from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Frederick Douglass
Summary
Setting: Maryland, 1833
Frederick Douglass tells what happened to him when he was a slave. His owner sends him to work for Mr. Covey. Mr. Covey is a cruel man. He often beats Douglass.
He spies on the slaves to be sure they are working. In the first six months that
Douglass works for Covey, Covey breaks his spirit. One day, Douglass gets sick while working. He falls down. Covey kicks him and hits him in the head. Douglass decides to go back to his owner. However, his owner tells Douglass to return to Covey. On his way back to Covey, Douglass’s friend Jenkins gives him a special root. Jenkins says that the root will keep him safe. Douglass takes the root and returns to Covey. Covey tries to tie up Douglass and beat him. Douglass fights back. He fights off Covey for two hours. Covey never beats Douglass again. Douglass says he feels strong and free.
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Name Date from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (page 562)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Author’s Purpose
Authors write for any number of reasons or purposes, such as to inform, to entertain, or to express themselves. Knowing an author’s purpose can help you better understand a piece of writing. As you read this selection, consider
Douglass’s purpose—to persuade people to support the cause of freedom.
Think about your response to the case he makes against slavery. On the chart below, note your reactions to the slaves and masters that he describes.
Slaves Masters
Douglass Covey
Master Thomas Sandy
Bill
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Name Date from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (page 562)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Autobiography and Style
This selection is from Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, the story of his life as written by Douglass. Its style —the distinctive way in which it is written—is both formal and elegant. Sometimes Douglass’s writing is objective, or factual and unemotional.
Other times his writing is subjective, describing his personal feelings in emotionally charged words. Select three passages from Douglass’s autobiography that you think effectively depict slavery. Use this chart to analyze the style of each passage.
Passage
Douglass’s first whipping by
Mr. Covey (page 564) objective
Subjective, Objective, or Both?
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Name Date from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (page 562)
Words to Know SkillBuilder
Words to Know faculty interpose intimate languish
A.
Decide which word from the word list belongs in each numbered blank.
Then write the word on the blank line on the right.
O gardener, how I hate that plant!
I’ve tried to like it, but I can’t.
It needs the sun? My plan is made!
Leave it to (1) in the shade.
So poor they have no food or shoes,
Just (2) problems and the blues.
You want to make their moods more sunny?
(3) with gifts of money.
No teacher taught me how to speak.
I taught myself in just one week,
My (4) for speech so strong
It didn’t take me very long.
He’d never say it right straight out.
She’d sue him if he did, no doubt.
But as a joke, with winks and smiles,
He’d (5) she stole the files.
B.
Fill in each blank with the correct word from the word list.
1. Dr. Busybody tends to overhears someone on the bus complain of a headache.
with her advice if she
2. Dr. Indirecto prefers to that his patients are quite sick by asking them questions like “Have you made a will?” sundry
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
3. Dr. Beefemup can’t stand to see a patient
“Eat, eat!” he tells them. “Exercise, exercise!”
.
4. Dr. Whateverworks has tried arthritis, from surgical joint replacements to bee-sting therapy.
treatments for
5. Dr. Bornthatway has such an amazing medicine that she was on staff at the Mayo Clinic by the age of 18.
for
C.
Write three questions you might ask Douglass if you could interview him, and the answers he might give. Use at least three of the Words to Know.
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Name Date
Stanzas on Freedom/Free Labor (page 574)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Strategies for Reading Protest Poetry
“Stanzas on Freedom” and “Free Labor” are examples of protest poetry, poems that are written less to express personal feelings than to persuade readers to support a political cause or take a particular action. On this chart, record your thoughts and impressions after a first, second, and third reading of each poem. Note the poet’s ideas, intended audience, purpose, and your reactions as a reader.
First reading Get a sense of the general ideas and overall feeling of each poem.
Second reading Be more analytical. Determine the intended audience.
