153. WRITTEN LESSON

Write a composition of two or three paragraphs about the state which you selected.

154. LANGUAGE LESSON

Some of the compositions written in Lesson 153 are to be read in the class. After a composition is read, the class may indicate the main ideas or the outline of the composition. Are the paragraph divisions correct? Did you notice any mistakes in the use of words or sentences? Was the composition clear at every point?

155. ORAL LESSON

CORN

In

When the New World was discovered, the Europeans found in use among the Indians here three plants that were unknown in Europe. These were tobacco, potatoes, and Indian corn, or maize. All of them are now cultivated extensively throughout the civilized world. Each of them is, in many regions, the principal crop. Corn is grown in nearly every part of the United States; and our annual crop is nearly three thousand million bushels. the great fertile valley of the Mississippi, in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and other states- - there are hundreds of thousands of acres planted in corn every year. Corn is, indeed, in many of these sections, the staple crop; that is, the crop upon which the farmers mainly depend. They use it to feed their horses, their cattle, and their hogs, and they sell it in large quantities. It is a food for human beings also. The meal can be made into wholesome and palatable breads and cereals, and the whole grain is often used as hominy or samp. No more valuable legacy was left us by the Indians.

The growing of corn is a very interesting process. The soil must be very fertile. In the early spring as soon as the ground grows dry and warm, it is plowed and harrowed until it is well pulverized. Then the corn is planted, by hand or by machine, in furrows about two or three feet apart. The seeds are carefully selected from the biggest and best ears of the corn, and not from the ends

of the ear.

In about a week after planting, the ground begins to crack over the seeds, and soon the tiny round yellow shoots of the corn burst through. These turn

green, and, as they push up

ward, open into two long leaves, shaped at first like a pointed finger tip and later like a broad blade of

grass. When the stalks are well advanced, six inches high or more, the ground must be cultivated between the furrows, by hoe, or plow, or cultivator. This process, which is repeated at intervals of several weeks until the corn has grown tall, serves not only to keep down the weeds, but also to keep the moisture in the soil.

Within three or four months after planting the corn has reached its full height, from six to fifteen

feet, according to the kind

of corn, the soil, and the temperature. Being a warm weather plant, it grows best where there is abundant sunshine. Under a gray sky, like that of Great Britain, it will not thrive. It does best under brilliant skies like those of Italy or the United States. Tell about the growing of corn, potatoes, tobacco, cotton, or some other crop that you know about. Do you know Whittier's "Corn Song"?

156. WRITTEN LESSON

SENTENCE BUILDING

Make sentences using one of the following nouns in each subject. Add to that noun at least one modifier.

EXAMPLE: Balloon. The great balloon rose quietly from the

Make sentences, using one of the following verbs in each predicate, with some modifiers:

EXAMPLE: Scamper. Away scampered all the mischievous youngsters.

Make sentences using one of the following modifiers in each sentence: golden, sparkling, jocund, gay, vacant, pensive, continuous, sprightly, inward. Where have you seen these adjectives before?

Adjectives

157. LANGUAGE LESSON

ADJECTIVES

139

Look at these expressions: a brave girl, a gray squirrel, the tallest building, the merry music. Girl, squirrel, building, music, are nouns. The other words, brave, gray, tallest, merry, are modifiers (Lesson 151). They add to, or modify, the meaning of the nouns. Each goes with a noun. They are adjectives. Words that add meaning to nouns or pronouns are called adjectives.

Sometimes an adjective is next to its noun; as, The tall boy. Sometimes it is separated from its noun; as, The boy seems to me very tall. But the adjective always adds something to the meaning of its noun or pronoun. Turn to the poem, "The Land of Counterpane," Lesson 46. The adjectives in that poem are: sick, two, happy, leaden, different, great, still, pleasant. With what nouns or pronouns do they belong? A, an, and the are adjectives, but they are often called articles. They are very small, but very necessary articles. Select the simple subject and the adjectives that modify it in the following sentences:

1. The tall, homely man was Abraham Lincoln.

2. His next visitor had forced her way past the doorkeeper. 3. This sweet-faced little woman had come all the way from Ohio to beg for the life of her son.

4. The poor boy had fallen asleep at his post.

5. The kind and patient president listened to her story.

6. A few words were written on a piece of paper.

7. His sad face lightened with a smile.

8. That little piece of paper was a pardon for the boy.

A word used to add something to the meaning of a noun or pronoun is an adjective.

158. ORAL LESSON

ROBERT E. LEE

In any list of great Americans the name of Robert E. Lee must take a high place.

The Civil War tested men's abilities and characters as has no other period in our history. Lincoln was the greatest man whom that war revealed in the North, and Lee was unquestionably the greatest Southerner. In many respects he and Lincoln were very different. Lee was a remarkably handsome, dignified man, finely educated, and from one of the most distinguished American families. Lincoln was homely and awkward, with almost no schooling, and with none of the advantages that family and culture bring. But both men were alike in their modesty, unselfishness, and devotion to duty. Lee was a great general, Lincoln a great statesman; and both were great in character as well as ability. Every one who knew General Lee loved and admired him. Every one knew that it would be impossible for him to do anything mean, cowardly, dishonest or selfish. Now, many years after the great war, men of the North appreciate and honor Lee, as men of the South appreciate and honor Lincoln. We are proud that our country has produced such great and good men.

Here is a portion of a letter that General Lee wrote to his wife on Christmas day, 1862, after his great victory over