German composition

Section 61 Tender⁠, Trusty, and True. I.1

(Extract from a sermon preached to a congregation of children at Chicago.)

When⁠2 I was in the Sunday-school, and had just begun to read about⁠3 David, I⁠4 did not feel sure he ever was a real baby, and had to be fed with a teaspoon; or that he ever was a real little boy⁠5 that⁠6 went to school as I did, and played marbles⁠7, and had a peg-top⁠8, a jack-knife⁠9, some slate pencils, ever⁠10 so many buttons, and a piece of string⁠11, all in one pocket; that⁠12 he ever had to try hard not to cry when he went to school very cold⁠13 mornings; or⁠14 that the teacher spoke sharp to him, when the little chap had tried⁠15 his best to get⁠16 his lesson, and⁠17 did not get it very well.

Notes

1 Zartfühlend, zuverlässig und treu.

2 Say ‘when I went to the Sunday-school’, and supply the adverb noch after the subject.

3 über.

4 Say ‘I could scarcely imagine, that he ever really had been a little child and had to be fed with a teaspoon (und mit einem Theelöffel habe gefüttert werden müssen)’. By carefully reading §§ 29 and 30 of the Appendix, the student will see that the verbs depending on the governing verb ‘imagine’ must stand in the Perfect of the Subjunctive Mood. According to S. 52, N. 8, however, the auxiliary ‘sei’ may be omitted in the clause ‘that he ever really had been a little child’.

5 Junge. The auxiliary ‘sei’ may again be omitted here.

6 that = who; as I did = ‘like myself’, which place immediately after the relat. pron.

7 Schusser. Remember that both this and the next clause are depending on the relative clause ‘that — did’; place, therefore, the verb ‘played’ after ‘marbles’, and the verb ‘had’ after ‘peg-top’.

8 Kreisel, m.

9 Taschenmesser, n.

10 ever so many, eine Unzahl von, i.e. no end of.

11 ein Stück Bindfaden.

12 that — hard, daß er sich je habe anstrengen müssen.

13 cold mornings, an einem sehr kalten Morgen, which place after the subject. ‘To go to school’, zur (or in die) Schule gehen.

14 Say ‘or that the teacher had ever scolded (schelten) the little fellow (Bursche), when he had’, etc.

15 to try one’s best, sich Mühe geben.

16 to get one’s lesson = to learn one’s lesson, seine Lektion erlernen.

17 Say ‘and had not learnt it well’, and supply the adverb doch (nevertheless) after the objective pronoun ‘it’. For the position of the verb see App. § 17.