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LnR Black Beauty 14 And now having got so far, my master went on to break me to harness; there were more new things to wear. First, a stiff heavy collar just on my neck, and a bridle with great side-pieces against my eyes called blinkers, and blinkers indeed they were, for I could not see on either side, but only straight in front of me; next, there was a small saddle with a nasty stiff strap that went right under my tail; that was the crupper. I hated the crupper; to have my long tail doubled up and poked through that strap was almost as bad as the bit. I never felt more like kicking, but of course I could not kick such a good master, and so in time I got used to everything, and could do my work as well as my mother. I must not forget to mention one part of my training, which I have always considered a very great advantage. My master sent me for a fortnight to a neighboring farmer's, who had a meadow which was skirted on one side by the railway. Here were some sheep and cows, and I was turned in among them

LnR Black Beauty 13 Next came the saddle, but that was not half so bad; my master put it on my back very gently, while old Daniel held my head; he then made the girths fast under my body, patting and talking to me all the time; then I had a few oats, then a little leading about; and this he did every day till I began to look for the oats and the saddle. At length, one morning, my master got on my back and rode me round the meadow on the soft grass. It certainly did feel queer; but I must say I felt rather proud to carry my master, and as he continued to ride me a little every day I soon became accustomed to it. The next unpleasant business was putting on the iron shoes; that too was very hard at first. My master went with me to the smith's forge, to see that I was not hurt or got any fright. The blacksmith took my feet in his hand, one after the other, and cut away some of the hoof. It did not pain me, so I stood still on three legs till he had done them all. Then he took a piece of iron the shape of my foo

LnR Black Beauty 12 I had of course long been used to a halter and a headstall, and to be led about in the fields and lanes quietly, but now I was to have a bit and bridle; my master gave me some oats as usual, and after a good deal of coaxing he got the bit into my mouth, and the bridle fixed, but it was a nasty thing! Those who have never had a bit in their mouths cannot think how bad it feels; a great piece of cold hard steel as thick as a man's finger to be pushed into one's mouth, between one's teeth, and over one's tongue, with the ends coming out at the corner of your mouth, and held fast there by straps over your head, under your throat, round your nose, and under your chin; so that no way in the world can you get rid of the nasty hard thing; it is very bad! yes, very bad! at least I thought so; but I knew my mother always wore one when she went out, and all horses did when they were grown up; and so, what with the nice oats, and what with my master's pats, kind words, and gentle ways, I got to wear

LnR Black Beauty 11 (Replay) Chapter 3: My Breaking In I was now beginning to grow handsome; my coat had grown fine and soft, and was bright black. I had one white foot and a pretty white star on my forehead. I was thought very handsome; my master would not sell me till I was four years old; he said lads ought not to work like men, and colts ought not to work like horses till they were quite grown up. When I was four years old Squire Gordon came to look at me. He examined my eyes, my mouth, and my legs; he felt them all down; and then I had to walk and trot and gallop before him. He seemed to like me, and said, "When he has been well broken in he will do very well." My master said he would break me in himself, as he should not like me to be frightened or hurt, and he lost no time about it, for the next day he began. Every one may not know what breaking in is, therefore I will describe it. It means to teach a horse to wear a saddle and bridle, and to carry on his back a man, woman or child; to go just the

Hi! I just uploaded episodes 2-10 in the Black Beauty series. They are each about five minutes long. LnR Black Beauty 10      There was now riding off in all directions to the doctor's, to the farrier's, and no doubt to Squire Gordon's, to let him know about his son. When Mr. Bond, the farrier, came to look at the black horse that lay groaning on the grass, he felt him all over, and shook his head; one of his legs was broken. Then some one ran to our master's house and came back with a gun; presently there was a loud bang and a dreadful shriek, and then all was still; the black horse moved no more.      My mother seemed much troubled; she said she had known that horse for years, and that his name was "Rob Roy"; he was a good horse, and there was no vice in him. She never would go to that part of the field afterward.      Not many days after we heard the church-bell tolling for a long time, and looking over the gate we saw a long, strange black coach that was covered with black cloth and was drawn by black hor

LnR Black Beauty 9 "His neck is broke," said my mother. "And serve him right, too," said one of the colts. I thought the same, but my mother did not join with us. "Well, no," she said, "you must not say that; but though I am an old horse, and have seen and heard a great deal, I never yet could make out why men are so fond of this sport; they often hurt themselves, often spoil good horses, and tear up the fields, and all for a hare or a fox, or a stag, that they could get more easily some other way; but we are only horses, and don't know." While my mother was saying this we stood and looked on. Many of the riders had gone to the young man; but my master, who had been watching what was going on, was the first to raise him. His head fell back and his arms hung down, and every one looked very serious. There was no noise now; even the dogs were quiet, and seemed to know that something was wrong. They carried him to our master's house. I heard afterward that it was young George Gordon, the squire's only son, a

