The Copybook

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

925

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

Equally Free Sir Joshua Fitch

Sir Joshua Fitch urges Victorian society to let women make their own career choices – whatever they may be.

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926

© Humphrey Bolton, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Could Do Better Sir Joshua Fitch

The Report of the Newcastle Commission confirmed that there were no Dotheboys Halls among Yorkshire’s private schools.

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927

© David wright, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Brimstone and Treacle Charles Dickens

Mrs Squeers has lost the school spoon, and is uncomfortably frank about its importance.

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928

By James Gillray (1756-1815), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Fact-Lovers Ralph Waldo Emerson

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson saw the demand for hard evidence as a peculiarly English trait.

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929

© Stephen Richards, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Dead Man Walking John Buchan

Richard Hannay was finding life in London a little slow until a self-confessed dead man walked into his rooms.

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930

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

Wellington’s Cook William Howitt

The hero of Waterloo needed all his men to believe in him that day, but none believed in him more than his cook.

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