Chapter 7 of The Ruling Passion is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The Ruling Passion is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone. She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?” “Why not? Because of the old friendship. Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
Chapter 7 of The Ruling Passion is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
in the past
From this reading “Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.”
lacking warmth of feeling; in a cold, unemotional manner
From this reading “She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?””
the state of being friends (or friendly)
From this reading “Because of the old friendship.”
possessive form of “girl” — a young female
From this reading “The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.”
past form of “pull” — cause to move by pulling
From this reading “Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.”
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading “Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.”
marked by absence of sound
From this reading “She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?””
a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading “The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.”
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 The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
in the past
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
for the reason that
From this reading Because of the old friendship.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
lacking warmth of feeling; in a cold, unemotional manner
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
the state of being friends (or friendly)
From this reading Because of the old friendship.
possessive form of “girl” — a young female
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
a particular point in time
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Because of the old friendship.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading Because of the old friendship.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
past form of “pull” — cause to move by pulling
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading Because he pulled me out of the river long ago.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
marked by absence of sound
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
not in physical motion
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The girl's hand lay in his as cold and still as a stone.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading She was silent for a moment, and then asked, coldly, “Why not?”
Chapter 7 of The Ruling Passion by Henry Van Dyke holds 200 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 7 holds 200 sentences of The Ruling Passion, unabridged, divided into 40 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The Ruling Passion by Henry Van Dyke exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 200 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 7 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 Ruling Passion by Henry Van Dyke on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3398 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1048 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1048, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 283 minutes of reading across 680 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Ruling Passion section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The Ruling Passion 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 Ruling Passion, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
