The Mystery of the Yellow Roomby Gaston LerouxCHAPTER IIn Which We Begin Not to UnderstandIt is not without a certain emotion that I begin to recount herethe extraordinary adventures of Joseph Rouletabille. Down to thepresent time he had so firmly opposed my doing it that I had cometo despair of ever publishing the most curious of police storiesof the past fifteen years. I had even imagined that the publicwould never know the whole truth of the prodigious case known asthat of The Yellow Room, out of which grew so many mysterious,cruel, and sensational dramas, with which my friend was so closelymixed up, if, propos of a recent nomination of the illustrious...　

The Age of Invention, A Chronicle of Mechanical Conquestby Holland ThompsonPREFATORY NOTEThis volume is not intended to be a complete record of inventive genius and mechanical progress in the United States. A bare catalogue of notable American inventions in the nineteenth century alone could not be compressed into these pages. Nor is it any part of the purpose of this book to trespass on the ground of the many mechanical works and encyclopedias which give technical descriptions and explain in detail the principle of every invention. All this book seeks to do is to outline the personalities of some of the outstanding American inventors and indicate the significance of their achievements....　

THE UNEXPECTEDIT is a simple matter to see the obvious, to do the expected. Thetendency of the individual life is to be static rather thandynamic, and this tendency is made into a propulsion bycivilization, where the obvious only is seen, and the unexpectedrarely happens. When the unexpected does happen, however, and whenit is of sufficiently grave import, the unfit perish. They do notsee what is not obvious, are unable to do the unexpected, areincapable of adjusting their well-grooved lives to other andstrange grooves. In short, when they come to the end of their owngroove, they die.On the other hand, there are those that make toward survival, the...　

Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russiaby Maxime Kovalevsky1891Lecture IThe Matrimonial Customs and Usages of the Russian People, and theLight They Throw on the Evolution of MarriageThe wide historical studies pursued by members of theUniversity of Oxford necessarily include the study of theSlavonic race. The part which this race is beginning to play inthe economic and social progress of our time, and theconsiderable achievements which it has already made in the fieldsof literature and science have attracted the attention even ofthose nations whose political interests are supposed not tocoincide precisely with those of the Slavs. The IlchesterLectures were, I believe, founded in order to 　

THE STORY OF PRETTY GOLDILOCKSONCE upon a time there was a princess who was theprettiest creature in the world. And because she was sobeautiful, and because her hair was like the finest gold,and waved and rippled nearly to the ground, she wascalled Pretty Goldilocks. She always wore a crown offlowers, and her dresses were embroidered with diamondsand pearls, and everybody who saw her fell in love withher.Now one of her neighbors was a young king who wasnot married. He was very rich and handsome, and whenhe heard all that was said about Pretty Goldilocks, thoughhe had never seen her, he fell so deeply in love with herthat he could neither eat nor drink. So he resolved to...　

The Outletby Andy AdamsPREFACEAt the close of the civil war the need for a market for the surplus cattle of Texas was as urgent as it was general. There had been numerous experiments in seeking an outlet, and there is authority for the statement that in 1857 Texas cattle were driven to Illinois. Eleven years later forty thousand head were sent to the mouth of Red River in Louisiana, shipped by boat to Cairo, Illinois, and thence inland by rail. Fever resulted, and the experiment was never repeated. To the west of Texas stretched a forbidding desert, while on the other hand, nearly every drive to Louisiana resulted in financial disaster to the drover. The republic of Mexico, on the south, af　

The Pension Beaurepasby Henry JamesCHAPTER I.I was not richon the contrary; and I had been told the PensionBeaurepas was cheap. I had, moreover, been told that a boarding-house is a capital place for the study of human nature. I had afancy for a literary career, and a friend of mine had said to me, "Ifyou mean to write you ought to go and live in a boarding-house; thereis no other such place to pick up material." I had read something ofthis kind in a letter addressed by Stendhal to his sister: "I have apassionate desire to know human nature, and have a great mind to livein a boarding-house, where people cannot conceal their realcharacters." I was an admirer of La Chartreuse de Parme, a　

The University of Hard Knocksby Ralph ParletteThe School That Completes Our Education"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son"Revelation 21:7."Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And thus our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks Sermons in stones, and good in everything."ShakespeareWhy It Is PrintedMORE than a million people have sat in audiences in all parts of the United States and have listened to "The University of Hard Knocks." It has been delivered to date more than twenty-five hundred times upon lyceum courses, at 　

350 BCON MEMORY AND REMINISCENCEby Aristotletranslated by J. I. Beare1WE have, in the next place, to treat of Memory and Remembering,considering its nature, its cause, and the part of the soul to whichthis experience, as well as that of Recollecting, belongs. For thepersons who possess a retentive memory are not identical with thosewho excel in power of recollection; indeed, as a rule, slow peoplehave a good memory, whereas those who are quick-witted and clever...　

The Second Funeral of Napoleonby William Makepeace Thackeray"by Michael Angelo Titmarch."I. On the Disinterment of Napoleon at St. HelenaII. On the Voyage from St. Helena to ParisIII. On the Funeral CeremonyI.ON THE DISINTERMENT OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.MY DEAR ,It is no easy task in this world to distinguishbetween what is great in it, and what is mean; and many and many isthe puzzle that I have had in reading History (or the works offiction which go by that name), to know whether I should laud up tothe skies, and endeavor, to the best of my small capabilities, toimitate the remarkable character about whom I was reading, or...　

THE GREATESTENGLISH CLASSICA STUDY OF THEKING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLEAND ITS INFLUENCE ON LIFEAND LITERATUREBYCLELAND BOYD McAFEE, D.D.CONTENTSLECTUREPREFACEI. PREPARING THE WAYTHE ENGLISH BIBLE BEFORE KING JAMESII. THE MAKING OF THE KING JAMES VERSION; ITS CHARACTERISTICSIII. THE KING JAMES VERSION As ENGLISH LITERATUREIV. THE INFLUENCE OF THE KING JAMES VERSION ONENGLISH LITERATUREV. THE KING JAMES VERSIONITS INFLUENCE ON ENGLISHAND AMERICAN HISTORYVI. THE BIBLE IN THE LIFE OF TO-DAYPREFACETHE lectures included in this volume were prepared at the request of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and were delivered in the early part of 1912, under its auspices. They were suggest　

ANTHEMANTHEMby Ayn Rand1- Page 2-ANTHEMPART ONEIt is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think andto put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. Itis as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know wellthat there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We havebroken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Councilof Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!...