Excerpt: THE longevity of trees is said to be in proportion to the slowness of their growth. It has to do no little as well with the depth and area of their roots and the richness of the soil in which they find themselves. When the sower went forth to sow, it will be remembered, that which soon sprang up as soon withered away. It was the seed that was content to ?bring forth fruit with patience? that finally won out and survived the others. These humble, old?fashioned il...
A few miles from the town of Southampton there is an old mansion-house, which has been for centuries known as Madeline Hall, in the possession of the de Versely family. It is a handsome building, surrounded by a finely timbered park of some extent, and, what is more important, by about 12,000 acres of land, which also appertain to it. At the period in which I commence this history, there resided in this mansion an elderly spinster of rank, named the Honourable Miss Delma...
TRAFFIC was light on the East Side elevated. When the three-car local stopped at a dimly lighted station, a lone passenger stepped to the warped boards of the platform. The train rumbled away while the man was shuffling slowly toward the turnstile exit. The night was warm, yet the passenger wore an overcoat, with collar turned up around his neck. He peered suspiciously back and forth as he shambled toward the steps that led to the street. He pulled the front of his grimy...
Excerpt: Chapter 1. THE happiness of some lives is distributed pretty evenly over the whole stretch from the cradle to the grave, while that of others comes all at once, glorifying some particular epoch and leaving the rest in shadow. During one, five, or ten blithe years, as the case may be, all the springs of life send up sweet waters; joy is in the very air we breathe; happiness seems our native element. During this period we know what is the zest of living, as compar...
Introduction: Probably no poet of importance equal or approaching to that of Pindar finds so few and so infrequent readers. The causes are not far to seek: in the first and most obvious place comes the great difficulty of his language, in the second the frequent obscurity of his thought, resulting mainly from his exceeding allusiveness and his abrupt transitions, and in the third place that amount of monotony which must of necessity attach to a series of poems provided f...
In that case, Will, I congratulate you. Such a girl isn't worth a second thought, and you've made a happy escape. No congratulations, if you please. You can talk coolly, because in regard to such matters you are cool, and, I may add, a trifle cold. Ambition is your mistress, and a musty law-book has more attractions for you than any woman living. I'm not so tempered. I am subject to the general law of nature, and a woman's love and sympathy are essential to success in my life and work....
THE little boy pressed his face against the window-pane and looked out at the bright sun-shiny morning. The cobble-stones of the square glistened like mica; in the trees a breeze danced and pranced, and shook drops of sunlight, like falling golden coins, into the brown water of the canal. Down-stream slowly drifted a long string of galiots piled with crimson cheeses. The little boy thought they looked as if they were roc's eggs, blocks of big ruby eggs. He said, Oh! with...
IN delineating the Heroine of this Fiction, the Author attempts to develop a character different from those generally portrayed. This woman is neither a Clarissa, a Lady G—, nor a Sophie. It would be vain to mention the various modifications of these models, as it would to remark, how widely artists wander from nature, when they copy the originals of great masters. They catch the gross parts; but the subtile spirit evaporates; and not having the just ties, affectation di...
Excerpt: IF I WERE to give a summary of the tendency of our times, I would say, Quantity. The multitude, the mass spirit, dominates everywhere, destroying quality. Our entire life production, politics, and education rests on quantity, on numbers.
Excerpt: Chapter 1. A CIRCUS TRAIN ?MAMMA, how much longer have we got to ride?? asked Nan Bobbsey, turning in her seat in the railroad car, to look at her parents, who sat behind her.
AT the end of 1811—an epoch memorable to us—there lived on his estate Nenaradovo kind Gavril Gavrilovitch R. He was renowned in the district for his friendliness and hospitality ; neighbours came to his house at every hour of the day to have a meal and a drink, to play a game of cards for five copecks stakes with his wife, and some to have a look at their daughter, Marya Gavrilovna, a pale and graceful girl of seventeen. She was considered an heiress, and many thought of...
Excerpt: Actus Primus. Scoena Prima. INDVCTION. Enter Rumour. Open your Eares: For which of you will stop The vent of Hearing, when loud Rumor speakes? I, from the Orient, to the drooping West (Making the winde my Post?horse) still vnfold The Acts commenced on this Ball of Earth. Vpon my Tongue, continuall Slanders ride, The which, in euery Language, I pronounce, Stuffing the Eares of them with false Reports: I speake of Peace, while couert Enmitie (Vnder the smile of Sa...
PREFACE: A full and authentic edition of Mozart's Letters ought to require no special apology; for, though their essential substance has already been made known by quotations from biographies by Nissen, Jahn, and myself, taken from the originals, still in these three works the letters are necessarily not only very imperfectly given, but in some parts so fragmentary, that the peculiar charm of this correspondence—namely, the familiar and confidential mood in which it was ...
Introduction: Geoffrey Chaucer lived mere than five hundred years ago, when Edward II. waged war in France, and the peasants rebelled in England against his son, Richard II, Yet for all this, England was then ?Merrie England.? Her trade prospered, men laughed and sang and delighted in tales, in art, end in out?door life. Chaucer was not a poet who lived apart from his fellows, but one who dealt constantly with men and affairs, and loved his fellow?men. He was an importan...
Excerpt: As Clayton rose to his feet in the still air, the tree?tops began to tremble in the gap below him, and a rippling ran through the leaves up the mountain?side. Drawing off his hat he stretched out his arms to meet it, and his eyes closed as the cool wind struck his throat and face and lifted the hair from his forehead. About him the mountains lay like a tumultuous sea?the Jellico Spur, stilled gradually on every side into vague, purple shapes against the broken r...
Here's your prize packages! Only five cents! Money prize in every package! Walk up, gentlemen, and try your luck! The speaker, a boy of fourteen, stood in front of the shabby brick building, on Nassau street, which has served for many years as the New York post office. In front of him, as he stood with his back to the building, was a small basket, filled with ordinary letter envelopes, each labeled Prize Package....
Excerpt: ?PAGING Mr. Crofton!? A square?built young man came to his feet as he heard the bell boy?s call. Striding across the hotel lobby, he stopped the attendant and acknowledged the summons. ?Miles Crofton?? he inquired. ?Yes, sir,? returned the bell hop. ?You?re Mr. Crofton?? Miles Crofton nodded as he passed the boy a quarter. The bell hop turned smartly about and indicated a row of telephone booths past the clerk?s desk. ?Telephone call, sir. Booth four.?
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Excerpt: 023.001 Successful indeed are the believers 023.002 Who are humble in their prayers, 023.003 And who shun vain conversation, 023.004 And who are payers of the poor?due; 023.005 And who guard their modesty?023.006 Save from their wives or the (slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are not blameworthy.
[The long chapter requisite to deal adequately with our Indian wars must, when finally written, deal candidly with the treacheries which, unhappilly, were not confined to the aboriginal race. Tribe after tribe would combine open hostility with secret negotiations, eager to strengthen their position by patched -up peace agreements in case the fighting went against them. French and English in turn availed themselves of Indian allies. In turn the civilized soldiery used and...