+Direction+.—-Weave the facts below into two paragraphs, supplying what you need, and tell what each paragraph is about:—
In place of the old tree there was a pole. This was tall and naked. A flag was fluttering from it. The flag had on it the stars and stripes. This was strange to Rip. But Rip saw something he remembered. The tavern sign. He recognized on it the face of King George. Still the picture was changed. The red coat gone. One of blue and buff in its place. A sword, and not a scepter, in the hand. Wore a cocked hat. Underneath was painted—"General Washington."
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LESSON 157.
THE PARAGRAPH.
+Direction+.—-Weave the facts below into three paragraphs, and write on the margin what each is about:—
The Nile rises in great lakes. Runs north. Sources two thousand miles from Alexandria. Receives two branches only. Runs through an alluvial valley. Course through the valley is 1,500 miles. Plows into the Mediterranean. Two principal channels. Minor outlets. Nile overflows its banks. Overflow caused by rains at the sources. The melting of the mountain snows. Begins at the end of June. Rises four inches daily. Rises till the close of September. Subsides. Whole valley an inland sea. Only villages above the surface. The valley very fertile. The deposit. The fertile strip is from five to one hundred and fifty miles wide. Renowned for fruitfulness. Egypt long the granary of the world. Three crops from December to June. Productions—grain, cotton, and indigo.
Direction.—-Weave these facts into four paragraphs, writing the margin of each the main thought:—
The robin is thought by some to be migratory. But he stays with us all winter. Cheerful. Noisy. Poor soloist. A spice of vulgarity in him. Dash of prose in his song. Appetite extraordinary. Eats his own weight in a short time. Taste for fruit. Eats with a relishing gulp, like Dr. Johnson's. Fond of cherries. Earliest mess of peas. Mulberries. Lion's share of the raspberries. Angleworms his delight. A few years ago I had a grapevine. A foreigner. Shy of bearing. This summer bore a score of bunches. They secreted sugar from the sunbeams. One morning, went to pick them. The robins beforehand with me. Bustled out from the leaves. Made shrill, unhandsome remarks about me. Had sacked the vine. Remnant of a single bunch. How it looked at the bottom of my basket! A humming-bird's egg in an eagle's nest. Laughed. Robins joined in the merriment.
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