Tale Teller Kids™

Hallowe'en at Merryvale by Alice Hale Burnett 2 The Fun Begins Free Kids' Audiobook.
chapter 2 of halloween at maryvale by alice hale burnett this librivox recording is in the public domain the fun begins at about half past seven o'clock that night the boys who had been invited to the party began to arrive at the browns home where they were met at the door by a figure in white it had queer rabbit ears made from tying up the corners of a pillow slip that had been placed over its head the eyes were holes cut in the slip the large hall was lighted by many candles said and hollowed out pumpkins which had queer grinning faces cut in them wow but this is spooky giggled fat at which the other boys laughed now the figure in white which was really toad asked the boys to follow him as he led them to father brown's study here they were met by chuck also in white good evening mr ghost graded ready bowing low how do not at the ghost and chuck could scarcely keep from laughing as he added in a deep voice put on these slips and hurry up pointing to a pile of them on the floor oh i know who you are laughed fat but i won't tell and he hastened to scramble into a pillow slip which he twisted around his head until he got the slits for the eyes in the right place my ears are longer than yours are boasted herbie as he danced about all the better to hear you my dear laughed lynn smith as all were ready now chuck led the queer-looking party of long-eared figures into the library where they were met by father and mother brown dressed in black gowns with tall witch's caps on their heads there was a large black pot hanging in the fireplace and mother brown began to stir something in it with a long iron spoon fat walked directly over to the fireplace and peeped into the pot if ghosts had noses he sniffed i'd say that smelt awfully good father brown now went about pinning a number on each boy's back what's that for asked hopey well you all look so much alike laugh mr brown that i can't tell you apart and after a pause there's going to be a prize for this game that's great shouted herbie hope i get it chuck now left the room returning a moment later with a huge pumpkin which he placed on a chair in the corner who's number one he asked at the same time lifting high into the air the stem of the pumpkin which had been cut off close to its base keep perfectly still whispered chuck as hopi came toward them i am announced hopi smith from his place before the fire where he had been helping mother brown stir the contents of the great black pot well hurry and come over here if you're first called toad and i'll turn your slip around so you can't see here's the stem said chuck placing it in hopi's outstretched hand father brown now took hopi by the shoulders and slowly turned him around again and again i believe you've had enough turns to wonder where you are he said adding now see if you can place the stem on the pumpkin hope he started off both hands held out before him you mustn't feel anything with your hands called herbie it isn't fair all right was the answer as he walked straight for the corner where fat was sitting watching the fun he perfectly still whispered chalk and fat's ear as hopi drew near then as he paused before fat and placed the stem upon his head the boys broke into shouts of laughter keep perfectly still whispered chalk in fat's ear as hopi drew near then as he paused before fat and placed the stem upon his head the boys broke into shouts of laughter oh you pumpkinhead gasped ready hope he pulled off his pillow slip and stared and wonder about him then he too laughed i was so sure i had it on the pumpkin he exclaimed better be careful fat worn toad if mother takes you for a pumpkin she'll put you in a pie numbers two three and four hadn't much better luck for herbie stuck the stem on the center table chuck on a book stand and ready tried very hard to put it into the pot but mother brown held out her hand just in time to save it from...

