LESSON XCI

For every evil under the sun
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try and find it;
If there be none, never mind it.

I WRITTEN Here you have the word or joining independent statements. Note also the two ifgroups, each naming a condition. Notice the idiom try and find. An idiom is any peculiarity of wordusage sanctioned by custom. Write from memory, and verify.

II WRITTEN Copy and verify the following folklore riddle. If you can not guess the answer, look it up in the Appendix.

My mother sent me over to your mother
To borrow the whimble-bow, whamble-bow,
Four-legged, iron-bow,

Lilligy, lallagy, sickity, sackity,

Dimity, damity whirligig.

III ORAL

Discuss various methods of buttermaking. Describe any process that you know. Can you make butter with an ordinary egg-beater in a bowl? Did you ever try this?

To the teacher: See Appendix note on Lesson 77.

LESSON XCII

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

My dame has lost a shoe;
My master's lost his fiddling-stick,
And don't know what to do.

I WRITTEN You have something new today. The last line contains what is called a contracted statement, because it has been shortened or contracted by leaving out something. What word would make the whole complete? Point off contracted statements just as if they were given in full. Notice how the interjection is written. What does the 's stand for in this rime? Write and verify.

Rule 26 Point off a contracted statement as if it were given in full.

II WRITTEN

Copy the following lines, and observe that the punctuation is the same in both

cases:

1 The cat's in the cupboard,

And she can't see.

2 The cat's in the cupboard,

And can't see me.

III ORAL What is the modern name for a fiddlingstick or a fiddle-stick? Do you know a song which says, "Hang up the fiddle and the bow"? What is the name of the song?

IV ORAL What is don't a contraction of? It was once more common to say he do than he does, and he don't is an older form than he doesn't, altho either form is perfectly correct.

To the teacher: See Appendix note.

LESSON XCIII

Bless you, bless you, burnie-bee!
Say, when will your wedding be?
If it be tomorrow day,

Take your wings, and fly away.

II WRITTEN Observe the if-group. Burnie-bee is a name given in the north of England to the ladybird, or lady-bug. You have had a rime like this before. Which rime ould you repeat if you were the child who is speaking? Write and verify.

II WRITTEN Recall another folk-lore rime of a past lesson that tells something to fly away. Write this from memory, or review it, and then write.

III ORAL Is say a suitable interjection, if it is not used too often? Did the little girl use it too often when she said, "Say, mother, I don't say say, do I, say?" Do you know a song beginning "Oh, say, can you see...?" What is the name of the song?

IV ORAL

In the following sentences, where you find contracted statements, put the comma in the proper place:

1 Take your heavy sweater and your warmest furs.
2 Take your sweater and start early.

3 The man has lost his fiddle and his best bow.

4 The man lost his fiddle and don't know where.

5 The mother found the girl and the burned dress.

6 The mother found the little girl and punished her.

To the teacher: See Appendix note.

LESSON XCIV

Little Miss Muffet,
She sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey;

There came a big spider,

And sat down beside her,

Which frightened Miss Muffet away.

I WRITTEN

Does this rime mean that it was the spider, or his sitting down beside her, that frightened Miss Muffet away? Why is there a comma at the end of the first line? A tuffet is a little hill or mound. Write from memory, and verify.

II WRITTEN Copy the following, and tell why do or do not use commas. In 2, might commas be used or not, according to the sense?

you

1 The girl who is smiling is my sister, and the one who looks cross is my cousin.

2 The girl who was all smiles before began to look serious.

III ORAL Read or repeat all the rimes that you have had on the same pattern as Miss Muffet. Try to make an original jingle on this pattern. If you succeed, read your rimes in class.

Goosey, goosey, gander, whither shall I wander?
Up-stairs and down-stairs and in my lady's chamber?
There I met an old man, who would not say his prayers;
I took him by the left leg, and threw him down the stairs.

LESSON XCV

Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsey, and Bess,
They all went together to seek a bird's nest;
They found a nest with five eggs in it,
They each took one, and left four in it.

I WRITTEN Study the rime. If we left out the first they, we should not need the comma after Bess. Write from memory, and verify.

II WRITTEN Write the meaning of your first, of your second, and of your last name. You can probably find out the meaning by inquiry, or from the dictionary.

III ORAL

How many girls went to the nest? What was Mother Goose's first name? This rime is sometimes written with Eliza instead of Elspeth as the second name. Do you know any more nicknames for Elizabeth? Find all you can. What word would fill out the contracted statement in the last line?

To the teacher: See Appendix note on Lesson 17.