In most verbs, the only change made is to add ed to the present; that gives us the past and the form used with have, e.g., walk, walked, have walked. Do not say "I seen " for "I saw." Do not use bring for brought. Be careful not to confuse lie with lay or sit with set. Do not say "I have went" for "I have gone." Complete the following sentences by using a correct form of the verb given in parentheses. Use the past form, or the form with have. The strangers (sit) on the ground. The messenger (come) to the tent. They (go) to see the fire. They (lay) their burdens down. They (see) their friends saved. They (go) back rejoicing. They (eat) and (sleep) after their fatigue. The bells (ring) with the good news. Composition.Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other winter holidays should be times of peace and good will. A good Thanksgiving story should be full of thankfulness. A good Christmas story should be full of Christmas joy and peace and good will to men. Expand one of the following condensed paragraphs into a Christmas story. Try to give it the true Christmas spirit. I. Mother gone to visit a poor family on Christmas morning. Four little sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, await her return. She comes in and tells of the poor little children who have no breakfast. The four girls carry them theirs. Satisfy their own hunger with bread. How they felt after their return. II. A poorly furnished room. Two little children asleep in one bed. Two little empty stockings by the fireplace. Older boy, evidently bootblack, enters. Fills the little stockings. Goes to bed. Children's joy in the morning. III. Two boys have quarrel. Do not speak to each other. Become reconciled on New Year's morning. One has done a generous deed. It is discovered by the other. In writing these stories try to give life by using some direct quotations. Plan your whole story before you begin. Make an outline. Criticise your own composition before you hand it in by answering the following questions: (1) Is this story interesting? (2) Have I made good sentences? (3) Does each paragraph treat of only one topic? (4) Have I spelled and punctuated correctly? (5) Is this my very best work? 84 THE RESCUE [Columbus discovered America while trying to find a shorter route from Europe to India, and even after men knew that America was a continent, Englishmen long searched for a northwest passage through the icy regions between Greenland and the mainland. On a voyage of this sort the famous Sir John Franklin and all his ship's company were lost. Several expeditions were sent out in search of him, and among them was one from America, headed by Captain Kane. He did not find Sir John, but he gained much valuable information about the polar seas and had many adventures, of which this is one of the most thrilling. It is winter, the ship is ice-bound, and he sets out to search for some lost companions.] WE were at work cheerfully, sewing away at the skins of some moccasins by the blaze of our lamps, when, toward midnight, we heard the noise of steps above, and the next minute Sontag, Ohlsen, and Petersen came down. 5 into the cabin. Their manner startled me even more than their unexpected appearance on board. swollen and haggard, and hardly able to speak. They were Their story was a fearful one. They had left their companions in the ice, risking their own lives to bring us 10 the news: Brooks, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre were all lying frozen and disabled. Where? They could not tell: somewhere in among the hummocks to the north and east; it was drifting heavily round them when they parted. Irish Tom had stayed by to feed and care for the others; 15 but the chances were sorely against them. It was in vain to question them further. They had evidently traveled a great distance, for they were sinking with fatigue and hunger, and could hardly be rallied enough to tell us the direction in which they had come. 20 My first impulse was to move on the instant with an unencumbered party: a rescue, to be effective or even hopeful, could not be too prompt. What pressed most on my mind was, where the sufferers were to be looked for among the drifts. Ohlsen seemed to have his faculties. rather more at command than his associates, and I thought that he might assist us as a guide; but he was 5 sinking with exhaustion, and if he went with us we must carry him. There was not a moment to be lost. While some were still busy with the newcomers and getting ready a hasty meal, others were rigging out the "Little Willie" with a 10 buffalo cover, a small tent, and a package of pemmican; and, as soon as we could hurry through our arrangements, Ohlsen was strapped on in a fur bag, his legs wrapped in dogskins and eider down, and we were off upon the ice. Our party consisted of nine men and myself. We carried 15 only the clothes on our backs. The thermometer stood at 46°, seventy-eight degrees below the freezing point. A well-known peculiar tower of ice, called by the men the "Pinnacly Berg," served as our first landmark; other icebergs of colossal size, which stretched in long beaded lines 20 across the bay, helped to guide us afterward; and it was not until we had traveled for sixteen hours that we began to lose our way. We knew that our lost companions must be somewhere in the area before us, within a radius of forty miles. Mr. 25 Ohlsen, who had been for fifty hours without rest, fell asleep as soon as we began to move, and awoke now with |