Chapter 1 of The Mother of St. Nicholas is here in full — 37 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Mother of St. Nicholas is here in full — 37 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE MOTHER OF ST. NICHOLAS. A Story of Duty and Peril. Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank." Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
Chapter 1 of The Mother of St. Nicholas is here in full — 37 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/7 · 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 large-scale farming enterprise
From this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
English statesman; member of the Conservative Party (1848-1930)
From this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada
From this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
From this reading “Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."”
let have
From this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
a bishop in Asia Minor who is associated with Santa Claus (4th century)
From this reading “NICHOLAS.”
a legislative assembly in certain countries
From this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
From this reading “A Story of Duty and Peril.”
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 “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
In this reading “Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.”
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 Story of Duty and Peril.
(followed by “to”) in agreement with or accordant with
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
perform an action, or work out or perform (an action)
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a large-scale farming enterprise
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A Story of Duty and Peril.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."
English statesman; member of the Conservative Party (1848-1930)
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a large and stately mansion
From this reading Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."
the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force
From this reading A Story of Duty and Peril.
being one more than seven
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
past form of “enter” — to come or go into
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
From this reading Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."
characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion
From this reading Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."
let have
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
ten 10s
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a person authorized to conduct religious worship
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading THE MOTHER OF ST.
a bishop in Asia Minor who is associated with Santa Claus (4th century)
From this reading NICHOLAS.
being one less than one hundred and nine more than ninety
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE MOTHER OF ST.
place of business where professional or clerical duties are performed
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a legislative assembly in certain countries
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
From this reading A Story of Duty and Peril.
an educational institution
From this reading Author of "The Fairy School of Castle Frank."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE MOTHER OF ST.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading A Story of Duty and Peril.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE MOTHER OF ST.
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
From this reading Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine by A. BALFOUR GRANT, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
Chapter 1 of The Mother of St. Nicholas by Grant Balfour holds 37 sentences, grouped into 8 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 37 sentences of The Mother of St. Nicholas, unabridged, divided into 8 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Mother of St. Nicholas by Grant Balfour exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 37 sentences, grouped into 8 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 8 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 8 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 The Mother of St. Nicholas by Grant Balfour on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 676 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #33607 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #33607, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 56 minutes of reading across 136 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Mother of St. Nicholas section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Mother of St. Nicholas 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 The Mother of St. Nicholas, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
