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General Burnside at Fredericksburg. What do you learn from it in regard to the character of General Lee?

"I will commence this holy day by writing to you. My heart is filled with gratitude to Almighty God for His unspeakable mercies with which He has blessed us in this day, for those He has granted us from the beginning of life, and particularly for those He has vouchsafed us during the past year. What should have become of us without His crowning help and protection? Oh, if our people would only recognize it and cease from vain selfboasting and adulation, how strong would be my belief in final success and happiness to our country! But what a cruel thing is war; to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world! I pray that, on this day when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace. My heart bleeds at the death of every

one of our gallant men."

Other interesting letters will be found in his son's "Recollections and Letters of General Lee." Doubleday, Page, and Co.

You have heard stories from time to time of fine and noble traits in our American heroes; of Washington, or Lincoln, or Lee, or Grant. Can you recall any such incidents?

You have often been reminded, at home and in school, of the value of good manners. Have you stopped to think what good manners mean, and why they are worth while? Do you like to be treated with disrespect? to have your feelings hurt? to have your rights disregarded? to have your proper pleasures interfered with? Remember that other people think just as much of their personal dignity,

their feelings, their rights, and their pleasures, as you do of yours. And that is why good manners are really the practice of the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

What do you think true politeness is? What are some of the things you should remember to do? some of the things not to do? What instances of fine courtesy can you recall?

159. WRITTEN LESSON

Write an account of any generous action that you have read of, heard of, or experienced.

160. LANGUAGE LESSON

TROUBLESOME VERBS: SIT OR SET

Sit, sits, sat, has sat, will sit, sitting, are all forms of the verb meaning to stay or rest somewhere.

Set, sets, has set, will set, setting, are forms of another verb meaning to place or put something somewhere.

Read these sentences over carefully until you are sure you know the correct use of the verbs, sit and set.

I sit in this chair. My father has sat there an hour. The cat is sitting on the window sill. I set the vase on the mantel. The maid sets the dishes on the table. The gardener is setting out the plants. The nurse sets the baby in his carriage, and he sits there happy as a king.

Fill in these blanks with correct forms of sit and set.

1. Please

2. Henry has

3. John

4. Is he still

5. He has

the broom in the closet.

his watch by the clock.

the watering-can on the steps.

in his chair?

there for an hour.

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As we have seen, a verb may be a single word or a group of words which form a verb-group. Sometimes the words forming a verb-group may be separated from each other in He will sit there. Will he sit there?

a sentence.

Use the following verb-groups correctly in sentences:

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One of the most famous ships that ever carried the American

flag into battle is the frigate Constitution. It was built in 1797, and gained the popular nickname "Old Ironsides" by its victories over British ships in the war of 1812. In 1833 it was proposed to destroy the good ship, which had grown useless for warfare.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, then a young man, wrote the following verses in protest. The poem was printed in newspapers all over the country, and nothing more

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was heard of the proposal to destroy the Constitution. In fact, it still exists in the Charlestown navy-yard.

Aye, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;

Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;·
The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;-
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the God of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

You may have heard something of the history of Old Ironsides. Among her famous victories were those with the British frigate, Guerrière, in the north Atlantic; with the Java off Brazil; and with the Cyane and Levant off Portugal. Another famous exploit was her escape from a squadron of five British vessels. The

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Constitution was a full-rigged ship, and she set all her sails so as to catch every bit of breeze. The British vessels also set all sail, for the wind was very light. Captain Hull of the Constitution next tried kedging. All the spare rope was attached to the cable, and the anchor carried by one of the rowboats half a mile ahead of the ship, and let go. Then the crew worked merrily taking in the rope and pulling the good ship up to the anchor. In this way she escaped the nearest British frigate, which was being towed by all the boats in the squadron. After a chase that occupied four exciting days, Captain Hull, by splendid seamanship, finally brought his ship safe into Boston Harbor.

The full story of the Constitution can be found in any history of the United States, or in Theodore Roosevelt's The Naval War

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