A Ramble Among the Hills.I USED frequently to amuse myself towards the close of the day, whenthe heat had subsided, with taking long rambles about theneighboring hills and the deep umbrageous valleys, accompanied by myhistoriographic squire, Mateo, to whose passion for gossiping I onsuch occasions gave the most unbounded license; and there was scarce arock, or ruin, or broken fountain, or lonely glen, about which hehad not some marvellous story; or, above all, some golden legend;for never was poor devil so munificent in dispensing hidden treasures.In the course of one of these strolls Mateo was more than usuallycommunicative. It was toward sunset that we sallied forth from the...
Men of Ironby Ernie Howard PyleINTRODUCTIONThe year 1400 opened with more than usual peacefulness in England. Only a few months before, Richard IIweak, wicked, and treacherous had been dethroned, and Henry IV declared King in his stead. But it was only a seeming peacefulness, lasting but for a little while; for though King Henry proved himself a just and a merciful manas justice and mercy went with the men of iron of those daysand though he did not care to shed blood needlessly, there were many noble families who had been benefited by King Richard during his reign, and who had lost somewhat of their power and prestige from the coming in of the new King.Among these were a number of great lor
The Confessions of a Summer Colonistby William Dean HowellsThe season is ending in the little summer settlement on the Down Eastcoast where I have been passing the last three months, and with eachloath day the sense of its peculiar charm grows more poignant.A prescience of the homesickness I shall feel for it when I go alreadybegins to torment me, and I find myself wishing to imagine some form ofwords which shall keep a likeness of it at least through the winter; someshadowy semblance which I may turn to hereafter if any chance or changeshould destroy or transform it, or, what is more likely, if I shouldnever come back to it. Perhaps others in the distant future may turn to...
THE SKETCH BOOKENGLISH WRITERS ON AMERICAby Washington Irving"Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation, rousingherself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invinciblelocks: methinks I see her as an eagle, mewing her mighty youth, andkindling her endazzled eyes at the full mid-day beam."MILTON ON THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.IT IS with feelings of deep regret that I observe the literaryanimosity daily growing up between England and America. Greatcuriosity has been awakened of late with respect to the United States,and the London press has teemed with volumes of travels through the...
A Modest Proposalby Jonathan SwiftA Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people inIreland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and formaking them beneficial to the publick.by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this greattown, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, theroads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, andimportuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead ofbeing able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced toemploy all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their...
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 Dwelling Place of Lighby Winston Churchill1917VOLUME 1.CHAPTER IIn this modern industrial civilization of which we are sometimes wont to boast,a certain glacier-like process may be observed. The bewildered, the helplessand there are manyare torn from the parent rock, crushed, rolled smooth, andleft stranded in strange places. Thus was Edward Bumpus severed and rolledfrom the ancestral ledge, from the firm granite of seemingly stable and lastingthings, into shifting shale; surrounded by fragments of cliffs from distantlands he had never seen. Thus, at five and fifty, he found himself gate-keeperof the leviathan Chippering Mill in the city of Hampton....
FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20CHAPTER ISeven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history hadsubsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm. But themysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws oftheir motion are unknown to us) continued to operate.Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless, themovement of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of time.Various groups of people formed and dissolved, the coming formationand dissolution of kingdoms and displacement of peoples was incourse of preparation.The sea of history was not driven spasmodically from shore to...
The Life of Flavius Josephusby Flavius JosephusTranslated by William Whiston1. The family from which I am derived is not an ignoble one, buthath descended all along from the priests; and as nobility amongseveral people is of a different origin, so with us to be of thesacerdotal dignity, is an indication of the splendor of a family.Now, I am not only sprung from a sacerdotal family in general,but from the first of the twenty-four (1) courses; and as amongus there is not only a considerable difference between one familyof each course and another, I am of the chief family of thatfirst course also; nay, further, by my mother I am of the royalblood; for the children of Asamoneus, from whom that
THESEUSLegendaryby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenAs geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps partsof the world which they do not know about, adding notes in themargin to the effect, that beyond this lies nothing but the sandydeserts full of wild beasts, unapproachable bogs, Scythian ice, or afrozen sea, so in this work of mine, in which I have compared thelives of the greatest men with one another, after passing throughthose periods which probable reasoning can reach to and real historyfind a footing in, I might very well say of those that are farther...
D E M O N S T R A T I V E T R A N S L A T I O NO FS C I E N T I F I C S E C R E T S ;O RA C O L L E C T I O N O F A B O V E5 0 0 U S E F U L R E C E I P T SO N A V A R I E T Y O F S U B J E C T Sby DANIEL YOUNG1 8 6 1I N T R O D U C T I O NThe object of the present work is clearly announced in its title. It is to...
The Dark Flowerby John Galsworthy"Take the flower from my breast, I pray thee,Take the flower too from out my tresses;And then go hence, for see, the night is fair,The stars rejoice to watch thee on thy way."From "The Bard of the Dimbovitza."THE DARK FLOWERPart ISpringIHe walked along Holywell that afternoon of early June with hisshort gown drooping down his arms, and no cap on his thick darkhair. A youth of middle height, and built as if he had come of twovery different strains, one sturdy, the other wiry and light. Hisface, too, was a curious blend, for, though it was strongly formed,its expression was rather soft and moody. His eyesdark grey,...