Chapter 8 of The ninth vibration and other stories is here in full — 197 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The ninth vibration and other stories is here in full — 197 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
She smiled with pleasure. “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready! You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted. Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them? They have to be men indeed.”
Chapter 8 of The ninth vibration and other stories is here in full — 197 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/39 · 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.
plural of “bill” — a statute in draft before it becomes law
From this reading ““And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!”
plural of “crag” — a steep rugged rock or cliff
From this reading ““And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!”
plural of “fort” — a fortified military post where troops are stationed
From this reading ““And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!”
filled with a great quantity
From this reading “Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?”
a group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major
From this reading “Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?”
make short successive sounds
From this reading “You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.”
plural of “rifle” — a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore
From this reading ““And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!”
past form of “salute” — propose a toast to
From this reading “You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.”
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.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
following the length of something from one end toward the other
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading They have to be men indeed.”
next to; at the side of
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
plural of “bill” — a statute in draft before it becomes law
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
plural of “crag” — a steep rugged rock or cliff
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
plural of “fort” — a fortified military post where troops are stationed
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
a person who keeps watch over something or someone
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
plural of “gun” — a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading They have to be men indeed.”
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
in truth (often tends to intensify)
From this reading They have to be men indeed.”
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
filled with a great quantity
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
the force of workers available
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
a fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience
From this reading She smiled with pleasure.
a group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
make short successive sounds
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
plural of “rifle” — a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
past form of “salute” — propose a toast to
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
cut with a saw
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She smiled with pleasure.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading She smiled with pleasure.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
in or at that place or location
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading You could hear the guns rattle as they saluted.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading They have to be men indeed.”
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Do you know that up there men plough with rifles loaded beside them?
in the company of; together with
From this reading She smiled with pleasure.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “And you saw the little forts on the crags and the men on guard all along the bills, rifles ready!
Chapter 8 of The ninth vibration and other stories by L. Adams (Lily Adams) Beck holds 197 sentences, grouped into 40 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 8 holds 197 sentences of The ninth vibration and other stories, unabridged, divided into 40 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The ninth vibration and other stories by L. Adams (Lily Adams) Beck exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 197 sentences, grouped into 40 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 40 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 40 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 8 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 ninth vibration and other stories by L. Adams (Lily Adams) Beck on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4027 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1853 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1853, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 335 minutes of reading across 806 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The ninth vibration and other stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of The ninth vibration and other stories 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 ninth vibration and other stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
