Memories and Portraitsby Robert Louis StevensonNOTETHIS volume of papers, unconnected as they are, it will be betterto read through from the beginning, rather than dip into at random.A certain thread of meaning binds them. Memories of childhood andyouth, portraits of those who have gone before us in the battle -taken together, they build up a face that "I have loved long sinceand lost awhile," the face of what was once myself. This has comeby accident; I had no design at first to be autobiographical; I wasbut led away by the charm of beloved memories and by regret for theirrevocable dead; and when my own young face (which is a face of...
poor. The rich one was a goldsmith and evil-hearted. The poor onesupported himself by making brooms, and was good and honorable. Hehad two children, who were twin brothers and as like each other astwo drops of water. The two boys went in and out of the rich house,and often got some of the scraps to eat. It happened once when thepoor man was going into the forest to fetch brush-wood, that he saw abird which was quite golden and more beautiful than any he had everchanced to meet with. He picked up a small stone, threw it at it,and was lucky enough to hit it, but one golden feather only felldown, and the bird flew away. The man took the feather and carriedit to his brother, who looked at
The Club of Queer Tradesby G.K.ChestertonChapter 1The Tremendous Adventures of Major BrownRabelais, or his wild illustrator Gustave Dore, must have had something to do with the designing of the things called flats in England and America. There is something entirely Gargantuan in the idea of economising space by piling houses on top of each other, front doors and all. And in the chaos and complexity of those perpendicular streets anything may dwell or happen, and it is in one of them, I believe, that the inquirer may find the offices of the Club of Queer Trades. It may be thought at the first glance that the name would attract and startle the passer-by, but nothing attracts or startles in th
PRINCE DARLINGONCE upon a time there lived a king who was so justand kind that his subjects called him "the Good King."It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that alittle white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing, spranginto his arms for shelter. The King stroked it gently,and said to it:"Well, bunny, as you have come to me for protectionI will see that nobody hurts you."And he took it home to his palace and had it put in apretty little house, with all sorts of nice things to eat.That night, when he was alone in his room, a beautifullady suddenly appeared before him; her long dress wasas white as snow, and she had a crown of white roses upon...
Lecture VIIIThe Growth and Diffusion of Primitive IdeasMr Tylor has justly observed that the true lesson of the newscience of Comparative Mythology is the barrenness in primitivetimes of the faculty which we most associate with mentalfertility, the Imagination. Comparative Jurisprudence, as mightbe expected from the natural stability of law and custom, yetmore strongly suggests the same inference, and points to thefewness of ideas and the slowness of additions to the mentalstock as among the most general characteristics of mankind in itsinfancy.The fact that the generation of new ideas does not proceed in...
THE STARIt was on the first day of the New Year that the announcementwas made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that themotion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all the planetsthat wheel about the sun, had become very erratic. Ogilvy hadalready called attention to a suspected retardation in its velocityin December. Such a piece of news was scarcely calculated tointerest a world the greater portion of whose inhabitants wereunaware of the existence of the planet Neptune, nor outside theastronomical profession did the subsequent discovery of a faintremote speck of light in the region of the perturbed planet cause...
The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches-Volume Iby Lord MacaulayPREFACE.Lord Macaulay always looked forward to a publication of his miscellaneous works, either by himself or by those who should represent him after his death. And latterly he expressly reserved, whenever the arrangements as to copyright made it necessary, the right of such publication.The collection which is now published comprehends some of the earliest and some of the latest works which he composed. He was born on 25th October, 1800; commenced residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October, 1818; was elected Craven University Scholar in 1821; graduated as B.A. in 1822; was elected fellow of the college in October, 18
THE WIFE OF A KING.IONCE, WHEN THE NORTHLAND was very young, the social and civicvirtues were remarkably alike for their paucity and theirsimplicity. When the burden of domestic duties grew grievous, andthe fireside mood expanded to a constant protest against its bleakloneliness, the adventurers from the Southland, in lieu of better,paid the stipulated prices and took unto themselves native wives. Itwas a foretaste of Paradise to the women, for it must be confessedthat the white rovers gave far better care and treatment of themthan did their Indian copartners. Of course, the white men...
Hans Brinker or The Silver Skatesby Mary Mapes DodgeTo my father James J. Mapes this book is dedicated in gratitude and lovePrefaceThis little work aims to combine the instructive features of a book of travels with the interest of a domestic tale. Throughout its pages the descriptions of Dutch localities, customs, and general characteristics have been given with scrupulous care. Many of its incidents are drawn from life, and the story of Raff Brinker is founded strictly upon fact.While acknowledging my obligations to many well-known writers on Dutch history, literature, and art, I turn with especial gratitude to those kind Holland friends who, with generous zeal, have taken many a backw
ON SOPHISTICAL REFUTATIONSby Aristotletranslated by W. A. Pickard-CambridgeBook I1LET us now discuss sophistic refutations, i.e. what appear to berefutations but are really fallacies instead. We will begin in thenatural order with the first.That some reasonings are genuine, while others seem to be so but arenot, is evident. This happens with arguments, as also elsewhere,through a certain likeness between the genuine and the sham. Forphysically some people are in a vigorous condition, while others...
The Rivermanby Stewart Edward WhiteIThe time was the year 1872, and the place a bend in the river abovea long pond terminating in a dam. Beyond this dam, and on a flatlower than it, stood a two-story mill structure. Save for a small,stump-dotted clearing, and the road that led from it, all else wasforest. Here in the bottom-lands, following the course of thestream, the hardwoods grew dense, their uppermost branches justbeginning to spray out in the first green of spring. Farther back,where the higher lands arose from the swamp, could be discerned thegraceful frond of white pines and hemlock, and the sturdy tops of...
Part the Second.THE MARCH OF TIME.V.ADVANCING from time past to time present, the Prologue leaves thedate last attained (the summer of eighteen hundred andfifty-five), and travels on through an interval of twelveyearstells who lived, who died, who prospered, and who failedamong the persons concerned in the tragedy at the Hampsteadvillaand, this done, leaves the reader at the opening of THESTORY in the spring of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.The record begins with a marriagethe marriage of Mr. Vanboroughand Lady Jane Parnell.In three months from the memorable day when his solicitor had...