Weir of HermistonWeir of HermistonRobert Louis Stevenson1- Page 2-Weir of HermistonTO MY WIFEI saw rain falling and the rainbow drawn On Lammermuir.Hearkening I heard again In my precipitous city beaten bells Winnow thekeen sea wind. And here afar, Intent on my own race and place, I wrote.Take thou the writing: thine it is. For who Burnished the sword, blew onthe drowsy coal, Held still the target higher, chary of praise And prodigalof counsel - who but thou? So now, in the end, if this the least be good, If...
THE VITAL MESSAGETHE VITAL MESSAGEARTHUR CONAN DOYLE1- Page 2-THE VITAL MESSAGEPREFACEIn "The New Revelation" the first dawn of the coming change hasbeen described. In "The Vital Message" the sun has risen higher, and onesees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseenmay be. As I look into the future of the human race I am reminded of howonce, from amid the bleak chaos of rock and snow at the head of an Alpine...
Sunday Under Three Headsby Charles DickensDEDICATIONTo The Right ReverendTHE BISHOP OF LONDONMY LORD,You were among the first, some years ago, to expatiate on thevicious addiction of the lower classes of society to Sundayexcursions; and were thus instrumental in calling forth occasionaldemonstrations of those extreme opinions on the subject, which arevery generally received with derision, if not with contempt.Your elevated station, my Lord, affords you countless opportunitiesof increasing the comforts and pleasures of the humbler classes ofsociety - not by the expenditure of the smallest portion of yourprincely income, but by merely sanctioning with the influence of...
Erewhon (Revised Edition)by Samuel ButlerOR OVER THE RANGEPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONThe Author wishes it to be understood that Erewhon is pronounced asa word of three syllables, all shortthus, E-re-whon.PREFACE TO SECOND EDITIONHaving been enabled by the kindness of the public to get through anunusually large edition of "Erewhon" in a very short time, I havetaken the opportunity of a second edition to make some necessarycorrections, and to add a few passages where it struck me that theywould be appropriately introduced; the passages are few, and it ismy fixed intention never to touch the work again.I may perhaps be allowed to say a word or two here in reference to...
The MemorabiliaThe Memorabiliaby XenophonTranslation by H. G. Dakyns1- Page 2-The MemorabiliaBOOK III have often wondered by what arguments those who indicted[1]Socrates could have persuaded the Athenians that his life was justly forfeitto the state. The indictment was to this effect: "Socrates is guilty of crimein refusing to recognise the gods acknowledged by the state, and importing...
The Lost HouseThe Lost Houseby Richard Harding Davis1- Page 2-The Lost HouseIIt was a dull day at the chancellery. His Excellency the AmericanAmbassador was absent in Scotland, unveiling a bust to Bobby Burns,paid for by the numerous lovers of that poet in Pittsburg; the FirstSecretary was absent at Aldershot, observing a sham battle; the MilitaryAttache was absent at the Crystal Palace, watching a foot-ball match; the...
The Duchesse de Langeaisby Honore de BalzacTHE DUCHESS OF LANGEAISIIn a Spanish city on an island in the Mediterranean, there stands a convent of the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, where the rule instituted by St. Theresa is still preserved with all the first rigour of the reformation brought about by that illustrious woman. Extraordinary as this may seem, it is none the less true.Almost every religious house in the Peninsula, or in Europe for that matter, was either destroyed or disorganised by the outbreak of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars; but as this island was protected through those times by the English fleet, its wealthy convent and peaceable inhabitants were secure fr
IN THE town there were two mutes, and they were alwaystogether. Early every morning they would come out fromthe house where they lived and walk arm in arm down thestreet to work. The two friends were very different. Theone who always steered the way was an obese anddreamy Greek. In the summer he would come outwearing a yellow or green polo shirt stuffed sloppily intohis trousers in front and hanging loose behind. When itwas colder he wore over this a shapeless gray sweater.His face was round and oily, with half-closed eyelids andlips that curved in a gentle, stupid smile. The other mutewas tall. His eyes had a quick, intelligent expression. Hewas always immaculate and very soberly dressed..
The ChimesThe Chimes1- Page 2-The ChimesCHAPTER I - First Quarter.HERE are not many people - and as it is desirable that a story- tellerand a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon aspossible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this observation neither toyoung people nor to little people, but extend it to all conditions of people:little and big, young and old: yet growing up, or already growing downagain - there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a...
The Price She Paidby David Graham PhillipsIHENRY GOWER was dead at sixty-onethe end of a lifelong fraud which never had been suspected, and never would be. With the world, with his acquaintances and neighbors, with his wife and son and daughter, he passed as a generous, warm-hearted, good-natured man, ready at all times to do anything to help anybody, incapable of envy or hatred or meanness. In fact, not once in all his days had he ever thought or done a single thing except for his own comfort. Like all intensely selfish people who are wise, he was cheerful and amiable, because that was the way to be healthy and happy and to have those around one agreeable and in the mood to do what one
The Courtship of Susan Bellby Anthony TrollopeJohn Munroe Bell had been a lawyer in Albany, State of New York, andas such had thriven well. He had thriven well as long as thrift andthriving on this earth had been allowed to him. But the Almightyhad seen fit to shorten his span.Early in life he had married a timid, anxious, pretty, good littlewife, whose whole heart and mind had been given up to do his biddingand deserve his love. She had not only deserved it but hadpossessed it, and as long as John Munroe Bell had lived, HenriettaBellHetta as he called herhad been a woman rich in blessings.After twelve years of such blessings he had left her, and had left...
GULLIVER OF MARSby Edwin L. ArnoldOriginal Title: Lieut. Gulliver JonesCHAPTER IDare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a womanfor a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write itthe pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping vo