Speaker 1: An alphabet of history. This is a LibriVox recording. All
Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Bruskachuk.
Speaker 1: An Alphabet of History by Wilbur D. Nesbit. Alexander the Great.
Speaker 1: Alexander the Great was a victim of fate, and he
Speaker 1: sighed there was naught to delight him when he brandished
Speaker 1: his sword and defiantly roared, and could not get a
Speaker 1: country to fight him. All the armies he'd chased, all
Speaker 1: the lands laid to waste, and he clamored for further diversions.
Speaker 1: And our history speaks of his grip on the Greeks
Speaker 1: and his hammerlock hold on the Persians, though the Gordian
Speaker 1: knot cut in two in a spot in his palace
Speaker 1: was labeled a relic. Though beausephilous stuffed gave him fame,
Speaker 1: he was huffed. He was grouchy, and grumpy was Alik.
Speaker 1: And the cause of his woe, he would have you
Speaker 1: to know, was the fact that he never was able
Speaker 1: to conduct a big scrap that a versatile chap of
Speaker 1: a war correspondent would cablestead of being quite glad. He
Speaker 1: would grow very sad when he told of the fellows
Speaker 1: who'd fought him, as he thought of the lack of
Speaker 1: the clicking Kodak in the hands of a man to
Speaker 1: snap shot him. We are told that he wept, and
Speaker 1: in dolefulness, crept through his palace. The reason is hinted
Speaker 1: there were not at that time magazines for a dime,
Speaker 1: and his articles could not be printed. Though it may
Speaker 1: seem unkind ere his life we've outlined, we must say
Speaker 1: in some ways he was hateful, and in truth we
Speaker 1: have heard he went back on his word and was
Speaker 1: not Alexander the grateful end of poem Brutus by wilbrid
Speaker 1: de nesbut read for LibriVox dot Org. Back in the
Speaker 1: time of Rome Sublime, there lived great Julius Caesar, who
Speaker 1: wore the crown with haughty frown and was a frosty geezer.
Speaker 1: Three times, they say, upon the way called lupercal they
Speaker 1: fetched it for him to wear. But then and there
Speaker 1: he said they should have stretched it. And we are
Speaker 1: told that Jewel was called and frigid as Alaska ambitious too.
Speaker 1: That would not do for Cassius and Caska. They told
Speaker 1: their friends it all depends on having things to suit us.
Speaker 1: We think that jewel is much too cool. Let us
Speaker 1: conspire with Brutus. They furthermore let out this roar. Shall
Speaker 1: Caesar further scoff Us? Next week, they say he'll have
Speaker 1: his way about the Rome post office with Dirk and
Speaker 1: sword in Toga's stored. You know those times they wore em.
Speaker 1: They made a mess of Julius one morning in the
Speaker 1: forum with it too bruti. J c grew mute. Some
Speaker 1: Clay mits at too brute tea. We mention it both
Speaker 1: whole and split, as is our boundin' duty. Marc Antony
Speaker 1: arose and he talks some We shall not quote it.
Speaker 1: We've understood twas not as good as when Bill Shakespeare
Speaker 1: wrote it. Then Brutus skipped lest he be nipped. And
Speaker 1: since his dissolution he's been accused and much abused in
Speaker 1: schools of elocution and a poem. This recording is in
Speaker 1: the public domain. Christopher Columbus by WILBERD. Nesbit read for
Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. When Christopher Columbus stood the egg upon
Speaker 1: its end, he solved a weighty problem that no one
Speaker 1: could comprehend. Perhaps it was the puzzle whose solution clearly
Speaker 1: showed the psychologic motives of the hen that crossed the road.
Speaker 1: Perhaps cold storage minstrels never might have heard of this.
Speaker 1: If it hadn't been for Chris Columbus packed his little
Speaker 1: grip and got upon the train and went to see
Speaker 1: that noble man, King Ferdinand of Spain. Result he found America. Oh,
Speaker 1: do not idly nod for if it hadn't been for this,
Speaker 1: we couldn't go abroad. Just think of all the travel
Speaker 1: and the voyages we'd miss if it hadn't been for
Speaker 1: Chris Columbus found America and won a lot of fame.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever thought to ask him how he knew its name.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever booked him for some lectures to declare ineloquent
Speaker 1: assertions how he knew the land was there? To day
Speaker 1: we might be savages, a knowing modern bliss if it
Speaker 1: hadn't been for Chris. He landed near Havana, and he said,
Speaker 1: it seems to me that some time in the future,
Speaker 1: little Cubi shall be free. His vision was prophetic. Far
Speaker 1: adown the future's track, he saw the dauntless Hobson and
Speaker 1: the sinking Merrimac. We might have still been Tyros in
Speaker 1: the Ethics of the Kiss. If it hadn't been for
Speaker 1: Chris to day, there are big cities and big buildings
Speaker 1: named for him, And yet he was so poor, or
Speaker 1: that once he thought he'd have to swim to find
Speaker 1: this wondrous country, for he was so badly broke. But
Speaker 1: Isabella nobly put her watch and ring in soak. Who knows,
Speaker 1: but Isabella never might have thought of this if it
Speaker 1: hadn't been for Chris and a poem. This recording is
Speaker 1: in the public domain. Diogenes by wilbrid D Nesbitt read
Speaker 1: for LibriVox dot org. Diogenes lived in a tub his
Speaker 1: fellow's analyzing. These words were carved upon his club first
Speaker 1: class philosophizing. If any question came his way involving people's morals,
Speaker 1: the things that he felt moved to say were sure
Speaker 1: to start some quarrels. In fact, his tub became a
Speaker 1: booth in which he dealt in wholesale truth. This world
Speaker 1: was but a fleeting show. He knew a lot about it.
