_The Author to the Pupil._
1. In the first lesson, I told you that I would show you how to
understand what is in this book; and how you may, with very little
assistance from your teacher, be able to read all the hard words that
you find in any book.
2. Many little boys and girls are very fond of running out of their
places in school, and going up to their teachers with a great many
unnecessary questions. This always troubles the teacher, and prevents
his going through with all his business in time to dismiss you at the
usual hour.
3. Whenever you meet with any real difficulty, that you cannot overcome
yourself without his assistance, you should watch for an opportunity
when he is at leisure, and endeavor to attract his attention quietly,
and without noise and bustle, so that your fellow-pupils may not be
disturbed, and then respectfully and modestly ask him to assist you.
4. But if you are noisy and troublesome, and run up to him frequently
with questions that, with a little thought, you could easily answer
yourself, he will not be pleased with you, but will think that you wish
to make trouble; and, perhaps, will appear unkind to you.
5. I will now endeavor to show you how you may understand what is in
your book, so that you will have no need to be troublesome to your
teacher.
6. In the first place, then, always endeavor to understand every line
that you read; try to find out what it means, and, if there is any word
that you have never seen or heard of before, look out the word in a
dictionary, and see what the meaning of the word is; and then read the
line over again, and see whether you can tell what the whole line means,
when you have found out the meaning of the strange word.
7. Now, as you can understand everything best when you have an example,
I will give you one, as follows. In the tenth chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles, at the first verse, there are these words:
1. "There was a certain man in Cesarea, called
Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian
band,
2. "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his
house, and gave much alms to the people, and prayed to
God always."
8. I suppose you know what most of the words in these verses mean,
except the word _centurion_ in the first verse, and the word _alms_ in
the second.
9. Now, if you look for the word _centurion_ in the dictionary, it will
tell you that _centurion_ means a military officer, who commanded a
hundred men. Thus you find that Cornelius was a soldier; and not only
that he was a soldier, but that he was an officer, that commanded
soldiers.
10. Again, if you look for the word _alms_ in your dictionary, you will
find that it means money given to the poor; and thus you find that
Cornelius was a very good man, and not only prayed to God, but also gave
much money to assist the poor.
11. You see, then, how useful a book a dictionary is at school, and how
important it is that you should have one. If your parents cannot give
you a very good one, any one is better than none.
12. But if you have no dictionary, or if you cannot find the word you
wish to find in the dictionary, you must then wait for a convenient time
to ask your teacher, and he will always be pleased to find that you are
trying to understand the words in your lesson.
13. If you have a dictionary, and do not know how to find out the words
in it, ask your teacher to show you; and when he has showed you how to
use it, be sure never to pass over a single word without knowing what it
means.