Chapter 3 of A Boy's Fortune is here in full — 116 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of A Boy's Fortune is here in full — 116 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE MERCHANT'S SECRET. Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street. He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied. He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men. In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
Chapter 3 of A Boy's Fortune is here in full — 116 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/23 · 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.
possessive form of “ben” — a mountain or tall hill
From this reading “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
a street in Manhattan that passes through Times Square; famous for its theaters
From this reading “He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.”
possessive form of “merchant” — a businessperson engaged in retail trade
From this reading “THE MERCHANT'S SECRET.”
preside over
From this reading “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
From this reading “He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.”
having a specified size
From this reading “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
past form of “sympathize” — share the feelings of; understand the sentiments of
From this reading “In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.”
English composer (1902-1983)
From this reading “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
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 “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
share the suffering of
In this reading “In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.”
In this reading “He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.”
In this reading “Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.”
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 Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
surrounded by; in the middle of a group
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
accomplishment of an objective
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
possessive form of “ben” — a mountain or tall hill
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
a street in Manhattan that passes through Times Square; famous for its theaters
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
-ing form of “do” — engage in
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (“whole” is often used informally for “wholly”)
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
(especially of promises or contracts) not violated or disregarded
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
engage in
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
the force of workers available
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
possessive form of “merchant” — a businessperson engaged in retail trade
From this reading THE MERCHANT'S SECRET.
preside over
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
a bishop in Asia Minor who is associated with Santa Claus (4th century)
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
filled with satisfaction
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
From this reading THE MERCHANT'S SECRET.
having a specified size
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
a mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
past form of “sympathize” — share the feelings of; understand the sentiments of
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
carry out
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE MERCHANT'S SECRET.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
English composer (1902-1983)
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He was doing a good business, but he was not satisfied.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
hope for; have a wish
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
past form of “wish” — hope for; have a wish
From this reading He wished to take a store on Broadway, and make his name prominent among business men.
in the company of; together with
From this reading In this wish his wife entirely sympathized with him.
a late time of life
From this reading Five years before Ben's arrival in the city Nicholas Walton kept a moderate sized store on Grand street.
Chapter 3 of A Boy's Fortune by Horatio, Jr. Alger holds 116 sentences, grouped into 24 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 3 holds 116 sentences of A Boy's Fortune, unabridged, divided into 24 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of A Boy's Fortune by Horatio, Jr. Alger exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 116 sentences, grouped into 24 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 24 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 24 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 3 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 Boy's Fortune by Horatio, Jr. Alger on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4381 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52017 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52017, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 365 minutes of reading across 877 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Boy's Fortune section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of A Boy's Fortune 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 Boy's Fortune, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
