Mrs. Harley. Come hither my dear Anne. Your smiling countenance tells me I may give you a story, so take the book and let us hear the

History of an Orphan.

One fine autumnal morning in the year 1789, John and Cicely Wortham, with their little son Robert, began a long journey into the North of England. They had hitherto resided at a small village near Abergavenny in South Wales, and there they would most probably have ended their days, had not John been informed of the death of a distant relation at Durham, to whose property he knew himself to be the rightful heir, though to secure it, he found it necessary to repair thither. Having, therefore, disposed of his Welsh hut, and converted all his furniture into money, he removed to London, and after spending a few days there, secured places on the outside of a stage-coach, which was to convey him with his family about half way on their journey.

Their conversation chiefly turned on the friends they had left, and the hopes of finding as kind ones in the country whither they were going. Robert was too young to be interested in either the hopes or fears of his parents; at the age of six months he slept as comfortably on his mother's red cloak as if he had been placed on a bed of down.

Towards the close of their second day's journey the sky began to darken, and a violent storm of hail and rain completely penetrated the cloaths of our poor travellers. However, as they had been always accustomed to the inclemency of the weather they did not much mind it, and Cicely, who was an excellent mother, took care to prevent her boy from feeling any inconvenience. In this manner they proceeded for several miles, till at length a large stone in the winding of the road overturned the carriage and dashed all the outside passengers with violence to the ground. Poor Cicely was killed on the spot; John had his leg and three of his ribs broken, but little Robert escaped unhurt. This unfortunate family were carried to a neighbouring farm-house, a surgeon was sent for who set John's leg, but all attempts to recover Cicely were fruitless, a stronger and more powerful hand than that of the surgeon had for ever closed her eyes! The melancholy intelligence was for some hours concealed from her husband, but at length he enquired for his wife, and soon discovered in the mournful countenances of those around him that she was no more. This fatal news, together with the pain of his leg and side, so agitated his mind, that his fever increased to a very alarming degree; and the third day from that on which the accident happened, poor John Wortham lay a lifeless corpse by the side of his beloved Cicely.

The humane farmer into whose house they had been carried when the coach overset, ordered them to be decently buried. Little Robert attended at their funeral, but was quite unconscious of his loss, though he sadly cried for that nourishment he would never more receive from the breast of a mother.

When the undertaker's bill and other expences were paid, farmer Hodson found that no more than six guineas remained for the young orphan. The trunks and pockets of his parents were carefully searched, but no paper appeared that gave the least information either of the name or residence of the unfortunate pair. Hodson made every enquiry that seemed most likely to lead to a discovery of little Robert's remaining relations: he advertised the circumstance in several papers, but in vain, and he at length gave up the fruitless search. Though by no means in flourishing circumstances himself, yet he had not the heart to send the poor orphan to the parish, and as he had no children of his own, it was agreed, with his wife's consent, to bring him up as their adopted son. Dame Hodson took the greatest care of her little nursling, and she had the satisfaction of seeing his daily improvement in health and good humour.

As Robert grew in years, he discovered to his kind friends a heart framed for the reception of every noble and virtuous sentiment: by the time he attained his twelfth year he was their chief delight, and the affectionate supporter of their declining years. Time passed on, Hodson could not labour as he had done, and two bad years, joined to his infirmities, reduced the family to much distress. Now was the time for the farmer to reap the reward of his generous compassion to a forlorn infant. Robert, ever industrious, earned enough with his own hands to maintain his benefactors. Were they sick, Robert was their nurse—were they sad, Robert was their comforter—he read to them, cheered their drooping spirits, and smoothed the pillow of declining years.

It happened about this time, that a gentleman of the name of Goldworthy, bought a large estate in the county where farmer Hodson resided; he heard the story of young Robert, and felt greatly interested for the whole family. He visited them, and found the accounts that had been given him were strictly true, and from that time he resolved to be their friend. Mr. Goldworthy, though master of a large fortune, and consequently placed above the reach of many misfortunes to which the more indigent are exposed, yet possessed a heart always alive to the distresses of others.—He determined with Hodson's consent, to take charge of young Robert, and fit him for some respectable employment, where he might have a larger scope for the exercise of his virtues and more abundant means for gratifying his generous disposition. Hodson with gratitude accepted Mr. Goldworthy's proposal; but no temptation, however alluring to his youthful mind, could induce our hero to quit his old and earliest friends, till Mr. Goldworthy promised to remove them to a cottage adjoining his own house, where they should be furnished with every thing necessary to their support. Here they spent many happy years, and had the heartfelt satisfaction of seeing their beloved boy grow up a respectable and worthy member of society, a useful assistant to his benefactor, and a friend to the poor.

