RULE VII. Omission of Letters, Figures, or Words. The dash is often used to denote an omission of a. With the exception of the dash in the ellipsis of figures, this mark may be made of various lengths, as directed by the taste of the writer or printer, or in proportion to the number of letters or words omitted. b. When, at the beginning or end of a poetical quotation, a portion is omitted, it is recommended that a blank be left, instead of using the dash; the position of the lines sufficiently indicating the ellipsis; as, Oh! it is excellent To have a giant's strength. ORAL EXERCISE. Show how the two preceding Rules, and the Remarks under them, are applicable to the insertion of the dashes found in these sentences : — By the L! madam, you wrong me, and the world shall know it. Though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship. Canon the Sixth. - All words and phrases which are remarkably harsh and unharmonious, and not absolutely necessary, may justly be judged to merit degradation. —JAMIESON: Grammar of Rhetoric, p. 64. OBSEQUIES. We celebrate noble obsequies to those we love, more by drying the tears of others than by shedding our own; and the fairest funeral wreath we can hang on their tomb is not so fair as a fruit-offering of good deeds. - Richter. Q. What is the Scripture doctrine of progress? — A. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. iii. 13—15.) Don. Good-morrow, Count Erizzo, you are early. Are you Eriz. Ay, Donato, The common destination; but I go With an old friend. Don. What, Celso, thou turned courtier! In the silence of evening, conscience has a distinct and audible voice. And for us, erring, sinning men, it is greatly wise to listen, — "To talk with our past hours, And ask them what report they bore to heaven, And how they might have borne more welcome news." A SOFT ANSWER TURNETH AWAY WRATH. The Horse in the Pound, and the Cattle in the Field. - The horse of a pious man in Massachusetts happening to stray into the road, a neighbor of the man who owned the horse put him in the pound. Meeting the owner soon after, he told him what he had done, and added, "If ever I catch him in the road hereafter, I'll do just so again."-"Neighbor," replied the other, "not long since, I looked out of my window in the night, and saw your cattle in my mowing ground; and I drove them out, and shut them in your yard; and I'll do it again." Struck with the reply, the man liberated the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. — Anecdotes of Kindness and Philanthropy. SECT. CLXXVIII. — A CONSISTENT SERVANT. A very rich lady in Boston had in her employment a young man from the country. On certain occasions, he was instructed to inform any company who might ring at the door, that Mrs. not at home. was One day, John made his reply to an intimate friend of the lady, who shortly went away, leaving a card and a promise to call again. As the card was handed to Mrs. —, she said, "John, what did you say to the lady?"-"I told her you were not at home.". John, I hope you did not laugh?". Oh, no! ma'am," said John: "I never laugh when I tell a lie." "Well, 197 CHAPTER IV. LETTER, SYLLABIC, AND QUOTATION POINTS. -- 1. The gram THE points treated of in the two preceding chapters have been classified into two kinds, matical; and, 2. The grammatical and rhetorical. As previously stated, they are used for the purpose of developing the sense of a composition, by exhibiting the various connections and constructions of words, phrases, and clauses; and of aiding the delivery, by showing the nature of sentences, as affirmative, interrogative, emotional, parenthetic, suspensive, or broken. The marks to be considered in this chapter are These are put into a class different from the others, because, though they serve to bring out the sense and to aid a just delivery, they do not exhibit any analysis of sentences, or point out the relation of their parts to one another, but call the attention merely to letters or syllables, as do the Apostrophe and Hyphen, or to something foreign to the meaning and construction of the passages to which they are prefixed and annexed, as is the case with the Marks of Quotation. 198 SECT. I. THE APOSTROPHE. The APOSTROPHE ['] is a mark distinguished in appearance from a comma, only in being placed above the line; but its uses are altogether different. RULE I. Elision of Letters, or Shortening of Words.. The apostrophe is used, chiefly in poetry and in familiar dialogue, to denote the omission of a letter or of letters. a. A word pronounced in full should not be abbreviated with the apostrophe, except in headings to column-work, where saving of room is necessary, and where the full point at the end would not indicate the word intended. - See p. 149, Remark c. b. Though not, strictly speaking, abbreviations, the plurals of mere letters or of Arabic figures are formed by the insertion of an apostrophe before the s; as, "Mark all the a's and o's in your exercise." "In this sum there are four 2's and three 5's." c. It was once a common practice, especially in verse, to write and print tho' and thro', instead of though and through; but these abbreviated forms are now discontinued, for the very just reason that they do not shorten the pronunciation of the words, the chief object for which abbreviations are used. To prevent, however, the turning of a line in poetry, so as to occupy the space of two, which is offensive to the eye, tho' and thro' may occasionally be thus printed. d. Borough, the termination of some proper names, is not unfrequently contracted into bro or boro, either with or without the addition of an apostrophe; as, Marlbro, Southboro'. If the abbreviation is made, the apostrophe should be used to indicate the omission of the last letters; but, except in lines where room must be saved, it would be much better to write and print all such words in full; as, Marlborough. Edinboro' is a barbarous corruption of Edinburgh, and should never deface a printed page. e. The particle till, being a substitute for until, which is now seldom used, should not be preceded by an apostrophe. f. The mark under notice is erroneously used in the words to, the, heaven, power, every, threatening, and others of a similar nature, when written, as they frequently are in verse, t', th', heav'n, pow'r, ev'ry, threat'ning, &c.; for, though apparently, in the full or unelided form, making a syllable additional to the number of the feet required by the verse, they are never pronounced differently from the same words in prose, nor does this pronunciation at all affect the rhythm. Indeed no elocutionist or poet deserving of the name would read the phrases, "to attain perfection" and "the accomplished sofa," in the following lines, as if written tattain perfection, thaccomplished sofa; though, judging from the mode in which they were originally printed ("t' attain, th' accomplished"), a reader might imagine that this absurd pronunciation was requisite. The verse in which they occur should therefore stand thus: So slow The growth of what is excellent; so hard And Luxury, the accomplished sofa next. g. It seems to have been the practice in former times to pronounce, as an additional syllable, the ed in the imperfect tense of verbs, in past participles, and in participial adjectives; and hence arose the propriety, in poetical works of a bygone age, of omitting the e in words of this sort, and of supplying its place with an apostrophe, when the termination treated of coalesced in pronunciation with the primitive to which d or ed was attached. Now, however, that this syllable is not separately enunciated in prose, except in learned, beloved, cursed, winged, when used as adjectives, and in some |