'
Father of Waters ; Br’er Rabbit . ”On the Fou rth of July , Washington ’
s Birthday , Lord’
s Day ,New Year ’s Day , the Chri stian Era , the Reformation ,
the Revolution , the Civi l War ; the Wa shington Elm ,
the Liberty Bell , in Faneu i l Hall ; the Conservatives ,the Reformers , the Republican party , the Democrati cparty , the Woman
’
s Chri stian Temperance Un ion , the
Civic Federa tion , the Union League Club ; the Uni on ,
the Government ( a lways when ref erring to our country )but , The third of May was the date set ; A new era
opened ; th at revolution in government ; the wars of
the century ; our politica l parties We know that democrati c princ iples are the ba sis of a republican f orm of
government ; The members of the club took action ;The f ederation wa s recently organi zed .
Chri stian ; British , Russian , French Jeffersoni an Simplicity ;The Mosa ic Dec alog : but , A platonic f riendship , so
crati c methods , a herculean ta sk .
Attorney -Genera l Olney ; Vice-President Jones ; the pageheaded By -Laws : but , The vice-president of the bank ;the by
-laws of the society .
182 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
2 . Before a series of examples , i llustra t ions , or parti cula rsunder a genera l head .
3. Before a very long quotation , address , speech , etc .
Use of other P oin ts u su a lly included under _Ma rks of P unctuat ion .
1 . Use a da sh to Show : ( a ) An abrupt break in the thought ;( b) the inclu sion of someth ing omitted ; ( c) the breakbetween a quota tion and the name of i ts author or source .
2 . Use pa r en theses to show : ( a ) A'
break in thought less indegree than that shown by the dash and greater thanthat shown by the comma ( some one says that theparenth esis has a confidentia l a ir ) ( b) to enclose letters or figures of ref erence , to make them more di stinc tto the eye .
3. Use the apostrophe to show : ( a ) Omissions of letters in con
traction s ; ( b) the various relations with of discussedin Chapter XVI : ( e) the plura l of letters , o f Signs , ando f figures .
4 . Use the hyphen to Show : ( a ) The break between sy llableswhen a word must run over to the f ollowing line ;the par ts of compound words not yet treated as singlewords ; ( c) the un ion of two or more words into one
related phrase , usu a lly descriptive .
5 . Use quota tion ma rks , double to enclose quotations , and
single to mark a quotation within a quotation . ( InGreat Brita in th i s usage i s of ten exactly reversed . )
6 . Use br a ckets to show something origina lly outs ide the text , asan omission , c orrection or explanation , usu a lly insertedby the edi tor or commentator .
Use i ta lics to mark : ( a ) Fore ign words ; ( b) a word spokenof as a word simply and not u sed in its ordinary sense ;
( c) words of espec i a l empha sis ( thi s not to lose f orceby over-use )
ILLUS TRATIONS OF CORRECT PUNC TUAT ION
This century Open s with gre a t promise . Assuredly .
See Vol . I , p . 8 .
You are hurt ? NO ?
You are hurt ! No,th ank God !
One , two , three , f our .
He cri ed , Conquer , or die ! I say , wil l you go o r not ?
Will you go ,I say .
wu
H
r-‘
ND
H
APPEND IX 183
You may go , Tom . Tom , you may go . You , Tom , may go .
He stood , by spec i a l request , near his employer .A di urna l , or j ourna l , i s a diary .
I c ame , I saw , I conquered .
”
Yes , sir , I wi ll come . No , I did not see i t .
NOTE : Yes and no may be f o l lowed by any mark , according to the
way i n wh ich th ey are used ; as , No ! never ! Yes ? You are
coming ? No ; neverth eless i t passed .
[At] 24 Rac e Street [in] , Boston [ in ] , Ma ss . [on ] , M ay6 [of the year] , 1902 .
It ra ins therefore we will not go .
I found three kinds , namely ; violets , anemones , and hepaticas .
She began the work on that day ; on the next day she did
ha lf of i t ; on the third , a sma ll pa rt ; and fina lly , on thefour th day , i t was fin ished .
It ra ins we wi ll not go .
Directions I , II , and III are examples of this .
See quotation f rom “A Christmas Carol , in Chapter XVI .
NOTE : In cons idering h ow to punctuate , f our pauses a lone are rea l lyinvolved : ( 1 ) The period or f u l l stop ( replaced as needed byquestion or exclama t ion mark) ; ( 2 ) th e colon , marking a less
d ivis ion in thought ; ( 3) the semicolon , a s t i ll l ess divis ion ; and( 4) the comma , marking th e lea st separation o f al l . “ In
ancient writing the words were a t first run together continuou s ly ; a f terward t hey were separa ted by spaces , and somet imes
by do t s or o th er marks , wh ich were made to serve some o f the
purposes o f modern punctuation . Open punctua tion ,
charac teri z ed by the avo i dance o f all point ing not clearly re
qu ired by t h e construct ion , now preva i ls in th e best Engl i shu sage . In some cases , as in cert a in lega l papers , title-pages ,e tc . , punctuat ion i s wh ol ly omi t ted .
”Cen tury D ictionary .
( a ) He sa id tha t no , I am mistaken . ( b) A — k ,l 10 . ( 0 ) See quotation last above given .
( a ) I read a story book ( “ Little Women wh ich I liked .
( 6 ) See examples on this pageSee Chapter XVI f or examples .
( a ) Find examples of this in any book . Blue- eyed,wind- swept . ( c) The never- to-be - f orgotten day .
NOTE : D ict ionaries sy llab icate , some accord ing to derivat ion , and
others according t o pronunc iat ion .
She writes a s follows I am here , and h ave to ld Mother , Yousha ll now go to visit Ruth ,
’ which pleases her greatly .
184 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
I f you love me [th is is f rom a letter by Thomas Jetf er
son] then strive to be good .
( a ) Anno Domin i means“ In the year Of our Lord . ( b)
Av . , or Ave .
B . A .
The word clea r describes the day .
be done now.
NOTE :
( c) Thi s task must
For f urth er i l lustrations , s tudy the punctuat ion o f th is and
o f o th er books , observing with care th e use o f the best modernwriters . Punctuat ion i s not who l ly governed by rules ; and
LIS T OF ABBREVIAT IONS
America ; Answer( a lso ans . )
a t , or to
Bachelor o f ArtsaccountIn the year of our
LordAgentAlabama
AlaskaAlderman
AltitudeMaster o f Arts ;(Ante Mer idiem)Before Noon
amountAnonymou sApri l
ArizonaArkansasAssoc iationAssi stantAttorneyAugustAuthorized Ver
sion
AvenueBriti sh America
bbl . , bbls .
B . C .
bu . , bus .
Cal .
Capt .cent . ( centum)Co .
C .O .D .
Conn .
Cor . Sec .
good wri ters and authori t ies d iffer somewh at upon minor po int s,tho not upon th e most general .
barrel , barrelsBefore Chri st ;Bri ti shColumbia
bushel ; bushelsCali forni aCapta ina hundredCompany ; CountyCash (or collect)
on deliveryColonel ; Colorado
( a lso Colo . )Connec ticut ( al soCt . )
CorrespondingSecretary
Credit ; Credi torcent , centsDistrict of Colum
bia
Doctor o f DivinityDecemberDelawarethe same
dozen , dozensDeb tor ; Doc torEastfor example
186 EVERYDAY ENGL ISH
New MexicoNumber ,NumbersNovemberNorthwest
N . Y . New York0 . Ohi oOct . OctoberOkla . Oklahoma
Ore ., or Oreg . Oregon
o z . , o z s . ounce , ounces
p-a PP: page , pages
Pa .
, or Penn . Pennsy lvaniaper cent (per by the hundr ed
centum)Ph .D . Doctor of Phil
osophypeck , pecksPostmaster ; After
noon (PostM er idiem)
P . 0 . Post officePres . PresidentProf . Prof essorpro tem . (pro tem for the time being
pore)prox . (proximo) of the nextmonthP .S . (post Postscript U . S . S .
scriptum)pt . , pts . pint, pintsQ . Questionq t . , q ts . quart , quartsRecd . ReceivedRec . Sec . Recording Secre
taryReverendRhode IslandRai lroad,RailwaySouthSouth AmericaSaturdaySou th CarolinaSou th Dakota
SoutheastSecretarySeptembersquareSen iorStreet ; SaintFor f eminine
form of S a int
Let it standSundaySuperintendentSouthwestTennesseeTexasThur sdayTownshipTuesdayo f the last monthUnited StatesUnited States o f
America ;United Sta tesArmy
United States Ma i lUni ted States
NavyUnited States Ship
( or Steamer)Utahagai nst
Virginianamely , to-w it
Volume , volumesVermontWestWashingtonWednesdayWisconsinWest Vi rgini aWyomingy ard , yards
FOR TEACHERS : HELPS AND SUGGESTIONS
NOTES UPON TEXT OF LESSONS
CHAPTER I . Page 1 . See the recent valuable contributions to thi ssubj ect by Prof essor Harlow Gale , of the department o f psychology inthe University of M innesota . In h is “ Psychological Studies , No . I ”
( p . he say s :“ To test our judgment of our children ’
s being onlyabout the average in their use of words , we took the Opportun ity of fol
lowing a reputedly talkative chil d , Carl Andri st (whose f ather was instructor in French in the Un iversity of M innesota , and whose mother hadbeen a kindergartner) , during his second bi rthday . The ch ild ’ s reputation was most astoni shingly sustained by hi s using 805 diff erent wordsand words altogether .”
See in particul ar , f or an interesting and enlightening discussion of
this subj ec t , Children ’
s Vocabul ari es ,”by M rs . M . C . Ga le and
Professor Ha rlow Gale , in P opu la r S cience M on thly , M ay , 1902 .
P . 2 . See a lso “Viola Olerich , the Baby Scholar, by ProfessorHenry Oleri ch (Laird Lee , Chi cago ) .
Gesture langu age i s substantially the same the world over , and of
this general language each sy stem is one di alect . The Indi ans Of the
West and the dea f -mutes o f New York say by gestur es in the same
manner , “Where are you going ?”
and I am going away on horseback .
”
The Ameri can deaf -mute , ignorant of French , may go to Pari s and
converse ” there , thru the gestu re language common to both , wi th the
French deaf-mu te who i s ignorant o f Engli sh .
P . 2 . On the vocabu lari es of educated adults , of chi ldren , and of
savages , see a letter (wri tten to Prof essor Harlow Gale , of the Universityof M innesota ) by M iss Mili cent W . Shinn , in Chi ld-S tudy Monthly and
Jou rna l of Adolescence, Apri l , 1 901 .
P . 3. The evolution of language i s fully treated in Menta l Evolation in Man ,
”by George John Romanes ; see Chapter V ,
“ Language ,”
187
188 EVERYDAY ENGLI SH
and Chapter VI , Tone and Gestu re . See also Sir John Lubbock’ s“Ants , Bees , and Wasps ; al so “The Speech of Monkeys ,
” Part I, byR . L . Garner. See The Genera l Ideas of Inf ants and Deaf -Mutes,” by
Professor Ribot, in Open Cour t, M arch , 1899 .
P . 6 . From the New York S un , February , 1902 :“When Prince
Henry visits the White House he will hear for the first time a German
student song sung by a parrot . President Roosevelt recently became theowner of a parrot that commands a vocabulary of over a hundred words .
