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Ingelow, Jean, 1820-1897

"Fated to Be Free"


"The rule is," said Gladys, "that you make a sentence of words beginning
with anyone of those letters that stand for the figures you want to
remember. Miss Crampton wanted us to know the dates of all Wellington's
battles; of course we couldn't; we do now, though. You see Britannia's
scroll has on it, 'I'll put _on_ Wellington boots,' that means 1802. So
we know, to begin with, that till after she put on Wellington boots, we
need not trouble ourselves to remember anything particular about him."
"There's a portrait of Lord Palmerston," whispered Crayshaw, "he has a
map of Belgium pasted on his breast. He says, 'I, Pam, managed this."'
"Yes, that means the date of the independence of Belgium," said
Gladys. "Johnnie made it, but father says it is not quite fair."
"The best ones," Johnnie explained, "ought not to have any extra word,
and should tell you what they mean themselves. 'I hear navvies coming,'
is good--it means the making of the first railway. Here are four not so
good:--Magna Charta--'The Barons _extorted_ this Charter,' 1215.


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