The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers Chapter 2 The Dulcibella Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 1 of the riddle of the sans this is the librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recorded by gazina the riddle of the sands by erskine childers chapter 1 the letter i have read of men who when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude save for a few black faces have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism it was in some such spirit with an added touch of self-consciousness that at seven o'clock in the evening of 23rd of september in a recent year i was making my evening toilet in my chambers in palmell i thought the date and the place justify the parallel to my advantage even for the obscure burmese administrator might well be a man of blunted sensibilities and coarse fiber and at least he is alone with nature while i well a young man of condition and fashion who knows the right people belongs to the white clubs has a safe possibly a brilliant future in the foreign office may be excused for a sense of complacent martyrdom when with his keen appreciation of the social calendar he is doomed to the outer solitude of london in september i say martyrdom but in fact the case was infinitely worse for to feel oneself a martyr as everybody knows is a pleasurable thing and the true tragedy of my position was that i had passed that stage i had enjoyed what sweets it had to offer an ever dwindling degree since the middle of august when ties were still fresh and sympathy abundant i have been conscious that i was missed at marvin lodge party lady ashley herself had said so in the kindest possible manner when she wrote to acknowledge the letter in which i explained with an effectively austere reserve of language that circumstances compelled me to remain at my office we know how busy you must be just now she wrote and i do hope you won't overwork we shall all miss you very much friend after friend got away to sport and fresh air with promises to write and chaffing condolences and as each deserted the sinking ship i took a grim delight in my misery positively almost enjoying the first week or two after my world had been finally dissipated to the four bracing winds of heaven i began to take a spurious interest in the remaining five millions and wrote several clever letters in a vein of cheap satire indirectly suggesting the pathos of my position but indicating that i was broad-minded enough to find intellectual entertainment in the scenes persons and habits of london in the dead season i even did rational things at the instigation of others for though i should have liked total isolation best i of course found that there was a sediment of unfortunates like myself who unlike me viewed the situation in a most prosaic light there were river excursions and so on after office hours but i dislike the river at any time for its noisy vulgarity and most of all it this season so i dropped out of the fresh air brigade and declined h's offer to share a riverside cottage and run up to town in the mornings i did spend one or two weekends with the katespace in kent but i was not inconsolable when they left their house and went abroad for i found that such partial compensations did not suit me neither did the taste for satirical observation last a passing thirst which i daresay many have shared for adventures of the fascinating kind described in the new arabian nights led me on a few evenings into some shady haunts in soho and farther eastward but was finally quenched once sultry saturday night after an hour's immersion in the wreaking atmosphere of a low music hall in ratcliffe highway where i sat next to a portly female who suffered from the heat and at frequent intervals refreshed herself and an infant from a bottle of tepid stout by the first week in...

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers Chapter 2 The Dulcibella Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 1 of the riddle of the sans this is the librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recorded by gazina the riddle of the sands by erskine childers chapter 1 the letter i have read of men who when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude save for a few black faces have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism it was in some such spirit with an added touch of self-consciousness that at seven o'clock in the evening of 23rd of september in a recent year i was making my evening toilet in my chambers in palmell i thought the date and the place justify the parallel to my advantage even for the obscure burmese administrator might well be a man of blunted sensibilities and coarse fiber and at least he is alone with nature while i well a young man of condition and fashion who knows the right people belongs to the white clubs has a safe possibly a brilliant future in the foreign office may be excused for a sense of complacent martyrdom when with his keen appreciation of the social calendar he is doomed to the outer solitude of london in september i say martyrdom but in fact the case was infinitely worse for to feel oneself a martyr as everybody knows is a pleasurable thing and the true tragedy of my position was that i had passed that stage i had enjoyed what sweets it had to offer an ever dwindling degree since the middle of august when ties were still fresh and sympathy abundant i have been conscious that i was missed at marvin lodge party lady ashley herself had said so in the kindest possible manner when she wrote to acknowledge the letter in which i explained with an effectively austere reserve of language that circumstances compelled me to remain at my office we know how busy you must be just now she wrote and i do hope you won't overwork we shall all miss you very much friend after friend got away to sport and fresh air with promises to write and chaffing condolences and as each deserted the sinking ship i took a grim delight in my misery positively almost enjoying the first week or two after my world had been finally dissipated to the four bracing winds of heaven i began to take a spurious interest in the remaining five millions and wrote several clever letters in a vein of cheap satire indirectly suggesting the pathos of my position but indicating that i was broad-minded enough to find intellectual entertainment in the scenes persons and habits of london in the dead season i even did rational things at the instigation of others for though i should have liked total isolation best i of course found that there was a sediment of unfortunates like myself who unlike me viewed the situation in a most prosaic light there were river excursions and so on after office hours but i dislike the river at any time for its noisy vulgarity and most of all it this season so i dropped out of the fresh air brigade and declined h's offer to share a riverside cottage and run up to town in the mornings i did spend one or two weekends with the katespace in kent but i was not inconsolable when they left their house and went abroad for i found that such partial compensations did not suit me neither did the taste for satirical observation last a passing thirst which i daresay many have shared for adventures of the fascinating kind described in the new arabian nights led me on a few evenings into some shady haunts in soho and farther eastward but was finally quenched once sultry saturday night after an hour's immersion in the wreaking atmosphere of a low music hall in ratcliffe highway where i sat next to a portly female who suffered from the heat and at frequent intervals refreshed herself and an infant from a bottle of tepid stout by the first week in...

