The Copybook

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

223

© Smiley.toerist, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Left Holding the Baby Richard Pike

A gentleman travelling home from London by train reached his destination carrying more than he set out with.

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224

From the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums Collection, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

An Aristocracy of Mere Wealth Richard Cobden

Richard Cobden was not a little envious of the USA’s open and can-do society, but he did not covet her republicanism.

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225

© Hefin Owen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Heron and the Crab Clay Lane

An ageing Heron finds himself a little too stiff to fish for himself, so he thinks of a way to get the fish to do it for him.

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226

© Marathekedar93, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Raven and the Snake Clay Lane

A harassed mother Raven vows bloody revenge on a venomous Snake, but the wily old Jackal has a better idea.

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227

By Stanley Howe, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA.

Economic Illiteracy John Bright

If Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli really wanted a better-educated public, he must tackle the high cost of living.

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228

© kladcat, via Penn Libraries and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Doom of the Danaides Clay Lane

By day Danaus had to watch his fifty unhappy daughters marry their fifty cruel cousins, but the wedding night was yet to come.

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