Chapter 1 of Little Alfred is here in full — 14 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Little Alfred is here in full — 14 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
LITTLE ALFRED. BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.” Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill. Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY. EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.
Chapter 1 of Little Alfred is here in full — 14 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/2 · 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.
improved or corrected by critical editing
From this reading “EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.”
a high place
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
plural of “lamb” — young sheep
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
a source of materials to nourish the body
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
a field covered with grass or herbage and suitable for grazing by livestock
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
look furtively
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
comparative of “rich” — possessing material wealth
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
characterized by abundance of verdure
From this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
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 “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
In this reading “Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.”
In this reading “BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.””
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.
king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899)
From this reading LITTLE ALFRED.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.”
see with attention
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.”
go upward with gradual or continuous progress
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
a fat-soluble vitamin that prevents rickets
From this reading EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
improved or corrected by critical editing
From this reading EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.”
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
provide as food
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
a church congregation guided by a pastor
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
assemble or get together
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
shoot down, of birds
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
third-person singular of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
a high place
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.
plural of “lamb” — young sheep
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading LITTLE ALFRED.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
a source of materials to nourish the body
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.”
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
a multivalent nonmetallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs commonly in inorganic phosphate rocks and as organic phosphates in all living cells; is highly reactive and occurs in several allotropic forms
From this reading EDITED BY D. P. KIDDER.
a field covered with grass or herbage and suitable for grazing by livestock
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
look furtively
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
made ready or fit or suitable beforehand
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
comparative of “rich” — possessing material wealth
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
the property of being physically or mentally strong
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BY THE AUTHOR OF “LITTLE ELLA.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
characterized by abundance of verdure
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
in or at the place that
From this reading Here feeble lambs May find sweet nourishment, and gather strength To climb the verdant heights, where the fair flock On richer pasture feed.—PEEP OF DAY.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Behold I have prepared the tenderest grass That grows on Zion’s hill.
Chapter 1 of Little Alfred by L. A. (Lydia Austin), -1879 Holdich holds 14 sentences, grouped into 3 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 1 holds 14 sentences of Little Alfred, unabridged, divided into 3 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Little Alfred by L. A. (Lydia Austin), -1879 Holdich exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 14 sentences, grouped into 3 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 3 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 3 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 1 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 Little Alfred by L. A. (Lydia Austin), -1879 Holdich on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1165 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62941 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62941, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 97 minutes of reading across 233 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Little Alfred section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 29 chapters of Little Alfred 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 Little Alfred, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
