ID
int64 400
8.03k
| Author
stringlengths 1
268
| Title
stringlengths 1
189
| Anthology
stringlengths 3
103
⌀ | URL
stringlengths 4
125
⌀ | Pub Year
float64 1.76k
2.02k
⌀ | Categ
stringclasses 2
values | Sub Cat
stringclasses 6
values | Lexile Band
int64 100
1.9k
| Location
stringclasses 4
values | License
stringclasses 15
values | MPAA Max
stringclasses 4
values | MPAA #Max
int64 1
4
| MPAA# Avg
float64 1
4
| Excerpt
stringlengths 667
1.34k
| Google WC
int64 125
205
| Sentence Count
int64 2
38
| Paragraphs
int64 1
20
| BT_easiness
float64 -3.68
1.71
| s.e.
float64 0
0.65
| Flesch-Reading-Ease
float64 -28.99
114
| Flesch-Kincaid-Grade-Level
float64 -1.04
42.6
| Automated Readability Index
float64 -3.09
51.6
| SMOG Readability
float64 0
18
| New Dale-Chall Readability Formula
float64 0.28
14.2
| CAREC
float64 -0.17
0.52
| CAREC_M
float64 -0.14
0.54
| CML2RI
float64 -3.99
47.2
| __index_level_0__
int64 0
4.72k
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4,790 | Joseph Jacobs | The Three Little Pigs | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/the-three-little-pigs | 1,890 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The little pig said, "Ready! I have been and come back again, and got a nice potful for dinner."
The wolf felt very angry at this, but thought that he would be up to the little pig somehow or other, so he said, "Little pig, I know where there is a nice apple tree."
"Where?" said the pig.
"Down at Merry Garden," replied the wolf, "and if you will not deceive me I will come for you, at five o'clock tomorrow and get some apples."
Well, the little pig bustled up the next morning at four o'clock, and went off for the apples, hoping to get back before the wolf came; but he had further to go, and had to climb the tree, so that just as he was coming down from it, he saw the wolf coming, which, as you may suppose, frightened him very much. | 143 | 7 | 5 | 0.87262 | 0.513644 | 79.53 | 8.25 | 8.72 | 6 | 1.86 | -0.12448 | -0.10297 | 23.31903 | 2,588 |
5,469 | Mary Maxwell Ryan | PRAIRIE DOGS | The Nursery, March 1878, Vol. XXIII. No. 3
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28142/28142-h/28142-h.htm#Page_75 | 1,878 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | end | null | G | 1 | 1 | On a number of the hills sat solemn old owls, trying to look very wise. Most of these owls sat perfectly still as we drove by; but I saw two or three fly slowly away, as if half asleep. I wonder if these sober old birds teach the little prairie-dogs any of their wisdom.
All the prairies in this part of Kansas are covered with a short, thick grass, called "buffalo-grass," and the dogs live on its roots. These roots are little bulbs, and make nice rich food for the funny little fellows.
A gentleman who has lived here for many years tells me that all their houses are connected underground by halls or passages, so that they can travel a mile or so without coming to the top of the ground.
Wherever you see a prairie-dog village, there you will find good water by digging a few feet. Sometimes boys capture these odd little dogs, and they become quite tame and make cunning pets. | 162 | 8 | 4 | -0.056407 | 0.479751 | 77.76 | 7.63 | 8.64 | 8 | 6.09 | 0.0776 | 0.08268 | 12.41766 | 3,146 |
2,986 | Lucy A. Vera
; Stephen P. Wooding | Taste: Links in the Chain from Tongue to Brain | Frontiers for Young Minds | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00033 | 2,017 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | At their very tips, where they poke out from the tongue, each taste bud cell stores tiny proteins called taste receptors. Thousands of different proteins are found in our bodies, and each plays a special role in the body's structure and function. The role of taste receptor proteins is to detect substances in your mouth, such as food particles. There are five specialized kinds of taste receptor proteins, and each kind detects particles with one of five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory (the "meaty" aspect of foods such as soup broth). Taste receptors activate when chewed food mixes with saliva, then flows over and around the papillae like a mushy river. The receptor proteins ignore most of the mix, but when they detect their target food particles they react, notifying their cells that a taste substance has been detected. This process can be imagined as if the receptors are locks and the food particles are keys. Just as a lock opens only with its matching key, a taste receptor reacts only to its matching type of food particle. | 181 | 8 | 1 | -0.117989 | 0.48113 | 63.28 | 10.05 | 12.14 | 11 | 9.38 | 0.32449 | 0.31035 | 14.946204 | 1,369 |
6,537 | Harry Castlemon | Don Gordon's Shooting-Box | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/53479/53479-h/53479-h.htm | 1,883 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Tom and his crowd looked down the path and saw two other new-comers approaching. In appearance they were very unlike the shivering, half-frozen boy who had just gone along the path. They were warmly clad, wore sealskin caps and gloves, and there was something in their air and bearing that proclaimed them to be boys who respected themselves, and who intended that others should respect them. One of them was tall and broad-shouldered, and carried himself as though he had never been in the habit of submitting to any nonsense, and the other was small, slender, and apparently delicate.
"Why, they are the Planter and his brother," said one of the students, all of whom had had opportunity to learn more or less of the history of the boys who composed the fourth class. "They're from Mississippi. Their father is worth no end of money, and they say he gives his boys a very liberal allowance." | 155 | 7 | 2 | -0.159054 | 0.477048 | 68.32 | 9.37 | 11.08 | 10 | 7.74 | 0.10879 | 0.13557 | 16.778906 | 3,954 |
7,090 | By ANNA McCALEB
| ALICE AND PHOEBE CARY | Journeys Through Bookland Volume Four | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7013/pg7013-images.html | 1,909 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The sisters made up their minds from the first that they would have a home; they had a horror of the boarding-house atmosphere. Their first home was but two, or three rooms, high up in a big building in an unfashionable part of the town. Alice papered rooms, Phoebe painted doors and framed pictures; but the impress of their individuality was on the rooms, and every one who entered them felt their coziness and "hominess." Papers and magazines paid but little for contributions in those days, and it was only by living in the most economical and humble way that they managed to avoid their great horror—debt. But their life was by no means barren, for they became acquainted with many pleasant people, who were always glad and proud to be invited to the little tea parties in the three rooms under the roof. | 144 | 5 | 1 | -0.030671 | 0.501501 | 59.54 | 12.16 | 14.21 | 11 | 7.04 | 0.13111 | 0.1709 | 16.581723 | 4,366 |
3,833 | Flora J. Cooke | Philemon and Baucis | The Child's World Third Reader | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15170/15170-h/15170-h.htm#philemon | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | One evening, just at dark, two beggars came into the valley. They stopped at every house and asked for food and a place to sleep; but the people were too busy or too tired to attend to their needs. They were thinking only of the coming of Zeus.
Footsore and weary, the two beggars at last climbed the hill to the hut of Philemon and Baucis. These good people had eaten very little, for they were saving their best food for Zeus.
When they saw the beggars, Philemon said, "Surely these men need food more than Zeus. They look almost starved."
"Indeed, they do!" said Baucis, and she ran quickly to prepare supper for the strangers.
She spread her best white cloth upon the table, and brought out bacon, herbs, honey, grapes, bread, and milk. She set these upon the table in all the best dishes she had and called the strangers in.
Then what do you suppose happened? The dishes that the strangers touched turned to gold. The pitcher was never empty, although they drank glass after glass of milk. The loaf of bread stayed always the same size, although the strangers cut slice after slice. | 192 | 15 | 6 | -0.45266 | 0.496201 | 85.71 | 4.57 | 5.67 | 6 | 5.33 | 0.07542 | 0.05609 | 24.933598 | 2,047 |
7,115 | Charles Herbert Sylvester | Memorizing | Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10. | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24857/24857-h/24857-h.htm#CHAPTER_VII | 1,922 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | While usually it is better to allow each person to learn the lines that most appeal to him, yet some help should be given children. No two people will select all of the same things, though probably all would agree on some few things as being of the highest excellence. Some lines should be learned because of their beauty in description, others because of beauty in phraseology, and still others because of beauty in sentiment. Search should be made, too, for those things which are inspirational, and which will be strong aids in the building of character.
We append a few pages of quotations taken at random from the volumes. They will prove handy when the parent or teacher is pressed for time, and the references to volume and page will enable the busy person readily to find the context, if that seems desirable.
The quotations below are arranged in the order of their appearance in Journeys Through Bookland. This will enable anyone to locate them easily. The lines cover a wide range of thought and will furnish an endless variety of material for stories, comment, question and conversation. | 187 | 9 | 3 | -1.281553 | 0.467749 | 61.08 | 9.96 | 11.34 | 11 | 7.77 | 0.1873 | 0.17559 | 13.758609 | 4,384 |
6,160 | Thornton W. Burgess | The Adventures of Lightfoot the Deer | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19079/19079-h/19079-h.htm | 1,921 | Lit | Lit | 500 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | Peter Rabbit was puzzled. He stared at Lightfoot the Deer a wee bit suspiciously. "Have you been tearing somebody's coat?" he asked again. He didn't like to think it of Lightfoot, whom he always had believed quite as gentle, harmless, and timid as himself. But what else could he think?
Lightfoot slowly shook his head. "No," said he, "I haven't torn anybody's coat."
"Then what are those rags hanging on your antlers?" demanded Peter.
Lightfoot chuckled. "They are what is left of the coverings of my new antlers," he explained.
"What's that? What do you mean by new antlers?" Peter was sitting up very straight, with his eyes fixed on Lightfoot's antlers as though he never had seen them before.
"Just what I said," retorted Lightfoot. "What do you think of them? I think they are the finest antlers I've ever had. When I get the rest of those rags off, they will be as handsome a set as ever was grown in the Green Forest." | 161 | 19 | 6 | 0.698204 | 0.532595 | 86.84 | 3.57 | 3.69 | 6 | 6.97 | 0.02874 | 0.02748 | 21.597515 | 3,661 |
5,544 | Freddie's Papa | A STORY ABOUT SQUIRRELS | The Nursery, February 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 2
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28130/28130-h/28130-h.htm#Page_41 | 1,877 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | One day Freddie got his papa to build him a small shelf on the tree, about four feet from the ground, so that he could put nuts on it to feed the squirrels. At first the little fellows were very shy, and would not come near the shelf, but sat on the branches of the tree; and we fancied that we heard them saying to each other, "Do you think that little boy would hurt us, if we should run down, and take one of those nuts?"
But, after a while, they came down, one by one, took the nuts, and went scampering up to the top branches; and in a few minutes down came the empty shells. They grew so tame before the summer was over, that if we put any thing on their shelf, and took a seat a few steps away, they would come down quite boldly, and get their breakfast. | 153 | 4 | 2 | 0.60547 | 0.502768 | 69.42 | 13.14 | 15.77 | 7 | 2.32 | 0.0852 | 0.11603 | 21.877106 | 3,211 |
2,018 | wikipedia | Electrical_cable | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_cable | 2,020 | Info | Technology | 1,300 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | An electrical cable is made of two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted, or braided together to form a single assembly, the ends of which can be connected to two devices, enabling the transfer of electrical signals from one device to the other. Cables are used for a wide range of purposes, and each must be tailored for that purpose. Cables are used extensively in electronic devices for power and signal circuits. Long-distance communication takes place over undersea cables. Power cables are used for bulk transmission of alternating and direct current power, especially using high-voltage cable. Electrical cables are extensively used in building wiring for lighting, power and control circuits permanently installed in buildings. Since all the circuit conductors required can be installed in a cable at one time, installation labor is saved compared to certain other wiring methods. | 143 | 7 | 1 | -0.361098 | 0.478654 | 46.37 | 11.94 | 13.25 | 12 | 10.11 | 0.27431 | 0.27802 | 13.98891 | 491 |
2,714 | Sven P. Hoekstra & Christof A. Leicht
| Can Hot Baths Improve Health? | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00098 | 2,019 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | PG | 2 | 1.5 | The short-term increase in the blood concentration of the fire-fighting substance IL-6, the reduction in blood sugar concentration, and the lowering of blood pressure after the long-term part of the study are promising findings for the use of hot baths as an alternative to exercise. It is, however, important to realize that we still need to know a little bit more before we can advise hot baths for people who are unable to exercise. For example, the long-term part of the study consisted of a lot of hot baths in only 2 weeks' time. Most people are probably too busy with other things, like work, to take this many baths. In the future, we would like to test whether taking fewer baths per week, but over a longer duration, like several months, also improves health. Also, we have only investigated the effects of hot baths in men, and it would be interesting to find out whether baths can also improve health in women. | 163 | 6 | 1 | -1.753169 | 0.490651 | 55.54 | 12.47 | 13.27 | 12 | 7.56 | 0.17235 | 0.17374 | 15.818332 | 1,129 |
2,748 | Audrey Wittrup
Daniel T. Willingham | Why We Can’t Replace Our Brains with the Internet | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00011 | 2,018 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Amelia Bedelia is not all wrong. Does "dusting" mean to add dust or to take it away? It depends whether you're a detective dusting the furniture for fingerprints or a housekeeper cleaning it. You could have guessed Amelia was meant to clean the furniture, because your brain uses the context in which the word appears. You know a housekeeper's job is to clean, not to investigate a crime scene.
So far, we've seen that your brain can use context to figure out a completely unfamiliar word ("haberdashery") or to tell you which of two different meanings for a word is appropriate ("dust"). But, even if a word has a single meaning, you need to use context to determine the feature of meaning that you're supposed to pay attention to. For example, take a look at these sentences using the word "car." | 140 | 8 | 2 | 0.3759 | 0.498269 | 65.35 | 8.52 | 8.45 | 11 | 7.87 | 0.13822 | 0.15918 | 21.698799 | 1,161 |
5,578 | Miss Maud | AUNT MATILDA | The Nursery, September 1877, Vol. XXII, No. 3
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28137/28137-h/28137-h.htm#Page_91 | 1,877 | Lit | Lit | 700 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | What should we do in our house if it were not for our Aunt Matilda? She is the first one out of bed in the morning, and the last one to go to bed at night. She sees that things are right in the kitchen, and right in the parlor.
