Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "The Song of Hiawatha."
John Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress."
The subject for composition was "A Day in the Woods."
We give the following questions to illustrate our method of conducting an
+Observation Lesson+.—Are city and Albany both names? What difference can you discover in meaning? What in form? Which of the names just written are class names? Which are individual names? Mention an individual name made up of two names; one of three names; one of four. How many capitals do you find in each of the names just mentioned? Mention seven words that are written without capitals as class names, and again with capitals as parts of individual names. Mention a word that is shortened, or abbreviated, by omitting all but the first, or initial, letter. Mention an abbreviation containing two letters; one containing three; one containing four. What new use of the period have you discovered in this exercise? What three words in this exercise are used together as the title of a book? What four as the title of a poem? What five as the subject of a school composition? Each of these groups may be regarded as a kind of individual name. Besides the first word, what words begin with capitals in each of these three groups? Notice that these are the principal words.
For another exercise the pupils may copy the following sentences, noting carefully capitals and punctuation marks:—
1. The city of Chicago is on Lake Michigan. 2. The steamer City of Chicago sails from Jersey City. 3. The island of Cuba is under Spanish rule. 4. The Isle of Man is in the Irish Sea. 5. The Hon. Wm. E. Gladstone is an English statesman. 6. The subject for composition was "The View from my Window." 7. In the evening Aunt Mary entertained my cousin and me with stories of Uncle Remus. 8. Miss Evans—afterward Mrs. Lewes—was the author of "The Mill on the Floss." 9. We may call the Supreme Being our Heavenly Father. 10. The Old Testament points to the coming of a Messiah. 11. George I., George II., George III., George IV., and William IV. preceded Victoria.
The teacher may find the following questions suggestive:—
+Observation Lesson+.—Is Chicago, or city of Chicago the individual name of the place mentioned in (1)? Is Chicago, or City of Chicago the name of the steamer mentioned in (2)? Is the town mentioned in (2) named Jersey, or Jersey City? Is the body of water mentioned in (1) known as Michigan, or Lake Michigan? What is the name of the island mentioned in (3)?—in (4)? Is Irish, or Irish Sea the name of the body of water mentioned in (4)?
Notice that Spanish, in (3), and English, in (5), are not names, or nouns. They begin with capitals, because they are derived from the individual names Spain and England.
What names in (7) usually denote relationship? Notice that such words as uncle, captain, professor, etc., do not necessarily begin with capitals unless prefixed to individual names.
What group of words in (6) is treated as an individual name? What in (8)?
Which words of these groups are regarded as the most important?