Third reading Analyze what the poet wants readers to feel. Pay attention to your emotional reactions and the symbols, images, or devices that trigger them.
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Name Date
Stanzas on Freedom/Free Labor (page 574)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Symbol
A symbol has a concrete meaning in itself while also standing for something else, such as an idea or a feeling. Writers use symbols to succinctly communicate complex ideas. When reading these poems, think about what is symbolized by the chains in
“Stanzas on Freedom” and the garment in “Free Labor.” Use the diagrams below to analyze possible meanings of these literary symbols.
Ideas
Symbol:
Chains
Ideas
Symbol:
Garment
Follow Up: Paraphrase each poem as a short speech, replacing each symbol with its literal meaning. Discuss whether the speeches or the poems would more effectively stir people to protest slavery.
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Name Date
Planning a Compare-Contrast Essay (page 622)
Comparing Literature SkillBuilder
The topic of a compare-contrast essay usually involves comparing or contrasting literary elements that are common to both selections. Among the literary elements that can be compared and contrasted are purpose, audience, theme, tone, and style.
When writing a compare and contrast essay, it is helpful to use a chart like the one below to organize information. Think about the similarities and differences of the literary elements in the antislavery works by Douglass, Lowell, and Harper, and later civil rights works by Moody and Randall. Identify and note the similarities and differences of the literary elements among the two groups of selections. Then decide which is more important, the similarities or the differences.
Antislavery
Douglass
Lowell
Harper Literary Elements
Purpose
Civil Rights
Moody
Randall
Audience
Theme
Tone
Style
Which is more important, similarities or differences?
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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce
Summary
Setting: Northern Alabama, 1860s
I A man is about to be hanged by Union soldiers. He stands on a railroad bridge.
He has a rope around his neck.
II The man is Peyton Farquhar. He is a rich Southern farmer. Earlier, he helped
Southern soldiers by trying to destroy the railroad bridge.
III Farquhar is dropped through the bridge. He falls toward the water. He feels the rope break. He falls into the river. Then he unties his hands. The soldiers on the bridge shoot at him. He escapes into the woods. Farquhar makes his way through a strange forest and arrives at his home. His wife runs to greet him. Then
Farquhar feels a pain in his neck. Everything becomes dark. Farquhar is dead, hanged from the Owl Creek Bridge. His heroic escape was only a dream. It was the final fantasy of a dying man.
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Name Date
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (page 580)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Analyzing Structure
The structure of a work of literature is the arrangement of its parts. This story, for example, is arranged in three numbered sections. Each section signals a change in time. To help keep track of the sequence of events in the story and to clarify what happens, use the chart below to record your responses to the reading strategy questions inserted throughout the story.
Reading Strategy Questions
Section I
Whose thoughts and feelings does the narrator relate?
Answers
What does the captain’s nod mean?
Section II
When do these events occur and what do they explain?
Section III
Would these be the thoughts of a man on the brink of death?
Can you account for the changes in the surroundings?
What kills Farquhar?
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Name Date
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (page 580)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Point of View
Point of view is the perspective from which events in a story are narrated. The first three paragraphs of this story are told from a third-person omniscient, or allknowing, point of view. In the fourth paragraph, the perspective shifts to focus on
Farquhar’s personal thoughts and sensations. This focus on one person’s inner life is called third-person limited point of view. Identify the point of view in sections II and III of the story. Indicate where the point of view shifts.
Section II
Point of View:
Where Shifts:
New Point of View:
Section III
Point of View:
Where Shifts:
New Point of View:
Follow Up: Why do you think Bierce did not use a consistent point of view to tell this story?
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Name Date
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (page 580)
Words to Know SkillBuilder
Words to Know apprise evade inaccessible ineffable interminable ludicrous perceptibly preternaturally subordinate summarily
A.
Fill in each set of blanks with the correct word from the word list. The boxed letters will spell out a word that describes the forces Peyton Farquhar supports.
