American Literary Centersby William Dean HowellsOne of the facts which we Americans have a difficulty in making clear toa rather inattentive world outside is that, while we have apparently aliterature of our own, we have no literary centre. We have so muchliterature that from time to time it seems even to us we must have aliterary centre. We say to ourselves, with a good deal of logic, Wherethere is so much smoke there must be some fire, or at least a fireplace.But it is just here that, misled by tradition, and even by history, wedeceive ourselves. Really, we have no fireplace for such fire as we havekindled; or, if any one is disposed to deny this, then I say, we have a...　

Sunday Under Three Headsby Charles DickensDEDICATIONTo The Right ReverendTHE BISHOP OF LONDONMY LORD,You were among the first, some years ago, to expatiate on thevicious addiction of the lower classes of society to Sundayexcursions; and were thus instrumental in calling forth occasionaldemonstrations of those extreme opinions on the subject, which arevery generally received with derision, if not with contempt.Your elevated station, my Lord, affords you countless opportunitiesof increasing the comforts and pleasures of the humbler classes ofsociety - not by the expenditure of the smallest portion of yourprincely income, but by merely sanctioning with the influence of...　

IS SHAKESPEARE DEAD?(from My Autobiography)Scattered here and there through the stacks of unpublished manuscript which constitute this formidable Autobiography and Diary of mine, certain chapters will in some distant future be found which deal with "Claimants"claimants historically notorious: Satan, Claimant; the Golden Calf, Claimant; the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, Claimant; Louis XVII., Claimant; William Shakespeare, Claimant; Arthur Orton, Claimant; Mary Baker G. Eddy, Claimantand the rest of them. Eminent Claimants, successful Claimants, defeated Claimants, royal Claimants, pleb Claimants, showy Claimants, shabby Claimants, revered Claimants, despised Claimants, twinkle star-like he　

OTHOA.D. 32-69by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHE new emperor went early in the morning to the capitol, andsacrificed; and, having commanded Marius Celsus to be brought, hesaluted him, and with obliging language desired him rather to forgethis accusation than remember his acquittal; to which Celsus answeredneither meanly nor ungratefully, that his very crime ought torecommend his integrity, since his guilt had been his fidelity toGalba, from whom he had never received any personal obligations.Upon which they were both of them admired by those that were...　

THE WITCH AND OTHER STORIESTHE WITCH ANDOTHER STORIESANTON CHEKHOV1- Page 2-THE WITCH AND OTHER STORIESTHE WITCHIT was approaching nightfall. The sexton, Savely Gykin, was lying inhis huge bed in the hut adjoining the church. He was not asleep, though itwas his habit to go to sleep at the same time as the hens. His coarse redhair peeped from under one end of the greasy patchwork quilt, made up ofcoloured rags, while his big unwashed feet stuck out from the other. Hewas listening. His hut adjoined the wall that encircled the church and the...　

Deruesby Alexandre Dumas, PereOne September afternoon in 1751, towards half-past five, about a score of small boys, chattering, pushing, and tumbling over one another like a covey of partridges, issued from one of the religious schools of Chartres. The joy of the little troop just escaped from a long and wearisome captivity was doubly great: a slight accident to one of the teachers had caused the class to be dismissed half an hour earlier than usual, and in consequence of the extra work thrown on the teaching staff the brother whose duty it was to see all the scholars safe home was compelled to omit that part of his daily task. Therefore not only thirty or forty minutes were stolen from wo　

The Countess of Saint GeranBy Alexander Dumas, pereAbout the end of the year 1639, a troop of horsemen arrived, towardsmidday, in a little village at the northern extremity of the provinceof Auvergne, from the direction of Paris. The country folk assembledat the noise, and found it to proceed from the provost of the mountedpolice and his men. The heat was excessive, the horses were bathedin sweat, the horsemen covered with dust, and the party seemed on itsreturn from an important expedition. A man left the escort, andasked an old woman who was spinning at her door if there was not aninn in the place. The woman and her children showed him a bush...　

Palace of the Alhambra.TO THE traveller imbued with a feeling for the historical andpoetical, so inseparably intertwined in the annals of romanticSpain, the Alhambra is as much an object of devotion as is the Caabato all true Moslems. How many legends and traditions, true andfabulous; how many songs and ballads, Arabian and Spanish, of love andwar and chivalry, are associated with this oriental pile! It was theroyal abode of the Moorish kings, where, surrounded with the splendorsand refinements of Asiatic luxury, they held dominion over what theyvaunted as a terrestrial paradise, and made their last stand forempire in Spain. The royal palace forms but a part of a fortress,...　

Their Silver Wedding Journey V3by William Dean HowellsPART III.XLVIII.At the first station where the train stopped, a young German bowedhimself into the compartment with the Marches, and so visibly resisted animpulse to smoke that March begged him to light his cigarette. In thetalk which this friendly overture led to between them he explained thathe was a railway architect, employed by the government on that line ofroad, and was travelling officially. March spoke of Nuremberg; he ownedthe sort of surfeit he had suffered from its excessive mediaevalism, andthe young man said it was part of the new imperial patriotism to cherishthe Gothic throughout Germany; no other sort of architecture wa　

The Dhammapada A Collection of Verses Being One of the Canonical Books of the BuddhistsThe Dhammapada ACollection of Verses BeingOne of the CanonicalBooks of the BuddhistsTranslated from Pali by F. Max MullerFrom: The Sacred Books of the East Translated by Various OrientalScholars Edited by F. Max Muller Volume X Part I1- Page 2-The Dhammapada A Collection of Verses Being One of the Canonical Books of the BuddhistsChapter I The Twin-Verses1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded...　

THE VOICE OF DEATHONCE upon a time there lived a man whose one wish and prayerwas to get rich. Day and night he thought of nothing else,and at last his prayers were granted, and he became very wealthy.Now being so rich, and having so much to lose, he felt that it wouldbe a terrible thing to die and leave all his possessions behind; so hemade up his mind to set out in search of a land where there was nodeath. He got ready for his journey, took leave of his wife, andstarted. Whenever he came to a new country the first questionthat he asked was whether people died in that land, and when heheard that they did, he set out again on his quest. At last he...　

In the Cageby Henry JamesCHAPTER IIt had occurred to her early that in her positionthat of a youngperson spending, in framed and wired confinement, the life of aguinea-pig or a magpieshe should know a great many personswithout their recognising the acquaintance. That made it anemotion the more livelythough singularly rare and always, eventhen, with opportunity still very much smotheredto see any onecome in whom she knew outside, as she called it, any one who couldadd anything to the meanness of her function. Her function was tosit there with two young menthe other telegraphist and thecounter-clerk; to mind the "sounder," which was always going, to...