American Literary Centersby William Dean HowellsOne of the facts which we Americans have a difficulty in making clear toa rather inattentive world outside is that, while we have apparently aliterature of our own, we have no literary centre. We have so muchliterature that from time to time it seems even to us we must have aliterary centre. We say to ourselves, with a good deal of logic, Wherethere is so much smoke there must be some fire, or at least a fireplace.But it is just here that, misled by tradition, and even by history, wedeceive ourselves. Really, we have no fireplace for such fire as we havekindled; or, if any one is disposed to deny this, then I say, we have a...　

The Efficiency Expertby Edgar Rice BurroughsCHAPTER I.JIMMY TORRANCE, JR.The gymnasium was packed as Jimmy Torrance stepped into the ring for the final event of the evening that was to decide the boxing championship of the university. Drawing to a close were the nearly four years of his college careerprofitable years, Jimmy considered them, and certainly successful up to this point. In the beginning of his senior year he had captained the varsity eleven, and in the coming spring he would again sally forth upon the diamond as the star initial sacker of collegedom.His football triumphs were in the past, his continued baseball successes a foregone conclusionif he won to-night his cup of happin　

IS SHAKESPEARE DEAD?(from My Autobiography)Scattered here and there through the stacks of unpublished manuscript which constitute this formidable Autobiography and Diary of mine, certain chapters will in some distant future be found which deal with "Claimants"claimants historically notorious: Satan, Claimant; the Golden Calf, Claimant; the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, Claimant; Louis XVII., Claimant; William Shakespeare, Claimant; Arthur Orton, Claimant; Mary Baker G. Eddy, Claimantand the rest of them. Eminent Claimants, successful Claimants, defeated Claimants, royal Claimants, pleb Claimants, showy Claimants, shabby Claimants, revered Claimants, despised Claimants, twinkle star-like he　

The Price She Paidby David Graham PhillipsIHENRY GOWER was dead at sixty-onethe end of a lifelong fraud which never had been suspected, and never would be. With the world, with his acquaintances and neighbors, with his wife and son and daughter, he passed as a generous, warm-hearted, good-natured man, ready at all times to do anything to help anybody, incapable of envy or hatred or meanness. In fact, not once in all his days had he ever thought or done a single thing except for his own comfort. Like all intensely selfish people who are wise, he was cheerful and amiable, because that was the way to be healthy and happy and to have those around one agreeable and in the mood to do what one 　

Adventure VIIIThe Resident PatientGlancing over the somewhat incoherent series ofMemoirs with which I have endeavored to illustrate afew of the mental peculiarities of my friend Mr.Sherlock Holmes, I have been struck by the difficultywhich I have experienced in picking out examples whichshall in every way answer my purpose. For in thosecases in which Holmes has performed some tour de forceof analytical reasoning, and has demonstrated thevalue of his peculiar methods of investigation, thefacts themselves have often been so slight or socommonplace that I could not feel justified in layingthem before the public. On the other hand, it has...　

OTHOA.D. 32-69by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHE new emperor went early in the morning to the capitol, andsacrificed; and, having commanded Marius Celsus to be brought, hesaluted him, and with obliging language desired him rather to forgethis accusation than remember his acquittal; to which Celsus answeredneither meanly nor ungratefully, that his very crime ought torecommend his integrity, since his guilt had been his fidelity toGalba, from whom he had never received any personal obligations.Upon which they were both of them admired by those that were...　

The Adventure of the Red CircleThe Adventure of the RedCircleBy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle1- Page 2-The Adventure of the Red CircleOne"Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particular cause foruneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time is of some value,should interfere in the matter. I really have other things to engage me."So spoke Sherlock Holmes and turned back to the great scrapbook in...　

THE MASTER THIEFTHERE was once upon a time a husbandman who had three sons.He had no property to bequeath to them, and no means of puttingthem in the way of getting a living, and did not know what todo, so he said that they had his leave to take to anything they mostfancied, and go to any place they best liked. He would gladlyaccompany them for some part of their way, he said, and that he did.He went with them till they came to a place where three roadsmet, and there each of them took his own way, and the father badethem farewell and returned to his own home again. What becameof the two elder I have never been able to discover, but the youngest...　

The Divine Comedyby DANTE ALIGHIERI(1265-1321)TRANSLATED BYHENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW(1807-1882)Incipit Comoedia Dantis Alagherii,Florentini natione, non moribus.The Divine Comedytranslated by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowINFERNOInferno: Canto IMidway upon the journey of our lifeI found myself within a forest dark,For the straightforward pathway had been lost.Ah me! how hard a thing it is to sayWhat was this forest savage, rough, and stern,Which in the very thought renews the fear.So bitter is it, death is little more;But of the good to treat, which there I found,Speak will I of the other things I saw there....　

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...　

Palace of the Alhambra.TO THE traveller imbued with a feeling for the historical andpoetical, so inseparably intertwined in the annals of romanticSpain, the Alhambra is as much an object of devotion as is the Caabato all true Moslems. How many legends and traditions, true andfabulous; how many songs and ballads, Arabian and Spanish, of love andwar and chivalry, are associated with this oriental pile! It was theroyal abode of the Moorish kings, where, surrounded with the splendorsand refinements of Asiatic luxury, they held dominion over what theyvaunted as a terrestrial paradise, and made their last stand forempire in Spain. The royal palace forms but a part of a fortress,...　

Martin Guerreby Alexandre Dumas, PereWe are sometimes astonished at the striking resemblance existingbetween two persons who are absolute strangers to each other, but infact it is the opposite which ought to surprise us. Indeed, whyshould we not rather admire a Creative Power so infinite in itsvariety that it never ceases to produce entirely differentcombinations with precisely the same elements? The more oneconsiders this prodigious versatility of form, the more overwhelmingit appears.To begin with, each nation has its own distinct and characteristictype, separating it from other races of men. Thus there are the...