HAND-BOOK

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ANGLO-SAXON ROOT-WORDS.

INSTRUCTION I.

A WORD.

THE lips move when we speak. Something passes from them, and falls upon the ear. It is called a word. A word is that which passes from the lips.

It has another meaning now. A WORD IS THE SIGN OF A THING. I speak, for instance, the word, rose, and it is a sign to you of what I mean. You see and smell that sweet flower

What is a word? Give an instance.

INSTRUCTION II.

THE SPOKEN WORD.

SPEECH is a rich gift, and is shared alone by man. It is the power to think and feel aloud. It gives us the spoken word.

The spoken word is a sound used as the sign of a thing. If I say book, for instance, you hear a 'spoken word. It is a sound, and is used as the sign of a certain thing-a book.

What is a spoken word? Give an instance.

INSTRUCTION III.

HEARING.

THE spoken word comes to the ear. Without hearing, it comes in vain. There is no sound.

We could make none ourselves: we could not hear what others make.

Hearing is one of the five senses. It gives us a knowledge of sounds. As such, we should use it thoughtfully when we speak ourselves, or listen to others.

What is hearing? What do we learn from it?

INSTRUCTION IV.

SPEECH.

SPEECH is a wonderful gift. It is shared alone by man, and gives us the spoken word. It does so when guided by the ear.

Speech is the power of making known what we wish in sounds. It breaks up the silence of the heart. We think and feel aloud.

What is speech?

INSTRUCTION V.

THE ORGAN OF SPEECH.

THE word, organ, is the same as an instrument, or tool. The hand is an organ: so is the eye.

The organ of speech is that instrument by which the soul thinks and feels aloud. It is made up of the lungs, windpipe, larynx, tongue, teeth, palate, and lips.

What is the organ of speech? What are its parts ?

INSTRUCTION VI.

WRITING.

THE child is not content to be able to speak what he thinks and feels. He wishes to write his thoughts. The pencil is used almost as soon as the tongue.

The word, writing, means smearing, as with wax. In olden times, people covered boards with wax, and wrote upon it with a steel pen. It means more now.

Writing is the art or practice of making letters with a pen or pencil. It gives us the written word.

What is writing? What did the word at first mean?

INSTRUCTION VII.

THE WRITTEN WORD.

THE spoken word passes away. We wish to keep it, and find out that sound can be written.

The written word is one or more letters or marks, used as the sign of a spoken word. If I write the word, buzz, for instance, I think of the sound, buzz, and then of the insect or whatever makes it.

What is a written word?

INSTRUCTION VIII.

SEEING.

THE written word is brought to the eye. Without seeing, it would be brought in vain.

Seeing is one of the five senses. It gives us a knowledge. of the color and forms of things. As such, it is useful when we make written words, or read those made by others.

What is seeing? What do we learn from it?

INSTRUCTION IX.

TOUCH.

THE eye could never give us a written word, if left to itself. It needs the help of touch.

Touch

Touch is one of the five senses. Among many things which it gives us, form is only pointed out here. gives us form.

What is touch? What do we learn from it?

INSTRUCTION X.

THE HAND.

THE eye and touch could not give us a written word without the hand. As the ear and speech needed the organ of speech to form a spoken word, so the eye and touch need the hand to form the written word.

The hand is the organ or instrument by which the soul gives shape to things, thinks and feels so as to be seen. By the hand, the written word has its shape, and becomes a sign of what we think or feel.

What is the hand?

INSTRUCTION XI.

THE PICTURE.

THE picture was the first way in which men wrote their words. If they wished to write the words, horse and man, they drew a picture of them. So children begin to write.

A picture is a likeness of a thing drawn on a flat surface. The picture, as a kind of writing, meant two things: 1. It was the likeness of the thing. 2. It was the sign of its

name.

What was the first kind of writing? What is a picture? What did it mean as a kind of writing?

INSTRUCTION XII.

THE SYMBOL.

THE picture was a slow way of writing a word. It took up too much time. Men wished to shorten the time and lessen the labor. The picture was changed into a symbol. Instead of drawing a picture of a siege, a scaling-ladder only was drawn: instead of drawing a king in royal dress, an eye and sceptre were drawn.

A symbol is a part, instrument or some likeness of a thing. Feet in water was the symbol of a fuller: an arm with a whip was the symbol of a charioteer, and a fly of impudence. The symbol, as a kind of writing, was a double sign: 1. A sign of the thing; 2. A sign of its name.

What is a symbol? What is it as a kind of writing ?

INSTRUCTION XIV.

THE LETTER.

THE symbol, like the picture, was found to be a slow way of writing. It took up too much time. The Chinese