Hallowe'en at Merryvale by Alice Hale Burnett 2 The Fun Begins Free Kids' Audiobook.
chapter 2 of halloween at maryvale by alice hale burnett this librivox recording is in the public domain the fun begins at about half past seven o'clock that night the boys who had been invited to the party began to arrive at the browns home where they were met at the door by a figure in white it had queer rabbit ears made from tying up the corners of a pillow slip that had been placed over its head the eyes were holes cut in the slip the large hall was lighted by many candles said and hollowed out pumpkins which had queer grinning faces cut in them wow but this is spooky giggled fat at which the other boys laughed now the figure in white which was really toad asked the boys to follow him as he led them to father brown's study here they were met by chuck also in white good evening mr ghost graded ready bowing low how do not at the ghost and chuck could scarcely keep from laughing as he added in a deep voice put on these slips and hurry up pointing to a pile of them on the floor oh i know who you are laughed fat but i won't tell and he hastened to scramble into a pillow slip which he twisted around his head until he got the slits for the eyes in the right place my ears are longer than yours are boasted herbie as he danced about all the better to hear you my dear laughed lynn smith as all were ready now chuck led the queer-looking party of long-eared figures into the library where they were met by father and mother brown dressed in black gowns with tall witch's caps on their heads there was a large black pot hanging in the fireplace and mother brown began to stir something in it with a long iron spoon fat walked directly over to the fireplace and peeped into the pot if ghosts had noses he sniffed i'd say that smelt awfully good father brown now went about pinning a number on each boy's back what's that for asked hopey well you all look so much alike laugh mr brown that i can't tell you apart and after a pause there's going to be a prize for this game that's great shouted herbie hope i get it chuck now left the room returning a moment later with a huge pumpkin which he placed on a chair in the corner who's number one he asked at the same time lifting high into the air the stem of the pumpkin which had been cut off close to its base keep perfectly still whispered chuck as hopi came toward them i am announced hopi smith from his place before the fire where he had been helping mother brown stir the contents of the great black pot well hurry and come over here if you're first called toad and i'll turn your slip around so you can't see here's the stem said chuck placing it in hopi's outstretched hand father brown now took hopi by the shoulders and slowly turned him around again and again i believe you've had enough turns to wonder where you are he said adding now see if you can place the stem on the pumpkin hope he started off both hands held out before him you mustn't feel anything with your hands called herbie it isn't fair all right was the answer as he walked straight for the corner where fat was sitting watching the fun he perfectly still whispered chalk and fat's ear as hopi drew near then as he paused before fat and placed the stem upon his head the boys broke into shouts of laughter keep perfectly still whispered chalk in fat's ear as hopi drew near then as he paused before fat and placed the stem upon his head the boys broke into shouts of laughter oh you pumpkinhead gasped ready hope he pulled off his pillow slip and stared and wonder about him then he too laughed i was so sure i had it on the pumpkin he exclaimed better be careful fat worn toad if mother takes you for a pumpkin she'll put you in a pie numbers two three and four hadn't much better luck for herbie stuck the stem on the center table chuck on a book stand and ready tried very hard to put it into the pot but mother brown held out her hand just in time to save it from...

The Great Events by Famous Historians Dante Compose Davina Comedia Free Educational.
Audiobook

section one of the great events by famous historians volume 7. this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org the great events by famous historians volume seven by charles f horn russiter johnson and john rudd dante composes the divina commedia ad 1300 13 by richard william church out of what may be called the civil and religious storm and stress period through which the middle passed into the modern age there came a great literary foreglim of the new life upon which the world was about to enter from italy where the european ferment both in its political and its spiritual character mainly centered came the prophecy of the new day in a poet's vision of the invisible world dante's divina commedia wherein also the deeper history of the visible world of men was both embodied from the past and in a measure predetermined for the human race dante's great epic was called by him a comedy because its ending was not tragical but happy and admiration gave it the epithet divine it is in three parts inferno hell purgatorio purgatory and paradiso paradise it has been made accessible to english readers in the metrical translations of carrie longfellow norton and others and in the excellent prose version inferno of john atkin carlisle brother of thomas carlyle dante originally durante alighieri was born at florence in may 1265 and died at ravenna september 14 1321. both the divina comedia and his other great work the vita nuova the new life narrate the love either romantic or passionate with which he was inspired by beatrice portinari whom he first saw when he was 9 years old and beatrice his whole future life and work are believed to have been determined by this ideal attachment but an equally noteworthy fact of his literary career is that his works were produced in the midst of party strives wherein the poet himself was a prominent actor in the bitter feuds of the guelphs and ghibellines he bore the sufferings of failure persecution and exile but above all these trials rose his heroic spirit and the sublime voice of his poems which became a quickening prophecy realized in the birth of italian and of european literature in the whole movement of the renaissance and in the ever-advancing development of the modern world church's clear-sighted interpretations of the mind and life of dante and of the history-making commedia attest the importance of including the poet and his work in this record of great events the divina commedia is one of the landmarks of history more than a magnificent poem more than the beginning of a language and the opening of a national literature more than the inspirer of art and the glory of a great people it is one of those rare and solemn monuments of the mind's power which measure and test what it can reach to which rise up inevitably and forever as time goes on marking out its advance by grander divisions than its centuries and adopted as epochs by the consent of all who come after it stands with the iliad and shakespeare's plays with the writings of aristotle and plato with the novum organon and the principia with justinian's coat with the parthenon and saint peters it is the first christian poem and it opens european literature as the iliad did that of greece and rome and like the iliad it has never become out of date it accompanies in undiminished freshness the literature which it began we approached the history of such works in which genius seems to have pushed its achievements to a new limit they're bursting out from nothing and gradual evolution into substance and shape cast on the mind is solemn influence they come too near the fount of being to be followed up without our feeling the shadows which surround it we cannot but fear cannot but feel ourselves cut off from this visible and familiar world as we...

