Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu/62

58 completed at or before the time of another future action or event; as, "I wonder how many conquests I shall have made by to-morrow morning."

N. B. One ball is often the means of killing a great many people.

The consideration of the tenses suggests various moral reflections to the thinking mind. A couple of examples will perhaps suffice;—

1. Present, though moderate fruition, is preferable to splendid, but contingent futurity; i. e. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

2. Imperfect nutrition is less to be deprecated than privation of aliment;—a new way of putting an old proverb, which we need not again insert, respecting half a loaf.

have observed that boys, in conjugating verbs, give no indications of delight, except that which an ingenious disposition always feels in the acquisition of knowledge. Now, having arrived at that part of the Grammar in which it becomes necessary that these same verbs should be considered, we feel ourselves in an awkward dilemma. The omission of the conjugations is a serious omission—which, of course, is objectionable in a comic work—and the insertion of them would be equally serious, and therefore quite as improper. What shall we do? We will adopt a middle, course; referring the reader to Murray and other talented authors for full information on these matters; and requesting him to be content with our confining