has given me instruction. He who gave me the black paint, proved to be an enemy; and he who urged me to use the white, was a friend. The advice of neither was good."

15. Those who love us well are blind to our faults; and those who dislike us are not willing to see our virtues. One would make us all white; the other, all black. But neither of them is right.

16. If, then, neither the counsel of our foes, nor of our partial friends, is safe to be taken, we should cultivate a correct judgment, which, like the gray paint, mixing both together, may avoid the evil and secure the good.

EXERCISE III.

The Primary and Secondary Accents.

BESIDES the primary accent, which has been illustrated in the pre ceding exercises, there is another that usually occurs in words of more than two syllables, called the secondary accent. It is less forcible than the primary, and is marked thus ("), as in com"po-si'tion.

Words having the primary and secondary accents. Con"tra-vene', su"per-sede', dis"en-gage', in"ter-cept', ad"mo-ni'tion, in”tro-duction, de"lib'er-ate, e"man'ci-pate, vic'to'ri-ous, in'ter-est"ing, ac'-rimony, admi-ral"ty, ge"o-met'ri-cal, ges"tic-u-la'tion, im"ma-te-ri-al'i-ty.

FILIAL AFFECTION.

1. DURING the sanguinary period of the French revolution, when crimes and horrors were continually perpetrated, the sacred affections of kindred and of friendship were often powerfully excited.

QUESTIONS. Which kind of accent has been illustrated in the preceding exercises? What other kind of accent have some words? How is the secondary accent distin guished from the primary? How is it marked?

2. One such instance occurred amid the terrific massacres of an age unparalleled in atrocity; when crowds of unfortunate persons were condemned unheard, and loaded cannon were directed to play upon them.

3. Yet not only France and its dependencies furnish instances of unflinching heroism and filial love, but also the far-off West, in one of those unfortunate islands, where the massacres of the reign of terror were acted on a less extended theater.

4. An honest Creole, whose only crime consisted in possessing the inheritance of his ancestors, was denounced as inimical to the republic, and sentenced to die, with a crowd of his fellow-countrymen; but happily for this virtuous colonist, he was the father of a little girl, eminently endowed with courage, energy, and affection.

5. When the moment of separation from his family arrived, this courageous child resolved to follow him, and share his sufferings, however terrible to her tender age. In vain did the father entreat his little Annette to remain at home, and the mother, with streaming eyes, seek to retain her child by force.

6. Entreaties and commands were equally unavailing, and rushing from the door, she continued to follow, at a little distance, the rough men who urged her unhappy father to the place of execution.

7. A short time sufficed to place him in the foremost rank of the condemned. His eyes were blinded, and his hands tied together, while the executioner made ready those murderous engines, which were soon to open a heavy fire of grapeshot upon the crowds that awaited their death in silence.

QUESTIONS. Pronounce the words at the beginning of this exercise. Which syllable has the primary accent in each? Which has the secondary accent? What is the first word spaced in this exercise? Which syllable has the primary accent? Which the secondary? Point out the other words that are spaced, and the accented syllables in each. What other words in this exercise have the primary and secondary accent? What may you learn from this lesson ?

8. But suddenly a little girl sprung forward, and her voice tremulous with emotion, uttered the piercing cry of, “Oh my father! my father!" The spectators endeavored to snatch her from destruction, and those who were alike condemned to death menaced the poor child, in order to drive her from among them.

9. Annette bounded with a light step toward her father, as she had been wont to do in happier days, when awaiting his welcome voice, and throwing her little arms around his neck, she waited to perish with the author of her days.

10. "O, my child! my dearest child! the cherished and only hope of thy wretched mother, now on the eve of widowhood!" exclaimed her trembling and weeping father, "I command, I adjure thee to go away."

11. "No, father, we will die together!"

12. This unexpected incident disconcerted the director of the massacre. Perhaps he was himself a father, and the thought of his own children might arise within him. Certain it is that his ferocious heart was softened. He ordered the Creole away, and commanded that he should be taken to prison with his child.

13. Amid the rage of civil discord, and the alternate ascendency of contending factions, a brief respite was not unfrequently productive of the happiest consequences. Such was the case in the present instance. The face of matters became changed. The father was restored to his family, and ceased not to speak with the tenderest emotion of his little daughter, then only ten years of age.

14. Many who heard the tale, in after years, pleased themselves with thinking that the human heart is never completely insensible to the voice of nature. But the contrary has been unhappily evinced in those fearful tragedies which have so often disgraced its history, in which the tears of suffering innocence have vainly sought for sympathy and compassion. 15. We cannot, therefore, attribute so wonderful a deliver.

ance to those innate principles of virtue and benevolence, which are thought by some incapable of being totally eradicated in the breast of even the most atrocious and sanguinary. We must rather give to him the glory, in whose hands are the hearts of men; and who, in preserving the life of a virtuous individual, has permitted to all young people a beautiful and impressive instance of the reward of filial affection.

SECTION III.*

EMPHASIS.

EMPHASIS is a forcible stress of voice on some word or words in a sentence, to distinguish them from others.

The degree of emphasis which the sense requires, is not always best expressed by a forcible utterance, or loudness of voice, but sometimes by pronouncing the emphatic word or clause in a subdued under tone, or even a whisper. When words are emphatic they are usually printed in Italics; and if very emphatic, in CAPITALS.

NOTE.-A change of emphasis frequently changes the meaning of a

sentence.

EXAMPLE.

No, sir; I gave it to Henry.
No, sir; it was a pen.
No, sir; he bought it.
No, sir; Henry gave it.

1. Did you give a book to John? 2. Did you give a book to John? 3. Did you give a book to John? 4. Did you give a book to John? Emphasis admits of two obvious divisions; Absolute and Antithetic.

* In the following sections of Part First, only the more prominent principles and general rules of reading are presented, while their exceptions, and the more difficult parts, which would only embarrass and perplex the young pupil, are omitted, and treated at full length in the Fourth Reader.

QUESTIONS. What is emphasis? How are emphatic words usually printed? What is the effect of a change of emphasis? Read the example. How many meanings may it have }

EXERCISE I.

Absolute Emphasis.

ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS is that stress of voice which is placed on some word or words expressing an important idea unconnected with contrast, or where the contrast is not expressed nor plainly implied.

RULE 1. All words important in meaning, or peculiarly significant, are emphatic.

NOTE. When an emphatic word is repeated, the emphasis increases with the repetition. This increase of emphasis is usually expressed by an increase of force on the word repeated, but not always; sometimes the force is even diminished, in order to produce the greatest effect.

EXAMPLES.

1. Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne, a sceptered hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his own originality.

2. The verdant lawn, the shady grove, the variegated landscape, the boundless ocean, and the starry firmament, are contemplated with pleasure by every beholder.

3. Never despair; never be discouraged; however stormy the heavens, however dark the way, however great the difficulty.

Emphatic Words repeated.

1. What! dost thou pause? Is the flame quenched? Dost falter? Hence with thee! Pass on! PASS, while thou mayest!

2. Rouse, ye Romans! ROUSE, ye slaves! Have ye brave sons? 3. He has the heart of a man; of a MAN, I say.

4. By night or by day, this, THIS, was his lay. 5. HUSH! hush! he stirred not,

was he dead?

THE STORY OF THE SIXPENCE.

1. THE other morning a boy, belonging to a very poor family, was returning, with just one sixpence of change, from

QUESTIONS. How may emphasis be divided? What is absolute emphasis? What is the rule for absolute emphasis? What is the note? Read the first example. Which are the emphatic words in it? Read the remaining examples, and point out the em phatic words.