I.

(Extract from a sermon preached to a congregation of children at Chicago.)

When[2] I was in the Sunday-school, and had just begun to read about[3] David, I[4] did not feel sure he ever was a real baby, and had to be fed with a teaspoon; or that he ever was a real little boy[5] that[6] went to school as I did, and played marbles[7], and had a peg-top[8], a jack-knife[9], some slate pencils, ever[10] so many buttons, and a piece of string[11], all in one pocket; that[12] he ever had to try hard not to cry when he went to school very cold[13] mornings; or[14] that the teacher spoke sharp to him, when the little chap had tried[15] his best to get[16] his lesson, and[17] did not get it very well.

[1] +Zartfühlend, zuverlässig und treu.+

[2] Say ‘when I went to the Sunday-school’, and supply the adverb noch after the subject.

[3] +über.+

[4] Say ‘I could scarcely imagine, that he ever really had been a little child and had to be fed with a teaspoon (+und mit einem Theelöffel habe gefüttert werden müssen+)’. By carefully reading §§ 29 and 30 of the Appendix, the student will see that the verbs depending on the governing verb ‘_imagine_’ must stand in the Perfect of the Subjunctive Mood. According to S. 52, N. 8, however, the auxiliary ‘_sei_’ may be omitted in the clause ‘that he ever really had been a little child’.

[5] +Junge.+ The auxiliary ‘+sei+’ may again be omitted here.

[6] that = who; as I did = ‘like myself’, which place immediately after the relat. pron.

[7] +Schusser+. Remember that both this and the next clause are depending on the relative clause ‘that — did’; place, therefore, the verb ‘played’ after ‘marbles’, and the verb ‘had’ after ‘peg-top’.

[8] +Kreisel+, m.

[9] +Taschenmesser+, n.

[10] ever so many, +eine Unzahl von+, i.e. no end of.

[11] +ein Stück Bindfaden.+

[12] that — hard, +daß er sich je habe anstrengen müssen+.

[13] cold mornings, +an einem sehr kalten Morgen+, which place after the subject. ‘To go to school’, +zur+ (_or_ +in die+) +Schule gehen+.

[14] Say ‘or that the teacher had ever scolded (+schelten+) the little fellow (+Bursche+), when he had’, etc.

[15] to try one’s best, +sich Mühe geben+.

[16] to get one’s lesson = to learn one’s lesson, +seine Lektion erlernen+.

[17] Say ‘and had not learnt it well’, and supply the adverb +doch+ (nevertheless) after the objective pronoun ‘it’. For the position of the verb see App. § 17.

_Section 62._

TENDER, TRUSTY, AND TRUE.