Chapter 25 of A Bed of Roses is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXV
Chapter 25 of A Bed of Roses is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns. He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining. 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled. The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move. 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
Chapter 25 of A Bed of Roses is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/89 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
a pauper who lives by begging
From this reading “'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.”
plural of “cairn” — a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path
From this reading “'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.”
a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
From this reading “The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.”
tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
From this reading “'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.”
in a respectful manner
From this reading “'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.”
soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime
From this reading “The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.”
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading “He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.”
pull hard
From this reading “He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.”
come into being or existence, or appear on the scene
In this reading “'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.”
In this reading “The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
following the length of something from one end toward the other
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
a pauper who lives by begging
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
plural of “cairn” — a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
past form of “growl” — to utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
a channel along the eaves or on the roof; collects and carries away rainwater
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
plural of “lead” — an advantage held by a competitor in a race
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
occurring by chance
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
From this reading 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
a Chinese breed of small short-legged dogs with a long silky coat and broad flat muzzle
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
a separate part of a whole
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
a member of a police force
From this reading 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
past form of “refuse” — show unwillingness towards
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
in a respectful manner
From this reading 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
term of address for a man
From this reading 'Obstinate, sir,' said a policeman respectfully.
soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
pull hard
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The spaniels, intent upon a piece of soiled brown paper in the gutter, refused to move.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading He gave a tug to the leads at which two Pekingese spaniels were straining.
an affirmative
From this reading 'YES, I'm a lucky beggar,' soliloquised Cairns.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading 'Come along, you little brutes,' he growled.
Chapter 25 of A Bed of Roses by Walter Lionel George holds 446 sentences, grouped into 90 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 25 holds 446 sentences of A Bed of Roses, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 25 of A Bed of Roses by Walter Lionel George exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 446 sentences, grouped into 90 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 90 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 90 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 25 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Bed of Roses by Walter Lionel George on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 9140 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #33538 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #33538, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1828 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Bed of Roses section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 39 chapters of A Bed of Roses to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Bed of Roses, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