She i s the only parrot , probably , that can spell its own name . Polly costthe man who presented her to the President just 8500 Five y ears ago
she was brought as an inf ant from Africa to Madeira .
CHAPTER II . P. 8 . The cipher code employed for private tele»
graphing i s a most interesting and useful device f or business purposes .
An order to buy one hundred shares of Chicago , Burlington Qu incystock wou ld read “Abruptly , Disgusting , Ba llast . An order to buy
bushels of wheat for M ay woul d read “Abaft, Absolutely , Blighted .
Here are other illustrations
Alum stands f or Low grade spring extra flourAmuse stands f or Dressed hogs averaging less than 200 lbs .
Amen stands f or Flour equal to New York extra stateAmiss stands f or Good baker ’s flour f rom spring wheatAntagon ist stands f or Prime kett le-rendered lardSa tire st ands f or Sell according to your j udgmentTr igger s tands f or Sh ould wet weather continue t he h arves t wi ll be very lateUnclean stands f or Heavy ra in in th i s sect ion o f the country
Many business houses employ cipher codes o f their own and secretcipher codes are of ten used .
P . 10 . Teachers of the deaf consider baby -ta lk extremely pern icious , because delay ing proper pronunciation , and, what is sti ll more important , the correct f ormation of sentences . In the fact that nearly one
ha lf the whole number of deaf -mutes lose their hearing thru the di seasesof chi ldhood , we see a great additiona l reason for the early teaching o f
correct pronunci ation and of sentence formation .
CHAPTER III . Mark H . Liddell say s , Language is the machinery
190 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
can now . I may say , in passing , that Guest , the Cherokee Cadmus ,taught a boy to read in a day , and S peaks as i f two or three days werealway s quite su ffi cient f or the business . Helen Keller, who was cert a inlybadly handicapped , learned to read and wri te and spell in less than f ourmonths ; and has never , I think , made a mi stake in spelling in twelveyears s ince . The truth seems to be that we generally make a great dealtoo much f uss about learning to read .
CHAPER IV . P . 21 . The German Emperor has recently directedthat the teaching of Engli sh in the h igh schools of hi s empire be madecompu lsory . The i llogica l , haphazard spelling of English i s the greatestdrawback to its acqu irement by foreigners .
Travelers report th at English i s the only language with which theycan make shi f t t o get along everywhere , and that even the Arabs not
inf requ ently employ English epi thets in driving their camels .
”
P . 2 1 . Is it an advan tage to be born to Speak a s imple and ea sy lan
guage ? Madame Ottil ie Caspari , a German lady residing in America ,teacher of foreign languages , say s that rather is i t an advantage to be bornto speak a difficu lt language ; because , the mind having been once trainedto a di fficult sy stem, other languages can be ea sily acquired . The edu
cated Russians are the best lingu ists living , becau se their own tongue isthe most di fficult , German ranki ng second in di ffi culty , and Japanese beingvery easy .
” These statements explain , in part, at least , why Engli shspeaking people do not readily acqu ire a speaking knowledge of othertongues , bu t instead f orce the ir own simple language upon all the peoplesof the earth . We have here then a debatable question , which chi ldrenmay be encouraged to th ink about and discuss .
P . 23. If the extract f rom Roger Ascham be Copied upon board or
paper with modern spelling , i t will not seem di ffi cult . Or i f i t be readaloud slowly and wi th good expression , i t will tell i ts own simple and
thri lling story .
Wh i le correlation as such has no place here , yet a f ew words to
pupi ls wi ll not be amiss relating to th i s unfortunate princess , whosegentle and noble spiri t, plainly Shown in the extract given , c an never f ai lto awaken admiration and pity .
APPEND IX 19 1
Copying is a very valuable exerci se indeed . Not everyth ing needs to be
copied ; but many o f th e select ions wh ich h ave been chosen f or memori z ing ;proverbs , f ab les and th e l ike may wel l be cop ied . How can a
child whose mental images of words and o f th e f orms o f language ar e indi stinct ,conf used and f ragmentary , be expected t o u se th i s language wi th an adequat edegree of correctness ?
Maximi lian P . E . Grosz mann , in Chi ld-S tudy
Month ly , December , 1 89 8 .
See “ The Engl ish o f the Engl ish , by Brander Matth ews , in Parts of
Speech ; al so to be f ound in Harper’
s , August , 1901 .
CHAPER V. P . 28 . The New York Evening P ost of June 22 , 190 1 ,has the f ollowing
In th e y ear 1387 Christian ity first became w idespread in Poland , a nd greatnumbers o f men and women were bap ti z ed at one time . To s impl i f y and expedi tematters with so large a concourse , i t became the custom o f th e o fficiating clergyto bestow th e same name upon whole ba tches o f people who came to be admi t ted
into th e church . At one baptism , f or example,th e name Peter was con f erred
upon all th e men and Cath erine upon a l l th e w omen . On anoth er occas ion t hey
would all be Pauls and Margarets , and so on . Th e corruption o f the ap
h as led to a number o f common modificat ions o f old Welsh names , as Price f orap-Rhy s , Pr itch ard f or ap-Rich ard , Powel l f or ap
-Howel l ; and many o th ers , Probert , Probyn , Pugh , Feury , as a lso the b being s imi lar to the p Bevan ,
Barry , and the l ike . The termination ing”among Teutonic people s ig
nified offspr ing .
”Browning and Wh iting in th is way would mean the dark and
th e f air ch i ldren .
P . 28 . Among common endings in Scandinavi an n ames i s qu i st, a
twig . Thus Lindqu i st i s equ ivalent to linden twig . So also we haveberg, a mountain ; holm , a h i ll , or an i sland .
A British sci entific associ ation has recently examined the color ofhai r and eyes found in connection with the fif ty most common surnames in
East Aberdeenshi re , Scotland . A test of nearly chi ldren showsthat the darkest ha ir and eyes belong to the surnames common in fishingcommun iti es . Th is verifies the tradi ti on that the popul ation of EastScotland is of Belgi an origin . Certain surnames have strong blonde tendencies others most Of ten show dark ha ir ; others sti ll
,red hair .
P . 32 . Exercise IV . Washington Irving wished New York city totake i ts good old Indian name , Manha tta n ; New York State , the name
192 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Onta rio ; the Hudson River , the Mohegan ; and the United States, Appalachia . Certa inly i t is a great pity that the melodious Indian names shouldnot be retained wherever possible . New This and New Tha t indicate a
poverty of name material s . Green La ke in Wisconsin might f ar betterhave kept the beauti fu l Techora of the Indians , which has the same signifi
cation . S uperior i s a good La tin word , but Gitchee Gumee is more poeticand musical , and a lso ful l of hi story , of romance , and of literary associa
t ions . The names Owatonna , Winona , Mendota , M innehaha , are full ofmu sic . Many of our States are rich in Indian names and their equ iva
lents . The next best substitu te f or the origina l Indian name is the
English translation ; as Crow Wing , Red Wing , Sleepy Eye , Good Thunder , Otter Ta il , Yellow Medicine , White Bear . The commonplace names
wh ich fill our ra i lway gu ides are a discouraging evidenc e of lack of goodtaste , or even of a very depraved taste . Every chi ld who studies thissubj ect shou ld be urged to give hi s own influence thruout life toward theconf erring of place names that are in themselves su itable , musical , anddistinctive . May we not hOpe that in the future some of the Indiann ames may be restored to their own ? See Poetry of Place Names
,
”by
Brander Matthews , in Parts of Speech .
”
It is unfortun ate that neither the Century , the Standard , nor the
Webster’s Internationa l Dictionary recogni zes the existence of our American Indi an names as such . For thi s exercise , pupils and teacher mustglean f rom a ll sources ava ilable and compile for permanent school use a s
complete a li st a s possible of our Indi an names and their equi va lents .
See London’s Queer Street Names , Current Li tera ture, March , 1901 ;
Names o f Places ,”Blackwood
’s , April , 1900 ; S treet Names and Shop S igns o f
Old London ,
”Ca thol ic Wor ld, February , 1900.
CHAPTERS V and VI . Pp . 27— 39 . For a delightful article see Sur
names and Chri stian ,in the Cha utauquan f or September, 1900 . See
a lso English Surnames ,” I/iuingAge, July 27 , 1 901 .
NOTE : Bound vol umes o f t he s tandard maga z ines y ield valuable ref erencema terial f or every department o f language work . By consult ing Poole
's Index,
under the heads Language , English , Words , Names , etc . , many other interest ingart icles may be f ound .
194 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
been related that he had two brothers call ed respectively Chri st-cameinto-the-world-to-save Barebones and I f -Chri st-had-not -died-thou-hadstbeen-damned Barebones , the latter common ly abbrevi ated to Damned .
That thi s remarkable story is historically true i s by no means sur e .
Assist pup i ls i f possible to find ou t the meaning of every Indi anname mentioned in M rs . Sigourney
’
s poem. Remember that Vi rgini a i sa Latin name .
CHAPTER VII . P . 4 1 . Remember that capitalization , within cer
ta in limits , will vary with every writer of English . Some of Carlyle’
s
pages look almost a s i f he had dropped a handfu l of initi al capital s at
random , so emphatic does he seem to f eel every name used . AfterObserving the rul es upon which usage is now practically uni form, one has
sti ll to determine whether or not the names he himself uses are individualnames or cla ss names . The term proper , f rom propri u s, pecu lia r to one
on ly , i s less self - explanatory than individua l, to wh ich i t i s equivalent ;and the term common is less desirable than cla ss ( name ) , because mis
leading f rom it s u se also in the sense of u sual or ord inary . We get bothu ses of common in the expressions , A commonpla ce-book Should not be
commonpla ce ; and A common n ame may be a very uncommon word .
The appellatives sir , madam ,miss , laddie , lass , dear, darling , etc .
,
are seldom written with capitals , becau se these are u sed rather as terms
of respect or o f endearment than as substitutes f or proper names .
P . 43. Folklore includes every th ing of tradition that has become an
integral part of the common li fe and thought , living a t first by word ofmouth , and at last c reeping into written speech . Folklore o f ten has i t sorigina l foundation in actua l events . Thus , in Mother Goose , Old KingCole , King Arthur , and half a dozen other characters have surv ived f romearly English h istory .
Folklore of the American Indians forms the theme of Longfell ow ’
s
“ Song of Hiawatha .
” A school scrapbook compiled f rom the shorterpoems of Americ an and Engli sh authors , upon the subject of Ameri canIndian folklo re , woul d be a va luable addi tion to the reading table . In
such a scrapbook should b e f ound wi thout f a i l “A Chippewa Legend ,”
by James Russell Lowell ; “ Monument Mountain ,
” “An Indi an G irl ’sLament ,
” “ The Whi te - footed Deer,”and “A Legend of the Delawares,”
APPENDIX 195
by Willi am Cul len Bryant . Bryant’
s poems are peculi arly rich in American folklore , and other examples c an be found in every American poet .
I f time shoul d permit here the spendi ng of a day or two in enj oy ingAmerican folklore , i t wou ld be well to divide the class into sections ,assigning a single poet to each section for examination , a report to be
made a t some future date a s to the f olklore ta les di scovered and approvedby each section . Complete editions of our standard poets shou ld be
available in every school library . Af ter a program of f olklore poems ,chi ldren may be encour aged to express their own taste as to the more or
less pleas ing qualities of the various selections given .