"Dear mamma," said Anne, "I am quite delighted with farmer Hodson and his wife: they deserved Mr. Goldworthy's kindness to them, and what a sweet little boy Robert must have been!"

Mrs. Harley. Yes, my dear, he was an excellent youth, and his good conduct met its reward in the affection of his friends. I wish you, my dear child, to be convinced, from this story, that there is no situation in life, however humble, which does not afford opportunities for exercising those duties recommended to us by our Saviour.—To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to comfort the afflicted, is, to a certain degree, in the power of us all. You may be in a situation that will enable you to dispense comfort to many; but in relieving strangers, never forget the duties you owe to your own family; be mild and submissive when they correct you, obedient to their wishes, attentive to their instructions, and endeavour by the affectionate gratitude of your conduct, to repay the many hours of anxious solicitude they must spend on your account.

Lift up your heart with gratitude to the great God who made you, and, when you reflect on the many blessings you enjoy, never, if you do meet with little disappointments, give way to discontent and murmurings. Remember, it is easy to be good humoured when every thing happens agreeably to our wishes: it is only by cheerfully submitting to the opposition of them that a really good temper is proved. We must now hasten to our other business, or we shall not have time to finish it before dinner.

Anne. I am quite ready to attend to you, dear mamma; Grammar, I think, is to be the subject of our lesson. What is the meaning of the word Grammar?

THIRD LESSON.

Mrs. Harley. The shortest definition I can give you of Grammar, is I believe, my dear, by saying, that it is the art of speaking and writing a language correctly. By parts of speech are meant the different kinds of words of which a language is composed: ours is the English language, and it contains nine parts of speech, which are,

The Article,
The Noun or Substantive,
The Pronoun,
The Adjective,
The Verb,
The Adverb,
The Preposition,
The Conjunction,
The Interjection.

Do you think you can remember their names, Anne.

Anne. I will try do so, mamma.

Mrs. Harley. I will now give you a short explanation of them. An article is placed before a substantive to limit or determine its meaning; the articles are a, an, and the; a or an is called the indefinite article, because it does not point out any particular object: the is called the definite article because it determines what particular object is meant. Do you understand this explanation, my dear?

Anne. Perfectly mamma; a man, an orange, mean any man, or any orange; but the man, the orange, refer to some particular man or orange.

Mrs. Harley. Quite right, a you perceive is used before a consonant and an before a vowel.

A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. Nouns are divided into proper and common; proper nouns are the names of particular persons, places, or things, common nouns are the names that belong to all persons, places or things of the same kind. Give me some examples.

Anne. Anne, Clapham, Limetree, are proper nouns; girl, village, tree, are common nouns.

Mrs. Harley. Gender is the distinction of sex; there are three genders, the masculine which denotes the male kind as, a man: the feminine which denotes the female kind as, a woman: and the neuter which denotes things without animated life as, a cabbage.

Number is the distinction of one from many: there are two numbers, the singular which speaks of one; and the plural which speaks of more than one. Tell me some nouns with their genders and numbers.

Anne. I know that mamma is a noun of the feminine gender and singular number; men is a noun masculine and plural; table is neuter and singular.

Mrs. Harley. Very well. A Pronoun is used to avoid repeating the noun as, Frederic was good, and he went out. There are four kinds of pronouns. Personal pronouns, as, I, me; thou, thee; he, him; she, her; it: we, us; you; they, them. Possessive pronouns which denote property, as, my, mine; thy, thine; his; her, hers; its: our, ours; your, yours; their, theirs; whose, ones, and anothers. Relative pronouns which refer to a noun going before or coming after them; they are, who, whom, which, what, and whether. Demonstrative pronouns point out some particular object; they are, this, these; that, and those.

