The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

1345

By Elias Martin (1739-1818), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Proper Education by Jane Austen

Harriet Smith’s school gave her a grounding in good sense that even Emma Woodhouse could not quite overthrow.

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1346

© JoJan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Observation by Samuel Smiles

Great inventions come from those who notice what they see.

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1347

© RHaworth, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Lessons of Nature by Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles shows us two great achievements inspired by two tiny creatures.

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1348

© Chris Downer, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Terror in the Deep by Clay Lane

Irish monk St Columba is credited with being among the first witnesses to the ‘Loch Ness monster’.

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1349

Imperial War Museums, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘Get Up!’ by Joseph Skipsey

Joseph Skipsey’s short poem evokes the last goodbye a Northumberland miner made each morning.

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1350

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Pitman Poet by Clay Lane

Joseph Skipsey taught himself to read and write by candlelight, hundreds of feet below ground in a Northumberland pit.

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Clay Lane The Copybook
About Clay Lane nicholas@claylane.uk

© Nicholas Armitage / Clay Lane, 2025

May 3 NS

April 20 OS

She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
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