Three Ghost StoriesThree Ghost StoriesCharles Dickens1- Page 2-Three Ghost StoriesTHE SIGNAL-MAN"Halloa! Below there!"When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the doorof his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole. One wouldhave thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not havedoubted from what quarter the voice came; but instead of looking up towhere I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he...　

　This novel is dedicated to Stan, Christopher, Michele and Howard; to Rosario and Patrice; to Pamela and Elaine; and to Niccolo.　This novel is dedicated by Vittorio to the people of Florence, Italy.　　　1　WHO I AM, WHY I WRITE, WHAT IS TO E　　WHEN I was a small boy I had a terrible dream. I dreamt I held in my arms the severed heads of my younger brother I and sister. They were quick still, and mute, with big fluttering eyes, and reddened cheeks, and so horrified was I that I could make no more of a sound than they could. The dream came true.　But no one will weep for me or for them. They have been buried, nameless, beneath five centuries of time. I am a vampire.　My name is Vittorio, and I writ　

George Cruikshankby William Makepeace ThackerayAccusations of ingratitude, and just accusations no doubt, are madeagainst every inhabitant of this wicked world, and the fact is, thata man who is ceaselessly engaged in its trouble and turmoil, bornehither and thither upon the fierce waves of the crowd, bustling,shifting, struggling to keep himself somewhat above waterfightingfor reputation, or more likely for bread, and ceaselessly occupiedto-day with plans for appeasing the eternal appetite of inevitablehunger to-morrowa man in such straits has hardly time to think ofanything but himself, and, as in a sinking ship, must make his own...　

A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDRENA TREATISE ONPARENTS ANDCHILDRENBY BERNARD SHAW1- Page 2-A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDRENTrailing Clouds of GloryChildhood is a stage in the process of that continual remanufacture ofthe Life Stuff by which the human race is perpetuated. The Life Forceeither will not or cannot achieve immortality except in very low organisms:indeed it is by no means ascertained that even the amoeba is immortal.Human beings visibly wear out, though they last longer than their friends...　

　Neither do they expect trouble with a cargo that is sewn up tight.　Only a privileged few knew exactly when the Kruxator Collection would arrive in the country. That it was due to e to Britain was mon knowledge, and you had only to read a newspaper to discover that March 15th was the day on which the fabled group of paintings and jewellery were to go on display - for two weeks - at the Victoria and Albert Museum.　The Kruxator Collection is called after its founder, the late Niko Kruxator, whose fabulous wealth arose from sources unknown, for he had arrived penniless in the United States at about the time of the Wall Street Crash in October 1929. By the time he died in 1977, most people th　

SUMMERCHAPTER ONE　　　　GRADUALLY THE girl came to the conclusion that she was ill. It could not be anything else.　　　　She pushed her way across the pavement, stood with her back against a brick wall, felt the rough surface scraping her skin through her blouse and jeans. The brickwork seemed to move, like a piece of automatically operated emery paper. Up, down, up, down. Her groping fingers found a doorpost, gripped it; it was moving too. Up, down, up, down, gyrating.　　　　People pushed past her, bumped into her. A woman clutched at her, almost pulled her down, but somehow she held on. Everybody was rushing, a seething mass of hastening humanity as though everybody was ill, that they were hurr　

　To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates　From its own wreck the thing it contemplates.　Percy Bysshe Shelley,　Prometheus Unbound　Prologue　False Angels　　JERUSALEM　The wound was their path.　Nathan Lee Swift sat strapped in the belly of the cargo helicopter with a dozen assorted archangels, looking down upon what little remained. The earthquake was visible mostly by what was no longer visible. Cities and villages had simply vanished in puffs of dust. Even his ruins were gone. The map had gone blank.　The air was hot. It was summer. There was no horizon. The sands stretched into haze. He felt chained to the giant beside him, his former professor David Ochs. He had not wanted to leave, now he　

　DREAD　　THERE IS NO delight the equal of dread. If it were possible to sit, invisible, between two people on any train, in any waiting room or office, the conversation overheard would time and again circle on that subject. Certainly the debate might appear to be about something entirely different; the state of the nation, idle chat about death on the roads, the rising price of dental care; but strip away the metaphor, the innuendo, and there, nestling at the heart of the discourse, is dread. While the nature of God, and the possibility of eternal life go undiscussed, we happily chew over the minutiae of misery. The syndrome recognizes no boundaries; in bath-house and seminar-room alike, the　

The Fall of the House of UsherThe Fall of the House ofUsherEdgar Allen Poe1- Page 2-The Fall of the House of UsherDuring the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn ofthe year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I hadbeen passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract ofcountry; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on,within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was...　

400 BCON ANCIENT MEDICINEby HippocratesTranslated by Francis AdamsWHOEVER having undertaken to speak or write on Medicine, havefirst laid down for themselves some hypothesis to their argument, suchas hot, or cold, or moist, or dry, or whatever else they choose(thus reducing their subject within a narrow compass, and supposingonly one or two original causes of diseases or of death amongmankind), are all clearly mistaken in much that they say; and thisis the more reprehensible as relating to an art which all men availthemselves of on the most important occasions, and the good...　

Lesser Hippiasby Plato (see Appendix I)Translated by Benjamin JowettAPPENDIX I.It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings ofPlato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is ofmuch value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of acentury later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of theAristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertaintyconcerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed tohim. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, andsome of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are taken....　

The Boy Captives An Incident of the Indian War of 1695The Boy CaptivesAn Incident of the Indian War of 1695by John Greenleaf Whittier1- Page 2-The Boy Captives An Incident of the Indian War of 1695THE township of Haverhill, even as late as the close of theseventeenth century, was a frontier settlement, occupying an advancedposition in the great wilderness, which, unbroken by the clearing of awhite man, extended from the Merrimac River to the French villages onthe St. Francois. A tract of twelve miles on the river and three or four...