A New England Girlhoodby Lucy LarcomI dedicated this sketchTo my girlfriends in general;And in particularTo my namesake-niece,Lucy Larcom Spaulding.Happy those early days, when IShined in my angel-infancy!When on some gilded cloud or flowerMy gazing soul would dwell an hour,And in those weaker glories spySome shadows of eternity:Before I taught my tongue to woundMy conscience by a sinful sound;But felt through all this fleshy dressBright shoots of everlastingness.HENRY VAUGHANThe thought of our past years in me doth breedPerpetual benediction.WORDSWORTHPREFACETHE following sketch was written for the young, at the suggestion of friends....
The PondsSometimes, having had a surfeit of human society and gossip, andworn out all my village friends, I rambled still farther westwardthan I habitually dwell, into yet more unfrequented parts of thetown, "to fresh woods and pastures new," or, while the sun wassetting, made my supper of huckleberries and blueberries on FairHaven Hill, and laid up a store for several days. The fruits do notyield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to him whoraises them for the market. There is but one way to obtain it, yetfew take that way. If you would know the flavor of huckleberries,ask the cowboy or the partridge. It is a vulgar error to suppose...
ContentsIntroduction1. The Cyclone2. The Council with the Munchkins3. How Dorothy Saved the Scarecrow4. The Road Through the Forest5. The Rescue of the Tin Woodman6. The Cowardly Lion7. The Journey to the Great Oz8. The Deadly Poppy Field9. The Queen of the Field Mice10. The Guardian of the Gates11. The Emerald City of Oz...
BOOK II: OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANSIF any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some othertown, or desires to travel and see the rest of the country, heobtains leave very easily from the syphogrant and tranibors whenthere is no particular occasion for him at home: such as travel,carry with them a passport from the Prince, which both certifiesthe license that is granted for travelling, and limits the time oftheir return. They are furnished with a wagon, and a slave whodrives the oxen and looks after them; but unless there are womenin the company, the wagon is sent back at the end of the journey...
THE MASTER CAT; OR, PUSS IN BOOTSTHERE was a miller who left no more estate to the threesons he had than his mill, his ass, and his cat. Thepartition was soon made. Neither scrivener nor attorneywas sent for. They would soon have eaten up all the poorpatrimony. The eldest had the mill, the second the ass,and the youngest nothing but the cat. The poor youngfellow was quite comfortless at having so poor a lot."My brothers," said he, "may get their livinghandsomely enough by joining their stocks together; but formy part, when I have eaten up my cat, and made me amuff of his skin, I must die of hunger."The Cat, who heard all this, but made as if he did not,...
Free Trade or, The Meanes To Make Trade Florish. Wherein, TheCauses of the Decay of Trade in this Kingdome, are discovered:And the Remedies also to remoove the same, are represented.Propertius, nauita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator: Enumeratmiles vulnera, pastor oues.London, Printed by John Legatt, for Simon Waterson, dwelling inPaules Church-yard at the Signe of the Crowne. 1622by Edward MisseldonTo the Prince. SirYour Highnes is no lesse Happy to bee the Sonne of so great aKing, then to be the Heire apparent of so many Kingdomes. In theone, rare endowments of Majesty and Magnanimity, are Yours bygeneration: In the other, a Royall Monarchy by inheritance and...
Miss Sarah Jack, of Spanish Town, Jamaicaby Anthony TrollopeThere is nothing so melancholy as a country in its decadence, unlessit be a people in their decadence. I am not aware that the lattermisfortune can be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon race in any part ofthe world; but there is reason to fear that it has fallen on anEnglish colony in the island of Jamaica.Jamaica was one of those spots on which fortune shone with the fullwarmth of all her noonday splendour. That sun has set;whether forever or no none but a prophet can tell; but as far as a plain man maysee, there are at present but few signs of a coming morrow, or ofanother summer.It is not just or proper that one should grieve over
The Diary of Samuel Pepysby Samuel PepysFROM 1659 TO 1669WITH MEMOIREdited by LORD BRAYBROOKEPREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITIONThe Celebrated work here presented to the public under peculiar advantages may require a few introductory remarks.By the publication, during the last half century, of autobiographies, Diaries, and Records of Personal Character; this class of literature has been largely enriched, not only with works calculated for the benefit of the student, but for that larger class of readersthe people, who in the byeways of History and Biography which these works present, gather much of the national life at many periods, and pictures of manners and customs, habits and amusements, such
TO BE READ AT DUSKTO BE READ AT DUSKby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-TO BE READ AT DUSKOne, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summit ofthe Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remote heights,stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of red wine had beenbroached upon the mountain top, and had not yet had time to sink into thesnow.This is not my simile. It was made for the occasion by the stoutest...
Of the Origin of Governmentby David HumeMan born in a family, is compelled to maintain society, fromnecessity, from natural inclination, and from habit. The samecreature, in his farther progress, is engaged to establishpolitical society, in order to administer justice; without whichthere can be no peace among them, nor safety, nor mutualintercourse. We are, therefore, to look upon all the vastapparatus of our government, as having ultimately no other objector purpose but the distribution of justice, or, in other words,the support of the twelve judges. Kings and parliaments, fleetsand armies, officers of the court and revenue, ambassadors,ministers, and privy-counsellors, are all subordinate
The Boy CaptivesAn Incident of the Indian War of 1695by John Greenleaf WhittierTHE township of Haverhill, even as late as the close of theseventeenth century, was a frontier settlement, occupying anadvanced position in the great wilderness, which, unbroken by theclearing of a white man, extended from the Merrimac River to theFrench villages on the St. Francois. A tract of twelve miles on theriver and three or four northwardly was occupied by scatteredsettlers, while in the centre of the town a compact village hadgrown up. In the immediate vicinity there were but few Indians,and these generally peaceful and inoffensive. On the breaking out...
The Turn of the Screwby Henry JamesThe story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless,but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on ChristmasEve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be,I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that itwas the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallenon a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparitionin just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasionan appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleepingin the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it;waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again,...