The Great Events by Famous Historians Dante Compose Davina Comedia Free Educational.
Audiobook

section one of the great events by famous historians volume 7. this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org the great events by famous historians volume seven by charles f horn russiter johnson and john rudd dante composes the divina commedia ad 1300 13 by richard william church out of what may be called the civil and religious storm and stress period through which the middle passed into the modern age there came a great literary foreglim of the new life upon which the world was about to enter from italy where the european ferment both in its political and its spiritual character mainly centered came the prophecy of the new day in a poet's vision of the invisible world dante's divina commedia wherein also the deeper history of the visible world of men was both embodied from the past and in a measure predetermined for the human race dante's great epic was called by him a comedy because its ending was not tragical but happy and admiration gave it the epithet divine it is in three parts inferno hell purgatorio purgatory and paradiso paradise it has been made accessible to english readers in the metrical translations of carrie longfellow norton and others and in the excellent prose version inferno of john atkin carlisle brother of thomas carlyle dante originally durante alighieri was born at florence in may 1265 and died at ravenna september 14 1321. both the divina comedia and his other great work the vita nuova the new life narrate the love either romantic or passionate with which he was inspired by beatrice portinari whom he first saw when he was 9 years old and beatrice his whole future life and work are believed to have been determined by this ideal attachment but an equally noteworthy fact of his literary career is that his works were produced in the midst of party strives wherein the poet himself was a prominent actor in the bitter feuds of the guelphs and ghibellines he bore the sufferings of failure persecution and exile but above all these trials rose his heroic spirit and the sublime voice of his poems which became a quickening prophecy realized in the birth of italian and of european literature in the whole movement of the renaissance and in the ever-advancing development of the modern world church's clear-sighted interpretations of the mind and life of dante and of the history-making commedia attest the importance of including the poet and his work in this record of great events the divina commedia is one of the landmarks of history more than a magnificent poem more than the beginning of a language and the opening of a national literature more than the inspirer of art and the glory of a great people it is one of those rare and solemn monuments of the mind's power which measure and test what it can reach to which rise up inevitably and forever as time goes on marking out its advance by grander divisions than its centuries and adopted as epochs by the consent of all who come after it stands with the iliad and shakespeare's plays with the writings of aristotle and plato with the novum organon and the principia with justinian's coat with the parthenon and saint peters it is the first christian poem and it opens european literature as the iliad did that of greece and rome and like the iliad it has never become out of date it accompanies in undiminished freshness the literature which it began we approached the history of such works in which genius seems to have pushed its achievements to a new limit they're bursting out from nothing and gradual evolution into substance and shape cast on the mind is solemn influence they come too near the fount of being to be followed up without our feeling the shadows which surround it we cannot but fear cannot but feel ourselves cut off from this visible and familiar world as we...