In case pupils Show a lively interest in the subj ect of folklore , i t willbe wel l to keep in mind for future study Irving
’
s“ Legend Of Sleepy
Hollow ”and “RipVan Wink le ;
” Cowper’s Boadicea Burns ’ Tam
o’
Shanter ; Goethe ’
s Erl King ; ” M rs . Hemans’ Pocahontas
Scott’s “Allan-a -Dale ,” Young Loch invar ,”and “ Jock of Hazeldean
( the three telling a single tale) Kingsley’
s Sands of Dee ; Browning’
s
“ Pi ed Piper of Hamelin ; and others . Lanier’s “The Boy s’ King
Arthur” shou ld be f amiliar to all chi ldren . In fact , f olklore furni shes themotive f or probab ly the greater part of our poetry . Witness Tenny son
’
s
“ Idylls of the King ,”
and Wil li am Morri s ’ Sigurd the Volsung and
The Volsungs . For an outli ne , which teachers may well follow in partfor their own study , as suggestive , see Readings in Folk -Lore , by
Hubert M . Skinner (American Book Company ) .
CHAPTER VIII P . 45 . Chi ldren will enj oy hearing read aloud theverses , “A Dilemma , in S t . N ichola s f or December , 1901 .
P . 48 . Exercise I . Observe in di scussion such facts as th e fo llowing : The words bench , settle, settee, lounge, couch , divan ,
tete-a -tete, each
carries its own idea and each diff ers specifica lly from the general term ,
seat , and from the still more genera l term , f urni ture.
CHAPTERS VIII and IX (Pp . 45 These chapters a im to
widen the pupil ’s vocabulary . Every new word possessed , together witha defini te mind picture of the concrete Obj ect , means a gain in practicalknowledge . Defini tion s are only a second-hand method of gaini ng inf ormation. Narrow oral vocabul aries really account very largely f or slow
196 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
ness in learning to read on the part of f oreign-born chi ldren and of thosef rom i lliterate homes . The solution of the problem will be found partlyin a very large amount of r eading a loud to primary pupi ls by the ir teachers ,with short explanations of unfamiliar words . In the letter cited underChapter I , M iss Sh inn says : I have , in teaching school , been struck bythe enormous inf eriority in vocabu lary of great high school boys , almostmen , f rom ignorant families , as compared to little ch i ldren in booki shf ami lies . Substituting lately in a high school , I found a c lass in its thirdh igh school year f armer boys of good sense — floored in so simple a
poem as “ The Lady of the Lake ,” line af ter line , by sheer ignorance of
the meaning of words which my nine-
y ear—Old niece readily understood .
In the d i strict schools the teacher often fa i ls to suspect to what an extentgreat fif teen-
year-old boy s ( from Engli sh - speaking homes ) are simplyblocked in progress by almost incredible ignorance of the meaning of
simple words u sed by her , and by the textbook , SO I have di scovered , inteaching . It is not an argument for baby fy ing our speech and books sti llmore ( or they will never acquire the English language) , but for increasinggreatly the readi ng of good standard stori es , learni ng standard poetry ,etc .
, in the lowest grades .
”
CHAPTER IX . P. 52 . Word games are u sually enjoyed by chi ldren .
One , whi ch i s founded upon the Spelling lessons , consists merely in givingantonyms , or synonyms , as required, of words pronounced by the teacher .For this exercise , most Spelling books have lists that can be u sed . Thisgame c an be used as a “ spelling down exercise i f desired .
A game chil dren like is “My Alphabetical Friend . The teacherbegins : I have an alph abetical friend . Her first name is Anna .
”
(Class in turn qu ickly give Alice , Ada , Amy . ) Teacher : Her surname
i s Arnold ( class in turn give “Aldrich ,” “Abbott ,” “Austin
Teacher : She is artless ( class give artistic ami able “and
never angry ( class give “ arr ogant ,” “ artful ” ) “ She eats apples ( class
name “ artichokes ,” “ and lives in Appleton ”
( class name“Aurora ,
” “Alton ,
”She studies art ( class name authors
or subj ects beginning with A) . Till interest flags , the guessing may goon with B , C, D , taking up the game each day where i t had been lef t offthe day before . This game makes also an interesting written exercise .
198 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
read aloud good broad Scotch to the c lass , and let the class afterwarddiscuss its more common characteristic s , tryi ng to reproduce it a s accu
rately as may be . The rolled or tri lled r, ca lled the bur . i s apt to be
strongly marked . Observe here the poem by Burns , page 16 9 .
The sound of a marked a ( or t ) by Webster, 6 by the Century , anda by the Standard D ictionary was the sound most of ten given to long a
two hundred years ago . It is a compound sound , concerni ng whichorthoepists do not wholly agree .
CHAPTER XI . P . 6 7 . The chi ef requisite , in original compositi on ,
first, last, and all the time , is spontane ity . Most ch i ldr en brought upnormally wi ll , withou t the least suggestion from others
,voluntarily write
little letters, accounts Of events , and descriptions of people . But thesesame chi ldren , if coerced , may produce little or nothing .
Almost inevitably , girls wri te longer and easier letters, on the whole ,
than do boy s . But boy s usua lly se ize upon more sa lient f eatures and
excel in conciseness and directness of statement .P . 7 1 . Th i s work as planned looks toward historic a l narration on
Monday , characterization on Tuesday , description on W’
ednesday , narrat ion on Thursday , and explanation or discu ssion on Friday . Of these ,descri ption i s by f ar the most’ di fficult, i f any degree Of excellence beattained . Without doubt , nearly a ll attempted descriptions wi ll be at
first mere enumeration of evident f eatures . Th i s , however , will leadtoward the desired end .
The first page of the letter di ary Should have merely the name ,
grade , school , location ,and State o f the pup i l , with the n ame o f the
teacher or teachers . With blue penc i l or red ink merely underline mi spelled words and wrong capita lization . In margin or at the end wri tea word of comment, in commendation if possible . I f a sentence i s badlyarranged , enclose it in short, double vertic a l lines , and put in the
margin . Make li ttle adverse critic ism so long as there is honest effortand gradua l improvement . Ch i ldren should be encouraged to take pridein regaining their papers unmarred by marks of error or of criticism .
Pra i se i s the best whi p .
‘
Teach your pup i ls to make a pencilled outli neat the very start , and to keep to thi s outline in wri ting . More than one
day may be needed a t t imes to carry out an acceptable outline . Permit
APPEND IX 199
free access to di ctionary ; or , if conveni ent , Spell any word upon board , asasked f or . There i s no absolute advantage in looking up the spelling ofa word in the di ctionary , wh il e there is actually a great loss of time to
young childr en who sti ll have much to lea rn in Engli sh spelling .
No per cent marks shou ld emphasize false standards , It wou ld beabsurd to wish f or or to expect uniformi ty o f result . The same amountof time employed by all will bring forth fru it accordi ng to the mental soil ,some thirty , some sixty , and some an hundr ed fold .
”
P . 7 1 . It may seem desirable to Spend a f ew day s in class readingfrom Robinson Crusoe ”
or f rom “ The Swiss Famil y Robin son , be
f ore beginning the letter diary .
P . 72 . To introduce one’
s self and one’
s home to the di ary , inbegi nning , wil l add to i ts interest, and to i ts coherence as a whole , althoperhaps not a very natura l or customary plan .
It is not probable that attention to sentence structure need often beconsidered in connection wi th the letter di ary . So long as chi ldren writefreely of the ir own interests , they will a lmost surely make Short and con
cise statements . I f in exceptiona l cases there be a tendency to long and
involved sentences , ask the pupi l to break these up into single statements .
S ty le, tha t most des irable of a ll litera ry qua lities , should grow unconsci
ously and express individuality , the very thing tha t will be lost at once ifthe pupi l b egins to write w i th self -consc ious attention to the manner offorming h is sentenc es . It i s now believed by some of our best modernteachers of English tha t the teacher’s b lue pencil h as ru ined the sty le of
many a pupil . Adverse criticism tends a t once to repress , and is neverknown to stimul a te .
The Eng l i sh teach er may , and usua l ly mu st , make h is composi t ion workperiodic . The int erva ls may be sh ort f or the poor writers , and longer f or thegood ones. Th ere i s n o need o f treating a l l al ike . Un i f ormity , a curse everywh ere in th e education o f youth , i s pecul iarly bane f u l in composition . Th e youthwho most needs y our a id sh ou ld h ave i t most . He who writes w i th painf u l dinicul ty sh ould wr ite every day — keep a diary , perhaps . The amb i t ion
governing th e class sh ou ld be , as regards matter, to interest an audience , and as
regards f orm , to have the composi tion in shape to pr int wi thou t correction . The
audience to be plea sed and instructed i s o f course the class , or th e school ; and
young people’
s interests ar e the ones t o be kept in view. In censuring
200 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
compositions , private talk with th e individual goes infinitely f urther than repr i
mand bef ore a class . Personal matters,
are not properly treated in pub lic , and
one’
s writing i s a personal ma t ter . You cannot impress a point upon a pupi l as adel ica te matter i f you speak o f i t in publ ic . The private interview , by its
very nature , suggests del icacy , reticence , importance . The publ ic reproof minimi z es th e f ault : the private conf erence enh ances i t s impressiveness .
Samuel Thurber in Some of the Ma in P rin
ciples of Secondary English Teaching.
”
Ch i ldren should be encourag ed to write only of what they have themselvesexperienced , e ither in th e world of real ity , or emotional ly . They shoul d be l ed to
express themselves th eir own knowledge , their thoughts , th eir own f eelings , be
they ever so crude and s imple ; and not second-h and thoughts and emotions tomake a f alse show . Wh en once th e chi ld knows th a t noth ing but h is own sel f i s
wanted and appreciated , h i s i anguage wil l flow W ith out restra int.Maximi lian P . E . Grosz mann, i n Ch i ld-S tudy
Month ly , February , 1 8 9 9 .
See Men Who Have Kept a D iary ,
”in Blackwood
’
s , January , 1899 .
CHAPTER XII . P . 79 . For examples of a Norman scu lpturedportal ,” obtain photographs o f the famous Norman sta irway or porch , orof the bapti stery arches , of Canterbury Cathedral , England . Thi s sty leof decoration i s a lso beau tiful ly shown in the “ triple arch in the rearo f St . Cross Church , Winchester, England .
P. 8 1 . Exerc ises . A schoolroom anthology of Christmas c arols ,hymns and other poems of the holiday time , prepared by the pupils ,wou ld consti tute a va luab le supplementary volume for th e reading table .
Pup i ls whose profic iency in script i s beyond question may copy thesepoems upon the school typewriter . By using self -binders , new pages canbe added at any time , a new index inserted , or other changes made , andby u sing carbon papers , dup licates can be made for exchange wi th otherrooms or classes .
The habit of noting new words with their defin itions can not be
urged too strongly . Two new words for each school day means a gain invocabulary o f about four hundred words dur ing the schoo l year. The
chi ld who keeps his defin ition book with care will not be confined to a
repertoi re of Slang Speech when he leaves school ; and the little dictionaryof new words made by one
’
s self is a possession of permanent value .
202 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
vocal word in ful l . Thus Gen ’ l Grant , Sup ’t Parker , Capt’
n Gray , ‘Prof’r
Brown , Pres ’t Roosevelt , all imply the full f orms . Hence , if one wi ll not
write in ful l, contractions are the more respectful of the two , a ltho some
what Old—f ashioned . Formerly , signatures were commonly written in thisway ; Sam
’ l , W ’
m , Rich’
d , Rob’t , Ja
’
s .
