VERBENA 



60;>S 



VERDI 



Ontllne on the Verb 



(1) Definition 



(2) Classes 



(a) Transitive and Intransitive 



(b) Principal and Auxiliary 



(c) Regular and Irregular 



(d) Other possible classifications 



(3) Properties 



(a) Voice 



(b) Mode 



(c) Tense 



(d) Person 



(e) Number 



(4) Verbals 



(a) Participles 



(b) Infinitives 



(5) Conjugation 



(6) Parsing the Verb 



(a) Essentials to be stated 



(b) Type sentence 



(7) Common Errors 



Related Subjects. In connection with this 

 study of the verb, the reader may consult the 

 following articles in these volumes: 

 Conjugation Participle 



Grammar Person 



Infinitive Sentence 



Inflection Syntax 



Mode Tense 



Parsing 



VERBE'NA, a genus of plants belonging to 

 the vervain family. Several European species 

 have been naturalized in America, and have 

 become exceedingly troublesome in some parts 

 of the United States. Almost all of the wild 

 varieties are flow- 

 ering weeds with 

 four-sided stems 

 and opposite or 

 alternate leaves, 

 bearing spikes of 

 small purplish or 

 white flowers, but 

 many of those in 

 cultivation have 

 showy pink or 

 purple flower 

 clusters. In fact 

 the blooms are 

 seen in almost 

 every color ex- 

 cept yellow. The 

 plants grow in 



THE VERBENA 



moist meadows and in waste places, blossoming 

 in the United States and Canada from June to 

 September. In tropical countries certain spe- 

 cies attain the height of trees, but those of 

 temperate climates are herbs or shrubs. 



VERDI, vair'de, GIUSEPPE (1813-1901), possi- 

 bly the most popular of all opera composers, 

 was born at Roncole, not far from Parma, 



VERDI 



Italy, October 10, 1813. His father was the 

 humble keeper of the village store and inn, an 

 honest man, ambitious for his son to rise to a 

 higher station in life. In 1814 the village was 

 invaded by Austrian troops, and many of -the 

 women and children were slaughtered in the 

 church. One 

 child was hidden 

 in safety with his 

 mother in the 

 bell tower, and 

 this child was 

 little Giuseppe 

 Verdi. The boy 

 showed early 

 fondness for 

 music, but he did 

 not seem to be 

 unusually tal- 

 ented in his early 

 years, either in his playing or in composition. 



When he was seven years old he was given 

 a small piano by his father, and he practiced 

 so earnestly upon it that when some portions 

 needed repairs the admiring village mechanic 

 would take no pay for the work. The kind- 

 hearted man placed an inscription within the 

 piano stating his reasons for the charity, and 

 the old instrument is now among Verdi's ef- 

 fects. The name of Stephen Cavaletti, the 

 humble village workman, will be remembered 

 as long as the career of Verdi is studied. 



At eight years of age Verdi began to study 

 organ music in his native city, but within six 

 months had learned all the organist knew of the 

 art. He was then sent to school at the neigh- 

 boring village of Busseto, and he paid three 

 cents a day for tuition, a sum of money that 

 his poor father almost starved himself to pro- 

 cure. Indeed, the poverty of the family was so 

 great that at the age of ten the child had to 

 become a clerk for a Busseto merchant, and 

 from that time he earned his own living. This 

 merchant introduced him to the organist of 

 Busseto Cathedral, who taught him music for 

 three years. Meanwhile, when the boy was 

 eleven years old, he was appointed organist at 

 Roncole, and though the salary was but a little 

 over seven dollars per year, he was able to 

 assist his hard-worked father. 



In his fifteenth year he went to Milan to 

 enter the conservatory of that city, but was 

 refused admission because the faculty discov- 

 ered that he had no special talent for music! 

 Verdi immediately placed himself under the in- 

 struction of the conductor of the famous Scala 