1. This describes Chicken Little’s belief that the sky was falling or the idea of a cow jumping over the moon.
2. This describes your emotion when you are speechless with dismay, happiness, or fear.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
3. This is what the pyramid builders hoped would describe the treasures hidden in the pharaohs’ tombs.
4. This is a private to a sergeant, a sergeant to a captain, and a captain to a colonel.
7. This describes the motion of the waves, the spinning of the Earth, and what a boring lecture seems to be.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
5. This is how shocked you are when you gasp and how sleepy you are when you yawn.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
6. This is how people wed when they elope and how people execute prisoners when they lynch them.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Write the word the boxed letters spell out.
B.
Fill in each blank with the correct word from the word list.
1. Sleeping Beauty snoozed for a
2. People tend to give up if their goals seem
3. Warning signs
4. A gazelle’s speed helps it
5. A giggling person is amused.
long time.
the public of danger.
a pursuing lion.
.
C.
Write the report the captain might have submitted to his superior officer regarding the occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Use at least four of the Words to Know.
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Name Date
Planning a Compare-Contrast Essay (page 622)
Comparing Literature SkillBuilder
The topic of a compare-contrast essay usually involves comparing or contrasting literary elements that are common to both selections. Among the literary elements that can be compared and contrasted are purpose, audience, theme, tone, and style.
When writing a compare and contrast essay, it is helpful to use a chart like the one below to organize information. Think about the similarities and differences of the literary elements in the antislavery works by Douglass, Lowell, and Harper, and later civil rights works by Moody and Randall. Identify and note the similarities and differences of the literary elements among the two groups of selections. Then decide which is more important, the similarities or the differences.
Antislavery
Douglass
Lowell
Harper Literary Elements
Purpose
Civil Rights
Moody
Randall
Audience
Theme
Tone
Style
Which is more important, similarities or differences?
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A Mystery of Heroism
Stephen Crane
Summary
Setting: Civil War battlefield, c. 1863
A Civil War battle is going on. Fred Collins is a soldier in an infantry group. He says he wants a drink of water. The well is across a meadow that is under fire, however.
The other soldiers in the group tease Collins. Collins decides to show them that he is brave enought to get the water. His captain gives him permission to go.
Collins starts to cross the meadow. At first he isn’t afraid. He decides he must be a hero. Then he recalls some of his actions of which he is ashamed. He decides that he is not really a hero. Suddenly he notices the shells exploding around him. Collins panics. He runs to the well, finds a bucket, and fills it. He starts to run back with the bucket. A dying officer begs him for some water. Collins is too afraid to stop. Then he turns around and gives the man a drink. Collins finally reaches his group. The men laugh and cheer. Two lieutenants get the bucket first. They fool around with the bucket. One of them accidentally drops it. The water spills out. The bucket is empty.
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A Mystery of Heroism (page 593)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Visualizing
Visualizing is the process by which readers form mental pictures as they read.
Good readers use the details supplied by writers to picture characters, settings, and events in their minds. Read the story and use Crane’s descriptive details to visualize the setting, the characters, and the events. Then record your impressions on the following chart.
Setting
Impressions
Characters Events
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Name Date
A Mystery of Heroism (page 593)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Naturalism
Stephen Crane is associated with a literary movement known as naturalism.
Naturalistic writers aim to portray common people and ordinary life as accurately as possible and to describe the effect of natural and social forces, such as instinct and environment, on the individual. On the following scale, place an X to indicate the extent to which you believe Collins’s actions in “A Mystery of Heroism” are determined by forces beyond his control. Use the lines to note passages that support your rating.
Collins’s Actions
Totally
Free
Totally
Predetermined
Follow Up: Compare your scale with those of other students. Then discuss any differences in views about Collins’s degree of freedom.
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Name Date
A Mystery of Heroism (page 593)
Words to Know SkillBuilder
Words to Know eloquence furtive futile genial incessant provisional retraction stupendous
A.
