Chapter 23 of Hearts of Oak is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of Hearts of Oak is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A GIPSY'S WARNING. Wonders will never cease. Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars. That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore. She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
Chapter 23 of Hearts of Oak is here in full — 191 sentences across 39 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/38 · 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.
put an end to a state or an activity
From this reading “Wonders will never cease.”
a small house with a single story
From this reading “She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.”
an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
From this reading “She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.”
delicately beautiful
From this reading “That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.”
a message informing of danger
From this reading “A GIPSY'S WARNING.”
plural of “war” — the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
From this reading “Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.”
possessive form of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading “She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.”
plural of “wonder” — the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading “Wonders will never cease.”
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 “She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.”
In this reading “Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.”
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 A GIPSY'S WARNING.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
past form of “arrive” — reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
the two together, not just one
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
put an end to a state or an activity
From this reading Wonders will never cease.
made or become different in nature or form
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
a small house with a single story
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
delicately beautiful
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
all through a period, or at some point within it
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
set up or found
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A GIPSY'S WARNING.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
immediately past
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Wonders will never cease.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
a human being
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
male cat
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
a message informing of danger
From this reading A GIPSY'S WARNING.
plural of “war” — the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
From this reading Tom Bure had found something at last that had changed during the time he had been at the wars.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading That something was the dainty little person of Bertha Colmore.
possessive form of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
at the time that
From this reading She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Wonders will never cease.
plural of “wonder” — the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading Wonders will never cease.
Chapter 23 of Hearts of Oak by Gordon Stables holds 191 sentences, grouped into 39 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 191 sentences of Hearts of Oak, unabridged, divided into 39 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of Hearts of Oak by Gordon Stables exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 191 sentences, grouped into 39 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 39 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 39 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 Hearts of Oak by Gordon Stables on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4470 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #75979 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #75979, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 372 minutes of reading across 894 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Hearts of Oak section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of Hearts of Oak 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 Hearts of Oak, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
