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SPECIMENS OF PARSING AND PARAPHRASING.

No. III.

WRITE a paraphrase of the subjoined quotation from Young's "Night Thoughts" employing the three preparatory steps, (as directed in the Appendix to Hunter's" Parsing Exercises,") which are

(a) To parse, syntactically, the words whose relations to other words are least obvious, or are liable to misapprehension. (These are italicised.)

(b) To read, or write, the passage in the simplest order of construction, using the author's own words, and supplying any ellipses occasioned by poetic brevity.

(c) To ascertain the propriety or the force of the principal words, phrases, figures, allusions, &c., which the poet has employed.

ON PROCRASTINATION.

"Be wise to-day: 'tis madness to defer.
Next day the fatal precedent will plead,-
Thus on,-till wisdom is pushed out of life.
Procrastination is the thief of time:
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment, leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears
The palm, that all men are about to live,—
For ever on the brink of being born.
All pay themselves the compliment, to think
They one day shall not drivel; and their pride,
On this reversion, takes up ready praise,-

At least their own,-their future selves applauds."

ANSWERS.

(a) The syntactical parsing is as follows:

Day will; the subject of a verb is a nominative.

Plead precedent; the object of a trans. verb is an objective.
Thus plead; an adverb relates to the word it modifies.

Plead on; an adverb relates, &c.

Steals year; the object of a trans. verb, &c.

All years; an adjective relates to the substantive it qualifies.

Leaves to mercies; a preposition relates its object to an antecedent

term.

This (one) of (man's) mistakes; a preposition relates, &c.
Are for ever; a preposition relates, &c.

Compliment to think; the sign to relates the infinitive to an antecedent expression. See Hunter's "Text-Book of Grammar," p. 132.

Takes on reversion; a preposition relates, &c.

Own possession; an adjective relates, &c.

Pride applauds; a verb agrees in number and person with its nominative.

(b) The construction is as follows:

Be thou wise to-day: it is madness to defer the being wise. Next day will plead the fatal precedent, and will thus plead on, till

wisdom is pushed out of life. Procrastination is the thief of time; it steals year after year, till all our years are fled; and it leaves to the mercies of a moment the vast concerns of an eternal scene.

This one of all man's miraculous mistakes bears the palm, viz. that all men are about to live,-that all men are for ever on the brink of being born. All men pay to themselves the compliment, to think that at one day they shall not drivel; and their pride takes up, on this reversion, ready praise,-which at least is their own,applauds their future selves. (c)Madness," related by antithesis to "wise;" the poet meaning that the delay to become wise is an indication not simply of the absence of wisdom but of positive insanity.-" Next day will plead :" a metaphor, signifying that next day we will be induced to repeat the delay." Wisdom is pushed out of life:" a metaphor, representing wisdom as an object which, instead of being taken hold of and profitably used during our actual life, is kept always in mere prospect, until we are descending into the grave and wisdom is beyond our reach." Thief of time:" an abstract thing personified, signifying that by our delay we defraud ourselves of the true benefit of each successive year." Mercies of a moment:" such mercies of heaven as a moment may allow to be implored or made use of. The words are related by antithesis to "vast concerns" and "eternal scene."-" Miraculous mistakes:" unnatural; as surprising to reason as miracles are." This bears the palm :" this is the most miraculous; this is pre-eminently wonderful; an allusion to the ceremony of carrying the palm-branch as a sign of victory or preeminence." About to live:" now dead in sin, and only purposing to become alive. "For ever on the brink :" always on the point of being born again to newness of spiritual life." To think they shall not drivel :" men compliment themselves by thinking that at some future time they shall cease to be weakly irresolute." Their pride on this reversion, &c. :" a metaphoric allusion to commerce; they so value themselves, (have such reliance on their due fulfilment of this purpose,) that they now take up praise as the present worth of the reversionary payment." At least their own" and this praise at least is theirs in actual possession, though the future opportunity presumed upon may never become so.

The following is a paraphrase:

Let us embrace the present day as the proper opportunity of acting wisely we act madly, in this matter, if we defer till to-morrow what to-day may accomplish; for next day, if we are spared till then, will again present temptations to delay,-temptations strengthened by the fulfilment of our former rash expectation of another day of life; and temptations will thus continue to impose on us, until wisdom, being always repelled into the future, shall reach that point of the future. which is beyond the termination of life. "Procrastination is the thief of time." This habit of postponement deprives us of year after year, till all the years of our pilgrimage are gone, and reserves to our last brief moment the work of settling the vast concerns of our everlasting

state. Of all the unnatural errors which human beings commit, this one is the most wonderful, that the generality of men have not yet entered into life,-into that state which properly constitutes the life of a rational being, but are ever continuing, as in an embryo state, about to be born. Yet men will not see the folly of their own habits of procrastination: on the contrary, they flatter themselves with the thought, that a day will come, when they shall not be found inactive and irresolute; and, in the confident prospect of that issue, they regard the expectation as a kind of reversion, for which they now take ready payment in self-praise, which is one thing at least realized by them: the only benefit they derive from wisdom being thus limited to that present complacency in their future selves, with which they anticipate wisdom's control of their conduct.

QUESTIONS SUITABLE FOR PUPIL TEACHERS AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS OF APPRENTICESHIP.

CLOSE OF FIRST YEAR.

1. PARSE the following:

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GRAMMAR.

