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Hard Times

by Charles Dickens

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~10 hr 48 min · full book44 reading sectionsFree to read
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England -- FictionDomestic fictionSocial problems -- FictionUtilitarianism -- FictionEducation -- Fiction

Inside this work

  1. 01Front matter~2 min
  2. 02CHAPTER I THE ONE THING NEEDFUL~2 min
  3. 03CHAPTER II MURDERING THE INNOCENTS~13 min
  4. 04CHAPTER III A LOOPHOLE~11 min
  5. 05CHAPTER IV MR. BOUNDERBY~16 min
  6. 06CHAPTER V THE KEYNOTE~14 min
  7. 07CHAPTER VI SLEARY’S HORSEMANSHIP — part 1~25 min
  8. 08CHAPTER VI SLEARY’S HORSEMANSHIP — part 2~7 min
  9. 09CHAPTER VII MRS. SPARSIT~15 min
  10. 10CHAPTER VIII NEVER WONDER~14 min
  11. 11CHAPTER IX SISSY’S PROGRESS~18 min
  12. 12I ENTERTAIN a weak idea that the English people are as hard-worked as any people upon whom the sun shines. I acknowledge to this ridiculous idiosyncrasy, as a reason why I would give them a little more play.~13 min
  13. 13CHAPTER XI NO WAY OUT~18 min
  14. 14CHAPTER XII THE OLD WOMAN~12 min
  15. 15CHAPTER XIII RACHAEL~19 min
  16. 16CHAPTER XIV THE GREAT MANUFACTURER~11 min
  17. 17CHAPTER XV FATHER AND DAUGHTER~18 min
  18. 18CHAPTER XVI HUSBAND AND WIFE~13 min
  19. 19CHAPTER I EFFECTS IN THE BANK — part 1~25 min
  20. 20CHAPTER I EFFECTS IN THE BANK — part 2~5 min
  21. 21CHAPTER II MR. JAMES HARTHOUSE~19 min
  22. 22CHAPTER III THE WHELP~12 min
  23. 23CHAPTER IV MEN AND BROTHERS~19 min
  24. 24CHAPTER V MEN AND MASTERS~16 min
  25. 25CHAPTER VI FADING AWAY — part 1~25 min
  26. 26CHAPTER VI FADING AWAY — part 2~4 min
  27. 27CHAPTER VII GUNPOWDER — part 1~25 min
  28. 28CHAPTER VII GUNPOWDER — part 2~5 min
  29. 29CHAPTER VIII EXPLOSION — part 1~25 min
  30. 30CHAPTER VIII EXPLOSION — part 2~5 min

A few words to begin

‘NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!’ The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room, and the speaker’s square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster’s sleeve. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside. The speaker’s obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders,—nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take …

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