ask you to close your books and answer the questions she asks.

One day President Lincoln was met in the park between the White House and the War Department by an irate private soldier, who was swearing in a high key, cursing the Government from the President down. Mr. Lincoln paused and asked him what was the matter.

"Matter enough," was the reply. "I want my money. I have been discharged here, and can't get my pay."

Mr. Lincoln asked if he had his papers, saying that he used to practice law in a small way, and possibly could help him. The soldier rather ungraciously said that he had the papers.

My friend and I stepped behind some convenient shrubbery where we could watch the result. Mr. Lincoln took the papers from the hands of the crippled soldier, and sat down with him at the foot of a convenient tree, where he examined them carefully, and writing a line on the back, told the soldier to take them to Mr. Potts, Chief Clerk of the War Department, who would doubtless attend to the matter at once.

After Mr. Lincoln had left the soldier, we stepped out and asked him if he knew whom he had been talking with. "Some ugly old fellow who pretends to be a lawyer," was the reply. My companion asked to see the papers, and on their being handed to him, pointed to the indorsement they had received. This indorsement read:

"Mr. Potts, attend to this man's case at once and see that he gets his pay. A. L.”

Questions

1. Why was Mr. Lincoln willing to help the soldier? 2. Why didn't he tell the soldier who he was?

3. Is there a joke in this story? If so, whom was the joke on?

11. REVIEWING NOUNS

Sentences are made up of words. These words are divided into classes or parts of speech as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections. It is not necessary to use all of these eight parts of speech every time you make a sentence.

Every sentence must, however, contain a noun or a pronoun and a verb to make a complete thought.

You have learned that the word noun means "name." It may be the name of a person, of a place, or of a thing.

You have learned that there are two different kinds of nouns-common nouns and proper nouns.

A common noun is the name given to all the members of a class of persons, places, or things.

A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing.

A proper noun always begins with a capital letter. This distinguishes the proper noun from the common noun.

Exercise. Point out the common and the proper nouns in the following sentences:

1. Longfellow is a much beloved poet.

2. Charles Smith drove his automobile from the city to the Omaha Country Club.

3. All boys and girls should study hard to improve themselves.

4. The President of the United States spoke to the members of the House and the Senate.

5. Alexander the Great rode the wonderful horse Bucephalus.

6. Bucephalus would not allow any person other than Alexander to get on his back.

7. On August 22, 1924, the planet Mars was the nearest to the earth that it had been for more than a hundred years.

8. Harvard University is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was founded in the year 1636.

9. Jack the Giant Killer, Little Red Riding Hood, and Little Boy Blue are characters that all children like.

Choose a paragraph from your history or geography and select all the common and proper nouns.

Make a list of common nouns, five of which are the names of persons, five the names of places, and five the names of things. Do likewise for five proper nouns.

12. COLLECTIVE NOUNS

Some common nouns in the singular form are the names of groups or collections of persons or things taken together. Such nouns are called collective nouns.

These nouns, though singular in form, may be either plural or singular in meaning. When you think of the group as a whole, such a noun is considered singular; as, "The family is away."

When you think of the individual members of the group, then the noun though singular in form is plural in meaning; as, "The family wish to see you."

When you speak of your class at school you may be thinking of it as a whole; in that case, the noun class is considered singular. When you think of the individual members of the class, then the noun class is plural in meaning.

1. The class did its duty.

2. The class are rehearsing their parts.

All of these nouns may be used in either the singular

or the plural number.

Use eight of the collective nouns in the list given above in the singular number in sentences. Use all the rest in the plural number in sentences.

13. THE ABSTRACT NOUN

We have learned that a noun is the name of something. A noun, however, is not always the name of an object that can be seen. The names of qualities of objects and of general ideas are also nouns. The qualities of an apple roundness, redness, sweetness, goodness- -are nouns just the same as apple is, but are called abstract nouns.

We speak of honesty, industry, health, humor, sociability, dependability. These characteristics are

all nouns just the same as the word boy is a noun. An abstract noun is the name of a quality of an object or a general characteristic of a person or a thing.

Select the abstract nouns in the following sentences. Be sure that the nouns you select are abstract nouns and be able to tell why:

1. Wisdom is the better part of valor.

2. Honesty is the best policy.

3. He loved the wildness of the forest.

4. Poverty is oftentimes the result of crime.

5. Most people seek for happiness but seldom find it.

6. Softness and hardness are qualities of pencils. 7. The bird flew with the swiftness of an arrow.

8. He was tall and sinewy and the litheness of his motions reminded one of the mountain lion.

Change the following adjectives into abstract nouns

and use five of them in sentences:

Watch the words as you read your textbooks, magazines, books, and newspapers and note the number of abstract nouns that are used.

Listen and note the number of abstract nouns that are used in your English recitations.

14. NUMBER

What, to your mind, is the difference between the words desk and desks? sword and swords?

Desk stands for one object; desks for more than one. Sword stands for one object; swords for more than one.

To tell whether a word stands for one object, or for more than one, is to tell the number of that word.

A word which indicates one object is in the singular number. Singular means "one only."

A word which indicates more than one object is in the plural number. Plural means "more than one."

Most nouns form their plurals by adding s or es to the singular. This is called the regular rule.

boy, boys
house, houses

box, boxes

dress, dresses