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A Change of Accent takes place on the following words accord ing as they are Nouns, Verbs, or Adjectives.

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Sometimes the same parts of speech have a different accent to make a difference

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of signification.

buffet' (a cupboard)

to conjure, to intreat)

des'ert (a wilderness) desert' (merit) sin'ister (insidious) sinis'ter (the left side.

MENTOR.

The Cruel Boy.

1. AS a bird one day was flying to seek food for its young ones, a boy, who had a gun in his hand, saw it, and shot the poor thing through its head, and down it fell to the ground. The boy then ran to it, and picked it up; and when he saw that it was dead, he was very sorry for what he had done.

2. How cruel it was to kill the poor bird, which never did any harm in all its life; and to take it from its young ones, which were in the nest, wanting it to come back and feed them.

3. The poor little birds could not think why their mother staid so long from them, and kept chirping till they were quite tired. At night they grew so cold, for want of their mother to brood over them, that they did not know what to do.

4. There were five in the nest, and two of them perished with cold and hunger in the night. The other three lived till the next morning, when, getting to the edge of the nest, to look for their mother, two of them fell out, and broke their bones.

5. They lay in great pain for some time upon the ground, but could not move, for they were too young to hop or fly. At last the poor things died. But the other poor little bird that was left in the nest, did not die so soon, for it lived all day very cold and in great pain; it was almost famished for want of food.

6. It kept chirping, as long as it had strength to make any noise, in hopes its mother would hear, and come and feed it. But, poor thing, she was dead, and could not hear it. So, at last, when it was quite tired, it lay still at the bottom of the nest; and in the night it rained fast, and the wind blew; so it died with cold, just as it began to grow daylight.

7. Thus, there was an end of the five pretty young birds, which all died in such a painful manner, because a hard-hearted, cruel boy shot their poor mother.

*Preparatory to the learner's commencing the reading lessons, it is strongly recommended that he be required to spell, accent and pronounce at sight all the primitive and derivative words in the introduction, and determine which are the initial and terminational syllables, and be practised in spelling these exercises both in and out of the book,

The Silly Girl.

1. A LITTLE girl, whose mother was so kind as to teach her to read, had a great many pretty books given to her; but she was so silly, that she would not take care of them, but used to spoil, and tear them so, that they could not be read.

2. One day, her aunt gave her a new book, full of spelling and reading, and pretty pictures, desiring her to take care of it, and not let it get soiled or torn. The little girl said she would be sure and keep it very choice.

3. But it was not long before she forgot to put it into her box, after she had been reading in it; and so it was tossed about, and some of the leaves were pulled out, and the back broken off; and at last a little dog, in playing with it, gnawed it all to pieces.

4. Then the little girl could not read in it any more, nor see the pretty pictures again. She was now sadly vexed that she had been so careless, and wished for a new book; and her father was so kind as to give her one. But she soon let that be spoiled, as the others had been..

5. All her friends grew tired of giving her books, when they saw that she took no care of them; and she was obliged at last to go without any to read in.

6. What a sad thing that was, to have no book, but to grow up and not to be able to spell or read. I hope all the little boys and girls who hear about this careless child, will think of her, and take care not to let their own books be so spoiled and torn, as her's were; but, when they have done reading, put them away in some place where they will be safe, and ready for the next time they want them.

The Brother and Sister.

1. A GENTLEMAN had two children, a son and a daughter. The boy was often more admired for his beauty than the little girl. They were both very young, and happened one day to be playing near their mother's looking-glass. The boy, pleased with his appearance, viewed himself for some time, and observed to his sister, how handsome he was.

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2. The poor little girl was very much hurt at his remark, and went quickly to her father to be revenged upon him; and, in the height of her resentment, said, it was a shame that a boy, who was born to be a man, should make so free with a piece of furniture which entirely belonged to the ladies.

