t lesson, how an infant child first learned to
speak, when it was taught by its father and mother, and brother and
sisters.

2. I intend to show you, in this lesson, how the little child learned
the meaning of a great many words himself, without the assistance of any
one else.

3. He was very fond of Guido, the dog, and watched everything he did,
especially when his brother George was playing with him.

4. When George called Guido, and said to the dog, "_Come here_, Guido,"
the little boy could not help noticing that Guido _went to_ George.

5. When George's father or mother called George, and said, "Come here,
George," the little child saw that George _went to_ his father, or his
mother.

6. Now, nobody told the little child what George, or his father, or his
mother, meant by the word _come_; but he always saw, that when any one
said to another, "_Come_," that the one who was spoken to always _moved
towards_ the person who called him, and in this way the little child
found out what his father or his mother meant by the word _come_.

7. It was in this way, my young friend who are reading this lesson, that
you, yourself, learned the meaning of most of the words that you know.

8. When you were a little child, like the infant of whom I have been
speaking, you knew no more about words, or about speaking, than he did.

9. But, by hearing others speak and use words, you learned to use them
yourself; and there is no word ever used, either in books or anywhere
else, that you cannot find out its meaning, provided that you hear it
used frequently, and by different persons.

10. I will now give you an example, to show you what I mean. I will give
you a word that you probably never heard of before; and although I shall
not tell you what the word means, I think you will find it out yourself,
before you have read many more lines of this lesson.

11. The word _hippoi_ is the word that I shall choose, because I know
that you do not know the meaning of it; but I wish you to read the
following sentences in which the word is used, and I think that you will
find out what _hippoi_ means, before you have read them all.

12. In California, and in Mexico, and in most parts of South America,
there are many wild _hippoi_, which feed on the grass that grows wild
there.

13. The Indians hunt the _hippoi_; and when they catch them, they tame
them, and put bridles on their heads, and bits in their mouths, and
saddles on their backs, a