_Words._--ORIGINAL.
1. I told you, in the last lesson, how an infant child first learned to
speak, when it was taught by its father and mother, and brother and
sisters.
2. I intend to show you, in this lesson, how the little child learned
the meaning of a great many words himself, without the assistance of any
one else.
3. He was very fond of Guido, the dog, and watched everything he did,
especially when his brother George was playing with him.
4. When George called Guido, and said to the dog, "_Come here_, Guido,"
the little boy could not help noticing that Guido _went to_ George.
5. When George's father or mother called George, and said, "Come here,
George," the little child saw that George _went to_ his father, or his
mother.
6. Now, nobody told the little child what George, or his father, or his
mother, meant by the word _come_; but he always saw, that when any one
said to another, "_Come_," that the one who was spoken to always _moved
towards_ the person who called him, and in this way the little child
found out what his father or his mother meant by the word _come_.
7. It was in this way, my young friend who are reading this lesson, that
you, yourself, learned the meaning of most of the words that you know.
8. When you were a little child, like the infant of whom I have been
speaking, you knew no more about words, or about speaking, than he did.
9. But, by hearing others speak and use words, you learned to use them
yourself; and there is no word ever used, either in books or anywhere
else, that you cannot find out its meaning, provided that you hear it
used frequently, and by different persons.
10. I will now give you an example, to show you what I mean. I will give
you a word that you probably never heard of before; and although I shall
not tell you what the word means, I think you will find it out yourself,
before you have read many more lines of this lesson.
11. The word _hippoi_ is the word that I shall choose, because I know
that you do not know the meaning of it; but I wish you to read the
following sentences in which the word is used, and I think that you will
find out what _hippoi_ means, before you have read them all.
12. In California, and in Mexico, and in most parts of South America,
there are many wild _hippoi_, which feed on the grass that grows wild
there.
13. The Indians hunt the _hippoi_; and when they catch them, they tame
them, and put bridles on their heads, and bits in their mouths, and
saddles on their backs, and ride on them.
14. A carriage, with four white _hippoi_, has just passed by the window,
and one of the _hippoi_ has dropped his shoe. The coachman must take him
to the blacksmith, to have the shoe put on.
15. The noise which _hippoi_ make is a very strange noise, and when
they make it they are said to neigh (_pronounced na_).
16. The hoofs of cows and goats and sheep and deer are cloven; that is,
they are split into two parts; but the hoofs of _hippoi_ are not split
or cloven, and for that reason they are called whole-hoofed animals.
17. My father has in his barn four _hippoi_. One of them is red, and has
a short tail; another is white, with a few dark hairs in his mane, or
long hair on the top of his neck; the third is gray, with dark spots on
his body; and the fourth is perfectly black, and has a very long tail,
which reaches almost to the ground.
18. Now, from these sentences, I think you will see that _hippoi_ does
not mean cows, or goats, or sheep, or deer; and I do not think it
necessary to tell you anything more about it, except that it is a word
that was spoken by the Corinthians and the Colossians and the Ephesians,
the people to whom St. Paul addressed those epistles or letters in the
Bible called by their names.
19. When you have read this lesson, your teacher will probably ask you
what the word _hippoi_ means; and I hope you will be able to tell him
that _hippoi_ means----[here put in the English word for _hippoi_.]