B.
Q. What is this?
A. The letter B--the first letter in baker, butter,
bacon, brewer, button, bell, &c., &e. [The teacher can take
any of
these names he pleases, for instance, the first:] Children, let me
hear you spell baker.
A. B-a-k-e-r.
Q. What is a baker?
A. A man who makes bread.
Q. What is bread made of?
A. It is made of flour, water, yeast, and a little salt.
Q. What is flour made of?
A. Wheat.
Q. How is it made?
A. Ground to powder in a mill.
Q. What makes the mill go round?
A. The wind, if it is a windmill.
Q. Are there any other kinds of mills?
A. Yes; mills that go by water, mills that are drawn round by horses,
and mills that go by steam.
Q. When the flour and water and yeast are mixed together, what does
the baker do?
A. Bake them in an oven.
Q. What is the use of bread?
A. For children to eat.
Q. Who causes the corn to grow?
A. Almighty God.
C.
Q. What is this?
A. It is letter C, the first letter in cow, c-o-w, and cat, &c.
Q. What is the use of the cow?
A. The cow gives us milk to put into the tea.
Q. Is milk used for any other purpose besides putting it into tea?
A. Yes; it is used to put into puddings, and for many other things.
Q. Name some of the other things?
A. It is used to make butter and cheese.
Q. What part of it is made into butter?
A. The cream which swims at the top of the milk.
Q. How is it made into butter?
A. It is put into a thing called a churn, in the shape of a barrel.
Q. What is done next?
A. The churn is turned round by means of a handle, and the motion turns
the cream into butter.
Q. What is the use of butter?
A. To put on bread, and to put into pie-crust, and many other nice things.
Q. Of what colour is butter?
A. It is generally yellow.
Q . Are there any other things made of milk?
A. Yes, many things; but the principal one is cheese.
Q. How is cheese made?
A. The milk is turned into curds and whey, which is done by putting
a liquid into it called rennet.
Q. What part of the curd and whey is made into
cheese?
A. The curd, which is put into a press; and when it has been in the
press a few days it becomes cheese.
Q. Is the flesh of the cow useful?
A. Yes; it is eaten, and is called beef; and the flesh of the young
calf is called veal.
Q. Is the skin of the cow or calf of any
use?
A. Yes; the skin of the cow or calf of any use?
A. Yes; the skin of the cow is manufactured into leather for the soles
of shoes.
Q. What is made with the calf skin?
A. The top of the shoe, which is called the upper-leather.
Q. Are there any other parts of the cow that
are useful?
A. Yes; the horns, which are made into combs, handles of knives, forks,
and other things.
Q. What is made of the hoofs that come off the cow's feet?
A. Glue, to join boards together.
Q. Who made the cow?
A. Almighty God.
D.
Q. What is this?
A. Letter D, the first letter it dog, dove, draper, &c.
Q. What is the use of the dog?
A. To guard the house and keep thieves away.
Q. How can a dog guard the house and keep thieves away?
A. By barking to wake the persons who live in the house.
Q. Is the dog of any other use?
A. Yes; to draw under a truck.
Q. Does he do as his master bids him?
A. Yes; and knows his master from any other person.
Q. Is the dog a faithful animal?
A. Yes, very faithful; he has been known to die of grief for the loss
of his master.
Q. Can you mention an instance of the dog's faithfulness?
A. Yes; a dog waited at the gates of the Fleet prison for hours every
day for nearly two years, because his master was confined in the prison.
Q. Can you mention another instance of the dog's faithfulness?
A. Yes; a dog lay down on his master's grave in a churchyard in London
for many weeks.
Q. How did the dog get food?
A. The people who lived near noticed him, and brought him victuals.
Q. Did the people do any thing besides giving him victuals
A. Yes; they made a house for him for fear he should die with wet and
cold.
Q. How long did he stay there?
A. Until the people took him away, because he howled dreadfully when
the organ played on
Sundays.
Q. Is it right to beat a dog?
A. No; it is very wrong to use any animal ill, because we do not like
to be beaten ourselves.
Q. Did Almighty God make the dog?
A. Yes; and every thing else that has life.
E.
