A Threshing Scene

180. WRITTEN LESSON

A THRESHING SCENE

Study this selection and write it from dictation:

161

On all sides now the wagons of the plowmen or threshers were getting out into the fields, with a pounding, rumbling sound.

The pale-red sun was shooting light through the leaves, and warming the boles of the great oaks that stood in the yard, and melting the frost off the great, gaudy, red- and gold-striped threshing machine standing between the stacks. The horses stood about in a circle, hitched to the ends of the six sweeps, every rod shining with frost.

The driver started the horses. The whirring cylinder boomed, roared, and snarled as it rose in speed. At last, when its tone became a rattling yell, David nodded to the pitchers and rasped his hands together. The sheaves began to fall from the stack; the band-cutter, knife in hand, slashed the bands in twain, and the feeder, with easy majestic movement, gathered them under his arm, rolled them out into an even belt of entering wheat, on which the cylinder tore with its smothered, ferocious snarl.

Will was very happy in a quiet way. He enjoyed the smooth roll of his great muscles, and the sense of power in his hands as he lifted, turned, and swung the heavy sheaves two by two upon the table, where the band-cutter madly slashed away.

This scene, one of the jolliest and the most sociable of the Western farm, had a charm quite aside from human companionship: the beautiful yellow straw entering the cylinder; the clear yellow-brown wheat pulsing out at the side; the broken straw, chaff, and dust puffing out on the great stacker; the cheery whistling and calling of the driver; the keen, crisp air, and the bright sun were somehow weirdly suggestive of the passage of time. - HAMLIN GARLAND, Main Traveled Roads.

M

181. LANGUAGE LESSON

SENTENCE ANALYSIS

Find the simple subject (noun or pronoun) and the simple predicate (verb) in the following sentences.

Select the modifiers of the simple subject and the modifiers of the simple predicate.

Select the nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. What words do the adjectives modify? What words do the adverbs modify?

EXAMPLE: The tall peddler walked slowly behind me.

The simple subject is peddler.

Modifiers of the simple subject are: the, tall.

The simple predicate is walked.

Modifiers of the simple predicate are: slowly, behind me.

Noun: peddler.

Pronoun: me.

Verb: walked.

Adjectives: the and tall modifying peddler.
Adverbs: slowly modifying the verb walked.

1. The sun will soon set.

2. Already the western sky is bright.
3. The clouds are red and gold.
4. Shall we sit quietly on this old wall?
5. The sun is growing larger and larger.
6. It has nearly reached the horizon.

7. How quiet everything is!

8. The sun bids us a silent farewell.

9. The sky is flaming with many colors.

10. The sunset always makes me sad and solemn.

11. Now we can see the evening star.

12. We must return to the house.

The Colonists

182. ORAL LESSON

THE COLONISTS

Mr. Barlow shows his schoolboys a new game.

163

Mr. Barlow. I have a new play for you. I will be the founder

Charles.

Mr. B.

Charles.

Mr. B.

John.

Mr. B.

John.
Mr. B.

Henry.
Mr. B.

of a new colony, and you shall be people of different trades and professions coming to offer yourselves to go with me. What are you, Charles? I am a farmer, sir.

Very good. Farming is the chief occupation we have to depend upon. But you must be a working farmer, not a gentleman farmer. Laborers will be scarce among us, and every man must put his hand to the plow.

I shall be ready to do my part.

Then I shall entertain you willingly. You shall have
land enough, and utensils. Now for the next.
I am a miller, sir.

A very useful trade. The grain we grow must be
ground. But what will you do for a mill?

I suppose we must make one.

True; but, then, you must bring with you a millwright for the purpose. As for millstones, we will take them with us. Who is next?

I am a carpenter, sir.

Excellent. We shall find you work enough, never fear. There will be houses to build, fences to make, and all kinds of wooden furniture to provide. But our timber is all growing. You will have a deal of hard work to do felling trees, and sawing planks, and shaping posts, and the like.

William. I am a blacksmith, sir.

Mr. B.

An excellent companion for a carpenter. We cannot
do without either of you; you may bring your great
bellows and anvil, and we will set up a forge for you
at once.
But we shall want a mason for that.

Edward. I am one, sir.

Mr. B.

Simon.
Mr. B.

Simon.

Mr. B.

Silas.
Mr. B.

Julius.

Mr. B.

Julius.

Mr. B.

That's well. Though we may live in log houses at first, we shall want brick or stone work for chimneys and hearths and oveus; so that will be employment for a mason. So I engage you. Who is next?

I am a shoemaker, sir.

And shoes we cannot well do without. But can you
make them, like Eumæus in the Odyssey, out of a
raw hide? For I fear we shall get no leather.
But I can dress hides, too.

Can you? Then you are a clever fellow, and I will
have you, though I give you double wages.

I am a weaver, sir.

Weaving is a useful art. But I fear we shall not need

you at present. It will be cheaper for us to import our cloth than to make it. In a few years, however, we may be very glad of you.

I am a silversmith, sir.

Then, my friend, you cannot go to a worse place than a new colony to set up your trade in. You will break us, or we shall starve you.

But I can repair clocks and watches, too.

But I fear we

That is something more to our purpose.
cannot give you work enough. For the present you
had better stay where you are.

Matthew. I am a doctor, sir.

Mr. B.

Then, sir, you are very welcome. Health is the first of blessings, and if you can give us that, you will be a very valuable man, indeed.

Common and Proper Nouns

165

Read this selection aloud, parts being assigned to various members of the class. Continue the drama, introducing a lawyer, a tailor, a milliner, a soldier, a school-teacher, a dancing måster.

183. WRITTEN LESSON

Write the first part of Lesson 182 in the form of a story, using quotation marks when the precise words of a speaker are given.

Exchange papers and mark all mistakes in quotation marks.

184. LANGUAGE LESSON

COMMON AND PROPER NOUNS

Look at the following nouns :

water

river

stream

current

Mississippi

Which of these belongs to only one thing? There are many waters, rivers, streams, and currents, but only one Mississippi River. A noun that is used to name some particular person, place, town, book, or thing is called a proper noun. Proper nouns should begin with a capital: John Adams, Albany, Missouri, Atlantic, America.

Common nouns are names that do not specify a particular person or place. Most nouns are common nouns. Boy and dog are common nouns; James and Fido are proper nouns because they refer to one special boy and one special dog. Select the common and the proper nouns in Lesson 43. Name ten proper nouns; ten common nouns.

A proper noun is a special name for some one person, place, or thing.

A common noun is a common name that applies to many persons or things.