Chapter 8 of The Old Dominion is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Old Dominion is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"I do not care. They were wicked men who deserved to die. They had murdered and robbed. They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground. "I had forgotten," she muttered.
Chapter 8 of The Old Dominion is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/85 · 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 “criminal” — someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
From this reading “They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.”
properly deserved
From this reading “They were wicked men who deserved to die.”
Not remembered; lapsed from memory.
From this reading “"I had forgotten," she muttered.”
killed unlawfully
From this reading “They had murdered and robbed.”
past form of “mutter” — talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
From this reading “"I had forgotten," she muttered.”
inflected form of “rob” — take something away by force or without the consent of the owner
From this reading “They had murdered and robbed.”
that is looked for
From this reading “They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.”
morally bad in principle or practice
From this reading “They were wicked men who deserved to die.”
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 “They were wicked men who deserved to die.”
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.
anew
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading They had murdered and robbed.
the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
From this reading "I do not care.
plural of “criminal” — someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
properly deserved
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "I do not care.
opinion or judgment
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
Not remembered; lapsed from memory.
From this reading "I had forgotten," she muttered.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading They had murdered and robbed.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "I do not care.
the force of workers available
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
killed unlawfully
From this reading They had murdered and robbed.
past form of “mutter” — talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
From this reading "I had forgotten," she muttered.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "I do not care.
red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
inflected form of “rob” — take something away by force or without the consent of the owner
From this reading They had murdered and robbed.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
that is looked for
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
(of a nose) blocked
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
a Caucasian
From this reading They were criminals—" She stopped short, and her face turned from white to red and then to white again, and her eyes sought the ground.
which person or people
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
morally bad in principle or practice
From this reading They were wicked men who deserved to die.
Chapter 8 of The Old Dominion by Mary Johnston holds 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 8 holds 425 sentences of The Old Dominion, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Old Dominion by Mary Johnston exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 Old Dominion by Mary Johnston on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6359 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #48258 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #48258, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 529 minutes of reading across 1272 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Old Dominion section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Old Dominion 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 Old Dominion, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
