MY ANTONIAby Willa Sibert CatherTO CARRIE AND IRENE MINERIn memory of affections old and trueOptima dies ... prima fugitVIRGILINTRODUCTIONLAST summer I happened to be crossing the plains of Iowa in a seasonof intense heat, and it was my good fortune to have for a travelingcompanion James Quayle BurdenJim Burden, as we still call himin the West. He and I are old friendswe grew up togetherin the same Nebraska townand we had much to say to each other.While the train flashed through never-ending miles of ripe wheat,by country towns and bright-flowered pastures and oak groves wilting...　

Original Short Stories, Vol. 13.By Guy de MaupassantVOLUME XIII.OLD JUDASTHE LITTLE CASKBOITELLEA WIDOWTHE ENGLISHMEN OF ETRETATMAGNETISMA FATHERS CONFESSIONA MOTHER OF MONSTERSAN UNCOMFORTABLE BEDA PORTRAITTHE DRUNKARDTHE WARDROBETHE MOUNTAIN POOLA CREMATIONMISTIMADAME HERMETTHE MAGIC COUCHOLD JUDASThis entire stretch of country was amazing; it was characterized by agrandeur that was almost religious, and yet it had an air of sinisterdesolation.A great, wild lake, filled with stagnant, black water, in which thousandsof reeds were waving to and fro, lay in the midst of a vast circle ofnaked hills, where nothing grew but broom, or here and there an oak...　

From the Memoirs of a Minister of Franceby Stanley WeymanCONTENTS.I.THE CLOCKMAKER OF POISSYII.THE TENNIS BALLSIII.TWO MAYORS OF BOTTITORTIV.LA TOUSSAINTV.THE LOST CIPHERVI.THE MAN OF MONCEAUXVII.THE GOVERNOR OF GUERETVIII.THE OPEN SHUTTERIX.THE MAID OF HONOURX.FARMING THE TAXESXI.THE CAT AND THE KINGXII.AT FONTAINEBLEAUI. THE CLOCKMAKER OF POISSY.Foreseeing that some who do not love me will be swift to allege that in the preparation of these memoirs I have set down only such things as redound to my credit, and have suppressed the many experiences not so propitious which fall to the lot of the most sagacious while in power, I take this opportunity of refuting that calumny. For the truth st　

Literary Boston As I Knew Itby William Dean HowellsAmong my fellow-passengers on the train from New York to Boston, when Iwent to begin my work there in 1866, as the assistant editor of theAtlantic Monthly, was the late Samuel Bowles, of the SpringfieldRepublican, who created in a subordinate city a journal of metropolitanimportance. I had met him in Venice several years earlier, when he wassuffering from the cruel insomnia which had followed his overwork on thatnewspaper, and when he told me that he was sleeping scarcely more thanone hour out of the twenty-four. His worn face attested the misery whichthis must have been, and which lasted in some measure while he lived,...　

THE CRITIC AS ARTIST - WITH SOME REMARKS UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING NOTHINGA DIALOGUE. Part I. Persons: Gilbert and Ernest. Scene: the library of a house in Piccadilly, overlooking the Green Park.GILBERT (at the Piano). My dear Ernest, what are you laughing at?ERNEST (looking up). At a capital story that I have just come across in this volume of Reminiscences that I have found on your table.GILBERT. What is the book? Ah! I see. I have not read it yet. Is it good?ERNEST. Well, while you have been playing, I have been turning over the pages with some amusement, though, as a rule, I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their m　

400 BCON AIRS, WATERS, AND PLACESby HippocratesTranslated by Francis AdamsWHOEVER wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceedthus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and whateffects each of them produces for they are not at all alike, butdiffer much from themselves in regard to their changes. Then thewinds, the hot and the cold, especially such as are common to allcountries, and then such as are peculiar to each locality. We mustalso consider the qualities of the waters, for as they differ from one...　

A Mortal Antipathyby Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.PREFACE."A MORTAL ANTIPATHY" was a truly hazardous experiment. A very wiseand very distinguished physician who is as much at home in literatureas he is in science and the practice of medicine, wrote to me inreferring to this story: "I should have been afraid of my subject."He did not explain himself, but I can easily understand that he feltthe improbability of the, physiological or pathological occurrence onwhich the story is founded to be so great that the narrative couldhardly be rendered plausible. I felt the difficulty for myself aswell as for my readers, and it was only by recalling for our...　

THE SKETCH BOOKCHRISTMAS EVEby Washington IrvingSaint Francis and Saint BenedightBlesse this house from wicked wight;From the night-mare and the goblin,That is hight good fellow Robin;Keep it from all evil spirits,Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets:From curfew timeTo the next prime.CARTWRIGHT.IT WAS a brilliant moonlight night, but extremely cold; our chaisewhirled rapidly over the frozen ground; the postboy smacked his whip...　

TOADS AND DIAMONDSTHERE was once upon a time a widow who had twodaughters. The eldest was so much like her in the faceand humor that whoever looked upon the daughter sawthe mother. They were both so disagreeable and so proudthat there was no living with them.The youngest, who was the very picture of her fatherfor courtesy and sweetness of temper, was withal one ofthe most beautiful girls ever seen. As people naturallylove their own likeness, this mother even doted on hereldest daughter and at the same time had a horribleaversion for the youngestshe made her eat in the kitchenand work continually.Among other things, this poor child was forced twice a...　

The Book of Teaby Kakuzo OkakuraI. The Cup of HumanityTea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticismTeaism. Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.The Philosophy of Tea is not mere aestheticism in the or　

The Unknown Guestby Maurice MaeterlinckTranslated by Alexander Teixeira de MattosINTRODUCTION1My Essay on Death[1] led me to make a conscientious enquiry into the present position of the great mystery, an enquiry which I have endeavoured to render as complete as possible. I had hoped that a single volume would be able to contain the result of these investigations, which, I may say at once, will teach nothing to those who have been over the same ground and which have nothing to recommend them except their sincerity, their impartiality and a certain scrupulous accuracy. But, as I proceeded, I saw the field widening under my feet, so much so that I have been obliged to divide my work into two 　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE FLYING TRUNKby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a merchant who was so rich that he could have pavedthe whole street with gold, and would even then have had enough fora small alley. But he did not do so; he knew the value of money betterthan to use it in this way. So clever was he, that every shilling heput out brought him a crown; and so he continued till he died. His soninherited his wealth, and he lived a merry life with it; he went toa masquerade every night, made kites out of five pound notes, andthrew pieces of gold into the sea instead of stones, making ducks...