Chapter 6 of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story is here in full — 378 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story is here in full — 378 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"DEAR MR. PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'. If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it. The food out here would poison a dog. I ain't got the health to go against it.
Chapter 6 of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story is here in full — 378 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/75 · 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.
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
make up
From this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
plural of “keep” — the financial means whereby one lives
From this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
the body of people who lead a group
From this reading “PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.”
reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating
From this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
spoil as if by poison
From this reading “The food out here would poison a dog.”
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading “PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.”
the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
From this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
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.
maintain a required pace or level
In this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
In this reading “If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.”
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 PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
touching and pressing; in opposition to
From this reading I ain't got the health to go against it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I ain't got the health to go against it.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
make up
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
dearly loved
From this reading "DEAR MR.
a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds
From this reading The food out here would poison a dog.
-ing form of “do” — engage in
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
From this reading The food out here would poison a dog.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading I ain't got the health to go against it.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading I ain't got the health to go against it.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease
From this reading I ain't got the health to go against it.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
plural of “keep” — the financial means whereby one lives
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
the body of people who lead a group
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
staying power
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
a form of address for a man
From this reading "DEAR MR.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading The food out here would poison a dog.
spoil as if by poison
From this reading The food out here would poison a dog.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
an intense or violent exertion
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading PRESTON: "I 'm here doing a stage-coach business--straining the leaders of my legs, hustlin'.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
at the time that
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading The food out here would poison a dog.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading If trade keeps up I 'll have coin to melt when I get home, and you bet I 'll melt it.
Chapter 6 of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story by Henry Blossom holds 378 sentences, grouped into 76 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 6 holds 378 sentences of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story by Henry Blossom exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 378 sentences, grouped into 76 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 76 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 76 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 6 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 Checkers: A Hard-luck Story by Henry Blossom on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2501 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #31813 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #31813, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 208 minutes of reading across 501 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Checkers: A Hard-luck Story section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Checkers: A Hard-luck Story 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 Checkers: A Hard-luck Story, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