CHAPTER XV . P . 1 01 . The pleasant task of collecting beauti fu lword pictures i s def erred until Chapters XXI and XXII f or reasons whichwill then become obvious .
P . 106 .
“ The dull thunder of alternate flails , because two men ,
standi ng opposite , f ormerly alternated their strokes , each striking with hi sown flail as the other fla i l wa s thrown back ; the gra in on the barn floorbeing thu s slowly threshed ou t .
P . 108 . A picture of the three Fates should be shown the chi ldren ,
Michael Angelo ’
s or Pau l Thumann’
s or some other , and they should all
memorize Lowell ’s lines
Spin , spin , Clotho , Sp in !Lach es i s , twi st ! and Atropos , sever !
D arkness i s s trong , and so i s Sin ,
But on ly God endures f orever .From Vi l la Fra nca .
The Perry pic tures a t one cent each will answer the purpose of
il lustration in case better prints can not be a fforded .
In case the meaning of any line in thi s poem i s not absolutely clearto pupi ls or to teacher , let a ll agree to dwell upon the li ne in thought .Discuss in class all interpretations o ff ered and let the one that seems
most probable be accepted , until another sti ll better i s suggested .
P . 109 . It would be well af ter study ing Chapter XV f or pupils tolay aside textbooks f or a f ew weeks — except f or necessary ref erence inthe wordbook studi es , which should continue and f or as long as possibleto read poems , with espec ial attention to their word pictures . A list ofpoems f ollows these notes , any or all of which may be studi ed to advan
tage for narration or f or word pictures . To ask pupils to suggest theirown f avorite poems for class study is of ten advisable . In order to sug
gest they must do the valuable preliminary work of comparing and judging .
APPENDIX 203
To be ab le to exercise individual taste i s in i tself one end of all languagestudy . Hence , merely to h andle a volume of poems , hunting thru themfor one tha t is rea lly to be preferred to the others , i s highly educative toadul t or to child . Simi larly , to request that each pupi l be ready , by theend of the year, to name his own f avori te poet, giving reasons f or hi spreference , wi ll stimul ate to earnest interest .
CHAPTER XVI . P . 1 13. Altho most recent textbooks condemn the
f orm he don ’t,
” they omit to state that this f orm i s not incorrec t historical ly , at least ; and our Older teachers say that this condemnation was
not known by themselves during youth . Mu rray’
s great dictionary , not
yet completed , the latest and fullest authority obtainable upon Englishuse , say s :
“ The ori ginal northern form does ’
superseded the ‘ dothdoeth ’
in the 1 6 th— 17th centu ry in genera l u se , the latter being now li t
urgical and poetical . The f orm he do i s now s . w . dialect . ” Murraycites two examples of the use o f he don ’t : 1 74 1 , Richardson ,
“ Pamela ,I . 6 5 ,
“He don ’t know you ; and 1831 , Fonblanque, England UnderSeven Admini strations ,
” II . 100 , God don ’t su ffer them now . No
examples of he doesn ’t ” are c ited by Murray , whi ch is a matter forregret to those interested .
The novelist Thackeray uses he don ’t ” and he doesn't ” on the
same page ; Lincoln in the debates with Douglas used he don ’t . ”
Dickens and Mother Goose both make constant use of the f orm ; a lthoneither of the latter can claim English so good that we may c ite their u seas authori ty f or today
Nevertheless i t mu st be remembered that a long li st Of our bestscholars insist th at we shoul d now say he doesn ’ t ,” irrespec tive of u sagein the past ; and these hold that he don ’ t alway s smacks of the vu lgarand i lliterate . S ince thi s li st inc ludes the great maj ority of modernauthorities , none need be named .
Opposed to these are a sma ll bu t very strong minority who insist thatthe shorter f orm is the better in itse lf , because simpler and more direct ,and in accord with the geni us of our language . Prof essor BranderMa tthews , of Columbia Un iversit y , one o f our best known authori tiesupon language , states hi s belief that i t is hopeless to att empt to drive out
of common use a form that has become so strongly entrenched as has
204 EVERYDAY ENGLI SH
he don ’t .” Dr . James K . Hosmer , the well-known author, whose hi storical works are counted among modern classics , says th at the use of
“ he don ’t ” by Samuel Richardson in “ Pamela ”and in Sir Charles
Grandison is sufficient authority for its use today ; and adds that theshorter and more direct form is in itself the better , because more con
venient . Richard Grant Whi te ( in hi s Every -Day Engli sh ,” p . 420 )
says , He don ’t doesn ’t grieve me as it grieves my correspondents .
There is , however , another equa lly probable explanation f or the
prevalence of this expression . The English language has from the firsttended to drop the many endings — called inflections which in Latinand simi lar languages mark gender, case , voice , mood , tense , person ,
number , and degrees of compari son . We now have left in English onlya very f ew inflections , and our verb i s un iform for al l persons , except inthe indicative present , thi rd person singular. Probably the printing-pressis responsible today f or this exc eption . Thus we say
I can’
t , won’
t , sha’
n’t
you
he mayn’t , couldn ’
t , wouldn ’t, you don’
t
we we
they sh ou ldn’t, musu
’t, oughtn ’t they
Thus , by habit and a lso by analogy , people tend natura lly to say“ he
don ’t rather than he doesn ’t .”
It seems hi ghl y probable that he don ’ t ” is an interesting exampleof the survival , chiefly in oral speech , Of an older f orm side by side witha newer form that i s perhaps destined to take its place . Th is is a matterthat time and popul ar u sage wi ll dec ide . Fa ir di scu ssion will do more toarouse an intelligent desire to adopt the better form of the two ( i f thatpoint be once sett led ) than any amount of dogmatic statement .
We must not forget that the superiority of Engli sh today lies in thevery fact that i t ha s continually dropped useless inflectional changes .
Hence , to insist upon the uni versal adoption of he doesn ’t ” may quitepossibly be an attempt contrary to the genius of our langu age . The
best literary usage at present doubtless indorses he doesn ’t ;”neverthe
less , i f both f orms are actual ly permissible , the time i s past for anyone
to be dogmatic in regard to either .
206 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Prof essor Lounsbury a lso says
I t was not unt i l a f ter th e publ ication o f D r . Joh nson’
s d ict ionary , in 1755,
that t he existing spell ing can be said to h a ve b ecome un iversally received . That
g iven by h im to words h as been th e one general ly f ollowed by all later w ri ters .
Worse th an a l l , a de f erence h as sprung up f or o ur present spel ling wh ichi s not j ust ified by any th ing in i t s ch aracter . Or thograph y w as a mat ter abou t
wh ich Johnson w a s total ly incompetent t o decide . Yet , largely in consequence ofthe respect a nd even reverence sti l l pa id to th at wh ich h e saw fi t to employ , thespel ling o f Eng l ish cont inues to be probab ly th e mos t vicious t o be f ound in any
cul t ivated tongue th at ever exi sted . W ith a number o f sounds f or the same s ign ,
and aga in w i th a number of s igns f or the same sound , i t i s in no sense a gu ide to
pronunc iation , wh ich i s i t s only proper office . Even f or derivation an office f orwh ich i t was never des igned i t i s almos t equal ly worthless , save in the case o fwords o f direc t Latin orig in . Th e Engl ish Language , p .
Murray’
s great dictionary is our latest and best authority , up to thepoint which it has reached in course of publicati on . However , it wi ll betoo expensive f or smal l schools , and is designed for the ma ture studentrather th an f or the ch ild .
The Standard Dic tionary i s not too expensive to be within the reachof every school , and it Shoul d be provided for every bui lding , at the least .On the whole it i s perhaps the most desirable dictionary now ava i lablef or ordinary school use , a ltho devoting sma ll space to etymology . I ts
plac ing of etymology a f ter definition and citations i s an improvement inorder , and th e pages upon ni ceties of usage shou ld be thoroly studi edby every teacher and then brought by her to her pupils , both by preceptand by example . The li sting of disputed pronunciations is also helpful .Remember that i t i s the business of a dictionary merely to report upon
u sage and to pronounce in ma tters of ta ste .
P . 1 23. A study of the’
ough words reveals many interesting f acts .
Thus slough , a qu agmi re , i s a lso spelled slue, slew, sloo ; while in MiddleEngli sh i t was slow.
Hough (pronounced how , and Obsolete in thi s sense) appears insimpler dress , meaning hi ll , in FOX How , Silver How , etc .
S hough was f ormerly pronounced shoo or shock, according to i ts
meaning . Thus shough ( shock) meant a shaggy dog , and also a mass of
tangled hair ; while shough ( shoo ) was an exclamation used in dri ving
APPENDIX 207
away fowls . Now the dictionaries include the’ough spelli ng , but indorse
the two simple and reasonable f orms .
See Language Affect ed by Our New Pol i t ical Relat ions , in Educa tion , Feb
ruary , 1901 ;“ Th e Spel l ing of Eng l i sh ,
”in In terna tiona l Maga z ine, July , 1901 ;
S impl ification of Engl ish Spel l ing ,
” by Brander Mat th ews , i n th e Century ,
August, 1901 ; and arti cles on Th e Making o f Murray ’
s D ictionary , in th e Living
Age ,Apri l 15 , 1899 , Good Words , March , 1899 , and the Eclect ic Maga z ine, May , 1899 .
CHAPTER XVIII . P . 124 . Rouse also may be used a s a causativeOf r ise ; blea ch , a lso , i s really a causative Of blanch and of blench .
CHAPTER XIX . P . 1 28 . Wol and w i t were interchangeable formsunti l the fif teenth c entury . The contraction of wol not resulted in the
won’
t which we still u se colloqui a lly . (The I went into cou ld in the six
teenth c entury , f rom a mistaken idea that cou ld shoul d be Spelled likewou ld and shou ld . )
To quote aga in f rom Prof essor Lounsbury’
s English Language
In the s ixteenth centur y a del icate dis t inct ion in th e use o f the auxi l iariessha l l and w i l l began to be preva lent. I t i s not rig idly observed in our vers ion o f
the Bible , and varia t ions f rom th e present u se are f ound in writers o f th e
El i z abe than period , such a s Bacon and Shak speare , th ough more f requent ly wi ththe preteri tes wou ld and shou ld than w i th th e present tenses o f th ese verbs . In
th e seventeenth century the distinct ion between the two verbs became firmlyestabl ish ed ; th ough th is statement i s strict ly true on ly o f England , and not o f the
Engl ish spoken in Scotland or Ireland . Immigration , h as , t o a great extent ,broken down t h e distinct ion in the United States , especially in certain portionsth e Iri sh do not know i t , and th e Germans do not acquire i t ( p .
See Shal l and Wil l ,” by Rober t Barr , in th e Bookman , December , 1895 ; anda reply to th e same , by D r . Richard Burton , in t he Bookman , February , 1896 .
CHAPTER XX . P . 138 . The latest dictionaries report the colloqui aluse o f aggrava te f or i rr i ta te . Th is is not an indorsement and should not
be so considered . Such use is to be strongly discouraged , even tho i t be
f ound in a very f ew instances upon the pages o f rather good u sers o f
language .
P . 14 1 . Ra ise for r ise occurs f requently in newspapers and in
conversation . Newspapers of ten speak of “a raise in wages ,
”etc .
The new Webster ’s Internationa l does not give th is use , while the
208 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Standard and the Century give it as colloqui al . So long as we have theword r ise a lready in use a s a substantive , we do not need ra ise as its
synonym . However , usage mu st determine whether one or both shall befina lly indorsed .
