Lizzie Leighby Elizabeth GaskellCHAPTER I.When Death is present in a household on a Christmas Day, the verycontrast between the time as it now is, and the day as it has oftenbeen, gives a poignancy to sorrowa more utter blankness to thedesolation. James Leigh died just as the far-away bells of RochdaleChurch were ringing for morning service on Christmas Day, 1836. Afew minutes before his death, he opened his already glazing eyes, andmade a sign to his wife, by the faint motion of his lips, that he hadyet something to say. She stooped close down, and caught the brokenwhisper, "I forgive her, Annie! May God forgive me!"...　

The Man Who Knew Too Muchby Gilbert K. ChestertonCONTENTSTHE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH:I. THE FACE IN THE TARGETII. THE VANISHING PRINCEIII. THE SOUL OF THE SCHOOLBOYIV. THE BOTTOMLESS WELLV. THE FAD OF THE FISHERMANVI. THE HOLE IN THE WALLVII. THE TEMPLE OF SILENCEVIII. THE VENGEANCE OF THE STATUETHE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCHI. THE FACE IN THE TARGETHarold March, the rising reviewer and social critic, was walking vigorously across a great tableland of moors and commons, the horizon of which was fringed with the far-off woods of the famous estate of Torwood Park. He was a good-looking young man in tweeds, with very pale curly hair and pale clear eyes. Walking in wind and sun in the very landscape 　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BOTTLE NECKby Hans Christian AndersenCLOSE to the corner of a street, among other abodes of poverty,stood an exceedingly tall, narrow house, which had been so knockedabout by time that it seemed out of joint in every direction. Thishouse was inhabited by poor people, but the deepest poverty wasapparent in the garret lodging in the gable. In front of the littlewindow, an old bent bird-cage hung in the sunshine, which had not evena proper water-glass, but instead of it the broken neck of a bottle,turned upside down, and a cork stuck in to make it hold the water with...　

Active Serviceby Steven CraneCHAPTER I.MARJORY walked pensively along the hall. In the cool shadows made by the palms on the window ledge, her face wore the expression of thoughtful melancholy expected on the faces of the devotees who pace in cloistered gloom. She halted before a door at the end of the hall and laid her hand on the knob. She stood hesitating, her head bowed. It was evident that this mission was to require great fortitude.At last she opened the door. " Father," she began at once. There was disclosed an elderly, narrow-faced man seated at a large table and surrounded by manuscripts and books. The sunlight flowing through curtains of Turkey red fell sanguinely upon the bust of　

Styleby Walter RaleighStyle, the Latin name for an iron pen, has come to designate the art that handles, with ever fresh vitality and wary alacrity, the fluid elements of speech. By a figure, obvious enough, which yet might serve for an epitome of literary method, the most rigid and simplest of instruments has lent its name to the subtlest and most flexible of arts. Thence the application of the word has been extended to arts other than literature, to the whole range of the activities of man. The fact that we use the word "style" in speaking of architecture and sculpture, painting and music, dancing, play-acting, and cricket, that we can apply it to the careful achievements of the houseb　

Essays on Life, Art and Scienceby Samuel ButlerContents:IntroductionQuis Desiderio?Ramblings in CheapsideThe Aunt, The Nieces, and the DogHow to make the best of lifeThe Sanctuary of MontrigoneA Medieval Girl SchoolArt in the Valley of SaasThought and LanguageThe Deadlock in DarwinismINTRODUCTIONIt is hardly necessary to apologise for the miscellaneous characterof the following collection of essays. Samuel Butler was a man ofsuch unusual versatility, and his interests were so many and sovarious that his literary remains were bound to cover a wide field.Nevertheless it will be found that several of the subjects to which...　

A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar; A Contribution to the History of Indiaby Robert SewellPrefaceThe two Portuguese chronicles, a translation of which into English is now for the first time offered to the public, are contained in a vellum-bound folio volume in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, amongst the manuscripts of which institution it bears the designation "PORT. NO. 65." The volume in question consists of copies of four original documents; the first two, written by Fernao Nuniz and Domingo Paes, being those translated below, the last two (at the end of the MS.) letters written from China about the year 1520 A.D. These will probably be published in translation by Mr. Donald Ferguson i　

The Playboy of the Western Worldby J. M. SyngeA COMEDY IN THREE ACTSPREFACEIn writing THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, as in my other plays, I have usedone or two words only that I have not heard among the country people ofIreland, or spoken in my own nursery before I could read the newspapers. Acertain number of the phrases I employ I have heard also from herds andfishermen along the coast from Kerry to Mayo, or from beggar-women andballadsingers nearer Dublin; and I am glad to acknowledge how much I owe tothe folk imagination of these fine people. Anyone who has lived in realintimacy with the Irish peasantry will know that the wildest sayings and ideas...　

Lectures XVI and XVIIMYSTICISMOver and over again in these lectures I have raised points andleft them open and unfinished until we should have come to thesubject of Mysticism. Some of you, I fear, may have smiled asyou noted my reiterated postponements. But now the hour has comewhen mysticism must be faced in good earnest, and those brokenthreads wound up together. One may say truly, I think, thatpersonal religious experience has its root and centre in mysticalstates of consciousness; so for us, who in these lectures aretreating personal experience as the exclusive subject of our...　

The Voice of the Cityby O HenryTHE VOICE OF THE CITYTwenty-five years ago the school children usedto chant their lessons. The manner of their deliverywas a singsong recitative between the utterance of anEpiscopal minister and the drone of a tired sawmill.I mean no disrespect. We must have lumber andsawdust.I remember one beautiful and instructive littlelyric that emanated from the physiology class. Themost striking line of it was this:"The shin-bone is the long-est bone in the hu-manbod-y."What an inestimable boon it would have been ifall the corporeal and spiritual facts pertaining to...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD STREET LAMPby Hans Christian AndersenDID you ever hear the story of the old street lamp? It is notremarkably interesting, but for once in a way you may as well listento it. It was a most respectable old lamp, which had seen many, manyyears of service, and now was to retire with a pension. It was thisevening at its post for the last time, giving light to the street. Hisfeelings were something like those of an old dancer at the theatre,who is dancing for the last time, and knows that on the morrow shewill be in her garret, alone and forgotten. The lamp had very great...　

THE CRISIS IN RUSSIATHE CRISIS IN RUSSIAby ARTHUR RANSOMETO WILLIAM PETERS OF ABERDEEN1- Page 2-THE CRISIS IN RUSSIAINTRODUCTIONTHE characteristic of a revolutionary country is that change is aquicker process there than elsewhere. As the revolution recedes into thepast the process of change slackens speed. Russia is no longer the dizzyingkaleidoscope that it was in 1917. No longer does it change visibly from...