The Copybook

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

715

From the Walters Art Museum, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Samson’s Riddle Clay Lane

The Israelites under Philistia’s rule might have blended with their heathen masters had not Samson kept stirring up trouble.

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716

© Ben Brooksbank, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Bluebell Line Clay Lane

The Bluebell line in Sussex was the first failing British Railways line to be taken over by volunteers.

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717

© Robert Graham, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

The Hollow Blade Sword Company Clay Lane

Seventeenth-century German craftsmen came seeking a land of opportunity, and found it in County Durham.

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718

By Torii Kiyomine (1787-1869). Photo: Brooklyn Museum. Licence: Public domain.

Blind Passions Clay Lane

Hardworking Kichijiro wins Ima’s heart and Kanshichi’s hatred without noticing a thing.

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719

National Portrait Gallery, via Wikimedia Commons. ? Public domain.

Sir Stamford Raffles Clay Lane

The Founder of Singapore established his city on principles of free people and free trade.

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720

By David Wilkie (1785-1841), Apsley House and via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain

The Battle of Waterloo Clay Lane

The Russians had checked it in the East, but in the West the expansion of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire was far from over.

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