No More Learning

" But oh ! Mary," said Frank, " what
comes next ? All these verbs ! And,"
said he, sighing, " when I come to this,
what shall I'do? I will read it to you,
Mary, and understand it if you can.
" ' The subjunctive mood differs not
in form from the potential, but is always
rendered into English as if it were the
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? FRANK.
45
indicative: it is subjoined to another
verb going before it in the sentence,
and has therefore some conjunction or
definite word joined to it, as eram miser
cum amarem, I was a wretch when I
loved. '
" No," said Frank, interrupting him-
self, " he should say, ' I was a wretch
when I learned the Latin grammar. '"
" I do not understand this grammar
at all," said Mary.
" It is very hard to understand, in-
deed," said Frank.
" I did not know that Latin grammar
was so difficult," said Mary. " Very
different from English grammar, at
least as papa taught it to us. "
" That was easy work, indeed," said
Frank: " after my father had once
explained to us what is meant by a verb,
and a noun, and a pronoun, and a noun
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FRANK.
substantive, and a noun adjective, I
remember that I understood them all,
and found out the verb, noun, and ad-
jective in the first sentence he spoke. "
"Yes," said Mary, " I remember
the first sentence was, ' Frank, shut
the green door. '"
" Aye, fine easy work," said Frank;
" but listen to this.
" ' Of verbs ending in o, some are ac-
tives transitive, when the action of it
passes on the noun following. ' "
Mary groaned. . .
" All you can do is to learn it by
rote without understanding it," said
she* . i . . _ r . . . ,i
" But it is so difficult to learn by
heart what one does not understand,"
said Prank, " especially as I have never
^eeni used tphijf. " ( i 4 h:A
" It seems to me very difficult eyep
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? FRANK.
47
to read this grammar," said Mary, look-
ing at its pale, ill printed pages.
" Yes, my dear, it really is; with all
these italics too, and all these strange
words, thereto, behoveth, deponent, tran-
sitive, words that are never met with
anywhere but in the Latin grammar.
I assure you, Mary, I find it diffi-
cult, even I, who read so easily in
general. "
Frank's lesson was not well learned
this day; the next it was worse, and
the next worse again. The grammar,
as he said, grew more and more diffi-
cult; or, as his father said, he took
less and less pains, and his father was
not pleased with him. Then Frank
told his mother, that he began to dis-
like the Latin grammar exceedingly,
and that he did not know why he
should go on learning it.
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? 48
FRANK.
"Do you forget, my dear Frank,"
said Mary, " what that boy said--' You
will be flogged when you go to school,
if you do not know the Latin gram-
mar: ' . * . PH~ *
<; Is that true, mamma," said Frank;
4' but here is papa just come in from
riding, I will ask him, because he
has been at school himself, and he
knows. " 1<<'a4
His father assured him, that at the
school to which he went, flogging
had been the constant punishment
for those who' Sid ^*tot fcmWv their
Latin lessons; and he believed,'? die
said/ that ' this confimied > ioii ,bfe ' the
case at most schools in England! ix^h
. Himla. tnost schools, papa, bBfcndfciki
theft ! hope yo\t wi&beisoiluildltD
WtoA* rae? to a school *bere>> JtiahalbJntt
be flogged. " ' ^i/Bnei l<<dt ci flattfrw
* i nitr
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? FRANK.
49
"But even if you are not flogged,
you will be punished in some other
way, if you do not learn the Latin
grammar. "
" Papa," said Frank, " in general I
understand the use of the things you
desire me to learn, but I do not know
the use of this Latin grammar. "
*f Nor can I explain it to you till you
have learnt more of the language," an-
swered his father. " But I assure you,
that it is necessary to know it, that you
may understand Latin. "
,i? ff And why must I understand Latin,
Ybudo not know enough yet, my
dear Frank," answered his father, "tp
understand all the reasons; but some
<<fi them I can explain fto you^niany
entertaining and instructive book* iafe
written in that language. " ' i. ^yuH *mJ
vol. i. f
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? FRANK.
" But, papa," interrupted Frank,
" are not there translations of those
books? "
"Of some there are, but there is
much greater pleasure in reading them
in the original language in which they
were written. "
" But suppose I could live without
that pleasure, papa," said Frank;
" many men do, do not they ? and
almost all women. I think I could go
on without it, though I am a man. "
" Perhaps, though you are a man, as
you say, Frank, that you could, if you
were not a gentleman; but it is thought
a necessary part of a gentleman's
education, that he should understand
Latin. "
Frank sighed.
" And Greek too, in these coun-
tries," continued his father.
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? FRANK.
51
Frank sighed again. " Cannot that
be altered, papa? "
" Certainly not by you, or by your
sighs, Frank," said his father. " In
our country a man cannot be of
any of what are called the liberal pro-
fessions; he cannot be a lawyer, or a
physician, or a clergyman; and now
indeed he cannot well be an officer,
either in the army or navy, without
understanding Latin. The thing is so,
my boy; make the best of your time
now, and when you grow up to be a
man you will feel the advantage of
\that yo>> now learn. " ;i,
-i'inffrBftfeii-wiJl be a great while before
;i/shall be a man," said Frank. . '? J need
not learn the Latin grammar yet. "
"You will very soon be. iaL'&ehool-
bey, and then you will feel the advan-
tage of having learned r - . h
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? 52
FRANK.
