The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 100–101 · Part 1: Part First
34. A Farewell, and a review of the rules
Goal: Your child learns Kingsley's short poem by heart and can say all the rules of Part First so far.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 100 tells about Charles Kingsley and gives his poem "A Farewell", written for a child who asked him for a song, to learn by heart. Section 101 is a review of all the rules and definitions learned so far, to learn by heart.
The lesson, step by step
Read about Kingsley and the poem
Read Section 100. Then read the poem aloud.
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
Ask: What one lesson does he give the child "for every day"?
A note on "clever"
The book says clever means "quick-witted and skilful". Ask: What does "Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever" mean? (Being good matters more than being clever.)
Learn it
Learn both stanzas by heart, a line at a time.
Review the rules (Section 101)
Read the rules on page 99 aloud together. Then play "Show me": you name a rule, and your child shows an example in their notebook from earlier lessons.
Write a review
Your child writes 5 sentences, each one using a different rule: a question, a name with initials, a date, a title, a contraction. Then labels which rule each shows.
Check it gently
Check only the rule each sentence was meant to show. Your child fixes any slip.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Have you ever seen a hummingbird? (a question)
My cousin is J. R. Wells. (initials)
We leave on June 2, 2026. (a date)
Dr. Kim lives next door. (a title)
I'm almost ready. (a contraction)
Afterwards
Say "A Farewell" every day this week until it is easy, then write it from memory.
Answers to the book's problems
The rules of Section 101 in short: words express thought; a sentence expresses a thought; a statement ends with a period; a question ends with an interrogation point; sentences, lines of poetry, names of persons and places, titles, months and days begin with capitals; initials are capitals with periods; I is always a capital; abbreviations take periods; the apostrophe marks letters left out in contractions.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.