Speaker 1: When he was told a thing was so, he then
Speaker 1: began to doubt it. He seldom left his narrow home,
Speaker 1: not even hard a Sunday. The only time that he
Speaker 1: would roam abroad was on a Monday. He had to
Speaker 1: roam then anyway, for that, you know, is washing day society,
Speaker 1: with all its sham, gave him a paroxysm. He always
Speaker 1: spoke in epigram and thought in aphorism. One day he
Speaker 1: took his lantern down and polished it and lit it.
Speaker 1: But first he frowned a peevish frown, and growled the
Speaker 1: wick don't fit it. And then with pessimistic scan he
Speaker 1: sought to find an honest man. Diogenes has long been dead.
Speaker 1: His search was not well heeded, for no historian has
Speaker 1: said if ever he succeeded. But there's this thought for
Speaker 1: you and me, it would not be quite pleasant if
Speaker 1: on that quest the sage should be with his fierce
Speaker 1: light at present, For if he were one may but
Speaker 1: think how much that light would make him blink and
Speaker 1: a poem. This recording is in the public domain. Euripides
Speaker 1: by Wilbur D. Nesbit read for LibriVox dot org. Euripides
Speaker 1: of ancient Greece excelled in things dramatic. He could sit
Speaker 1: down and write a piece mild tempered or emphatic. The
Speaker 1: dramatists of modern days, No matter how much they write,
Speaker 1: can never equal Rippy's ways, For he was quite a playwright.
Speaker 1: When Rippy took his pen in hand, the scenes would
Speaker 1: flow like magic. Though humor came at his command, his
Speaker 1: penchant was the tragic. He often wrote a little speech
Speaker 1: that was extremely pleasant. His jests were lasting all and
Speaker 1: each are still used at the present. Euripides was serious.
Speaker 1: He thought he had a mission. He said, by writing
Speaker 1: thus and thus, I'll elevate the Grecian. However, though he
Speaker 1: oft produced his works in manners purty, he never wrote
Speaker 1: a thing to boost the vogue of ten twenty thirty.
Speaker 1: In fact, his works could have been played in goodly
Speaker 1: style with no girls. He never used the soubrette maid
Speaker 1: or based his play on showgirls. And this for old Euripides.
Speaker 1: In none of all his dramas did he observe the
Speaker 1: modern pleas for chorus in Pajamas, Euripides was Athen's fitch
Speaker 1: for her Augustus Thomas. It's really hard to say just which,
Speaker 1: but he was full of promise. It's time that Rippy
Speaker 1: had his due and got his share of glory. For
Speaker 1: royalties he never knew, and no press agent story. End
Speaker 1: of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Franklin
Speaker 1: by Wilbur D. Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot Org. Fame
Speaker 1: twined a wreath on Franklin's brow many years ago, And
Speaker 1: yet how many people now the reason for it? No?
Speaker 1: Was it because he wisely wrote Poor Richard's Almanac. One
Speaker 1: of the few we paused to note which testimonials lack.
Speaker 1: Was Franklin's fame the sure result of his philosophy. No
Speaker 1: mental cure or psychic cult or great uplift had he
Speaker 1: was it because for years and years he was a diplomat.
Speaker 1: Why know what person ever hears about such things as that?
Speaker 1: Then what did wise Ben Franklin do that he should
Speaker 1: merit fame that each edition of Who's Who in bold
Speaker 1: type puts his name. He flew his kite, he had
Speaker 1: the key his front door to unlock, like countless other men.
Speaker 1: Then he acquired a sudden shock. The trolley cars and
Speaker 1: dynamos and incandescent light and buzzing fan with coolness blows
Speaker 1: all date from Franklin's kite. But what an oversight of fame?
Speaker 1: Ben Franklin's wife twas she that thoughtful, gentle, kindly dame
Speaker 1: who let him have the key end a poem. This
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Galilei Galileo by Wilbur D.
Speaker 1: Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot org. Galilei Galileo was an
Speaker 1: early man of science. He was happy when inventing or
Speaker 1: discussing an appliance. Pendulums he found by study were precise
Speaker 1: in every wobble, showing how old father Time went in
Speaker 1: his never ending hobble, Galilei Galileo the thermometer, invented and
Speaker 1: informed the gaping public what its figures represented. Oh, you foolish, Galileo,
Speaker 1: cried the public. You shall rue it. Why get up
Speaker 1: a thing to tell us we are hot? We always
Speaker 1: knew it. Galilei Galileo took a tube and got some
Speaker 1: lenses and discovered things that made him rather disbelieve his senses.
Speaker 1: He would point his telescope up to the sky and
Speaker 1: then heat scannet, then go into breakfast, smiling for he'd
Speaker 1: found another planet. Galilei Galileo viewed the luminary solar that's
Speaker 1: the Sun, and found it spotted on the belt and
Speaker 1: region's polar But he didn't figure out that when the
Speaker 1: sun was thickly freckled. Then the world with lights and
Speaker 1: fusses was continually speckled. Galilei Galileo wrote a thing and
Speaker 1: then denounced it. But we often read his name and
Speaker 1: wonder how the man pronounced it. Maybe when he tried to,
Speaker 1: he was all at sixes and at sevens, which is
Speaker 1: why he turned his studies to the dim and distant heavens.
Speaker 1: Galilei Galileo. What a musical cognomen. Possibly some bright librettist
Speaker 1: will find in this name an omen that presages fortune
Speaker 1: for him, and the stage will pay what we owe
Speaker 1: to that honest old star gazer Galilei Galileo. And a poem.
Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain. Hippocrates by wilbrid
Speaker 1: Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot Org. Hippocrates was father to
Speaker 1: an awful lot of bother Fortis claimed that as to medicine,
Speaker 1: he was the pioneer, that but for him, the surgeon
Speaker 1: or the latter day chirurgion might never have been tinkering
Speaker 1: the human running gear. Hippocrates, to diploma, never threw him
Speaker 1: into coma in his efforts to decipher what its classic
Speaker 1: diction said, for when he was seeking practice long ago.
