A Busy Year at the Old Squires | Page 4

a few of the sentences here, to illustrate
what Master Pierson thought might be done with Latin as a universal
language.
Master Pierson's Universal Language in Latin, which he named Dic
from dico, meaning to speak.
1 It is time to get up. = Surgendi tempus est. 2 The sun is up already. =
Sol jamdudum ortus. 3 Put on your shoes. = Indue tibi ocreas. 4 Comb
your head. = Pecte caput tuum. 5 Light a candle and build a fire. =
Accende lucernum, et fac ut luceat faculus. 6 Carry the lantern. We
must water = Vulcanum in cornu geras. the horses. Equi aquatum
agenda sunt. 7 It is a very hot day. = Dies est ingens æstus. 8 Let's go to
the barn. = Jam imus horreum. 9 Grind the axes. = Acuste ascias. 10 It
is near twelve o'clock. = Instat hora duodecima. 11 It is time for dinner.
= Prandenti tempus adest. 12 Please take dinner with us. = Quesso
nobiscum hodie sumas prandiolum. 13 Make a good fire. = Instruas
optimum focum. 14 This chimney smokes. = Male fumat hic caminus.
15 The wood is green. = Viride est hoc lignum. 16 Fetch kindling wood.
= Affer fomitem. 17 Lay the table cloth. = Sterne mappam. 18 Dinner
is ready. = Cibus est appositus. 19 Don't spoil it by delay. = Ne
corrumpatur mora vestra. 20 Sit down. = Accumbe. 21 This is my place.
= Hic mihi locus. 22 Let him sit next me. = Assideat mihi. 23 Say grace,
or ask a blessing. = Recita consecrationem. 24 Give me brown bread. =
Da mihi panem atrum. 25 I am going to school. = Eo ad scholam. 26
What time is it? = Quota est hora? 27 It is past seven. = Præteriit hora
septima. 28 The bell has rung. = Sonuit tintinnabulum. 29 Go with me.
= Vade mecum. 30 The master will soon be here. = Brevi præceptor
aderit. 31 I am very cold. = Valde frigeo. 32 My hands are numb. =
Obtorpent manus. 33 Mend the fire. = Apta ignem.
I have copied out only a few of the shorter sentences. There were, as I
have said, fully twenty pages of it, enough for quite a respectable
"Universal Language," or at least the beginnings of one. Perhaps some
ambitious linguist will yet take it up in earnest.
CHAPTER II

CUTTING ICE AT 14° BELOW ZERO
Generally speaking, young folks are glad when school is done. But it
wasn't so with us that winter in the old Squire's district, when Master
Pierson was teacher. We were really sad, in fact quite melancholy, and
some of the girls shed tears, when the last day of school came and "old
Joel" tied up the melodeon, took down the wall maps, packed up his
books and went back to his Class in College. He was sad himself--he
had taken such interest in our progress.
"Now don't forget what you have learned!" he exclaimed. "Hang on to
it. Knowledge is your best friend. You must go on with your Latin,
evenings."
"You will surely come back next winter!" we shouted after him as he
drove away.
"Maybe," he said, and would not trust himself to look back.
The old sitting-room seemed wholly deserted that Friday night after he
went away. "We are like sheep without a shepherd," Theodora said.
Catherine and Tom came over. We opened our Latin books and tried to
study awhile; but 'twas dreary without "old Joel."
Other things, however, other duties and other work at the farm
immediately occupied our attention. It was now mid-January and there
was ice to be cut on the lake for our new creamery.
For three years the old Squire had been breeding a herd of Jerseys.
There were sixteen of them: Jersey First, Canary, Jersey Second, Little
Queen, Beauty, Buttercup, and all the rest. Each one had her own little
book that hung from its nail on a beam of the tie-up behind her stall. In
it were recorded her pedigree, dates, and the number of pounds of milk
she gave at each milking. The scales for weighing the milk hung from
the same beam. We weighed each milking, and jotted down the weight
with the pencil tied to each little book. All this was to show which of
the herd was most profitable, and which calves had better be kept for
increase.

This was a new departure in Maine farming. Cream-separators were as
yet undreamed of. A water-creamery with long cans and ice was then
used for raising the cream; and that meant an ice-house and the cutting
and hauling home of a year's stock of ice from the lake, nearly two
miles distant.
We built a new ice-house near the east barn in November;