Father wants his breakfast by half-past six o'clock this summer weather. Aunt Matilda rises before five, and calls the girls, and sees that the rooms are in order. Then she calls the children to be washed and dressed.
Yes, that is a good likeness of her, as you see her combing my hair. She is not young, you perceive, nor yet very old. Sometimes I get a little impatient, and fidget, because she is so particular; but our quarrels always end in my kissing her, and saying, "You are a darling Aunty, after all." | 142 | 9 | 3 | 0.440533 | 0.525105 | 83.71 | 5.59 | 5.2 | 7 | 5.63 | 0.00992 | 0.05208 | 18.759073 | 3,241 |
5,821 | Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Crime and Punishment | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2554/2554-h/2554-h.htm | 1,866 | Lit | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Raskolnikov was not used to crowds, and, as we said before, he avoided society of every sort, more especially of late. But now all at once he felt a desire to be with other people. Something new seemed to be taking place within him, and with it he felt a sort of thirst for company. He was so weary after a whole month of concentrated wretchedness and gloomy excitement that he longed to rest, if only for a moment, in some other world, whatever it might be; and, in spite of the filthiness of the surroundings, he was glad now to stay in the tavern.
The master of the establishment was in another room, but he frequently came down some steps into the main room, his jaunty, tarred boots with red turn-over tops coming into view each time before the rest of his person. He wore a full coat and a horribly greasy black satin waistcoat, with no cravat, and his whole face seemed smeared with oil like an iron lock. At the counter stood a boy of about fourteen, and there was another boy somewhat younger who handed whatever was wanted. | 191 | 7 | 2 | -1.331542 | 0.467237 | 62.25 | 11.43 | 12.38 | 11 | 7.54 | 0.12982 | 0.12817 | 12.322332 | 3,453 |
4,687 | ? | Wheat - Part I | Chambers Elementary Science Reader Book I | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18217/18217-h/18217-h.htm#WHEAT_PART_1 | 1,896 | Lit | Lit | 500 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | I hope we shall have some nice soft rain,' said father, as they left the field.
Many days went by, rain came again and again. There was sunshine, too; but sometimes the east winds blew.
Dora and Harry went out every morning to look at the field. But they always came in saying that there was nothing but brown earth to be seen.
At last, one morning they came in running and jumping. 'Our wheat is up! There are tiny green leaves all over the field!' After this there was always something fresh to see. The wheat-plants grew taller, and put out long leaves.
Dora said one day that they looked like grass, and her mother told her that wheat was a large kind of grass.
'Look at the shape of the leaves,' she said, 'and the joints in the stems.'The wheat soon grew so tall that it stood above the heads of the children. They used to go in among it, and make believe that they were lost in a great forest. | 170 | 14 | 6 | 0.38973 | 0.479429 | 95.04 | 3.11 | 3.62 | 5 | 1.34 | 0.01201 | 0.01609 | 20.627562 | 2,512 |
1,144 | P. G. Wodehouse | THE GOLD BAT | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6879/6879-h/6879-h.htm | 1,904 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The team to play in any match was always put upon the notice-board at the foot of the stairs in the senior block a day before the date of the fixture. Both first and second fifteens had matches on the Thursday of this week. The second were playing a team brought down by an old Wrykinian. The first had a scratch game.
When Barry, accompanied by M'Todd, who shared his study at Seymour's and rarely left him for two minutes on end, passed by the notice-board at the quarter to eleven interval, it was to the second fifteen list that he turned his attention. Now that Bryce had left, he thought he might have a chance of getting into the second. His only real rival, he considered, was Crawford, of the School House, who was the other wing three-quarter of the third fifteen. The first name he saw on the list was Crawford's. It seemed to be written twice as large as any of the others, and his own was nowhere to be seen. The fact that he had half expected the calamity made things no better. He had set his heart on playing for the second this term. | 198 | 11 | 2 | -2.019117 | 0.472213 | 79.3 | 6.76 | 7.08 | 8 | 6.03 | 0.09533 | 0.08362 | 18.678015 | 182 |
2,326 | simple wiki | Programming_language | null | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language | 2,020 | Info | Technology | 700 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL | G | 1 | 1 | Functional programming looks at programming like a function in mathematics. The program receives input, together with some information, and uses this information to create output. It will not have a state in between, and it will also not change things that are not related to the computation.
Procedural programs specify or describe sets of steps or state changes.
Stack based languages look at some of the program's memory like a stack of cards. There are very few things that can be done with a stack. A data item can be put on the top of the stack. This operation is generally called "push". A data item can be removed from the top of the stack. This is called a "pop". You can look at the item at the top of the stack without removing it. This is called a "peek". If a program is written as "push 5; push 3; add; pop;" it will put 5 on the top of the stack, put 3 on top of the 5, add the top two values (3 + 5 = 8), replace the 3 and 5 with the 8, and print the top. | 189 | 13 | 3 | -2.337028 | 0.507828 | 79.73 | 5.75 | 4.47 | 9 | 7.62 | 0.22805 | 0.22491 | 20.37568 | 770 |
7,370 | Olivia Howard Dunbar | The Shell of Sense | Famous Modern Ghost Stories by Dorothy Scarborough et al. | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15143/15143-h/15143-h.htm | 1,921 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Suddenly, as Theresa sat there, her head, filled with its tender thoughts of me, held in her gentle hands, I felt Allan's step on the carpeted stair outside. Theresa felt it, too,—but how? for it was not audible. She gave a start, swept the black envelopes out of sight, and pretended to be writing in a little book. Then I forgot to watch her any longer in my absorption in Allan's coming. It was he, of course, that I was awaiting. It was for him that I had made this first lonely, frightened effort to return, to recover.... It was not that I had supposed he would allow himself to recognize my presence, for I had long been sufficiently familiar with his hard and fast denials of the invisible. He was so reasonable always, so sane—so blindfolded. But I had hoped that because of his very rejection of the ether that now contained me I could perhaps all the more safely, the more secretly, watch him, linger near him. He was near now, very near,—but why did Theresa, sitting there in the room that had never belonged to her, appropriate for herself his coming? | 194 | 11 | 1 | -1.785984 | 0.485515 | 74.22 | 6.12 | 5.28 | 9 | 6.88 | 0.20637 | 0.19283 | 23.695139 | 4,583 |
6,291 | JOHN A. DOYLE | THE DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND BY THE CABOTS | Great Epochs in American History, Volume I. Voyages Of Discovery And Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1684 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16037/16037-h/16037-h.htm#doyle | 1,912 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | In 1496 a patent was granted to John Cabot and his sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius. This patent is interesting as the earliest surviving document which connects England with the New World. It gave the patentees full authority to sail with five ships under the royal ensign, and to set up the royal banner on any newly found land, as the vassals and lieutenants of the king. They were bound on their return to sail to Bristol and to pay a royalty of one-fifth upon all clear gain. The direction of the voyage, the cargo and size of the ships, and the mode of dealing with the natives, are all left to the discretion of the commander.
Of the details of the voyage itself, so full of interest for every Englishman, we have but the scantiest knowledge. In this respect the fame of Sebastian Cabot has fared far worse than that of the great discoverer with whom alone he may be compared. | 161 | 7 | 2 | -1.27 | 0.471696 | 63.83 | 10.14 | 10.73 | 11 | 8.67 | 0.2595 | 0.2914 | 5.425845 | 3,768 |
6,049 | John Morley | Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 1 of 3), Essay 1: Robespierre | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20733/20733-h/20733-h.htm | 1,904 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | start | null | PG | 2 | 1.5 | A French writer has recently published a careful and interesting volume on the famous events which ended in the overthrow of Robespierre and the close of the Reign of Terror. These events are known in the historic calendar as the Revolution of Thermidor in the Year II. After the fall of the monarchy, the Convention decided that the year should begin with the autumnal equinox, and that the enumeration should date from the birth of the Republic. The Year I opens on September 22, 1792; the Year II opens on the same day of 1793. The month of Thermidor begins on July 19. The memorable Ninth Thermidor therefore corresponds to July 27, 1794. This has commonly been taken as the date of the commencement of a counter-revolution, and in one sense it was so. Comte, however, and others have preferred to fix the reaction at the execution of Danton (April 5, 1794), or Robespierre's official proclamation of Deism in the Festival of the Supreme Being (May 7, 1794). | 168 | 8 | 1 | -2.590842 | 0.526147 | 56.24 | 10.66 | 10.68 | 14 | 10.38 | 0.30332 | 0.33035 | 6.083196 | 3,611 |
2,796 | Kate Nussenbaum & Alexandra O. Cohen | Equation Invasion! How Math can Explain How the Brain Learns | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00065 | 2,018 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | In general, positive experiences (like receiving lots of "likes" on social media) cause our expectation about how rewarding something will be to increase, and negative experiences (like receiving mean comments) cause our expectation about how rewarding something will be to decrease. However, this general description of the learning process does not help us make specific predictions about how much an experience will cause us to change our expectations. For example, imagine you post nine pictures that receive many "likes" and one picture that receives a nasty comment. How much will one nasty comment change your estimate of how rewarding it is to post a picture? How much less likely will you be to post similar pictures in the future? Without a mathematical equation to describe the learning process, we cannot answer these questions.
Additionally, researchers can write equations with different sections, where each section represents a different process involved in thinking or decision-making. Then, we can see what happens when we change each part of the equation to understand how different thought processes contribute to learning. | 175 | 8 | 2 | -0.11998 | 0.469777 | 40.99 | 13.04 | 14.82 | 15 | 8.48 | 0.30399 | 0.29217 | 19.96712 | 1,205 |
2,612 | Katie L. Birchard and Deborah M. Leigh | The Importance of Keeping Time With Our Internal Clocks | Frontiers for Young Minds | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00072 | 2,019 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Our daily internal clocks are controlled by genes, which are small units of DNA passed down from our parents. These genes contain the code to produce proteins—molecules in the body that carry out specific jobs. Some of the genes that control our internal clocks produce proteins called "activators" and others produce proteins called "suppressors." Activators are proteins that turn a gene on, whereas suppressors are proteins that turn a gene off. In our daily internal clocks, we need two activators to bind together to turn on a gene. This gene is usually turned on in the morning. Once this gene is turned on, lots of different proteins are made, including the two suppressors. When there are lots of these suppressor proteins being made, we typically feel energetic and lively! Throughout the day, the concentration of these suppressor proteins increases in our bodies. By the evening, enough suppressor proteins are made to block the activators and turn off the gene. While you sleep, the suppressors in the bloodstream break down. During this breakdown, which occurs at nighttime, we feel tired and sleepy. | 181 | 12 | 1 | -0.416671 | 0.480744 | 62.99 | 8.22 | 9.75 | 11 | 9.36 | 0.35909 | 0.35309 | 22.099661 | 1,033 |
6,296 | Charles Morris | The San Francisco Calamity | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1560/1560-h/1560-h.htm#link2HCH0001 | 1,906 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | PG | 2 | 1.5 | Sitting, like Rome of old, on its seven hills, San Francisco has long been noted for its beautiful site, clasped in, as it is, between the Pacific Ocean and its own splendid bay, on a peninsula of some five miles in width. Where this juts into the bay at its northernmost point rises a great promontory known as Telegraph Hill, from whose height homeless thousands have recently gazed on the smoke rising from their ruined homes. In the early days of golden promise, a watchman was stationed on this hill to look out for coming ships entering the Golden Gate from their long voyage around the Horn and signal the welcome news to the town below. From this came its name.
Cliffs rise on either side of the Golden Gate, and on one is perched the Cliff House, long a famous hostelry. This stands so low that in storms the surf is flung over its lower porticos, though its force is broken by the Seal Rocks. A chief attraction to this house was to see the seals play on these rocks, their favorite place of resort. | 185 | 7 | 2 | -1.652236 | 0.482341 | 68.43 | 10.32 | 12.31 | 11 | 7.42 | 0.15924 | 0.15603 | 11.372488 | 3,772 |
4,277 | Christabel Pankhurt | EDITORIAL COMMENT ON SHAW | The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 1 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13635/13635-h/13635-h.htm | 1,914 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | PG | 2 | 1.5 | In the midst of a good deal of untimely gibing, George Bernard Shaw, as reported in a London dispatch to The Sun of yesterday, says one or two very wise and appropriate things about the end of the war and the times to come after it. His warnings are a useful check to the current loose talk of the fire-eaters and preachers of the gospel of vengeance.
"We and France have to live with Germany after the war," Mr. Shaw points out. Even to embarrass her financially would be a blow to England herself, Germany being one of England's best customers and one of her most frequently visited neighbors. The truth of this is unanswerable. The great object must be to effect a peace with as little rancor as possible.
Mr. Shaw does not say it, but there are going to be overwhelming political reasons why the pride of Germany and Austria and still more why their military power shall not be too much impaired in case of their defeat.
Perhaps in the final settlement the Western Allies may be found to have more in common with Berlin than with St. Petersburg. Germany has pointed this out with much force. | 197 | 9 | 4 | -2.11506 | 0.516874 | 63.79 | 9.91 | 10.31 | 11 | 8.36 | 0.18664 | 0.16264 | 12.615208 | 2,205 |
2,780 | Gwendolyn G. Calhoon & Kay M. Tye | Getting Emotional: How the Amygdala Learns the Difference Between Good and Bad | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00069 | 2,018 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | The amygdala is small, ancient brain region that has long been thought to be important for experiencing and expressing emotions. In humans, this almond-shaped structure is nestled under the surface of the brain close to the temples (near the ears). Scientists think a part of the amygdala called the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is important for emotional learning. But how can the BLA—just one little brain region—do such an important task? To understand how the amygdala helps us learn how to feel about what happens to us, we first have to understand how the brain learns.