"And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer, before all temples, th' upright mind and pure, instruct me, for thou knowest." 2. Write down a sentence in which the infinitive mood is used as the

nominative case.

3. When are words said to agree with one another ?

4. When are words said to govern one another?

ARITHMETIC.

1. Find the rent of apartments for 2 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days, at 371. per annum.

2. Find the price of 73 cwt. 1 qr. 23 lb. at 27. 3s. 7d. per quarter. 3. What is the price of 12 lb. if 4 cwt. 3 qr. 10 lb. cost 307. 9s. 9d.? 4. If the light from the planet Jupiter reaches our earth in three minutes, how long would it be in reaching the newly discovered planet Neptune?

GEOGRAPHY.

1. Write the names of the following towns: Chelmsford, Ipswich, Taunton, Carlisle, Colchester, Bath; and opposite to each town the name of the county in which it is situated.

2. Name the principal rivers in Ireland, describing their course. 3. Trace the course of the Clyde, and write down the names of the Scottish counties which lie to the south of that river.

4. Mention the principal Scottish lakes.

5. Describe accurately the position of the chief mountains in Palestine, 6. Where is the valley of Jehoshaphat?

RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

1. Mention any two events recorded in Scripture as being connected with the river Jordan, the sea of Galilee, Capernaum.

2. Why was the sin of Capernaum in rejecting our Saviour so great? 3. Write out one of the following parables, and explain the religious lesson which it is intended to convey :

"The sower."

"The ten virgins."

"The barren fig tree."

4. Explain the meaning of the words liturgy, litany, epiphany. 5. Mention two prophecies from the Old Testament of the birth of Jesus Christ, and two of his death.

6. What was the date of the Babylonish captivity? What tribes were then carried captive? Did they ever return to their own land?

CLOSE OF SECOND YEAR.

GRAMMAR.

1. Make a table of the plural forms of nouns, and give an account of the exceptional forms.

2. How many kinds of words are there? Give the meaning and etymology of their names.

ARITHMETIC.

1. If 48 men can build a wall in 244 days, how many could do the same in 3 days?

2. Find the value of 816 of £1.

3. Reduce 52 days to the decimal of a year.

4. Required the horse-power to raise 2000 cubic feet of water per hour from a mine whose depth is 180 fathoms.

GEOGRAPHY.

1. Mention some of the principal manufactures of Great Britain. State the names of the places where they are carried on, and describe their position on the map.

2. Describe the situation of the principal dependencies of Great Britain in each of the four quarters of the globe, and distinguish the penal settlements.

3. Give a sketch of the Holy Land, and mark some of the chief places of which mention is made in the New Testament.

4. Define accurately the boundary of Europe on the east.

5. Into how many countries is Europe divided?

6. Name the principal rivers.

7. Which is the most northerly, and which is the most southerly point of Europe?

RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

1. How long were the Israelites in bondage in Egypt?

66

2. Prove from the Bible that "the Father is God," the Son is God," and "the Holy Ghost is God."

Correspondence.

(The Editor begs to state distinctly that he is not answerable for the opinions of his Correspondents.)

BEES AND THEIR HIVES.

No. I.

SIR,-In your August number you expressed a desire for some communications on the subject of bees. I had hoped that some experienced bee-keeper would have sent you a useful paper, but as no such paper has yet appeared, I am tempted to try whether a little experience, a good deal of trouble to find out different plans, and a strong love of the subject, may not enable me to supply what you require. My remarks will be wholly practical.

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The atrocious old system of murdering bees with sulphur in autumn I dismiss at once, as too detestable to enter into the head of a schoolmaster. This subject too has been settled for ever by Mr. Cotton's letter to cottagers, printed for "the Society," price 3d. If the schoolmaster can afford it he should however get My Bee Book," by the same author, which contains a variety of entertaining matter; indeed it is a most delightful book. The other books on the subject which I should recommend are "Taylor's Bee-keepers' Manual," and "Payne's Bee-keepers' Guide."

In May and June every one knows bees swarm. They do so because the hive is too small and too hot. When a sufficient number of hives has been once established, it is much the best plan to prevent swarming altogether. This is done by giving more room and more air. Room is given either at the top, bottom, or sides of the hive. As far as I can make out, the first is the best in a moderately good honey district, the last in a very good one.

I will suppose that one of your readers wishes to set up a hive next spring. Now is the very time to prepare a hive, and in this letter I propose to put him in the way of beginning on the storifying plan. I fear I shall not be able to explain myself well without the aid of a diagram.

Let him order, at the basket-maker's, a straw hive, 9 inches deep, 12 in diameter, with as flat a top as possible. In the top must be fixed a large piece of wood, with a large hole in it, say an inch and a half or two inches, or, instead, two rather smaller holes. A piece of glass, about 3 inches high and 4 or 5 in length, must be let into the side, about 3 inches from the bottom. This window must be darkened when the bees are hived. No entrance must be made. This hive will cost 2s. or 2s. 6d. The whole must be well painted outside, and the smell of paint must have been got rid of before the bees are hived into it.

The next thing is the bottom board. This any one who can handle tools, however clumsily, can make for himself, as well as the best carpenter. It must be made of inch stuff, and be about 15 inches square. A groove, 4 or 5 inches wide, must be made from one edge, sloping upwards about the same length, so that when the hive is placed upon it there may be a passage under the hive for the bees, At the place

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