Read Ebook: Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader by H Lshof John Ludwig

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Ebook has 709 lines and 41533 words, and 15 pages

PREFACE REMARKS TO THE TEACHER

LESSONS.

POETRY

SELECTION.

MISCELLANEOUS

CHARACTERISTIC OF HEROISM CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT USEFUL INFORMATION WISE SAYINGS

REMARKS TO THE TEACHER

Complete answers should be given by the pupils. The simple words "yes" or "no" do not constitute an answer in these exercises; such expressions give no practice in the use of the language.

The teacher should prepare himself thoroughly for each lesson in order to ask many pointed questions relative to the reading matter.

These sentences may first be read by the class from the blackboard and then copied. After new slips have been distributed, the same sentences should then be written from dictation . The pupils are afterwards required to compare their work with that on the board and make the necessary corrections themselves.

READING MADE EASY FOR FOREIGNERS

THIRD READER

LESSON I

FLAG DAY

In this fair land of ours you can see the Stars and Stripes floating over every public school. This beautiful flag stands for our country. Every American is proud of his country's flag. It stands for all that is good and dear to an American. It stands for Liberty. It proclaims liberty to all. Every star stands for liberty. Every stripe stands for liberty. It stands for liberty of thought and liberty of speech as well.

The first American flag was made in June, 1777, by Mrs. Ross, in the city of Philadelphia. When General Washington saw the flag, he was delighted with it. Every American is not only delighted with it, but he loves the dear old flag. The fourteenth day of June of each year is set apart as Flag Day.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ABOVE LESSON ACCORDING TO THE RATIONAL METHOD.

DICTATION EXERCISES

SELECTION I

A CITY STREET

I love the woods, the fields, the streams, The wild flowers fresh and sweet, And yet I love no less than these The crowded city street; For haunts of men, where'er they be, Awake my deepest sympathy.

I see within the city street Life's most extreme estates; The gorgeous domes of palaces; The dismal prison gates; The hearths by household virtues blest, The dens that are the serpent's nest.

I see the rich man, proudly fed And richly clothed, pass by; I see the shivering, houseless wretch With hunger in his eye; For life's severest contrasts meet Forever in the city street.

Hence is it that a city street Can deepest thoughts impart, For all its people, high and low, Are kindred to my heart; And with a yearning love I share In all their joy, their pain, their care.

LESSON II

BREATHE PURE AIR

Some boys were playing hide-and-seek one day, when one of their number thought it would be good sport to hide little Robert in a large empty trunk. He did so and then turned the key in the lock. The little fellow in the chest was very quiet indeed, and they almost forgot about him. After some time they thought of him and some one went to the trunk and asked: "Hello, Robert. Do you want to come out now?" No answer came. They opened the trunk and found poor little Robert nearly dead. The doctor had to be called, and he worked long and hard to restore the poor boy to health.

The air which we breathe out is not fit to be breathed in again. We soon use up, in this way, all the pure air about us. So we must have a fresh supply. As soon as Robert had breathed in all the good air that was in the trunk, there was nothing left but poisoned air. If fresh air had not been given to him by opening the trunk, he could not have lived three minutes longer.

Nothing is so needful to health as good, pure air. Whether you are in the schoolroom or in the house, remember this. Bad air is so much poison, and the more we breathe it the worse it gets. The poison is carbonic acid, and to breathe it long is certain death.

Not many years ago, during a storm at sea, a stupid sea-captain ordered his passengers to go below in the hold of the vessel. Then he covered up the hold, so that no fresh air could enter. When the storm was over he opened the hold, and found that seventy human beings had died for want of pure air.

Through his gross ignorance of the laws of life, he had done all this mischief. Remember what I say: insist on having good air; for impure air, though it may not always kill you, is always bad for your health.

COFFEE

Coffee is made from the berries of a tree called the coffee plant, or coffee tree. This tree grows in some of the hot countries of the world, as Brazil, Cuba, Arabia, and Java. The best coffee comes from Arabia. But most of the coffee that is used in this country comes from Brazil.

When first known, the coffee tree was a wild shrub growing among the hills of Caffa, in the northeastern part of Africa. But when people learned what a pleasant drink could be made from its berries, they began to take it into other countries, where they cultivated it with much care.

There is an old story told of a shepherd who, it is said, was the first to use this drink. He noticed that after his goats had fed on the leaves of a certain tree--the coffee plant--they were always very lively and wakeful. So he took some of the leaves and berries of the plant, and boiling them in water, he made a drink for himself. He found it so pleasant to the taste that he told some of his neighbors about it. They tried it and were as much pleased as himself. And so, little by little, the drink came, after a while, into common use.

The coffee plant is a beautiful little tree, growing sometimes to the height of twenty feet. It has smooth, dark leaves, long and pointed. It has pretty, white blossoms, which grow in thick clusters close to the branches. Its fruit looks a little like a cherry; and within it are the coffee berries, two in each cherry.

When ripe, the red fruit turns to a deep purple and is sweet to the taste. In Arabia the fruit is allowed to fall on mats placed under the trees; but in other countries it is commonly gathered as soon as it is ripe, and it is then dried by being placed on mats in the sun.

After the outside part has been removed the berries are again dried. They are then put in sacks and boxes to be sent into other parts of the world.

LESSON IV

OUR NATIONAL FLAG

There is a national flag. He must be cold indeed who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country itself with all its endearments. Who, as he sees it, can think of a state merely? Whose eyes, once fastened upon it, can fail to recognize the image of the whole nation? It has been called a "floating piece of poetry."

Its highest beauty is in what it symbolizes. It is because it represents all, that all gaze at it with delight and reverence. It is a piece of bunting lifted in the air, but it speaks sublimely, and every part has a voice. Its stripes of alternate red and white proclaim the original union of thirteen states. Its stars of white on a field of blue proclaim the union of the states. A new star is added with every new state. The very colors have a language, which was understood by our fathers.

White is for purity, red for valor, blue for justice. Thus the bunting, stripes and stars together, make the flag of our country--loved by all our hearts and upheld by all our hands.

SELECTION II

THE SHIP OF STATE

Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity, with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate.

We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workman wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 'Tis of the wave, and not the rock; 'Tis but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale. In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea. Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee; Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee,--are all with thee.

LESSON V

"PRESS ON"

This is a speech, brief, but full of inspiration, and opening the way to all victory. The secret of Napoleon's career was this,--under all difficulties and discouragements, "Press on." It solves the problem of all heroes; it is the rule by which to weigh rightly all wonderful successes and triumphal marches to fortune and genius. It should be the motto of all, old and young, high and low, fortunate and unfortunate, so called.

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