LnR Black Beauty 8 "Now we shall see the hare," said my mother; and just then a hare wild with fright rushed by and made for the woods. On came the dogs; they burst over the bank, leaped the stream, and came dashing across the field followed by the huntsmen. Six or eight men leaped their horses clean over, close upon the dogs. The hare tried to get through the fence; it was too thick, and she turned sharp round to make for the road, but it was too late; the dogs were upon her with their wild cries; we heard one shriek, and that was the end of her. One of the huntsmen rode up and whipped off the dogs, who would soon have torn her to pieces. He held her up by the leg torn and bleeding, and all the gentlemen seemed well pleased. As for me, I was so astonished that I did not at first see what was going on by the brook; but when I did look there was a sad sight; two fine horses were down, one was struggling in the stream, and the other was groaning on the grass. One of the riders was getting out of the water cov

 LnR Black Beauty 7      And soon the dogs were all tearing down the field of young wheat next to ours. I never heard such a noise as they made. They did not bark, nor howl, nor whine, but kept on a "yo! yo, o, o! yo! yo, o, o!" at the top of their voices. After them came a number of men on horseback, some of them in green coats, all galloping as fast as they could. The old horse snorted and looked eagerly after them, and we young colts wanted to be galloping with them, but they were soon away into the fields lower down; here it seemed as if they had come to a stand; the dogs left off barking, and ran about every way with their noses to the ground.      "They have lost the scent," said the old horse; "perhaps the hare will get off."      "What hare?" I said.      "Oh! I don't know what hare; likely enough it may be one of our own hares out of the woods; any hare they can find will do for the dogs and men to run after;" and before long the dogs began their "yo! yo, o, o!" again, and back they came altogether a

LnR Black Beauty 6 Before I was two years old a circumstance happened which I have never forgotten. It was early in the spring; there had been a little frost in the night, and a light mist still hung over the woods and meadows. I and the other colts were feeding at the lower part of the field when we heard, quite in the distance, what sounded like the cry of dogs. The oldest of the colts raised his head, pricked his ears, and said, "There are the hounds!" and immediately cantered off, followed by the rest of us to the upper part of the field, where we could look over the hedge and see several fields beyond. My mother and an old riding horse of our master's were also standing near, and seemed to know all about it. "They have found a hare," said my mother, "and if they come this way we shall see the hunt."

LnR Black Beauty 5 There was a plowboy, Dick, who sometimes came into our field to pluck blackberries from the hedge. When he had eaten all he wanted he would have what he called fun with the colts, throwing stones and sticks at them to make them gallop. We did not much mind him, for we could gallop off; but sometimes a stone would hit and hurt us. One day he was at this game, and did not know that the master was in the next field; but he was there, watching what was going on; over the hedge he jumped in a snap, and catching Dick by the arm, he gave him such a box on the ear as made him roar with the pain and surprise. As soon as we saw the master we trotted up nearer to see what went on. "Bad boy!" he said, "bad boy! to chase the colts. This is not the first time, nor the second, but it shall be the last. There--take your money and go home; I shall not want you on my farm again." So we never saw Dick any more. Old Daniel, the man who looked after the horses, was just as gentle as our master, so we were we

LnR Black Beauty 4 Our master was a good, kind man. He gave us good food, good lodging, and kind words; he spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children. We were all fond of him, and my mother loved him very much. When she saw him at the gate she would neigh with joy, and trot up to him. He would pat and stroke her and say, "Well, old Pet, and how is your little Darkie?" I was a dull black, so he called me Darkie; then he would give me a piece of bread, which was very good, and sometimes he brought a carrot for my mother. All the horses would come to him, but I think we were his favorites. My mother always took him to the town on a market day in a light gig.

LnR Black Beauty 3 One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother whinnied to me to come to her, and then she said: "I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The colts who live here are very good colts, but they are cart-horse colts, and of course they have not learned manners. You have been well-bred and well-born; your father has a great name in these parts, and your grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races; your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play." I have never forgotten my mother's advice; I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great deal of her. Her name was Duchess, but he often called her Pet.

LnR Black Beauty 2 Black Beauty The Autobiography of a Horse  by Anna Sewell, 1877 http://www.cybercrayon.net/readingroom/books/blackbeauty/blackbeauty.html      While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.      As soon as I was old enough to eat grass my mother used to go out to work in the daytime, and come back in the evening.      There were six young colts in the meadow besides me; they were older than I was; some were nearly as large as grown-up horses. I used to run with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together round and round the field as hard as we could go. Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.

