SECOND READING-BOOK. BY CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE, D.D. "ONE SOUND AT A TIME." LONDON: W. TEGG AND CO., 12, PANCRAS LANE, CHEAPSIDE THIS series of Elementary Readers is based on the principle of lightening, as far as possible, the tedious labour of teaching and learning the often arbitrary and confusing symbols which express the vowel sounds in English, by giving only one of these sounds at a time; first in its simpler, and afterwards in its more unusual forms. The Sound taught one day is included in the lesson of the next, but only one new vowel sound, or mode of expression of a vowel sound, is given in each lesson. Any exception is an accidental, and, it is believed, a rare oversight. As in my Spelling Book, the Pronunciation is based on that given by A. MELVILLE BELL, Dr. MORELL, DONALD WEBSTER, and the Synopsis of the Systems of WALKER, PERRY, JAMESON, KNOWLES, SMART, and WORCESTER, given in Dr. Goodrich's Edition of Webster. Since, however, differences obtain among Authorities, and only one Standard could, as a rule, be given, the Compiler trusts that in any case in which Teachers or others, who use this book, would prefer a pronunciation in any measure varying from that indicated, they will kindly remember the difficulty of pleasing all tastes. AN SECOND BOOK. LESSONS ON SOUNDS PREVIOUSLY GIVEN. A HOUSE. A, slate, match, straw, stairs, chairs, taʼbles. E, keep, sheets, trench, left, else. I, built, brick, build, split, bind, tiles. O, north, strong, mor'tar, stone, goes, slope. U, wood, loose, rooms, burnt. DIPHTHONGS, house, south, ground, join. A HOUSE is built of brick, or stone, or wood, but most houses in the south of Britain are of brick, and in the north, of stone. Long ago, all houses were built of wood, or of mud and loose stones. They must have been very cold. When a house is to be built, men dig a trench in the ground for the walls. Then they lay bricks in this trench, and bind them into a strong wall with mortar. They build up the walls till they are high in the air. On the top of the walls is the roof, which goes up with a slope. On this tiles or slates, |