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island by Laura Lee Hope 4 The Goat Free Audiobooks Kids
chapter four the bobsy twins on blueberry island by laura lee hope this librivox recording is in the public domain the goat can't we come too we're not afraid of the gypsies not in daytime flossie and freddy thus called after their father and bert as the two ladders started the next morning to go find the gypsy camp the night had passed quietly snap and snoop were found safe when day dawned and after breakfast mr bobsy and his older son were to go to lake matoka and find where the gypsies had stopped with the gay red and yellow wagons they were going to see if they could find any trace of helen's doll and also things belonging to other people in town which it was thought the dark-skinned visitors might have taken please let us go beg the little bobsy twins oh my dears no said mrs bobsie it's too far and besides are you afraid the gypsies will carry us off ask freddy because if you are i'll take my fire engine and some of the funny bugs that go around and around and around that we got in new york and i'll scare the gypsies with them and squirt water on them no i'm not afraid of you or flossies being carried off especially when your father is with you said mrs bobsy but there is no telling where the gypsies are camped and it may be a long walk before they are found so you stay with me and i'll get dinah to let you have a party oh that will be fun cried flossie i'd rather play hunt gypsy said her brother but when he saw dinah come out of the kitchen with a tiny little cake she had baked especially for him and his sister to have a play party with freddie thought after all there was some fun in staying at home but take snap with you he said to bert he'll growl at the gypsy men and maybe he'll scare him so they'll give back helen's doll well snap can growl hard when he wants to said bert with a laugh but still i think it wouldn't be a good thing to take him to the gypsy camp they nearly always have dogs in their camp the gypsies do and those dogs might get into a fight with snap snap could beat him declared freddie no don't take him ordered flossie i don't want snap to get bit i don't either agreed bert so i'll leave him at home i guess well there's daddy calling me i'll have to run i'll tell you all about it when i come back so while flossie and freddy with a little cake dinah had baked for them went to have a good time playing party mr bobbsy with a policeman and bert went to the gypsy camp the policeman did not have on his uniform with brass buttons in fact he was dressed almost like mr bobsie four said this policeman whose name was joseph carr if the gypsy men were to see me coming along in my helmet with my coat covered with brass buttons and a club in my hand they would know right away who i was they could see me a long way off on account of the sun shining on the brass buttons and they would have time to hide away that little girl's doll or anything else they may have taken so i'll go in plain clothes like a detective said bird yes something like a detective agreed mr carr now let's step along lively several persons had seen the gypsy caravan of gay yellow and red wagons going through lakeport and had noticed them turn up along the farther shore of lake matoka there was a patch of wood several miles away from the town and in years past these same gypsies or others like them had camped there it was to these woods that byrd and his father were going do you think we'll find helen's doll ask the boy well maybe bert answered his father and yet it may be that the gypsies have it but will not give it up we'll just have to wait and see what happens if i get sight of it they'll give it up soon enough said policeman carr after about a two hours walk bert his father and mr carr came to the woods through the trees they looked and saw the red and yellow wagons standing in a circle near them were tied a number of horses eating what little grass...

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island by Laura Lee Hope 4 The Goat Free Audiobooks Kids
chapter four the bobsy twins on blueberry island by laura lee hope this librivox recording is in the public domain the goat can't we come too we're not afraid of the gypsies not in daytime flossie and freddy thus called after their father and bert as the two ladders started the next morning to go find the gypsy camp the night had passed quietly snap and snoop were found safe when day dawned and after breakfast mr bobsy and his older son were to go to lake matoka and find where the gypsies had stopped with the gay red and yellow wagons they were going to see if they could find any trace of helen's doll and also things belonging to other people in town which it was thought the dark-skinned visitors might have taken please let us go beg the little bobsy twins oh my dears no said mrs bobsie it's too far and besides are you afraid the gypsies will carry us off ask freddy because if you are i'll take my fire engine and some of the funny bugs that go around and around and around that we got in new york and i'll scare the gypsies with them and squirt water on them no i'm not afraid of you or flossies being carried off especially when your father is with you said mrs bobsy but there is no telling where the gypsies are camped and it may be a long walk before they are found so you stay with me and i'll get dinah to let you have a party oh that will be fun cried flossie i'd rather play hunt gypsy said her brother but when he saw dinah come out of the kitchen with a tiny little cake she had baked especially for him and his sister to have a play party with freddie thought after all there was some fun in staying at home but take snap with you he said to bert he'll growl at the gypsy men and maybe he'll scare him so they'll give back helen's doll well snap can growl hard when he wants to said bert with a laugh but still i think it wouldn't be a good thing to take him to the gypsy camp they nearly always have dogs in their camp the gypsies do and those dogs might get into a fight with snap snap could beat him declared freddie no don't take him ordered flossie i don't want snap to get bit i don't either agreed bert so i'll leave him at home i guess well there's daddy calling me i'll have to run i'll tell you all about it when i come back so while flossie and freddy with a little cake dinah had baked for them went to have a good time playing party mr bobbsy with a policeman and bert went to the gypsy camp the policeman did not have on his uniform with brass buttons in fact he was dressed almost like mr bobsie four said this policeman whose name was joseph carr if the gypsy men were to see me coming along in my helmet with my coat covered with brass buttons and a club in my hand they would know right away who i was they could see me a long way off on account of the sun shining on the brass buttons and they would have time to hide away that little girl's doll or anything else they may have taken so i'll go in plain clothes like a detective said bird yes something like a detective agreed mr carr now let's step along lively several persons had seen the gypsy caravan of gay yellow and red wagons going through lakeport and had noticed them turn up along the farther shore of lake matoka there was a patch of wood several miles away from the town and in years past these same gypsies or others like them had camped there it was to these woods that byrd and his father were going do you think we'll find helen's doll ask the boy well maybe bert answered his father and yet it may be that the gypsies have it but will not give it up we'll just have to wait and see what happens if i get sight of it they'll give it up soon enough said policeman carr after about a two hours walk bert his father and mr carr came to the woods through the trees they looked and saw the red and yellow wagons standing in a circle near them were tied a number of horses eating what little grass...

