Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Orr's Island is here in full — 21 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Orr's Island is here in full — 21 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor. The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury. INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Orr's Island is here in full — 21 sentences across 5 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/4 · 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.
United States clergyman who was a leader for the abolition of slavery (1813-1887)
From this reading “A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.”
cut or impressed into a surface
From this reading “The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.”
serving to open or begin
From this reading “INTRODUCTORY NOTE.”
Hindu god of death; opposite of Kama
From this reading “_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.”
the bank of a river
From this reading “_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.”
United States writer of a novel about slavery that advanced the abolitionists' cause (1811-1896)
From this reading “A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.”
a brief literary description
From this reading “The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.”
United States social economist (1876-1933)
From this reading “The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.”
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.
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
United States clergyman who was a leader for the abolition of slavery (1813-1887)
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
a university in England
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
King of France from 1560 to 1574 whose reign was dominated by his mother Catherine de Medicis (1550-1574)
From this reading The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.
an odorless very poisonous gas that is a product of incomplete combustion of carbon
From this reading BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
the shore of a sea or ocean
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
cut or impressed into a surface
From this reading The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.
an ornamental facade
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
a nonmetallic univalent element that is normally a colorless and odorless highly flammable diatomic gas; the simplest and lightest and most abundant element in the universe
From this reading The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
United States publisher who founded a printing shop that became an important book publisher (1823-1895)
From this reading BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
serving to open or begin
From this reading INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
a state in New England
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
Hindu god of death; opposite of Kama
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
a brief written record
From this reading INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
exert pressure or force to or upon
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
the bank of a river
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
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 the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
United States writer of a novel about slavery that advanced the abolitionists' cause (1811-1896)
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
United States composer and music critic (1885-1966)
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A Story of the Coast of Maine BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
a base containing nitrogen that is found in RNA (but not in DNA) and derived from pyrimidine; pairs with adenine
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
a brief literary description
From this reading The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.
a heavy grey-white metallic element; the pure form is used mainly in electrical applications; it is found in several ores including wolframite and scheelite
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ The frontispiece (Mara, page 376) was drawn by W.L. Taylor.
United States social economist (1876-1933)
From this reading The vignette was etched by Charles H. Woodbury.
Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Orr's Island by Harriet Beecher Stowe holds 21 sentences, grouped into 5 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 21 sentences of The Pearl of Orr's Island, unabridged, divided into 5 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Pearl of Orr's Island by Harriet Beecher Stowe exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 21 sentences, grouped into 5 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 5 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 5 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 Pearl of Orr's Island by Harriet Beecher Stowe on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4920 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #31522 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #31522, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 410 minutes of reading across 984 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Pearl of Orr's Island section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Pearl of Orr's Island 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 Pearl of Orr's Island, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
