LESSON XI

A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a ton of hay;

A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.

I WRITTEN Study this rime till you are sure you know it. Notice the three couplets, and learn one at a time. The semicolon is used here instead of the comma or period. The sentences are longer than those in Lesson X.

Write the rime from memory. Did you have every word, letter, and point right? If not, do your work again.

Rule 9 The semicolon is often used between short and very closely related sentences.

II WRITTEN Write one or more sentences, being very careful as to form, telling why bees are worth more early in the spring than later.

III ORAL Find out if you can, and then tell in class, what kinds of flowers bees like best. Can you name any kinds of honey? You may ask your grocer about this. Tell anything you know or can find out about bees; read in class or sing any songs you know about them.

IV ORAL Look in your reading-books to find examples of the use of the semicolon between sentences. Read several examples in class.

To the teacher: See Appendix note.

I WRITTEN

LESSON XII

All work and no play
Makes Jack a dull boy;
All play and no work
Makes Jack a mere toy.

Observe that the lines here do not all begin at the same distance from the margin. The first and third and the second and fourth are said to aline, or to be in the same line from top to bottom. Write from memory, and verify.

Rule 10 In writing verse, aline riming lines.

II WRITTEN Write the rime as a couplet, changing from caps to small letters as you find necessary. Then try to make a rime on the same pattern, with beats coming as they do here; thus,

III ORAL Memorize couplets from the Additional Rimes of this book, and repeat them in class.

To the teacher: See Appendix note.

A RIDDLE

Black within and red without,
Four corners round about.

LESSON XIII

Little Tommy Tucker
Sings for his supper;
What shall he eat?

White bread and butter;
How shall he cut it

Without any knife?
How shall he marry
Without any wife?

I WRITTEN Study the rime. ory, and verify by your book. even one mistake, try again.

Write it from mem-
If you have made

II WRITTEN Select a simple rime from the Additional Rimes of this book; copy it, and verify.

III ORAL Read the rimes you have selected and copied.

butter

IV ORAL Do supper and Tucker make a perfect rime? Find one or more words that will make a perfect rime with each of the following words:

LESSON XIV

Tommy's tears and Mary's fears
Will make them old before their years.

I WRITTEN This couplet is short, but it contains something new and important. The apostrophe and s are written after Tommy and after Mary to show possession or ownership or source. Write from memory, and verify.

Rule 11 In writing names of persons or things, show possession by the apostrophe with s, or by the apostrophe alone, according to the special case.

II WRITTEN After instruction from your teacher, write the following so as to show possession:

1 The head belonging to one boy, girl, horse, ox, fox, lady, baby, monkey, man, woman, fish, sheep, child;

2 The heads belonging to two boys, two girls, two horses, two oxen, two foxes, two children, two ladies, two babies, two monkeys, two men, two women, two fishes, two sheep.

III ORAL Spell the possessives called for in the second written exercise above, naming the apostrophe in the proper place; thus, b-o-y-apostrophe-s.

A RIDDLE

As round as an apple,

As deep as a cup,
And all the king's horses

Can't pull it up.