" Remember ! Remember ! " said
Mary, in a tone of warning.
" Yes, I remember; but it is very
disagreeable, Mary, to learn any thing
only to avoid a flogging. "
" And very disagreeable the other
way," said Mary, " very disagreeable,
I should think, to have a flogging. "
"Papa," said Frank, "there is one
other question I should like to ask, if
it would not be wrong. "
" It cannot be wrong for you, Frank,
to ask me any question; if I do not
think proper to answer it I shall tell
you so; only make haste, because I
cannot stand here talking or listening
to you, my dear, all day. "
" Only one minute more, papa.
Why cannot you be so very good,
papa, as to teach me Latin your-
self ; if you would, I should work
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? FRANK.
53
hard at the Latin grammar, and I
should take more pains than I would
to avoid a flogging. You need not
smile and shake your head, papa;
only try me, you will see that I shall
keep my promise. " v ' . '
" I do not doubt that you would en-
deavour to keep it, Frank," said his
father, " but I must send you to
School. I cannot tell you all my rea-
sons, but one of them you shall know;
I am obliged, next year, to leave Eng-
land, on some public business. "
" How very unlucky for me that
public business is! " said Frank.
" Perhaps not unlucky for you,
Frank. Even if I were not engaged
in this business, I think I should send
you to school. You have no brother
at home, no companion of your own
age. i . .
f3
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? 54
FRANK.
Mary looked up earnestly. "Oh papa,
I am only a very little younger. "
" But you are a girl, my dear," said
he, " and a very obliging, gentle little
girl; he would grow effeminate if he
lived only with gentle girls and women.
He must be roughed about among boys,
or he will never be a man, and able to
live among men. He is too much an
object of our constant attention at
home, and he would learn to think
himself of too much consequence*"
Frank said he would not think him-
self of too much consequence. He
assured his father he would cure him-
self of vanity, if he would but be so
kind as not to send him to school, or. Ut
least to send him only during the time
he was obliged to be absent from Eng-
land. Frank could not conceive, he
said, what harm it could do him to be
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? FRANK.
55
an object of his father's and mother's
constant attention. He observed, that
he had heard every body say (even that
foolish mother) how fortunate it was for
him, that he had parents who had
taught him so much, and who had
given so nwch attention to him.
His father . replied, that it was im-
possible that Frank could judge upon
this point, what was best for himself;
therefore; after having given him his
reasons, as far as Frank could under-
stand them, he said he must submit to
the decisioniof hisi parents. Frank was
sorry fern "it pibut he resolved to make
the besttiof it, and Frank thanked his
father for having stayed to talk to himy
and to explain his reasons.
Now that I am convinced that it
is necessary that I should learn Latin,
I shall set about it in earnest; and
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? 56
FRANK.
I am sure that I shall do it," said
Frank.
His father, who was going out of the
room, as Frank said this, looked back,
and observed, that even when boys are
convinced that a thing is necessaiy to
be done, they have not always resolu-
tion to do it when it is disagreeable.
Frank thought that he was an excep-
tion to this general rule. 1 u.
Upon the strength of his desire to
show that he had sufficient resolution,
Frank got through the pronouns, and
their declensions; also, with the assist-
ance of his mother's repeatedly hearing
him, he accomplished learning an ex-
ample of the first conjugation of verbs
active in o. In the second Conjugation,
he found some tenses so easy, that he
thought he could say them without
taking pains to learn them. The conJ
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? FRANK.
57
sequence of his not taking pains was,
that when he went to his father to say
this lesson, the book was returned to
him three times. His resolution weak-
ened by degrees. Though convinced
that he must at some time learn the
Latin grammar, he did not see why he
should learn it before he went to school.
In short, the idea of the flogging at
some months' distance, or the shame
that he might then be made to feel,
was not sufficient to make him resist
the present pleasure of running out to
play with Mary, or building his house,
or reading some entertaining story.
Every morning he was in a hurry to
get away from his Latin grammar, yet
his haste seemed to make him slow.
He did not fix his attention upon
what he was doing; so that he was
much longer about it than was ne-
cessary.
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? FRANK.
What he could have learned perfectly
well by heart in ten minutes, he seldom
knew tolerably at the end of an hour.
Even though his poor mother, during
that hour, complied at least ten times
with his request, of
" Will you let me say it flow,
mamma," or, " This once more, mo-
ther ;" or, " I am sure I know it now,
mamma; this time, I am quite cer-
tain I have it, ma'am. " i i. '
No human patience, not even the pa-
tience of a mother, could bear this every
day. She made a rule, that in future
she would not hear him repeat his lesson
to her more than three times any one
morning. Then he went to Mary to
beg of her to hear him. She held? the
book in ber hand as often as he pleased,
but she was not exact enough to be of
much use. She did not attend to . the
ending of the verbs while he said them;
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? FRAN? . 59
and, indeed, he gabbled them some-
times so fast, that a more experienced
ear than Mary's might have been
puzzled. He became very careless.