P . 142 . S top for stay i s of ten called a Briticism, as it is a blunderpreva lent chiefly in Great Brita in .
Thi s and tha t should be u sed to po int out definitely , not to Showdegree , as they seem to do in this much and tha t much . By misusingwords , we lose ch iefly the power to express delicate shades of meaning .
It is not blunders in grammatica l correctness that all persons need mostto guard aga inst , but the mi suse o f words in the niceties o f their mean
ings . A vu lgarism usu a lly parses perf ec tly .
P . 147 The f ollowing verbs are u sua lly followed by words descriptive of the subj ect rather than by words indicating manner of action ( seeWhitney
’
s Essentials o f English Grammar ,” p .
be ;
become , grow, get , turn , and th e l ikeremain , continue , stay , and the l ike ;seem , appear , look , and th e l ike ;sound , smell , f eel , and the l ike ;stand , go , move , and th e l ike .a
me
r
e
~
No subj ect i s f raught with more pitf a lls f or the unwary than that oferrors of speech . As regards u sage , on ly the dicta of known schola rs
can be a ccepted . Here i s what an acknowledged authority says of the
matter
W ith in certa in l imi ts , th e Speech i s alway s moving away f rom establ i shed
u sage . Th e h i story of language i s th e h i story O f corrupt ions . The purest o fspeakers u ses every day ,
with perf ect propriety , words and f orms wh ich , lookedat f rom the point o f view o f th e past , are improper , i f not scandalou s . But the
blunders o f one age become good u sage in th e f ol lowi ng , and , in process of time ,grow to be so consecrated by custom and consent , th a t a return to practices th eor et ical ly correct would seem l ike a return to barbarism . It i s never language i n itsel f that becomes weak or corrupt : i t i s only wh en those wh o use i t
become weak or corrup t , th at i t sh ares i n th eir degradation .In f act i t i s
not f rom the agencies th at are commonly supposed to be corrupting th at ourspeech at the present time suffers ; i t is in much more danger f rom ignorant efforts
2 10 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
who is right and who is wrong , or whether both forms are right . Sinceour own Whi tti er does not hesitate to say ( in the last lin e of The Maidsof Atti ash ,
”in The Tent on the Beach Her world is love and him,
”
we are scarcely warranted in spending much school time in try ing to stemthe tide of popu lar usage .
The English of the English , by Ju lian Ra lph , in Ha rper’
s for
August , 1901 , wi ll be found usefu l in i llustrating existing di fferences inAmerican and Bri tish u sage . If li sted upon the board in parallel columns ,the impression made will be deeper and more lasting . Once made , thelist should be preserved f or occasiona l addi tions and corrections and for
f requent ref erence .
See the f ollowing articles “Americanisms Once More ,
” by Brander Mat thews ,in the Cosmopol i ta n , January , 1901 Engl i sh Language in America , by the same ,in Scri bner
’
s , March , 1901 ; Questions of Usage in Words ,” by the same , in
Harper’s, February , 190 1 ; Th e American Language ,
”by C . Shipman , in the
Cri tic, January , 1900 ; and Lax Use in Speech ,
”by Gertrude Darl ing , in Educa
tion , May , 1899 . Th e art icles by Brander Mat th ews are also in Part s o f Speech .
”
See a lso The Use o f Engl i sh by Rich ardBurton in h i s volume o f Essay s ,“Forces
in Fiction .
CHAPTER XXI . P . 149 . Observe that we c annot a lways absolutelyseparate the litera l f rom the figurative , for every word that describes ourmind li f e once belonged exclusively to the service of the senses . At thelast , th e litera l meaning , unrecogni zed in thought and speech , may sur
vive only in the dictionary .
The limited vocabu lary of the child and hi s vivid fancy a lik e impelhim to origina l figures of speech . Hence i t i s that ch i ldren are c alledunconscrou s poets . A little chi ld remarked
,unconsciously , “Mamma , you
know last winter was very meek .
” Emil y Dickinson in one of her charmingpoems uses the same figure consciously . How c areful then should adul tsbe not to curb or correct the origina l tu rns of expression used by chi ldren ! For a chi ld to talk like a book ” means that hi s thought hastaken on stereotyped forms of speech and we may hope li ttle more forori gina lity in him .
P . 156 . Exerc ise II . Pupi ls should study their readers or any
volume of good poems , looking for instances of the figurative use of any
or all of the words given .
APPEND IX 2 1 1
CHAPTER XXII . P . 1 60 . Alice Ca ry’
s expression for the c rimson-barred sky o f early morning is : The wh ite vest o f the morning withcrimson is laced . (From Morn ing .
When the mind has acqu ired a good thinking voc abu lary , a livelyf ancy will spontaneously u se figu ra tive language . Unti l such use i s easy
and natura l , it is not desirable to try to secure it .
For one o f the finest examples o f con t inu ed figure to“
be found inAmeri can literature , study Holmes ’ Chambered Nauti lu s , ” the gem
of all hi s verse .
POEM S S UITABLE FOR PUP ILS’READING OR FOR C LAS S S TUDY
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW*A Psalm of Li f e The Emperor’ s Bird ’ s-NestThe Happ iest Land My Lost YouthThe Skeleton in Armor Santa Fi lomenaThe Wreck of the Hesperus DaybreakThe Luck of Edenh a ll The Fi f tieth Birthday of AgassizThe Vi llage Blacksmi th Ch ildren
* The Ra iny Day SandalphonRa in in Summer Paul Revere’s RideThe Day is Done The Legend of Rabbi Ben LeviWa lter von der Vogelwe id King Robert of S ic ily
* The Arrow and the Song The Saga of King Ola f*Autumn The B irds of KillingworthThe Legend of the Crossbi ll t The Children’s Hour
* The Sea Hath I ts Pearls The CumberlandPoetic Aphorisms
* Snowflakes
Evangeline * Chr istmas BellsThe Bu i lding of the Sh ip a"Giotto
’
s TowerS ir Humphrey Gilbert The Bell of Atri
*‘The Bu i lders Kamba luThe Song of Hi awatha The Legend Beauti fu lThe Courtship of M il es Standish To the StorkThe Ladder Of St . Augustine *‘Santa Teresa ’
s Book-Mark
Suggested f or memori z ing in f u ll .
2 12 EVERYDAY ENGLI SH
Charlemagne *’ChaucerElizabeth A Dutch PictureThe Monk of Casa l-Maggiore The Revenge of Rain-in-the-Face
*The Brook and the Wave The Leap of Roushan BegThe Sermon of St . Francis The Three Kings
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
The Ex iles The Barefoot BoyToussa int l ’Ouverture The Kansas EmigrantsDedication ( Songs of Labor) The M ayflowers
The Sh ip-Builders The Prophecy of Samuel Sewa llThe Shoemakers Skipper Ireson ’
s RideThe Drovers The Truce of PiscataquaThe Fishermen The Pipes at LucknowThe Huskers Kenoza LakeThe Corn-Song Lines for an Agricu ltura l Exhib iThe Lumbermen tionThe Angels of Buena Vista Brown of Ossawatomie
Forgiveness At Port Roy alThe Pumpkin *Barbara Frietch ieRaphael Cobbler Keez ar ’s VisionThe Hill-top Snow-BoundOn Rece iving an Eagle ’s Qui ll f rom The Ch angeling
Lake Superior Ka llundborg ChurchThe Poor Voter on Election Day The Dole of Jarl ThorkellKathl een The Two RabbisThe Hermit of the Thebaid How the Robin Came
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
Contentment The Fountain o f YouthOld Ironsides The Old M an DreamsThe
,Last Leaf The Spectre P ig
Grandmother’s Story The Deacon ’
s MasterpieceThe Broomstick Tra in The Ba llad of the Oysterman
*The Chambered Nautilus How the Old Horse Won the Bet
Suggested f or memori z ing in f ull .
214 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
EUGENE FIELD‘ Garden and Cradle LullabiesNightfall in Dordrecht
OTHER AMERICAN AND CANAD IAN POETS
Bennett, Henry Holcomb : The Flag Goes By .
Burton , Richard : June ; The Marshflower ; Memori al Day ; Bird NotesThe Lark , The Catbird , The Meistersinger, The Hummingbird , The
Bluebird, The Ground Robin .
Carmen , Bliss : Marigolds ; Hack and Hew ; The Dustman ; The
Nancy’
s Pride .
Collyer , Robert : Under the Snow .
D ickenson , Emi ly : A Day ; Autumn A Word ; "’ Perhaps You’d Like
to Buy a Flower .Drake , Joseph Rodman : The Culprit Fay ; The American Flag .
Dunbar, Paul Laurence : Hymn ; Corn -Song .
Gilder, Richard Watson : When to Sleep I Mu st ; Morning and Night ;Each Moment Holy I S On the Wild Rose Tree .
Greene , Sally Pra tt MeLean : De Sheepfol’
.
Halleck , Fitz-Greene : Marco Bozzaris .
Harte , Franc is Bret : Madrono .
Hovey , Richard : The Battle of Mani la .
Jackson , Helen Hunt : Coronation ; September ; October’
s Bright BlueWeather .
Lampman , Archiba ld : f The Sweetness o f Li f e ; "’ The Sun Cup ; Af terRain ; March ; The Dog ; Yarrow .
Lanier , S idney : Song of the Chattahoochee .
Larcom, Lucy : A Stri p of Blue .
Mi ller , Joaquin : Columbus ; Crossing the Plains .
McM aster , Guy Humphreys : Carmen Bellicosum (A Song of War ) .
O’Hara , Theodore : The Bivouac of the Dead .
Osgood , Kate Putnam : Driving Home the Cows .
Pi erpont, John : Warren ’
s Address to the American Soldi ers .
Poe , Edgar Allan : The Bells Annabe l Lee .
Suggested f or memori z ing in f ull .
APPEND IX 2I5
Read , Thomas Buchanan : Sheridan ’
s Ride .
Riley , James Whi tcomb : The Hoosier Folk-Child ; The Old Man and
Jim The Preacher’s Boy .
Stedman ,Edmund Clarence : Kearney at Seven Pines The Hand of Lin
coln .
Tay lor, Bayard : The Quaker Widow .
Thaxter , Celia : The Sandpiper ; M ay Morni ng .
Thompson ,Maur ice : A Flight Shot ; An Incident of War .
Thoreau , Henry D . Mist ; The Fi sher’s Boy .
Trowbridge , J . T . The Vagabonds ; Midwinter ; Midsummer.Van Dyke , Henry M . An Angler’s Wish ; Four Thi ngs .
Weeks , Robert Kelley : A Song for Lexington .
Westwood , Thomas B . Little Bell .Whi tman , Wa lt : 0 Capta in ! My Capta in !
ENGLI SH POETS .
Addison , Joseph :i" Hymn (The Spac ious F irmarnent on High ) .
Allingham , William : The Fa iry Folk ; The Bird ; Rob in Redbreast .Arnold , Matthew : The Forsaken Merman ; The Neckan .
Browni ng , Elizabeth Barrett : The Romance o f the Swa n ’
s Nest .Browni ng , Robert : The Pied Piper ; Incident of the French Camp .
Burns , Robert : Bannockburn ; To a Mounta in Da isy .
Campbell , Thomas : The Parrot .Cowper , Wil liam : Boadi cea ; John Gilpin ’
s Ride ; The Cricket .Hemans , M rs . Felicia : The Landing o f the Pilgrim Fathers .
