30. When you are asked what anything is, recollect what I have told you about a bird, and try to recall everything that you ever knew about the thing, and in this way you will be able to give a satisfactory answer.
31. This will also teach you to think, and that is one of the most important objects for which you go to school. It will enable you also to understand what you read; and you can always read those things best which you understand well.
LESSON XII.
Reading and Spelling.
1. Another important thing for which you go to school is to learn how to spell. It is not always very easy to spell, because there are so many different ways in which the same letters are pronounced in different words.
2. That you may understand what I mean, I shall give an example, to show you how many different ways the same letters are pronounced in different words; and also another example, to show you how many different ways there are of spelling the same syllable.
3. To show you, first, in how many different ways the same letters are pronounced in different words, I shall take the letters o, u, g, h.
4. The letters o, u, g, h, are sounded or pronounced like the letter o alone, in the word though. The letters o, u, g, h, are pronounced like uf, in the word tough.
5. In the word cough, the letters o, u, g, h, are pronounced like off. In the words slough and plough, the letters o, u, g, h, are pronounced like ow; and in the word through, they are pronounced like ew, or like u.