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island by Laura Lee Hope 3 Worried Twins Free Audiobooks Kids.
chapter 3 of the bobsy twins on blueberry island by laura lee hope this librivox recording is in the public domain worried twins oh helen how glad i am to have you back cried mrs porter how did you get away from the gypsies or did they really have you the little girl stopped crying and all about her the men women and children waited anxiously to hear what she would say did the gypsies take you away ass mr bobsie no the gypsies didn't get me said helen her voice now and then broken by sobs but they took molly took molly cried mr bobsy do you mean to say they really did take a little girl away they they took molly half-sobbed helen and i i tried to get her back but i couldn't run fast enough and and well if they really have molly went on mr bobsy we must get right after them and molly is the name of helen's big doll almost as large as she is explained mrs porter who was now smiling through her tears molly isn't a little girl though probably there are several in lakeport named that but the molly whom helen means as a doll oh i see said mr bobsie but did the gypsies really take your doll helen yes they did answered the little girl a bad gypsy man took her away i was playing with molly and grace levine's yard and grace and mary went into the house to get some cookies i stayed out in the yard with my doll because i wanted her to get tanned nice and brown i laid her down in a sunny place and i went over under a tree to set the tea table and when i looked around i saw the gypsy man where was he asked mr bobsie he was just getting out of one of the red wagons and there was a little gypsy girl in the wagon she was pointing to my doll and then the man jumped down off the wagon steps ran into the yard picked up my doll and then he jumped into the wagon again and rode away and he's got my nice doll molly and i want her back and oh dear and helen began to cry again never mind said mr bobsy quietly i'll try to get your doll back again how large was it nearly as large as helen herself said mrs porter i didn't want her to play with it today but she took it yes but now the gypsy man with rings in his ears he took it explained helen he carried my doll off in his arms and it must have been the doll which johnny saw the gypsy man carrying and not helen exclaimed bert did it look like a doll johnny well it might have been it had light hair like helens though helen's doll had light hair said mrs porter and probably if a gypsy put the doll under his arm and ran past anyone would look as though he were carrying off a little girl especially as the doll really had on a dress helen used to wear when she was a baby that is probably what happened said mr bobsy the gypsy man's little girl saw from the wagon the doll lying in the levine yard gypsies are not as careful about taking what does not belong to them as they might be they often steal things i'm afraid and seeing the big doll lying under the tree where i put her so she'd get tanned nice and brown interrupted helen just so agreed mr bobsy seeing the doll under the tree with no one near the gypsy man made up his mind to take her for his little girl this he did and when he ran off with molly johnny saw what happened and thought helen was being kidnapped but i'm glad that wasn't so although it's too bad molly has been taken away however we'll try to get her back for you helen maybe the gypsies took other things if they did we'll send the police after them now don't cry anymore and i'll see what i can do and will you get molly back i'll do my best promised the bobsie twins father there being nothing more he could do just then at the porter home mr bobsy went back to his own family and told his wife flossie freddy and nan what had happened oh i'm so glad helen is all right said mrs bobsie but it's too bad about her doll side nan she had a doll of her own a fine one and she knew how it would feel if it had...