Speaker 1: The simple fact is that the Latin tongue was common
Speaker 1: and was very far from dead. He often growled dad
Speaker 1: gummet when he felt the glossy summit of his head,
Speaker 1: which was as bald as any shiny billiard ball. But
Speaker 1: old hip had to endure it, for he knew he
Speaker 1: couldn't cure it, and that once his hair was falling,
Speaker 1: why he had to let it fall. He was written
Speaker 1: up by Plato, who was quite a hot potato when
Speaker 1: it came to mental effort, for you know, he reasoned well.
Speaker 1: Plato praised his diagnosis, called him healing's patient Moses, and
Speaker 1: though facts were hard to gather, found a goodly lot
Speaker 1: to tell. Hippocrates had knowledge. Though he didn't go to college.
Speaker 1: He could speak of all diseases that he knew in
Speaker 1: Latin terms. Still twas only second nature to affect that nomenclature.
Speaker 1: But he never even thought of much less heard of
Speaker 1: any germs Streptococcus or Bacillus such as get in us
Speaker 1: and kill us to Hippocrates, were always undiscovered and unknown.
Speaker 1: And the grim appendicitis, which to day is sure to
Speaker 1: fright us, was by doctor hipp considered but a stomach
Speaker 1: achic grown. Were he living at this moment, would the
Speaker 1: world be in a foeman. Would physicians of the present
Speaker 1: take him out to see the town from New Jersey
Speaker 1: clear to Joppa. Not a one would call him Papa,
Speaker 1: and his theories and treatments would be greeted with a frown.
Speaker 1: We must say that he was clever, and that in
Speaker 1: one way, however, he resembled all the others who are
Speaker 1: treating human hills. He was constantly complaining that, in spite
Speaker 1: of all his training, he could never cure his page
Speaker 1: of the trait of dodging bills and a poem. This
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Iago by WILBERD Nesbitt,
Speaker 1: read for LibriVox dot Org. Iago as a villain was
Speaker 1: a master of his craft, and yet he did not
Speaker 1: work at all as modern villains do. No one can
Speaker 1: rise and say that bold Iago hoarsely left when someone
Speaker 1: demonstrated that his stories were untrue. He did not swagger
Speaker 1: on the stage in evening clothes and mutter, nor bite
Speaker 1: his finger nails in baffled anger. Now and then he
Speaker 1: never turned and left the stage with nothing else to
Speaker 1: utter except Aha, proud beauty, I shall not be foiled again.
Speaker 1: Iogo did not hover near the old deserted mill to
Speaker 1: hurl the daring hero in the waters of the race.
Speaker 1: He never frowned and ground his teeth and burned the
Speaker 1: hidden will or kidnapped any children. Just to complicate the case.
Speaker 1: Iago was not like the villains that we have at present.
Speaker 1: He didn't even try to scowl or to look like
Speaker 1: the part. Iago as a villain was continually pleasant and
Speaker 1: never gave the notion that he had a stony heart.
Speaker 1: Othello was his victim, and Iago's work was good. But
Speaker 1: still Iago doesn't seem to get the proper praise Othello
Speaker 1: as the hero, as all proper heroes should, stood calmly
Speaker 1: in the spotlight and corralled the wreathing bays. Since then,
Speaker 1: there is no villain of the art of good Iago.
Speaker 1: At least, we haven't seen an actor who approached him yet.
Speaker 1: The villains we have noticed from Galveston to Chicago have
Speaker 1: hist through black mustaches and have smoked the cigarette end
Speaker 1: a poem. This recording is in the public domain. Johnson
Speaker 1: by WILBERD. Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot org. Oh Rare
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, you who wrote to Celia presegure of that
Speaker 1: later note Bedelia to you, rare Ben our hat we
Speaker 1: raise for all your poems and your plays. You knew forsooth.
Speaker 1: If Shakespeare's work was taken like copies by a scrawling
Speaker 1: clerk from Bacon, you would have known of that flimflam
Speaker 1: without a hidden cryptogram. Or rare Ben Johnson. With your pen,
Speaker 1: you labored, and with brave lords and gentlemen you neighbored.
Speaker 1: You never turned out feeble farce in sentences that would
Speaker 1: not parse to managers. You ne'er were made to grovel
Speaker 1: and ben You never called a spade a shovel. Where
Speaker 1: you wrote sentences risk gay. We now have costumes very gay, oh,
Speaker 1: rare Ben Jonson. When you asked that lady to drink
Speaker 1: her name, you never messed as Sadie, nor did you
Speaker 1: call her creole bell or half the song names we
Speaker 1: might tell drink to me only with thine eyes. Your
Speaker 1: sighing showed you no steigns of any size were buying.
Speaker 1: But from the way the stanzas run you, rare Ben Jonson,
Speaker 1: were well done. End of poem. This recording is in
Speaker 1: the public domain. Kid by Wilbride Nesbit read for LibriVox
Speaker 1: dot org. Oh. William Kidd was a pirate bold yo ho,
Speaker 1: my lads, yo ho. He sailed the seas in search
Speaker 1: of gold. Yo ho, my lads, yo ho. He sailed
Speaker 1: on both sides of the line, the skull and bones.
