Chapter 1 of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC. PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO. "Scotland's a-burning! Look out, fellows! Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
Chapter 1 of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/46 · 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.
a braking device consisting of a combination of interacting parts that work to slow a motor vehicle
From this reading “Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."”
third-person singular of “coat” — put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface
From this reading “PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.”
a small shallow-draft boat carrying mounted guns; used by costal patrols
From this reading “AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.”
the largest city in Pennsylvania; located in the southeastern part of the state on the Delaware river; site of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed; site of the University of Pennsylvania
From this reading “PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.”
a long thin implement made of metal or wood
From this reading “AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.”
-ing form of “rough” — prepare in preliminary or sketchy form
From this reading “AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.”
possessive form of “scotland” — one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
From this reading “"Scotland's a-burning!”
similar things placed in order or happening one after another
From this reading “AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.”
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 “Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."”
In this reading “Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."”
put clothing on one's body
In this reading “Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."”
be vigilant, be on the lookout or be careful
In this reading “Look out, fellows!”
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 "Scotland's a-burning!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
a braking device consisting of a combination of interacting parts that work to slow a motor vehicle
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
an odorless very poisonous gas that is a product of incomplete combustion of carbon
From this reading PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.
third-person singular of “coat” — put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface
From this reading PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
plural of “fellow” — a boy or man
From this reading Look out, fellows!
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
a small shallow-draft boat carrying mounted guns; used by costal patrols
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
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 PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Look out, fellows!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Look out, fellows!
the largest city in Pennsylvania; located in the southeastern part of the state on the Delaware river; site of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed; site of the University of Pennsylvania
From this reading PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
precisely, exactly
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
a long thin implement made of metal or wood
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
-ing form of “rough” — prepare in preliminary or sketchy form
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
possessive form of “scotland” — one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
From this reading "Scotland's a-burning!
similar things placed in order or happening one after another
From this reading AUTHOR OF "GUNBOAT SERIES," "ROUGHING IT SERIES," "ROD AND GUN SERIES," ETC.
a base found in DNA (but not in RNA) and derived from pyrimidine; pairs with adenine
From this reading PHILADELPHIA HENRY T. COATES & CO.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
a special situation
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
the upper part of anything
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Put on the brakes, or you will be right on top of it the first thing you know."
Chapter 1 of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle by Harry Castlemon holds 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 230 sentences of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle, unabridged, divided into 46 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle by Harry Castlemon exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 46 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 46 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 Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle by Harry Castlemon on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3967 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #61486 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #61486, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 330 minutes of reading across 794 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of The Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle 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 Steel Horse: The Rambles of a Bicycle, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