Brain cells called neurons form connections called synapses to communicate with one another. Different neurons are sensitive to different things that happen inside and outside of the body. The messages neurons send to each other produce experiences like fear, pleasure, and excitement, and also cause behaviors like startling, social interaction, and reward-seeking. | 146 | 8 | 2 | -1.397062 | 0.47079 | 51.09 | 10.76 | 12.31 | 13 | 8.16 | 0.17188 | 0.1861 | 13.339327 | 1,191 |
1,554 | Mary Macleod | The Golden Arrow | Junior Classics Vol. 4 | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html | 1,919 | Lit | Lit | 700 | end | null | G | 1 | 1 | A little within the wood there was a fair castle, with a double moat, and surrounded by stout walls. Here dwelt that noble knight, Sir Richard Lee, to whom Robin Hood had lent the four hundred pounds to redeem his land.
He saw the little company of outlaws fighting their way along, so he hastened to call them to come and take shelter in his castle.
"Welcome art thou, Robin Hood! Welcome!" he cried, as he led them in. "Much I thank thee for thy comfort and courtesy and great kindness to me in the forest. There is no man in the world I love so much as thee. For all the proud Sheriff of Nottingham, here thou shalt be safe!—Shut the gates, and draw the bridge, and let no man come in!" he shouted to his retainers. "Arm you well; make ready; guard the walls! One thing, Robin, I promise thee: here shalt thou stay for twelve days as my guest, to sup, and eat, and dine."
Swiftly and readily tables were laid and cloths spread, and Robin Hood and his merry men sat down to a good meal. | 187 | 13 | 4 | -1.302688 | 0.450399 | 87.81 | 4.64 | 4.78 | 7 | 6.44 | 0.08573 | 0.08243 | 15.423531 | 340 |
4,670 | Robert W. Chambers | The Messenger | Famous Modern Ghost Stories by Dorothy Scarborough et al. | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15143/15143-h/15143-h.htm | 1,897 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The day had become misty and overcast. Heavy, wet clouds hung in the east. I heard the surf thundering against the cliffs, and the gray gulls squealed as they tossed and turned high in the sky. The tide was creeping across the river sands, higher, higher, and I saw the seaweed floating on the beach, and the lancons springing from the foam, silvery threadlike flashes in the gloom. Curlew were flying up the river in twos and threes; the timid sea swallows skimmed across the moors toward some quiet, lonely pool, safe from the coming tempest. In every hedge field birds were gathering, huddling together, twittering restlessly.
When I reached the cliffs I sat down, resting my chin on my clenched hands. Already a vast curtain of rain, sweeping across the ocean miles away, hid the island of Groix. To the east, behind the white semaphore on the hills, black clouds crowded up over the horizon. After a little the thunder boomed, dull, distant, and slender skeins of lightning unraveled across the crest of the coming storm. | 176 | 10 | 2 | -0.909047 | 0.499854 | 72.72 | 7.51 | 9.33 | 9 | 7.73 | 0.22526 | 0.21978 | 0.913673 | 2,498 |
3,373 | Kholeka Mabeta | Sly Jackal tricks the silly Donkey | African Storybook Level 4 | https://www.africanstorybook.org/ | 2,014 | Lit | Lit | 500 | start | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Once upon a time, Sly Jackal woke up early in the morning. He was very hungry. His tummy gave a big growl. GRRrrrrr! He jumped up and went searching for food.
He wandered around the forest for hours without getting any food. The sun was very hot. Sly Jackal could barely see in front of him. All he could think of was his hunger pangs.
"Aaauuuu!" Sly Jackal let out a loud scream. He fell into a well right in front of him. He was so hungry that he did not spot it.
"Oh, my hat!" he thought. "I have to get out of this well. I will die of hunger."
Sly Jackal screamed and shouted: "Help! Anyone help!" Donkey was grazing a few meters away from the well. Donkey heard Sly Jackal's desperate cry. He came rushing.
"What is the matter?" Donkey was very worried. "The water in this well is cool and sweet. I am bored swimming alone. I need someone to help me swim. Please will you join me?"
"The sun is very hot," said Donkey. "I can't swim very well though." "Jump in! I will help you come out of the well," promised the Sly Jackal. | 200 | 32 | 7 | 0.356299 | 0.519363 | 96.2 | 1.35 | -0.11 | 4.41 | 5.28 | 0.05035 | 0.01761 | 34.366624 | 1,685 |
5,495 | A. B. C. | EMMA AND HER DOLL | The Nursery, October 1877, Vol. XXII. No. 4
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28138/28138-h/28138-h.htm#Page_117 | 1,877 | Lit | Lit | 500 | whole | null | G | 1 | 1 | Emma has placed her doll Flora against the pillow. She says, "Now, dear Flora, I want you to be very good tomorrow, for I am to have company. It is my birthday."
Then Emma sat down in a chair, and said to herself, "Why, what an old person I shall be! I shall be four years old; and I shall have to go to school soon, and read in my books. I love to look at the pictures now."
Emma got down from the chair, and placed Flora in it, and said: "I want you to be very still now, my child, for I am going to say my evening prayers. You must not cry; you must not stir; for I shall not like it at all if you make the least noise."
Then Emma said her prayers, and Flora kept quite still all the while. "Now I shall take off my shoes, and get into bed," said Emma; and then she thanked Flora for behaving so well. | 165 | 10 | 4 | 0.716757 | 0.524379 | 90.58 | 4.8 | 3.85 | 6 | 5.79 | -0.06739 | -0.06289 | 28.084202 | 3,170 |
1,523 | Grace E. Sellon | James Russell Lowell | Journeys Through Bookland Vol. 7 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23405/23405-h/23405-h.htm#JAMES_RUSSELL_LOWELL | 1,922 | Info | Lit | 1,700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Lowell was a man of wide learning, and has a prominent place in American literature for his exceptional critical ability and delightful wit, and for the artistic excellence of both his prose and poetry; but the secret of his power lies not so much in these things as in the sincerity and vigor of thought that rise above all bookishness, and in the warm human feeling that reached out for the love of his fellow-men rather than for fame and distinction. Probably that which most endears him to his countrymen is the quality he attributes to others in these words of admiration: "I am sure that both the President (Hayes) and his wife have in them that excellent new thing we call Americanism, which, I suppose, is that ‘dignity of human nature' which the philosophers of the last century were always seeking and never finding, and which, after all, consists, perhaps, in not thinking yourself either better or worse than your neighbors by reason of any artificial distinction. | 168 | 2 | 1 | -1.465673 | 0.463842 | -8.59 | 35.45 | 42.87 | 18 | 11.47 | 0.28006 | 0.30689 | 3.22676 | 314 |
2,108 | simple wiki | Hippocrates | null | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates | 2,020 | Info | History | 500 | start | CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL | PG | 2 | 2 | Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) was a Greek doctor who is called the "father of medicine". He was the first person to write that people got sick for scientific reasons. People used to believe disease was caused by angry (mad) gods.
Hippocrates wrote about treating sick people. His writings are still important to doctors today. He said many ideas that doctors still study. An idea he wrote about is "patient confidentiality". This means that doctors cannot tell anyone else what their patients tell them. Another idea is that the doctor cannot do anything to kill a patient. These kinds of ideas are part of medical ethics.
The Hippocratic Oath is named after him. This is a promise or oath doctors say. This means they say they will do what is said in the Hippocratic Oath. (People now think that Hippocrates did not write it.)
Most medical schools today use a new version. This means that some things are changed. But the important ideas are the same. | 165 | 17 | 4 | 0.154879 | 0.461423 | 74.27 | 5.34 | 4.95 | 8 | 6.68 | 0.14201 | 0.12532 | 25.987063 | 574 |
7,327 | From The Messaggero of Rome | IN RUMANIA’S PARLIAMENT | The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20521/20521-h/20521-h.htm#Where_Rumania_Stands_in_the_Crisis | 1,915 | Info | Lit | 1,700 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | The intention of the Government to avoid in Parliament any discussion of the political action of the Ministry was reaffirmed yesterday by Premier Braliano, who, in a brief declaration in the Chamber, prayed the parties to waive any discussion whatever upon the answer of Parliament to the speech from the throne, and to have confidence in those governing the country.
The independent Deputies, however, have shown themselves determined to provoke a discussion. Among the others, Mr. Couza, a Nationalist, demanded permission to express his personal admiration for the valor of the Serbians, and insisted on ample measures being taken for preventing the exportation of articles of which in due time there will be an absolute deficiency in the country.
Constantin Mille, an independent, and proprietor of the newspaper Adeverul, delivered a long speech in which he declared himself dissatisfied with the policy of the Government, which ought to have taken a decisive stand at the beginning of the conflict. | 157 | 4 | 3 | -2.921728 | 0.563008 | 19.1 | 20.47 | 23.03 | 18 | 10.97 | 0.29293 | 0.32366 | 0.737055 | 4,549 |
4,980 | DR. O. BACH. | TESTING OLIVE OIL | Scientific American Supplement, No. 392 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8742/8742-h/8742-h.htm | 1,883 | Info | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | My method of testing olive oil is as follows:
First, the so-called elaidine test is made, and then the test with nitric acid. About 5 c. c. (a teaspoonful) of the oil is mixed in a test tube with its own volume of nitric acid, spec. gr. 1.30, and shaken violently for one minute. At the expiration of this time the oils will have acquired the following colors: Olive oil, pale green; cotton seed oil, yellowish brown; sesame, white; sun flower, dirty white; peanut, rape, and castor oils, pale pink or rose.
As soon as the color has been observed, the test glass is put in a water bath at the full boiling temperature and left there five minutes. It was found that the action of nitric acid upon cotton seed and sesame oil was the most violent, sometimes so violent as to throw the oil out of the glass. At the end of another five minutes after the test tube is taken out of the water bath, the following colors are seen: olive and rapeseed oils are red; castor oil is golden yellow; sun flower oil, reddish yellow; sesame and peanut, brownish yellow; cotton seed, reddish brown. | 196 | 8 | 3 | -1.480733 | 0.462179 | 60.22 | 11.92 | 12.76 | 10 | 8.7 | 0.10256 | 0.06534 | 15.35136 | 2,736 |
3,574 | William DeMille | Ruthless | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/ruthless | 1,945 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | As she went down the path, he started to close the closet door; then paused as he remembered his hunting boots drying outside on the porch. They belonged in the closet, so leaving the door open he went to fetch them from the heavy, rustic table on which they stood, along with his bag and topcoat.
Alec was coming up from the lake and waved to him from a distance. A chipmunk, hearing Judson's heavy tread, abandoned the acorn he was about to add to his store within the cabin wall and disappeared, like an electric bulb burning out. Judson, reaching for his boots, stepped fairly upon the acorn, his foot slid from under him and his head struck the massive table as he fell.
Several minutes later he began to regain his senses. Alec's strong arm was supporting his as he lay on the porch and a kindly voice was saying: "'Twarn't much of a fall, Mr. Webb. You aren't cut none; jest knocked out for a minute. Here, take this; it'll pull you together." | 174 | 9 | 3 | -0.783271 | 0.472088 | 74.51 | 7.73 | 8.27 | 8 | 6.85 | 0.0383 | 0.04161 | 11.528458 | 1,846 |
4,309 | James Joyce | Dubliners | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm | 1,914 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.
Few people passed. The man out of the last house passed on his way home; she heard his footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement and afterwards crunching on the cinder path before the new red houses. One time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with other people's children. Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in it—not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining roofs. The children of the avenue used to play together in that field—the Devines, the Waters, the Dunns, little Keogh the cripple, she and her brothers and sisters. | 140 | 8 | 2 | 0.17661 | 0.491467 | 74.35 | 7.27 | 8.82 | 8 | 6.53 | 0.09097 | 0.11775 | 17.862423 | 2,230 |
2,890 | Angesom Abadi,
Adonay Gebru | Berhe and the
snake | African Storybook Level 3 | https://www.africanstorybook.org/# | 2,017 | Lit | Lit | 500 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | "Where are you going?" the snake asked Berhe. "I am crossing the river," replied Berhe. The snake asked, "Please let me cross the river with you because I can't do it on my own." Berhe was kind and answered, "Come, I will help you to cross the river." The snake climbed onto Berhe's head and they crossed the river. Berhe told the snake to get down. The snake refused, "I will not, I'm comfortable here." Berhe was worried. If he hit the snake with his stick, he would hurt his head. If he grabbed the snake, it would bite him. Berhe decided to get advice. He wanted hyena's opinion about the problem. "Good afternoon, hyena," said Berhe. "Good afternoon, how can I help you?" asked hyena. Berhe continued, "I know you are very fair, so I want you to judge us." Berhe explained what had happened with the snake, and asked hyena's opinion on the matter. | 156 | 18 | 1 | 0.22064 | 0.473742 | 93.37 | 2.39 | 2.44 | 6 | 6.7 | 0.04462 | 0.051 | 35.115976 | 1,287 |
6,575 | Jacob Abbott | Rollo in Naples | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24488/24488-h/24488-h.htm | 1,858 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The reason why there are so many paintings and sculptures in Italy is this: in the middle ages, it was the fashion, in all the central parts of Europe, for the people to spend almost all their surplus money in building and decorating churches. Indeed, there was then very little else that they could do. At the present time, people invest their funds, as fast as they accumulate them, in building ships and railroads, docks for the storage of merchandise, houses and stores in cities, to let for the sake of the rent, and country seats, or pretty private residences of various kinds, for themselves. But in the middle ages very little could be done in the way of investments like these. There were no railroads, and there was very little use for ships. There was no profit to be gained by building houses and stores, for there were so many wars and commotions among the people of the different towns and kingdoms, that nothing was stable or safe. | 169 | 6 | 1 | -0.267159 | 0.475104 | 61.61 | 11.66 | 13.79 | 10 | 7 | 0.17475 | 0.18331 | 12.74328 | 3,987 |
3,328 | CommonLit Staff | Clownfish and Sea Anemone | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/clownfish-and-sea-anemone | 2,014 | Info | Lit | 1,500 | start | CC BY NC-SA 2.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Clownfish are among the few species of fish that can avoid the potent poison of a sea anemone. These two species have a symbiotic, mutualistic relationship, each providing a number of benefits to the other. The sea anemone protects the clownfish from predators, and provides food through the scraps left from the anemone's meals and occasional dead anemone tentacles.