Circle the word in each group that is a synonym for the boldfaced word.
1.
retraction withdrawal discussion extension conclusion interesting modest gigantic 2.
stupendous unusual
3.
furtive sneaky quiet dangerous loud flickering organized rumpled exhausted 4.
tousled
5.
genial
6.
sullenly
7.
incessant courteous resentfully broken friendly ruthlessly smooth joyous cheerfully endless shy hopefully vigorous
8.
provisional permanent inactive
9.
futile useless meaningful debatable doubtful temporary troubling
10.
eloquence weakness expressiveness indifference confusion
B.
For each phrase in the first column, find the phrase in the second column that is closest in meaning. Write the letter of that phrase in the blank.
1. resentfully refuse A. tremendously stupendous
2. ceaseless chatter
3. secretive situation
4. extremely enormous
5. friendly fellow
B. sullenly say no
C. incessant talk
D. furtive position
E. genial person sullenly tousled
C.
Imagine that you are interviewing Collins about his battle experiences. Write five questions to ask him. Then write what you think his answers might be. Use at least four Words to Know in your questions and answers.
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The Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln
Summary
Setting: Battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863
President Lincoln begins his short speech by recalling the American Revolution. He says that the nation stands for freedom and equality. He says the Civil War is a test for the nation. Lincoln then explains why they are meeting at Gettysburg today. They are meeting to honor the soliders who died on the battlefield. He says these men gave their lives so that the nation could live. The living should keep up that work. Lincoln says that the living should make sure that the soldiers died for a good cause. That cause, he says, is a fair government.
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Name Date
The Gettysburg Address (page 605)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Interpreting Historical Context
The historical context of a speech refers to the occasion, the audience, and the purpose of the speech. Read each sentence of Lincoln’s brief but powerful speech, while keeping in mind the historical context in which it was written and delivered.
Use the chart below to identify the occasion of the speech, the audience, and the purpose. Then define any terms or references that a person unfamiliar with
American history might not understand.
The Gettysburg Address
Occasion
(Recent Occurrence) Audience Purpose
Term or Reference
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Definition

Name Date
The Gettysburg Address (page 605)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Style
The distinctive way in which a work of literature is written is its style.
Elements that contribute to a writer’s style include word choice, sentence length, tone, and imagery.
Other techniques include repetition of words or phrases, and parallelism—the use of the same grammatical form to express ideas of equal importance. On the chart below, list three examples each of repetition and parallelism that you find as you read
Lincoln’s speech.
Repetition of the people, by the people, for the people
Parallelism we cannot dedicate--- we cannot consecrate--- we cannot hallow
Follow Up: Rewrite one of the sentences that contains repetition or parallelism— omitting this technique from your version. Then compare the impact of your version with Lincoln’s version.
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Name Date
The Gettysburg Address (page 605)
Words to Know SkillBuilder
Words to Know conceive consecrate detract devotion
A. Decide which word from the word list is described by each clue. Write the word on the blank line next to the clue.
resolve
1. This word often refers to the beginning of a new idea. It comes from the Latin word concipere, meaning “to take to oneself” or “to take into the mind.”
2. This word comes from a Latin word meaning “to pull down” or “draw away.” In current usage, it means to take away something desirable.
3. The Latin root for this word means “to release” or “dissolve.” It might be said that your conflicts “melt away” when you decide to take this action.
4. This word is sometimes used in religious services. It can be traced back to the Latin word sacrare.
5. This word can describe a feeling of affection for another person, as well as dedication to a cause. It comes from a Latin verb meaning “to vow.”
B.
Circle the word in each group that is closest in meaning to the boldfaced word.
1.
devotion warmth negligence faithfulness courtesy final plan introductory 2.
conceive originate
3.
resolve unearth begin recapture decide
4.
consecrate apply
5.
detract prepare dedicate warn cause diminish eliminate equalize
C.
Lincoln’s famous speech at Gettysburg lasted for only about two minutes. Imagine that you are giving a two-minute speech to your classmates. Decide on an issue that you feel is important, then write your speech. Use at least three Words to Know in your speech.
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from Coming of Age in Mississippi
Anne Moody
Summary
Setting: Mississippi, 1963
It is 1963. Anne Moody is in her last year of college. She takes part in the civil rights movement. Moody decides to take part in a protest called a sit-in. The sit-in is at a lunch counter. Moody and her friends sit at the part of the lunch counter that is for white people. The crowd makes fun of Moody and her friends. Some people drag
Moody and her friends from their seats. She and her friends sit back down at the counter. The crowd throws food at them. After three hours, Moody and her friends agree to leave.
That night, Moody goes to a meeting about the protest. People clap for her. She remembers that her mother had asked her not to take part in the sit-in. Moody is worried that someone might hurt her family because of the sit-in.
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Name Date from Coming of Age in Mississippi (page 609)
Active Reading SkillBuilder
Chronological Order
Eyewitness accounts are usually narrated in chronological order, or time order.
A chronological pattern of organization helps put the reader in the writer’s place, experiencing events as they unfold. To help understand and recall what happens in this selection, use the sequence chain below to summarize the important events of the sit-in in the order in which they occur. Begin with the start of the sit-in and end with its conclusion.
1.
Anne, Pearlena, and
Memphis take seats at the lunch counter.
2.
3 .
6.
5.
4.
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Name Date from Coming of Age in Mississippi (page 609)
Literary Analysis SkillBuilder
Eyewitness Report
Characteristics of an eyewitness report— a firsthand account of an event by an observer or participant—include objective facts about the event, chronological order, vivid sensory details, direct quotations from other eyewitnesses that bring the event to life, and the writer’s subjective thoughts and feelings. Record on the chart specific examples from the selection that illustrate these characteristics of eyewitness reports.
Eyewitness Report of Sit-In
Facts
Chronological
Order
Sensory
Details
Direct
Quotations
Subjective
Feelings
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A. THE HEARTLESSNESS OF THE SURGEONS
Hd. Qtrs- 37th Regiment Mass. Vols.
Camp near Stafford Court House
Nov. 23rd 1862
My Dear Cousin Phebe:
As yet only four of our number have died and some six have been discharged, two of the latter of whom were officers. Lieut. Eli T. Blackmer, a son of the Blackmer that moved from
Hodges Corner in Warren, is discharged and has gone to his home in Chicopee. His health is much impaired, and his discharge was merited. Everything here concerning sickness and its management seems so repulsive that the thought of being sick or of having one of your friends in the Hospital, is filled with gloom. I will relate an instance. It is probably an instance more censurable to those having charge than usually occurs; but if the whole history of this war were brought to light more such facts would be revealed, in my mind, than would be pleasing to men
(no, brutes) whose duty it is to look after the physical health of the soldier.
In our regiment was a man, private of course, who came under my notice while we were at
New Baltimore, a little over one week since. He was emaciated and almost spiritless. He, to be sure, was not as cleanly as he should have been; but I know that it requires much exertion where water is scarce (and it always is in the vicinity of an army like ours) to keep decent. He looked as though he had been sick for some time. He like many others had acquired a dislike to reporting himself to the surgeons, as they have an idea the surgeons are destitute of feeling and unjust. I will not say how far this feeling is just. He at length came with those of his company who reported sick that day to the Surgeon's office within a few steps of where I sleep. I stood at the mouth of my tent and saw and heard the treatment each patient received. This fellow was treated as the rest. He took his turn and came to the front of the Doctor's tent, and received the customary question, "What's the matter with you?" (pretty question for a doctor). "What are you here for? Let's see your tongue. Shall return you to duty."