Q. What letter is this?
A. E, the first letter in egg.
Q. What is the use of an egg?
A. It is useful for many purposes; to put into puddings, and to eat
by itself.
Q. Should country children keep an egg if they find it in the hedge?
A. No, it is thieving; they should find out the owner and take it home.
Q. Do children ever throw stones at the fowls?
A. Yes; but they are mischievous children, and perhaps do not go to
school.
Q. What ought children to learn by going to school?
A. To be kind and good to every body, and every thing that has life.
F.
Q. What letter is this?
A. Letter F, the first letter in frying-pan, father, &c.
Q. Let me hear you spell frying-pan.
A. F-r-y-i-n-g-p-a-n.
Q. What is the use of the frying-pan?
A. To fry meat and pan-cakes.
Q. Spell me the names of the different kinds of meat.
A. B-e-e-f, p-o-r-k, m-u-t-t-o-n, l-a-m-b, h-a-m, &c.
Q. Of what shape are frying-pans?
A. Some circular, and some are like an ellipsis.[A]
Q. Are there any other utensils into which meat is put that are circular?
A. Yes, please, sir, my mother has some circular plates; and, please,
sir, my mother has some elliptical dishes.
Q. Any thing besides?
A. Yes, please, sir, my mother has a circular table; and, please, sir,
my
mother has a rectangular one, and it is made of deal.
[Footnote A: It may possibly strike some of my readers as strange
that a geometrical question should be put in a conversation on the
alphabet, but it should be remembered that, according to the Infant
School system, _language_ is not taught exclusively, but in connection
with _number_ and _form_;--questions like the above, therefore are
calculated to excite their memories, and induce an application of
their geometrical knowledge.]
G.
Q. What letter is this?
A. Letter G, the first letter in goat, good, girl, &c.
Q. Spell goat.
A. G-o-a-t.
Q. What is the use of the goat'?
A. In some countries people drink the goat's milk; and the skin is
useful to make the upper-leather of shoes.
Q. Are goats fond of going into the valleys and low places?
A. No; they are fond of going up hills and high places.
Q. If a goat is coming down a hill which has only one narrow path merely
wide enough for one goat to walk on without falling down, and another
goat is coming up the same path, what do they do?
A. The goat that is coming up lies down and lets the other goat walk
over him.
Q. Why does not one of the goats turn round and go back again?
A. Because there would not be room, and the one which should try to
turn round would fall down and be killed.
Q. What letter is this?
A. Letter H, the first letter in horse, house, &c.
Q. What is the use of the horse?
A. To draw carts, coaches, stages, waggons, fire-engines, &c.
Q. Spell horse, and cart, and coach.
A. H-o-r-s-e, c-a-r-t, c-o-a-c-h.
Q. What is the difference between a cart and coach?
A. A cart has two wheels, and a coach has four.
Q. Tell me some other difference.
A. The horses in a cart go before each other, but the horses in a coach
go side by side.
Q. What is the use of a fire-engine?
A. To put the fire out when the house is on fire.
Q. Is it right for children to play with the fire?
A. No, very wrong; as many children are burnt to death, and many houses
burnt down from it.
Q. Should the horse be cruelly used?
A. No; he should be kindly treated, as he is the most useful animal
we have.
Q. Who created him?
A. Almighty God.
I.
Q. What letter is this?
A. Letter I, the first letter in iron, idleness, &c.
Q. Spell iron.
A. I-r-o-n.
Q. What is the use of an iron?
A. To iron the clothes after they are washed, and to make them smooth.
Q. How do they iron the clothes?
A. Make the iron hot, and then work it backwards and forwards on the
clothes.
Q. Should little children come with clean clothes to school?
A. Yes; and clean hands and faces too.
Q. Is not iron used for other purposes?
A. Oh, yes; for a great many things, as knives, forks, &c.
J.
Q. What is this letter?
A. J, the first letter in jug, John, &c.
Q. What is the use of the jug?
A. To hold water, or beer, or any other liquid.
Q. What is a jug made of?
A. Of clay, which is worked round into the shape of a jug, and then
burnt, and that hardens it.
Q. Should children be careful when they are carrying a jug?
A. Yes; or else they will let it fall and break it.
Q. Then it is necessary for children to be careful?
A. Yes, every body should be careful.
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