but not perfect; a few faults still remained, which her master pointed out to her.

10. Ann concluded she never could do them better; and, as he insisted she could not proceed, till she made herself mistress of the trifles he objected to, she determined to give up all thoughts of drawing figure, and apply herself entirely to landscape.

11. She was delighted with this new employment,-"her master had the sweetest drawings of trees, cottages, and rivers, that had ever been seen! She should never be tired of copying such beautiful things, and she was sure that she should not meet with half the difficulties which were to be found in drawing figure."

12. She made outlines of several trees, and, had she but been possessed of perseverance enough to have perfected herself in that part before she attempted to go further, all would have been easy and pleasant. But Ann knew nothing of perseverance or patience, and insisted on having a finished landscape to do immediately.

13. The master, to show her how incapable she was of executing such a thing, indulged her in her fancy; but when he endeavored to explain to her the nature of perspective," light and shadow, and several other rules necessary for her to understand, Ann dropped the pencil from her fingers.

14. She had not perfectly comprehended his meaning, and wanting resolution to question him, and endeavor to make it clearer, once more concluded that she never should be able to make anything of it, and that it would be much more prudent to turn to some other pursuit.

15. Accordingly the drawing-master was dismissed, and all the money her mother had paid him for his attendance, for quantities of paper, pencils, chalk, and the loss of her own precious time, were thrown away to no purpose.

NOTE. ―a a Perspec'tive; the art of copying the appearance of objects, as seen from a certain point.

16. But Ann did not mean to stop here; "she could do very well without drawing," she said, "and she would give all the time she had intended to employ in that way entirely to music, and had no doubt but that, by the time she was sixteen, she should be quite a proficient."

17. She was very sorry she had so long neglected her piano, and requested of her master that he would bring her some better music, than the simple, easy lessons she had been playing; assuring him that she intended to apply herself to it very seriously.

18. But, alas! she had no better success in this, than in her drawing. Difficulties obtruded themselves, whatever she turned to; and when she quitted the piano for the harp, and the harp for the piano, she found herself just in the same predicament.

19. The music was given up for the French and Italian languages, geography, and botany, all of which ended in the same way. Nothing was to be learned without a sufficient stock of perseverance and resolution to surmount the obstacles which lay in the way.

20. As the smallest difficulty was quite enough to stop Ann's progress, it is not to be wondered at that, at the age of sixteen, she understood no branch of learning perfectly; although enough had been expended upon her education to make a comfortable independence for most persons.

21. At twenty she had but too much cause to repent of her folly. Her mother, by unforeseen events, had lost the greater part of her fortune, and was obliged to retire into a remote part of the country; and in that lonely place, what a comfort and amusement would she have found in music or drawing,

NOTES. The harp is a musical instrument of triangular shape, and the strings are extended in parallel directions, from the upper part to one of the sides. It is very ancient in its origin, and was known even to the Egyptians. b The piano, or piano-forte, was invented by a German named Christian Gottlieb Schröder, about the year 1745. It is regarded as one of the most important instruments in musical entertainments.

had she but endeavored, when she had so good an opportunity to perfect herself in either!

22. But she had nothing to do, no means of employing herself agreeably, but spent her time in loitering about from one window to another, tired of herself, and tiring everybody who saw her.

QUESTIONS. 1. Who was Mrs. Thompson? 1. What is said of London? 2. What is said of the grandeur of Mrs. Thompson's house? 4. What was her daughter's name? 6. How did Ann wish to become accomplished? 7. What was sufficient to put a stop to her progress in anything? 10. Why did she conclude to give up draw. ing figure? 13. What is meant by perspective? 14. How did she succeed in draw. ing landscape? 16. What did Ann next resolve to do? 18. Did she become skillful in music? 18. What is a harp? 18. When and by whom was the piano invented? 20. What were her attainments, at the age of sixteen? Why did not Ann become accomplished? What moral may be learned from this piece ?

LESSON II.

Spell and Define.

