c., the words are entirely independent of any adjective
force.

Exercise.

Pick out the nouns in the following sentences, and tell to which class
each belongs. Notice if any have shifted from one class to another.

1. Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

2. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate.

3. Stone walls do not a prison make.
Nor iron bars a cage.

4. Truth-teller was our England's Alfred named.

5. A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little
courage.

6. Power laid his rod aside,
And Ceremony doff'd her pride.

7. She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies.

8. Learning, that cobweb of the brain.

9. A little weeping would ease my heart;
But in their briny bed
My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread.

10. A fool speaks all his mind, but a wise man reserves something for
hereafter.

11. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble
that he knows no more.

12. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.

13. And see, he cried, the welcome,
Fair guests, that waits you here.

14. The fleet, shattered and disabled, returned to Spain.

15. One To-day is worth two To-morrows.

16. Vessels carrying coal are constantly moving.

17. Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

18. And oft we trod a waste of pearly sands.

19. A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays
And confident to-morrows.

20. The hours glide by; the silver moon is gone.

21. Her robes of silk and velvet came from over the sea.

22. My soldier cousin was once only a drummer boy.

23. But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.

24. All that thou canst call thine own Lies in thy To-day.

INFLECTIONS OF NOUNS.

GENDER.

[Sidenote: _What gender means in English. It is founded on sex._]

21. In Latin, Greek, German, and many other languages, some general
rules are given that names of male beings are usually masculine, and
names of females are usually feminine. There are exceptions even to
this general statement, but not so in English. Male beings are, in
English grammar, always masculine; female, always feminine.

When, however, _inanimate_ things are spoken of, these languages are
totally unlike our own in determining the gender of words. For
instance: in Latin, _hortus_ (garden)