imilarity of
agents, actions, and objects.--Verbs made from nouns.--Irregular
verbs.--Some examples.--Regular Verbs.--_Ed_.--_Ing_.--Conjugation
of verbs.--To love.--To have.--To be.--The indicative mood
varied.--A whole sentence may be agent or object.--Imperative
mood.--Infinitive mood.--Is always future.

I have said before that action can never be known separate from the
actor; that the verb applies to the agent in an _acting_ condition, as
that term has been defined and should be understood. Hence Person and
Number can never attach to the verb, but to the agent with which, of
course, the action must, in every respect, agree; as, "_I write_." In
this case the action corresponds with myself. But to say that _write_ is
in the "first person, singular number," would be wrong, for no such
number or person belongs to the verb, but is confined to myself as the
agent of the action.

The form of the verb is changed when it agrees with the second or third
person singular; more on account of habit, I apprehend, than from any
reason, or propriety as to a change of meaning in the word. We say, when
using the regular _second_ person singular, "_thou writest_," a form
rarely observed except in addresses to Deity, or on solemn occasions. In
the _third_ person, an _s_ is added to the regular form; as, "_he
writes_." The old form, which was in general use at the time the common
version of the Bible was published, was still different, ending in
_eth_; as, _he thinketh_, _he writeth_. This style, altho considerably
used in the last century, is nearly obsolete. When the verb agrees with
the plural number it is usually the same as when it agrees with the
first person; as, "_We write_, _you write_, _they write_." There are few
exceptions to these rules.

Some people have been very tenacious about retaining the old forms of
words, and our books were long printed without alteration; but change
will break thro every barrier, and book-makers must keep pace with the
times, and put on the dress that is catered for them by the public
taste; bearing in mind, meanwhile, that great and practical truths are
more essential than the garb in which they appear. We should be more
careful of our health of body and purity of morals than of the costume
we put on. Many genteel coats wrap up corrupt hearts, and fine hats
cover silly heads. What is the chaff to the wheat?

Even our good friends, the quakers, who have particularly labo