“We did have a very pleasant one.  The flowers were blooming on each side of the walk, and sent forth their sweetest aroma, perfuming the soft breezes of the morning.  Birds were flitting from spray to spray, carolling their hymns of praise to Deity.  The tranquil waters of the lake lay slumbering in silence, and reflected the bright rays of the sun, giving a sweet but solemn aspect to the whole scene. To go thro the grove, down by the lake, and up thro the meadow, is the most delightful walk a person can take.”

“How did you get your walk?”

“We walked it, to be sure; how did you think we got it?”

“Oh, I did not know. Walk, your books tell you, is an intransitive verb, terminating on no object; so I supposed, if you followed them, you obtained it some other way; by riding, running, sailing, or, may be, bought it, as you could not have walked it!  Were you tired on your return?”

“We were exceedingly fatigued, for you know it is a very long walk, and we walked it in an hour.”

“But what tired you?  If there are no effects produced by walking, I can not conceive why you should be fatigued by such exercise.”

Who does not perceive what flagrant violations of grammar rules are committed every day, and every hour, and in almost every sentence that is framed to express our knowledge of facts.

To step.

This verb is the same in character with the two just noticed.  It expresses the act of raising each foot alternately, and usually implies that the body is, by that means, conveyed from one place to another.  But as people step their feet and not their hands, or any thing else, it is entirely useless to mention the object; for generally, that can not be mistaken any more than in the case of the gloves, boots, and hat.  But it would be bad philosophy to teach children that there is no objective word after it, because it is not written out and placed before their eyes.  They will find such teaching contradicted at every step they take.  Let a believer in intransitive verbs step on a red hot iron; he will soon find to his sorrow, that he was mistaken when he thought that he could step without stepping any thing.  It would be well for grammar, as well as many other things, to have more practice and less theory.  The thief was detected by his steps.  Step softly; put your feet down carefully.

Birds fly.

We learned from our primers, that

    “The eagle’s flight
    Is out of sight,”

How did the eagle succeed in producing a flight?  I suppose he flew it.  And if birds ever fly, they must produce a flight.  Such being the fact, it is needless to supply the object.  But the action does not terminate solely on the flight produced, for that is only the name given to the action itself.  The expression conveys to the mind the obvious fact, that, by strong muscular energy, by the aid of feathers, and the atmosphere, the bird carries itself thro the air, and changes its being from one place to another.  As birds rarely fly a race, or any thing but themselves and a flight, it is not necessary to suffix the object.