FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENSOUP FROM A SAUSAGE SKEWERby Hans Christian Andersen"WE had such an excellent dinner yesterday," said an old mouseof the female sex to another who had not been present at the feast. "Isat number twenty-one below the mouse-king, which was not a bad place.Shall I tell you what we had? Everything was first rate. Mouldy bread,tallow candle, and sausage. And then, when we had finished thatcourse, the same came on all over again; it was as good as two feasts.We were very sociable, and there was as much joking and fun as if wehad been all of one family circle. Nothing was left but the sausage...　

The Hunchbackby James Sheridan KnowlesINTRODUCTIONJames Sheridan Knowles was born at Cork in 1784, and died at Torquayin December, 1862, at the age of 78. His father was a teacher ofelocution, who compiled a dictionary, and who was related to theSheridans. He moved to London when his son was eight years old, andthere became acquainted with William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb. Theson, after his school education, obtained a commission in the army,but gave up everything for the stage, and made his first appearanceat the Crow Street Theatre, in Dublin. He did not become a greatactor, and when he took to writing plays he did not prove himself agreat poet, but his skill in contriving situations 　

The Yellow Wallpaperby Charlotte Perkins GilmanIt is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John andmyself secure ancestral halls for the summer.A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say ahaunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicitybutthat would be asking too much of fate!Still I will proudly declare that there is something queerabout it.Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stoodso long untenanted?John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that inmarriage.John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience withfaith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly atany talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in...　

NOTE TO GENERAL PREFACE, p. 　

Aaron Trowby Anthony TrollopeI would wish to declare, at the beginning of this story, that Ishall never regard that cluster of islets which we call Bermuda asthe Fortunate Islands of the ancients. Do not let professionalgeographers take me up, and say that no one has so accounted them,and that the ancients have never been supposed to have gottenthemselves so far westwards. What I mean to assert is thisthat,had any ancient been carried thither by enterprise or stress ofweather, he would not have given those islands so good a name. Thatthe Neapolitan sailors of King Alonzo should have been wrecked here,I consider to be more likely. The vexed Bermoothes is a good name...　

The Song of the Cardinalby Gene Stratton-PorterIN LOVING TRIBUTETO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHERMARK STRATTON"For him every work of God manifested a new and heretoforeunappreciated loveliness."Chapter 1"Good cheer! Good cheer!" exulted the CardinalHe darted through the orange orchard searching for slugs for hisbreakfast, and between whiles he rocked on the branches and rangover his message of encouragement to men. The song of theCardinal was overflowing with joy, for this was his holiday, hisplaytime. The southern world was filled with brilliant sunshine,...　

Michael Strogoffby Jules VerneorThe Courier of the CzarMichael StrogoffBOOK ICHAPTER I A FETE AT THE NEW PALACE"SIRE, a fresh dispatch.""Whence?""From Tomsk?""Is the wire cut beyond that city?""Yes, sire, since yesterday.""Telegraph hourly to Tomsk, General, and keep me informedof all that occurs.""Sire, it shall be done," answered General Kissoff.These words were exchanged about two hours after midnight,at the moment when the fete given at the New Palace was atthe height of its splendor.During the whole evening the bands of the Preobra-jensky and Paulowskyregiments had played without cessation polkas, mazurkas, schottisches,...　

The Princess de Montpensierby Mme. de LafayetteIntroductionby Oliver C. ColtThis story was written by Madame de Lafayette and publishedanonymously in 1662. It is set in a period almost 100 yearspreviously during the sanguinary wars of the counter-reformation,when the Catholic rulers of Europe, with the encouragement of thePapacy, were bent on extirpating the followers of the creeds ofLuther and Calvin. I am not qualified to embark on a historicalanalysis, and shall do no more than say that many of the personswho are involved in the tale actually existed, and the eventsreferred to actually took place. The weak and vicious King andhis malign and unscrupulous mother are real enough, as is a Du