Lecture IIIKinship as the Basis of SocietyThe most recent researches into the primitive history ofsociety point to the conclusion that the earliest tie whichknitted men together in communities was Consanguinity or Kinship.The subject has been approached of late years from severaldifferent sides, and there has been much dispute as to what theprimitive blood-relationship implied, and how it arose; but therehas been general agreement as to the fact I have stated. Thecaution is perhaps needed that we must not form too loose a...
Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russiaby Maxime KovalevskyLecture IIThe State of the Modern Russian Family, and Particularly that ofthe Joint or Household Community of Great RussiaWe believe that the theory of the matriarchate finds a solidbasis in the past history of the Russian family. The presentcondition of the latter seems to prove that the next stage in itsevolution was the household community, composed of persons unitedby descent from a common forefather and accompanied by thatworship of ancestors which usually resulted from it. The completesubjection of the wife to the husband, and of the children to thefather; community of goods and the common enjoyment of their...
Father and SonA study of two temperamentsby Edmund GosseDer Glaube ist wie der Liebe: Er Lasst sich nicht erzwingen.SchopenhauerPREFACEAT the present hour, when fiction takes forms so ingenious and so specious, it is perhaps necessary to say that the following narrative, in all its parts, and so far as the punctilious attention of the writer has been able to keep it so, is scrupulously true. If it were not true, in this strict sense, to publish it would be to trifle with all those who may be induced to read it. It is offered to them as a document, as a record of educational and religious conditions which, having passed away, will never return. In this respect, as the diagnosis of a dying Pu
THE HISTORY OF DWARF LONG NOSEIt is a great mistake to think that fairies, witches, magicians,and such people lived only in Eastern countries and in such timesas those of the Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid. Fairies and theirlike belong to every country and every age, and no doubt weshould see plenty of them nowif we only knew how.In a large town in Germany there lived, some couple of hundredyears ago, a cobbler and his wife. They were poor andhard-working. The man sat all day in a little stall at thestreet corner and mended any shoes that were brought him. Hiswife sold the fruit and vegetables they grew in their garden inthe Market Place, and as she was always neat and clean and her...
470 BCTHE PERSIANSby Aeschylustranslated by Robert PotterCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYATOSSA, widow of Darius and mother of XERXESMESSENGERGHOST OF DARIUSXERXESCHORUS OF PERSIAN ELDERS, who compose the Persian Council of State(SCENE:-Before the Council-Hall of the Persian Kings at Susa. Thetomb of Darius the Great is visible. The time is 480 B.C., shortlyafter the battle of Salamis. The play opens with the CHORUS OFPERSIAN ELDERS singing its first choral lyric.)...
An Old Maidby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Monsieur Eugene-Auguste-Georges-Louis Midy de la GrenerayeSurville, Royal Engineer of the Ponts at Chausses.As a testimony to the affection of his brother-in-law,De BalzacAN OLD MAIDCHAPTER IONE OF MANY CHEVALIERS DE VALOISMost persons have encountered, in certain provinces in France, anumber of Chevaliers de Valois. One lived in Normandy, another atBourges, a third (with whom we have here to do) flourished in Alencon,and doubtless the South possesses others. The number of the Valesian...
SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACEby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSherlock Holmes had been bending for a long time over a low-powermicroscope. Now he straightened himself up and looked round at me intriumph."It is glue, Watson," said he. "Unquestionably it is glue. Have alook at these scattered objects in the field!"I stooped to the eyepiece and focussed for my vision."Those hairs are threads from a tweed coat. The irregular graymasses are dust. There are epithelial scales on the left. Thosebrown blobs in the centre are undoubtedly glue.""Well," I said, laughing, "I am prepared to take your word for it....
Muratby Alexander Dumas, pereITOULONOn the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europewas being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar wassilently following the road from Toulon to Marseilles.Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on alittle eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country;then either because he had reached the end of his journey, orbecause, before attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which iscalled the Thermopylae of Provence, he wished to enjoy themagnificent view which spread to the southern horizon a littlelonger, he went and sat down on the edge of the ditch which bordered...
TWICE-TOLD TALESMY KINSMAN, MAJOR MOLINEUXby Nathaniel HawthorneAFTER THE KINGS of Great Britain had assumed the right ofappointing the colonial governors, the measures of the latter seldommet with the ready and general approbation which had been paid tothose of their predecessors, under the original charters. The peoplelooked with most jealous scrutiny to the exercise of power which didnot emanate from themselves, and they usually rewarded their rulerswith slender gratitude for the compliances by which, in softeningtheir instructions from beyond the sea, they had incurred the...
I and My Chimneyby Herman MelvilleI and my chimney, two grey-headed old smokers, reside in thecountry. We are, I may say, old settlers here; particularly myold chimney, which settles more and more every day.Though I always say, I AND MY CHIMNEY, as Cardinal Wolsey used tosay, "I AND MY KING," yet this egotistic way of speaking, whereinI take precedence of my chimney, is hereby borne out by thefacts; in everything, except the above phrase, my chimney takingprecedence of me.Within thirty feet of the turf-sided road, my chimneya huge,corpulent old Harry VIII of a chimneyrises full in front of meand all my possessions. Standing well up a hillside, my chimney,...
BLUE BEARDTHERE was a man who had fine houses, both in townand country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroideredfurniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. Butthis man was so unlucky as to have a blue beard, whichmade him so frightfully ugly that all the women andgirls ran away from him.One of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had twodaughters who were perfect beauties. He desired ofher one of them in marriage, leaving to her choice whichof the two she would bestow on him. They wouldneither of them have him, and sent him backward andforward from one another, not being able to bear thethoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard, and...
SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-REDA POOR widow once lived in a little cottage with agarden in front of it, in which grew two rose trees, onebearing white roses and the other red. She had twochildren, who were just like the two rose trees; one wascalled Snow-white and the other Rose-red, and they werethe sweetest and best children in the world, always diligentand always cheerful; but Snow-white was quieter andmore gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red loved to run aboutthe fields and meadows, and to pick flowers and catchbutterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her motherand helped her in the household, or read aloud to her whenthere was no work to do. The two children loved each...