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island by Laura Lee Hope 3 Worried Twins Free Audiobooks Kids.
chapter 3 of the bobsy twins on blueberry island by laura lee hope this librivox recording is in the public domain worried twins oh helen how glad i am to have you back cried mrs porter how did you get away from the gypsies or did they really have you the little girl stopped crying and all about her the men women and children waited anxiously to hear what she would say did the gypsies take you away ass mr bobsie no the gypsies didn't get me said helen her voice now and then broken by sobs but they took molly took molly cried mr bobsy do you mean to say they really did take a little girl away they they took molly half-sobbed helen and i i tried to get her back but i couldn't run fast enough and and well if they really have molly went on mr bobsy we must get right after them and molly is the name of helen's big doll almost as large as she is explained mrs porter who was now smiling through her tears molly isn't a little girl though probably there are several in lakeport named that but the molly whom helen means as a doll oh i see said mr bobsie but did the gypsies really take your doll helen yes they did answered the little girl a bad gypsy man took her away i was playing with molly and grace levine's yard and grace and mary went into the house to get some cookies i stayed out in the yard with my doll because i wanted her to get tanned nice and brown i laid her down in a sunny place and i went over under a tree to set the tea table and when i looked around i saw the gypsy man where was he asked mr bobsie he was just getting out of one of the red wagons and there was a little gypsy girl in the wagon she was pointing to my doll and then the man jumped down off the wagon steps ran into the yard picked up my doll and then he jumped into the wagon again and rode away and he's got my nice doll molly and i want her back and oh dear and helen began to cry again never mind said mr bobsy quietly i'll try to get your doll back again how large was it nearly as large as helen herself said mrs porter i didn't want her to play with it today but she took it yes but now the gypsy man with rings in his ears he took it explained helen he carried my doll off in his arms and it must have been the doll which johnny saw the gypsy man carrying and not helen exclaimed bert did it look like a doll johnny well it might have been it had light hair like helens though helen's doll had light hair said mrs porter and probably if a gypsy put the doll under his arm and ran past anyone would look as though he were carrying off a little girl especially as the doll really had on a dress helen used to wear when she was a baby that is probably what happened said mr bobsy the gypsy man's little girl saw from the wagon the doll lying in the levine yard gypsies are not as careful about taking what does not belong to them as they might be they often steal things i'm afraid and seeing the big doll lying under the tree where i put her so she'd get tanned nice and brown interrupted helen just so agreed mr bobsy seeing the doll under the tree with no one near the gypsy man made up his mind to take her for his little girl this he did and when he ran off with molly johnny saw what happened and thought helen was being kidnapped but i'm glad that wasn't so although it's too bad molly has been taken away however we'll try to get her back for you helen maybe the gypsies took other things if they did we'll send the police after them now don't cry anymore and i'll see what i can do and will you get molly back i'll do my best promised the bobsie twins father there being nothing more he could do just then at the porter home mr bobsy went back to his own family and told his wife flossie freddy and nan what had happened oh i'm so glad helen is all right said mrs bobsie but it's too bad about her doll side nan she had a doll of her own a fine one and she knew how it would feel if it had...

Moby Dick, or the Whale by Herman Melville 8-9 Free Adventure Audiobook Children's Library.
this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org this reading by stuart wills moby dick by herman melville chapters eight and nine