3. The good gentleman clasping them both in his arms, with all the tenderness of a fond parent, said,My dear children, I

wish that each of you would view yourselves in the glass every day of your lives; you my son, that you may never disgrace your beauty by an unworthy action; and you, my daughter, that you may cover the defects of your person with the charms of virtue.'

Amelia and her Canary-Bird.

1. As Amelia was one day looking out of the window, a man happened to pass by, crying, Canary-birds; come buy my canary-birds. The man had a large cage upon his head, in which the birds hopped about from perch to perch, and made little Amelia quite in love with them.

2. Will you buy a pretty bird or two, little girl?' said the man. I have no objection, (replied she,) provided my father will give me leave. If you will stop a little while, I will let you know.' So away she ran up stairs to her father, while the birdman put down his cage at the door.

3. Amelia ran into her father's chamber quite out of breath, crying, 'O dear father, only come here! here is a man in the street who has a large cage on his head, with a great many canary-birds in it.' Well, and what of all that? (replied he ;) why does that seem to rejoice you so much?"

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4. Amelia answering, that she should be happy to buy one of them; her father reminded her, that the bird must be fed ; and should it be neglected, even only for a day, it would certainly die.

5. Amelia promised that she would never eat her own breakfast till she had fed her bird; but her father reminded her that she was a giddy girl, and that he feared she had promised too much. However, there was no getting over her coaxing and wheedling, so that her father was at last obliged to consent that she should buy one.

6. He then took Amelia by the hand, and led her to the door, where the man was waiting with his birds. He chose the prettiest canary-bird in the cage; it was a male, of a fine lively yellow colour, with a little black tuft on its head.

7. Amelia was now quite cheerful and happy, and pulling out her purse, gave it to her father to pay for the bird. But what was to be done with the bird without a cage? and Amelia had not money enough to buy one. However, on her promising that she would take great care to feed the bird, her father bought her a fine cage, of which he made her a present.

8. As soon as Amelia had given her canary-bird possession of her new cage, she ran about the house, calling her mother, her

brothers and sisters, and all the servants, to come and see her pretty canary-bird, to which she gave the name of Cherry.

9. When any of her little friends came to see her, the first thing she told them was, that she had one of the prettiest canarybirds in the world. It is as yellow as gold, said she, and it has a little black crest on its head, and can sing most harmoniously. Come, you must go and see it. Its name is Cherry."

10. Cherry was as happy as any bird need wish to be, under the care of Amelia. Her first business every morning was to feed Cherry; and whenever there was any cake on the table, Cherry was sure to come in for a share of it. There was always some bits of sugar in store for it, and its cage was constantly decorated with the most lively herbage.

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11. This pretty bird was not ungrateful, but did all in its power to make Amelia sensible how much it was obliged to her. soon learned to distinguish her, and the moment it heard her step into the room, it would flutter its wings, and keep up an incessant chirping. It is no wonder, that Cherry and Amelia became very fond of each other.

12. The little bird soon began to sing the most delightful songs. It would sometimes raise its notes to so great a height, that you would almost think it must kill itself with such willing exertions. Then, after stopping a little, he would begin again, with a tone so sweet and powerful, that it was heard in every part of the house.

13. Amelia would often sit for whole hours by its cage, listening to its melody. Sometimes, so attentively would she gaze at it, that she would insensibly let her work fall out of her hands; and after it had entertained her with its melodious notes, she would regale it with a tune on her bird organ, which it would endeavour to imitate.

14. In length of time, however, these pleasures began to grow familiar to its friend Amelia. Her father, one day, presented her with a pretty book, with which she was so much delighted, that Cherry began to lose at least one half of her attention.

15. As usual, it would chirp the moment it saw her, 'let her be at what distance she would; but Amelia began to take no notice of it, and almost a week had passed, without its receiving either a bit of biscuit or a fresh supply of chickweed. It repeated the sweetest and most harmonious notes that Amelia had taught it, but to no purpose.

16. It now appeared too clearly, that new objects began to attract Amelia's attention, and poor Cherry was neglected.

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