_The same subject, continued._
1. About twenty years ago, I was very ill, and, for a long time, my
friends thought I never should recover.
2. By the very attentive care of my physician, and by the devoted
attention of my wife, I unexpectedly grew better; and the doctor said
that I must take a voyage for the recovery of my health.
3. A kind friend, who was going to the West Indies, in a vessel of his
own, very generously offered to take me with him, and I gratefully
accepted the offer.
4. We sailed from Boston early one morning, and were soon out of sight
of the land. I was quite ill during the voyage; but fortunately the
voyage was a short one, and we reached the place of our destination on
the fourteenth day after we sailed.
5. The island, where we landed, was a beautiful spot; and lemons,
oranges, pine-apples, and many other delicious fruits, were growing out
in the open air.
6. The people who lived on this island did not speak the English
language; and the family with whom I was to reside could speak only in
French.
7. I observed, at dinner-time, that some of the persons at the table
held out their tumblers to the servant, and said something which sounded
to me like _O_.
8. I often heard this word; and every time it was spoken, _water_ was
brought, or poured out, or something was done with _water_.
9. I then made up my mind that this word that I thought was O meant
water; and I found out afterwards that I was right, except that I did
not spell it right.
10. This I discovered by means of the Bible, from which the family used
to read.
11. It was a very large one, with very large letters; and as I was very
fond of hearing them read, and of looking over the book while some one
was reading aloud, I noticed that whenever the reader came to the
letters e, a, u, he called them O; and thus I found out that water, in
their language, was called O, but was spelt e, a, u.
12. In the same manner, I found out the words, or names, which they gave
to bread, and sugar, and butter, and meat, and figs, and oranges, and
lemons, and pine-apples.
13. And now, perhaps, you may be able to find out how the little Spanish
girl, mentioned in the last lesson, learned the meaning of English words
that she had never heard until she came to live in the family where
nothing but English was spoken.
14. She was obliged to listen, when any one spoke, and watch to see what
was wanted; and in the same manner in which I found out the meaning of
O, and what to call bread, and sugar, and butter, and meat, and figs,
and oranges, and other fruits, she learned to call things by their
English names.
15. But, in order to do this, she was obliged to listen very
attentively, to try to remember every new name that she learned; and, by
so doing, in less than a year she could talk almost as plainly as any
one in the house.
16. It was very easy for her to learn the names of things, because she
heard them spoken very often. Such words as _chair_, _table_, _water_,
_sugar_, _cake_, _potato_, _pudding_, and other words which are the
names of things she could see, she learned very quickly.
17. But such words as _come_ and _go_, or _run_ and _walk_, and the
little words _to_ and _from_, and _over_ and _under_, or such words as
_quickly_ and _slowly_, and many other words of the same kind, she could
not learn so easily.
18. In the next lesson perhaps you will find out how she learned the
meaning of these words.