Man and SupermanA COMEDY AND A PHILOSOPHYBy George Bernard ShawEPISTLE DEDICATORY TO ARTHUR BINGHAM WALKLEYMy dear Walkley:You once asked me why I did not write a Don Juan play. The levitywith which you assumed this frightful responsibility has probablyby this time enabled you to forget it; but the day of reckoninghas arrived: here is your play! I say your play, because quifacit per alium facit per se. Its profits, like its labor, belongto me: its morals, its manners, its philosophy, its influence onthe young, are for you to justify. You were of mature age when...
The Poor Clareby Elizabeth GaskellCHAPTER I.December 12th, 1747.My life has been strangely bound up with extraordinary incidents, some of which occurred before I had any connection with the principal actors in them, or indeed, before I even knew of their existence. I suppose, most old men are, like me, more given to looking back upon their own career with a kind of fond interest and affectionate remembrance, than to watching the events though these may have far more interest for the multitude immediately passing before their eyes. If this should be the case with the generality of old people
THE ADVENTURES OF GERARDTHE ADVENTURES OFGERARDBY A. CONAN DOYLE1- Page 2-THE ADVENTURES OF GERARDPREFACEI hope that some readers may possibly be interested in these little talesof the Napoleonic soldiers to the extent of following them up to thesprings from which they flow. The age was rich in military material,...
Historic Girlsby E. S. BrooksSTORIES OF GIRLS WHO HAVE INFLUENCED THEHISTORY OF THEIR TIMESE. S. BROOKSPREFACE.In these progressive days, when so much energy and discussion aredevoted to what is termed equality and the rights of woman, it iswell to remember that there have been in the distant past women,and girls even, who by their actions and endeavors provedthemselves the equals of the men of their time in valor,shrewdness, and ability.This volume seeks to tell for the girls and boys of to-day thestories of some of their sisters of the long-ago,girls who by...
AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONSby Adam Smith1776INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF THE WORKTHE annual labour of every nation is the fund whichoriginally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencesof life which it annually consumes, and which consist alwayseither in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what ispurchased with that produce from other nations.According therefore as this produce, or what is purchasedwith it, bears a greater or smaller proportion to the number of...
Camille (La Dame aux Camilias)by Alexandre Dumas, filsChapter IIn my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a long time in studying men, as it is impossible to speak a language until it has been seriously acquired. Not being old enough to invent, I content myself with narrating, and I beg the reader to assure himself of the truth of a story in which all the characters, with the exception of the heroine, are still alive. Eye-witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have collected are to be found in Paris, and I might call upon them to confirm me if my test
SolitudeThis is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense,and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with astrange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along thestony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool aswell as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me,all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trumpto usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borneon the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the...
John Bull on the Guadalquivirby Anthony TrollopeI am an Englishman, living, as all Englishman should do, in England,and my wife would not, I think, be well pleased were any one toinsinuate that she were other than an Englishwoman; but in thecircumstances of my marriage I became connected with the south ofSpain, and the narrative which I am to tell requires that I shouldrefer to some of those details.The Pomfrets and Daguilars have long been in trade together in thiscountry, and one of the partners has usually resided at Seville forthe sake of the works which the firm there possesses. My fath
[Original Dedication of First Essay, Omitted in subsequent Editions,]To William Wilberforce, Esq., MPMY DEAR SIR In contemplating, the public characters of the day, no one among them appears to have more nearly adopted in practice the principles which this Essay develops than yourself. In all the most important questions which have come before the senate since you became a legislator, you have not allowed the mistaken considerations of sect or party to influence your decisions; so far as an unbiased judgement can be formed of them, they appear generally to have been dictated by compre
The Red Sealby Natalie Sumner LincolnCHAPTER IIN THE POLICE COURTTe Assistant District Attorney glanced down at the papers in his hand and then up at the well-dressed, stockily built man occupying the witness stand. His manner was conciliatory."According to your testimony, Mr. Clymer, the prisoner, John Sylvester, was honest and reliable, and faithfully performed his duties as confidential clerk," he stated. "Just when was Sylvester in your employ?""Sylvester was never in my employ," corrected Benjamin Augustus Clymer. The president of the Metropolis Trust Company was noted for his precis
The Life of Thomas Telford by Smilesby Samuel Smiles"Let us travel, and wherever we find no facility fortravelling from a city to a town, from a village to ahamlet, we may pronounce the people to be barbarous"Abbe Raynal"The opening up of the internal communications of acountry is undoubtedly the first and most importantelement of its growth in commerce and civilization"Richard CobdenCONTENTSPrefaceEARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLINGCHAPTER I. Old RoadsRoads as agents of civilization...
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...
God the Known and God the Unknownby Samuel ButlerPrefatory Note"GOD the Known and God the Unknown" first appeared in the form ofa series of articles which were published in "The Examiner" inMay, June, and July, 1879. Samuel Butler subsequently revisedthe text of his work, presumably with the intention ofrepublishing it, though he never carried the intention intoeffect. In the present edition I have followed his revisedversion almost without deviation. I have, however, retained afew passages which Butler proposed to omit, partly because they...
Greville Faneby Henry JamesComing in to dress for dinner, I found a telegram: "Mrs. Stormerdying; can you give us half a column for to-morrow evening? Let heroff easy, but not too easy." I was late; I was in a hurry; I hadvery little time to think, but at a venture I dispatched a reply:"Will do what I can." It was not till I had dressed and was rollingaway to dinner that, in the hansom, I bethought myself of thedifficulty of the condition attached. The difficulty was not ofcourse in letting her off easy but in qualifying that indulgence. "I...
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...
The Silverado Squattersby Robert Louis StevensonTHE scene of this little book is on a high mountain. Thereare, indeed, many higher; there are many of a nobler outline.It is no place of pilgrimage for the summary globe-trotter;but to one who lives upon its sides, Mount Saint Helena soonbecomes a centre of interest. It is the Mont Blanc of onesection of the Californian Coast Range, none of its nearneighbours rising to one-half its altitude. It looks down onmuch green, intricate country. It feeds in the spring-time...