The Riddle of the Sands
by Erskine Childers

Publication date 2009-04-25
Usage Public DomainCreative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audio book, audiobook, fiction, childers, riddle, spy, espionage, invasion, world war I, mystery, yachting, sailing, adventure, spy novel, churchill
LibriVox recording of The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers.

Containing many realistic details based on Childers's own sailing trips along the German North Sea coast, the book is the retelling of a yachting expedition in the early 20th century combined with an adventurous spy story.

It was one of the early invasion novels which predicted war with Germany and called for British preparedness. The plot involves the uncovering of secret German preparations for an invasion of the United Kingdom. It is often called the first modern spy novel, and although others are as well, it was certainly very influential in the genre and for its time.

The book enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I and was extremely influential. Winston Churchill later credited it as a major reason that the Admiralty decided to establish naval bases at Invergordon, the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow.
(Summary from Wikipedia)

chapter 1 of the riddle of the sans this is the librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recorded by gazina the riddle of the sands by erskine childers chapter 1 the letter i have read of men who when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude save for a few black faces have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism it was in some such spirit with an added touch of self-consciousness that at seven o'clock in the evening of 23rd of september in a recent year i was making my evening toilet in my chambers in palmell i thought the date and the place justify the parallel to my advantage even for the obscure burmese administrator might well be a man of blunted sensibilities and coarse fiber and at least he is alone with nature while i well a young man of condition and fashion who knows the right people belongs to the white clubs has a safe possibly a brilliant future in the foreign office may be excused for a sense of complacent martyrdom when with his keen appreciation of the social calendar he is doomed to the outer solitude of london in september i say martyrdom but in fact the case was infinitely worse for to feel oneself a martyr as everybody knows is a pleasurable thing and the true tragedy of my position was that i had passed that stage i had enjoyed what sweets it had to offer an ever dwindling degree since the middle of august when ties were still fresh and sympathy abundant i have been conscious that i was missed at marvin lodge party lady ashley herself had said so in the kindest possible manner when she wrote to acknowledge the letter in which i explained with an effectively austere reserve of language that circumstances compelled me to remain at my office we know how busy you must be just now she wrote and i do hope you won't overwork we shall all miss you very much friend after friend got away to sport and fresh air with promises to write and chaffing condolences and as each deserted the sinking ship i took a grim delight in my misery positively almost enjoying the first week or two after my world had been finally dissipated to the four bracing winds of heaven i began to take a spurious interest in the remaining five millions and wrote several clever letters in a vein of cheap satire indirectly suggesting the pathos of my position but indicating that i was broad-minded enough to find intellectual entertainment in the scenes persons and habits of london in the dead season i even did rational things at the instigation of others for though i should...

The Riddle of the Sands
by Erskine Childers

Publication date 2009-04-25
Usage Public DomainCreative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audio book, audiobook, fiction, childers, riddle, spy, espionage, invasion, world war I, mystery, yachting, sailing, adventure, spy novel, churchill
LibriVox recording of The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers.

Containing many realistic details based on Childers's own sailing trips along the German North Sea coast, the book is the retelling of a yachting expedition in the early 20th century combined with an adventurous spy story.

It was one of the early invasion novels which predicted war with Germany and called for British preparedness. The plot involves the uncovering of secret German preparations for an invasion of the United Kingdom. It is often called the first modern spy novel, and although others are as well, it was certainly very influential in the genre and for its time.

