Chapter 23 of A Flock of Girls and Boys is here in full — 54 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of A Flock of Girls and Boys is here in full — 54 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?" "Put 'em away." "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then. Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town." But Ally didn't move.
Chapter 23 of A Flock of Girls and Boys is here in full — 54 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/10 · 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 friendly nation
From this reading “"What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"”
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading “"What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"”
a condition of urgency making it necessary to hurry
From this reading “Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."”
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading “But Ally didn't move.”
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading “"What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"”
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading “Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."”
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading “Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."”
be dressed in
From this reading “Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."”
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.
a friendly nation
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading "Put 'em away."
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But Ally didn't move.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading But Ally didn't move.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
a quad with a square body
From this reading "Put 'em away."
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
a condition of urgency making it necessary to hurry
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
and nothing more
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading But Ally didn't move.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading "Put 'em away."
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
be dressed in
From this reading Come, hurry up, for I want to wear 'em down town."
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading "Well, you can just go and get 'em, then.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
in the company of; together with
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "What have you done with those new overshoes, Ally?"
Chapter 23 of A Flock of Girls and Boys by Nora Perry holds 54 sentences, grouped into 11 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 23 holds 54 sentences of A Flock of Girls and Boys, unabridged, divided into 11 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of A Flock of Girls and Boys by Nora Perry exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 54 sentences, grouped into 11 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 11 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 11 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 23 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 Flock of Girls and Boys by Nora Perry on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3009 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #10433 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #10433, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 250 minutes of reading across 602 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Flock of Girls and Boys section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of A Flock of Girls and Boys 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 Flock of Girls and Boys, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
