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15. Young reader, learn from this story that one command of God is not to be kept at the expense of another. His commands all harmonize, and to break one on the plea of keeping another, is disobedience.

SECTION II.

ACCENT.

ACCENT is a more forcible utterance of some one syllable in a word, so as to distinguish it from others. It is marked thus ('), as in mer'chant.

The knowledge that pupils usually have of pronunciation, will enable them, in most cases, to determine which syllable of a word should have the greatest force or stress of utterance upon it; but in cases where there is doubt, reference must be made to the dictionary, in which the accented syllables are all marked.

RULE. Each syllable on which accent falls must be marked by its proper and distinctive stress.

EXERCISE I.

Words accented on the first syllable.

Pa'per, ta'per, cred'it, hab'it, fam'ish, radish, panʼic, man'ful-ly, won'der-ful, in'ter-est, ru'min-ate, hol'i-day, travel-er.

NOTE. In this and the following exercises on accent, some of the words which illustrate the rule are spaced; thus, nation.

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THE SAGACIOUS AND VINDICTIVE MONKEY.

1. A PAINTER was once busily employed in decorating, with fancy colors, some carved work on the stern of a

QUESTIONS. What is accent? How is it marked? How may you ascertain the accented syllables of words? What is the rule for accent? Pronounce the words under it. On which syllable does the accent fall? Why are some of the words spaced in the exercises on accent?

French brig which lay in the harbor of Marseilles, and he had a stage suspended for that purpose.

2. A monkey, which belonged to the captain of an American vessel, moored almost in contact with the stern of the brig, appeared much interested in the progress of the decorations, and watched the artist very closely; and occasionally, as if he wished to criticise or ridicule the performance, he would grin and chatter most furiously.

3. The painter, although at first amused, soon became indignant at the insolent bearing of the monkey, and while Jacko was in the midst of a critical dissertation, and appeared very much tickled at being able to discompose the nerves of the artist, the latter thrust his largest brush, well charged with a beautiful verdigris green, full in the mouth of the chattering quadruped.

4. Jacko retreated to his habitation, exhibiting manifest signs of wrath and indignation. The captain of the vessel, being well acquainted with the character of the monkey, which would never suffer a trick to be played upon him without retorting in kind, advised the painter to be particu larly cautious, or the monkey would do him some injury.

5. The painter, however, laughed at the idea, and soon after left his work, and entered the coffee-house on the wharf, where, in drinking a cup of coffee, and in conversation with some friends, he passed half an hour.

6. In his absence the monkey left his retreat, and passed through a port on to the painter's stage, where all his pots, brushes, and so forth, were deposited. He commenced an attack on the ropes which held the stage, and employed his time so well, that before the painter appeared, two of them were nearly severed.

7. When the unsuspecting artist placed his foot on the

QUESTIONS. What is the first word spaced in this exercise? Which syllable is ac. cented? Point out the other words that are spaced and the accented syllable in each What other words in the exercise are accented on the first syllable?

stage, for the purpose of resuming his work, the ropes broke, and painter, pots, paints, and brushes, were all precipitated without ceremony into the dock!

8. Then commenced the triumph of the monkey, which spring to the gunwale, and while gazing on his floundering foe, he evinced his delight by his gesticulations, and his loud chatterings.

9. The artist was fished out; but his paints, of course, were lost, and his clothes were saturated with the briny fluid. His rage was unbounded. As soon as he was safely landed, he seized a club, and rushed on board the vessel, threatening vengeance on the monkey, which he undoubtedly would have killed on the spot, had not Jacko wisely retreated to the main topmast cross-trees, where he sat, looking down triumphantly on his enemy, who was pacing the deck, uttering imprecations innumerable.

10. The painter then proceeded to his house, and returned with his fowling-piece well charged with buck-shot, determined to bring Jacko down, by fair means or foul. But the captain, seeing the danger which was about to befall his mischievous favorite, appeased the anger of the painter, by offering to pay him for the loss of his materials, and the damage to his clothes.

11. A treaty was concluded, but Jacko could not easily be convinced of the sincerity of the opposite party, and fearing some mishap, maintained his position on the cross-trees for several days.

12. We may learn, from this piece, that it is wrong to injure or ill-treat others, for it often excites the spirit of revenge, and causes them to do us, if possible, a greater injury; and thus we not only violate the scriptural rule, which requires that we should do to others as we would have them do to us, but also become instrumental in causing them to do the same.

QUESTION. What lesson of instruction do you learn from this piece?

EXERCISE II.

Words accented on the second syllable.

Con-tent', in-tent', con-flict', pre-dict', de-vice', en-tice', re-press', de-light' ful, am-bi'tion, con-tin'ue, dis-cov'er, pe-ti tion, af-flict'ed.

THE GRAY COTTAGE.

1. THERE was a poor man who built a cottage for himself and wife. A dark gray rock overhung it, and helped to keep it from the winds. When the cottage was finished, he thought he would paint it gray, like the rock. And so exactly did he get the same shade of color, that it looked almost as if the little dwelling sprung from its bosom.

2. After a while the cottager became able to purchase a ̈ COW. In the summer she picked up most of her own living very well; but in the winter she needed to be fed and kept from the cold. So he built a barn for her; but it was so small that it looked more like a shed than a barn.

3. When it was done, a neighbor came and said, “What color will you paint your barn?”. "I had not thought of that," said the cottager. Then I advise you, by all means, to paint it black; and here is a pot of black paint, which I have brought on purpose to present to you."

4. Soon after, another neighbor praised his neat shed, and expressed a wish to help him a little about his building. "White is by far the most genteel color," he added, "and here is a pot of white paint, which I will give you."

5. While he was in doubt which of the gifts to use, the oldest and wisest man in the village came to visit him. His hair was entirely white, and everybody loved him, for he was good as well as wise.

QUESTIONS. Pronounce the words at the beginning of this exercise. Which syllable is accented in each? What is the first word spaced in this exercise? Which syllable is accented? Point out the other words that are spaced, and the accented syllable in each. What other words in this exercise are accented on the second syllable? What is the moral instruction contained in this lesson ?

6. When the cottager had told him the story of the pots of paint, the old man said, "He who gave you the black paint is one who dislikes you, and wishes you to do a foolish thing. He who gave you the white paint is a partial friend, and desires you to make more show than is wise.

7. "Neither of their opinions should you follow. If the shed is either black or white, it will disagree with the color of your house. Moreover, the black will draw the sun, and cause the edges of your boards to curl and split; and the white will look well for a little while, and then become soiled, and need painting anew.

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8. "Now take my advice, and mix the black and white together." So the cottager poured one pot into the other, and mixed them up with his brushes, and it made the very color which he liked, and had used before upon his house. 9. He had, in one corner of his small piece of ground, a hop-vine, whose ripe clusters he carefully gathered. It was always twined around two poles, which he had fastened to the earth, to give it support. But the cottager was fond of building, and he made a little arbor for it to run upon.

10. He painted the arbor gray. So the rock, and the cottage, and the shed, and the arbor, were all of the same gray color, and everything around looked neat and comfortable.

11. When the cottager and his wife grew old, they were sitting together, in their arbor, at the sunset of a summer's day. A stranger, who seemed to be looking at the country, stopped and inquired how everything around that small habitation happened to be the same shade of gray.

12. "It is very well that it is so," said the cottager, "for my wife and 1, you see, are gray also. And we have lived so long that the world itself looks old and gray to us now."

13. Then he told him the story of the black, and white paint, and how the advice of an aged man prevented him from making his little estate ridiculous when he was young.

14. "I have thought of this circumstance so often, that it

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