Speaker 1: He made his sign where he found wealth, he said,
Speaker 1: that's mine. Three centuries ago. Oh, William Kidd was a
Speaker 1: pirate bad three centuries ago, a very dark repute he had,
Speaker 1: Yo ho, my lads, yo ho. He'd board a ship
Speaker 1: and take its hoard, then walk the plank. He fiercely roared,
Speaker 1: the ship is all that I can board. Yo ho,
Speaker 1: my lads, yo ho. Oh. William Kidd was a pirate
Speaker 1: great yo ho, my lads. You oh ho, he said,
Speaker 1: I'll rob you while you wait. Three centuries ago. He
Speaker 1: had a long low rakish craft with long toms both
Speaker 1: before and aft, and wickedly and loud he left, Yo ho,
Speaker 1: my lads, yo ho. Oh. William Kidd was a pirate
Speaker 1: big yo ho, my lads, yo ho. He feared no
Speaker 1: frigate bark or brig Yo ho, my lads, yo ho.
Speaker 1: And while his grim flag flapped and tossed above the ship,
Speaker 1: that bill kid bust his victims knew just how they
Speaker 1: lost three centuries ago. Oh, William Kidd was a pirate
Speaker 1: then three centuries ago. If he should come to life again,
Speaker 1: Yo ho, my lads, Yo ho, The chances are that
Speaker 1: he would just go out and organizes a trust. He
Speaker 1: knew the way to raise the dust three centuries ago
Speaker 1: and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Lucullus by Wilbur D. Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot Org.
Speaker 1: Lucullus was a fighter for a portion of his life.
Speaker 1: He won the Bay and Laurel by his prowess in
Speaker 1: the strife. He came back home a hero, and no doubt,
Speaker 1: just as today. They named a cocktail for him. Ere
Speaker 1: they looked the other way. But when Lucullus noticed he
Speaker 1: was losing grips on fame, he struck a happy notion
Speaker 1: to perpetuate his name. He took to giving dinners in
Speaker 1: a palace he had built. Tis said that lots was
Speaker 1: eaten and a sea of wine was spilt. That guests
Speaker 1: might order anything in dishes, old or new, and get
Speaker 1: the very rarest, and a second order too quick lunches
Speaker 1: or coarse dinners. Anything a man could wish in the
Speaker 1: line of drinks or dainties. Yet he was no nuvo riche.
Speaker 1: Lucullus won great battles, victories that he might boast, yet
Speaker 1: to day we recollect him merely as a lavish host.
Speaker 1: It is said that once he ordered quite the richest
Speaker 1: feast prepared, but no guests came to enjoy it, and
Speaker 1: the busy chef was scared. Is nobody here for dinner?
Speaker 1: Asked the flustered, pestered chef. I am dining with Lucullis,
Speaker 1: roared Lucullus, Are you deaf? But we think that one
Speaker 1: great reason for his never dying fame, for the pure,
Speaker 1: unfading luster of his dinner eating name, is that though
Speaker 1: Lucullus feasted at a very great expense and sat down
Speaker 1: to simple breakfasts where the health foods were immense, he
Speaker 1: was gracious to his fellows, was considerate of each, and
Speaker 1: he never put his chestnuts in an after dinner speech
Speaker 1: and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Methuselah by Wilbur D. Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 1: Methuselah lived long ago. He was the old inhabitant those
Speaker 1: times but never had a show. His opportunities were scant.
Speaker 1: Although he lived nine centuries and threescore years and nine beside,
Speaker 1: the times he saw were not like these. A chance
Speaker 1: to spread he was denied. He could not seek the
Speaker 1: corner's store and lunch on crackers, cheese and prunes, and
Speaker 1: there display his helpful lore through mornings and through afternoons.
Speaker 1: He could not talk about the days when folks first
Speaker 1: saw the telegraph or telephone, how their amaze made better
Speaker 1: posted people laugh. He could not take the stranger out
Speaker 1: to some tall building, then say here and for a
Speaker 1: good ways hereabout I used to shoot the bear and deer.
Speaker 1: Sky scrapers were an unknown thing excepting Babel in his land,
Speaker 1: and Babel only served to bring speech that he could
Speaker 1: not understand. Perhaps this Babel item is anachronistic. As to that,
Speaker 1: we'll say one pleasant thing was his He never had
Speaker 1: to rent a flat. Another joy in his career was this.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever told Methuselah the stated year when he should
Speaker 1: be considered old at thirty five. He was not barred
Speaker 1: from working if he wanted to. He did not need
Speaker 1: a union card. His daily labors to pursue, and when
Speaker 1: his hair was snowy white and age. His manly form
Speaker 1: had bent. Nobody called him young and bright and ran
Speaker 1: him for vice president and a poem. This recording is
Speaker 1: in the public domain. Newton by Wilberd D. Nesbitt, read
Speaker 1: for LibriVox dot org. Now Newton in the orchard felt
Speaker 1: an apple strike his head. Tis gravity, tis gravity. Excitedly,
Speaker 1: he said, had you or I been sitting there a
Speaker 1: thinking of this earth as Newton was, and wondering about
Speaker 1: its size and girth, and just when we were figuring
Speaker 1: a long and heavy sum, the apple hit us on
Speaker 1: the mind and made our bolt spot numb. We say,
Speaker 1: had you or I been there as Newton was that day,
Speaker 1: would there have been much gravity in what we had
Speaker 1: to say? This shows how great it is to have
Speaker 1: a scientific mind, an intellect that reaches out to see
Speaker 1: what it may find. Perchance, an ordinary man in such
Speaker 1: a circumstance would have got up and rubbed his head
Speaker 1: and done a little dance and muttered things that gentle
Speaker 1: folks should scarcely ever state and not concede. The apple
Speaker 1: simply had to gravitate again. We say, if Newton's place
Speaker 1: was held by you or I instead of gravity, we
Speaker 1: might have thought of apple pie. You see, again, we
Speaker 1: make the point that scientific minds discover facts which any
Speaker 1: brain that's common never finds. You see, when Newton felt
Speaker 1: the jolt, his science did not stop. He simply meditated
Speaker 1: on what made the apple drop. And while in cogitation,
