shortened it. They wrote each word by making a certain mark, which became its sign.

This way was found not to be the best. Instead of writing EACH WORD by a mark, for then we would have to write and know EIGHTY THOUSAND MARKS to know all our language, we write only the SOUNDS of which words are made. In this case, we have only to learn the marks for FORTY SOUNDS, for these make up all the words in our language. These marks are called letters.

A letter is the sign of a sound of the human voice; as, a, b, c. When I see a or o, for instance, I think of the sound.

What is a letter?

INSTRUCTION XV.

THE ALPHABET.

WORDS, we have said, are made up of sounds. Thus, the word, man, is made up of the three sounds, m, a, n.

The sounds of which words are made, are written by letters. Thus, the sounds which make up the word, go, are written by the letters, g and o.

All the letters which mark the sounds of which all the words in a language are made up, are brought together and called an alphabet.

Alphabet is a word which we have borrowed from the Greeks. It is the name of all the letters which we use in writing words.

The letters of our alphabet are brought together in a certain order. It is as follows: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, Y, Z.

What is the alphabet

INSTRUCTION XVI.

LETTERS AND SOUNDS.

ALL the words which we use are spoken with FORTY SOUNDS and written with TWENTY-SIX LETTERS.

Some of these sounds are made by opening the mouth and forcing out the air. These are called vowels. A vowel is simple voice; as, a, o. It is formed by opening the mouth.

Some of these sounds are double. These are called diphthongs.

A diphthong is the union of two vowel sounds; as, or in boil. Some of these sounds are made by joining parts of the organ of speech. They are called consonants.

A consonant is a jointed sound. It is formed by joining parts of the mouth together; as, the lips in sounding P; the tongue and teeth in sounding T.

What is a vowel? A diphthong? A consonant?

INSTRUCTION XVII.

A TABLE OF LETTERS AND SOUNDS.

THE letters and sounds may now be brought together in one view, under the heads of VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS and CONSONANTS. They should be studied with great care.

4. a or aw as in water, law. 10. oo as in fool.

5. e as in me.

6. e

as in met.

11. u as in tube.

12. u as in tub.

In looking over this table, it will be seen that there are TWELVE VOWELS, FOUR DIPHTHONGS, and TWENTY-FOUR CONSONANTS. These are all the sounds which we hear in speech. They make up all our words.

Name the vowels. The diphthongs. The consonants. How many of each?

INSTRUCTION XVIII.

THE ENGLISH WORD.

THE words which we speak and write, are called English words. We call them so because we got them from the English-a people who live in England.

The word, ENGLISH, was taken from the name of a tribe of people, called ANGLES. This tribe came over from the

north of Germany and settled in what is now called England, in A. D. 450. (See Lingual Reader.)

What is the name of the words we use? What did the name, English, come from?

INSTRUCTION XIX

SOURCES OF ENGLISH WORDS.

THE words which we use, like the people of our country, have come to us from different sources.

We have borrowed words from all quarters.

We have borrowed from almost every language under heaven. Merchants and travellers have brought us words from all parts of the earth.

We have borrowed words from the Danish. Such are the words, dwell, flap, flabby, gasp.

We have borrowed from the Swedish. Such are the words, hassock, lag.

We have borrowed from the Dutch. Such are the words, belong, blear, blush.

We have borrowed from the German. Such are the words, fresh, boy, booby.

We have borrowed from the Celtic. Such are the words, bun, bug, kick, creak.

We have borrowed from the French. Such are the words, bias, beef, bottle, search.

We have borrowed largely from the Latin. Such are the words, globe, solar, ruby, part.

We have borrowed also from the Greek. Such are the words, sphere, poultice, peg, pirate.

We have borrowed from the Spanish. Such are the words, caste, musquito.

We have borrowed from the Italian. words, solo, stanza, piano, piano-forte.

We have borrowed from the Hebrew.

words, jubilee, cherubim.

Such are the

Such are the

There is another source from which we have got a large part of our words-from the ANGLES and SAXONS, who settled in England A. D. 450. The words from this source form the root of our language.

Name the sources from whence we have borrowed words. What can you say of the Angles and Saxons?

INSTRUCTION XX.

ANGLO-SAXON WORDS.

THE name, Anglo-Saxon, is taken from the names of two German tribes, Angles and Saxons, who settled in England A. D. 450. Their language became the speech of England in A.D. 836. It is our mother-tongue. To make it richer, we have borrowed from time to time from other languages. Some of them are mentioned in the last Instruction.

The ANGLO-SAXON words number about TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND.

1. They are the words of home. Such are the names of father, mother, son, daughter, child, home.

2. They are the words of the heart. Such are the words, love, hope, sorrow.

3. They are the words of every-day life. ox, farm, plough, husband, wife, house, walk.

Such are the words, hearth, cook, eat, sleep,

Such are the names

4. They are the words of the senses. of objects which we know through the senses; as, sun, moon, fire, water.

Whence is the name, Anglo-Saxon? What can you say of Anglo-Saxon words?