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LESSON V

The aim of the condensative paraphrase is to get at the heart of the matter, to sift out the non-essential and fix attention on the main thing.

It is a good way to test whether a passage has unity of structure, one main thought, and everything else subordinate to that, or whether it is a mere heap of unarranged scraps. Persistent practice in condensing will enable you to make the main thought stand out without confusion, and show just how the lesser things are connected with it.

Now after we have found the author's main thought and thus focused our attention upon the dominant idea, we need also to see it vividly and dwell upon its details long enough to absorb its full significance; until the vague haziness with which we first perceived the meaning changes to a clear, definite, rich possession of the full import of the passage. We can do this by making an expansive paraphrase. Let your mind dwell on the thoughts and feelings contained in the passage until others arise, such as must have been in the Author's mind when he wrote this. Ask yourself, what was the Author's situation, why did he write this, what were his feelings when he wrote it, what other thoughts were, or might have been, in his mind at that time?

He is the skilful reader who succeeds in bringing up in the minds of his hearers vivid images of the scenes and persons described. To do this he must have in his own mind a clear picture of everything he would convey. The persons must become real to him for the time. So real must the picture be to the reader that he would be able to answer questions about details that were not named by the author. This habit of picturing is the chief secret of effective and impressive reading.

The following examples of expansive paraphrase may be suggestive. It is not enough to use other words. Try to express all the thought. Picture it in your own mind.

Suppose you were asked to paraphrase the first sentence in the twenty-third Psalm.

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No matter what may happen, I shall not be left helpless or unprovided, for the all-powerful Jehovah is caring for me as kindly as a shepherd tends his sheep.

Passage

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Paraphrase

Ọ, thou Savior, with whom we can be as safe and unshaken as on a great rock, Thou hast suffered on account of my sin such agony of soul that it seemed as if it would break Thy heart and shatter Thee. O, let me hide in Thy protection from the guiltiness that pursues me, and the temptation that besets me. In thy very life cleanse and heal me. Give me rest from this terrible sense of guilt, and make me strong enough to conquer the power of sin's temptations.

Expand the following into 50 to 75 words each.

In every case try to make the picture clearer, fuller, and more vivid.

1. Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands, Serve Jehovah with gladness,

Come before his presence with singing.

2. Oh that I could fly away and be at rest.

3. Right forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne;

But that scaffold sways the future, and behind the
dim unknown

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above
His own.

4. Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime.

5. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth.

6. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll.

7. O the long and dreary Winter,

O the cold and cruel Winter.

EXERCISES

Take Exercises 1 to 12, then follow with
13. a. Thrust the diaphragm down.

b. Let diaphragm recede easily.
c. Repeat four times.

14. a. Thrust diaphragm down (as in 13).

b. Contract the lower abdominal muscles.

c. Let muscles relax.

d. Repeat four times.

15. a. Inhale slowly, keeping chest up, and stretching the waist.

b. Blow strongly through a very small opening of the lips, stretching the waist all the time.

c. Let muscles relax.

d. Repeat four times.

Note: The student will probably find these exercises easier if he lays his wrists on his waist with the hands stretched over the abdomen. No. 14 makes all the walls of the air chamber firm, and tense enough to make the tone resonant instead of muffled or breathy.

LESSON VI

Read the following narratives carefully, picturing them to yourself, make them re-live until they tingle with life, and then tell each to the class.

POETIC JUSTICE ON A STREET CAR

A conductor on a street car had refused to take a transfer on the ground that it was long after the hour punched. The passenger was politely told that under the rules, the transfer could not be accepted, and that he would have to pay his fare or leave the car.

"I'll not pay, and I'll not leave the car," said the passenger savagely.

"I'll pay for you then," said the conductor, ringing up the fare. "I'd rather lose five cents than wrangle with a passenger."

This would doubtless have closed the incident had not the irate passenger seen "Abe" Hummel, a well-known lawyer, sitting opposite him, and appealed to him to know if he was right or wrong in refusing to pay his fare.

"Do you wish my legal advice?" asked Mr. Hummel, with a show of gravity.

"I do."

"I never give legal advice without a fee."

"Well, here's a five-dollar bill," said the passenger, peeling off a bill from a big roll, and handing it to Mr. Hummel, who promptly accepted it.

"My advice is, pay your fare or get off the car."

"Is that all?"

"No," replied Mr. Hummel. Then calling the conductor, and handing him the bill, he remarked, "It is certainly worth that much to find and reward a gentlemanly conductor."

A HOSPITABLE GRUMBLER

When Anthony Trollope was a young man in the postal service of Great Britain, one of his duties was to investigate complaints made by the public. On one occasion he was sent to visit a gentleman in Ireland, who had complained in frequent letters of the injury done him by some of the postal arrangements.

It was midwinter, and I drove up to his house (a squire's country-seat) in a snow-storm, just as it was getting dark. I was on an open jaunting-car, and was certainly very cold, and very wet when I entered the house.

I was admitted by a butler, but the gentleman himself hurried into the hall. I at once began to explain my business.

"Bless me!" he said, "you are wet through. John get Mr. Trollope some tea-very hot."

I was beginning my postal story again when he himself took off my great coat, and suggested that I should go up to my bedroom before I troubled myself with business.

"Bedroom!" I exclaimed. Then he assured me that he would not allow a dog to depart on such a night as that, and into the bedroom I was shown, having first drunk the tea standing at the drawing room fire.

When I came down I was introduced to his daughter, and the three of us went in to dinner. I shall never forget his righteous indignation when I again brought up the postal question. Was I such a Goth as to contaminate dinner with business? So I finished dinner, and then heard the young lady sing, while her father slept in his arm-chair. I spent a very pleasant evening, but my host was too sleepy to hear anything about the post-office that night.

It was absolutely necessary that I should go away the next morning after breakfast, and I explained that the matter must be discussed then. He shook his head and wrung his hands in unmistakeable disgust-almost in despair.

"But what am I to say in my report?" I asked.

"Anything you please," he said. "Don't spare me, if you want an excuse for yourself. Here I sit all the day, with nothing to do; and I like to write letters."

I did report that Mr. So-and-so was now quite satisfied with the postal arrangements of his district, and I felt a soft regret that I should have robbed my friend of his occupation.

FRED EVANS

Fred Evans was a boy who worked on the dump in an Illinois coal mine. One day there was a cave-in, and the earth and coal in settling imprisoned sixty men. The foreman of the rescuing party saw the small opening that the cave-in had left between them and the outer world, and he asked this boy if he would dare to help them. "The hole is just big enough for you to crawl through," he said, "and to drag a hose pipe after you. You'll have to be mighty careful, or the coal will settle and crush your life out. But if you can get it through to them, then we can pump air enough in to keep them alive till we can dig them out. Are you willing to try it?” And Fred answered, "I'll try my best."

He crawled six-hundred feet, and many a time stopped, and those outside gave up hope, but at last there was a

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