McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXXII · Part 4: Riches, eagles and good neighbors

36. Circumstances Alter Cases

Goal: Your child reads a funny dialogue in parts and explains why Scrapewell changed his mind.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil

What's in the book

A dialogue between neighbor Derby, who wants to borrow a gray mare, and stingy Scrapewell, who has an excuse for everything until he hears what Derby's trip will earn him. Definitions follow.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    The new words are at the end of the lesson, under Definitions. The small number in front of each word is the paragraph or verse where it is used. Read them together before the lesson. A few of them:

    Whimsical, full of whims.

    Bungler, a clumsy workman.

    Backward, slow, unwilling.

    Crammed, stuffed.

    Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.

  2. Read it aloud

    This is written like a play. Take parts: you read Derby and your child reads Scrapewell (and Tim), then swap. It begins:

    "Good morning, neighbor Scrapewell."

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhat excuses did Scrapewell give for not lending the mare? Can you remember them all?

    SayWhat did Tim say about the mare's back?

    SayWhat news made Scrapewell suddenly willing?

    SayWhat does the title "Circumstances Alter Cases" mean here?

    Let your child look back at the page to find answers.

  4. Tell it back

    Close the book. Your child tells what happened in the dialogue, in ordinary sentences, with Scrapewell's excuses in order.

  5. Copywork

    Your child copies this from the book, slowly and neatly, minding every capital letter and mark of punctuation:

    "I would not have disobliged you for the price of two such mares."

  6. Words to learn

    Learn: extremely, whimsical, curried, forelock, bungler, capable, refusal, crammed. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Afterwards

Act out the dialogue for someone else in the family.

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