Chapter 5 of At the Crossroads is here in full — 370 sentences across 74 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of At the Crossroads is here in full — 370 sentences across 74 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm. The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her. It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone. "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house." "Daddy, dear?"
Chapter 5 of At the Crossroads is here in full — 370 sentences across 74 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 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 natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)
From this reading “Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.”
an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
From this reading “"Daddy, dear?"”
possessive form of “mother” — a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading “The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.”
befitting a mother; warm and nurturing
From this reading “"I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."”
causing physical or psychological pain
From this reading “It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.”
having confidence restored; freed from anxiety
From this reading “The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.”
a shaky motion
From this reading “The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.”
Risen from sleep; conscious.
From this reading “It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.”
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 child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.”
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 It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
make calm or still
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
a young person of either sex
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
From this reading "Daddy, dear?"
dearly loved
From this reading "Daddy, dear?"
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
A series of thoughts, images, or emotions during sleep.
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
the act of departing
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
destroyed or killed
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
and nothing more
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
possessive form of “mother” — a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
befitting a mother; warm and nurturing
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
causing physical or psychological pain
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
a course of conduct
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
having confidence restored; freed from anxiety
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
free from danger or the risk of harm
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
cut with a saw
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Mary-Clare met Noreen at the brook, smiling and calm.
make physical contact with, come in contact with
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
a shaky motion
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
Risen from sleep; conscious.
From this reading It was like waking from a painful dream and finding everything safe and the dream gone.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The child was trembling and pale, but the touch of her mother's hand reassured her.
at the time that
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
in the company of; together with
From this reading "I was just coming down the path with Jan-an, Motherly, when I saw him going in the house."
Chapter 5 of At the Crossroads by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock holds 370 sentences, grouped into 74 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 5 holds 370 sentences of At the Crossroads, unabridged, divided into 74 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of At the Crossroads by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 370 sentences, grouped into 74 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 74 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 74 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 5 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 At the Crossroads by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7315 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #30095 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #30095, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1463 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through At the Crossroads section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of At the Crossroads 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 At the Crossroads, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
