The Copybook

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

1345

© RHaworth, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Lessons of Nature Samuel Smiles

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

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1346

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

Terror in the Deep Clay Lane

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

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1347

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

‘Get Up!’ Joseph Skipsey

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

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1348

From Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.

The Pitman Poet 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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1349

Photo by Jastrow, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Hera and the Boeotian Bride Clay Lane

Zeus employs a little psychology to effect a reunion with his offended wife.

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1350

© James E. Petts, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway Clay Lane

The little County Durham line built by George Stephenson and his son Robert was the place where the world’s railway infrastructure really began.

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