Speaker 1: deep beneath the tree he lay, he mused, it's odd
Speaker 1: that apple's never drop the other way. Once more, if
Speaker 1: you or I had been beneath the apple tree, we
Speaker 1: might have howled, who was it through that apple? And
Speaker 1: hit me. To finish this, However, with becoming gravity, we'll
Speaker 1: state that Newton lingered there beneath the apple tree with
Speaker 1: logarithmic tables. He discovered that the speed at which the
Speaker 1: apple fell was based on whence it fell. Indeed, had
Speaker 1: it dropped from the moon, we'll say it would have
Speaker 1: grown so hot that it would have been melted up
Speaker 1: before to Earth it got again. And finally, had Yuorai
Speaker 1: held Newton's seat, we should like heeded, take the apple
Speaker 1: up and start to eat and a poem. This recording
Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Omar by Wilbur D. Nesbitt
Speaker 1: read for LibriVox dot org old Omar in a tent
Speaker 1: he had to live, yet gave to verse such time
Speaker 1: as he could give whereat. The critics rose and hurled
Speaker 1: at him, the stuff you write is only tentative. Yet
Speaker 1: Chiam never worried over that he kept his troubles underneath
Speaker 1: his hat, except such times as when he worked them
Speaker 1: up into an apt and pleasing Rubaiyat. Fitzgerald, the translator
Speaker 1: took his pen and made a flowing version yes, and
Speaker 1: then to show that he could keep it up awhile
Speaker 1: translated all the rubay it again. Now? Is there any
Speaker 1: home that don't reveal o Kaiyam's volume resting by Lucille,
Speaker 1: bound in limp leather, with each edge uncut, to show
Speaker 1: the literary sense we feel? And is there any town
Speaker 1: from York to Butte wherein some maiden fair don't elocute
Speaker 1: through Chiam's easy speaking poetry with musical accompaniment to suit
Speaker 1: i verily, And where the parodist who does not seek
Speaker 1: threw all upon his list and come back at the
Speaker 1: last two Cayams work each time to find new chances
Speaker 1: he has missed. A good cigar, a ready fountain pen,
Speaker 1: or a typewriter one can use. And then a book
Speaker 1: of omar. Whence to draw the thought, oh parodies, one
Speaker 1: will turn out again some black initial letters here and there.
Speaker 1: Perchance he also had e Hubbard hair. But anyhow, old
Speaker 1: Chiam set a task to fill all his successors with
Speaker 1: despair and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Peeps by Wilbur D. Nesbit, read for LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 1: When he was working on the diary that bears his
Speaker 1: name in those far days, now dead and gone, he
Speaker 1: never dreamed about his fame. Yet now, from time to
Speaker 1: time it is heard from most everybody's lips that magic,
Speaker 1: mellow name of his, the soft and pleasing name of Pips. Again,
Speaker 1: when reading what he wrote, we live anew that ancient time.
Speaker 1: The book is one we often quote. The cheap editions
Speaker 1: are a dime. We mark his course through dingy streets
Speaker 1: and clime with him, the palace steps in fancy, all
Speaker 1: of those one meets, remark, why there goes mister Pips.
Speaker 1: He always had a seeing eye and hearing ear, and
Speaker 1: what he saw and what he heard he fain would
Speaker 1: try to set down, but evade the law. And that
Speaker 1: is why in cipher Dark the tale originally creeps twas
Speaker 1: thus also he made his mark, this man of truth
Speaker 1: and trouble Peeps. Throughout his life he had his griefs
Speaker 1: and also had a little fun. He kept his eye
Speaker 1: upon his chiefs and tells the things they might have
Speaker 1: done if they had not done what they did. Ah,
Speaker 1: if each person now should keep his own diary and
Speaker 1: raise the lid, as did this honest Samuel Peeps. And
Speaker 1: so you see he made a name whereon the critics
Speaker 1: sometimes pounce it hardly ever sounds the same. It is
Speaker 1: so easy to pronounce. But still there is an hour
Speaker 1: or so of pleasure for the man who dips into
Speaker 1: his book and comes to know good Samuel Peeps or
Speaker 1: Pips or pips and a poem. The recordings in the
Speaker 1: public domain Quintilian by Wilbur D. Nesbitt read for LibriVox
Speaker 1: dot org Quintilian years and years ago. Was it on
Speaker 1: oratory Demosthenes and Cicero. He studied Connemora. He ran an
Speaker 1: elocution school and taught the Roman lispers, the reason and
Speaker 1: the rote and rule for requesting father, dear father, to
Speaker 1: come home with me now in most pathetic whispers. Twas
Speaker 1: he who showed that thus and thus one should appear
Speaker 1: when stating the last remarks of Spartacus unceasing gladiating perchance
Speaker 1: the word we just have used escaped your dictionary. We
Speaker 1: mean when Spartacus refused to be butchered, to make a
Speaker 1: Roman holiday exceedingly exciting and otherwise gladsome. And Mary Quintillion's
Speaker 1: book on How to Speak is classic at this moment.
Speaker 1: It tells the speaker when to shriek and when his
Speaker 1: rage to foment. The boy who, on Commencement day cites
Speaker 1: Patrick Henry's speeches must do so in Quintillion's way. When
Speaker 1: a single order of liberty with a supplemental second choice
Speaker 1: of death, he beseeches the actor who would thrill the
Speaker 1: crowd a blood and marrow freezer by handing out, in
Speaker 1: accents proud marc antony on Caesar must heed the rules
Speaker 1: set down by quint and so must he who rises
Speaker 1: to heights of glowing fame by dint of the justly famous,
Speaker 1: to be or not to be center of the stage,
Speaker 1: to spotlight sizzling. When he, as Hamlet, soliloquises Quintillion, we
Speaker 1: are fain to say was it an oratory? And even
Speaker 1: in this later day receives his share of glory, except
Speaker 1: when elocutionists her peace and comfort mangle by showing how
Speaker 1: fair Bessie's wrists were strained and bruised while swinging around
Speaker 1: in the belfry the time she said the curfew should
Speaker 1: not jangle. End a poem. This recording is in the
Speaker 1: public domain. Raleigh by Wilbur D. Nesbitt read for LibriVox
Speaker 1: dot Org. Sir Walter Raleigh was a man of excellent deportment.
