Sarrasineby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara Bell and othersDEDICATIONTo Monsieur Charles Bernard du Grail.SARRASINEI was buried in one of those profound reveries to which everybody,even a frivolous man, is subject in the midst of the most uproariousfestivities. The clock on the Elysee-Bourbon had just struck midnight.Seated in a window recess and concealed behind the undulating folds ofa curtain of watered silk, I was able to contemplate at my leisure thegarden of the mansion at which I was passing the evening. The trees,being partly covered with snow, were outlined indistinctly against thegrayish background formed by a cloudy sky, barely whitened by the...
THE MONKEY AND THE JELLY-FISHChildren must often have wondered why jelly-fishes have noshells, like so many of the creatures that are washed up everyday on the beach. In old times this was not so; the jelly-fishhad as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through hisown fault, as may be seen in this story.The sea-queen Otohime, whom you read of in the story ofUraschimatoro, grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengerswere sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every countryunder the sea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidlyworse instead of better. Everyone had almost given up hope, whenone day a doctor arrived who was cleverer than the rest, and said...
Phyllis of Philistiaby Frank Frankfort MooreCHAPTER I.AN ASTRONOMER WITHOUT A TELESCOPE."After all," said Mr. Ayrton, "what is marriage?""Ah!" sighed Phyllis. She knew that her father had become possessed of a phrase, and that he was anxious to flutter it before her to see how it went. He was a connoisseur in the bric-a-brac of phrases."Marriage means all your eggs in one basket," said he."Ah!" sighed Phyllis once more. She wondered if her father really thought that she would be comforted in her great grief by a phrase. She did not want to know how marriage might be defined. She knew that all definitions are indefinite. She knew that in the case of marriage everything depends upon the defin
The Magic Skinby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageTo Monsieur Savary, Member of Le Academie des Sciences.ITHE TALISMANTowards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered thePalais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the lawwhich protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. Hemounted the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished bythe number 36, without too much deliberation."Your hat, sir, if you please?" a thin, querulous voice called out. Alittle old man, crouching in the darkness behind a railing, suddenlyrose and exhibited his features, carved after a mean design....
THE CONDUCT OF LIFEby Ralph Waldo EmersonIFATEDelicate omens traced in airTo the lone bard true witness bare;Birds with auguries on their wingsChanted undeceiving thingsHim to beckon, him to warn;Well might then the poet scornTo learn of scribe or courierHints writ in vaster character;And on his mind, at dawn of day,Soft shadows of the evening lay.For the prevision is alliedUnto the thing so signified;Or say, the foresight that awaitsIs the same Genius that creates....
Tanglewood Talesby Nathaniel HawthorneTHE WAYSIDE. INTRODUCTORY.A short time ago, I was favored with a flying visit from my young friend Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting the breezy mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college, Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told me, of repairing the inroads which severe application to study had made upon his health; and I was happy to conclude, from the excellent physical condition in which I saw him, that the remedy had already been attended with very desirable success. He had now run up from Boston by the noon train, partly impelled by the friendly regard with which he
Under Western Eyesby Joseph Conrad"I would take liberty from any handas a hungry man would snatch a piece of bread."Miss HALDINPART FIRSTTo begin with I wish to disclaim the possession of those highgifts of imagination and expression which would have enabled mypen to create for the reader the personality of the man whocalled himself, after the Russian custom, Cyril son ofIsidorKirylo Sidorovitch-Razumov,If I have ever had these gifts in any sort of living form theyhave been smothered out of existence a long time ago under awilderness of words. Words, as is well known, are the great foes...
THE SKETCH BOOKCHRISTMASby Washington IrvingCHRISTMASBut is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair ofhis good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that,seeing I cannot have more of him.HUE AND CRY AFTER CHRISTMAS.A man might then beholdAt Christmas, in each hallGood fires to curb the cold,And meat for great and small.The neighbors were friendly bidden,And all had welcome true,The poor from the gates were not chidden...
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OFBENJAMIN FRANKLININTRODUCTORY NOTEBENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born in Milk Street, Boston, on January6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler whomarried twice, and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the youngestson. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve he was bound apprenticeto his brother James, a printer, who published the "New EnglandCourant." To this journal he became a contributor, and later was fora time its nominal editor. But the brothers quarreled, and Benjaminran away, going first to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, wherehe arrived in October, 1723. He soon obtained work as a printer,...
TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNELTOM SWIFT AND HISBIG TUNNEL(or The Hidden City of the Andes)Victor Appleton1- Page 2-TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNELCHAPTER IAn Appeal for AidTom Swift, seated in his laboratory engaged in trying to solve apuzzling question that had arisen over one of his inventions, was startledby a loud knock on the door. So emphatic, in fact, was the summons that...
Seraphitaby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Madame Eveline de Hanska, nee Comtesse Rzewuska.Madame,Here is the work which you asked of me. I am happy, inthus dedicating it, to offer you a proof of the respectfulaffection you allow me to bear you. If I am reproached forimpotence in this attempt to draw from the depths of mysticism abook which seeks to give, in the lucid transparency of ourbeautiful language, the luminous poesy of the Orient, to you theblame! Did you not command this struggle (resembling that ofJacob) by telling me that the most imperfect sketch of this...
Remember the Alamoby Amelia E. BarrCHAPTER I.THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS."What, are you stepping westward?" "Yea."* * * * *Yet who would stop or fear to advance,Though home or shelter there was none,With such a sky to lead him on!"WORDSWORTH."Ah! cool night wind, tremulous stars,Ah! glimmering water,Fitful earth murmur,Dreaming woods!"ARNOLD.In A. D. sixteen hundred and ninety-two, a few Franciscanmonks began to build a city. The site chosen was a lovelywilderness hundreds of miles away from civilization on every...