Aunt Mary\'s Primer
A FEW WORDS TO THE TEACHER. When Little Mary (or any other little girl or boy) knows all the letters perfectly, let the teacher turn over a page and pronounce one of the mono-syllables. Do not say _a, m, am_--but say _am_ at once, and point to the word. When the child knows that word, then point to the next, and say _as_, and be sure to follow the same plan throughout the book. Spelling lessons may be taught at a more advanced age; but it will be found that a young child will learn to read much more quickly if they be dispensed with in the Primer. In words of more than one syllable, it is best to pronounce each syllable separately, _car, pet_,--_po, ker_,--and so on. In the lesson on "Things in the Room," point out each thing as the child reads the word, and indeed, wherever you can, try to associate the word with its actual meaning. Show a child the word _coach_ as a coach goes past, and she will recollect that word again for ever. In the "Lesson on the Senses," make the child understand how to feel cold and heat, by touching a piece of cold iron or marble, and by holding the hand to the fire,--how to smell, to hear, to see, and to taste. In the "Lesson on Colours," be sure to show each colour as it is read; and
Dresden. Never, as contemporaries tell us, did Paris see
entertainments more superb than those which preceded and followed the
sovereign's marriage with an Austrian archduchess. Never, in the most
splendid days of the Monarchy, had so many crowned heads thronged the
shores of the Seine, never had the French aristocracy been so rich or
so splendid. The diamonds lavishly scattered over the women's dresses,
and the gold and silver embroidery on the uniforms contrasted so
strongly with the penury of the Republic, that the wealth of the globe
seemed to be rolling through the drawing-rooms of Paris. Intoxication
seemed to have turned the brains of this Empire of a day. All the
military, not excepting their chief, reveled like parvenus in the
treasure conquered for them by a million men with worsted epaulettes,
whose demands were satisfied by a few yards of red ribbon.
At this time most women affected that lightness of conduct and
facility of morals which distinguished the reign of Louis XV. Whether
it were in imitation of the tone of the fallen monarchy, or because
certain members of the Imperial family had set the example--as certain
malcontents of the Faubourg Saint-Germain chose to say--it is certain
that men and women alike flung themselves into a life of pleasure with
an intrepidity which seemed to forbode the end of the world. But there
was at that time another cause for such license. The infatuation of
women for the military became a frenzy, and was too consonant to the
Emperor's views for him to try to check it. The frequent calls to
arms, which gave every treaty concluded between Napoleon and the rest
A FEW WORDS TO THE TEACHER. When Little Mary (or any other little girl or boy) knows all the letters perfectly, let the teacher turn over a page and pronounce one of the mono-syllables. Do not say _a, m, am_--but say _am_ at once, and point to the word. When the child knows that word, then point to the next, and say _as_, and be sure to follow the same plan throughout the book. Spelling lessons may be taught at a more advanced age; but it will be found that a young child will learn to read much more quickly if they be dispensed with in the Primer. In words of more than one syllable, it is best to pronounce each syllable separately, _car, pet_,--_po, ker_,--and so on. In the lesson on "Things in the Room," point out each thing as the child reads the word, and indeed, wherever you can, try to associate the word with its actual meaning. Show a child the word _coach_ as a coach goes past, and she will recollect that word again for ever. In the "Lesson on the Senses," make the child understand how to feel cold and heat, by touching a piece of cold iron or marble, and by holding the hand to the fire,--how to smell, to hear, to see, and to taste. In the "Lesson on Colours," be sure to show each colour as it is read; and