1. Straw ber-ries, plants and their fruit. | 17. Con'science, sense of right and wrong.

2. A-maze'ment, astonishment.

4. Wrap'ped, inclosed, absorbed.

7. Ac-custom-ed, habituated.

9. False hood, an untruth, a lie.

12 Thought'ful, considerate, reflecting.

20. En-cour'a-ging, inciting, emboldening. 23. Per-suad'ed, induced by argument. 26. Vi'o-la-ting, profaning, desecrating. 28. Pick'ed, pulled off with the fingers. 28. Dis-o-be'di-ent, refusing to obey.

ERRORS.1. Be-yend' for be-yond'; 1. mead'er for mead'ow; 4. wrop'ped for wrapped; 8. doos for does; 16. git'ting for get'ting; 20. ruth'er for rath'er; 21. paps for per-haps'; 28. dis-o-be'je-ent for dis-o-be'di-ent; 28. strab'ber-ries for straw'ber-ries.

ONLY ONCE.

J. ALDEN.

[ Before reading this and the following dialogues, let the pupil study the characters of the speakers, agreeably to the rule in Exercise V., p. 79.]

1. "COME, let us go and get some strawberries," said John to Henry, who had come to spend the afternoon of a fine June day with him; "thr are oceans of them over there in the field beyond the meadow."

a

NOTE. -a June; the sixth month in the year, supposed to be so called in honor of the goddess Juno.

"The

2. "Oceans of them!" said Henry, in amazement. ocean is a great way off," continued he, as though he was speaking to himself.

3. "I know it is," said John, "but the strawberries are not; so come on."

4. Henry stood still, as if wrapped in thought.

5. "What are you thinking about?" said John, noticing his perplexed looks.

6. "No matter," said Henry. His countenance cleared up as he said this, and he began to follow his friend. The truth was, it took Henry some time to find out what John meant when he said there were oceans of strawberries.

7. He had been away from home but very little, and there he was accustomed to hear his parents say just what they meant, and he was taught to do the same; and he did not know but that other boys were taught in the same manner. He thought everybody meant what they said, and hence he was puzzled to understand John's extravagant language.

8. It is a great deal better not to form the habit of using extravagant language. Does any one ask what hurt it does to speak in that manner, when it is known you do not mean to lie? I answer to this question, that it does not do any good to speak in this manner, and it leads to evil.

9. It will be very apt to lead one into habits of falsehood. Saying things that are not true, with no intention to deceive, will lead one to say things that are not true, with the intention to deceive. We ought at all times to speak the truth.

10. A fine meadow lay between the house before which the boys were standing, and the pasture-field which contained the strawberries. The grass had grown nearly high enough to be mowed, and would, therefore, be injured by any person passing through it.

11. John's father had told him that he must not go through any more, but go round it, when he wished to go for strawberries. It was a little further round.

it

12. When John said to Henry, "Come on," he began to climb the fence to get over into the meadow. Henry was a thoughtful boy, and asked him if his father would like to have him go through the grass?

13. "He told me not to, but I will go through this once only," said John.

14. "I would not, if my father had told me not to," said Henry.

15. "Why, it will not do any hurt to go through once, only once."

16. "It will be disobeying your father, and that is enough. If the Lord makes strawberries grow for us, I think we ought not to disobey him while we are getting them. Come, it is but a little way round."

17. Thus urged, John got down from the fence, and went round with Henry. He did well in following the good advice of his friend, and the dictates of his conscience; for Henry's words had taken hold of his conscience.

18. This "only once" is a cause of a great deal of mischief in this world. When a person resolves to do what he knows to be wrong only once, he cannot tell how many times he will do it.

19. The way that Satan gets men entirely in his power, is by tempting them to do some sinful act only once. He knows it will be easier to get them to do it a second time, and so on, till they are led captive by him at his will.

20. It was well for John that he had a friend who tried to lead him to do right, instead of encouraging him to do wrong. In choosing friends and companions, choose such as will keep you back from sin, rather than lead you into it.

21. If Henry had followed John when he said "Come on," or had urged him to go through the meadow, John would have disobeyed his father, would have offended God, and perhaps have laid the foundation for his ruin. Be sure that you always keep your friends back from evil, if you can.