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With an ambling pad-pony to pace o'er the lawn,
While I carol away idle sorrow,

And blithe as the lark that each day hails the dawn
Look forward with hope for To-morrow.

With a porch at my door, both for shelter and shade too, As the sunshine or rain may prevail;

And a small spot of ground for the use of the spade too, With a barn for the use of the flail:

A cow for my dairy, a dog for my game,

And a purse when a friend wants to borrow;

I'll envy no Nabob his riches or fame,

Or what honours may wait him To-morrow.

From the bleak northern blast may my cot be completely
Secured by a neighbouring hill;

And at night may repose steal upon me more sweetly
By the sound of a murmuring rill:

And while peace and plenty I find at my board,
With a heart free from sickness and sorrow,

With

my friends may I share what To-day may afford, And let them spread the table To-morrow.

And when I at last must throw off this frail cov'ring
Which I've worn for three-score years and ten,

On the brink of the grave I'll not seek to keep hov'ring,
Nor my thread wish to spin o'er again:

But my face in the glass I'll serenely survey,

And with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow; As this old worn-out stuff, which is threadbare To-day, May become Everlasting To-morrow.

-J. Collins.

LESSON XV

I. The Correct Use of the Parts of Speech in the Expression of Ideas. Verbs.

1. Many grammatical difficulties beset us when we try to express our ideas. These difficulties must be overcome if we wish to make our speech correct; and they can be overcome only by knowing the principles which govern good speech, and by constant application of these principles to our own speech whether written

or oral.

2. One of the chief difficulties we experience is in determining when to use the s-form of the verb. Folowing are some rules and illustrations, which if we apply them carefully to all our speech will help us to overcome this difficulty.

(1) Verbs in the present tense, indicative mode, having a subject in the third person, singular number, end in -s. The form is called the s-form.

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(2) The s-form of the verb requires a subject in the singular number, third person.

The man does not know which way to go.

Note: Was may be used with I or with a third singular subject.

(3) Words intervening between the subject and its verb should not change the form of the verb.

The building (subject) with all its surroundings was (verb) in flames.

(4) If two or more singular subjects connected by and are modified by each, every or many a, the s-form of the verb should be used.

1. Every leaf and twig is moving.

2. Many a boy and girl has gone through this school.

(5) If two or more singular subjects connected by and refer to the same person or thing, the s-form of the verb should be used.

My guide, philosopher, and friend is with me.

(6) Two or more third singular subjects connected by or or nor require the s-form of the verb.

One or the other of them always goes wrong.

When the subjects connected by or or nor differ in person or number, the one nearest the verb controls the form.

1. Neither my parents nor my teacher knows what is the trouble. 2. Neither John nor his brothers were there.

3. Either you or I am going.

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(7) A Collective Noun, though singular in form and usually singular in meaning, may sometimes be plural in meaning. For example, if we say "The ComImittee has decided to close the schools to-morrow,' the word "Committee" is singular in meaning, as well as in form, and requires the s-form of the verb. If we say, "The Committee have gone to their homes," the word "Committee," though still singular in form, is plural in meaning, and thus does not take the s-form.

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A Collective Noun takes the s-form when the group indicated by the noun is considered as forming a unit.

1. My family are widely separated this summer. (Family considered as individuals.)

2. My family is anxious to know where my brother is now. (Family considered as a unit.)

Exercise. Give the reason for the form of each verb in the following selection:

Of late years the number of writers among the Cherokees has greatly increased. There are historians in the tribe whose works are used as text books in the Indian schools, and who are cited as authorities not to be disputed. There are also Indians who have written codes of law which before being put in permanent form had been handed down from generation to generation. The Indians today obey these laws with a greater reverence than they do the laws of the United States. There are Indian novelists-novelists who devote their time to entertaining the Indian mind with romance, with entangling plots and blood-curdling climaxes. These books are popular among the Indians. Edition after edition of some works is published, and they are read by buck and squaw alike.—Chicago Journal.

II. Expression of Ideas in Composition.

Read the following composition:

"The spruce, for instance, is a straight-trunked tree that throws out branches that ride upward like crescents, and bear needles that hang downward like fringes. Its outline, when seen in silhouette against the sky, is pyramidal; its color is dark green, often bluegreen when seen from a distance, and at twilight it is cold-purple. The pine is like it, but its branches are not so crescent-shaped, and the needles push outward in clusters rather than droop downward in fringes. It is of a darker color than the spruce, and at night or under shadow, it is bluer. The poplar is a tall tree, and often a straight one, but the branches do not swing outward like the pine.

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