Oliver Wendell Holmesby William Dean HowellsElsewhere we literary folk are apt to be such a common lot, withtendencies here and there to be a shabby lot; we arrive from all sorts ofunexpected holes and corners of the earth, remote, obscure; and at thebest we do so often come up out of the ground; but at Boston we were ofascertained and noted origin, and good part of us dropped from the skies.Instead of holding horses before the doors of theatres; or capping versesat the plough-tail; or tramping over Europe with nothing but a flute inthe pocket; or walking up to the metropolis with no luggage but the MS.of a tragedy; or sleeping in doorways or under the arches of bridges; or...　

THE INVISIBLE PRINCEOnce upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over theearth, the sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons.The eldest, who was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination,she made Lord of Fire, which was in her opinion the noblest ofall the elements. To the second son, whose wisdom and prudencemade amends for his being rather dull, she gave the government ofthe earth. The third was wild and savage, and of monstrousstature; and the Fairy, his mother, who was ashamed of hisdefects, hoped to hide them by creating him King of the Seas.The youngest, who was the slave of his passions and of a veryuncertain temper, became Prince of the Air....　

The Firm of Nucingenby Honore de BalzacTranslated by James WaringTO MADAME ZULMA CARRAUDTo whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work; to you whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends; to you that are to me not only a whole public, but the most indulgent of sisters as well? Will you deign to accept a token of the friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble, will grasp the whole of the thought underlying The Firm of Nucingen, appended to Cesar Birotteau. Is there not a whole social lesson in the contrast between the two stories?DE BALZAC.You know how slight the partitions are between the private rooms of fashionable restaurant　

THE HOLLY-TREETHREE BRANCHESTHE HOLLY-TREETHREE BRANCHES1- Page 2-THE HOLLY-TREETHREE BRANCHESFIRST BRANCHMYSELFI have kept one secret in the course of my life. I am a bashful man.Nobody would suppose it, nobody ever does suppose it, nobody ever didsuppose it, but I am naturally a bashful man. This is the secret which Ihave never breathed until now.I might greatly move the reader by some account of the innumerableplaces I have not been to, the innumerable people I have not called upon...　

ROMULUSLegendary, 8th Century B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenFrom whom, and for what reason, the city of Rome, a name so great inglory, and famous in the mouths of all men, was so first called,authors do not agree. Some are of opinion that the Pelasgians,wandering over the greater part of the habitable world, and subduingnumerous nations, fixed themselves here, and, from their own greatstrength in war, called the city Rome. Others, that at the taking ofTroy, some few that escaped and met with shipping, put to sea, anddriven by winds, were carried upon the coasts of Tuscany, and came...　

Short Stories and Essaysby William Dean HowellsCONTENTS:Worries of a Winter WalkSummer Isles of EdenWild Flowers of the AsphaltA Circus in the SuburbsA She HamletThe Midnight PlatoonThe Beach at RockawaySawdust in the ArenaAt a Dime MuseumAmerican Literature in ExileThe Horse ShowThe Problem of the SummerAesthetic New York Fifty-odd Years AgoFrom New York into New EnglandThe Art of the AdsmithThe Psychology of PlagiarismPuritanism in American FictionThe What and How in ArtPolitics in American AuthorsStorage"Floating down the River on the O-hi-o"...　

A Journey in Other Worldsby J. J. AstorA ROMANCE OF THE FUTUREBY JOHN JACOB ASTORPREFACE.The protracted struggle between science and the classics appearsto be drawing to a close, with victory about to perch on thebanner of science, as a perusal of almost any university orcollege catalogue shows. While a limited knowledge of both Greekand Latin is important for the correct use of our own language,the amount till recently required, in my judgment, has beenabsurdly out of proportion to the intrinsic value of thesebranches, or perhaps more correctly roots, of study. Theclassics have been thoroughly and painfully threshed out, and itseems impossible that anything new can be unearthed. We may.　

TWICE-TOLD TALESTHE GREAT STONE FACEby Nathaniel HawthorneONE AFTERNOON, When the sun was going down, a mother and her littleboy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the Great StoneFace. They had but to lift their eyes, and there it was plainly tobe seen, though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all itsfeatures.And what was the Great Stone Face?Embosomed amongst a family of lofty mountains, there was a valleyso spacious that it contained many thousand inhabitants. Some of thesegood people dwelt in log huts, with the black forest all around...　

THE VITAL MESSAGETHE VITAL MESSAGEARTHUR CONAN DOYLE1- Page 2-THE VITAL MESSAGEPREFACEIn "The New Revelation" the first dawn of the coming change hasbeen described. In "The Vital Message" the sun has risen higher, and onesees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseenmay be. As I look into the future of the human race I am reminded of howonce, from amid the bleak chaos of rock and snow at the head of an Alpine...　

A Book of Strife in the Form of The Diary of an Old Soulby George MacDonaldDEDICATIONSweet friends, receive my offering. You will findAgainst each worded page a white page set:This is the mirror of each friendly mindReflecting that. In this book we are met.Make it, dear hearts, of worth to you indeed:Let your white page be ground, my print be seed,Growing to golden ears, that faith and hope shall feed.YOUR OLD SOULThe Diary of an Old Soul.JANUARY.1.LORD, what I once had done with youthful might,Had I been from the first true to the truth,Grant me, now old, to dowith better sight,And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth;...　

Augustus Does His Bitby George Bernard ShawI wish to express my gratitude for certain good offices whichAugustus secured for me in January,1917. I had been invited tovisit the theatre of war in Flanders by the Commander-in-Chief:an invitation which was, under the circumstances, a summons toduty. Thus I had occasion to spend some days in procuringthe necessary passport and other official facilities formy journey. It happened just then that the Stage Society gave aperformance of this little play. It opened the heart of everyofficial to me. I have always been treated with distinguishedconsideration in my contracts with bureaucracy during the war;but on this occasion I found myself persona grat　

The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemoniansby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsXenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans, and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.The Polity of the Lacedaemonians talks about the laws and institutions created by Lycurgus, which train and develop Spartan citizens from birth to old age.The Polity of the Lacedaemonians talks about the laws and institutions created by Lycurgus, which train and develop Spartan citizens from birth to old age....