chapter eight the pulpit i had not been seated very long air a man of a certain venerable robustness entered immediately as the storm-pelted door flew back upon admitting him a quick regardful eyeing of him by all of the congregation sufficiently attested that this fine old man was the chaplain yes it was the famous father mapple so called by the whalemen among whom he was a very great favorite he had been a sailor and a harpooner in his youth but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry at the time i now write of father mapple was in the hearty winter of a healthy old age that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth for among all the fishers of his wrinkles there shown certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom the spring verger peeping forth even beneath february's snow no one having previously heard his history could for the first time behold father mapple without the utmost interest because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities about him imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led when he entered i observed that he carried no umbrella and certainly had not come in his carriage for his tarpon hat ran down with melting sleet and his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with the weight of the water it had absorbed however hat and coat and over shoes were one by one removed and hung up in a little space in an adjacent corner when arrayed in a decent suit he quietly approached the pulpit like most old-fashioned pulpits it was a very lofty one and since a regular stairs to such a height would by its long angle with the floor seriously contract the already small area of the chapel the architect it seemed had acted upon the hint of father mapple and finished the pulpit without a stairs substituting a perpendicular side ladder like those used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea the wife of a whaling captain had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red wursted man ropes for this ladder which being itself nicely headed and stained with a mahogany color the whole contrivance considering what manner of chapel it was seemed by no means in bad taste halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man ropes father mapple cast a look upwards and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity hand over hand mounted the steps as if ascending the main top of his vessel the perpendicular parts of this side ladder as is usually the case with swinging ones were of cloth-covered rope only the rounds were of wood so that at every step there was a joint at my first glimpse of the pulpit it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship these joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary for i was not prepared to see father mapple after gaining the height slowly turn round and stooping over the pulpit deliberately drag up the ladder step by step till the hole was deposited within leaving him impregnable in his little quebec i pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this father mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity that i could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks of the stage no thought i there must be some sober reason for this thing furthermore it must symbolize something unseen can it be then that by that act of physical isolation he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for the time from all outward worldly ties and connections yes for replenished with the meat and wine of the word to the faithful man of god this pulpit i see is a self-containing stronghold a...

Moby Dick, or the Whale by Herman Melville 8-9 Free Adventure Audiobook Children's Library.
this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org this reading by stuart wills moby dick by herman melville chapters eight and nine

chapter eight the pulpit i had not been seated very long air a man of a certain venerable robustness entered immediately as the storm-pelted door flew back upon admitting him a quick regardful eyeing of him by all of the congregation sufficiently attested that this fine old man was the chaplain yes it was the famous father mapple so called by the whalemen among whom he was a very great favorite he had been a sailor and a harpooner in his youth but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry at the time i now write of father mapple was in the hearty winter of a healthy old age that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth for among all the fishers of his wrinkles there shown certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom the spring verger peeping forth even beneath february's snow no one having previously heard his history could for the first time behold father mapple without the utmost interest because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities about him imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led when he entered i observed that he carried no umbrella and certainly had not come in his carriage for his tarpon hat ran down with melting sleet and his great pilot cloth jacket seemed almost to drag him to the floor with the weight of the water it had absorbed however hat and coat and over shoes were one by one removed and hung up in a little space in an adjacent corner when arrayed in a decent suit he quietly approached the pulpit like most old-fashioned pulpits it was a very lofty one and since a regular stairs to such a height would by its long angle with the floor seriously contract the already small area of the chapel the architect it seemed had acted upon the hint of father mapple and finished the pulpit without a stairs substituting a perpendicular side ladder like those used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea the wife of a whaling captain had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red wursted man ropes for this ladder which being itself nicely headed and stained with a mahogany color the whole contrivance considering what manner of chapel it was seemed by no means in bad taste halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man ropes father mapple cast a look upwards and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity hand over hand mounted the steps as if ascending the main top of his vessel the perpendicular parts of this side ladder as is usually the case with swinging ones were of cloth-covered rope only the rounds were of wood so that at every step there was a joint at my first glimpse of the pulpit it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship these joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary for i was not prepared to see father mapple after gaining the height slowly turn round and stooping over the pulpit deliberately drag up the ladder step by step till the hole was deposited within leaving him impregnable in his little quebec i pondered some time without fully comprehending the reason for this father mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity that i could not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks of the stage no thought i there must be some sober reason for this thing furthermore it must symbolize something unseen can it be then that by that act of physical isolation he signifies his spiritual withdrawal for the time from all outward worldly ties and connections yes for replenished with the meat and wine of the word to the faithful man of god this pulpit i see is a self-containing stronghold a...