V.

CHARLES. “Indeed[1]! and how high can you dart it?”

FATHER. “I[2] should be afraid of telling you to what a distance it will reach, lest you should think I am jesting with you.”

GEORGE. “Higher than this house, I[3] suppose?”

FATHER. “Much higher.”

CHARLES. “Then[4], how do you[5] get it again?”

FATHER. “It[6] is easily cast down by a gentle movement that does it no injury.”

GEORGE. “But who can do that?”

FATHER. “The[7] person whose business it is to take care of it.”

CHARLES. “Well[8], I cannot understand you at all; but do[9] tell us, father, what it is chiefly used for!”

[1] +Das wäre!+

[2] Say ‘I almost fear to tell you what distances it can reach, that (+damit+) you may not believe that I am jesting with you’.

[3] ‘=I suppose=’, in interrogative sentences, may be elegantly rendered by the adverb +=wohl=+:

You have prepared your lesson well to-day, _I suppose_?

+Sie haben Ihre Lektion heute ~wohl~ gut studiert?+

In elliptic sentences, where the verb is omitted, +wohl+ generally occupies the first place.

[4] The adv. +denn+ must stand after the object +es+.

[5] The pron. ‘=you=’, used in a general sense, is mostly rendered by the indef. pron. +=man=+.

[6] It — down, +Es senkt sich ... leicht wieder nach unten.+ The place of the words ‘by — injury’ is indicated by the three dots.

[7] +Derjenige.+

[8] Well = Alas, +Ach+.

[9] The English ‘=do=’, in sentences of entreaty, may colloquially be rendered by the adverb +=doch=+; as—

_Do_ give me the book, my child!

+Gieb mir ~doch~ das Buch, mein Kind!+

_Section 93._

A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT.