Christiansen
– English 092
Directions: Use pencil; one line under
subjects; two lines under verbs; G.S. over a “grammatical subject” and one line
under it plus 2 lines under its verb; circle and put SUB over subordinators.
1. From
both sides of the valley little streams slipped out of the hill canyons and
fell into the bed of the
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2. |
In the
winter of wet years the streams ran full freshet, and |
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they swelled
the river until sometimes |
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it raged
and boiled, bank full, and then |
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it was a
destroyer. |
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3. |
The river
tore the edges of the farm lands and washed whole acres down; |
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it toppled
barns and houses into itself, to go floating and bobbing away. |
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4. |
it
trapped cows and pigs and sheep and drowned them in its muddy brown |
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water and carried them to the sea |
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5. |
Then when
the late spring came, the river drew in from its edges |
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the sand
banks appeared. |
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6. |
And in
the summer |
The river
didn’t run at all above ground. |
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7. |
Some
pools would be left in the deep swirl places under a high bank. |
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8. |
The tules
and grasses grew back, and |
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willows straightened
up with the flood debris in their upper branches. |
9. The |
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1. |
Hidden in
the shadows of |
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whose existence
is of little importance to anyone, now that
a well has been established to supply the water needs of the area. |
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2. |
The game
trails |
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show that |
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which
lead into the spring from four directions |
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at one time many animals came here for water. |
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3. |
Now these
trails are all but obscured by the grasses |
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which carpet
the area. |
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4. |
The
barbed wire fence |
was originally
constructed of strong redwood posts and shining new wire. |
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surrounding
the spring |
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But now
the fence is old. |
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6. |
The wire |
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acts only
as a guide line on which |
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rusted by
age, |
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berry vines
grow. |
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7. |
The posts |
are engulfed
by vines. |
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which are
still standing |
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8. |
Only
their tops are visible, pointing out at different angles above the brush. |
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9. |
Several
of the posts have been stripped of their wires and |
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broken at
their bases and |
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now rest
at oblique angles in the center of the spring. |
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10. |
The origin
of the spring is marked by a large granite rock. |
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11. Once
water bubbled cool and clear from beneath the crown of stone, but |
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now only
a black trail of mud and moldering leaves shows where water once
ran. |
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12. |
The granite
rock is no longer a crown: |
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it is a
headstone |
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which lacks
only an epitaph. |
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“Change,”
by Gene R. Agnew. /copyright 1967 by
SPECTRUM,
Used by
permission of author.