In return, the clownfish defends the anemone from its predators and parasites. The anemone also picks up nutrients from the clownfish's excrement, and functions as a safe nest site. The nitrogen excreted from clownfish increases the amount of algae incorporated into the tissue of their hosts, which aids the anemone in tissue growth and regeneration. Marine biologists have theorized that clownfish use their bright coloring to lure small fish to the anemone, which the anemone then kills and consumes.
Another theory is that the activity of the clownfish results in greater water circulation around the sea anemone. Studies on anemones have found that clownfish alter the flow of water around sea anemone tentacles through certain behaviors and movements such as "wedging" and "switching." | 180 | 9 | 3 | -0.522138 | 0.490074 | 44.07 | 12.14 | 13.51 | 14 | 10.11 | 0.38709 | 0.37568 | 7.533829 | 1,648 |
5,950 | Caroline M.S. Kirkland | THE SCHOOLMASTER'S PROGRESS | The Best American Humorous Short Stories | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10947/10947-h/10947-h.htm | 1,844 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Master William Horner came to our village to school when he was about eighteen years old: tall, lank, straight-sided, and straight-haired, with a mouth of the most puckered and solemn kind. His figure and movements were those of a puppet cut out of shingle and jerked by a string; and his address corresponded very well with his appearance. Never did that prim mouth give way before a laugh. A faint and misty smile was the widest departure from its propriety, and this unaccustomed disturbance made wrinkles in the flat, skinny cheeks like those in the surface of a lake, after the intrusion of a stone. Master Horner knew well what belonged to the pedagogical character, and that facial solemnity stood high on the list of indispensable qualifications. He had made up his mind before he left his father's house how he would look during the term. He had not planned any smiles (knowing that he must "board round"), and it was not for ordinary occurrences to alter his arrangements; so that when he was betrayed into a relaxation of the muscles, it was "in such a sort" as if he was putting his bread and butter in jeopardy | 198 | 7 | 1 | -1.485908 | 0.45116 | 59.4 | 12.07 | 14.09 | 12 | 7.97 | 0.22339 | 0.21309 | 5.234042 | 3,547 |
4,677 | William Beverley Harison? | Invention and Discovery | The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It No. 29 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15601/15601-h/15601-h.htm | 1,897 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | At last we seem to have a mucilage brush that is going to answer every requirement.
We have had them in plenty with the handles so arranged that the mucilage would not get on one's fingers, and so that the neck of the bottle would not get clogged. But so far every invention has fallen short in one very important particular. The brush has always been left in the mucilage, where it got hard and stiff and unusable for a time, or had to be lifted out and put in a fresh compartment, where it again dries and hardens.
The new brush is so arranged that it does not touch the mucilage, but is held above it by a spring in the handle. When the gum is to be used, the top of the handle is pressed, and the brush is forced down into the bottle until it meets the liquid. | 149 | 6 | 3 | -1.856807 | 0.495745 | 72.04 | 9.46 | 9.96 | 10 | 6.66 | 0.18198 | 0.20328 | 20.108022 | 2,505 |
1,136 | Edward Stratemeyer | THE ROVER BOYS ON THE FARM
OR
LAST DAYS AT PUTNAM HALL | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22163/22163-h/22163-h.htm | 1,908 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | At first Sam and Tom demurred to entering the cave—which looked dark and forbidding. But Dick insisted that he was going ahead, and rather than be left behind they went along.
"We'll light some kind of a torch," said the eldest Rover. "Got some matches?"
"Yes, I brought along a pocketful," answered Sam. "Didn't know but what we'd want to build a campfire this noon."
"We'll want one now—to dry our clothing by," said Tom. "Let us pick up the driest of the sticks."
This they did, and having entered the cave, they made a good-sized blaze. This sent a ruddy glow around the cavern, and as the boys moved about fantastic shadows went dancing on the rocky walls, adding to the weirdness of the scene.
From the fire each of the youths provided himself with a torch, and thus equipped they moved around the cave with care, taking precautions not to fall into any more holes. They soon found the opening on the mountainside long and narrow and running downward.
"We don't want to get lost," cautioned Sam. | 173 | 13 | 7 | -0.365379 | 0.475721 | 83.27 | 5.08 | 5.89 | 7 | 7.04 | 0.19728 | 0.19082 | 12.218895 | 174 |
4,341 | Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace | Our Russian Ally | The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 5 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18880/18880-h/18880-h.htm#Our_Russian_Ally | 1,914 | Info | Lit | 1,500 | mid | null | PG | 2 | 1.5 | The antiquated idea that Czars are always heartless tyrants who devote much of their time to sending troublesome subjects to Siberia is now happily pretty well exploded, but the average Englishman is still reluctant to admit that an avowedly autocratic Government may be, in certain circumstances, a useful institution. There is no doubt, however, that in the gigantic work of raising Russia to her present level of civilization the Czars have played a most important part. As for the present Czar, he has followed, in a humane spirit, the best traditions of his ancestors. Any one who has had opportunities of studying closely his character and aims, and who knows the difficulties with which he has had to contend, can hardly fail to regard him with sympathy and admiration. Among the qualities which should commend him to Englishmen are his scrupulous honesty and genuine truthfulness. | 145 | 5 | 1 | -1.753183 | 0.45781 | 36.79 | 15.33 | 16.84 | 16 | 9.65 | 0.24494 | 0.26735 | 4.554999 | 2,253 |
5,475 | R.E. | THE OLD MAN AND THE NERVOUS COW. | St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 4 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm | 1,878 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | So he put on a smile (of course it was not a very beautiful one, for he was in a hurry, but it was the best he could do), and stared straight into the cow's eyes. She saw that smile, and it so touched her that she stopped short. Then she sauntered back a little way, but the thought of that aggravating fly, and that awful frog, was too much for her poor nerves, and turning around, she dashed madly on again.
In another minute, the poor old man—cane, little legs, smile and all—was up in the air.
He alighted in the top of a hickory-tree. One branch grazed his eye, two ran into his legs, while another held his smile stiff and straight.
Thus he stayed until an eagle caught sight of him, pounced right down, and flew off with him to her nest, which was on a huge rock that rose straight up into the cold air and made the summit of a mountain. | 163 | 7 | 4 | -0.803263 | 0.464551 | 81.3 | 7.85 | 8.89 | 8 | 5.77 | -0.00436 | 0.01964 | 16.854657 | 3,152 |
3,848 | Judge Parry | THE KNIGHTING OF DON QUIXOTE | THE JUNIOR CLASSICS: A LIBRARY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS VOLUME FOUR: HEROES AND HEROINES OF CHIVALRY | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The innkeeper cried to them to let him alone, for he had already told them that he was mad. But Don Quixote cried out louder than the innkeeper, calling them all disloyal men and traitors, and that the lord of the castle was a treacherous and bad knight to allow them to use a knight-errant so basely; and if he had only received the order of knighthood he would have punished him soundly for his treason. Then calling to the carriers he said: "As for you, base and rascally ruffians, you are beneath my notice. Throw at me, approach, draw near and do me all the hurt you may, for you shall ere long receive the reward of your insolence."
These words, which he spoke with great spirit and boldness, struck a terrible fear into all those who assaulted him, and, partly moved by his threats and partly persuaded by the innkeeper, they left off throwing stones at him, and he allowed them to carry away the wounded men, while he returned to his watch with great quietness and gravity. | 179 | 5 | 2 | -0.413637 | 0.495896 | 57.92 | 14.17 | 16.98 | 11 | 8.05 | 0.16552 | 0.18734 | 10.926344 | 2,061 |
5,675 | ? | MEDITATIONS OF A SHUT-OUT ONE | The Nursery, August 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 2 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24939/24939-h/24939-h.htm#Page_46 | 1,873 | Lit | Lit | 900 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | Well, now, do you call that good manners? My master shut the gate in my face, as much as to say, "Stay where you are, Bob." Then he goes in to dine and play chess with the parson, and leaves me here to watch and wait.
Three hours, I do believe, I have been here on the watch,—three long, long hours. And there he sits yonder with the folks in the summer-house. The roast meat seems to be deliciously done, if I may judge from the odor. Just one little bone for me, if you please, good master mine.
What do I see? He gives a bone to that scamp Fido; but for me, his trusty one, who, year in and year out, have guarded yard and stable so faithfully,—for me he has nothing, not even a mouthful! And here I sit hungering and thirsting till my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. | 153 | 10 | 3 | -0.237038 | 0.475414 | 93.74 | 3.71 | 3.5 | 6 | 5.86 | 0.0608 | 0.0848 | 23.106676 | 3,328 |
6,021 | ANTON TCHEKHOV
Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT | THE HUSBAND | The Lady With The Dog and Other Stories | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13415/13415-h/13415-h.htm | 2,004 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | PG-13 | 3 | 2 | Coming out of the club, the husband and wife walked all the way home in silence. The tax-collector walked behind his wife, and watching her downcast, sorrowful, humiliated little figure, he recalled the look of beatitude which had so irritated him at the club, and the consciousness that the beatitude was gone filled his soul with triumph. He was pleased and satisfied, and at the same time he felt the lack of something; he would have liked to go back to the club and make every one feel dreary and miserable, so that all might know how stale and worthless life is when you walk along the streets in the dark and hear the slush of the mud under your feet, and when you know that you will wake up next morning with nothing to look forward to but vodka and cards. Oh, how awful it is!
And Anna Pavlovna could scarcely walk.... She was still under the influence of the dancing, the music, the talk, the lights, and the noise; she asked herself as she walked along why God had thus afflicted her. | 183 | 5 | 2 | -0.780457 | 0.46587 | 65.33 | 11.81 | 14.06 | 11 | 7.47 | 0.08556 | 0.09685 | 13.794045 | 3,590 |
3,254 | simple wiki | Larva | null | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larva | 2,015 | Info | Science | 1,100 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL | G | 1 | 1 | Probably the most widely accepted theory explaining the evolution of larval stages is the need for dispersal. Sessile organisms such as barnacles and tunicates, and sea-floor groups like mussels and crabs, need some way to move their young into new territory, since they cannot move long distances as adults. Many species have relatively long pelagic larval stages (how long a larva is in the water column). During this time, larvae feed and grow, and many species move through several stages of development. For example, most barnacles molt through six nauplius larva stages before molting to a cipris, when they look to settle. The larvae eat different food from the adults, and disperse.
The other consideration is the small size of the eggs. If animals lay many small eggs (and most do), then the young stages cannot live the life the adults lead. They must live a separate life until they have the size and capability to live as an adult. This is what the larvae do. | 165 | 10 | 2 | -2.778515 | 0.533111 | 62.22 | 8.73 | 9.07 | 11 | 7.96 | 0.16904 | 0.16001 | 12.624633 | 1,588 |
4,055 | JAMES BRYCE. | Appreciation from Lord Bryce | The New York Times Current History of the European War | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16702/16702-h/16702-h.htm | 1,915 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | end | null | PG | 2 | 2 | Most persons in this country, including all those who work for peace, agree with you in deploring the vast armaments which European States have been piling up, and will hope with you that after this war they may be reduced—and safely reduced—to slender dimensions. Their existence is a constant menace to peace. They foster that spirit of militarism which has brought these horrors on the world; for they create in the great countries of the Continent a large and powerful military and naval caste which lives for war, talks and writes incessantly of war, and glorifies war as a thing good in itself.
It is (as you say) to the peoples that we must henceforth look to safeguard international concord. They bear the miseries of war, they ought to have the power to arrest the action of those who are hurrying them into it.
To get rid of secret diplomacy is more difficult in Europe than in America, whose relations with foreign States are fewer and simpler, but what you say upon that subject also will find a sympathetic echo here among the friends of freedom and of peace. I am always sincerely yours, | 192 | 7 | 3 | -2.273444 | 0.544342 | 51.81 | 12.92 | 14.08 | 13 | 8.59 | 0.18627 | 0.17974 | 12.691143 | 2,131 |
5,768 | Uncle Charles | LEARN TO THINK | The Nursery, November 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 5 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24942/24942-h/24942-h.htm#Page_147 | 1,873 | Lit | Lit | 700 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | Walter Dane was in a hurry to go off to play at ball with some of his schoolfellows; and so he did not give much thought to the lesson which he had to learn.
It was a lesson in grammar. Walter's mother took the book, and said, "I fear my little boy finds it hard to put his thoughts on his lesson today."
"Try me, mother," said Walter. "I will do my best."
"Then, I will put you a question which is not in the book," said mamma. "Which is the heavier,—a pound of feathers, or a pound of lead?"
"A pound of lead, to be sure!" cried Walter confidently.
"There! you spoke then without thinking," said Mrs. Dane. "A little thought would have made it clear to you that a pound is a pound, and that a pound of feathers must weigh just as much as a pound of lead." | 146 | 12 | 6 | 0.977323 | 0.533492 | 94.34 | 3.23 | 2.54 | 6 | 5.52 | 0.04459 | 0.06013 | 27.560551 | 3,409 |
4,842 | Robert Louis Stevenson | Shipwrecked | The Ontario High School Reader | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22795/22795-h/22795-h.htm#Page_75 | 1,886 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | There is a pretty high rock on the north-west of Earraid, which (because it had a flat top and overlooked the Sound) I was much in the habit of frequenting; not that I ever stayed in one place, save when asleep, my misery giving me no rest. Indeed, I wore myself down with continual and aimless goings and comings in the rain.
