Ferragusby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Hector Berlioz.PREFACEThirteen men were banded together in Paris under the Empire, allimbued with one and the same sentiment, all gifted with sufficientenergy to be faithful to the same thought, with sufficient honor amongthemselves never to betray one another even if their interestsclashed; and sufficiently wily and politic to conceal the sacred tiesthat united them, sufficiently strong to maintain themselves above thelaw, bold enough to undertake all things, and fortunate enough tosucceed, nearly always, in their undertakings; having run the greatestdangers, but keeping silence if defeated; inaccessible to fe　

1593VENUS AND ADONISby William ShakespeareVilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus ApolloPocula Castalia plena ministret aquaTO THERIGHT HONOURABLEHENRY WRIOTHESLEY,EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND BARONOF TITCHFIELDRight Honourable,I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines toyour lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing sostrong a prop to support so weak a burden: only, if your honour seem...　

LITTLE NOVELSby Wilkie CollinsMRS. ZANT AND THE GHOST.I.THE course of this narrative describes the return of a disembodied spirit to earth, and leads the reader on new and strange ground.Not in the obscurity of midnight, but in the searching light of day, did the supernatural influence assert itself. Neither revealed by a vision, nor announced by a voice, it reached mortal knowledge through the sense which is least easily self-deceived: the sense that feels.The record of this event will of necessity produce conflicting impressions. It will raise, in some minds, the doubt which reason asserts; it will invigorate, in other minds, the hope which faith justifies; and it will leave the terrible 　

Christian Scienceby Mark TwainCHRISTIAN SCIENCEPREFACEBOOK I of this volume occupies a quarter or a third of the volume,and consists of matter written about four years ago, but not hithertopublished in book form. It contained errors of judgment and of fact.I have now corrected these to the best of my ability and later knowledge.Book II was written at the beginning of 1903, and has not until nowappeared in any form. In it my purpose has been to present a character-portrait of Mrs. Eddy, drawn from her own acts and words solely, not fromhearsay and rumor; and to explain the nature and scope of her Monarchy,as revealed in the Laws by which she governs it, and which she wrote...　

Tarzan the Terribleby Edgar Rice BurroughsCHAPTERI The PithecanthropusII "To the Death!"III Pan-at-leeIV Tarzan-jad-guruV In the Kor-ul-gryfVI The Tor-o-donVII Jungle CraftVIII A-lurIX Blood-Stained AltarsX The Forbidden GardenXI The Sentence of DeathXII The Giant StrangerXIII The MasqueraderXIV The Temple of the GryfXV "The King Is Dead!"XVI The Secret WayXVII By Jad-bal-lulXVIII The Lion Pit of Tu-lurXIX Diana of the JungleXX Silently in the NightXXI The ManiacXXII A Journey on a GryfXXIII Taken AliveXXIV The Messenger of DeathXXV HomeGlossary1The Pithecanthropus...　

Mary Stuartby Alexandre Dumas, PereCHAPTER ISome royal names are predestined to misfortune: in France, there isthe name "Henry". Henry I was poisoned, Henry II was killed in atournament, Henry III and Henry IV were assassinated. As to Henry V,for whom the past is so fatal already, God alone knows what thefuture has in store for him.In Scotland, the unlucky name is "Stuart". Robert I, founder of therace, died at twenty-eight of a lingering illness. Robert II, themost fortunate of the family, was obliged to pass a part of his life,not merely in retirement, but also in the dark, on account ofinflammation of the eyes, which made them blood-red. Robert III...　

IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSIN THE CARQUINEZWOODSby Bret Harte1- Page 2-IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSCHAPTER I.The sun was going down on the Carquinez Woods. The few shaftsof sunlight that had pierced their pillared gloom were lost in unfathomabledepths, or splintered their ineffectual lances on the enormous trunks of theredwoods. For a time the dull red of their vast columns, and the dull redof their cast-off bark which matted the echoless aisles, still seemed to hold...　

THE SEVENTH LETTERby Platotranslated by J. HarwardPLATO TO THE RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF DION. WELFARE.You write to me that I must consider your views the same as those ofDion, and you urge me to aid your cause so far as I can in word anddeed. My answer is that, if you have the same opinion and desire as hehad, I consent to aid your cause; but if not, I shall think morethan once about it. Now what his purpose and desire was, I caninform you from no mere conjecture but from positive knowledge. Forwhen I made my first visit to Sicily, being then about forty years...　

The Golden Sayings of EpictetusIAre these the only works of Providence within us? What wordssuffice to praise or set them forth? Had we but understanding,should we ever cease hymning and blessing the Divine Power, bothopenly and in secret, and telling of His gracious gifts? Whetherdigging or ploughing or eating, should we not sing the hymn toGod:Great is God, for that He hath given us such instruments to tillthe ground withal:Great is God, for that He hath given us hands and the power ofswallowing and digesting; of unconsciously growing andbreathing while we sleep!Thus should we ever have sung; yea and this, the grandest and...　

The Cask of Amontilladoby Edgar Allen PoeThe thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I bestcould, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, whoso well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, thatI gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged;this was a point definitely settledbut the very definitivenesswith which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must notonly punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed whenretribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressedwhen the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who hasdone the wrong....　

The Red Acornby John McElroyPrefaceThe name given this story is that made glorious by the valor and achievements of the splendid First Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, the cognizance of which was a crimson acorn, worn on the breasts of its gallant soldiers, and borne upon their battle flags. There are few gatherings of men into which one can go to-day without finding some one wearing, as his most cherished ornament, a red acorn, frequently wrought in gold and studded with precious stones, and which tells that its wearer is a veteran of Mill Springs, Perryville, Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta, Jonesville, March to the Sea, and Bentonville....　

Green Mansions A Romance of the Tropical Forestby W. H. HudsonFOREWORDI take up pen for this foreword with the fear of one who knows that he cannot do justice to his subject, and the trembling of one who would not, for a good deal, set down words unpleasing to the eye of him who wrote Green Mansions, The Purple Land, and all those other books which have meant so much to me. For of all living authorsnow that Tolstoi has gone I could least dispense with W. H. Hudson. Why do I love his writing so? I think because he is, of living writers that I read, the rarest spirit, and has the clearest gift of conveying to me the nature of that spirit. Writers are to their readers little new worlds to b