noun? What is an abstract noun ? State three ways in which abstract nouns are formed, and illustrate by examples.

What is meant by inflection? To what do the inflections of nouns relate?

How do most nouns form the plural? Mention other ways in which nouns form their plurals, and illustrate by example.

Give the plural of watch, piano, potato, donkey, lily, loaf, roof, tooth, ox, sheep.

Distinguish between the meaning of brothers and brethren; fishes and fish; indexes and indices; pennies and pence.

State three ways in which compound nouns form the plural, and illustrate by examples.

Give the plural of larva, alumnus, axis, beau, bandit, seraph. Why do these nouns not form their plurals in the usual way?

What is gender? How many genders are there, and what does each denote? Mention three ways in which the gender of nouns is distinguished.

Give the feminine nouns corresponding to the nouns hart, monk, nephew, host, master, governor, executor, hero, man-servant.

Tell the gender of the nouns woman, heiress, landlord, doe, waitress, czar, administratrix, guest, friend, witness, cousin, sun, wind, table, house.

How many cases have nouns? What determines the case of a noun? Which case has a special form? How is the possessive case of nouns formed? How is the possessive formed in compound words and phrases? How may possession be indicated without the possessive form? When is this way preferable?

Point out the nouns in these sentences, tell how each is used, and

name its case:

I. He was shown into the king's presence.

2. He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat.

3. Cultivate the habit of attention.

4. The children clustered round Grandfather's chair.

5. Where did the officer stand?

6. The people's confidence in their commander was unshaken.

7. We visited Washington's headquarters.

8. A fisherman hastened along the beach.

9. She heard the tramp of horses' hoofs and the rattling of wheels.

10. The village master taught his little school.

LESSON XXIII.

THE PARAGRAPH.

THE BUSY BEE.

Let us watch the bees as they pass to and fro from their hive. First of all we see some half-dozen around the door. They are there to warn off intruders. If we approach too near the front of the hive, one of these sentries will dash forward with an angry buzz; and, if we do not wisely take the hint, the brave little soldier will soon return with help from the guard-room to enforce the command.

There are three substances required in the hive, pollen, or bee-bread, the food of the young bees; wax to make the combs; and honey for the support of the community. The bees that are passing and repassing the sentries are not all laden alike. Some of them have little yellow or red tufts on their legs, others have none. But all that return are laden. Those with tufts on

their legs have been collecting pollen from flowers. The honeygatherers and the wax-gatherers carry their stores in their throats.

To understand how the pollen is carried, we should examine a bee's hind leg with a microscope. The upper joint is flattened, and its edges are surrounded with stiff hairs, which form a sort of basket. When the bee enters a flower, it takes a plunge into the pollen. The pollen is brushed down into the little basket, till a good-sized ball is formed. If the bee cannot complete its load in one flower, it will always seek out another of the same kind. It will not mix the pollen of two different kinds of flowers.

The honey-gatherers and the wax-gatherers draw in the sweet juices from flowers by their trunks. The trunk serves as a mouth and a pump. The liquid passes through this into the throat, and is thus carried to the hive.

Adapted from Good Words for the Young.

What do we first see around the door of the hive? What do these bees do? Why are they called sentries? What is an intruder?

What three substances are required in the hive? What is pollen? What is meant by the community? What are the bees that are passing and repassing the sentries doing?

Describe a bee's hind leg. How does a bee collect pollen?

How do the honey-gatherers and the wax-gatherers collect their stores?

Into how many parts is this selection divided?

The different parts into which a prose composition is divided are called paragraphs.

State the number of paragraphs in this piece, and tell what each is about.

WRITTEN EXERCISE.

Write from memory what you have learned about the Bees.

Tell

I. What bees are first seen around a hive.

2. What three substances are required in the hive, and the use of each.

3. How a bee collects pollen and carries it to the hive.

4. How the honey-gatherers and the wax-gatherers collect their stores.

Write in paragraphs, making one paragraph for each heading above.

Leave a margin half an inch wide at the left of your paper. Leave a space half an inch long at the beginning of the first line in every paragraph.

I to Sure.

LESSON XXIV.

COMPOSITION.

Write about some article that is prepared for market near your

State, so far as you know, the different steps taken in the process of cultivation or manufacture, and tell in what form and in what way the article is taken to market.

LESSON XXV.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

Mention the pronouns in the following sentences, and tell which denote the person speaking, which the person spoken to, and which the person or thing spoken of:

1. I met a little cottage girl;

She was eight years old, she said.

2. You will be surprised when you read the report. 3. He requested that we should be present. 4. Buy the truth, and sell it not.

A pronoun that shows by its form whether the person speaking is meant, the person spoken to, or the person or thing spoken of, is called a personal pronoun.

A pronoun that denotes the person speaking is said to be in the first person; as, I, we.

A pronoun that denotes a person spoken to is said to be in the second person; as, thou, ye, you.

A pronoun that denotes a person or a thing spoken of is said to be in the third person; as, he, she, it, they.