Hood , Thomas : Flowers ; Ruth .
Howitt , Mary : The Fa iries of the Ca ldon Low ; The Broom Flower ; TheSpider and the Fly .
Hunt , Leigh :* Abou Ben Adhem .
Ingelow , Jean : The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire ; Persephone .
Marston , Ph il ip Bourke : In the Garden .
Procter , Adela ide : Legend of Bregen z .
Rossetti , Chri stina : The Months ; A Pageant ; Johnny ; M ilking TimeA Christmas Carol .
Suggested f or memori z ing in f ul l .
2 1 6 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Scott , Wa lter : Lochinvar ; Allan-A-Dale ; Jock of Hazeldean ; Marmion ;Lady o f the Lake .
Southey , Robert : The Battle of Blenheim ; How the Water Comes Downat Lodore .
Stevenson , Robert Loui s : Ticonderoga ; Christmas a t Sea ; Heather AleA Ga lloway Legend .
Tennyson , Alf red : ”Break , Break , Break ; Ring Out , Wild Bells ; TheDeath of the Old Year ; The Owl ; The Brook ; The Charge of the
Light Bri gade ; The M ay Queen ; al‘ Bugle Song ; Morte d’
Arthur ;
Sir Ga lahad ; The Shell ( f rom Maud) .
Wolfe , Ch arles The Buri a l of Sir John Moore .
Wordsworth , Will i am : The Pet Lamb ; We Are Seven ; March ; Da f
f odi ls .
NOTE : I t seems almost unf a ir thus to select certain poems , omi tti ng oth ersequal ly good ; and teach ers should by no means confine themselves to th i s l ist .Such poems shou ld alway s be ch osen f or study as appeal t o th e indivi dual interests of the class in hand , whether named h ere or not . American and Engl ish l iterature canno t be separated , except geograph ica lly and by a f ew subtle ch aracterist ics . Wh atever in t he broad field o f l i terature appeals to onesel f or to one
’
s
pupi ls should unh esitatingly be appropriated . Chi ldren may well be encouragedalso to commi t to memory the words o f many classic hymns . See page 223 f orsuggested antholog ies .
Suggested f or memori z ing in f ull .
218 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
discussion and summary in the rec itation period wil l determine whetherthe points made have been thoroly comprehended .
The time to be spent upon each chapter will vary with the ever-vary ingelements entering into teacher and class a lik e , of previous preparation ,
general aptitude for English study , and interest in the special subj ecttreated .
2 . Ora l Work E ssenti a l . Much oral work shoul d precede all writtenwork . Emphasis placed on wri tten work before the ch ild has a cquired a
fairly wide thinking-voc abulary inevitably retards his development inlanguage . See any volume of our best educationa l reviews or magazinesto find thi s statement reiterated aga in and aga in by ou r foremost teachersof literature and language .
3. Word Exerci ses . Continui ty and review , with elasticity in each
exercise , are features so important that i t wou ld seem absurd to need toemphasize them . A continued word exerci se reviewed and added to f romt ime to time is worth a dozen not scrutinized a f ter the first writing .
Every word exercise in language shou ld be so elastic as to fit alike thevary ing abilities of the dullest and of the brightest pupils .
4 . M echan ics of Composit ion . These belong to the spelli ng , thewriting , and the reading lessons . The art of c omposition i s over and
above its mechan ical execution ,with whi ch it h as in f act no more to do
than i t h ad in the days when punctu ation , capitali zation , and fixed spellingwere sti ll uninvented . Shakspere ignored al l three . Legitimate languagework must seek perf ection in form , but as a means only , never as an end .
In the ideal school , under idea l conditions , chi ldren may doubtless masterthe mechanics o f language almost unconsciously . Our crowded citygrades present their own unideal , complex problems , and spec ializationin the various elements of literacy becomes necessary . ( See the quotation f rom Edward Everett Ha le , Appendix , Chapter II . )
In language , as in all other subjects , ab i lity on the part of pupi ls toread si lently or a loud easily and well is the indi spensab le preparation for
definite langu age study . Slow and backward ora l readers may sometimes
be induced to read a loud a t home five or ten minutes a day, and will findth is a short out to the desired end . Silent reading i s the means wherebythe pupil must get the greater part of hi s li terature .
APPENDIX 2 19
Spelling lessons thoroly and judiciously u sed , with some di c tation workand many exerc ises in antonyms , homonyms
,and synonyms , are the
rational forerunner and compani on of the langu age book . D icta tion ,
exc ept as an exercise in spelling , in punctuation , or in capita lization , h as
no place in legitimate language methods . Dr . J . M . Rice ha s conclusively proved that ch ildren may be taugh t to spell equa lly well wi th or
withou t the use of a so-ca lled spelling book . This granted , conven iencea lone recommends the use o f the time -honored “ speller . ” ( See The
Forum , April and June numbers ,5 . Indiv idua l Observa tion . To hunt out in books forms o f usage
and specia l topic s is one of the qu ickest possible means toward developingswi f t perception , wise discrimi nation , and menta l gra sp . The th ingunconsciou sly ab sorbed i s often of the grea test u ltimate benefit .
6 . Memor iter Work . Much memor i ter work o f the right sort isa lways to be sought and encouraged in a l l ways short of coercion ; bu tmemor iter work of lesson texts i s the refuge o f the weak or the inexper i
sneed teacher .
7 . My ths a nd Mora ls . Mytho logy , folklore , and f a iry ta les are
among the many attractive litera ry fields where chi ldren should be a llowedto rove at will . Here , ag a in , unconsc iou s absorption is h igh ly educ ative .
Bec ause f a iry tales originate in mythology i t is better to providemyths than f ai ry tales . Imagination , ra ther than the eth ica l f aculty , isf ed by the myths , whose mora ls usually po int in the wrong direc t ion . All
good teachi ng is necessari ly mor a l teachi ng but much so -ca lled ethi ca l ”
teaching is in f act immora l , because dishonest . Th is i s u su a lly the ca se
when effort i s made to pin a f ancied mora l upon a f a iry ta le . Thu s f orexample , angry ,
”screaming , scolding , and impertinent little wrens
,
whose course actu a lly i llustrates the def ea t of tru th and right by means o f
intrigue , are lauded as admirable examples of sadly abu sed children whodid not “ pu t up with everything ; and the plain tru th told them by the
bear is c all ed an “ insult . ” I s th is “pedagogics
”.9
So , too , Robinson Crusoe , who cli ngs to the rock with the clutch o f
instinctive self -preservation , h ad just a s much “ presence of mind , and
no more,than a ca t or a dog wou ld have h ad . To laud h im f or cour
age”i s immora l because untru e . These two c a ses illustrate the vi ciou s
220 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
popular f ad f or extracting moral maxims from an unmora l si tuation .
The mora l not pointed bu t left f or si lent absorption i s the one that willexert most powerfu l influence f or good .
8 . Correla tion . To correlate hi story and geography and a ri thmetic with language work proper is to du ll the esthetic appreciation of
the chi ld . Correlation has i ts place in a ll scientific study , but correlation mi sunderstood and di storted has been the chief foe of modern language work . Whi le good li terature and correct English may well aid everyother subj ect studied , correlation is a ru le tha t does not work to advan
tage both way s . Inf ormation lessons ”o f every possible race and
complexion have so long f alsely been dubbed “ language ” lessons , thatthe pedagogic sense at last of ten ceases to recognize the true na ture of
these mongrels .
9 . Reprodu ct ion . Th is term i s a misnomer and the method shoul dbe bani shed . We may summari ze , and memorize , and imitate , and evenplagi a rize ; but reproduction ”
belongs to the camera , not to the pen .
All good li tera ture shou ld be held sacred to noble ends and never desecrated or distorted to serve less th an the highest purpose . Horace E .
Scudder , to‘
name one authority among many that might be quoted,condemned the modern f ad f or a ttempted reproductions , and said thatch i ldren may f ar better be set to copy ing word f or word the whole of any
story f rom li terature , rather than be asked to tell it in their own words .
( See the Atlan tic M on thly , February , 1894 , p .
10 .
“ Bu sy Work .
” Langu age papers wh ich go into the teacher’swaste basket unread are the most indef ensible form of an a lway s indef ensible th ing , the so-called “ bu sy
” work that a lways implies the exi s
tenc e of conditions unf a ir a like to teacher and to pupi l . Some excellentteachers def end even th is practice , because of overpressure ”
in the
school program . With better methods in language , there wi ll be lesssu ffering to pupi l and to teacher from overpressur e .
1 1 . Na tu re S tudy . Every good library list now includes a wea lthof nature study materi al upon wood-folk and their ways , whi ch at onc e
appeals to the n atura l interests of chi ldren . A nature study di ary com
piled by an entire school and i ts teacher , marking the Spring advent ofbirds , animals , and flowers , recordi ng also natura l phenomena of al l sorts ,
22 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Engli sh i s alway s inspecting written work , l istening to vocal expression . In a
certa in sense h e i s perpe tua l ly examin ing. He knows every day j ust wh ere he i s .
Periodical examinat ions , th eref ore ,h e does not need , and could not profitably
have . A y oung reader needs , in h is study o f l itera ture , a ll imag inable condi t ions
o f enj oym ent . Th e purpose o f l i terature i s to be recrea t ive and pleasurable . To
make i t a gymnas tic to th e memory i s t o ru in i t a s l i tera ture , and convert i t intosometh ing a sce t ic , someth ing tea s ing , something to be anxious about and get
marks f or . Pro f essing to cul t ivate a tast e f or good reading , we go about to cul
t ivate a di staste f or i t . Examinat ion i sm i s in f act a di sease , now h avinga great run in our educat i on . No part o f th e conce ivably poss ible sci en
t ific study of Engl ish i s essential t o th e practical acqu isition o f Engl i sh speech .
The usual mi stake i s made in putt ing grammar too low down in the
course . The language should be well possessed bef ore i t i s subj ected to scientificstudy . The you th sh ould no t be troubled wi th grammat ica l technique t i ll he
knows enough to perceive i ts desirableness .
”
Samuel Thurber in Some of the Ma in P rinci
ples of Secondary English Teaching .
”
S PEC IFIC S UGGES TIONS
1 . Wordbooks a nd Other Helpers . Whether or not the “ Helpersprepared to accompany this Series be employed , it i s imperatively neces
sary th at each pup i l have two good-sized blankbooks , one to be used as
wordbook and one as letter di ary . Not to have a permanent place forexercises means a resu lt less than the best . The wordbooks as plannedwill conserve the strength o f the pupil by making continuous the eff orts ofhi s mind . By their conc i se and convenient forms , they will tend toinduce sy stematic habits of thought and accuracy of expression . Elasticas to quantity and qua li ty , they a im to secure the maximum of result withthe minimum of effort .
Neatness , legibil ity , and deliberation are the three thi ngs to be
insisted upon . Pride in having f ew erasures and corrections should bestimulated . The pupi l who does not fill his word li st a t one dash , bu twa its to revise in class so a s to have fina lly the best list possible , is theone who wi ll become an artist in words . For the teacher herself to makea wordbook , keeping i t parallel in progress with those done by her pupi ls ,wi ll exci te much interest and an amb ition to make as good li sts as hers .
It may well require several weeks to fill satisfactori ly certain of the
required lists .