Anne. I don't think I can remember all these words without reading them over a great many times, but I quite understand the use of the pronoun, for it would be very awkward to say, Mary played, Mary laughed, and Mary danced; I ought to say, Mary played, she laughed, and she danced.

Mrs. Harley. I am pleased with your attention. The adjective explains the quality, colour, form, size, or any other property of the noun, as, good, blue, square, large. The signification of adjectives may be increased or diminished, and this is called comparison; there are two degrees of comparison, the comparative, which increases or diminishes the quality, is formed by adding er to the adjective in its positive state; the superlative increases or diminishes the comparative to its last degree, and is formed by adding est to the adjective in its positive or original state, as long, longer, longest; short, shorter, shortest. When the adjective consists of more than two syllables, the comparative and superlative are formed by prefixing the words more and most to the adjective; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful. Some adjectives differ entirely from these rules in forming their comparison, as, good, better, best; bad, worse, worst. Now, some examples.

Anne. Fine is an adjective because it is a quality, black because it is a colour, coarse is an adjective in its positive state, brighter is the comparative degree, and youngest is the superlative.

Mrs. Harley. A verb is a word which signifies to be, to do, or to suffer. Verbs are divided into neuter, active, and passive. Neuter verbs merely signify being, or that kind of action which has no effect upon any thing beyond the performer, as, I am, I sit, I walk. (You may distinguish those neuter verbs that seem to imply action from active verbs by their making a complete sense by themselves, whereas active verbs always require a noun or pronoun after them to finish the sense.)

Active verbs, denote action as, I eat, I love, I work. Passive verbs, denote suffering, they are only the participle passive of an active verb with a tense of the neuter verb to be before it; as, I am loved, you are dressed.

Any word is a verb before which you can place a noun, a pronoun, or the word to, as Mary talks, he works, to be. The different times when actions are performed are called tenses, there are properly only three, the present, as I am, the past as I was, and the future as I shall be; but these are subdivided into others; and there are a great many other things relating to verbs, which you shall learn when you are a little older.

Anne. Thank you, mamma, I believe I understand all that you have told me about verbs, except the meaning of participle passive.

Mrs. Harley. A participle passive, my dear, is that part of a verb which follows a tense of either of the verbs to have, or to be. Some people consider it a distinct part of speech.

Adverbs denote time, place, manner, and quantity; therefore you may always know them by recollecting their meaning: to-day, there, prettily, much, are adverbs.

Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and to shew the relation between them. They require some word after them to complete the sense; as, come to me, up, down, to, from, for, are prepositions.

Conjunctions join words and sentences together, as you and I are going, but she stays at home.

Interjections express some emotion of the mind as, Alas! Oh! Ah!

I am afraid, my dear, you are quite tired of this long lesson, but I don't expect you to remember all I have told you; we will talk over a very small portion of it every day, and then in time you will be able to tell me what part of speech any word is that I may ask you.—I will give you a little example to shew you what I mean and then you shall run away.

The rose in your nosegay was very beautiful a little while ago; but alas! it is now quite dead!

The, an article definite—rose, a substantive, neuter gender, singular number—in, a preposition—your, a possessive pronoun—nosegay, a substantive—was, a verb neuter past tense—very, an adverb—beautiful, an adjective—a, an article indefinite—little, an adjective—while, a substantive—ago, an adverb—but, a conjunction—alas!, an interjection—it, a personal pronoun neuter gender—is, a verb—now, an adverb—quite, an adverb,—dead, a verb, participle passive.

Children might soon understand that a case in grammar signifies the different terminations of nouns and pronouns. A noun has two cases, the nominative which simply names the object: it generally precedes the verb, and answers to the questions who? which? what? The genitive denotes possession and is formed by adding an apostrophe, and the letter s to the nominative; it answers to the question whose? When the plural nominative ends in s the apostrophe only is added: ex. Anne plays. Who? Anne.—Mary's gown. Whose? Mary's.—Birds' feathers. Whose? Birds'.

A personal pronoun has two cases the nominative and the objective. The nominative precedes the verb, and requires it to be of the same person and number as itself; it answers to the questions, who? which? what? The objective follows the verb, and answers to the question whom? ex. I dance, who? I.—We love her, whom? her.

The accusative case of the relative pronoun who is whom.