Chapter 1 of The Secret Wireless is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Secret Wireless is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters. He was reading the morning newspaper. Suddenly he sprang to his feet. His face grew black. His free hand clenched.
Chapter 1 of The Secret Wireless is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/22 · 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 pioneer photographer famous for his portraits; was the official Union photographer for the American Civil War (1823-1896)
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
closed or squeezed together tightly
From this reading “His free hand clenched.”
the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
someone who plays the harp
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
(usually plural) the office that serves as the administrative center of an enterprise
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements
From this reading “He was reading the morning newspaper.”
medium for communication
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
small workplace where handcrafts or manufacturing are done
From this reading “Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.”
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.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading His face grew black.
United States pioneer photographer famous for his portraits; was the official Union photographer for the American Civil War (1823-1896)
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
closed or squeezed together tightly
From this reading His free hand clenched.
a team of professional baseball players who play and travel together
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading His face grew black.
possessive form of “father” — a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading Suddenly he sprang to his feet.
grant freedom to; free from confinement
From this reading His free hand clenched.
inflected form of “grow” — pass into a condition gradually, take on a specific property or attribute; become
From this reading His face grew black.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading His free hand clenched.
someone who plays the harp
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He was reading the morning newspaper.
(usually plural) the office that serves as the administrative center of an enterprise
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
a unit of inductance in which an induced electromotive force of one volt is produced when the current is varied at the rate of one ampere per second
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading He was reading the morning newspaper.
a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements
From this reading He was reading the morning newspaper.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message
From this reading He was reading the morning newspaper.
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
inflected form of “spring” — move forward by leaps and bounds
From this reading Suddenly he sprang to his feet.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading Suddenly he sprang to his feet.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Suddenly he sprang to his feet.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
in or at the place that
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
medium for communication
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
small workplace where handcrafts or manufacturing are done
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading Henry Harper was sitting in the doorway of the workshop in his father's back yard, where the Camp Brady Wireless Club made their headquarters.
Chapter 1 of The Secret Wireless by Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss holds 114 sentences, grouped into 23 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 114 sentences of The Secret Wireless, unabridged, divided into 23 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Secret Wireless by Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 114 sentences, grouped into 23 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 23 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 23 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 Secret Wireless by Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3775 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #21955 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #21955, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 314 minutes of reading across 755 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Secret Wireless section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 22 chapters of The Secret Wireless 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 Secret Wireless, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