Speaker 1: He could advise a king or khan what going into courtmen.
Speaker 1: When Spencer wrote his Fairy Queen, Sir Walter Raleigh said,
Speaker 1: it betrayed a whit both sharp and clean. We wonder
Speaker 1: if he read it. Good Queen Elizabeth one day was out,
Speaker 1: perhaps for shopping, and Raleigh chanced along the way where she,
Speaker 1: in wrath was stopping. How can I get across that mud,
Speaker 1: she asked, And in the muddle, Sir Walter showed his
Speaker 1: gentle blood. His cloak soon bridged the puddle. A smile
Speaker 1: replaced the good Queen's frown. She paused there for a
Speaker 1: minute to set more straight the royal crown. It had
Speaker 1: no hat pin in it, And then she murmured lo
Speaker 1: to Walt sir, you shall see my tailor, he answered,
Speaker 1: if I'm worth my salt, good Queen make me a sailor.
Speaker 1: And so good Queen Elizabeth gave him a high position.
Speaker 1: He drew his pay like drawing breath, and led an
Speaker 1: expedition that sailed across the raging seas for gold and
Speaker 1: slaves and cocoa, and battled with the biting breeze along
Speaker 1: the orinoco alas it may have been the cloak that
Speaker 1: was in mire imbedded, or possibly some words he spoke
Speaker 1: that made him be beheaded. But let us learn this
Speaker 1: lesson here from poor Sir Walter Raleigh. The favor of
Speaker 1: the Great Tis Queer Oft has a grim finale and
Speaker 1: a poem. This recording is in the public domain. Shakespeare
Speaker 1: by wilbrid Nesbitt read for LibriVox dot org. Shakespeare, as
Speaker 1: all of us have read, once asked what's in a name?
Speaker 1: An alias for the rose? He said, would make it
Speaker 1: smell the same. But Shakespeare was so frivolous. Excuse us
Speaker 1: if we say that it has always seemed to us.
Speaker 1: His work was mostly play as Shakspear Shakespear Shakespeare too.
Speaker 1: His signature is found his autographs are much too few
Speaker 1: to be passed. All around. This shows the cumulative worth
Speaker 1: of honest, solid fame. The bidders come from all the
Speaker 1: earth to buy his misspelled name. He dramatized the thrilling
Speaker 1: scene where Caesar met his end, where Kaska hungry, lank
Speaker 1: and lean, and Brutus, Caesar's friend, stabbed swiftly with their
Speaker 1: daggers bright when Julius came in reach. Then Antony, thrilled
Speaker 1: at the sight, arose and made a speech. No chorus
Speaker 1: girls were in his shows. In them, no social queens
Speaker 1: were given princely wage to pose and dignify the scenes.
Speaker 1: But there be those who say there are odd facts
Speaker 1: that can't be passed. For instance, oft we see a
Speaker 1: star with ciphers in the cast, and this leads many
Speaker 1: to declare that Bacon wrote the shows. A cryptic secret
Speaker 1: hidden there, they say they will disclose. It may be
Speaker 1: that each drama hoards a Bacon cryptogram, for often proud
Speaker 1: upon the boards their struts and strides, a ham and
Speaker 1: a poem. This recording is in the public domain. Tell
Speaker 1: by Wilbur D. Nesbitt, read for LibriVox dot org. The
Speaker 1: tale of Tell is simply told. He would not heed
Speaker 1: the tyrant, but began brave and bluffly bold. He spurn'd
Speaker 1: the cold aspirant. He simply came out plain and flat,
Speaker 1: and his own rights defended. He would not bow to
Speaker 1: Gessler's hat. Upon the poll suspended. Then Gessler came upon
Speaker 1: the scene and ordered Tell to knuckle. Tell fixed him
Speaker 1: with his glances keen, and gave a scornful chuckle. Then
Speaker 1: Gessler frowned and knit his brows a most portentous omen,
Speaker 1: risk your boy's life, or make those boughs we've lost
Speaker 1: the boy's cognomen. Tell smiled and got his trusty bow,
Speaker 1: likewise his trusty arrow. Now, William Tell, as you should know,
Speaker 1: could wing the fleeting sparrow, or he could truly shoot
Speaker 1: the shoe. So Gessler said, Now grapple with this one
Speaker 1: fact for you, the boots unless you cleave the apple,
Speaker 1: did Tell succeed in your school books? The tale is
Speaker 1: very well told. And Gessler looked some haughty looks when
Speaker 1: he heard what Bill Tell told? What did you hide
Speaker 1: this arrow for, asked Gessler of the wizard. I meant
Speaker 1: to split that apple war I'd have to harm your gizzard.
Speaker 1: That's all, except it shall endure as acted by Salvini,
Speaker 1: but was it and the overture composed by one Rossini
Speaker 1: shall prove that tell is not a myth concocted to
Speaker 1: deceive us. We've seen the bow he did it with.
Speaker 1: We hope you will believe us. And a poem Accordings
Speaker 1: in the public domain Ulysses by Wilbert D. Nesbitt read
Speaker 1: for LibriVox dot org. Unusually popular with mythologic misses, and
Speaker 1: rather wont to wonder when he should have stayed at home.
Speaker 1: We find as why our hero, the redoubtable Ulysses, went
Speaker 1: rambling into trouble when he thought that he would roam Penelope,
Speaker 1: good lady left behind in their apartment, had trouble in
Speaker 1: her efforts to get cash to pay the rent. Telemachus,
Speaker 1: their scion, knew not then what being smart meant. He
Speaker 1: should have helped his mamma, but he never earned assent. Ulysses,
Speaker 1: in the meantime, found the land of the Cyclopes and
Speaker 1: came within an ace of being made into a stew.
Speaker 1: He drugged old Polyphemus, thence cadaddled with I hope he's
Speaker 1: laid up with indigestion, and went onward with his crew.
Speaker 1: From there he ambled farther till he reached the realm
Speaker 1: of Circe. We translate rather freely from the Odyssean log.
Speaker 1: She proved to be a lady with no tenderness or mercy.
Speaker 1: Each comrade of Ulysses, for her sport, was made a hog.
Speaker 1: He got away, however, and he steered his trusty ship
Speaker 1: so that it would take him quickly where more trouble
Speaker 1: might be found. He grounded on the island of the
Speaker 1: nymph they called Calypso, and dallied in her presence till
Speaker 1: eight years had rolled around Homesickness must have struck him
Speaker 1: not so many years. Thereafter, he sighed, I think the
Speaker 1: time has come for me to pull my freight. The
Speaker 1: listeners had trouble when they tried to hold their laughter
Speaker 1: at thinking of how long it was before he knew
Speaker 1: twas late Penelope fond woman had been wooed by many suitors.
Speaker 1: To each and every one of them, she firmly whispered no. Ulysses,
Speaker 1: on appearing, changed the suitors into scooters. He strode into
Speaker 1: the parlor and said, take your hats and go. Old
Speaker 1: Homer tells us fully how Penelope received him, and how
Speaker 1: to give her pleasure. All these stories he would weave.
Speaker 1: He also tells us solemnly Penelope believed him that portion
Speaker 1: of the odyssey we never can believe, and a poem.
Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain. Villon by Wilbride,
Speaker 1: but read for LibriVox dot org. Villon, barred of the
Speaker 1: early times, familiarly called Francois. Twas he who juggled so
Speaker 1: with rhymes that we regard him now with awe. His
Speaker 1: pegasus knew g from haw. He drove with all a
Speaker 1: jockey's art, and ran each race without a flaw. Villon
Speaker 1: gave these ballads their start. Must he flee to some
Speaker 1: safer climes, did hunger at his vitals gnaw? Or was
Speaker 1: he jailed for varied crimes? In that he inspiration saw
Speaker 1: and pen held in a grimy paw, would let his
Speaker 1: flashing fancy dart oft times in measures rather raw. Villon
Speaker 1: gave these ballads their start. His purse was ever bare
Speaker 1: of dimes. He often felt the grip of law. Yet
Speaker 1: he the jolliest of mimes, who slept most nights upon
Speaker 1: the straw and wakened to the raucous caw of ravens
Speaker 1: never shirked his part. He never stopped at fate to jaw.
Speaker 1: Villon gave these ballads their start, Lenvoy princess, the morals
Speaker 1: here to draw when poets go into the mart, the
Speaker 1: editors say coldly. Shaw Villon gave these ballads their start
Speaker 1: and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: What by wilbrid Nesbit read for LibriVox dot org. When
Speaker 1: what was but a little boy, his papa's pride, his
Speaker 1: mama's joy, He sat beside the kitchen fire, the bubbling
Speaker 1: teapot to admire, And as he watched the hissing steam,
Speaker 1: he straightway then began to dream of what the vapor
Speaker 1: hot could do, if how to use it he but knew.
Speaker 1: Eventually he devised a neat invention which surprised the people
Speaker 1: of that early day. He made an engine anyway, this
Speaker 1: poor contrivance he improv'd until by it great loads were
Speaker 1: moved and horses were displaced by rails, while side wheels
Speaker 1: took the place of sails. Observe my child, how one
Speaker 1: small thing a wond'rous lot of change will bring. Because
Speaker 1: wise little Jimmy WoT could turn to some account his thought,
Speaker 1: to day the trains go whizzing through the land, and
Speaker 1: o'er the ocean blue, the mighty ships scoot night and
Speaker 1: day from here to countries far away. Great thanks are
Speaker 1: due to this James Watt, also to his mama's teapot,
Speaker 1: by porters who on every trip hold up the tourist
Speaker 1: for a tip. And also by that mighty mass of
Speaker 1: folks who travel on a pass, and by the ones
Speaker 1: who rake in rocks through squeezes, that they work in stocks.
Speaker 1: But that it would like punning seem we'd say, what
Speaker 1: has the world's esteem? But since we've said it that way,
Speaker 1: now we'll let the pun go anyhow. But somehow, when
Speaker 1: we chanced to stop beside some busy boiler shop, we
Speaker 1: cannot say that peace was brought to all of us
Speaker 1: by Jimmy Watt and a poem. This recording is in
Speaker 1: the public domain. Zen Tippy by WILBERD Nesbit read for
Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Zen Tippy was the lady who was
Speaker 1: wed to Socrates, and their life was not a grand
Speaker 1: sweet song twas a study, just a study done in
Speaker 1: all the minor keys with the gloomy measures turned on
Speaker 1: strong when old Socrates was busy at the office. She
Speaker 1: would wait till he ambled in at three a m.
Speaker 1: And she met him in the moonlight TwixT the doorway
Speaker 1: and the gate. Then the neighbors heard a lot from them.
