Chapter 4 of Julia Cary and her kitten is here in full — 16 sentences across 4 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Julia Cary and her kitten is here in full — 16 sentences across 4 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
CHOOSING THE KITTEN. In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten. Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own. The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears. Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
Chapter 4 of Julia Cary and her kitten is here in full — 16 sentences across 4 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/3 · 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.
Queen of England and Scotland and Ireland; daughter if James II and the last of the Stuart monarchs; in 1707 she was the last English ruler to exercise the royal veto over parliament (1665-1714)
From this reading “In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.”
-ing form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “CHOOSING THE KITTEN.”
house for a farmer and family
From this reading “In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.”
young domestic cat
From this reading “CHOOSING THE KITTEN.”
the combined stakes of the betters
From this reading “The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.”
superlative of “lively” — full of life and energy
From this reading “The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.”
any long object resembling a thin line
From this reading “Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.”
bound or secured closely
From this reading “Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.”
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 “Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.”
a youthful female person
In this reading “In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.”
In this reading “The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.”
In this reading “Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.”
In this reading “Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.”
In this reading “In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.”
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 In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
Queen of England and Scotland and Ireland; daughter if James II and the last of the Stuart monarchs; in 1707 she was the last English ruler to exercise the royal veto over parliament (1665-1714)
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
lacking hue or shades of grey; part white and part black
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
a tight-fitting headdress
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
-ing form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading CHOOSING THE KITTEN.
free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
an outer garment that has sleeves and covers the body from shoulder down; worn outdoors
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
plural of “ear” — the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
house for a farmer and family
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
young domestic cat
From this reading CHOOSING THE KITTEN.
the combined stakes of the betters
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
superlative of “lively” — full of life and energy
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
the part of an organism (human or animal) that connects the head to the rest of the body
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
immediately following in time or order
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
have ownership or possession of
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
experiencing or manifesting pleasure
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
any long object resembling a thin line
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading Aunt Abby said Julia must first choose her own.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading CHOOSING THE KITTEN.
bound or secured closely
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading In the morning two little girls, Anne and Rose, from the next farmhouse, came to ask for a kitten.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
a Caucasian
From this reading Its clean white face and hands and feet pleased Julia so well, that she tied her red ribbon around its neck.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The liveliest kitty had a black-and-white coat, with black cap and ears.
Chapter 4 of Julia Cary and her kitten by M. E. (Mary Esther) Miller holds 16 sentences, grouped into 4 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 16 sentences of Julia Cary and her kitten, unabridged, divided into 4 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Julia Cary and her kitten by M. E. (Mary Esther) Miller exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 16 sentences, grouped into 4 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 4 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 4 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 Julia Cary and her kitten by M. E. (Mary Esther) Miller on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 197 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #71668 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #71668, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 16 minutes of reading across 40 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Julia Cary and her kitten section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of Julia Cary and her kitten 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 Julia Cary and her kitten, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
