Part 67

Say ‘He who (+Wer+, after which supply the pron. +selbst+) needs (+bedürfen+, requires the gen. of the def. art.) help, cannot help others’.

to have enough, +zur Genüge haben+.

Say ‘before (+ehe+) we can have to spare (+etwas übrig haben+)’.

Section 88.

A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT.

A gentleman, just returned from a journey to (S. 72, N. 4) London, was surrounded by his children, eager, after the first salutation was over, to hear the news, and still more eager to see the contents of a small portmanteau, which were, one by one, carefully unfolded and displayed to view. After having distributed amongst the children a few small presents, the father took his seat again, saying, that he must confess he had brought from town, for his own use, something far more curious and valuable than any of the little gifts (S. 16, N. 10) they had received. It was, he said, too good to present to any of them; but he would, if they pleased, first give them a brief description of it (S. 4, N. 5, B), and then perhaps they might be allowed to inspect it.

+merkwürdig.+

The noun ‘=gentleman=’ may be used in its unaltered form in German.

+heim´kehren+; for the constr. see S. 7, N. 3, B.

+von+; to surround, +umrin´gen+.

Say ‘who after the first salutations were eager (+begierig+)’.

+der Inhalt+, which has no plural.

Since the antecedent of the pron. which (i.e. +Inhalt+) has no plural in German, the constr. of the passage ‘which — to view’ must be altered. Let us say ‘from which (+aus welcher+, to agree with +Reisetasche+ in the fem. sing.) then (supply the adverb +auch+ in this place) every piece was carefully unpacked (+aus´packen+) and shown round (+umher´zeigen+)’.

Construe accord. to S. 55, N. 1; to distribute, +vertei´len+; amongst, +unter+, with the acc. The direct object must be placed before the words ‘amongst the children’.

Say ‘he sat down again and said’.

that he must confess, +er wolle es nur gestehen+.

This passage is best introduced by the conj. +daß+. Read carefully App. §§ 28 and 30.

+aus der Stadt+, which place before the p. p. (+mitgebracht+).

+irgend eins.+

Say ‘he continued’.

See S. 19, N. 7, and supply here the pron. +es+; to any = to one.

Say ‘if they wished it’.

+und dann dürften sie es sich vielleicht ansehen.+

Section 89.

A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT.

II.

The children were accordingly all attention, while the father thus proceeded: “This small instrument displays the most perfect ingenuity of construction, and exquisite nicety and beauty of workmanship. From its extreme delicacy, however, it is so liable to injury, that it is always protected by a sort of light curtain, adorned with a beautiful fringe, and so placed as to fall in a moment on the approach of the slightest danger. The external appearance of the instrument is always more or less beautiful, though in this respect there is a great diversity in the different sorts. The internal contrivance, however, is the same in all of them, and is so curious, and in its power so astonishing, that no one who knows it can suppress his surprise and admiration.”

+natürlich die Aufmerksamkeit selbst.+