Speaker 1: But Socrates, he didn't mind when she pulled out his hair,
Speaker 1: when she would box his ears for him. He didn't
Speaker 1: seem to care. In a manner bland and wise. He
Speaker 1: would then philosophize on the whiness of the witness of
Speaker 1: the neither here nor there. Zantippe did the cooking, and
Speaker 1: we have to tell the truth. Indigestion quickly seized on him,
Speaker 1: and in one of her biscuits on a time he
Speaker 1: broke a tooth. Yet he smiled across at wifey grimm
Speaker 1: when she tried her hand at pastry. Was the only
Speaker 1: time he spoke, and of course he had to make
Speaker 1: a break. Twas perhaps the first appearance of the everlasting
Speaker 1: joke on the pies that mother used to make. Four Socrates.
Speaker 1: He never even ducked his head or dodged, but merely
Speaker 1: rubbed the spot whereon the flying platter lodged. Then he murmured, Zantie, dear,
Speaker 1: you have made a problem clear then he went to
Speaker 1: get the swelling on his cranium massaged. Zantippe wouldn't let
Speaker 1: him smoke at all about the play, and she wouldn't
Speaker 1: let him take a drink. He never learned the value
Speaker 1: of a two spot or a niece. Foremost all that
Speaker 1: he could do was think. Thus, you see that, though
Speaker 1: zen Tippy has been fiercely criticized, yet she really made
Speaker 1: her husband's fame for twas while she bussed him sorely
Speaker 1: that the great man analyzed all the subjects that have
Speaker 1: made his name, Zantippy made him famous. But for her
Speaker 1: the man had been forgotten, like the others of the
Speaker 1: time that he lived in. Oh my darling, such a help.
Speaker 1: He most gratefully would yelp when she gave him an
Speaker 1: impression with a busy rolling pin and a poem. This
Speaker 1: recordings in the public domain. Eve Toe by wilbrid Nesbit
Speaker 1: read for LibriVox dot org. There was a king of
Speaker 1: eve Toe, and easy was his head, serene, his rest
Speaker 1: naught would suggest the words so often said that crowned
Speaker 1: heads are not peaceful. He never wore a frown. He
Speaker 1: laughed away the night and day with gaily tilted crown
Speaker 1: the jester of his palace was never forced to work.
Speaker 1: He never had to make things glad with oily smile
Speaker 1: and smirk. This jolly king of eve Toe had no
Speaker 1: need of his fool. He made his own jests from
Speaker 1: the throne, and pleasure was his rule. He never had
Speaker 1: a quarrel with any other king. Why should we fight,
Speaker 1: he asked, Delight is such an easy thing. He told
Speaker 1: no one his troubles. In truth, he reigned so well
Speaker 1: no one could know in fair eve Toe of troubles
Speaker 1: fit to tell. The little realm of eve Toe, a
Speaker 1: wee spot on the map, has made a name secure
Speaker 1: in fame because of this rare chap who put his
Speaker 1: crown on sidewise and lolled upon his throne with scepter
Speaker 1: set so that it met his active funny bone. He
Speaker 1: was to war a stranger. His kingdom had no debt.
Speaker 1: Each of his laws possess'd a clause that barred out
Speaker 1: care and fret. Tis told that when expiring, he wasted
Speaker 1: his last breath in one long laugh in life's behalf,
Speaker 1: and thus went to his death. There was a king
Speaker 1: of eve Toe. There are such kings to day. They
Speaker 1: never sigh for things gone by, but laugh along the way.
Speaker 1: So crown yourself with laughter. Put pleasure on the throne,
Speaker 1: and you'll possess in happiness an eve toe of your
Speaker 1: own and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Zenobia by wilber D. Nesbitt, read for LibriVox dot Org.
Speaker 1: Zenobia was empress of the people of Palmyra. She tried
Speaker 1: to boss the army when she should have stayed at home. Aurelian,
Speaker 1: the soldier, led a sort of a hugyra of armies
Speaker 1: up to fight her. They came all the way from Rome.
Speaker 1: Full soon he was pursuing them with spears and daggers,
Speaker 1: shewing them. At last he sent them to defeat and
Speaker 1: caught the doughty queen. He captured her regretfully, he said,
Speaker 1: But she said fretfully that she considered him a spiteful
Speaker 1: thing and very very mean. He led her back a captive,
Speaker 1: with her hands in jeweled fetters, though she cast on
Speaker 1: Aurelian a look of proud disdain. Her manacles were carved
Speaker 1: and chased and decked by jewel setters, And to securely
Speaker 1: hold her he had made a golden chain. There is
Speaker 1: a lot of mystery connected with all history. Zenobia, they
Speaker 1: tell us, didn't want to go to jail, But think
Speaker 1: of such a fate as that. Why such a jeweled
Speaker 1: weight as that was better than to pawn your clothes
Speaker 1: and be released on bail. Zenobia was taken to the
Speaker 1: royal Roman Palace, and there the charming prisoner we read
Speaker 1: was quite the rage. Had she lived in this time
Speaker 1: of ours, we say this without malice, she might have
Speaker 1: made a lasting hit by going on the stage. Aurelian
Speaker 1: was nice to her. He hinted more than twice to
Speaker 1: her that he was getting pretty tired of kinging it alone.
Speaker 1: You see, she might have captured him already. She enraptured
Speaker 1: him and had that handcuffed jewelry to wear upon the throne.
Speaker 1: But no, Zenobia was like most any other lady. They've
Speaker 1: been the same since Mother Eve. They have the same
Speaker 1: way still, No matter if it's Princess may or Suzie
Speaker 1: sal or Sadie, no lady will consent to be convinced
Speaker 1: against her will. At last, they taught her civilly, you'll
Speaker 1: have to live in Tivoli, which may or may not
Speaker 1: be the way to speak that city's name. She answered
Speaker 1: very prettily, I'll love to live in Italy, and there
Speaker 1: she stayed until she was an old, forgotten dame. End
Speaker 1: of poem. This recording is in the public domain and
Speaker 1: of an Alphabet of History by wilbred D Nesbit