5. After Washington's retreat from Long Island in September, 1776, he needed information as to the British fortifications. A young American officer, Nathan Hale, volunteered to get the information. While inside of the enemy's lines he was taken prisoner and hanged as a spy. With his latest breath he regretted that he had only one life to lose for his country.
31. Paraphrase.—There is just one further kind of writing, in which the ideas are given you, that will be profitable to you as practice. This is paraphrase. To paraphrase a piece of writing is to restate it in your own words and in a simpler form.
You used one form of paraphrasing in the exercise on page 60, when you explained figurative expressions by changing them into simpler or plainer language. In figurative language a resemblance between things otherwise unlike is pointed out or taken for granted, and in order to understand the author's meaning you must be able to discover the resemblance. By reducing the figure to plain language you make sure that you understand it; and you are often led in this way to see much more clearly the beauty or the force of the figure.
In a similar manner paraphrasing will aid you in understanding difficult passages, whether in verse or in prose, which you may come on in your reading. It is said of Lincoln that whenever he read anything that seemed to him very difficult, he would try to express it so simply that people who knew less than he could understand it. Perhaps this is one reason why Lincoln's speeches and writings are so beautifully clear.
Examples. 1. The reports of the expedition demonstrated the practicability of establishing a line of communication across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
The reports of the expedition proved that it would be possible to build a road across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
2. Two leading objects of commercial gain have given birth to wide and daring enterprise in the early history of the Americas, the precious metals of the south and the rich peltries of the north. While the Spaniard, inflamed with the mania for gold, has extended his discoveries and conquests over those brilliant countries scorched by the ardent sun of the tropics, the Frenchman and Englishman have pursued the no less lucrative traffic in furs amid the hyperborean regions of the Canadas.—Washington Irving: Astoria.
Two important objects of commerce have given birth to daring undertakings in the early history of North and South America. These are the gold and silver of the south and the rich furs of the north. The Spaniard, mad for gold, has explored and conquered the tropical countries. Meanwhile, the Frenchman and the Englishman have followed the equally profitable traffic in furs in the far northern regions of Canada.
3. Meanwhile the choleric captain strode wrathful away to the council,
Found it already assembled, impatiently waiting his coming;
Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment,
Only one of them old, the hill that was nearest to heaven,
Covered with snow, but erect, the excellent Elder of Plymouth.