Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

forms of expression, both spoken and written, which cannot be reduced to its general rules. Our language abounds in them. Some of them are the freshest, raciest and strongest utterances which we have. We can not afford to lose them. They are refractory subjects,

rebels if you will; but far better is it to let them hold their place in the language just as they are, than to encounter the inevitable losses and unseemly botchings which must follow upon any attempt to redeem them to grammatical and syntactical rules. Such anomalies in language are technically called idioms, and with more restriction Idiotisms.

Of these anomalous forms which have been always in use in our language one example is met with in such phrases as these, "the ship is loading," "the house is building," where the form is supposed to be active, but the meaning passive. It has been attempted, (and I think now with more success than ever before,) to reduce this to the regular forms of verbal inflection by saying, "the ship is being loaded," "the house is being built." It is not denied that this form may be used; nor that it has the appearance of greater regularity. The objection to it stands on two grounds. First, the advocates of this innovation insist upon its adoption as a substitute to the entire exclusion of an older and stronger form of speech; and thus threaten both to weaken the language and break its historic continuity. Secondly, it is in most cases a feeble form of expression; and when attempted to be carried through all the moods and tenses, must introduce many clumsy and ungraceful combinations of words; for to follow out the principle we must go on and say, "the ship has been being loaded," "would have been being loaded," "will be being loaded," and the like. We thus introduce a host of grammatical abominations with sore loss to the language both in strength and grace. Take the old form, "the ship will be loading to-morrow," and compare it with the new, "the ship will be being loaded to-morrow." Can any man of scholarly taste hesitate for a moment in choosing between them?

[ocr errors]

Should it still be insisted that this anomaly must be made to conform to grammatical rules, perhaps the demand will be sufficiently answered, if we say that in the phrase under discussion, "building is not a verbal inflection, but a gerundial noun taking the preposition "in" before it. In this way king James' translators of the Bible use it: "Forty and six years was this temple in building." We have only to suppose these phrases elliptical, and to supply "in," "in

course of," "in process of," and all the grammatical difficulty vanishes. at once. In fact does not the proposed correction require the same grammatical treatment? If we say, "the house is being built," how shall we parse it? Clearly, "being built" is not a verbal inflection to be joined with "us," thus making a passive verb. Have we not here as before to supply the ellipsis, and make out the grammar by saying, "the house is in course of being built?" If, however, in the phrases under consideration we regard "building" and "being built" simply as participals; still, we think, the preference is clearly to be given to the former on the ground of being stronger and more graceful, and of having the advantage of long-settled usage in its favor. In the "usses loquendi" of the classic languages, there is abundant authority for attributing a passive sense to an active form, and vice versa. In Latin the former supine is commonly used in an active, and the latter in a passive sense, but sometimes the contrary. In Virgil, "facilem virtu," is construed by writers both actively and passively. Several Greek verbs give us active forms with a passive sense. In English a riding-horse is a horse to be ridden. “He was denied admittance," "He was refused a hearing," are utterances supported by the best authority; and yet they ascribe an active force to a passive form. On these grounds, therefore, notwithstanding its confessed deviation from the general rule, we cling fast to the good old English usage, and say "the house is building"; while we are disposed to accord no more than an unwelcome toleration to its usurping rival.

THE JOLLY OLD PEDAGOGUE.

'Twas a jolly old pedagogue, long ago,
Tall and slender and sallow and dry;
His form was bent and his gait was slow,
His long thin hair was as white as snow,

But a wonderful twinkle shown in his eye;
And he sung every night as he went to bed,
"Let us be happy down here below;
The living should live, tho' the dead be dead,”
Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

He taught his scholars the rule of three,
Writing, and reading, and history, too;

He took the little ones up on his knee,
For a kind old heart in his breast had he,

And the wants of the littlest child he knew; "Learn while you are young," he often said, "There's much to enjoy, down here below; Life for the living, and rest for the dead," Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

With the stupidest boys he was kind and cool,
Speaking only in gentlest tones;

The rod was hardly known in his school;
Whipping to him, was a barbarous rule,

And two hard work for his poor old bones; Besides, it was painful, he sometimes said,

"We should make life pleasant here below; The living need charity more than the dead," Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

