practice speaking before a looking-glass, that he might see himself,
and try to correct the habit.

11. To break himself of a habit he had of shrugging up his shoulders,
and making himself appear hump-backed, he hung up a sword over his back,
so that it might prick him, with its sharp point, whenever he did so.

[Illustration]

12. He shut himself up in a cave under ground, and, in order to confine
himself there to his studies, he shaved the hair off of one half of his
head, so that he might be ashamed to go out among men.

13. It was in this way that this great man overcame all of his
difficulties, and, at last, became one of the greatest orators that have
ever lived.

14. Now, whenever you have a hard lesson to read, or to study, think of
Demos'thenes, and recollect how he overcame all his difficulties, and I
think you will find that you have few things to do so hard as these
things which he did.

15. When your teacher requests you to put out your voice and speak loud,
remember what Demos'thenes used to do to strengthen his voice, and you
will find very little trouble in speaking loudly enough to be heard, if
you will only try.

LESSON XV.

_Hard Words._

1. In one of the former lessons, you were taught how to read long and
hard words, by taking them to pieces, and reading a part of a word at a
time.

2. I promised you also that this book should not be filled with hard
words; but I did not promise that there should be no hard words in it.

3. Having taught you how to read hard words, I propose, in this lesson,
to give you a few long words to read,--not for the purpose of
understanding what they mean, but only to make you able to read such
words, when you find them in any other book.

4. The best way of getting rid of all difficulties, is to learn how to
overcome them, and master them; for they cease to be difficulties, when
you have overcome them.

5. Demos'thenes, as I told you in the last lesson, had a very hard task
to perform, before he became a great orator. You, also, can become a
good scholar, if you will take pains to study your lessons, and learn
them well.

6. Before you read any lesson to your teacher from this book, it is
expected that you will study it over, and find out all the most
difficult words, so that you may read them right off to him, without
stopping to find them out, while he is waiting to hear you read them.

7. Now, here I shall place a few hard words for you to