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the latter being the most emphatic.] Determine the emphatic words and the inflections in the second, third, and fourth lines by the same method. Is the statement in the fifth line positive or negative ? [Negative statements require the rising inflection, but the inflection upon the word "old" is the rising circumflex. Let the pupil pronounce the sentence, “I will not screen my brother, if he has done such a deed.” Read the word “ old” with the same inflection that is given to the word “deed.” Put "old" before “garment,' and read with the same inflection as now.] Inflection upon “me" in the sixth line? [Conditional and incomplete clauses take the rising inflection.] What group of words is emphatic in the last line? [Those expressing the new thought.]
Second Stanza. What 6 cares” does the "rich man's son ”inherit? What is a “bank”? a “factory”? What is meant by the phrase, 6 bank
may break”? What is meant by “shares” in the third line? What is to “ burst” them? Why may a “breath” do it? Meaning of the whole line? Why does the author speak in the next line of “earning a living”? What is meant by the phrase, “suit his turn”? Could “soft, white hands” earn a living that might suit the turn of some men ?
Meaning and etymology of bank? factory? shares? suit ?
Inflection on cares'? [Apply the test, – is it a positive statement?] Emphatic word? Inflection upon break? burn? [The words “bank” and “ break” require just about the same degree of emphasis; and the same is true of "factory” and “burn." A good way to render them is to read all aljke with a falling inflection.] Emphatic words and inflections in the third line? Is the thought in the fourth and fifth lines positive or negative? Inflection upon them, therefore ? upon earn'? [Emphasis sometimes demands a falling inflection.]
Third Stanza. Does not every one “inherit wants”? Meaning of wants here? What other meaning has it? What is “ dainty fare”? Meaning of the line? Meaning of "hinds" here? What is meant by hearing them with “sated heart” ? Who hears them thus? Meaning of the phrase, “with brown arms
bare”? Meaning of the fifth line? Is it a strong or a feeble statement, that he “ wearies in his easy chair"? What is usually expected to follow from sitting in an easy chair?
Etymology and meaning of wants ? stomach ? dainty? fare? sated ? easy ? craves ?
Inflection upon wants ? [ Apply the test.] Upon fare? Where is the main statement in the sentence beginning “with sated hearts”? Inflection upon pants, therefore? Explain the emphases throughout the stanza, and point out the words subject to them.
Fourth Stanza. What is meant by a “sinewy heart”? Is the heart of a poor man really more sinewy than that of a rich man? Strict meaning of sinewy? of the word "heart,' as here used ? of “hardy frame”? “spirit”? Why is he“
“king of two hands”? Does not the rich man also possess two hands ? Does every poor man “ do his part”? and can any one man work at “every toil and art”? Why is it said that a king might wish to hold this " in fee"? Why a "king"? What is it that a king might wish to hold in fee?
Etymology and meaning of muscles? sinewy? hardy? useful? spirit? toil ? art?
What is the inflection on the word inherit ? [The thought here is not negative. See Introduction, Inflections, VI.] What group of words emphatic here ? [Those containing a new thought contrasted with those already expressed.] Inflection
heart and spirit ? Emphatic words here? What words express the main declaration in the fourth and fifth lines? What inflection then
What group of words emphatic ? Inflection upon me? heritage? king? Emphatic word in the last line ? Inflection at the end of stanza ?
Fifth Stanza. When are one's “wishes o'erjoyed ” ? What sort of things do we generally consider necessary to accomplish this? ['There ire two ways of being rich; one is to have abundance. What is the other? ] Meaning of "rank" here ? Explain the words, "adjudged by toil-won merit”? Show how to tent” may “spring from employment.” How can one's
"heart" "sing"? Explain the fifth line. Meaning of “ heart” in this line ?
Etymology and meaning of humble? rank ? adjudged ? merit? content? employment? labor ?
Inflection on inherit ? [When a question like this is repeated it should receive the rising inflection. Its force is the same as if it were in this form : “Do you still ask what the poor man's son inherits”? This has not the character of a positive statement.] Determine the inflections and emphases in the succeeding lines, by the rules already suggested.
