SARGENT'S PRIMARY STANDARD SPEAKER. THE STUDIOUS BOY. SEE him at his book. He has a piece to declaim at school. Do you want to know what he is doing? He is looking out in the dictionary every doubtful word in his piece. He does not mean to make a blunder, if he can help it. There are some common words, about the pronunciation of which he is almost sure, but not quite. He looks out the word hearth, for he heard a boy, the other day, pronounce it as if it rhymed with earth. But he finds that ea in hearth ought to have the sound it has in heart. He looks out the words heard, evil, even, and heaven. What common words! But he has heard them mispronounced. He finds that the ea in heard has the sound of e in her; that the i in evil, and the e in the last syllables in heaven and even, are not sounded. After he has learnt how to pronounce all the words in his piece, he will declaim it aloud by himself, till he can repeat it all without looking on the book. If there is any sentence which he does not understand in his piece, he will ask his mother or his teacher to explain it. The studious boy can play as well as study. He does not pore over his book too long. He will go and play at ball, or take a walk with his sister, as soon as he has finished his lesson in pronunciation. The studious boy will be a good speaker, for he sets about his task in earnest, and takes the right means. If you would succeed in any thing, be in earnest. A BOY'S SPEECH AGAINST SHOOTING BIRDS. Boys, I have mounted this stump to speak my mind about shooting birds for sport. I know four or five fellows who go about with bows and arrows, and pistols, and shoot at robins, blackbirds, bobolinks, and sparrows, without caring for them when they are killed, but doing it merely to show that they can take good aim. Now, I'm a small boy, but I don't care who hears me when I say that the practice is mean and cruel. Any farmer will tell you that the birds do more good than harm. They destroy insects and vermin. A woodpecker will clear a tree of worms that would have lodged beneath the bark and sapped the life of the trunk. A robin, while he puts his bill into your best cherries, will do you service in keeping off rose-bugs and other enemies. I say nothing about the cheering songs and pleasant warbling of the birds. The boy who does not love to hear them has no music in his soul. But just think of the folly and cruelty of shooting them; the folly, in killing the friends of your trees; the cruelty, in killing them wantonly, and at seasons when they have young ones to take care of! Heaven has given us power over the poor dumb animals. We may kill them for food, making them suffer as little as possible. But to kill any one for mere sport is a hateful practice. I love to see animals enjoying life. Especially I love to see and hear the birds. Never will I knowingly play with the boy who kills them for his amusement merely. Never will I blend my pleasure or my pride "with sorrow of the meanest thing that feels." CHARLES. Study to articulate your words distinctly, and pronounce them aright. In the preceding piece do not slur the t in insects; give the th in beneath its vocal sound, as in breathe; give the o in nothing the sound of short u, as in hut; give the ing its full sound, as in king; give the ow in fellow, arrow, sorrow, &c., the sound of long o; do not say feller, &c. SMALL SERVICE IS TRUE SERVICE. WHAT if a drop of rain should plead, "So small a drop as I Can ne'er refresh the thirsty mead: I'll tarry in the sky!" What if the shining beam of noon Should in its fountain stay, Because its feeble light alone Does not each rain-drop help to form And every ray of light to warm |