Mary one day said to him --
" My dear Frank, I know you will
come to disgrace, if you do not take
care. "
Mary was right; Frank's day of dis-
grace came at last.
It was May-day; it was a fine morn-
ing. Frank ran out early to his gar-
den, with Mary, to gather branches
and flowers to ornament a bower, in
which they intended to ask their father
and mother to drink tea in the evening.
" But, Frank, be sure that you have
your Latin lesson. "
" Yes, yes," said Frank, " I learned
it last night, and I shall have time to
look it over before I say it to papa this
morning. "
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? ? 0
FRANK.
" When will you look it over ? " said
Mary.
" When we go in," said Frank; " it
is not seven o'clock yet. "
But time passed quickly, while they
were gathering flowers, and dressing
their arbour. It was nine o'clock, and
the breakfast' bell rang, before they
went in. Frank had riot W moment's
time to look over his verb. ' v
It < was esse, to be, indicative mood,
present tense. Frank said over to hirri-
self, as he went along the passage to
his father's room, Sing, sum isi
plur. sumus estis; but for sunt he was
obliged to look in the book. " fi
'He felt' sure that he had not 1bis
lesson perfectly well, and he was Un-
willing to open the door of his father's
robm. He was glad when he foufld
thAfc his father was gone down stows.
A gentleman had come to breakfast with
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? FRANK.
him. " How lucky," thought Frank.
No, it was most unfortunate in the
end for. . him; because. this sense of
escape made him more careless.
After hreakfast, his father went out to
ride wjth tie friend who had breakfasted
witii hjmi;. vai^. 4us. L^st words to Frank,
as he left : the breakfast room, were,
" Frafakft; I^shaJA bave tiroe to hear you
say your Latin? ^erbi when we return--
when. Ji. an^i . dressing before dinner.
Take care that you learn it perfectly. "
. f "ajja&i f *m>" he replied,. and be
handed to go and learn it directly; he
9M& d#H staid to lqok at his father and
the "gentleman mounting theil horses,
ajjd see them go through. ' the
gate. * . Then he went to his mother's
? 0? $a>. where Mary was soon aettled''at
h,^i$orki; and he stood with his Latin
gj^g>>mar in:his hand. Sut, thoughiias
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? 62 FHAtfK.
eyes were upon the book, and though
his lips pronounced
Pretei imperfect: eram, eras, erat;
eramus, eratis, erant,
his thoughts were upon a little horse,
with a long tail, which he hoped his
father would buy for him. Then, re-
collecting himself, he went on to --
Preterperfect: fui, fuisti, fuit; fuimus,
Juistis,Juerunt, velfuere.
But, between this and the preter-
pluperfect, came a vision of a saddle
and bridle. The idea of various plea-
sant rides he might take with his father,
disturbed him many times in his pro-
gress through the potential mood.
Mary had completely finished all her
morning lessons before he came to the
participle future in rus.
His mother was going out to plant
some flowers in her garden. Before
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? FRANK.
63
she went, she offered to hear Frank his
lesson. He tried to say it, but he
made half a dozen mistakes ; he was
sure he should have it, however, before
she returned.
Mary would not go out without him,
and took up a book to amuse herself
till he should be ready.
He went on, dividing his attention
between his grammar, which lay upon
a chair, and Mary, who sat at a table
at some distance.
" Imperative mood, present tense : sis,
es, esto. I cannot conceive what is the
matter with me this morning, that I
cannot get this by heart. Mary. what's
that beautiful book you have there? "
"'Cowper's Poems," said Mary. -I
am looking at the prints. "' ',* 'it u. y
i(PlUrai,. siftiits, sitis, este, eUote.
What is this? " said he, looking over
her. "' Verses, supposed to have
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? 64
FRANK.
been written by Alexander Selkirk,
during his solitary abode in the island. '
How very extraordinary! Do you
know, my dear Mary, I was just
thinking that I would play at Robinson
Crusoe when I went out. "
"Well, make haste then, and come
out," said Mary.
" Simus, sitis, este, estote, sint, sunto.
But let me look at Robinson Crusoe's
verses," said Frank ; and he read them.
" I'm the monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre, all round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute. "
" My dear Frank, do get your lesson,"
interrupted Mary.
" Well, I am getting it," said Frank,
running back to his book.
" Potential mood: sim, sis, sit; si-
mus, sitis, sint. " Then again to the
verses: --
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? FRANK.
65
"I am out of humanity's reach;
I must finish my journey alone;
Never hear the sweet music of speech ;
I start at the sound of my own. "
" Preterimperfect: essem, esses, esset;
essemus, essetis, essent. What is that,
Mary, about the death of a bullfinch,
killed by a rat ? "
" And Bully's cage, supported, stood,
On props of smoothest shaven wood,
Large built, and la'''- -1 well. "
As Mary was curious to know what
happened to Bully, she let him read
on. And full a quarter of an hour was
spent upon the dream that disturbed
poor Bully's rest. Nor was it till he
came to something about the baccha-
nalians, which they neither of them
understood, that she begged him again
to go to his lesson.
" Prefer pluperfect" said hei run-
g3
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