The book enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I and was extremely influential. Winston Churchill later credited it as a major reason that the Admiralty decided to establish naval bases at Invergordon, the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow.
(Summary from Wikipedia)

chapter 1 of the riddle of the sans this is the librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recorded by gazina the riddle of the sands by erskine childers chapter 1 the letter i have read of men who when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude save for a few black faces have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism it was in some such spirit with an added touch of self-consciousness that at seven o'clock in the evening of 23rd of september in a recent year i was making my evening toilet in my chambers in palmell i thought the date and the place justify the parallel to my advantage even for the obscure burmese administrator might well be a man of blunted sensibilities and coarse fiber and at least he is alone with nature while i well a young man of condition and fashion who knows the right people belongs to the white clubs has a safe possibly a brilliant future in the foreign office may be excused for a sense of complacent martyrdom when with his keen appreciation of the social calendar he is doomed to the outer solitude of london in september i say martyrdom but in fact the case was infinitely worse for to feel oneself a martyr as everybody knows is a pleasurable thing and the true tragedy of my position was that i had passed that stage i had enjoyed what sweets it had to offer an ever dwindling degree since the middle of august when ties were still fresh and sympathy abundant i have been conscious that i was missed at marvin lodge party lady ashley herself had said so in the kindest possible manner when she wrote to acknowledge the letter in which i explained with an effectively austere reserve of language that circumstances compelled me to remain at my office we know how busy you must be just now she wrote and i do hope you won't overwork we shall all miss you very much friend after friend got away to sport and fresh air with promises to write and chaffing condolences and as each deserted the sinking ship i took a grim delight in my misery positively almost enjoying the first week or two after my world had been finally dissipated to the four bracing winds of heaven i began to take a spurious interest in the remaining five millions and wrote several clever letters in a vein of cheap satire indirectly suggesting the pathos of my position but indicating that i was broad-minded enough to find intellectual entertainment in the scenes persons and habits of london in the dead season i even did rational things at the instigation of others for though i should...

The Story of the Mikado by W. S. Gilbert 5 Free Audiobooks for Kids Download Library.
section 6 of the story of the mikado this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by noel badrian the story of the mikado by w s gilbert chapter five the very next day yum yum was to be married to nankipu their wedded life was only to last a month for at the end of that time nankipu was to be beheaded but it was going to be such a happy month that the close of it seemed to be an immensely long way off and consequently hardly worth considering that is the way with young and foolish people who live only for the present and think it is time enough to consider how they will deal with the day of difficulty when that day arrives that morning yum yum was occupied a long time at her toilette she naturally wanted to look to the best advantage but as her three dozen bridesmaids had come to help her to do her hair and as each bridesmaid had her own idea as to how hair should be done and moreover as each in succession and did what her immediate predecessor had done and did it again in her own way the process became rather tiresome eventually however yum yum whose policy it was to conciliate everyone allowed each bridesmaid to do a little bit so the result bore the same relation to an ordinary head of hair that a fruit salad does to each of the individual delicacies of which it is compounded then it became necessary to touch up yum yum's cheeks and lips with a little color four japanese young ladies consider this to be quite correct although english ladies would rather look as yellow as frogs than consent to do anything so shocking

as the bridesmaids titivated yum yum's head and face they sang the following appropriate verses braid the raven hair weave the supple tress deck the maiden fair in her loveliness paint the pretty face dye the coral lip emphasize the grace of her lady ship art and nature thus allied go to make a pretty bride then pity singh proceeded to give her a bit of advice founded upon what would have been her experience if she had had any sit with downcast i let it brim with you try if you can cry we will do so too when you're summoned start like a frightened row flutter little heart color come and go footnote this must have taken a bit of doing as her color was laid on as thick as cardboard and a footnote modesty at marriagetide well becomes a pretty footnote i'm afraid that pity sing was a bit of a sly boots and a footnote by the time they had finished their singing yum yum's toilet was completed and all the bridesmaids withdrew to their respective apartments with the view of putting a few finishing touches to their own impudent little faces except pity singh and peep beau who shared yum yum's rooms yes said yum yum admiring herself in a mirror i am indeed beautiful sometimes i sit and wonder in my artless japanese way why it is that i am so much more attractive than anybody else in the whole world can this be vanity no nature is lovely and rejoices in her loveliness i am a child of nature and i take after my mother this was of course all very wrong yum yum was a good-looking girl but not nearly as lovely as she believed herself to be her absurd conceit came of her ridiculously exaggerated first name the full moon of delight which sheds etc which though she quite forgot it was conferred upon her by her sanguine parents when she had no more features than a lump of putty however entertaining that opinion of herself one is scarcely surprised that she should have embodied it in detail in the following song the sun and moon the sun whose rays are all ablaze with ever living glory does not deny his majesty he scorns to tell a story he don't exclaim footnote doesn't would have been better but it wouldn't have fitted the meter and in poetry meter is paramount end of footnote i blush for shame so kindly be indulgent but...