APPENDIX 223
2 . A Reading Ta ble . Every schoolroom shou ld conta in a large ,rather low table , upon wh ich may be found books of ref erence , severa linteresting books of l itera ry ch aracter , and i f possible one or two of the
best periodic a ls . Al l these shou ld be f reely access ible to pupi ls in any
spare minutes before or a f ter schoo l and at recess-time in bad weather .For a school as a whole to subscribe for S t . N ichola s or the You th
’
s Com
pan ion will of itself of ten give an added impetus to the cau se of goodEnglish . In some commun iti es a supply of good juveni le books might bekept up by contribu tions f rom the homes of the chi ldren . The th ingchiefly sought i s the s ilent and upli f ting influ ence of good literature . I f
a tab le i s imposs ible , a desk , at the least , shou ld a lways be con secrated tothe service o f the a ll - important di ctionary . To stand before a shelf onthe wall f or dictionary study , as wa s once common , is phy sically exh au sting a s well a s inconven ient .
3. Anthologies a nd S crapbooks . The making of antho logies o f everysort appeals to chi ldren qu ite as strongly as to the adu lt . An anthology ,or ga r land , hence a collection of the flowers o f speech , may be made forany season , or mou th , or flower loved o f poets ; f or patrioti sm and courage , or for love o f nature and o f God ; of Americ an f o lklore ; o f Chr i stmas c arols a lone , in short , upon any subj ect treated in poet lore .
Perh aps , too , the work ga ins slightly more of respect when dign ified underthe poetic Greek name a nthology . At the very least , each ch il d shouldcompi le h i s own collec tion of memory gems .
”
The time-honored scrapbook, compil ed f rom bits of hi storical , geograph ic al , biograph ical , or scientific knowledge , and indexed , i s high lyeducative . Particu larly so is the home-made Who-When -Wh at book,contain ing the f aces o f the world ’
s great ones , wi th a f ew lines summarizing the li fe and works of each . Every schoolroom shou ld have i ts own
Who-When-Wha t ” book , and every pupi l may well have one a lso .
4 . Typewr it ing . Accurate copy ing by mean s of the typewritingmach ine i s alway s h ighly educ ative , and wherever a typewri ter i s provi ded for a bu ilding , as i s a lway s advi sable , i ts use may well be a
privi lege con sequent upon excellence in spelli ng , penmanship , etc . Whenever possible , the anthologi es and scrapbook notes prepared in the schoolroom for use of pupils shou ld be accurately typewritten . The u se o f
224 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
carbon papers makes it possible to secure many dup licates of all shortpoems wanted for study , at a lmost no expen se and with a sma ll outlay intime and strength .
5 . Reading by the Teacher . Ten minutes ’ reading a loud by the
teacher from some excellent story book at beginning o f sessions willof ten pu t pupils into good humor and di scourage tardiness or , a t the end
of sess ions , will send pupils home wi th something pleasant and helpful tothink about .
For thisreadi ng to the school , any of the f ollowing may be especiallyrecommended The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood ,
”by Howard
Py le ; Kipling’
s Jungle Book Stori es ,” or h is “Captains Cour ageous ;Seton-Thompson ’
s Wi ld An ima ls I Have Known ,
”or others of his
anima l stories ; Sidney Lanier’
s The Boys’ King Arthur ; Alf red Olli
vant’s “ Bob , Son of Battle ”
; Ba ldwin ’
s “ Golden Age , and Storyof Siegf ried ; Hawthorne ’s Wonder Book ,
” Tanglewood Ta les , and
Grandf a ther ’s Chair ; Kingsley’
s Greek Heroes ” and “ Wa terBab ies ; Guerber
’
s Wagneri an , Rhine , and other myths ; Ruskin’
s
King of the Golden River . ” The cycle of Welsh folklore talesrelative to King Arthur and of English folklore ta les concerningRobin Hood shou ld early become intimately known to chi ldren . The
merry adven tures of Robin Hood can never grow stale to young or to
old , and are the perenn ial source of innocent laughter . However , anyonewho expects these tales to furnish conveni ent pegs whereon to hang so
called “ mora l ” maxims , wi ll be gri evously disappointed .
With a teacher of exceptiona l literary abili ty , and with a class of
pupi ls who have h ad very exceptional training and environment as regardsvocabulary , i t i s not impossible that Bry ant
’
s Ili ad ”and Ody ssey
”
might be read aloud and di scussed part by part with delight to a ll con
cerned . Bu t such an experiment would end in di saster , lacking skill ,inspiration , and much li terary preparation on the part of the teacher .
Whatever i s selected , however , f or reading aloud , th is precious timeshould be held sacred to the masters o f literature and never wa sted onephemera l trash that a dozen years hence will be un cal led f or uponlibrary sh elves . With f orty pupi ls one
’
s Opportuni ty in reading aloudmeans forty Opportuni ti es to influence and inspire .
226 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
that they may be temporarily hung upon the wall and talked about , wouldbe the ideal way to cultivate in ch ildren a ta ste for good art and a
knowledge of its h istory .
The history of art i s so comprehensive and so di fficult to master , thatit is important , i f possible , to select f rom one particular school , or period ,or country ; and such selections for study should be made as best show thedistinguishing characteri stic s of the artist . When one period , as the
Golden Age , for instance , i s thoroughly fixed in the mind , i t i s easy to
group the others around i t .
“ Pictures may be obtained f rom the A . W . Elson Company , theSoule Company , the Moulton Company , a ll of Boston ; from the J . C .
Witter Company , New York City ; f rom the Perry Pictures Company ,M alden , Mass . , and from many other firms . The Elson and the Perrypictures seem to be selected with the best taste and the greatest knowledge of art . The classification is best in the Perry catalogue .
”
7 . Specia l P rograms . Where interest in the subj ect warrants , anaf ternoon a month may in some schools profitably be given to the pupils , forprograms made up from reports upon the resu lts of observ a tion in naturestudy , or upon any department of school work where interest has centered .
Such a program depends for i ts value — like the author’s program , the
patriotic , the season , the dialect, or the ballad program — upon the
amount of origina l work put into i ts preparation by the pupils .
S CHOOL LIBRARIES AND PUPILS’READING
N0 school need be long without a modest library , since cheap editionsat least are now with in the reach of all . In selecting books , those thatare written down to children should be avo ided . The so-called “ j uveniles ”
have had the ir vogue and are now wisely cons idered a f eatu re of the past .Kate Dougla s Wiggin states her endorsement of some one else who said ,What’s the use of adapting the cla ssics to ch ildren , when the children
are already adapted to the classics ? ” Kingsley , Bryant, Longf ellow ,
Hawthorne , Irving , Morri s , Lamb , Plutarch , and the rest, tell their own
stories wi th su fficient s implici ty , ease , and power . Dickens and Scottand Cooper and Stevenson w i ll preva i l as story -tellers over a ll less forceful narrators . As regards poetry acceptable to boys , the epic quality
APPEND IX 227
appea ls to the hero ic e lement in nascen t man and noth ing surpassesScott’s “ Marmion ”
and “ Lady of the Lake ,” Macaulay
’
s “ Horatius ”
and Ivry ,”and similar narratives in verse . (An excellent collection is
Montgomery’
s Heroic Ba llads ,” published by Ginn Company . ) Poemschosen f or intermedi ate pupils should u su ally include much narration .
Remember that a ll books good f or children possess the remarkable qual ityo f be ing interesting to adults a lso .
Graded li sts of des irable books for the use of chi ldr en are publishedby many state o ffici a ls , by some school boards , and by the education alcommittees of many organizations . Such a list , prepared by the educat ional committee of the Minnesota Federation of Women
’
s!Clubs , can be
had free of charge by application to M iss Isabel Lawrence , Norma lSchool , St . Cloud , M inn . Articles upon children ’
s reading and children ’
s
books appear f requently in our best periodicals , and are of ten highlyvaluable in their suggestive hints . ( See
“ Boy s and Girls in the PublicLibrary ,
”S t . N ichola s , Ju ly , 190 1 ; a lso “ Reading for Children ,
”by
Hami lton Wri ght Mab ie , in Ch ild-S tudy Monthly , M ay , 1897 ; a lsoarticle by Kate Douglas Wiggin in Ou tlook , Dec . 7 , 1901 )Every l ibrary shoul d include one or more of the best anthologies ,
such for example a s Stedman’
s Anthologies (Victorian and American ,
2 Bry ant’
s Library of Poetry and Song ,” Open Sesame”
(3“ Hero ic Ba llads ,” Percy
’
s Re liques ,” “ The Listening Ch i ld,the Riverside Literature Series , Whitt ier ’s “ Ch i ld Li f e in Poetry and
Prose ,” the Eclectic School Readers , etc . Many of the excellent literaryreaders now publ ished by our leading book houses supply valuable matterin both prose and verse .
N0 amount of compulsion as to books assigned for reading will insureli terary apprec i ation in the pup i l . Bu t the si lent and powerfu l influenceof the best wri ters will do i ts own work una ided , i f but these have a
chance to speak freely to their legitimate audience . Pupils shou ld handlefreely the books in school l ibraries , and , glean ing here and there , w i llgradually acqu ire good taste in selection . Some teachers keep one shelfmarked “ Voluntary Reading ,
” where only the very best books are
admitted . To look up books or to shut them up behind glass doors is todeprive them of the ir right to the best possible chance for free circulation .
228 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
To requ ire a ll ch ildren , in cla ss or out , to do uni form readi ng i s not
desirable . .Irving’s “ Ta les o f a Trave ler ” may appea l to one chi ld ;George William Curtis ’
Sir Ph i lip S idney to another ; Scott’s Ta lesof a Grandf a ther ” to a th ird ; and Hawthorne ’s “ Grandf ather’s Chair ”
to a fourth ; bu t the next ch i ld may eschew all these and demand Kiplingor Seton-Thompson . Short selections cu lled by individua l pup ils fromthe various books they a re s ilently reading wou ld make profitable oralreading lessons .
In no subj ec t so absolutely as in language wi ll the progress of the
pupi l depend upon the literary equipment of the teacher . Fortunately ,literary cu lture i s a th ing possible to every earnest student , even thoughhe must be self-taught . From the lowest uti litari an standpoint , litera ryculture conf ers more advantages and certa inly brings more happinessth an does any amount of mathematica l ski ll or geograph ic a l knowledge .
Hence , no other lesson should ever trespass upon the all-too- short languageperiod .
Let u s hope that the day will soon comew hen complete volumes of our
standard poets and essay ists and hi stori ans sh a ll be ava i lable a s readingbooks in our c lassrooms , with f requent ref erence to the choice o f pupilsin determin ing what shall be read in cla ss . The ch ild , old or young , doesbest work when given his head .
” Books a re the legitimate field for hisplay-work . Wordsworth spoke f or all time when he sa id :
Books , w e know ,
Are a substant ia l world , both pure and good ;
Round these , wi th tendri ls s trong a s fle sh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness wi l l grow .
230 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Bridgeman , Laura , 189 .
can , cou ld , 129 , 130 .
capital i z at ion , 22 , 25 , 40 , 41 , 194 .
carriage , Spec ia l t erms f or , 46 , 49 , 50 .
causatives , 125— 127 , 207 .