He was returned to duty. He refused to do duty and as punishment was sentenced to stand on the barrel (a very severe punishment), and added to this, to hold a heavy stone in his hand, two hours on and two off. This was the Doctor's work and not the Colonel's. I admit that it was the Colonel's duty to stop an unjust punishment if he saw one being exacted, but he would probably refer the whole case to the Doctor. To continue my story: after this I watched that young man. All energy seemed absent from him, and he acted as if he was unable to stir. I went to him and advised him to go to the Surgeon again, knowing that by tiring out the M.D. he might receive attention. I could not induce him. I saw during my conversation that he was really sick; and I was anxious to find out what ailed him, knowing if I did, I could find him medicine. I went to dnother regiment to get a doctor with whom I was acquainted to come and see him; but the regiment had moved that morning, and so I let the matter go for the time being. Two m6rnin s 9 after I saw him again at the Doctor's tent. With the usual flourishes he was reported for duty, and the next morning he was brought to the Hospital to die almost immediately. The same day he was buried with soldier's honors; and with the last volleys fired over his grave died all feelings of remissness or regret, if any such feelin gs were entertained.
-UNDERHILL, ed'., "Your Soldier Boy Samuel"

B. CARL SCHURZ WATCHES THE SURGEONS AT WORK AFTER GETTYSBURG
To look after the wounded of my command, I visited the places where the surgeons were at work. At Bull Run, I had seen only on a very small scale what I was now to behold. At
Gettysburg the wounded-many thousands of them-were carried to the farmsteads behind our lines. The houses, the barns, the sheds, and the open barnyards were crowded with the moaning and waiting human beings, and still an unceasing procession of stretchers and ambulances was coming in from all sides to augment the number of the sufferers. A heavy rain set in during the day-the usual rain after a battleand large nurfibers had to remain unprotected in the open, there being no room left under roof. I saw long rows of men lying under the eaves of the buildings, the water pouring down upon their bodies in strearfis. Most of the operating tables were placed in the open where the light was best, some of them partially protected against the rain by tarpaulins or blankets stretched upon poles.
There stood the surgeons, their sleeves rolled up to the elbows, their bare arms as well as their linen aprons smeared with blood, their knives not seldom held between their teeth, while they were helping a natient on I or off the table, or had their hands otherwise occupied; around them pools of blood and amputated arms or legs in I heaps, sometimes more than man-high.
Antiseptic methods were still unknown at that time. As a wounded man was lifted on the table, often shrieking with pain as the attendants handled him, the surgeon quickly examined the wound and resolved upon cutting off the injured limb. Some ether was administered and the bo8y put in position in a moment. The surgeon snatched his knife from between his teeth, where it had been while his hands were busy, wiped it rapidly once or twice across his blood-stained apron, and the cutting began. The operation accomplished, the surgeon would look around with a deep sigh, and then-"Next!"
And so it went on, hour after hour, while the number of expectant patients seemed hardly to diminish. Now and then one of the wounded rnef, would call attention to the fact that his neighbor lying on the ground had given up the ghost while waiting for his ttirn, and the dead body was then quietly removed. Or a surgeon, having been long at work, would put down his knife, exclaiming that his hand had grown unsteady, and that this was too much for human endurance-not seldom hysterical tears streaming down his face. Many of the wounded men suffered with silent fortitude, fierce determination in the knitting of their brows and the steady ga@e of their bloodshot eyes. Some would even force themselves to a grim jest about their situation or about the "skedaddling of the rebels." But there were, too, heart-rending groans and shrill cries of pain piercing the air, and despairing exclamations, "Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" or "Let me die!" or softer murmurings in which the words "mother" or "father" or "home" were often heard.
I saw many of my command among the sufferers, whose faces I well remembered, and who greeted me with a look or even a painful smile of recognition, and usually with the question what
I thought of their chances of life, or whether I could do anything for them, sometimes, also, whether I thought the enemy were well beaten. I was sadly conscious that many of the words of cheer and encouragement I gave them were mere hollow sound, but they might be at least some solace for the moment.
