Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume XXIX, Number 17, 26 April 1890 — Our English Column. [ARTICLE]

Our English Column.

u /n Y<ruth Prtfiare ft>r Mank&i^

UXCLE PHIL*S i)E!>K

When Unele Phil opened b» desk to-day, thc first thing be eame acro* was a stor> aboot TROCW.f.V)*i rnAtTIOXS. and hcrc »s the st« ny : A Ltmer offcttd to givc to a negro who was cultivating his land one-third of all he would raise. But the ncgro vas very mueh dctermined to bavc one-sixth ' So the (arn»tr had to uke six bits of papcr. and by them show the negro ttiat on< third was roor< than nnt iixth. "Well, boss," said the negro doubtfull>, "ef you say on* third is tht mei/, I reckon it is sp. But 1 allowcd om sixth was the most." This little story makes Unele Phil think of the days when he taught frac tions to • h»ldrcn like vou. V*erv often the boys would give the sAme tbe negro did. I will tell you the reav>n why ehildrcn make this mistake so When you first learned U nt "one, two, three, four^ tc ' t y;MJ lhen i earnc d l^4l r in ,n gs wcre more tban thret ►Aings, and yuu learned, too, that you woukl choose six marblcs to thrte mar blcs, bccausc there were mcre of them. S j when you e >me t i learn about paris of things, or fr<utit»ts f your first knowledge, that six is m»>Te than ihrrt, ns:supin your minel and fights with thc new knowledge. and so your first thought is that the sixth part of a thing is groatcr than the third part. That is, the sixth f>art of six things sctms to your mind's eye, as big as the wh f »lc stx thinsi the«nselves But as you eome to know more about ariti|r metic, ihene "troublfsonje fracttolls' , will trouble >ou no more. Here is a ijuestion in fractions that Unele Phil wishes you to think over. He wis*.cs you to writc out a good F.nglish analysis of it. Do not write down a ?»ingle figure, but write out the names <>{ a l the numbers*and fractiuns you will usc. Then sgn your name to the solution, or analys s, and send it to L'nele Phil.

Akl I lIMKI'ICAI. QUF.STIONS. i—Two bt>ys went to buy some marblcs. "I have bought 36 marbles," said Bcn. "How many have you bought, Bnb r •'Two-thirds of your m*rbles t Ben, are e<|ual to three-fourths of mine," said Bob. How many marblei did Bob bu\ ( a—"But / got nine marble» for four cents,'' said Ben. "And / got eight marbles for thrtt cents," said Bob. Now if eaeh boy had spent a quarter of a <lollar for marbtes at those same rates, how many marbles would eaeh have bought ? Please set to work, when you have plenty 0f time, aud write out an analysis of eaeh ul* thtse questions without asking any one to hplp you.

Unele l'hil wiU naw givc you some Ct«ographtcal names. Vou will tind thera in aU your geogr*phies. Hat thcy arc »11 knocked into the printers aay. That ia, the lettcrs are aU mixcd up t-gether. But y u ean put ihem al) bitk »nto their r ; ght placcs if you try f and so ?pell out the tnu (ter>graphic »1 Njm * '• "/Ā" t— cmtoapo is the name of a river 011 the Western Continent. 2 —ddrnakoao i$ thc name o f a ehain of mounuin». 3—*sniboo » the name ol' a grcat c»ty. 4 —rsS*°e* ** name o( a state. s—ssticuuv5 —ssticuuv is the namcof a voleiaa Herc are some more namcs in gcography, with every other letter left out, beginmng with thc tmt. t—aekl ts the name of ahigh mountain «o«newhere in the Ptcific Oeean. a—oiin i* the name of one of the United Stitcs. I—ogog1—ogog ia the name of a city in Asia. 4 —ueir is thc name of a great lake. | i __ ( There! Unele Phil thinks he has given you «noogh to do this week to answer all these questioas, and find out all tbese namea; so he «iU showi yoa t <pmf#ūtū* whkh a small boy' wrolt about a tenr famous man who lived about 400 yean ago. H» name was Christopher CoJurobus» aod he d«cowed • grttt eominem. When the | yetr 189» eomea aroond, it wtU be 400 years aieee Columbua dncoKTtd A«er lea. The people of the United States of Amenea in that year wish to hold a big 6itr, to whkh they intrite all the world. Such a fair ts ca)led an Intcr ttAtioiud E*hib»tioo. Tht» grett fair is to be iield in honor of eohnahoa, «f d if aoy of you ahouidgo to it you woukii

tee mānj woodetM tkipg« frvm rrcrr ptrt of thc vorld. ! Here s the coopositaop, sixf it ts rtry fotmy. Tbc sobject « -euninO "eiumha» vs« a maa who eouW suk« ao egfc stand oo eod «mhovt; breaking il Tbe Kiog Spain a»d to Chimbos, *Can yoo discorcr Aroerk* M Ye%" nid CtomU»s. "if you will give qc a «htp." So be had a ihip, >and sai!ed orer the «ea, io the dtrection wbere he tbooght Amenea ooght to be foon<l The sailor« qoarreled, and they uid tbe> bc!ieTed there was no iuf h } 'aee. But, tfter roany djyv tbc pilot eame to him and sud r "Clumbus, I see land." *'Then that is Amenea," said Clombov When the shio got near, the laod was fill of Waek men. Cfumbus said, "I5 thi* Amenea T it said they. Then he said, * 4 I soppose you ar< tbe n»ggers." they sakl, "ire are." Then the chief s«id, "I suppose you »re Clumbus 7* "V'ou are right," said he — Tben oc c |ū c f turned to his men and said, "There is no help tor H; we art discovered at last M Perhaps that is the way tbe cbiefs fclt when Captain Cook first eame to Waimea, Kauai.

The story of a little boy lcarn« ing to rcad is rcprinted this week because the errors in it last week destroy ed its sense. Here is a funny story of a little boy learning to read. Many of you boys and girls have had the same trouble with what are called 'Mouhle letters M that this little boy had. He was leaming to spell and read at the same time from the "First Rcader " His great trouble was a d<mbU Uttcr. When he eame to the word "feel," instead of si>tlling it "f--louble e-1 feel" he wou!d say "f-e-e-1 'eel." It took weeks to teacb him to , v "doublc" whenever he found two tne same kind of kttcrs togcther. One day, near the end of the vaca* tion, when he had ft-rgotten a great deal <>f what he had le«rmd, he was brougHt o. t befure a eompai y of ladies »nd gcnt!v men to read any pieee they might eh c»sc fir him from the ,4 First Reader." Ay. ung lady chose a poem | wh!c• ,, began w:th this line, "Up, up, Lucy, the s n is in the sky." The little bc yt M»V his plaee in the niddle c f tke parlcr rtjor, made his t>ow, and read the first line thus : %i DoubU up y Lucy, the sun is in the sky." Th's made thc company laugh so mueh that the litt)e boy did not read any more ei the poem to them. Now, Unele Phil tbinks the litt*e boy was nght. If it is right to say 'Uouhle e," when two ts eome together, why is it not right to say "double up," when tw,> u/>t eime together ? But rhe £i g!ish l,n.guage is a hard languaße to learn any way.