Cha r les , mean ing , f orms , e tc . , 34 , 193.
c ipher code , 188 .
col loqu ia l , defined , 58 .
composition work , 198— 200 ; mech an ics
of , 2 18 .
contractions , 1 13, 201 .
copy ing , a s an exerci se , 19 1 .
correlation , 220 .
critici sm , shou ld be encourag ing , 198 ,private , 199 , 200 .
dea f -mates , 3, 16 , 188 , 189 .
description ,53
, 77— 79 , 103— 106 , 198 .
dictionary , use of , 22 , 23, 1 14 , 12 1 ,206 ; re f erence t o , 46 , 47 .
diminutive,defined , 33.
Domesday Book , 78 .
don’t and doesn
’
t , discuss ion upon , 1 14 ,
203.
Engl i sh langu age , a world l anguage ,190 .
Engl ish teach ing i n Germany‘
compu lsory , 190 .
enumera ti on , defined ,53.
epithets , 151 .
errors in speech , 137- 143, 207 , 208 .
f a iry -tales , derived f rom my th s , 224 .
f a ll , f e l l , 125— 127 .
f eudal sy stem , 20 1 .
figures o f speech ,151 , 157
— 16 2, 2 10 ,
2 1 1 ; f aded figure , 154 ; knowledgenecessary t o unders tand , 159 .
f olklore , 43, 194.
games , 52 , 196 , 197 .
Grey , L ady Jane , 23, 190 .
Haroun a l Rasch id , 193.
Indian names , exerc i ses upon , 31 , 32 ,
36 .
Kel ler , Helen ,15— 19
, 189 .
language , a s though t mach inery ,188 ;
language , beau ty in , comes f rom fig
ures , 15 1 ch ange and g rowth in a
l iving ,20 , 2 1 , 23, 12 1 , 122 , 143,
205 , 208 ,209 ; ch ie f u se o f , 14, 122 ;
evolution o f , 3, 187 ; law o f , 20 ,
22, 1 14 ; ou r duty toward , 12 1 ;
ski l l f u l use o f , 162 .
language work , a im of , 2 17 ; importance o f reading we l l , 218 ; oralshou ld precede written , 2 18 placeof Spel l ing in ,
2 19 .
lay , l ie, 125— 127 .
learn ing to read, 189 .
l et ter diary , 6 5- 73, 198 , 199 .
l et ter writ ing , 83—90 ; bus iness let ters ,86 ; f riendly letters , 84, 201 ; h intson , 86 , 87 invariable rule f or , 84 ;soc ia l not es , 86 .
l ibrar ies , Schoo l ; sugges t ions upon ,
226— 228 .
l i teral and figurat ive language , 150
154 , 160 , 1 62 , 2 10, 21 1 .
l iterature in th e sch oolroom , 223.
l ul labies , 57— 63, 197 .
marks , not a test, 199 .
may , might , use o f , 129 , 130 .
memor i z ing , 56 , 57 .
memori ter work , 2 19 .
methods , suggest ions upon ,2 17— 228 ;
Thurber quoted on , 22 1 .
mine , in n icknames Ned , Nan , et c . , 35 .
Mo th er Goose , 57 , 58 .
my thology , 225 .
names , bapti smal , 19 1 , 193 ; class , individual , and proper , 40— 43, 19 1 ,194 ; genera l and spec ial , 45- 48 ,195 ; Indian , 192 ; place , 192 ; sur
names , 19 1 , 192 .
nature study ,220 .
n ice, defined , 132 .
n iceties o f speech , 129— 135 .
n icknames , 33, 35 , 193.
INDEX
obsolete, defined , 22 .
of relat ion ,t h e , 1 12 .
Oler ich , V iola , 2 , 187 .
paragraph ing , 6 7 , 74 .
parts and materi a ls , 51- 54 , 19 7periodica l s named or c i ted
At lantic Month ly ,26 , 93, 189 ,
220 .
Blackwood ’
s , 192 , 200 .
Bookman , 26 , 122 .
Cathol ic World , 192 .
Century , 26 , 93, 122 .
Chautauquan , 192 .
Ch icago Record , 89 .
Ch ild-Study Month ly ,187 , 19 1 ,
Cosmopol i tan , 2 10 .
Critic , 2 10 .
Current L i tera ture , 192 .
Eclectic M aga z ine , 207 .
Education ,207 , 2 10 .
Forum , 2 19 .
Harper’s , 25 , 122 , 19 1 ,
Interna t ional M aga z ine , 207
Living Age , 207 .
Nation , 26 .
New York Even ing Po s t , 19 1 .
New York Sun , 188 .
North American Review ,25 .
Open Cou rt, 188 .
Out look , 26 , 93, 189 , 227 .
Popular Sc ience Month ly , 26 , 187Scribner’s Maga z ine , 25 ,
S t . Ni cholas , 25 , 26 , 223, 227 .
W i scons in Journal o f Educat ion ,
205 .
You th ’
s Companion ,16 , 173.
Ph i lome l , 197
p ictures , u se o f , 225 ,226 .
p icture w ords and w ord p ic tures , 102108 , 202 ; in Eugene Field
’
s poem ,
151 specific words make p ictures ,103.
poem-s t udy , a , 75 ,
231
poems , l ist o f suggested , 2 1 1- 2 16 .
Poet o f Lu llab ies , Eugene Field , Th e ,
62 .
poet ical select ions and extra ctsAmerican Flag , Th e , Drake , 159 .
Apprec iat ion ,H igginson , 163.
Bi ll and Joe , Holmes , 97 .
Birthday Week , The , 42 , 43.
Boy s , Th e , Holmes , 99 .
Calendar , A, 42 .
Ch i l l N igh t , A, Rosset t i , 16 4 .
Choos ing a Name , Lamb , 10 .
Chri stmas Carol , A, Rosset t i , 170 .
Christmas Caro l , A , Ho l land , 16 6 .
Chri stmas Carol ,'
Old Engl i sh , 79 .
Chris tmas Tide , Burton , 82 .
Clos ing Scene , The , Read , 10 6 .
Cloud , Th e , Sh el ley , 55 .
Death o f th e Old Yea r , Tenny son ,
101 .
D iv ided , I ngelow , 16 6 .
Don Juan , Byron ,152 .
Eagle , The , Tenny son , 1 70 .
Ela ine , Tenny son , 152 .
Exi t N igh t inga le , Burton , 29 .
Flower in th e Crann ied Wa l l ,
Tenny son , 16 8 .
Forbearance , Emerson , 92 .
Grassh opper and th e Cricke t , The ,Hunt , 16 7 .
Grasshopper and th e Cricket , The ,
Keat s , 1 6 7 .
How They Named th e Baby , Judge ,12 .
Hymn i n the Va le o f Chamouny ,
Co leridge , 16 7 .
Indian Names , S igourney , 36 .
Inv i tat ion to the Country , The ,Bry ant , 1 10 .
John Gilp in ’
s Ride , Cowper, 47 .0
Joy o f the Morning , The ,M ark
h am , 165.
King Joh n and the Abbot o f Can
terbury , Old Engl i sh , 143.
Lul laby , Dekker , 60.
232 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
poetical select ions and extract s , con
t inned :
Lullaby , Holland , 136 .
Lu llaby , The Sea l’
s , K ipl ing, 59 .
Lu l laby , Na irne , 6 1 .
Lu llaby t o Ti tania , Sh akspere , 59 .
Lul laby , Tenny son , 58 .
March , Bryan t , 16 9 .
McAndrew’
s Hymn , Kipl ing ,
Meadow Lark ,Th e , Garland , 170 .
New and th e Old , The , Bryan t , 128 .
N ight Has a Th ousand Eyes , Th e ,Bourdil ion , 159 .
Norman Baron , The , Long f el low ,
75 .
Ode , W ordsworth , 170 .
On His Family Name , Lamb , 30 .
One-Hoss Sbav, The , Holmes , 53.
Pa inted Cup, Bry ant , 168 .
Poet t o the C loud , Th e , Burton ,
165.
Pra iries , The , Bry an t , 16 9 .
Prelude, Peabody , 13.
Reaper , The So l i t ary , Wordsworth , 168 .
Reassurance , A, Lampman , 164 .
Rh odora , The , Emerson , 156 .
Roses’
Song , Mars ton , 32 .
Song f rom “ P ippa Passes ,Brown ing , 160 .
Song , Hark , Hark , th e La rk ,Sh akspere
,16 1 .
Songs o f Seven , Ingelow , 165 .
Snowi ng o f the P ines , Th e ,H igg inson , 26 .
Spring , Carew , 162 .
Swee t is th e Rose , Spenser , 153.
Thanatops i s , Bry an t , 133.
Up in the Morning Early , Burn s ,169 .
Wha t Th ey All D id , 51 .
W il lie Winkie , M il ler , 62 .
W int er, Tenny son , 74 .
Violet, Th e Ye llow , Bry ant , 16 8 .
programs , Spec i a l , 226 .
prose select ions and extractsChris tmas Carol , D ickens , 1 15 .
Coach es , Essay on , Hunt , 47 .
Compos ition Work , Thurber , 19 1 .
Conf erring Bapt ismal Names , 199 .
Constructive Impulse , 197
prose selec t ions and extracts , con
tinned
Engli sh Spell ing , Lounsbury , 205 .
Hel en Kel ler ’s D iary , 18 .
Helen Ke ller ’s S tory , 16
Helping a Friend,4.
Letter , Jefi‘
er son , 88 .
Let ter, L incoln , 89 .
Letter ; extrac t , L amb , 152 .
Part s o f Speech , Mat th ew s 122 .
Pepy s ’ D iary , 70 .
Shal l and W i ll , Lounsbury , 207 .
Schoolmaster , The , Ascham ,23.
Talking Birds and Their Way s , 5
punctua t i on ,22 ,
25 .
quo te , a , 201 .
Ragnh i ld , Kaata , 17 .
r a i s e, r ise, 125- 127 .
reading , reading a loud as method , 196 ,224 ; reading t ab le , importa nce of ,223 ; sugges t ions upon , 226
- 228 .
reproduc t i on , 220 .
So d ia lec t , 6 1- 64 , 19 7 .
s crapbooks , 223s at , s it , 125- 127 .
s'ml l , sho u ld ,
130— 134 , 207 .
S ign l ang u age , 2 , 8 , 187 , 188 .
speech , h ab i t o f correct , 137 , in y oungch i ldren , 1 , 9 , 188 ; ora l precedeswritten , 1 18 .
spel ling , 1 18— 123, 205 , 206 ; becomingmore s imp le and un i f orm , 120 ,
122 , 123 ; necessary to wri t tenEngl i sh , 12 1 ; no fixed law o f , 122 ,123 ; ref orms in by Governmentand N . E . A. , 1 19 .
sweet , u se o f the word , 152- 154 .
sy no nyms , defined ,22 .
t each ers ’ helps in l anguage work , 192 .
t ypewri t ing , use o f , 223.
usage , 22 , 84- 86 , 94—97 , 1 1 1- 1 15 , 137
142 , 16 1 , 208— 210 .
vocabulary , o f ch i ld o f twelve years ,
o f twen ty - f our month s , o f th irtymonth s , 1 ; of y oung ch i ldren , 187 ,
188 puri f y and enlarge one ’s own ,
12 1 , 195 , 200 , 2 17 .
Vo lapuk , 120 .
wa ssa i l , 78 .
w i l l , wou ld, 130- 134 , 207 .
wordbooks, use o f , 31, 222
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BE AS S ES S ED FO R FA ILURE TO RETURN
BOOK O N THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTYINC REAS E TO S O C ENTS O N THE FOURTHAND TO ON THE S EVENTH DAY
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