Some Reminiscencesby Joseph ConradA Familiar Preface.As a general rule we do not want much encouragement to talk aboutourselves; yet this little book is the result of a friendlysuggestion, and even of a little friendly pressure. I defendedmyself with some spirit; but, with characteristic tenacity, thefriendly voice insisted: "You know, you really must."It was not an argument, but I submitted at once. If one must!. . .You perceive the force of a word. He who wants to persuadeshould put his trust, not in the right argument, but in the right...　

A Charmed Lifeby Richard Harding DavisShe loved him so, that when he went away to a little war in whichhis country was interested she could not understand, nor quiteforgive.As the correspondent of a newspaper, Chesterton had looked on atother wars; when the yellow races met, when the infidel Turkspanked the Christian Greek; and one he had watched from inside aBritish square, where he was greatly alarmed lest he should betrampled upon by terrified camels. This had happened before he andshe had met. After they met, she told him that what chances he hadchosen to take before he came into her life fell outside of herjurisdiction. But now that his life belonged to her, this talk of...　

FELICIA AND THE POT OF PINKSONCE upon a time there was a poor laborer who, feelingthat he had not much longer to live, wished to divide hispossessions between his son and daughter, whom he loveddearly.So he called them to him, and said: "Your motherbrought me as her dowry two stools and a straw bed; Ihave, besides, a hen, a pot of pinks, and a silver ring,which were given me by a noble lady who once lodged inmy poor cottage. When she went away she said to me:"`Be careful of my gifts, good man; see that you do notlose the ring or forget to water the pinks. As for yourdaughter, I promise you that she shall be more beautiful...　

New Yorkby James Fenimore CooperTHE increase of the towns of Manhattan, as, for the sake ofconvenience, we shall term New York and her adjuncts, in all thatcontributes to the importance of a great commercial mart, rendersthem one of the most remarkable places of the present age. Withinthe distinct recollections of living men, they have grown from acity of the fifth or sixth class to be near the head of all thepurely trading places of the known world. That there aresufficient causes for this unparalleled prosperity, will appearin the analysis of the natural advantages of the port, in itsposition, security, accessories, and scale....　

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...　

Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russiaby Maxime Kovalevsky1891Lecture 5.Old Russian Parliaments.In our last lecture we showed what causes produced the riseof monarchical power in Russia, and tried to prove that, powerfulas was the autocracy of the Czars of Moscovy, it was limited bythe political rights of the higher nobility. The exercise ofthese rights was entrusted to the Douma or Council, and similarpowers in matters ecclesiastical were vested in a HighCommission, often mentioned by the authors of the time under thename of the consecrated Sobor. This body was composed of theMetropolitan, Archbishops, Bishops, Archimandrites or vicars of...　

MEMOIRS OF CARWIN THE BILOQUIST [A fragment]MEMOIRS OFCARWIN THEBILOQUIST [A fragment]Charles Brockden Brown1- Page 2-MEMOIRS OF CARWIN THE BILOQUIST [A fragment]Chapter I.I was the second son of a farmer, whose place of residence was awestern district of Pennsylvania. My eldest brother seemed fitted bynature for the employment to which he was destined. His wishes neverled him astray from the hay-stack and the furrow. His ideas never ranged...　

400 BCON THE SACRED DISEASEby Hippocratestranslated by Francis AdamsON THE SACRED DISEASEIt is thus with regard to the disease called Sacred: it appears tome to be nowise more divine nor more sacred than other diseases, buthas a natural cause from the originates like other affections. Menregard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder,because it is not at all like to other diseases. And this notion ofits divinity is kept up by their inability to comprehend it, and thesimplicity of the mode by which it is cured, for men are freed from it...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LOVELIEST ROSE IN THE WORLDby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE lived once a great queen, in whose garden were found atall seasons the most splendid flowers, and from every land in theworld. She specially loved roses, and therefore she possessed the mostbeautiful varieties of this flower, from the wild hedge-rose, with itsapple-scented leaves, to the splendid Provence rose. They grew nearthe shelter of the walls, wound themselves round columns andwindow-frames, crept along passages and over the ceilings of thehalls. They were of every fragrance and color....　

A Little Tour In Franceby Henry JamesWe good Americans - I say it without presumption - are too apt to think that France is Paris, just as we are accused of being too apt to think that Paris is the celestial city. This is by no means the case, fortun- ately for those persons who take an interest in modern Gaul, and yet are still left vaguely unsatisfied by that epitome of civilization which stretches from the Arc de Triomphe to the Gymnase theatre. It had already been intimated to the author of these light pages that there are many good things in the _doux pays de France_ of which you get no hint in a walk between those ornaments of the capital; but the truth had been re- vealed only in q　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE THORNY ROAD OF HONORby Hans Christian AndersenAN old story yet lives of the "Thorny Road of Honor," of amarksman, who indeed attained to rank and office, but only after alifelong and weary strife against difficulties. Who has not, inreading this story, thought of his own strife, and of his own numerous"difficulties?" The story is very closely akin to reality; but stillit has its harmonious explanation here on earth, while reality oftenpoints beyond the confines of life to the regions of eternity. Thehistory of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us, in...　

THE SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRETONE afternoon I was sitting outside the Cafe de la Paix, watchingthe splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering overmy vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that waspassing before me, when I heard some one call my name. I turnedround, and saw Lord Murchison. We had not met since we had been atcollege together, nearly ten years before, so I was delighted tocome across him again, and we shook hands warmly. At Oxford we hadbeen great friends. I had liked him immensely, he was so handsome,so high-spirited, and so honourable. We used to say of him that hewould be the best of fellows, if he did not always speak the truth,...