2. The Catskill Mountains lie to the west of the Hudson River. They are very beautiful.
3. The news of Lexington and Concord was sent to Philadelphia. Here the Continental Congress was assembled. The members agreed upon Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
30. The Purpose of Expansion.—We sometimes expand passages in order to make them clearer by explanation or illustration.
Examples. 1. In the Old World there are various grades of society, and it is almost impossible for a boy born in the lower to rise into the higher ranks. In this country this is not so; every man is as good as his neighbor.
2. In the aristocracies of the Old World, wealth and society are built up like the strata of rock which compose the crust of the earth. If a boy be born in the lowest stratum of life, it is almost impossible for him to rise through the hard crust into the higher ranks; but in this country it is not so. The strata of our society resemble rather the ocean, where every drop, even the lowest, is free to mingle with all others, and may shine at last on the crest of the highest wave. This is the glory of our country, and you need not fear that there are any obstacles which will prove too great for any brave heart.
Exercise 71.—Expand into a paragraph such of the following statements as your teacher may indicate:—
1. The early bird catches the worm.
2. If you would be well served, serve yourself.
3. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of a horse, the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the army was lost.
4. Benedict Arnold's last request, it is said, was that he might die in his old American uniform; his last prayer, that God would forgive him for ever having put on any other.