Sixth Stanza. How does one learn “patience from being poor”? Does poverty or suffering always make men patient? What ought we to make our sufferings and poverty do for us? What kind of courage does it require to“ bear sorrow”? Is it the same that the soldier needs in battle? What is meant by a “ fellow-feeling”? Why should it “ make the outcast bless his door”? Why the outcast? Why his door ? What "heritage" is referred to in the sixth line?
Etymology and meaning of patience ? courage? sorrow? sure ? bless?
Inflection upon the word "comes "? Explain the emphases and inflections throughout the stanza.
Seventh Stanza. What “ toil” is spoken of in the first line? Meaning of the second line? Why should this be said to the rich man's son? Meaning of “charity” in the third line? In what sense does it " whiten the hands”? Of what is the color white usually considered the sign? What is the best crop from the lands”? In what sense is it a crop ? Is “ being rich” represented as desirable or otherwise, in the last line ? What “heritage” is here referred to ?
Etymology and meaning of level ? charity? soil? whitens?
Inflection upon soil? Why? Point out and explain all the emphases and inflections in the stanza.
Eighth Stanza. Why does he not caution the rich man's son against scorning his state”? What is the “weariness” referred to
in the second line? Meaning of "merely" in the third line? How does “ work make the soul to shine”? What is the effect of labor upon rest? Is "being poor” represented as a desirable thing, in the last line? Explain the last two lines? What “heritage” is meant here?
Etymology and meaning of state ? weariness ? merely ? fragrant ? benign?
Inflection on the word state? [The injunction here is positive.) Determine the other inflections and emphases in this stanza ?
Ninth Stanza. What is referred to in the first two lines? Why “six feet” ? Force of “ some ”? Meaning of “at last”? In what sense are “both children of the same dear God”? What is the “ vast heirship” spoken of in the fourth line ? What is meant by the “record of a well-filled past”? Is life spoken of as valuable or otherwise, in the last line ? What “ heritage” is meant in the last line but one ?
Etymology of heirs ? equal ? little? record? vast? prove?
Inflection on equal ? on earth? Does the phrase "at last” express a positive statement or a condition? What inflection therefore ? Explain the inflections and emphases throughout the stanza.
MRS. H. B. STOWE.
1. The holidays passed away hilariously, and, at New Year's, I, according to time-honored custom, went forth to make my calls, and see my fair friends, while my wife and daughters stayed at home, to dispense the hospitalities of the day to their gentlemen friends. All was merry and cheerful, and it was agreed, on all hands, that a more joyous holiday season had never flown over us. But, somehow, the week after, I began to be sensible of a running down in the wheels. I had an article to write for the “ Atlantic,” but felt mopish, and could not write. My dinner had not its usual relish, and I had an indefinite sense everywhere of something going wrong. My coal bill came in, and I felt sure we were being extravagant, and that our John Furnace wasted coal. My grand-sons and grand-daughters came to see us, and I discovered that they had high-pitched voices, and burst in without wiping their shoes, and it suddenly occurred powerfully to my mind, that they were not being well brought up, -evidently they were growing up rude and noisy.
2. I discovered several tumblers and plates, with the edges chipped, and made bitter reflections on the carelessness of Irish servants; our crockery was going to destruction along with the rest. Then, on opening one of my paper-drawers, I found that Jennie's one drawer of worsted had overflowed into two or three; Jennie was growing careless; besides, worsted is dear, and girls knit away small fortunes, without knowing it, on little duds that do nobody any good. Moreover, Maggie had three times put my slippers into the hall-closet, instead of leaving them where I wanted them,- under my studytable. Mrs. Crowfield ought to look after things more; every servant, from end to end of the house, was getting out of the traces; it was strange she did not see it.
3. All this I vented, from time to time, in short, crusty sayings and doings, as freely as if I had not just written an article on “Little Foxes,” in the “ Atlantic,” till at length my eyes were opened on my own state and condition.
It was evening, and I had just laid up the fire in the most approved style of architecture, and, projecting my feet into my slippers, sat, spitefully cutting the leaves of a caustic review. Mrs. Crowfield took the tongs and altered the disposition of a stick.
“My dear," I said, “I do wish you'd let the fire alone,you always put it out."