As soon, however, as the sun came out, I lay down on the top of that rock to dry myself. The comfort of the sunshine is a thing I cannot tell. It set me thinking hopefully of my deliverance, of which I had begun to despair; and I scanned the sea and the Ross with a fresh interest. On the south of my rock a part of the island jutted out and hid the open ocean so that a boat could thus come quite near me upon that side and I be none the wiser. | 156 | 6 | 2 | -1.581924 | 0.487215 | 76.84 | 8.15 | 7.74 | 9 | 6.45 | 0.0817 | 0.12402 | 16.435987 | 2,630 |
5,305 | M. E. Bouty | On the Change of Volume Which Accompanies the Galvanic Deposition of a Metal | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8391/8391-h/8391-h.htm#19 | 1,881 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The new fact which I have observed is, that in the electrolysis of the same salts it is always possible to lower the intensity of the current below a limit, I', such that the compression produced by the deposit changes its direction, that is to say, instead of contracting the metal dilates in solidifying. This change, although unquestionable, is sufficiently difficult to produce with sulphate of copper. It is necessary to employ as a negative electrode a thermometer sensitive to 1/200 of a degree, and to take most careful precautions to avoid accidental deformations of the deposit; but the phenomenon can be observed very easily with nitrate of copper, the sulphate of zinc, and the chloride of cadmium. There is, therefore, a neutral point of compression in the same cases where there is a neutral point of temperatures. With the salts of iron, nickel, etc., for which the neutral point of temperatures cannot be arrived at, there is also no neutral point of compression; and the negative electrode always becomes heated, and the deposit obtained is always a compressing deposit. | 180 | 5 | 1 | -3.590328 | 0.644902 | 29.3 | 18.12 | 19.71 | 17 | 9.9 | 0.50554 | 0.50422 | 5.937381 | 3,005 |
5,754 | T. C. | A SCHOOL-BOY'S STORY | The Nursery, July 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 1 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24938/24938-h/24938-h.htm#Page_12 | 1,873 | Lit | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Poor John ate his bread with water instead of milk: but somehow he was not unhappy, for he felt that he had done a kindness to little Sam Jones; and the satisfaction of having rendered a service to another always brings happiness.
A few days after, Mr. Jones came to the school, and spoke to Mr. Brill about the matter; for little Sam had told his father and mother all about it. Sam was a timid boy; but he could not bear to see John Tubbs kept in for no fault, while the other boys were at play.
"What!" said the master, "and has John Tubbs borne all the blame without saying a word?—Come here, John."
"What's the matter now?" said John to himself. "Something else, I suppose. Well, never mind, so that poor little Sam Jones has got out of his little scrape." | 141 | 9 | 4 | -0.038431 | 0.49965 | 78.44 | 7.43 | 8.01 | 8 | 7.29 | 0.07718 | 0.09201 | 20.347626 | 3,399 |
7,353 | John Macy | American Literature | Modern Essays SELECTED BY
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38280/38280-h/38280-h.htm | 2,011 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | American literature and English literature of the nineteenth century are parallel derivatives from preceding centuries of English literature. Literature is a succession of books from books. Artistic expression springs from life ultimately but not immediately. It may be likened to a river which is swollen throughout its course by new tributaries and by the seepages of its banks; it reflects the life through which it flows, taking color from the shores; the shores modify it, but its power and volume descend from distant headwaters and affluents far up stream. Or it may be likened to the race-life which our food nourishes or impoverishes, which our individual circumstances foster or damage, but which flows on through us, strangely impersonal and beyond our power to kill or create. It is well for a writer to say: "Away with books! I will draw my inspiration from life!" For we have too many books that are simply better books diluted by John Smith. At the same time, literature is not born spontaneously out of life. Every book has its literary parentage, and students find it so easy to trace genealogies that much criticism reads like an Old Testament chapter of "begats." | 197 | 10 | 1 | -2.30379 | 0.497584 | 53.97 | 10.2 | 10.52 | 12 | 9 | 0.2658 | 0.24152 | 11.365627 | 4,569 |
4,121 | Prime Minister Asquith | The Power of the Purse | The European War, Vol 2, No. 5 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22460/22460-h/22460-h.htm | 1,915 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Those are facts which speak for themselves, and they show the urgent necessity, not only for a loan, but for a national loan—a loan far larger in its scale, far broader in its basis, and far more imperious in its demand upon every class and every section of the community than any in our history.
For the first time in our financial experience no limit has been placed on the amount to be raised; and that means that every citizen in the country is invited to subscribe as much as he can to help us to a complete and speedy victory. I need not dwell on its attractiveness from the mere investor's point of view. Indeed, the only criticism which I have heard in or outside the House of Commons is that it is perhaps a little too generous in its terms. That is a fault, if it be a fault, upon the right side. | 154 | 5 | 2 | -1.260459 | 0.459134 | 58.57 | 12.79 | 13.49 | 12 | 7.62 | 0.11755 | 0.15309 | 12.055667 | 2,152 |
5,926 | Ralph Waldo Emerson | Representitive Men | null | http://www.online-literature.com/emerson/representative-men/ | 1,850 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Shakspeare's youth fell in a time when the English people were importunate for dramatic entertainments. The court took offence easily at political allusions, and attempted to suppress them. The Puritans, a growing and energetic party, and the religious among the Anglican church, would suppress them. But the people wanted them. Inn-yards, houses without roofs, and extemporaneous enclosures at country fairs, were the ready theatres of strolling players. The people had tasted this new joy; and, as we could not hope to suppress newspapers now,--no, not by the strongest party,--neither then could king, prelate, or puritan, alone or united, suppress an organ, which was ballad, epic, newspaper, caucus, lecture, punch, and library, at the same time. Probably king, prelate and puritan, all found their own account in it. It had become, by all causes, a national interest,--by no means conspicuous, so that some great scholar would have thought of treating it in an English history,--but not a whit less considerable, because it was cheap, and of no account, like a baker's-shop. The best proof of its vitality is the crowd of writers which suddenly broke into this field; Kyd, Marlow, Greene, Jonson, Chapman, Dekker, Webster, Heywood, Middleton, Peele, Ford, Massinger, Beaumont, and Fletcher. | 202 | 9 | 1 | -2.06709 | 0.516486 | 54.64 | 10.34 | 11.35 | 12 | 8.98 | 0.28355 | 0.23761 | 10.207053 | 3,530 |
8,026 | wikijunior | Liquid Basics | "Wikijunior
| https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:The_Elements/Liquids | 2,020 | Info | Science | 500 | start | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | The second state of matter we will discuss is a liquid. Solids are hard things you can hold. Gases are floating around you and in bubbles. What is a liquid? Water is a liquid. Your blood is a liquid. Liquids are an in-between state of matter. They can be found in between the solid and gas states. They don't have to be made up of the same compounds. If you have a variety of materials in a liquid, it is called a solution.
One characteristic of a liquid is that it will fill up the shape of a container. If you pour some water in a cup, it will fill up the bottom of the cup first and then fill the rest. The water will also take the shape of the cup. It fills the bottom first because of gravity. The top part of a liquid will usually have a flat surface. That flat surface is because of gravity too. Putting an ice cube (solid) into a cup will leave you with a cube in the middle of the cup; the shape won't change until the ice becomes a liquid. | 189 | 17 | 2 | 0.255209 | 0.483866 | 86.03 | 4.05 | 2.4 | 7 | 6.43 | 0.1529 | 0.14475 | 26.533802 | 4,718 |
5,859 | George Eliot | The Mill on the Floss | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6688/6688-h/6688-h.htm | 1,860 | Lit | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The rush of the water and the booming of the mill bring a dreamy deafness, which seems to heighten the peacefulness of the scene. They are like a great curtain of sound, shutting one out from the world beyond. And now there is the thunder of the huge covered wagon coming home with sacks of grain. That honest wagoner is thinking of his dinner, getting sadly dry in the oven at this late hour; but he will not touch it till he has fed his horses,—the strong, submissive, meek-eyed beasts, who, I fancy, are looking mild reproach at him from between their blinkers, that he should crack his whip at them in that awful manner as if they needed that hint! See how they stretch their shoulders up the slope toward the bridge, with all the more energy because they are so near home. Look at their grand shaggy feet that seem to grasp the firm earth, at the patient strength of their necks, bowed under the heavy collar, at the mighty muscles of their struggling haunches! | 177 | 6 | 1 | -0.987863 | 0.46696 | 70.26 | 10.83 | 13.79 | 7 | 7.68 | 0.21365 | 0.2321 | 6.743563 | 3,483 |
5,345 | W. F. DENNING | THE CENTENARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF URANUS | Scientific American Supplement, No. 303 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8296/8296-h/8296-h.htm | 1,881 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | The year 1781 was signalized by an astronomical discovery of great importance, and one which marked the epoch as memorable in the annals of science. A musician at Bath, William Herschel by name, who had been constructing some excellent telescopes and making a systematic survey of the heavens, observed an object on the night of March 13 of that year, which ultimately proved to be a large planet revolving in an orbit exterior to that of Saturn. The discovery was as unique as it was significant. Only five planets, in addition to the Earth, had hitherto been known; they were observed by the ancients, and by each succeeding generation, but now a new light burst upon men. The genius of Herschel had singled out from the host of stars which his telescope revealed an object the true character of which had evaded human perception for thousands of years! | 148 | 5 | 1 | -1.311037 | 0.502315 | 46.46 | 14.13 | 15.51 | 15 | 10.23 | 0.1823 | 0.2138 | 4.329921 | 3,043 |
7,389 | Sibongile Mnkandla | A present for
grandma | African Storybook Level 3 | https://www.africanstorybook.org/# | null | Lit | Lit | 500 | start | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Grandma is coming to visit. And always she brings Thabo some peanuts and wild fruits or mealies and a melon, sometimes. Thabo wants to give Grandma something special too. A book would be lovely, but can Grandma read? If he went to the mall, would he get something nice? "Let's make her a bag," says Thabo with a smile. "A big strong bag in denim blue." Mother takes out the fabric they bought at the shop. She spreads out the pattern and begins to cut. First, the two main sides that are big and wide. Then two smaller ones to give it some shape. Thabo folds them together with the two main sides. He watches as Mother takes the pattern again. She cuts out the bottom in two long pieces. This is what will make the bag really strong. Thabo folds them as Mother takes the pattern again. She cuts out four straps that are wide and long. Two will be sewn together to make one strap. This will give the bag double strength. | 174 | 19 | 1 | -0.194649 | 0.491303 | 93.01 | 2.56 | 2.65 | 5 | 6 | 0.13337 | 0.1259 | 23.147393 | 4,595 |
2,076 | wikipedia | Geomorphology | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomorphology | 2,020 | Info | Science | 1,100 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Rivers and streams are not only conduits of water, but also of sediment. The water, as it flows over the channel bed, is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream, either as bed load, suspended load or dissolved load. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself and on the river's discharge. Rivers are also capable of eroding into rock and creating new sediment, both from their own beds and also by coupling to the surrounding hillslopes. In this way, rivers are thought of as setting the base level for large-scale landscape evolution in nonglacial environments. Rivers are key links in the connectivity of different landscape elements.
As rivers flow across the landscape, they generally increase in size, merging with other rivers. The network of rivers thus formed is a drainage system. These systems take on four general patterns: dendritic, radial, rectangular, and trellis. Dendritic happens to be the most common, occurring when the underlying stratum is stable (without faulting). Drainage systems have four primary components: drainage basin, alluvial valley, delta plain, and receiving basin. Some geomorphic examples of fluvial landforms are alluvial fans, oxbow lakes, and fluvial terraces. | 193 | 12 | 2 | -1.493906 | 0.475297 | 50.4 | 9.69 | 10.31 | 11 | 9.75 | 0.30914 | 0.27129 | 11.104183 | 546 |
3,381 | Manuel C. Voelkle & Ulman Lindenberger | Cognitive Development | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2014.00001 | 2,014 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | The distinction between fluid and crystallized intelligence is important because the two are influenced by different factors. While the former is more biologically determined and genetically predisposed, the latter is shaped more by experience. This is a little bit similar to what we know of sports: some people are more likely to develop stronger muscles than others, but this does not turn them automatically into world-class athletes. Instead, they need many years of training and experience to make it to the top. Likewise, people need to apply their fluid intelligence to a particular domain of knowledge, such as physics or history or neuroscience, to become really good at what they are doing.
When it comes to cognition, psychologists speak of a two-component model of cognitive development. By that, they mean that cognition is always a combination of some aspects of fluid intelligence and some aspects of crystallized intelligence, but the two components develop differently across the lifespan. After you are born, your body and brain develop and you become smarter without much effort. | 172 | 8 | 2 | -1.989034 | 0.50687 | 42.55 | 12.15 | 12.77 | 14 | 9.29 | 0.17807 | 0.17807 | 14.079729 | 1,693 |
4,556 | Mary Kellogg Sullivan | A Woman Who Went to Alaska | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/a-woman-who-went-to-alaska | 1,902 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The Canadian Dominion government is very oppressive. Mining laws are very arbitrary and strictly enforced. A person wishing to prospect for gold must first procure a miner's license, paying ten dollars for it. If anything is discovered, and he wishes to locate a claim, he visits the recorder's office, states his business, and is told to call again. In the meantime, men are sent to examine the locality and if anything of value is found, the man wishing to record the claim is told that it is already located. The officials seize it. The man has no way of ascertaining if the land was properly located, and so had no redress. If the claim is thought to be poor, he can locate it by the payment of a fifteen dollar fee.
