132. WRITTEN LESSON

Write from dictation the following sentences:

1. It was May's birthday, Saturday, October 15, 1911.

66 we may

2. "Come," said May to her brother, "let us take a walk." 3. "All right," he replied; find some chestnuts." 4. In the fields the pumpkins were turning yellow, and in the orchards the apples were red on the trees.

5. The bumblebee's gold, the woodbine's scarlet and the grapes' purple were other colors that we noticed.

Rewrite each of the following sentences, using another word or expression in place of the one in italics, changing the order of the words when necessary. Underline the subject of each sentence.

1. June cannot rival October.

2. The bumblebee is a vagrant fellow.

3. Gay colored leaves fall quietly into the brook.

4. The wayside gentians curl their fringes.

5. The lanes are odorous with grapes.

6. The bumblebee's buzz was the only sound to be heard.

133. LANGUAGE LESSON

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

You have often noticed that two words are alike, except that they begin or end differently. We often add a syllable to the beginning or to the end of the word. We say that apples are ripe, or unripe; or, that we are going home, or homeward. A syllable that is put on at the beginning of a word is called a prefix; a syllable at the end of a word is called a suffix.

Let us consider some of these prefixes and suffixes. Un- is a prefix that means not; unripe means not ripe; unready means

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not ready. Tell the meaning of the following words: unwilling, unsteady, unable, untrue, unpleasant, unsafe, unbroken, unknown. How many other words can you think of

that begin with un-?

Before m, p,

before r it is

In- is another prefix that often means not. and b it is written im, before l it is il, and written ir. Insincere means not sincere. Tell the meaning of the following words: inactive, impatient, illegible, immovable, impious, incomplete, irrational, illegal, impossible, inconsistent, irregular, irresponsible. Can you think of any other words beginning with il-, im-, in-, or ir- in which this prefix means not?

This same prefix often means in, into, on, or to. Indrawn means drawn in; inflow means that which flows in. Tell the meaning of the following words: immigrate, impart, import, imprint, implant, inclose, indent.

There are many other prefixes in common use.

a few of them :

pre-, meaning before, as in prefix, precede.

Here are

ante-, meaning before, as in antedate.

anti-, meaning against, as in antipathy.

con-, meaning together, as in congress, convene.

extra-, meaning beyond or outside, as in extraordinary. fore-, meaning before, as in foresee, foretell.

re-, meaning back or again, as in return, retell.

A suffix is a syllable added to the end of a word: happy, happiness; home, homelike; swift, swiftly; act, action. Two common suffixes, meaning one that, are -er and -or, as in walker, sailor.

It is a good habit to note how words are formed. It always helps you to remember how to spell them, and it often helps you to get at their meaning.

134. ORAL LESSON

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States in the time of its greatest trial, during the terrible Civil War between North and South. No leader of a nation ever had

STATUE IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO, BY ST. GAUDENS.

heavier duties or graver cares. Lincoln accomplished the duties of his leadership with an ability and wisdom that

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have marked him as one of the greatest men of the world's history. In spite of the burden of the long years of war, he remained unselfish, generous, sympathetic, and tenderhearted as a child. When the war was over, and he was planning "with malice toward none, with charity for all, to bind up the nation's wounds," his noble life was suddenly ended by an assassin's bullet. Perhaps no man was ever better loved or more deeply mourned.

Every child should know some of the facts of Lincoln's life; of his boyhood struggle with poverty, his earnest effort for an education, his success as a lawyer and statesman, his lofty patriotism, his many deeds of sympathy and kindness. Incidents in his life and traits of his character should be discussed in the class. There are biographies of Lincoln, suitable for boys and girls, by Horace Scudder (Houghton), Ida Tarbell (McClure), and Norman Hapgood (Macmillan). Here is Lincoln's own modest account of his life from eight to twenty-one.

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year.

We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', and cipherin'" to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I

now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store.

135. WRITTEN LESSON

Write a composition on Abraham Lincoln. Divide the composition into three parts, giving one paragraph to each of these parts.

1. Lincoln's boyhood.

2. Lincoln's public life.

3. Lincoln's character.

This division into parts is what is called an outline. Outlines are useful in writing and speaking. They help us to keep our thoughts in order. Each part or division of an

outline is called a head: there are three heads in our outline.

136. LANGUAGE LESSON

DOUBLE NEGATIVES

Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair.

Said Simple Simon to the pieman, "Let me taste your ware." Said the pieman to Simple Simon, "Show me first your penny." Said Simple Simon to the pieman, "Indeed, I have not any."

Study the punctuation and quotation marks until you can write correctly from memory. It is Simple Simon's last remark that is important for our language lesson. Suppose