The Copybook

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

391

© T. L. Thompson, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Zenana Mission Hannah Catherine Mullens

Hannah Mullens describes her battle to reach out to wealthy Indian ladies with nothing to do, nothing to think about and nowhere to go.

Read

392

By an anonymous artist, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Something Rotten in the State of Denmark The Bee, or Literary Intelligencer

When Ambassador Molesworth criticised the government of Christian V, the Danish king cried ‘off with his head!’.

Read

393

© Vyacheslav Argenberg, WIkimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Phantom Rickshaw Rudyard Kipling

Jack Pansay has just bought an engagement ring for the bewitching Kitty Mannering, yet to his annoyance it is the late Mrs Wessington he is thinking about.

Read

394

© S. Woźniak, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Watch Dog Anonymous

The doorman of a Paris theatre had strict instructions to keep dogs outside, but it was the humans they let in who caused all the trouble.

Read

395

© Azanulbizar74, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Naked Aggression Richard Cobden

Richard Cobden told his audience in the London Tavern that however much sabre-rattling was heard in St Petersburg, the average Russian was a man of peace.

Read

396

Paulus Hector Mair (1517-1579)

Robin Recruits a Merry Man Anonymous

It was George-a-Green’s job to stop animals trampling the crops, and it nettled his pride in Wakefield’s broad acres to see some ramblers behaving no better.

Read