The Mysterious Strangerby Mark TwainCONTENTS:THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGERA FABLEHUNTING THE DECEITFUL TURKEYTHE McWILLIAMSES AND THE BURGLAR ALARMTHE MYSTERIOUS STRANGERChapter 1It was in 1590winter. Austria was far away from the world, and asleep;it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain soforever. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and saidthat by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of Belief inAustria. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and it was sotaken, and we were all proud of it. I remember it well, although I was...　

PART IVTHE ANCIENT PEOPLEITHE San Francisco Mountain lies in Northern Arizona,above Flagstaff, and its blue slopes and snowy summitentice the eye for a hundred miles across the desert. Aboutits base lie the pine forests of the Navajos, where the greatred-trunked trees live out their peaceful centuries in thatsparkling air. The PINONS and scrub begin only where theforest ends, where the country breaks into open, stony...　

Nada the Lilyby H. Rider HaggardDEDICATIONSompseu:For I will call you by the name that for fifty years has been honouredby every tribe between Zambesi and Cape Agulbas,I greet you!Sompseu, my father, I have written a book that tells of men andmatters of which you know the most of any who still look upon thelight; therefore, I set your name within that book and, such as it is,I offer it to you.If you knew not Chaka, you and he have seen the same suns shine, youknew his brother Panda and his captains, and perhaps even that very...　

DRAKESTAILDRAKESTAIL was very little, that is why he was called Drakestail;but tiny as he was he had brains, and he knew what hewas about, for having begun with nothing he ended by amassing ahundred crowns. Now the King of the country, who was veryextravagant and never kept any money, having heard that Drakestailhad some, went one day in his own person to borrow his hoard, and,my word, in those days Drakestail was not a little proud of havinglent money to the King. But after the first and second year, seeingthat they never even dreamed of paying the interest, he became...　

Original Short Stories, Vol. 8.By Guy de MaupassantVOLUME VIII.CLOCHETTETHE KISSTHE LEGION OF HONORTHE TESTFOUND ON A DROWNED MANTHE ORPHANTHE BEGGARTHE RABBITHIS AVENGERMY UNCLE JULESTHE MODELA VAGABONDTHE FISHING HOLETHE SPASMIN THE WOODMARTINEALL OVERTHE PARROTA PIECE OF STRINGCLOCHETTEHow strange those old recollections are which haunt us, without our beingable to get rid of them.This one is so very old that I cannot understand how it has clung sovividly and tenaciously to my memory. Since then I have seen so many...　

The Writings of Abraham Lincolnby Abraham LincolnVOLUME IVTHE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES IILINCOLN AND DOUGLAS FOURTH JOINT DEBATE,AT CHARLESTON, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:It will be very difficult for an audience solarge as this to hear distinctly what a speaker says, andconsequently it is important that as profound silence be preserved aspossible.While I was at the hotel to-day, an elderly gentleman called upon meto know whether I was really in favor of producing a perfect equality...　

The Story of an African Farmby Olive Schreiner (Ralph Iron)Preface.I have to thank cordially the public and my critics for the reception theyhave given this little book.Dealing with a subject that is far removed from the round of English dailylife, it of necessity lacks the charm that hangs about the idealrepresentation of familiar things, and its reception has therefore been themore kindly.A word of explanation is necessary. Two strangers appear on the scene, andsome have fancied that in the second they have again the first, who returns...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENHOLGER DANSKEby Hans Christian AndersenIN Denmark there stands an old castle named Kronenburg, close bythe Sound of Elsinore, where large ships, both English, Russian, andPrussian, pass by hundreds every day. And they salute the old castlewith cannons, "Boom, boom," which is as if they said, "Good-day."And the cannons of the old castle answer "Boom," which means "Manythanks." In winter no ships sail by, for the whole Sound is coveredwith ice as far as the Swedish coast, and has quite the appearance...　

War of the Classesby Jack LondonContents:PrefaceThe Class StruggleThe TrampThe ScabThe Question of the MaximumA ReviewWanted: A New Land of DevelopmentHow I Became a SocialistPREFACEWhen I was a youngster I was looked upon as a weird sort ofcreature, because, forsooth, I was a socialist. Reporters fromlocal papers interviewed me, and the interviews, when published,were pathological studies of a strange and abnormal specimen of man.At that time (nine or ten years ago), because I made a stand in my...　

1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE THORNY ROAD OF HONORby Hans Christian AndersenAN old story yet lives of the "Thorny Road of Honor," of amarksman, who indeed attained to rank and office, but only after alifelong and weary strife against difficulties. Who has not, inreading this story, thought of his own strife, and of his own numerous"difficulties?" The story is very closely akin to reality; but stillit has its harmonious explanation here on earth, while reality oftenpoints beyond the confines of life to the regions of eternity. Thehistory of the world is like a magic lantern tha　

First Across the Continentby Noah BrooksThe Story ofThe Exploring Expedition of Lewisand Clark in 1804-5-6Chapter IA Great Transaction in LandThe people of the young Republic of the United States were greatly astonished, in the summer of 1803, to learn that Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, had sold to us the vast tract of land known as the country of Louisiana. The details of this purchase were arranged in Paris (on the part of the United States) by Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe. The French government was represented by Barbe-Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury.　

Tales for Fifteen: or, Imagination and Heartby James Fenimore Cooper (writing under thepseudonym of "Jane Morgan")NEW-YORKC. WILEY, 3 WALL STREETJ. Seymour, printer1823Southern District of New-York ss.BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirteenth day ofJune, in the forty-seventh year of the Independenceof the United States of America, Charles Wiley, ofthe said District, hath deposited in this office thetitle of a Book, the right whereof he claims asproprietor, in the words and figures following, towit:"Tales for Fifteen; or Imagination and Heart....　

SECOND EPILOGUECHAPTER IHistory is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and putinto words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of asingle nation, appears impossible.The ancient historians all employed one and the same method todescribe and seize the apparently elusive- the life of a people.They described the activity of individuals who ruled the people, andregarded the activity of those men as representing the activity of thewhole nation.The question: how did individuals make nations act as they wished...　

Lady Baltimoreby Owen WisterToS. Weir MitchellWith the Affection and Memories of All My LifeTo the ReaderYou know the great text in Burns, I am sure, where he wishes he could see himself as others see him. Well, here lies the hitch in many a work of art: if its makerpoet, painter, or novelistcould but have become its audience too, for a single day, before he launched it irrevocably upon the uncertain ocean of publicity, how much better his boat would often sail! How many little touches to the rigging he would give, how many little drops of oil to the engines here and there, the need of which 　

Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of Warby Frederick A. TalbotPREFACEEver since the earliest days of the great conquest of the air,first by the dirigible balloon and then by the aeroplane, theiruse in time of war has been a fruitful theme for discussion. Buttheir arrival was of too recent a date, their many utilities toounexplored to provide anything other than theories, manyobviously untenable, others avowedly problematical.Yet the part airships have played in the Greatest War has come asa surprise even to their most convinced advocates. For every...　

A Ramble Among the Hills.I USED frequently to amuse myself towards the close of the day, whenthe heat had subsided, with taking long rambles about theneighboring hills and the deep umbrageous valleys, accompanied by myhistoriographic squire, Mateo, to whose passion for gossiping I onsuch occasions gave the most unbounded license; and there was scarce arock, or ruin, or broken fountain, or lonely glen, about which hehad not some marvellous story; or, above all, some golden legend;for never was poor devil so munificent in dispensing hidden treasures....