Chapter VI of Molly, the Drummer Boy, “While Molly Waited, He Listened,” is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter VI
Chapter VI of Molly, the Drummer Boy, “While Molly Waited, He Listened,” is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not. Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart. Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe! The thought made him dizzy. He must hide.
Chapter VI of Molly, the Drummer Boy, “While Molly Waited, He Listened,” is here in full — 86 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/17 · 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.
inflected form of “creep” — move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
From this reading “Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.”
having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
From this reading “The thought made him dizzy.”
deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading “Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!”
an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
From this reading “Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!”
prevent from being seen or discovered
From this reading “He must hide.”
United States chemist and physicist who collaborated with Michelson in the Michelson-Morley experiment (1838-1923)
From this reading “Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.”
lacking sensation
From this reading “Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.”
not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
From this reading “Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!”
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 “Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.”
In this reading “Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.”
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 Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
next to; at the side of
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
inflected form of “creep” — move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
From this reading The thought made him dizzy.
one or the other of two
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
set up or found
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
prevent from being seen or discovered
From this reading He must hide.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading The thought made him dizzy.
United States chemist and physicist who collaborated with Michelson in the Michelson-Morley experiment (1838-1923)
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading He must hide.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
lacking sensation
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
express a supposition
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then a strange fear crept into his numb heart.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading The thought made him dizzy.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
From this reading Suppose he should faint and be found unconscious by either friend or foe!
up to a particular time
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
past form of “wait” — stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
From this reading Shirtliffe waited beside the road, until the pain in his hand turned him sick, but Morley came not.
Chapter 6 of Molly, the Drummer Boy by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock holds 86 sentences, grouped into 18 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 6 holds 86 sentences of Molly, the Drummer Boy, unabridged, divided into 18 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Molly, the Drummer Boy by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 86 sentences, grouped into 18 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 18 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 18 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 6 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 Molly, the Drummer Boy by Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa) Comstock on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1076 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62589 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62589, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 89 minutes of reading across 216 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Molly, the Drummer Boy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 11 chapters of Molly, the Drummer Boy 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 Molly, the Drummer Boy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