-BANCROFT AND DUNNING, eds., The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz
C. THE HORRORS OF THE WILDERNESS

Tuesday, May 10th [1864]. Heavy cannonading from 8 A.M. to 1 P.M. The Pontoon train has been sent back to Fredericksburg, apparently to get it out of the way, and the army horses are put on half-rations, that is, five pounds of food. Ambulances and army wagons with two tiers of flooring, loaded with wounded and drawn by four and six mule teams, pass along the plank, or rather, corduroy road to Fredericksburg, the teamsters lashing their teams to keep up with the train, and the wounded screaming with pain as the wagons go jolting over the corduroy. Many of the wounds are full of maggots. I saw one man with an arm off at the shoulder, with maggots half an inch long crawling in the sloughing flesh, and several poor fellows were holding stumps of legs and arms straight up in the air so as to ease the pain the rough road and the heartless drivers subjected them to. These men had been suffering in temporary field hospitals, as no opportunity had been afforded to send them to the rear until we got within reach of the road running to Fredericksburg.
And this reminds me of a scene I witnessed a day or two since which seemed to me to cap the climax of the horrors of war. Passing along a little in the rear of the lines when a battle was raging in which in battalion was not engaged, I came upon a field-hospital to which the stretcherbearers were bringing the men wounded in the conflict. Under three large "tent flies," the center one the largest of all, stood three heavy wooden tables, around which were grouped a number of surgeons and their assistants, the former bareheaded and clad in long linen dusters reaching nearly to the ground, which 'were covered with blood from top to bottom and had the arms cut off or rolled to the shoulders. The stretcher-bearers deposited their ghastly freight side by side in a winrow on the ground in front of the table under the first tent fly. Here a number of assistants took charge of the poor fellows, and as some of them lifted a man on to the first table others moved up the winrow so that no time nor space should be lost. Then some of the surgeons administered an anaesthetic to the groaning and writhing patient, exposed his wound and passed him to the center table. There the surgeons who were operating made a hasty examination and determined what was to be done and did it, and more often than not, in a very few moments an arm or a leg or some other portion of the subject's anatomy was flung out upon a pile of similar fragments behind the hospital, which was then more than six feet wide and three feet high, and what remained of the man was passed on to the third table, where other surgeons finished the bandaging, resuscitated him and posted him off with others in an ambulance. Heaven forbid that
I should ever again witness such a sight!
-BROWN, Diary of a Line Officer

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Past and Present Participles
• Present participles always end in -ing.
Sealing themselves in a walled abbey, Prince Prospero and his guests believe that they are safe from the Red Death.
• Past participles of regular verbs end in -d or –ed.
Planned as the highlight, the masked ball proves to be tragic.
• Past participles of irregular verbs end in a variety of ways.
The revellers, frozen with fear, did not follow Prince Prospero.
Exercise: Identifying Past and Present Participles
Underline the participle in each sentence. Then in the blank, write whether it is a present or past participle.
1. Killing hundreds a day, the Red Death continues its rampage. _________________________
2. Searching for another amusement, the prince decides on a masquerade.
____________________________________________________________________________
3. The prince, known for his magnificent taste, does not disappoint.
____________________________________________________________________________
4. Seven apartments decorated in garish colors await the masked ball.
____________________________________________________________________________
5. Lending a bizarre air to the festivities, the grotesque decorations excite the guests.
____________________________________________________________________________
6. The black room, glowing with a blood-red light, is empty. _____________________________
7. The clock chimes at midnight, interrupting the orchestra and dancers.
____________________________________________________________________________
8. A masked figure, shrouded in clothes for the grave, appears. __________________________
9. His mask, a corpse-like face sprinkled with blood, shocks all. __________________________
10. The prince, pursuing the guest, unleashes a final terror for everyone.
____________________________________________________________________________
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