The Story of the Mikado by W. S. Gilbert 5 Free Audiobooks for Kids Download Library.
section 6 of the story of the mikado this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by noel badrian the story of the mikado by w s gilbert chapter five the very next day yum yum was to be married to nankipu their wedded life was only to last a month for at the end of that time nankipu was to be beheaded but it was going to be such a happy month that the close of it seemed to be an immensely long way off and consequently hardly worth considering that is the way with young and foolish people who live only for the present and think it is time enough to consider how they will deal with the day of difficulty when that day arrives that morning yum yum was occupied a long time at her toilette she naturally wanted to look to the best advantage but as her three dozen bridesmaids had come to help her to do her hair and as each bridesmaid had her own idea as to how hair should be done and moreover as each in succession and did what her immediate predecessor had done and did it again in her own way the process became rather tiresome eventually however yum yum whose policy it was to conciliate everyone allowed each bridesmaid to do a little bit so the result bore the same relation to an ordinary head of hair that a fruit salad does to each of the individual delicacies of which it is compounded then it became necessary to touch up yum yum's cheeks and lips with a little color four japanese young ladies consider this to be quite correct although english ladies would rather look as yellow as frogs than consent to do anything so shocking

as the bridesmaids titivated yum yum's head and face they sang the following appropriate verses braid the raven hair weave the supple tress deck the maiden fair in her loveliness paint the pretty face dye the coral lip emphasize the grace of her lady ship art and nature thus allied go to make a pretty bride then pity singh proceeded to give her a bit of advice founded upon what would have been her experience if she had had any sit with downcast i let it brim with you try if you can cry we will do so too when you're summoned start like a frightened row flutter little heart color come and go footnote this must have taken a bit of doing as her color was laid on as thick as cardboard and a footnote modesty at marriagetide well becomes a pretty footnote i'm afraid that pity sing was a bit of a sly boots and a footnote by the time they had finished their singing yum yum's toilet was completed and all the bridesmaids withdrew to their respective apartments with the view of putting a few finishing touches to their own impudent little faces except pity singh and peep beau who shared yum yum's rooms yes said yum yum admiring herself in a mirror i am indeed beautiful sometimes i sit and wonder in my artless japanese way why it is that i am so much more attractive than anybody else in the whole world can this be vanity no nature is lovely and rejoices in her loveliness i am a child of nature and i take after my mother this was of course all very wrong yum yum was a good-looking girl but not nearly as lovely as she believed herself to be her absurd conceit came of her ridiculously exaggerated first name the full moon of delight which sheds etc which though she quite forgot it was conferred upon her by her sanguine parents when she had no more features than a lump of putty however entertaining that opinion of herself one is scarcely surprised that she should have embodied it in detail in the following song the sun and moon the sun whose rays are all ablaze with ever living glory does not deny his majesty he scorns to tell a story he don't exclaim footnote doesn't would have been better but it wouldn't have fitted the meter and in poetry meter is paramount end of footnote i blush for shame so kindly be indulgent but...

The Story of the Mikado by W. S. Gilbert 4 Free Audiobooks for Kids Download Library.

