Dolph Heyliger

by Washington Irving

She lived in a small house, in a small street, called Garden Street, very probably from a garden which may have flourished there some time or other. As her necessities every year grew greater, and the talk of the public about doing “something for her” grew less, she had to cast about for some mode of doing something for herself, by way of helping out her slender means, and maintaining her independence, of which she was somewhat tenacious.

        Living in a mercantile town, she had caught something of the spirit, and determined to venture a little in the great lottery of commerce. On a sudden, therefore, to the great surprise of the street, there appeared at her window a grand array of gingerbread kings and queens, with their arms stuck akimbo, after the invariable royal manner. There were also several broken tumblers, some filled with sugarplums, some with marbles; there were, moreover, cakes of various kinds, and barley-sugar, and Holland dolls, and wooden horses, with here and there gilt-covered picture-books, and now and then a skein of thread, or a dangling pound of candles. At the door of the house sat the good old dame's cat, a decent demure-looking personage, who seemed to scan everybody that passed, to criticize their dress, and now and then to stretch her neck and to look out with sudden curiosity, to see what was going on at the other end of the street; but if by chance any idle vagabond dog came by, and offered to be uncivil—hoity-toity!—how she would bristle up, and growl, and spit, and strike out her paws! she was as indignant as ever was an an­cient and ugly spinster on the approach of some graceless profligate.

        But though the good woman had to come down to those humble means of subsistence, yet she still kept up a feeling of family pride, being descended from the Vanderspiegels, of Amster­dam; and she had the family arms painted and framed, and hung over the mantelpiece. She was, in truth, much respected by all the poorer people of the place; her house was quite a resort of the old wives of the neighbourhood; they would drop in there of a winter's afternoon, as she sat knit­ting on one side of her fireplace, her cat purring on the other, and the tea-kettle singing before it; and they would gossip with her until late in the evening. There was always an armchair for Peter de Groodt, sometimes called Long Peter, and sometimes Peter Longlegs, the clerk and sexton of the little Lutheran church, who was her great crony, and indeed the oracle of her fireside. Nay, the Dominie himself did not disdain, now and then, to step in, converse about the state of her mind, and take a glass of her special good cherry-brandy. Indeed, he never failed to call on New Year's day, and wish her a happy New year; and the good dame, who was a little vain on some points, always piqued herself on giving him as large a cake as anyone in town.

Notes and exercises:

1.     Read the following words paying special attention to the pronunciation of initial “g”:

þ    gilt-covered    gill              gimlet         gizzard      ginseng

þ    ginger-ale       gear            girt            gingham     gin-shop

þ    gingerbeer       give            gird            gingerly     gist

þ    gingerbread     gig              girdle         gin            gimp

þ    ginger-wine     gift             gingko        gipsy         gecko

þ    gill (of fish)    girl             gilt-edged   ginger        gimbal

2.     Explain the meaning of the following compounds and memorize their spelling:

þ    niminy-piminy           hoity-toity       far-fetched             helter-skelter

þ    razzle-dazzle             topsy-turvy     hocus-pocus           harum-scarum

þ    hanky-panky             riff-raff           high-falutin            higgledy-piggledy

3.     Word study:

vagabond                                                 having no fixed living place, habitually wandering: to live a vagabond life, vagabond gipsies; a tramp (of a person)

spit                                                             (here) to make an angry or hostile spitting noise: the cat spat at the dog

sexton                                                        a man who takes care of a church buildings, digs graves in the churchyard, rings the church bells, etc.

Dominie                                                    a Dutch clergyman; any minister; (Scot.) school-teacher

pique oneself on something                 to pride oneself on, to feel proud about: He piqued himself on being punctual.

4.     Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

to deal the cards, Who deals?, to deal a blow at, to deal in real estate, a book dealing with love, to deal at/with a shop, let me deal with him, a difficult man to deal with (hard to handle), to deal honourably/generously/cruelly, there’s a deal of truth in it, to make a deal, fair/square deal, raw deal, to have (no) dealings with;

the winter set in, to set sail, to set the table, to set on stake, to set the alarm clock for 6 o’clock, to set a trap, to set a watch, a sky set with stars, to set the edge of a (to whet), to set a punishment, to set the fashion, to set on fire, to set fire to, to set the Thames on fire, to set up a business, to set up a hearty laugh, a set phrase, set prices, the literary set, the smart set, the jet set, sunset