One half of all mining land is reserved for the crown, a quarter or more is gobbled by corrupt officials, and a meager share left for the daring miners who, by braving hardship and death, develop the mines and open up the country. | 173 | 9 | 2 | -0.861132 | 0.448004 | 62.74 | 9.31 | 8.74 | 11 | 7.77 | 0.25073 | 0.24349 | 14.084589 | 2,410 |
6,600 | Jessie Graham Flower | Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School
or The Parting of the Ways | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4940/4940-h/4940-h.htm | 2,007 | Lit | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The girl chums had been entertained at "Hawk's Nest" by Mrs. Gibson, and were in consequence the most important persons in the Girls' High School. They had found Mrs. Gibson charming, and had been invited to repeat their visit at an early date. Mabel's story had circulated throughout Oakdale, and she and her friends were the topic of the hour.
The one cloud on their horizon had been the fact of the inevitable separation. They had begged and entreated Mrs. Allison to take up her residence in Oakdale for the balance of Mabel's junior year, but on account of home matters she had been unable to comply with their wishes. So Mabel had departed for Denver with her mother, while the chums had kissed her and cried over her and had extracted a laughing promise from Mrs. Allison to bring her to Oakdale during commencement week to witness the graduation of the Phi Sigma Tau. | 154 | 6 | 2 | -1.886013 | 0.519764 | 57.26 | 11.69 | 12.85 | 13 | 9.09 | 0.1996 | 0.21405 | 12.780084 | 4,012 |
3,895 | ? | THE FIFTH VOYAGE | The Junior Classics, V5 | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6328/pg6328-images.html | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | All the troubles and calamities I had undergone could not cure me of my inclination to make new voyages. I therefore bought goods, departed with them for the best seaport; and there, that I might not be obliged to depend upon a captain, but have a ship at my own command, I remained till one was built on purpose, at my own charge. When the ship was ready I went on board with my goods; but not having enough to load her, I agreed to take with me several merchants of different nations, with their merchandise.
We sailed with the first fair wind, and, after a long navigation, the first place we touched at was a desert island, where we found an egg of a roc, equal in size to that I formerly mentioned. There was a young roc in it, just ready to be hatched, and its beak had begun to break the egg. The merchants who landed with me broke the egg with hatchets, and made a hole in it, pulled out the young roc, piecemeal, and roasted it. I had in vain entreated them not to meddle with the egg. | 192 | 7 | 2 | -1.817004 | 0.545645 | 76.8 | 7.87 | 8.3 | 9 | 6.91 | 0.20702 | 0.20702 | 17.618136 | 2,084 |
3,337 | D a n i e l l e B r u c k e r t a n d Z e h n y a B r u c k e r t | All About Pink Flowers | null | https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Pink-Flowers-FKB-Kids-Stories.pdf | 2,014 | Info | Lit | 700 | mid | CC-BY-NC | G | 1 | 1 | Daisies are the most fun flowers to draw. Small daisies often grow wild in wet grassy areas and are popular for making daisy chains. This is a pink orchid flower. There are over 25,000 species of orchids. They grow in all continents except Antarctica. Orchids come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, from pure white to deep black.
This is a pink rose. This is another pink rose. A rose is the most popular flower for bouquets, poetry, and is a romantic icon. This is a pink hibiscus flower. Hibiscus flowers grow in warm climates. They are often used for decorations. Having a pleasant citrus flavor and as a source of Vitamin C, they are also used in food and tea. This is a pink lotus bud. A lotus is a flower that grows in water, and is a symbol of purity and life. A bud is a flower that hasn't opened. This is a pink Protea. The family of plants the Protea comes from has been around for millions of years. Proteas can be found in Southern Africa, Australasia, and South America. | 182 | 19 | 2 | -0.391499 | 0.465128 | 76.86 | 4.93 | 3.35 | 8 | 7.39 | 0.2264 | 0.2034 | 20.06731 | 1,655 |
5,719 | Gertie Adams | PRINCE AND TIP | The Nursery, May 1873, Vol. XIII.
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest People | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24478/24478-h/24478-h.htm#Page_151 | 1,873 | Lit | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Sometimes we say to him, "Now, Pinny, play sick." Then he lies down, droops his head, and puts on a woe-begone look. We run around him, saying, "Poor Pinny!" and he all the while seems to enjoy the joke. As soon as we say, "Up Pinny, all well," he jumps up, shakes himself, and gives a knowing look, which seems to say, "Didn't I do that well?"
When we tell him to play beggar, he sits up on his haunches, raises his fore-paws, and whines dolefully.
When we hear a noise, and say, "See if anybody's coming, Pinny!" he goes to the door, and listens: if any one is coming, he barks loudly; if not, he comes quietly back.
Sometimes the two dogs play horses. Their master takes a rope a few feet long, and ties one end around Pinny's neck, and the other around Tip's. Then, when the word is given, they set off and gallop up the road abreast, like two ponies. When their master whistles, they turn round, and come back. | 171 | 12 | 4 | -0.116008 | 0.47487 | 89.75 | 4.1 | 3.68 | 6 | 6.46 | -0.02671 | -0.02369 | 23.166066 | 3,369 |
5,493 | A. B. C. | A ROUGH SKETCH | The Nursery, May 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 5
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28133/28133-h/28133-h.htm#Page_151 | 1,877 | Lit | Lit | 500 | whole | null | G | 1 | 1 | Here is a boy drawing on a wall. He is a shoemaker's boy. His name is Bob.
Tom, the baker's boy, and a little girl named Ann are looking on. "What is it?" asks Ann at sight of the picture.
"It's a fine lady, of course," says Tom. "Don't you see her head-dress and her sun-shade?" Bob is so busy that he cannot stop to talk.
He is well pleased with his work. But the man who is looking around the corner of the wall does not look pleased in the least.
It is plain that he has no love for the fine arts. Or it may be that he does not like to see such a rough sketch on his wall.
Perhaps he thinks that when boys are sent on an errand, they ought not to loiter by the way. | 136 | 14 | 6 | -0.195061 | 0.447064 | 102.4 | 1.51 | 0.17 | 5 | 5.25 | -0.01796 | 0.00375 | 26.258501 | 3,168 |
5,662 | WILLIE B. MARSHALL | MY DOG | The Nursery, Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1875 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14335/14335-h/14335-h.htm#Page_156 | 1,875 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | When I go on errands, Don takes the basket or pail, and trots away to the store; and sometimes I have to pull him, or he will go the wrong way.
He is a lazy old fellow, and he likes to sleep almost all the time, except when he is asked if he wants to go anywhere; and then he frisks around, and seems as if he had never been asleep.
When he wants a drink, he goes around to the store-room door, and asks for it by looking up in our faces; and I dare say he would say, if he could speak, "Please give me a drink?"
I have a little brother, and he sits on my dog a good deal. And I have a cousin of whom the dog is very fond and when she is at the table, he will put his paw on her lap, and want her to take it. | 153 | 5 | 4 | -0.633999 | 0.456974 | 78.51 | 10.11 | 10.23 | 7 | 2.06 | -0.09365 | -0.0543 | 22.096224 | 3,315 |
7,005 | S. L. ELLIOTT | ABOUT SIX LITTLE CHICKENS | Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25359/25359-h/25359-h.htm#Page_86 | 1,920 | Lit | Lit | 700 | end | null | G | 1 | 1 | After they had eaten all they wanted, they thought they would take a walk and see this strange world they had come to live in.
Pretty soon they came to a brook, and they all stood in a row and looked in. "Let us have a drink," they said, so they put their heads down, when—
"Peep, peep!" said Spottie. "I see a little chicken with a spot on its head."
"No, no," said Brownie; "it has a ring around its neck, and looks like me."
"Peep, peep!" said Daisy. "I think it's like me, for it is yellow and white." And I don't know but they would all have tumbled in to see if they hadn't felt something drop right on the ends of their noses. "What's that?" said Fluffy.
"Cluck, cluck!" said Mother Biddy. "Every chicken of you come in, for it is going to rain, and you'll get your feathers wet."
So they ran as fast as they could, and in a few minutes the six little chickens were all cuddled under Mother Biddy's wing, fast asleep. | 174 | 16 | 7 | -0.572768 | 0.476274 | 97.37 | 2.66 | 2.58 | 5 | 5.11 | 0.01967 | 0.021 | 21.968212 | 4,285 |
3,054 | USHistory.org | Introduction to World War II | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/introduction-to-world-war-ii | 2,017 | Info | Lit | 900 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | PG | 2 | 1.5 | In the end, it was Japan that brought the United States into the war. The United States was the only nation standing against complete Japanese control of the Pacific Ocean. One way it did this was through economic sanctions against Japan. Japan was so angry that in 1941 it launched a brutal surprise attack against American naval bases at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After the attack, the United States finally entered the Second World War.
The government quickly began to encourage the American people to support the war effort. Factories had to produce lots of weapons, food, uniforms, and other materials for soldiers. There were major operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific "theatres," which meant that American industries literally fueled two wars at the same time. The war effort produced many social and economic consequences. Many people moved from the rural South to the industrial North for jobs faster than ever before. New opportunities opened for women who were encouraged to work in factories and hospitals to support the war. The economy got a huge boost from all of this wartime production. | 182 | 12 | 2 | 0.491069 | 0.488838 | 51.28 | 9.9 | 9.6 | 11 | 8.53 | 0.1924 | 0.17128 | 13.631069 | 1,429 |
3,877 | Roe L. Hendrick | IN CANADA WITH A LYNX | The Junior Classics, Volume 8: Animal and Nature Stories | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8075/pg8075-images.html | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 1,300 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | This adventure came about through an invitation which Ray Churchill received from his friend, Jacques Pourbiere of Two Rivers, New Brunswick. Ray had half-promised to visit his New Brunswick acquaintance during the deer-hunting season, and late in August was reminded of the fact. A second letter came in September, the carefully worded school English of the writer not being able to conceal the warmth and urgency of the invitation.
So Ray telegraphed his acceptance, and four days later arrived at Fredericton, where he secured a hunting license. The next morning he reached Two Rivers, and Jacques met him with a span of ponies, attached to a spring vehicle, mounted on wheels that seemed out of all proportion to the body of the carriage. Ray wondered if it was a relic of Acadia, but did not like to ask. They drove for a dozen miles through a wooded and hilly country, and arrived at their destination shortly before nightfall. | 157 | 7 | 2 | -1.137429 | 0.534428 | 58.43 | 10.82 | 12.42 | 11 | 8.21 | 0.13452 | 0.15185 | 8.771497 | 2,072 |
5,209 | ? | How Veneering is Made | Scientific American Supplement, Nos. 286 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8297/8297-h/8297-h.htm#11 | 1,881 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | From the lathe, the veneer is passed to the cutting table, where it is cut to lengths and widths as desired. It is then conveyed to the second story, where it is placed in large dry rooms, air tight, except as the air reaches them through the proper channels. The veneer is here placed in crates, each piece separate and standing on edge. The hot air is then turned on. This comes from the sheet iron furnace attached to the boiler in the engine room below, and is conveyed through large pipes regulated by dampers for putting on or taking off the heat. There is also a blower attached which keeps the hot air in the dry rooms in constant motion, the air as it cools passing off through an escape pipe in the roof, while the freshly heated air takes its place from below. These rooms are also provided with a net-work of hot air pipes near the floor. The temperature is kept at about 165°, and so rapid is the drying process that in the short space of four hours the green log from the steam box is shaved, cut, dried, packed, and ready for shipment. | 198 | 8 | 1 | -2.036274 | 0.488621 | 76.16 | 8.82 | 10.72 | 6 | 7.25 | 0.22522 | 0.20979 | 13.019374 | 2,923 |
5,605 | Count Alexis Tolstoi | Under Seas | The Literary World Seventh Reader by Browne, Metcalf, and Withers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19721/19721-h/19721-h.htm | 1,876 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | At nightfall, the boat, taking advantage of the darkness, rose to the surface of the sea and sailed without lights. Andrey stood on the bridge throughout the night. The water was placid, the stars were screened by a light mist, and far away to the south the pale blue gleam of an enemy searchlight moved through the clouds.
The boat was now approaching a mine field. At dawn, when the greenish-orange light began slowly to pervade the fleecy clouds, the Kate sank to a great depth at a definitely fixed point in the sea. Steering solely by compass and map, she commenced to pick her way under the mines. Yakovlev was in charge of the steering apparatus, while Prince Bylopolsky calculated the side drift and reported to the chief engineer in charge of the motors. Andrey, leaning over the map, gave orders to the man at the wheel.
There was no sensation of movement, and it seemed as if the Kate stood still amidst the eerie darkness. The men for the most part were stretched on their backs, seeking to consume as little oxygen as possible.
| 184 | 10 | 3 | -0.44794 | 0.512333 | 74.22 | 7.13 | 8.09 | 9 | 7.27 | 0.1507 | 0.14251 | 6.98892 | 3,264 |
6,814 | Laura Lee Hope | The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15169/15169-h/15169-h.htm | 1,960 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The five started off, Tommy Todd skating beside Flossie to help her if she should need it. Tommy was a sort of chum of both pairs of twins, sometimes going with the older ones, Nan and Bert, and again with Flossie and Freddie. In fact, he played with these latter more often than with Nan and her twin, for Flossie and Freddie had played a large part in helping Tommy at one time, as I'll explain a little later.
It was a fine Winter's day, not too cold, and the sun was shining from a clear sky, but not warmly enough to melt the ice. The steel skates of the five children rang out a merry tune as they clicked over the frozen surface of the lake.
