to its edges; and have you not, in obedience to a kind feeling that told you it had been lying there long enough, insinuated your stick or your foot or your fingers under its edge, and turned it over as a housewife turns a cake, when she says to herself, "It's done brown enough by this time"? But no sooner is the stone turned and the wholesome light of day let upon this compressed and blinded community of creeping things than all of them which enjoy the luxury of legs-and some of them have a good many-rush round wildly, butting each other and everything in their way, and end in a general stampede for underground retreats from the region poisoned by sunshine. Next year you will find the grass growing tall and green where the stone lay; the ground-bird builds her nest where the beetle had his hole; the dandelion and the buttercup are growing there, and the broad fans of insect-angels open and shut over their golden disks, as the rhythmic waves of blissful consciousness pulsate through their glorified being.-Holmes.

There is a different and sterner path ;-I know not whether there be any now qualified to tread it; I am not sure that even one has ever followed it implicitly, in view of the certain meagerness of its temporal rewards, and the haste wherewith any fame acquired in a sphere so thoroughly ephemeral as the Editor's must be shrouded by the dark waters of oblivion. This path demands an ear ever open to the plaints of the wronged and the suffering, though they can never repay advocacy, and those who mainly support newspapers will be annoyed and often exposed by it; a heart as sensitive to oppression and degradation in the next street as if they were practised in Brazil or Japan; a pen as ready to expose and reprove the crimes whereby wealth is amassed and luxury enjoyed in our own country at this hour as if they had been committed only by Turks or Pagans in Asia some centuries ago. -Greeley.

To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid beside each cup, and the company alternately nibbled and sipped with great decorum, until an improvement was introduced by a shrewd and economical old lady, which was to suspend a large lump directly over the tea-table, by a string from the ceiling, so that it could be swung from mouth to mouth-an ingenious expedient, which is still kept up by some families in Albany, but which prevails without exception in Communipaw, Bergen, Flatbush, and all our uncontaminated Dutch villages.—Irving.

COMPOSITION.

LESSON 146.

SUMMARY OF RULES FOR CAPITAL
LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION.

CAPITAL LETTERS, TERMINAL MARKS, AND THE COMMA. Capital Letters.-The first word of (1) a sentence, (2) a line of poetry, (3) a direct quotation making complete sense or a direct question introduced into a sentence, and (4) phrases or clauses separately numbered or paragraphed should begin with a capital letter. Begin with a capital letter (5) proper names and words derived from them, (6) names of things personified, and (7) most abbreviations. Write in capital letters (8) the words I and O, and (9) numbers in the Roman notation.

Period.-Place a period after (1) a declarative or an imperative sentence, (2) an abbreviation, and (3) a number written in the Roman notation.

Interrogation Point.-Every direct interrogative sentence or clause should be followed by an interrogation point. Exclamation Point.-All exclamatory expressions must be followed by the exclamation point.

Comma.-Set off by the comma (1) a phrase out of its natural order or not closely connected with the word it modifies; (2) an explanatory modifier which does not restrict the modified term or combine closely with it; (3) a participle used as an adjective modifier, with the words belonging to

it, unless restrictive; (4) the adjective clause, when not restrictive; (5) the adverb clause, unless it closely follows and restricts the word it modifies; (6) a word or phrase independent or nearly so; (7) a direct quotation introduced into a sentence, unless formally introduced; (8) a noun clause used as an attribute complement; and (9) a term connected to another by or and having the same meaning. Separate by the comma (10) connected words and phrases, unless all the conjunctions are expressed; (11) co-ordinate clauses, when short and closely connected; and (12) the parts of a compound predicate, and other phrases, when long or differently modified. Use (13) the comma when it is needed to prevent ambiguity.

Direction.-Give the Rule for each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences, except the colon, the semicolon, and the quotation marks:

1. Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III., three sons of Catherine de Medici and Henry II., sat upon the French throne. 2. The pupil asked, "When shall I use O, and when shall I use oh?" 3. Purity of style forbids us to use: 1. Foreign words; 2. Obsolete words; 3. Low words, or slang. 4. It is easy, Mistress Dial, for you, who have always, as everybody knows, set yourself up above me, to accuse one of laziness. 5. He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. 6. The Holy Land was, indeed, among the early conquests of the Saracens, Caliph Omar having, in 637 A. D., taken Jerusalem. 7. The first maxim among philosophers, and men of sense everywhere is, that merit only, should make distinctions.

8. No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet

To chase the glowing hours with flying feet!

Direction.-Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sen tences, and give your reasons :

1. and lo from the assembled crowd

there rose a shout prolonged and loud

that to the ocean seemed to say

take her o bridegroom old and gray

2. a large rough mantle of sheepskin fastened around the loins by a girdle or belt of hide was the only covering of that strange solitary

man elijah the tishbite 3. the result however of the three years' reign or tyranny of jas ii was that wm of orange came over from holland and without shedding a drop of blood became a d 1688 wm iii of england 4. o has three sounds: 1. that in not; 2. that in note; 3. that in move 5. lowell asks and what is so rare as a day in june 6. spring is a fickle mistress but summer is more staid 7. if i may judge by his gorgeous colors and the exquisite sweetness and variety of his music autumn is i should say the poet of the family

LESSON 147.

SUMMARY OF

RULES-CONTINUED.

SEMICOLON AND COLON.

Semicolon.-Co-ordinate clauses (1) when slightly connected, or (2) when themselves divided by the comma, must be separated by the semicolon. Use the semicolon (3) between phrases or clauses having a common dependence on something which precedes or follows; and (4) before as, viz., to wit, namely, i. e., and that is, when they introduce examples or illustrations.

Direction.-Justify each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these

sentences:

1. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. 2. Some words are delightful to the ear; as, Ontario, golden, oriole. 3. The shouts of revelry had died away; the roar of the lion had ceased; the last loiterer had retired from the banquet; and the lights in the palace of the victor were extinguished. 4. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill; and the very walls will cry out in its support.

Direction.-Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons :

1. all parts of a plant reduce to three namely root stem and leaf

2. when the world is dark with tempests when thunder rolls and lightning flies thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds and laughest at the storm 3. the oaks of the mountains fall the mountains themselves decay with years the ocean shrinks and grows again the moon herself 1 is lost in heaven 4. kennedy taking from her a handkerchief edged with gold pinned it over her eyes the executioners holding her by the arms led her to the block and the queen kneeling down said repeatedly with a firm voice into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit

Colon.-Use the colon (1) between the parts of a sentence when these parts are themselves divided by the semicolon, and (2) before a quotation or an enumeration of particulars when formally introduced.

Direction. Justify each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences:

1. You may swell every expense, and strain every effort, still more extravagantly; accumulate every assistance you can beg and borrow; traffic and barter with every little, pitiful German prince that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign country: your' efforts are forever vain and impotent. 2. This is a precept of Socrates : "Know thyself."

Direction.-Use capital letters and the proper marks of punctuation in these sentences, and give your reasons:

1. the advice given ran thus take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves 2. we may abound in meetings and movements enthusiastic gatherings in the field and forest may kindle all minds with a common sentiment but it is all in vain if men do not retire from the tumult to the silent culture of every right disposition Direction.-Write sentences illustrating the several uses of the semicolon, the colon, and the comma.

LESSON 148.

'SUMMARY OF RULES-CONTINUED.

THE DASH, MARKS OF PARENTHESIS, APOSTROPHE, HYPHEN, QUO, TATION MARKS, AND BRACKETS.

Dash.-Use the dash where there is an omission (1) of