section 5 of the story of the mikado this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by noel badrian the story of the mikado by w s gilbert chapter four now this is a most important chapter phubar and his faithful attendant pish tush lost no time in making known the serious news that the mikado had announced that someone must be beheaded within a month or titipu would be reduced to the rank of a village as nearly all the inhabitants possessed property in titty poo to a greater or less extent they were all keenly interested in the prosperity of the city which would be hopelessly ruined if it were deprived of its municipal privileges moreover the province of torisaki of which it was the capital would be forfeited to the mikado as a district which had no seat of government from which it could be controlled altogether it was a very serious state of things and so as soon as coco had come to a more or less satisfactory understanding with nankipu he summoned all the principal inhabitants to meet him in the marketplace at ten o'clock the next day that he might relieve their minds by telling them what he proposed to do at the appointed hour when all the inhabitants had assembled except the newly born babies and persons over 90 years of age who were left to take care of them coco mounted a kind of pulpit in which the auctioneer who sold cattle usually stood he was received with the following chorus what are you going to do good sir come tell us quickly pray the program rests with you good sir and must be settled today are you going to cut off your head good sir or does anyone right away consent to be killed in your stead good sir come tell us quickly pray then puba exclaimed to ask you what you mean to do we punctually appear and coco unwilling to keep them for a moment in unnecessary suspense replied congratulate me gentlemen i found a volunteer to which the crowd greatly relieved shouted with one voice the japanese equivalent for here here here then coco led nankipu forward and introduced him to the populace exclaiming tis nankipu i think will do he yields his life if i'll yum yum surrender now i adore that girl with passion tender and could not yield her with the ready will if i did not adore myself with passion tender still and they all shouted house sad his lot he loves himself with passion tender still thereupon coco handed yum yum to nankipu they embraced rapturously and poohba who among many other things was lord high toastmaster addressed nankipu in the following tasteful lines as in a month you've got to die if coco tells us true to an empty compliment to cry long life to nanki poo but as till this day month you'll live as fellow citizen this toast with three times three will give long life to you till then may all good fortune prosper you may you have health and riches too may you succeed in all you do long life to you till then the people took up the refrain of the toast that is to say the last four lines and shouted them with all their might and mane to express the joy with which they heard the good news they instantly broke into a wild dance but as the figures had not been arranged and practiced each danced the dance he knew best and consequently there was a good deal of bumping against each other and tumbling down but they meant well among the crowd was one mysteriously veiled lady who listened quietly to all that went on but was conspicuous from the fact that she alone took no part in the rejoicings she was a good deal knocked about during the wild dance that i have described and when she had had enough which was very soon she threw off her veil and exclaimed your rebels cease assist me all of you i claim my perjured lover nanky pooh the mysterious lady was no other than the plain and elderly katisha the lady to whom...

The Story of the Mikado by W. S. Gilbert 4 Free Audiobooks for Kids Download Library.

section 5 of the story of the mikado this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by noel badrian the story of the mikado by w s gilbert chapter four now this is a most important chapter phubar and his faithful attendant pish tush lost no time in making known the serious news that the mikado had announced that someone must be beheaded within a month or titipu would be reduced to the rank of a village as nearly all the inhabitants possessed property in titty poo to a greater or less extent they were all keenly interested in the prosperity of the city which would be hopelessly ruined if it were deprived of its municipal privileges moreover the province of torisaki of which it was the capital would be forfeited to the mikado as a district which had no seat of government from which it could be controlled altogether it was a very serious state of things and so as soon as coco had come to a more or less satisfactory understanding with nankipu he summoned all the principal inhabitants to meet him in the marketplace at ten o'clock the next day that he might relieve their minds by telling them what he proposed to do at the appointed hour when all the inhabitants had assembled except the newly born babies and persons over 90 years of age who were left to take care of them coco mounted a kind of pulpit in which the auctioneer who sold cattle usually stood he was received with the following chorus what are you going to do good sir come tell us quickly pray the program rests with you good sir and must be settled today are you going to cut off your head good sir or does anyone right away consent to be killed in your stead good sir come tell us quickly pray then puba exclaimed to ask you what you mean to do we punctually appear and coco unwilling to keep them for a moment in unnecessary suspense replied congratulate me gentlemen i found a volunteer to which the crowd greatly relieved shouted with one voice the japanese equivalent for here here here then coco led nankipu forward and introduced him to the populace exclaiming tis nankipu i think will do he yields his life if i'll yum yum surrender now i adore that girl with passion tender and could not yield her with the ready will if i did not adore myself with passion tender still and they all shouted house sad his lot he loves himself with passion tender still thereupon coco handed yum yum to nankipu they embraced rapturously and poohba who among many other things was lord high toastmaster addressed nankipu in the following tasteful lines as in a month you've got to die if coco tells us true to an empty compliment to cry long life to nanki poo but as till this day month you'll live as fellow citizen this toast with three times three will give long life to you till then may all good fortune prosper you may you have health and riches too may you succeed in all you do long life to you till then the people took up the refrain of the toast that is to say the last four lines and shouted them with all their might and mane to express the joy with which they heard the good news they instantly broke into a wild dance but as the figures had not been arranged and practiced each danced the dance he knew best and consequently there was a good deal of bumping against each other and tumbling down but they meant well among the crowd was one mysteriously veiled lady who listened quietly to all that went on but was conspicuous from the fact that she alone took no part in the rejoicings she was a good deal knocked about during the wild dance that i have described and when she had had enough which was very soon she threw off her veil and exclaimed your rebels cease assist me all of you i claim my perjured lover nanky pooh the mysterious lady was no other than the plain and elderly katisha the lady to whom...

The Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper

The Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper