Men of Invention and Industryby Samuel Smiles"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, withouteloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage toperform that which they lacked language to explain. Such menhave worked the deliverance of nations and their own greatness.Their hearts are their books; events are their tutors; greatactions are their eloquence."MACAULAY.Contents.PrefaceCHAPTER I Phineas Pett:Beginings of English ShipbuildingCHAPTER II Francis Pettit Smith:Practical introducer of the Screw PropellerCHAPTER III John Harrison:Inventor of the Marine Chronometer...
Louis Lambertby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara Bell and James WaringDEDICATION"Et nunc et semper dilectoe dicatum."LOUIS LAMBERTLouis Lambert was born at Montoire, a little town in the Vendomois,where his father owned a tannery of no great magnitude, and intendedthat his son should succeed him; but his precocious bent for studymodified the paternal decision. For, indeed, the tanner and his wifeadored Louis, their only child, and never contradicted him inanything.At the age of five Louis had begun by reading the Old and NewTestaments; and these two Books, including so many books, had sealedhis fate. Could that childish imagination understand the mystical...
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeareby E. Nesbit"It may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence. He has been imitated by all succeeding writers; and it may be doubted whether from all his successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or more rules of practical prudence can be collected than he alone has given to his country."Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON.PREFACEThe writings of Shakespeare have been justly termed "the richest, the purest, the fairest, that genius uninspired ever penned."Shakespeare instructed by delighting. His plays alone (leaving mere science out of the question), contain more actual wisdom than the whole body of Engli
Villa Rubein and Other Storiesby John GalsworthyContents:Villa RubeinA Man of DevonA KnightSalvation of a ForsyteThe SilencePREFACEWriting not long ago to my oldest literary friend, I expressed in amoment of heedless sentiment the wish that we might have again one ofour talks of long-past days, over the purposes and methods of ourart. And my friend, wiser than I, as he has always been, repliedwith this doubting phrase "Could we recapture the zest of that oldtime?"I would not like to believe that our faith in the value ofimaginative art has diminished, that we think it less worth while to...
THE ILIADby Homertranslated by Samuel ButlerBOOK ISing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that broughtcountless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it sendhurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogsand vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from theday on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, firstfell out with one another.And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was theson of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent apestilence upon the host to plague the people, because the son of...
Albert Savarusby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageDEDICATIONTo Madame Emile Girardin.ALBERT SAVARUSOne of the few drawing-rooms where, under the Restoration, theArchbishop of Besancon was sometimes to be seen, was that of theBaronne de Watteville, to whom he was particularly attached on accountof her religious sentiments.A word as to this lady, the most important lady of Besancon.Monsieur de Watteville, a descendant of the famous Watteville, themost successful and illustrious of murderers and renegadeshisextraordinary adventures are too much a part of history to be relatedherethis nineteenth century Monsieur de Watteville was as gentle and...
A Summer in a Canyon: A California Storyby Kate Douglas WigginSCENE: A Camping Ground in the Canyon Las Flores.PEOPLE IN THE TENTS.DR. PAUL WINSHIP Mine HostMRS. TRUTH WINSHIP The Guardian AngelDICKY WINSHIP A Small Scamp of Six YearsBELL WINSHIP The Camp PoetessPOLLY OLIVER A Sweet but Saucy LassMARGERY NOBLE A Nut-Brown MaydePHILIP NOBLE The Useful MemberGEOFFREY STRONG A Harvard BoyJACK HOWARD Prince of MischiefHOP YET A Heathen Chinee.PANCHO GUTIERREZ A Mexican man-of-all-work.CHAPTER I: PREPARATION AND DEPARTURE...
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyLETTER: February 10th, 1833To the Rev. J. JowettWILLOW LANE, ST. GILES, NORWICH,FEB. 10TH, 1833.REVD. AND DEAR SIR, - I have just received your communication, and notwithstanding it is Sunday morning, and the bells with their loud and clear voices are calling me to church, I have sat down to answer it by return of post. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that I was rejoiced to see the Chrestomathie Mandchou, which will be of no slight assistance in learning the Tartar dialect, on which ever since I left London I have been almost incessantly occupied. It is, then, your opinion, that from the lack of anything in th
An Old Town By The SeaAn Old Town By The Seaby Thomas Bailey Aldrich1- Page 2-An Old Town By The SeaPISCATAQUA RIVERThou singest by the gleaming isles, By woods, and fields of corn,Thou singest, and the sunlight smiles Upon my birthday morn.But I within a city, I, So full of vague unrest, Would almost give mylife to lie An hour upon upon thy breast.To let the wherry listless go, And, wrapt in dreamy joy, Dip, and surgeidly to and fro, Like the red harbor-buoy;...
ON SLEEP AND SLEEPLESSNESSby Aristotletranslated by J. I. Beare1WITH regard to sleep and waking, we must consider what they are:whether they are peculiar to soul or to body, or common to both; andif common, to what part of soul or body they appertain: further,from what cause it arises that they are attributes of animals, andwhether all animals share in them both, or some partake of the oneonly, others of the other only, or some partake of neither and some ofboth.Further, in addition to these questions, we must also inquire what...
The Story of Little Black SamboThe Story of Little Black Mingoby Helen BannermanThe Story of Little Black SamboBy Helen BannermanPREFACE.There is very little to say about the story of LITTLE BLACKSAMBO. Once upon a time there was an English lady in India,where black children abound and tigers are everyday affairs,who had two little girls. To amuse these little girls sheused now and then to invent stories, for which, beingextremely talented, she also drew and coloured the pictures.Among these stories LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, which was made up on along railway journey, was the favourite; and it has been putinto a DUMPY BOOK, and the pictures copies as exactly as...
Chitra, a Play in One Actby Rabindranath TagoreTOMRS. WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODYPREFACETHIS lyrical drama was written about twenty-five years ago. It isbased on the following story from the Mahabharata.In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow ofpenance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, thebeautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country.Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of hisdaughter in marriage. Chitravahana asked him who he was, andlearning that he was Arjuna the Pandara, told him that...