FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LITTLE ELDER-TREE MOTHERby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a little boy who had caught cold; he had gone outand got wet feet. Nobody had the least idea how it had happened; theweather was quite dry. His mother undressed him, put him to bed, andordered the teapot to be brought in, that she might make him a goodcup of tea from the elder-tree blossoms, which is so warming. At thesame time, the kind-hearted old man who lived by himself in theupper storey of the house came in; he led a lonely life, for he had nowife and children; but he loved the children of others very much,...　

THE DEVIL IN MANUSCRIPTOn a bitter evening of December, I arrived by mail in a largetown, which was then the residence of an intimate friend, one ofthose gifted youths who cultivate poetry and the belles-lettres,and call themselves students at law. My first business, aftersupper, was to visit him at the office of his distinguishedinstructor. As I have said, it was a bitter night, clearstarlight, but cold as Nova Zembla,the shop-windows along thestreet being frosted, so as almost to hide the lights, while thewheels of coaches thundered equally loud over frozen earth andpavements of stone. There was no snow, either on the ground orthe roofs of the houses. The wind blew so violently, that I ha　

EPILOGUEMOONSTONE again, in the year 1909. The Metho-dists are giving an ice-cream sociable in the groveabout the new court-house. It is a warm summer night offull moon. The paper lanterns which hang among thetrees are foolish toys, only dimming, in little lurid circles,the great softness of the lunar light that floods the blueheavens and the high plateau. To the east the sand hillsshine white as of old, but the empire of the sand is grad-ually diminishing. The grass grows thicker over the dunesthan it used to, and the streets of the town are harder and...　

THE WATER-LILY. THE GOLD-SPINNERSONCE upon a time, in a large forest, there lived an oldwoman and three maidens. They were all three beautiful,but the youngest was the fairest. Their hut was quitehidden by trees, and none saw their beauty but the sunby day, and the moon by night, and the eyes of the stars.The old woman kept the girls hard at work, from morningtill night, spinning gold flax into yarn, and when onedistaff was empty another was given them, so they hadno rest. The thread had to be fine and even, and whendone was locked up in a secret chamber by the old woman,who twice or thrice every summer went a journey.Before she went she gave out work for each day of her...　

THE DIAMOND MAKERSome business had detained me in Chancery Lane nine in theevening, and thereafter, having some inkling of a headache, I wasdisinclined either for entertainment or further work. So much ofthe sky as the high cliffs of that narrow canon of traffic leftvisible spoke of a serene night, and I determined to make my waydown to the Embankment, and rest my eyes and cool my head bywatching the variegated lights upon the river. Beyond comparisonthe night is the best time for this place; a merciful darknesshides the dirt of the waters, and the lights of this transitionalage, red glaring orange, gas-yellow, and electric white, are set in...　

Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes ofsnow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat ata window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of blackebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the windowat the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and threedrops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked prettyupon the white snow, and she thought to herself, would that I hada child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as thewood of the window-frame.Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white assnow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony,and she was therefore called little snow-white. And wh　

FINALE.Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending. Who can quit younglives after being long in company with them, and not desire to knowwhat befell them in their after-years? For the fragment of a life,however typical, is not the sample of an even web: promises maynot be kept, and an ardent outset may be followed by declension;latent powers may find their long-waited opportunity; a past errormay urge a grand retrieval.Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives,is still a great beginning, as it was to Adam and Eve, who kepttheir honeymoon in Eden, but had their first little one among thethorns and thistles of the wilderness. It is still the beginning...　

MRS. BULLFROGIt makes me melancholy to see how like fools some very sensiblepeople act in the matter of choosing wives. They perplex theirjudgments by a most undue attention to little niceties ofpersonal appearance, habits, disposition, and other trifles whichconcern nobody but the lady herself. An unhappy gentleman,resolving to wed nothing short of perfection, keeps his heart andhand till both get so old and withered that no tolerable womanwill accept them. Now this is the very height of absurdity. Akind Providence has so skilfully adapted sex to sex and the massof individuals to each other, that, with certain obviousexceptions, any male and female may be moderately happy in the...　

The Story of Little Black SamboThe Story of Little Black Mingoby Helen BannermanThe Story of Little Black SamboBy Helen BannermanPREFACE.There is very little to say about the story of LITTLE BLACKSAMBO. Once upon a time there was an English lady in India,where black children abound and tigers are everyday affairs,who had two little girls. To amuse these little girls sheused now and then to invent stories, for which, beingextremely talented, she also drew and coloured the pictures.Among these stories LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, which was made up on along railway journey, was the favourite; and it has been putinto a DUMPY BOOK, and the pictures copies as exactly as...　

a rich man who had a beautiful and pious wife, and they lovedeach other dearly. They had, however, no children, though theywished for them very much, and the woman prayed for them dayand night, but still they had none. Now there was a court-yardin front of their house in which was a juniper tree, and one dayin winter the woman was standing beneath it, paring herself anapple, and while she was paring herself the apple she cut herfinger, and the blood fell on the snow. Ah, said the woman,and sighed right heavily, and looked at the blood before her, andwas most unhappy, ah, if I had but a child as red as blood andas white as snow. And while she thus spoke, she became quitehappy in her mind　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENBEAUTY OF FORM AND BEAUTY OF MINDby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a sculptor, named Alfred, who having won thelarge gold medal and obtained a travelling scholarship, went to Italy,and then came back to his native land. He was young at that time-indeed, he is young still, although he is ten years older than hewas then. On his return, he went to visit one of the little towns inthe island of Zealand. The whole town knew who the stranger was; andone of the richest men in the place gave a party in his honor, and allwho were of any consequence, or who possessed some property, were...　

ON LONGEVITY AND SHORTNESS OF LIFEby Aristotletranslated by G. R. T. Ross1THE reasons for some animals being long-lived and othersshort-lived, and, in a word, causes of the length and brevity oflife call for investigation.The necessary beginning to our inquiry is a statement of thedifficulties about these points. For it is not clear whether inanimals and plants universally it is a single or diverse cause thatmakes some to be long-lived, others short-lived. Plants too have insome cases a long life, while in others it lasts but for a year....