Now, the Special English program American Stories. Our story today is called Charles. It was written by Shirley Jackson. Here is Kay Gallant with the story. The day my son Laurie started going to school, he began wearing blue jeans with a belt. I wat...
Now the VOA Special English program American Stories. Our story today is called Mr. Black. It was written by American reporter Charles Kuralt. It is from his book A life on the road. For many years, Charles Kuralt travelled across the United States t...
Abel Halleck was 59 years old when his wife Estelle died. Her death was sudden and unexpected, the kind of death you cannot forget. Abel Halleck buried his wife, then, he stopped doing anything. His work, the world, life and all its possibilities wer...
As a boy Knute Axelbrod always wanted to be a student. But he never had time to learn. He married young and had to work to get money to educate his children. But a lifetime of hard farm work did not destroy his love for books and beauty. His wife die...
Mr. Dow's store was widely known throughout the neighborhood. It sold many different things. Both old and young came here to shop for special items. They could find kitchens, large and small wallets to hold coins and paper money, packs of playing car...
Jane got up from under her warm bedcovers and faced the cold of her room. It was another New Year's Day. In the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror. Nothing had changed except the lines around her eyes and mouth looked deeper. Jane was 49 ye...
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it were smallest pieces of money - pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the man at the market who sold vegetables and meat. Negotiating until one's face b...
Ben was awakened by a gunshot. The sharp noise came through the thick stonewalls of the house. It was cold in the bedroom. Ben Newman was shaking as he got out of bed. He put on his eyeglasses and went over to the window. The field was covered with w...
Father, what are the men digging over in the field for? The old man shut his mouth and continued getting his horse ready to ride. They were in the barn, standing before the wide open doors. The spring air was full of the smell of growing grass. Adoni...
Before I was born, I went on the road. The road was highway 17. It went from the city of Jacksonville to the city of Whelmington in North Carolina, that is where the hospital was. My father back the car out of his place in the barn. He helped my moth...
