Chapter 21 of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out. “We’ll not stand it!” “Let’s raid the pantry!” “They’re trying to starve us into submission!” “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
Chapter 21 of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays is here in full — 157 sentences across 32 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/31 · 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.
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading “THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.”
a small storeroom for storing foods or wines
From this reading ““Let’s raid the pantry!””
plural of “protest” — a formal and solemn declaration of objection
From this reading “THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.”
search without warning, make a sudden surprise attack on
From this reading ““Let’s raid the pantry!””
an antiquity that has survived from the distant past
From this reading ““It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.”
be hungry; go without food
From this reading ““They’re trying to starve us into submission!””
something (manuscripts or architectural plans and models or estimates or works of art of all genres etc.) submitted for the judgment of others (as in a competition)
From this reading ““They’re trying to starve us into submission!””
author of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870)
From this reading ““It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.”
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’re trying to starve us into submission!””
temporarily
In this reading “THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.”
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 ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
plural of “age” — how long something has existed
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
lacking funds
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
inflected form of “cry” — utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
absence of light or illumination
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
the act of escaping physically
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “We’ll not stand it!”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Let’s raid the pantry!”
a particular point in time
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading “We’ll not stand it!”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
a small storeroom for storing foods or wines
From this reading “Let’s raid the pantry!”
plural of “protest” — a formal and solemn declaration of objection
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
search without warning, make a sudden surprise attack on
From this reading “Let’s raid the pantry!”
an antiquity that has survived from the distant past
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
be standing; be upright
From this reading “We’ll not stand it!”
be hungry; go without food
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
something (manuscripts or architectural plans and models or estimates or works of art of all genres etc.) submitted for the judgment of others (as in a competition)
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
the astonishment you feel when something totally unexpected happens to you
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading THE ESCAPE Surprise, for a moment, held the boys dumb, and then a storm of protests broke out.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
hard to endure
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “They’re trying to starve us into submission!”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “We’ll not stand it!”
author of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870)
From this reading “It’s a relic of the dark ages, boys!” cried Bert Wilson.
Chapter 21 of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays by Allen Chapman holds 157 sentences, grouped into 32 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 21 holds 157 sentences of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays, unabridged, divided into 32 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays by Allen Chapman exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 157 sentences, grouped into 32 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 32 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 32 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 21 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 Tom Fairfield's Schooldays by Allen Chapman on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3550 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #43796 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #43796, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 295 minutes of reading across 710 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tom Fairfield's Schooldays section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of Tom Fairfield's Schooldays 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 Tom Fairfield's Schooldays, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