He lived in the house by the hawthorn lane,
With roses and woodbine over the door;
His rooms were quiet, and neat and plain,
But a spirit of comfort there held reign

And made him forget he was old and poor; "I need so little," he often said;

"And my friends and relatives here below Won't litigate over me when I am dead," Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

But the pleasantest times that he had, of all,
Were the sociable hours he used to pass
With his chair tipped back to a neighbor's wall,
Making an unceremonious call,

Over a pipe and a friendly glass;
This was the finest pleasure, he said,
Of the many he tasted, here below;
"Who has no cronies, had better be dead,"
Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

Then the jolly old pedagogue's wrinkled face
Melted all over in sunshiny smiles;
He stirred his glass with an old school grace,
Chuckled, and sipped, and pratted apace,

Till the house grew merry from cellar to tiles. "I'm a pretty old man," he gently said;

"I have lingered a long time, here below; But my heart is fresh, if my youth is dead," Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

He smoked his pipe in the balmy air

Every night when the sun went down,
While the soft wind played in his silvery hair,
Leaving its tenderest kisses there

On the jolly old pedagogue's jolly old crown,
And feeling the kisses, he smiled and said

'Twas a glorious world down here below;
"Why wait for happiness till we are dead?"
Said the jolly old pedagogue, long ago.

He sat at his door one midsummer night,
After the sun had sunk in the west,
And the lingering beams of golden light
Made his kindly old face look warm and bright,
While the odorous night wind whispered "rest!
Gently, gently he bowed his head;

There were angels waiting for him, I know;
He was sure of his happiness, living or dead,
This jolly old pedagogue, long ago!

[Continued from page 181, September Number.]

From the American Educational Monthly.

HOW SHALL WE TEACH GEOGRAPHY ?

II. The Industries of the Locality.-The lessons on the physical geography of the locality would be followed by lessons on the industries of its people, thus presenting a simple idea of the conditions of civilized life. The following lesson will serve to suggest the proper manner of carrying on these conversations.

Teacher. We have now had a number of lessons in which we have been learning about the lands, and the waters, the plants, and animals around us. Can you remember anything which we see every day and many times in the day which we have not yet talked

about.

Children. Houses, fences, roads, etc.

T. You have none of you named what I was thinking of, but I think you will find it soon. What are houses for? Children. For people to live in.

James. We havn't talked about people yet!

T. That is just what I want to talk about to-day. Why don't people live in the fields like the horses and cattle, or in the woods like the birds and animals?

Chas. They would be out in all the storms and cold, and maybe they would get sick.

Fanny. They wouldn't have any place to keep their clothes, and their food, books, and other things in, and they would all be spoiled.

T. Now can any one tell me why people build houses to live in? John. (After thinking a moment.) To shelter them from the storms and cold, and keep their goods safe.

T. We have now found that people need shelter, and therefore they build houses. Do we need anything besides shelter? Suppose you each had a large fine house to shelter you and had nothing in the world else. Do you think you would be very comfortable?

Chas. We should starve if we did not have something to eat.
Susan. We would want clothes to wear.

Fanny. We would want beds to sleep in.

Children. And tables, and chairs, and dishes.

T. Let us talk about the food first. Where does our food come from?

James. Father raises corn, and wheat, and potatoes, in the summer; and in the winter he fattens hogs and kills them for pork, and sometimes he kills a cow for beef, and sometimes a sheep for mutton. T. Where does your father get the hogs, and cows, and sheep? James. He raises them on the farm,

T. What do you mean by the farm?

James. I mean father's land, where he raises his crops, and his cattle, and sheep, and horses, and pigs.

T. That is very well. Now can some one tell me what people are called who, like James's father, have farms, and spend their time taking care of them and raising things upon them, and what their work is called?

Chas. They are farmers, and such work is called farming.

T. Then it is by farming that the farmers get their food. You said we wanted clothing too. How are the farmers to get that? Susan. Mother spins wool and makes it into clothes.

T. But are the clothes we wear on a hot summer day like this, made of wool?

Mary. No, they are cotton.

T. Where does your mother get the cotton cloth.

Mary. She buys it at the store with butter and eggs.

« AnteriorContinuar »