"Hurrah! Here we are!" cried Bert at last, as he skated on ahead and sat down on a bench in front of the "Chocolate Cabin," as they called the place. He began taking off his skates. | 161 | 9 | 3 | 0.123511 | 0.483181 | 83.09 | 6.17 | 6.24 | 5 | 6.38 | 0.07286 | 0.0925 | 13.379255 | 4,185 |
2,115 | simple wiki | Hormone | null | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormone | 2,020 | Info | Science | 900 | start | CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL | G | 1 | 1 | Hormones are the chemical messengers of the endocrine system. Hormones are the signals which adjust the body's internal working, together with the nervous system. Every multicellular organism has hormones. The cells which react to a given hormone have special receptors for that hormone. When a hormone attaches to the receptor protein a mechanism for signalling is started. The cell or tissue that gets the message is called the 'target'. Hormones only act on cells which have the right receptors.
Many different kinds of cells can send a message. There are some kinds of cells whose main job is to make hormones. When many of these cells are together in one place, it is called a gland. Glands are groups of cells that make something and release it (put it outside the cell). Many glands make hormones. "Endocrine" means secreting directly into the blood. Most internal secretions are endocrine, from endocrine glands. The opposite word is "exocrine", which means secreting through a duct or tube. Some hormones are produced by exocrine glands, and some exocrine secretions go outside the body. Sweat glands and salivary glands are examples of exocrine glands whose products are released outside the body. | 195 | 17 | 2 | -1.090734 | 0.456077 | 65.21 | 7.03 | 8 | 10 | 9.61 | 0.30046 | 0.27282 | 21.454417 | 581 |
3,808 | Brothers Grimm translated by Edgar Taylor, Marian Edwardes | THE DOG AND THE SPARROW | Fairy Tales By The Brothers Grimm | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 900 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | A shepherd's dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let him suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; so he took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood. On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, ‘Why are you so sad, my friend?' ‘Because,' said the dog, ‘I am very very hungry, and have nothing to eat.' ‘If that be all,' answered the sparrow, ‘come with me into the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food.' Soon they went together into the town: and as they passed by a butcher's shop, the sparrow said to the dog, ‘Stand there a little while till I peck you down a piece of meat.' So the sparrow perched upon the shelf: and having first looked carefully about her to see if anyone was watching her, she pecked and scratched at a steak that lay upon the edge of the shelf, till at last down it fell. | 177 | 7 | 1 | 0.485115 | 0.519269 | 79.36 | 8.47 | 8.87 | 6 | 1.61 | 0.03792 | 0.05592 | 21.779454 | 2,025 |
3,867 | Lieutenant-General Baron de Marbot | HOW NAPOLEON REWARDED HIS MEN | The Junior Classics, Volume 7 | http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6302 | 1,917 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | start | null | PG | 2 | 2 | After crossing the Traun, burning the bridge at Mauthhausen, and passing the Enns, Napoleon's army advanced to Mölk, without knowing what had become of General Hiller. Some spies assured us that the archduke had crossed the Danube and joined him, and that we should on the morrow meet the whole Austrian army, strongly posted in front of Saint-Pölten. In that case, we must make ready to fight a great battle; but if it were otherwise, we had to march quickly on Vienna in order to get there before the enemy could reach it by the other bank. For want of positive information the emperor was very undecided. The question to be solved was, Had General Hiller crossed the Danube, or was he still in front of us, masked by a swarm of light cavalry, which, always flying, never let us get near enough to take a prisoner from whom one might get some enlightenment? | 154 | 5 | 1 | -2.152497 | 0.474394 | 57.48 | 12.94 | 14.88 | 12 | 8.03 | 0.18309 | 0.20273 | 9.270171 | 2,065 |
7,326 | From the London Times | CHINA GRASS | Scientific American Supplement No. 417 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9163/9163-h/9163-h.htm#10 | 1,883 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Rhea which is also known under the name of ramie, is a textile plant which was indigenous to China and India. It is perennial, easy of cultivation, and produces a remarkably strong fiber. The problem of its cultivation has long being solved, for within certain limits rhea can be grown in any climate. India and the British colonies offer unusual facilities, and present vast and appropriate fields for that enterprise, while it can be, and is, grown in most European countries. All this has long been demonstrated; not so, however, the commercial utilization of the fiber, which up to the present time would appear to be a problem only partially solved, although many earnest workers have been engaged in the attempted solution.
There have been difficulties in the way of decorticating the stems of this plant, and the Indian Government, in 1869, offered a reward of £5,000 for the best machine for separating the fiber from the stems and bark of rhea in its green or freshly cut state. | 168 | 6 | 2 | -1.198192 | 0.472505 | 47.59 | 13.62 | 14.9 | 14 | 9.52 | 0.27676 | 0.2739 | 7.745029 | 4,548 |
6,836 | LAURA LEE HOPE | The Outdoor Girls
On Pine Island | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19294/19294-h/19294-h.htm | 1,916 | Lit | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The morning dawned clear and bright. Mollie woke first in the large, sunshiny room which the girls had chosen to occupy together during their stay on Pine Island.
It contained two large double beds—each in a little alcove of its own. The spotless grass mats, the flowers that bloomed on the wide-silled, latticed windows gave the room an air of cheerful hominess and comfort that was very pleasant.
All this Mollie took in subconsciously as her sleepy gaze wandered about the room. Then slowly full wakefulness banished the last vestige of sleep from her eyes and she sat up in bed.
"The sun!" she cried joyfully. "And I was sure it was going to be rainy this morning! Oh, now we shall see the island as it really is. Wake up, Amy, do! Oh, goodness, how the child sleeps!" and she shook her slumbering friend with no uncertain hand. | 146 | 13 | 4 | -0.32031 | 0.467247 | 82.32 | 4.64 | 5.06 | 7 | 6.52 | 0.04141 | 0.06352 | 13.164287 | 4,196 |
4,827 | Jean Ingelow | The Ouphe of the Wood | Junior Classics, Vol 6 | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6577/pg6577-images.html | 1,887 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | It had been a bright day, but the evening was chilly; and, as she watched the glowing logs that were blazing on her hearth, she wished that all the lighted part of them would turn to gold.
She was very much in the habit—this little wife—of building castles in the air, particularly when she had nothing else to do, or her husband was late in coming home to his supper. Just as she was thinking how late he was there was a tap at the door, and an old man walked in, who said:
"Mistress, will you give a poor man a warm at your fire?"
"And welcome," said the young woman, setting him a chair.
So he sat down as close to the fire as he could, and spread out his hands to the flames.
He had a little knapsack on his back, and the young woman did not doubt that he was an old soldier.
"Maybe you are used to the hot countries," she said.
"All countries are much the same to me," replied the stranger. "I see nothing to find fault with in this one." | 181 | 9 | 8 | 0.255461 | 0.47509 | 87.85 | 5.68 | 6.07 | 6 | 5.41 | 0.01889 | 0.02039 | 22.115802 | 2,618 |
1,141 | FRED. E. WEATHERLY, B.A. | WILTON SCHOOL:
OR,
HARRY CAMPBELL'S REVENGE.
A Tale. | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22183/22183-h/22183-h.htm | 1,872 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | It was drawing close upon the half-yearly examination at the Grammar School, and Harry was beginning to grow very frightened and nervous, for a new boy had been put into his class since the last examination, and he feared the newcomer would supplant him, and get to the head.
So, as soon as the sad good-bye, told of in the first chapter of this little tale, was said, and Harry had tried in vain to comfort his mother, he got his books and set to work. And the clock ticked, and Harry pored over his delectus; and in the corner Mrs. Campbell sat and wept.
Presently she called Harry to her.
"Harry, dear, I am better now; I won't cry any more. Come and sit by me."
And so Harry went. And then she talked quietly to him about his work at school, and how she hoped that one day he would be able to go to Oxford. It was well for her, poor thing, she had these little makeshifts for conversation. That which lay nearest her heart, was now too much well-nigh for words to express. | 183 | 10 | 5 | -0.982163 | 0.466723 | 79.8 | 6.85 | 6.88 | 8 | 7.16 | 0.10037 | 0.08951 | 20.274283 | 179 |
5,422 | Arthur F. Corbin | NEW METHOD OF CATCHING MICE | The Nursery, February 1878, Vol. XXIII, No. 2
A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28141/28141-h/28141-h.htm#Page_43 | 1,878 | Lit | Lit | 700 | whole | null | G | 1 | 1 | Perhaps some of your youthful readers will be glad to know how I catch mice. If you think so, you are at liberty to publish the following; for I do not intend to apply for a patent.
One evening last week we made some molasses candy; and, as too much of it, eaten before going to bed, is not good for the teeth, I spread some on a baking tin, and set it away to cool for the next day.
It was not cooked enough to harden thoroughly; and a little mouse had the curiosity to taste it; but, the moment his feet touched it, they stuck fast, and he could not getaway.
His cries for help brought two other mice to his assistance; but they shared the same fate, the molasses candy holding all three prisoners.
When I found them the next morning, all three were stuck fast. This shows what a useful thing molasses candy is to have in a house, and is a warning to all mice not to meddle with it. | 171 | 7 | 5 | -0.148473 | 0.445816 | 73.66 | 9.2 | 9.62 | 10 | 6.23 | 0.05843 | 0.06775 | 21.470745 | 3,102 |
3,798 | Bayard Taylor | THE LITTLE POST-BOY | The Junior Classics, Volume 7 | http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6302 | 1,917 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | Next morning the sky was overcast, and the short day was as dark as our twilight. But it was not quite so cold, and I travelled onward as fast as possible. There was a long tract of wild and thinly settled country before me, and I wished to get through it before stopping for the night. Unfortunately, it happened that two lumber-merchants were travelling the same way, and had taken the horses; so I was obliged to wait at the stations until other horses were brought from the neighboring farms. This delayed me so much that at seven o'clock in the evening I had still one more station of three Swedish miles before reaching the village where I intended to spend the night. Now a Swedish mile is nearly equal to seven English, so that the station was at least twenty miles long. | 143 | 6 | 1 | -0.590495 | 0.474243 | 69.09 | 9.59 | 11 | 8 | 6.47 | 0.16431 | 0.19246 | 18.590245 | 2,017 |
2,145 | wikipedia | Iron_Age | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age | 2,020 | Info | History | 1,300 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | The Iron Age in Egyptian archaeology essentially corresponds to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt.
Iron metal is singularly scarce in collections of Egyptian antiquities. Bronze remained the primary material there until the conquest by Neo-Assyrian Empire in 671 BC. The explanation of this would seem to lie in the fact that the relics are in most cases the paraphernalia of tombs, the funeral vessels and vases, and iron being considered an impure metal by the ancient Egyptians it was never used in their manufacture of these or for any religious purposes. It was attributed to Seth, the spirit of evil who according to Egyptian tradition governed the central deserts of Africa. In the Black Pyramid of Abusir, dating before 2000 BC, Gaston Maspero found some pieces of iron. In the funeral text of Pepi I, the metal is mentioned. A sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit. A dagger with an iron blade found in Tutankhamun's tomb, 13th century BC, was recently examined and found to be of meteoric origin. | 192 | 9 | 2 | -2.574219 | 0.536046 | 45.14 | 12.35 | 11.81 | 14 | 10.38 | 0.27045 | 0.24724 | 4.268416 | 608 |
2,271 | wikipedia | Nuclear_power_plant | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant | 2,020 | Info | Technology | 1,100 | mid | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in a nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine. After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower. The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and the cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to the Rankine cycle.
The nuclear reactor is the heart of the station. In its central part, the reactor's core produces heat due to nuclear fission. With this heat, a coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the reactor. Heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines, which in turn power the electrical generators. | 194 | 13 | 2 | -2.268936 | 0.490751 | 60.9 | 8.53 | 8.59 | 10 | 9.12 | 0.32089 | 0.29546 | 12.39794 | 722 |
7,256 | Amani Jazia | A Feast in a Special Place | null | https://www.digitallibrary.io/en/books/details/1378 | 2,018 | Lit | Lit | 500 | mid | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | When Lavender arrived, it was very quiet. He didn't see anything but a log floating in the water and a bird nearby. Suddenly, the log swallowed the bird! Oh! It wasn't a log after all. It was Gator. As usual, Gator was sitting like a statue, waiting for his prey. Lavender gulped in fear and quickly flew away home before anyone saw him. He sat in the trees, while he shook with fear, and thought, "Where's my house…oh yes! It's on the fourth tree. Ok, let me count then. One, two three, ten. Oh no! two, seven, five…No, I guess I am so afraid that I can't even count!" When Lavender's friend, Plum, noticed he hadn't yet come home, he went to look for him. He found him shaking with fear and so he asked, "Is there something scary around here?" Lavender shakily replied, "I never get scared, I'm just a little tired." Lavender doesn't want anyone to know that he's scared. | 162 | 18 | 1 | 0.021935 | 0.484121 | 89.13 | 2.96 | 1.93 | 6 | 6.48 | 0.07402 | 0.07672 | 24.551529 | 4,502 |
2,010 | wikipedia | Earthquake | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake | 2,020 | Info | Science | 1,300 | start | CC BY-SA 3.0 | G | 1 | 1 | An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the perceptible shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can be violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.
Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismometers. The moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe. The more numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national seismological observatories are measured mostly on the local magnitude scale, also referred to as the Richter magnitude scale. These two scales are numerically similar over their range of validity. Magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes are mostly imperceptible or weak and magnitude 7 and over potentially cause serious damage over larger areas, depending on their depth. | 164 | 8 | 2 | -0.403295 | 0.476486 | 37.72 | 13.12 | 14.04 | 13 | 10.69 | 0.36694 | 0.36269 | 7.064321 | 483 |
4,957 | ? | THE REMOVAL OF AMMONIA FROM CRUDE GAS | Scientific American Supplement, No. 388 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15417/15417-h/15417-h.htm | 1,883 | Info | Lit | 1,500 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | When bone ash or any other substance containing phosphate of lime is treated with sulfuric acid, the products formed are superphosphate of lime and hydrated sulfate of lime; this mixture is known as superphosphate of lime, in commerce, and is the substance used in this process. This substance is capable of absorbing carbonic acid and ammonia from foul gas. The complete action can only take place in the presence of a certain proportion of carbonic acid, so that the process is not so successful with "well-scrubbed illuminating gas." The superphosphate is converted into carbonate of lime, while the ammonia combines with the phosphoric acid to form phosphate of ammonia; the hydrated sulfate of lime is also acted upon, and forms carbonate of lime and sulfate of ammonia; so that, presuming the action to be complete, and the material to be thoroughly saturated with carbonic acid and ammonia from the foul gas, the result is a mixture of carbonate of lime and phosphate and sulfate of ammonia. | 166 | 4 | 1 | -2.806331 | 0.522803 | 28.19 | 19.7 | 22.49 | 18 | 11.38 | 0.44978 | 0.44675 | 7.141635 | 2,715 |
1,154 | P. G. Wodehouse | THE POTHUNTERS | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6984/6984-h/6984-h.htm | 1,902 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | This story may or may not be true. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Ward was not popular.
The discussion was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing for second lesson. The problem was left unsolved. It was evident that the burglar had been interrupted, but how or why nobody knew. The suggestion that he had heard Master R. Robinson training for his quarter-mile, and had thought it was an earthquake, found much favour with the junior portion of the assembly. Simpson, on whom Robinson had been given start in the race, expressed an opinion that he, Robinson, ran like a cow. At which Robinson smiled darkly, and advised the other to wait till Sports Day and then he'd see, remarking that, meanwhile, if he gave him any of his cheek he might not be well enough to run at all. | 141 | 8 | 2 | -1.010975 | 0.476593 | 74.16 | 6.86 | 6.73 | 10 | 7.85 | 0.0939 | 0.11866 | 13.577497 | 188 |
2,362 | Sabine Weiskirchen, Ralf Weiskirchen, & Katharina Weiper | From Mice to Humans: The Study of Obesity | null | https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2020.00092 | 2,020 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY 4.0 | G | 1 | 1 | Diseases arising from obesity include type 2 diabetes, stroke, depression, or heart disease. Diabetes is a disease that results from high levels sugar in the blood. After we eat sugar, our bodies release a hormone called insulin, which helps muscle and fat cells to take up and store sugar. This is important because our cells and organs can convert sugar into the energy needed to grow and keep the body active and fit. As long as the fat tissue can store extra energy, everything is fine. However, if we eat too much, the insulin machinery is overstrained and the extra sugar circulates in the bloodstream, leading to disease. If blood sugar levels are not controlled, you could set yourself up for a host of complications including damage of nearly every organ. Also, heart attacks, liver diseases, and many other health problems can result from diabetes. The cells of the body can also become insensitive toward insulin and no longer absorb the sugar. That is the start type 2 diabetes. | 169 | 10 | 1 | -0.083026 | 0.450136 | 54.52 | 9.85 | 9.38 | 11 | 8.12 | 0.18381 | 0.16838 | 15.197087 | 803 |
1,269 | Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm | Rumpelstiltzkin | Journeys Through Bookland V2 | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5796/pg5796.html | 1,922 | Lit | Lit | 700 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | So the poor miller's daughter sat down. She hadn't the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and at last she began to cry. Suddenly the door opened, and in stepped a tiny little man who said: "Good evening, Miss Miller-maid; why are you crying so bitterly?"
"Oh!" answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and haven't the slightest notion how it's done." "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" asked the manikin.
"My necklace," replied the girl.
The little man took the necklace, sat down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, round it went until morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bobbins were full of gold.
As soon as the sun rose, the King came, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but he wanted more of the precious metal. He had the miller's daughter put into another room, much bigger than the first and full of straw, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin it all into gold before morning. | 179 | 11 | 5 | 0.572045 | 0.475317 | 81.95 | 6.4 | 6.57 | 8 | 6.69 | -0.04735 | -0.04874 | 14.632503 | 269 |
2,860 | Shelby Ostergaard | Jackie Kennedy Onassis: An Icon for the Ages | CLD | https://www.commonlit.org/texts/jackie-kennedy-onassis-an-icon-for-the-ages | 2,018 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 | G | 1 | 1 | In May of 1952, Jackie was formally introduced to U.S. Representative John F. Kennedy — known by those close to him as "Jack" — at a dinner party. He had charm, wit, good looks, wealth, and political aspirations. She had intelligence, beauty, grace, and social connections. They both had an Irish-Catholic heritage, a love of letters, and a desire for a more exciting life than what suburbia promised. Their September 1953 wedding was the social event of the season.
After the wedding, the couple settled into life in Washington, D.C. Jackie remained a prominent socialite, often having her photo taken at some of the most lavish high-society parties. Almost every aspect of the couples' life was played out in the public eye. John F. Kennedy was portrayed as the handsome, rising politician, while Jackie was depicted as the beautiful, sophisticated socialite. Their first daughter, Caroline Kennedy, was born in 1957, and the couple posed with the newborn on the cover of Life magazine, a hugely popular publication at the time.
On the surface, they were seen as the perfect family. In reality, they had their challenges. The couple spent a lot of time apart. | 192 | 12 | 3 | 0.017663 | 0.477314 | 59.12 | 8.72 | 8.48 | 11 | 9.02 | 0.17312 | 0.15016 | 14.999918 | 1,261 |
873 | Hamilton Wright Mabie | BLUE BEARD | Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14916/14916-h/14916-h.htm#CHAPTER_XIII | 1,905 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | About a month after the marriage had taken place, Blue Beard told his wife that he should be forced to leave her for a few weeks, as he had some affairs to attend to in the country. He desired her to be sure to indulge herself in every kind of pleasure, to invite as many of her friends as she liked, and to treat them with all sorts of dainties, that her time might pass pleasantly till he came back again. "Here," said he, "are the keys of the two large wardrobes. This is the key of the great box that contains the best plate, which we use for company, this belongs to my strong box, where I keep my money, and this belongs to the casket, in which are all my jewels. Here also is a master-key to all the rooms in the house; but this small key belongs to the closet at the end of the long gallery on the ground floor. I give you leave," said he, "to open, or to do what you like with all the rest except this closet. | 185 | 6 | 1 | -0.103563 | 0.442153 | 74.4 | 10.58 | 12.04 | 7 | 6.11 | 0.07905 | 0.10026 | 16.104046 | 136 |
4,151 | Theodore Nieymeyer | The Causes of the War | The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 1 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13635/13635-h/13635-h.htm | 1,915 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | PG | 2 | 2 | In quite recent times people in England began to recognize this misconstruction of facts as such. They began to understand that friendship with Germany might be a blessing and that in this way peace would be possible. This, however, meant the possibility of the Muscovite policy being completely frustrated. An Anglo-German understanding seemed already to be shaking the very foundations of the Triple Entente. Russia had been obliged during the two Balkan wars (the London Ambassadorial Conference was in fact the clearing house for this) to make important concessions to the detriment of her protégés, Serbia and Montenegro, in order to retain the friendship of England, which ardently strove for peace. Now, however, it was highest time for Russia to pocket her gains; for the English people were slowly beginning to realize that in St. Petersburg they were trying to engage England in the cause of Pan-Slavism. The unnatural alliance was becoming more and more unpopular from day to day. How long would it be before Russia lost England's help forever?
Before this took place Russia must bring about a European war. | 181 | 9 | 2 | -3.287925 | 0.592486 | 50.91 | 11.24 | 12.23 | 13 | 8.77 | 0.25017 | 0.23062 | 10.396031 | 2,162 |
6,816 | Laura Lee Hope | The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20311/20311-h/20311-h.htm | 1,917 | Lit | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | "Oh, I guess Snap just ran away for a change, as Flossie and Freddie sometimes do," said Mr. Bobbsey when he came home that evening and had been told what had happened. "He'll come back all right, I'm sure."
But Nan and Bert were not so sure of this. They knew Snap too well. He had never gone away like this before. Flossie and Freddie, being younger, did not worry so much. Besides, they had Snoop, and the cat was more their pet than was the dog, who was Bert's favorite, though, of course, every one in the Bobbsey family loved him.
Several times that evening Bert went outside to whistle and call for his pet, but there was no answering bark, and when bedtime came Bert was so worried that Mr. Bobbsey agreed to call the police and ask the officers who were on night duty to keep a lookout for the missing animal. This would be done, the chief said, since nearly all the officers in Lakeport knew Snap, who often visited at the police station. | 176 | 9 | 3 | -0.282837 | 0.464423 | 76.5 | 7.5 | 8.02 | 9 | 6.3 | 0.09755 | 0.08212 | 22.957987 | 4,186 |
4,815 | Oscar Wilde | The Nightingale and the Rose | The Happy Prince, and Other Tales | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/902/902-h/902-h.htm | 1,888 | Lit | Lit | 900 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.
"No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched."
"Here at last is a true lover," said the Nightingale. "Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire; but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow." | 147 | 8 | 3 | -1.10505 | 0.483488 | 89.54 | 4.52 | 4.46 | 7 | 5.33 | 0.10385 | 0.13535 | 15.42602 | 2,608 |
6,254 | Ephraim Douglass Adams | Great Britain and the American Civil War | null | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13789/13789-h/13789-h.htm | 1,924 | Info | Lit | 1,300 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The North was not really ready for determined war, indeed, until later in the year. Meanwhile many were the moralizations in the British press upon Bull Run's revelation of Northern military weakness.
Probably the most influential newspaper utterances of the moment were the letters of W.H. Russell to the Times. This famous war-correspondent had been sent to America in the spring of 1861 by Delane, editor of the Times, his first letter, written on March 29, appearing in the issue of April 16. He travelled through the South, was met everywhere with eager courtesy as became a man of his reputation and one representing the most important organ of British public opinion, returned to the North in late June, and at Washington was given intimate interviews by Seward and other leaders. For a time, his utterances were watched for, in both England and America, with the greatest interest and expectancy, as the opinions of an unusually able and thoroughly honest, dispassionate observer. | 161 | 7 | 2 | -1.403009 | 0.475095 | 38.61 | 14.62 | 15.45 | 15 | 9.25 | 0.20719 | 0.21571 | 7.867609 | 3,735 |
2,126 | wikipedia | Implantable_cardioverter-defibrillator | null | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantable_cardioverter-defibrillator | 2,020 | Info | Technology | 1,700 | start | CC BY-SA 3.0 | PG | 2 | 2 | An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) is a device implantable inside the body, able to perform cardioversion, defibrillation, and (in modern versions) pacing of the heart. The device is therefore capable of correcting most life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. The ICD is the first-line treatment and prophylactic therapy for patients at risk for sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Current devices can be programmed to detect abnormal heart rhythms and deliver therapy via programmable antitachycardia pacing in addition to low-energy and high-energy shocks.
"AICD" was trademarked by the Boston Scientific corporation, so the more generic "ICD" is preferred terminology.
Current device batteries last about 6–10 years, With advances in the technology (batteries with more capacity or, potentially in the future with rechargeable batteries it may be possible to increase this well past 10 years. The lead (the electrical cable connecting the device to the heart) has a much longer average longevity but can incur various types of malfunction, specifically insulation failure or fracture of the conductor and require replacement. | 173 | 7 | 3 | -2.109453 | 0.536309 | 14.36 | 17.65 | 18.65 | 18 | 12.54 | 0.47394 | 0.44457 | 3.037851 | 591 |
4,543 | M. A. L. Lane | Professor Frog's Lecture | The Ontario Readers: Third Book | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18561/18561-h/18561-h.htm#Professor | 1,903 | Lit | Lit | 700 | start | null | G | 1 | 1 | Bobby was not quite sure that he was awake, but when he opened his eyes there was the blue sky, with the soft, white clouds drifting across it, the big pine waving its spicy branches over his head, and beyond, the glint of sunshine on the waters of the pond. Presently Bobby heard voices talking softly.
"This is a good specimen," said one voice. "See how stout and strong he looks!"
"I wonder who that is, and what he has found," thought Bobby. "I wish it wasn't such hard work to keep my eyes open." He made a great effort, however, and raised his heavy lids. At first he could see nothing. Then he caught a glimpse of a mossy log, with a row of frogs and toads sitting upon it. They were looking solemnly at him. Bobby felt a little uncomfortable under that steady gaze.
"The toads are making their spring visit to the pond to lay their eggs," thought the boy. "I forgot that they were due this week."
"He must have done a good deal of mischief in his day," said an old bull-frog, gravely. A chill crept over Bobby. "In his day."—What did that mean? | 195 | 17 | 5 | -0.129388 | 0.4881 | 90.28 | 3.44 | 3.06 | 6 | 6.08 | 0.05991 | 0.03536 | 21.27938 | 2,405 |
5,068 | ? | PHOTO PLATES—WET AND DRY | Scientific American Supplement, No. 388 | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15417/15417-h/15417-h.htm | 1,883 | Info | Lit | 1,100 | mid | null | G | 1 | 1 | The nature of the developer used has, of course, some influence on the sensitiveness of the plates; but in the above cases it is assumed that oxalate developer, without any addition, is used; or pyro., to which ammonia is added at intervals of about thirty seconds, so as to produce a slight tendency to fog; the time of development being from three to four minutes. The numbers are supposed to be read after fixation, the plate being held against the sky.
Schumann's statement that a gelatino bromide plate is less sensitive when developed at 30° C. than when developed at 5°, is contested; the more recent investigations of Dr. Eder serving to demonstrate that a developer at a moderate high temperature acts very much more rapidly than when the temperature is low; but when a sufficient time is allowed for each developer to thoroughly penetrate the film, the difference becomes less apparent. | 151 | 3 | 2 | -2.814962 | 0.558538 | 16.26 | 23.58 | 26.37 | 18 | 10.51 | 0.24542 | 0.26658 | 5.633527 | 2,810 |