LnR Black Beauty 1 (Replay) This is a series I started 2 1/2 years ago. At the time, I had planned to make YouTube videos out of the recordings, but actually I only made two or three. It takes time to make YouTube videos! Normally these Black Beauty podcast episodes will be about five minutes long. This one is longer because I give a long introduction. ========= Hi everyone, I'm changing the way I do the LnR Classic Literature podcasts. I will now make short recordings of about four minutes and 30 seconds, plus the time for the happy music at the beginning and end of the recording. I'm doing this because I am concerned that some listeners are not interested in listening to longer podcasts. ----------- Black Beauty The Autobiography of a Horse  by Anna Sewell, 1877 http://www.cybercrayon.net/readingroom/books/blackbeauty/blackbeauty.html Part 1 Chapter 1 The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-

Hi! Here's another episode from about three years ago. I hope you find it useful. LnR 130 (Casual Language) Praise Good job! Well done! Way to go! Great! Wonderful! Incredible! Outstanding! Excellent! Terrific! Superb! Awesome! Fabulous! Fantastic! Magnificent! Marvelous! Remarkable! Spectacular! Unbelievable! Phenomenal! You did a ______superb______ job on the project. Last night we saw a _____fantastic _____ movie. She's a ____marvelous_____ volleyball player. My friend is a(n) ____outstanding _____ photographer.  

My country is having a very difficult time right now. We have three problems happening at the same time. First, there is very poor leadership at the top. Second, the pandemic. Third, another (another!) black man was killed by a policeman, and protests have broken out all over the country. I support the peaceful protesters, because Black Lives Matter. Yes, I'm a white American, but the vast majority of us believe that all people have value, though blacks (and other minorities) have been treated unfairly at times. This is not right and should stop. Though things are not good in the U.S. now, I have hopes that the race relations will improve, a vaccine will be found for COVID-19, and that there will be a change of leadership at the top in November. In the meantime, here is a podcast episode from almost three years ago. I talk about how hot it it. Right now it's June and not very hot and humid yet. It will be soon, though. In this dialog two women are talking at work about the weather and other things. nancy@miss

Hi! This episode is almost three years old. I talk about how I enjoy driving when I'm home for the summer. Of course, things have changed, and now I live at home all the time. I haven't been doing much driving, though, because of the pandemic. I teach English online (Cambly, PalFish, Kouyuxia, and now Amazing Talker) and am just about to launch (that's business vocabulary for "start") a course on how to teach IELTS speaking. If you are an English teacher who is interested in learning how to teach IELTS, contact me at nancy@missbuswell.com for more information. My course is not cheap, but it's not expensive, either. Best wishes to all of you during this COVID-19 time. I hope that you and your family are all well.   LnR 126 (Casual Language) Driving The word I couldn't spell is "demographics"! Dictionary.com says: " the statistical data of a population, especially those showing average age, income, education, etc." A: Hi, Nancy! Are you having a good time at home? B: Oh, yeah. It's great to be home. I love spen

Hi! This podcast episode is from almost three years ago. I made it in July in China, which is why it's about the summertime. Now, in 2020, it's early May and of course I live in the U.S. now. And things are very different than they were three years ago! I am doing well because I live in a small town, with few or no active cases of COVID-19. There are many other places in my country and around the world where people are still struggling against this illness. I hope that you and your family are doing well, wherever you are. I was listening to this recording a few minutes ago. There's a lot of good information in this episode, but I think I may have talked too much! So sorry! LnR 124 (Casual Language) Summer Vacation A: What are you doing for your summer break? B: Well, for my summer vacation I'll be an intern at a local company. I'll get some practical experience to go with all the things I've learned in class. A: Will you get paid? B: No, darn it. It's hard to find a paid internship nowadays. What will you do

Hi! Like most smart Americans, I'm staying at home most of the time, just going out to run errands for my mother or go shopping. I live in a small town that has only had five cases of COVID-19. I wear a mask when I go out, but most people don't. I want to be extra-careful because I live with my mother, who is 84. Today's podcast episode is from 2 1/2 years ago, talking about when I went home for the summer. Of course, my life is different now. I live at home full time! LnR 122 (Casual Language) Insomnia A: Hey, are you OK? B: Yeah, so-so. I'm having trouble sleeping. A: Oh, I've had insomnia before. It wasn't fun. B: I seldom have insomnia. I mainly get it if I'm worried about something or if I've had too much caffeine. A: Yeah, I get it when I'm worried or have a lot of stress. So why do you have it now? B: Actually, it's jet lag, not true insomnia. I arrived from China three days ago and still haven't adapted to the time zone here. I can't get to sleep until very early in the morning, and then I’m so tired

Hi! This podcast episode is from 2 1/2 years ago, when I was still teaching in China. I've been back in the U.S. for almost a year and a half now, teaching online. If you want to talk with me, go to Cambly and sign up for a free trial. On Cambly I specialize in free talk and in IELTS preparation. Here in the U.S. most people are staying home, if they can, because of the coronovirus pandemic. It's very still very serious in many parts of the world, though the good news is that it seems like China is starting to get back to normal. I hope we can all get back to normal soon. I live in a small town, where we have only three cases of COVID-19. I go out once a week to go grocery shopping. Otherwise, I stay at home like we are supposed to. Best wishes to all my listeners, for health and happiness in this difficult time. ----------- LnR 120 (Casual Language) Heads up! A: Wow, that's amazing! I've never seen a double rainbow before. B: It's a first for me, too. That's why I sent messages to you and my other neighbors.