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
Their Silver Wedding Journey V3by William Dean HowellsPART III.XLVIII.At the first station where the train stopped, a young German bowedhimself into the compartment with the Marches, and so visibly resisted animpulse to smoke that March begged him to light his cigarette. In thetalk which this friendly overture led to between them he explained thathe was a railway architect, employed by the government on that line ofroad, and was travelling officially. March spoke of Nuremberg; he ownedthe sort of surfeit he had suffered from its excessive mediaevalism, andthe young man said it was part of the new imperial patriotism to cherishthe Gothic throughout Germany; no other sort of architecture wa
The Works of Edgar Allan PoeVolume 5 of the Raven EditionIN FIVE VOLUMESContentsPhilosophy of FurnitureA Tale of JerusalemThe SphinxHop FrogThe Man of the CrowdNever Bet the Devill Your HeadThou Art the ManWhy the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a SlingBon-BonSome words with a MummyThe Poetic PrincipleOld English PoetryPOEMSDedicationPrefacePoems of Later LifeThe RavenThe BellsUlalumeTo HelenAnnabel LeeA ValentineAn EnigmaTo my MotherFor AnnieTo FTo Frances S. OsgoodEldoradoEulalieA Dream within a DreamTo Marie Louise (Shew)To the SameThe City in the SeaThe SleeperBridal BalladNotes...
had nothing left but his mill and a large apple-tree behindit. Once when he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, anold man stepped up to him whom he had never seen before, andsaid, why do you plague yourself with cutting wood, I willmake you rich, if you will promise me what is standing behindyour mill. What can that be but my apple-tree, thought themiller, and said, yes, and gave a written promise to thestranger. He, however, laughed mockingly and said, when threeyears have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me,and then he went. When the miller got home, his wife came tomeet him and said, tell me, miller, from whence comes thissudden wealth into our house. All at on
The Vicar of Toursby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo David, Sculptor:The permanence of the work on which I inscribe your nametwice made illustrious in this centuryis very problematical;whereas you have graven mine in bronze which survives nationsif only in their coins. The day may come when numismatists,discovering amid the ashes of Paris existences perpetuated byyou, will wonder at the number of heads crowned in youratelier and endeavour to find in them new dynasties.To you, this divine privilege; to me, gratitude.De Balzac.THE VICAR OF TOURS...
Joan of Naples1343-1382By ALEXANDER DUMAS, PERECHAPTER IIn the night of the 15th of January 1343, while the inhabitants of Naples lay wrapped in peaceful slumber, they were suddenly awakened by the bells of the three hundred churches that this thrice blessed capital contains. In the midst of the disturbance caused by so rude a call the first bought in the mind of all was that the town was on fire, or that the army of some enemy had mysteriously landed under cover of night and could put the citizens to the edge of the sword. But the doleful, intermittent sounds of all these fills, which disturbed the silence at regular and distant intervals, were an invitation to the faithful pray for a pas
From This World to the Nextby Henry FieldingINTRODUCTIONBOOK ICHAPTER I.The author dies, meets with Mercury, and is by him conducted tothe stage which sets out for the other worldCHAPTER II.In which the author first refutes some idle opinions concerningspirits, and then the passengers relate their several deaths .CHAPTER III.The adventures we met with in the City of DiseasesCHAPTER IV.Discourses on the road, and a description of the palace of DeathCHAPTER V.The travelers proceed on their journey, and meet several spiritswho are coming into the flesh...
BENITO CERENOby Herman MelvilleIN THE year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano, of Duxbury, in Massachusetts, commanding a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor, with a valuable cargo, in the harbour of St. Maria- a small, desert, uninhabited island towards the southern extremity of the long coast of Chili. There he had touched for water. On the second day, not long after dawn, while lying in his berth, his mate came below, informing him that a strange sail was coming into the bay. Ships were then not so plenty in those waters as now. He rose, dressed, and went on deck. The morning was one peculiar to that coast. Everything was mute and calm; everything grey. The sea, though undulat
The Angel and the Author and othersby Jerome K. JeromeCHAPTER II had a vexing dream one night, not long ago: it was about afortnight after Christmas. I dreamt I flew out of the window in mynightshirt. I went up and up. I was glad that I was going up."They have been noticing me," I thought to myself. "If anything, Ihave been a bit too good. A little less virtue and I might havelived longer. But one cannot have everything." The world grewsmaller and smaller. The last I saw of London was the long line ofelectric lamps bordering the Embankment; later nothing remained but afaint luminosity buried beneath darkness. It was at this point of my...
The Madonna of the Futureby Henry JamesWe had been talking about the masters who had achieved but a singlemasterpiecethe artists and poets who but once in their lives hadknown the divine afflatus and touched the high level of perfection.Our host had been showing us a charming little cabinet picture by apainter whose name we had never heard, and who, after this singlespasmodic bid for fame, had apparently relapsed into obscurity andmediocrity. There was some discussion as to the frequency of thisphenomenon; during which, I observed, H- sat silent, finishing hiscigar with a meditative air, and looking at the picture which was...
OF SUPERSTITION AND ENTHUSIASMDavid Hume1741,is grown into a maxim, and is commonly proved, among otherinstances, by the pernicious effects of and, the corruptions of true religion.These two species of false religion, though both pernicious,are yet of a very different, and even of a contrary nature. Themind of man is subject to certain unaccountable terrors and...