Chapter 37 of Flecker's magic is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXVII
Chapter 37 of Flecker's magic is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke. The cushions were light blue. Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her. They had the compartment to themselves. "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
Chapter 37 of Flecker's magic is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/24 · 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.
plural of “box” — a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid
From this reading “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
a space into which an area is subdivided
From this reading “They had the compartment to themselves.”
plural of “cushion” — a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses
From this reading “The cushions were light blue.”
shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane or from volcanic activity
From this reading “"Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.”
plural of “railroad” — line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading “"Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.”
a transient variation in voltage or current
From this reading “Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.”
a lightweight cord
From this reading “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
disturb the balance or stability of
From this reading “"Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.”
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 “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
In this reading “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
In this reading “Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.”
In this reading “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
In this reading “At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.”
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
touching and pressing; in opposition to
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky
From this reading The cushions were light blue.
plural of “box” — a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
make overcast or cloudy
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
a space into which an area is subdivided
From this reading They had the compartment to themselves.
plural of “cushion” — a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses
From this reading The cushions were light blue.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
an illustration that is drawn by hand and published in a book, magazine, or newspaper
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane or from volcanic activity
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
motor that converts thermal energy to mechanical work
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
past form of “enter” — to come or go into
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
indicating exactness or preciseness
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading They had the compartment to themselves.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading The cushions were light blue.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
discovered or determined by scientific observation
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
plural of “railroad” — line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a system of transportation for trains that pull passengers or freight
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the Sabbath by Jews and some Christians
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
a cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
a transient variation in voltage or current
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
a lightweight cord
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
used when the people doing the action are also its object
From this reading They had the compartment to themselves.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They had the compartment to themselves.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading They had the compartment to themselves.
disturb the balance or stability of
From this reading "Our earthquake didn't upset the railroads!" she observed.
precisely as stated
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The cushions were light blue.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading Marie sat against the window and Spike sat very close against her.
(trademark) an operating system with a graphical user interface
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
in the company of; together with
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
made or consisting of (entirely or in part) or employing wood
From this reading At exactly 3:41 a little sheet-iron engine drawing a string of green wooden boxes with small windows entered the _Gare de Seaux_ in a cloud of black smoke.
Chapter 37 of Flecker's magic by Norman Matson holds 123 sentences, grouped into 25 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 37 holds 123 sentences of Flecker's magic, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 37 of Flecker's magic by Norman Matson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 123 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 37 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 Flecker's magic by Norman Matson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3431 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #75585 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #75585, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 285 minutes of reading across 687 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Flecker's magic section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of Flecker's magic 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 Flecker's magic, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
