The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the action of worms withobservations of their habitsby Charles DarwinINTRODUCTION.The share which worms have taken in the formation of the layer ofvegetable mould, which covers the whole surface of the land inevery moderately humid country, is the subject of the presentvolume. This mould is generally of a blackish colour and a fewinches in thickness. In different districts it differs but littlein appearance, although it may rest on various subsoils. Theuniform fineness of the particles of which it is composed is one ofits chief characteristic features; and this may be well observed inany gravelly country, where a recently-ploughed field immediatel　

The Man From Glengarryby Ralph ConnorA TALE OF THE OTTAWADEDICATIONTO THE MEN OF GLENGARRY WHO IN PATIENCE, IN COURAGE AND IN THE FEAROF GOD ARE HELPING TO BUILD THE EMPIRE OF THE CANADIAN WEST THISBOOK IS HUMBLY DEDICATEDPREFACEThe solid forests of Glengarry have vanished, and with the foreststhe men who conquered them. The manner of life and the type ofcharacter to be seen in those early days have gone too, andforever. It is part of the purpose of this book to so picturethese men and their times that they may not drop quite out of mind.The men are worth remembering. They carried the marks of theirblood in their fierce passions, their courage, their loyalty; and...　

The Queen of the Pirate Isleby Bret HarteI first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best ofmy recollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She wasonly nine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humor,deprecated violence, and had never been to sea. Need it be addedthat she did NOT live in an island and that her name was Polly?Perhaps I ought to explain that she had already known otherexperiences of a purely imaginative character. Part of herexistence had been passed as a Beggar Child,solely indicated by ashawl tightly folded round her shoulders, and chills; as aSchoolmistress, unnecessarily severe; as a Preacher, singularly...　

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V11BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARK1895CONTENTS:CHAPTER XV. to CHAPTER XXIII.CHAPTER XV.During the second day of the battle of Dresden, at the end of which theEmperor had the attack of fever I mentioned in the preceding chapter, theKing of Naples, or rather Marshal Murat, performed prodigies of valor.Much has been said of this truly extraordinary prince; but only those whosaw him personally could form a correct idea of him, and even they neverknew him perfectly until they had seen him on a field of battle. Therehe seemed like those great actors who produce a complete illusion amid...　

The Drums Of Jeopardyby Harold MacGrathCHAPTER IA fast train drew into Albany, on the New York Central, from theWest. It was three-thirty of a chill March morning in the firstyear of peace. A pall of fog lay over the world so heavy thatit beaded the face and hands and deposited a fairy diamond dustupon wool. The station lights had the visibility of stars, andlike the stars were without refulgence - a pale golden aureola,perhaps three feet in diameter, and beyond, nothing. The fewpassengers who alighted and the train itself had the same nebulosityof drab fish in a dim aquarium.Among the passengers to detrain was a man in a long black coat.The high collar was up. The man wore a derby ha　

Cressyby Bret HarteCHAPTER I.As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pinewoods into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stoppedwhistling, put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away somewild flowers he had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed thesevere demeanor of his profession and his mature agewhich was atleast twenty. Not that he usually felt this an assumption; it wasa firm conviction of his serious nature that he impressed others,as he did himself, with the blended austerity and ennui of deep andexhausted experience.The building which was assigned to him and his flock by the Board...　

SolitudeThis is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense,and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with astrange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along thestony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool aswell as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me,all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trumpto usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borneon the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with thefluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet,like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small...　

450 BCEUMENDIDESby Aeschylustranslated by E. D. A. MorsheadCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYTHE PYTHIAN PRIESTESAPOLLOORESTESTHE GHOST OF CLYTEMNESTRACHORUS OF FURIESATHENAATTENDANTS OF ATHENATWELVE ATHENIAN CITIZENSEUMENDIDES(SCENE:-Before the temple of APOLLO at Delphi. The PYTHIANPRIESTESS enters and approaches the doors of the temple.)THE PYTHIAN PRIESTESFirst, in this prayer, of all the gods I nameThe prophet-mother Earth; and Themis next,...　

Pageant of Summerby Richard JefferiesI.GREEN rushes, long and thick, standing up above the edge of theditch, told the hour of the year as distinctly as the shadow on thedial the hour of the day. Green and thick and sappy to the touch,they felt like summer, soft and elastic, as if full of life, mererushes though they were. On the fingers they left a green scent;rushes have a separate scent of green, so, too, have ferns, verydifferent from that of grass or leaves. Rising from brown sheaths,the tall stems enlarged a little in the middle, like classicalcolumns, and heavy with their sap and freshness, leaned against the...　

Liber Amoris, or, The New Pygmalionby William HazlittADVERTISEMENTThe circumstances, an outline of which is given in these pages, happened a very short time ago to a native of North Britain, who left his own country early in life, in consequence of political animosities and an ill-advised connection in marriage. It was some years after that he formed the fatal attachment which is the subject of the following narrative. The whole was transcribed very carefully with his own hand, a little before he set out for the Continent in hopes of benefiting by a change of scene, but he died soon after in the Netherlandsit is supposed, of disappointment preying on a sickly frame and morbid state of min　

Stories of a Western Townby Octave ThanetCONTENTSThe Besetment of Kurt LiedersThe Face of FailureTommy and ThomasMother EmeritusAn Assisted ProvidenceHarry LossingTHE BESETMENT OF KURT LIEDERS A SILVER rime glistened all down the street. There was a drabble of dead leaves on the sidewalk which was of wood, and on the roadway which was of macadam and stiff mud. The wind blew sharply, for it was a December day and only six in the morning. Nor were the houses high enough to furnish any independent bulwark; they were low, wooden dwellings, the tallest a bare two stories in height, the majority only one story. But they were in good painting and repair, and most of them had a homely gayety of ge　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENIB AND LITTLE CHRISTINAby Hans Christian AndersenIN the forest that extends from the banks of the Gudenau, in NorthJutland, a long way into the country, and not far from the clearstream, rises a great ridge of land, which stretches through thewood like a wall. Westward of this ridge, and not far from theriver, stands a farmhouse, surrounded by such poor land that the sandysoil shows itself between the scanty ears of rye and wheat whichgrow in it. Some years have passed since the people who lived herecultivated these fields; they kept three sheep, a pig, and two oxen;...