270 BBOOICs' FIRST LESSONS I.N" LATIN'. 



interruption is occasioned by the departure of the birds to tropical cli- 

 mates, which is then so sudden and complete, that after a single night 

 not one is to be seen until the succeeding season. What is most sur- 

 prising is the number of these little visiters. Some speak of them as 

 many millions, some as far surpassing those immense flocks of pigeons 

 which weigh down whole acres of forest in the Mississippi valley, and 

 a friend remarked that he would not have before believed that the whole 

 world contained as many swallows as regularly congregate here. 



Martinsburg is no doubt under great obligations to this interesting 

 army for the destruction of millions of noxious insects which might 

 otherwise be annoying to personal comfort, and greatly injurious to ag- 

 ricultural interests. Infinitely wise and good are the Divine arrange- 

 ments ! J. A. S. 



brooks' first lessons in latin. 

 Prof. Brooks, of Baltimore, has lately brought out a little work un- 

 der the above title, which we most cordially commend to the notice of 

 all our classical teachers. It is, we think, just such a work as they have 

 long wanted. As its title imports, it is intended for those commen- 

 cing" the study of the Latin language, and is admirably adapted to facili- 

 tate and render agreeable the acquisition of its elementary grammatical 

 principles. The prominent advantages Avhich we believe this work to 

 possess are the following : 



1. It contains all, and only those parts of the grammar Avhich the 

 student ought to commit thoroughly to memory in the first instance. — 

 Boys especially are apt to be discouraged when a volume as large as 

 either Ross' or Adams' is put into their hands, with the understanding 

 that they are to commit every syllable of its text to memory, and if 

 they are allowed to omit the large mass of notes and observations in the 

 first instance, they are likely to take up the idea that they need never 

 learn them very thoroughly. 



2. It is a practical and not merely a theoretical grammar as most of 

 .such works now in use are. The learner at once applies what he has 

 learned, and thus impresses it more deeply upon his memory and be- 

 comes more interested in it. We anticipate much from this course, but 

 especially the prevention of sciolism. 



3. It compresses a great deal of matter into a very small space. — 

 Some things might be added to it, but it contains no superfluities. It 

 does not appear to have been Prof. Brooks' design to "make a book," 

 but to supply what his own experience as a teacher had taught him was 

 required by beginners. 



4. It is a Christian and an American book. In the examples and 

 exercises a lai-ge amount of the matter is drawn from the Bible and 

 from American themes, and is deeply imbued with the spirit of our in- 

 stitutions and of Christianity. The advantages of this are too obvious 

 to require that we should insist upon them. A few sentences taken 



