Tales and Fantasiesby Robert Louis StevensonContentsThe Misadventures of John NicholsonThe Body-SnatcherThe Story of a LieTHE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSONCHAPTER I - IN WHICH JOHN SOWS THE WINDJOHN VAREY NICHOLSON was stupid; yet, stupider men than heare now sprawling in Parliament, and lauding themselves asthe authors of their own distinction. He was of a fat habit,even from boyhood, and inclined to a cheerful and cursoryreading of the face of life; and possibly this attitude ofmind was the original cause of his misfortunes. Beyond thishint philosophy is silent on his career, and superstition...
Eminent Victoriansby Lytton StracheyPrefaceTHE history of the Victorian Age will never be written; we knowtoo much about it. For ignorance is the first requisite of thehistorianignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, whichselects and omits, with a placid perfection unattainable by thehighest art. Concerning the Age which has just passed, ourfathers and our grandfathers have poured forth and accumulated sovast a quantity of information that the industry of a Ranke wouldbe submerged by it, and the perspicacity of a Gibbon would quailbefore it. It is not by the direct method of a scrupulousnarration that the explorer of the past can hope to depict that...
Daisy Millerby Henry JamesIN TWO PARTSPART IAt the little town of Vevey, in Switzerland, there is aparticularly comfortable hotel. There are, indeed, many hotels,for the entertainment of tourists is the business of the place,which, as many travelers will remember, is seated upon the edgeof a remarkably blue lakea lake that it behooves every touristto visit. The shore of the lake presents an unbroken arrayof establishments of this order, of every category, from the"grand hotel" of the newest fashion, with a chalk-white front,a hundred balconies, and a dozen flags flying from its roof,...
The Land of the Changing Sunby William N. HarbenChapter I.The balloon seemed scarcely to move, though it was slowly sinking toward the ocean of white clouds which hung between it and the earth.The two inmates of the car were insensible; their faces were bloodless, their cheeks sunken. They were both young and handsome. Harry Johnston, an American, was as dark and sallow as a Spaniard. Charles Thorndyke, an English gentleman, had yellow hair and mustache, blue eyes and a fine intellectual face. Both were tall, athletic in build and well-proportioned.Johnston was the first to come to consciousness as the balloon sank into less rarefied atmosphere. He opened his eyes dreamily and looked curiou
Abraham Lincolnby James Russell LowellTHERE have been many painful crises since the impatient vanity ofSouth Carolina hurried ten prosperous Commonwealths into acrime whose assured retribution was to leave them either at themercy of the nation they had wronged, or of the anarchy they hadsummoned but could not control, when no thoughtful Americanopened his morning paper without dreading to find that he had nolonger a country to love and honor. Whatever the result of theconvulsion whose first shocks were beginning to be felt, therewould still be enough square miles of earth for elbow-room; butthat ineffable sentiment made up of memory and hope, of instinct...
The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nationby Carrie A. NationENCOURAGEMENT FOR CHRISTIAN WORKERS."My word shall not return unto me void."Isa. iv., II."When saddened by the little fruit thy labors seem to yield,And when no springing blade appears in all thy barren field;When those whom thou dost seek to win, seem hard, and cold, and deadThen, weary worker, stay thine heart on what the Lord hath said;And let it give new life to hopes which seem well-nigh destroyedThis promise, that His word, shall not return unto Him void.For, if, indeed it be His truth, thy feeble lips proclaim,Then, He is pledged to shadow forth, the glory of His name.True this at present may be veiled; still trusting
The Little Lame PrinceThe Little Lame PrinceBy MISS MULOCK1- Page 2-The Little Lame PrinceCHAPTER IYes, he was the most beautiful Prince that ever was born.Of course, being a prince, people said this; but it was true besides.When he looked at the candle, his eyes had an expression of earnestinquiry quite startling in a new born baby. His nosethere was not muchof it certainly, but what there was seemed an aquiline shape; his...
The Lesson of the Masterby Henry JamesHe had been told the ladies were at church, but this was correctedby what he saw from the top of the steps - they descended from agreat height in two arms, with a circular sweep of the mostcharming effect - at the threshold of the door which, from the longbright gallery, overlooked the immense lawn. Three gentlemen, onthe grass, at a distance, sat under the great trees, while thefourth figure showed a crimson dress that told as a "bit of colour"amid the fresh rich green. The servant had so far accompanied PaulOvert as to introduce him to this view, after asking him if hewished first to go to his room. The young man declined that...
VOLUME IICHAPTER IAvaunt! and quit my sight! Let the Earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold! Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which Thou dost glare with! Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery hence! Macbeth.Continuation of the History of Don Raymond.My journey was uncommonly agreeable: I found the Baron a Man of some sense, but little knowledge of the world. He had past a great part of his life without stirring beyond the precincts of his own domains, and consequently his manners were far from being the most polished: But He was hearty, good-humoured, and friendly. His attention to me was all that I
End NotesNOTE TO CHAPTER I.Note A.-The Ranger or the Forest, that cuts theforeclaws off our dogs.A most sensible grievance of those aggrieved times were theForest Laws. These oppressive enactments were the produce ofthe Norman Conquest, for the Saxon laws of the chase weremild and humane; while those of William, enthusiastically attachedto the exercise and its rights, were to the last degreetyrannical. The formation of the New Forest, bears evidenceto his passion for hunting, where he reduced many a happy villageto the condition of that one commemorated by my friend,Mr William Stewart Rose:``Amongst the ruins of the church...
THE ALHAMBRAby Washington IrvingPreface to the Revised Edition.Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays wereactually written during a residence in the Alhambra; others weresubsequently added, founded on notes and observations made there. Carewas taken to maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that thewhole might present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm,that singular little world into which I had been fortuitouslythrown; and about which the external world had a very imperfectidea. It was my endeavor scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half...
Sally Dowsby Bret HarteCONTENTSSALLY DOWSTHE CONSPIRACY OF MRS. BUNKERTHE TRANSFORMATION OF BUCKEYE CAMPTHEIR UNCLE FROM CALIFORNIASALLY DOWS.PROLOGUE.THE LAST GUN AT SNAKE RIVER.What had been in the cool gray of that summer morning a dewycountry lane, marked only by a few wagon tracks that neverencroached upon its grassy border, and indented only by the faintfootprints of a crossing fox or coon, was now, before high noon,already crushed, beaten down, and trampled out of all semblance ofits former graciousness. The heavy springless jolt of gun-carriageand caisson had cut deeply through the middle track; the hoofs of...