Chapter 4 of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life 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 IV
Chapter 4 of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life is here in full — 378 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’. LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy! I knows it is. POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’. Reckon I be right back.
Chapter 4 of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life 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.
a young woman who is the most charming and beautiful of several rivals
From this reading “LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!”
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading “Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.”
morally objectionable behavior
From this reading “Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.”
plural of “know” — the fact of being aware of information that is known to few people
From this reading “I knows it is.”
incomplete skeleton of female found in eastern Ethiopia in 1974
From this reading “LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!”
expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading “Reckon I be right back.”
a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
From this reading “Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.”
Having little thickness or extent.
From this reading “Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.”
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 “POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.”
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.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Reckon I be right back.
a young woman who is the most charming and beautiful of several rivals
From this reading LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
morally objectionable behavior
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I knows it is.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I knows it is.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading I knows it is.
plural of “know” — the fact of being aware of information that is known to few people
From this reading I knows it is.
incomplete skeleton of female found in eastern Ethiopia in 1974
From this reading LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading Reckon I be right back.
precisely, exactly
From this reading Reckon I be right back.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading POCHER (_at the door, Back_) Gwine down ter de sto’.
Having little thickness or extent.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Salt on de do’step wust thin’ in de worl’ ter bring evil sparits ’roun’.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading LUCY BELLE Yas, indeedy!
Chapter 4 of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life by Ernest Howard Culbertson 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 4 holds 378 sentences of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life by Ernest Howard Culbertson 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 4 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 Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life by Ernest Howard Culbertson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2066 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #53530 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #53530, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 172 minutes of reading across 414 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life 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 Goat Alley: A Tragedy of Negro Life, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
