NUMA POMPILIUSLegendary, 8th-7th Century B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHOUGH the pedigrees of noble families of Rome go back in exact formas far as Numa Pompilius, yet there is great diversity amongsthistorians concerning the time in which he reigned; a certain writercalled Clodius, in a book of his entitled Strictures on Chronology,avers that the ancient registers of Rome were lost when the city wassacked by the Gauls, and that those which are now extant were...
1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORKSby Hans Christian AndersenON the last house in a little village the storks had built a nest,and the mother stork sat in it with her four young ones, who stretchedout their necks and pointed their black beaks, which had not yetturned red like those of the parent birds. A little way off, on theedge of the roof, stood the father stork, quite upright and stiff; notliking to be quite idle, he drew up one leg, and stood on the other,so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood. "Itmust look very grand," thought he, "for my wife to h
The Red Acornby John McElroyPrefaceThe name given this story is that made glorious by the valor and achievements of the splendid First Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, the cognizance of which was a crimson acorn, worn on the breasts of its gallant soldiers, and borne upon their battle flags. There are few gatherings of men into which one can go to-day without finding some one wearing, as his most cherished ornament, a red acorn, frequently wrought in gold and studded with precious stones, and which tells that its wearer is a veteran of Mill Springs, Perryville, Shiloh, Corinth, Stone Ri
360 BCPHAEDRUSby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettPHAEDRUSPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; PHAEDRUS. Scene: Under aplane-tree, by the banks of the Ilissus.Socrates. My dear Phaedrus, whence come you, and whither are yougoing?Phaedrus. I come from Lysias the son of Cephalus, and I am goingto take a walk outside the wall, for I have been sitting with him...
Guy Manneringby Sir Walter ScottINTRODUCTION TO GUY MANNERING.The Novel or Romance of WAVERLEY made its way to the public slowly, of course, at first, but afterwards with such accumulating popularity as to encourage the author to a second attempt. He looked about for a name and a subject; and the manner in which the novels were composed cannot be better illustrated than by reciting the simple narrative on which Guy Mannering was originally founded; but to which, in the progress of the work, the production ceased to bear any, even the most distant resemblance. The tale was originally told me b
THE WAYS OF MENTHE WAYS OF MENEliot Gregory1- Page 2-THE WAYS OF MENCHAPTER 1 - "UNCLE SAM"THE gentleman who graced the gubernatorial arm-chair of our statewhen this century was born happened to be an admirer of classic lore andthe sonorous names of antiquity.It is owing to his weakness in bestowing pompous cognomens on ourembryo towns and villages that to-day names like Utica, Syracuse, and...
Anne McCaffreyIntroductionOurs not to ponder what were fair in Life,But, finding what may be,Make it fair up to our means. When mankind first discovered Pern, third planet of the sun Rukbat, in the Sagittarian Sector, they paid little attention to the eccentric orbit of another satellite in the system. Settling the new planet, adjusting to its differences, the colonists spread out across the southern, most hospitable continent. Then disaster struck in the form of a rain of mycorrhizoid organisms, which voraciously devoured all but stone, metal, and water. The initial losses were staggering.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Dr. Johnson PART ONE We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive... ." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?" Then
The Moravians in GeorgiaThe Moravians inGeorgiaAdelaide L. Fries Winston-Salem, N. C.1- Page 2-The Moravians in GeorgiaChapter I. Antecedent Events.The Province of Georgia.It was in the year 1728 that the English Parliament was persuaded byJames Oglethorpe, Esq. soldier, statesman and philanthropist, toappoint a committee to investigate the condition of the debtors confined in...
The Captivesby Hugh WalpoleTOARNOLD BENNETTWITH DEEP AFFECTION"I confess that I do not see why the very existence of an invisible world may not in part depend on the personal response which any of us may make to the religious appeal. God Himself, in short, may draw vital strength and increase of very being from our fidelity. For my own part I do not know what the sweat and blood and tragedy of this life mean, if they mean anything short of this. If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatric
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT (or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)TOM SWIFT AND HISSUBMARINE BOAT(or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)VICTOR APPLETON1- Page 2-TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT (or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure)CHAPTER OneNews of a Treasure WreckThere was a rushing, whizzing, throbbing noise in the air. A greatbody, like that of some immense bird, sailed along, casting a grotesque...
The Crime of Sylvestre BonnardThe Crime of SylvestreBonnardby Anatole France1- Page 2-The Crime of Sylvestre BonnardPart IThe LogDecember 24, 1849.I had put on my slippers and my dressing-gown. I wiped away a tearwith which the north wind blowing over the quay had obscured my vision.A bright fire was leaping in the chimney of my study. Ice-crystals, shaped...
THE GOLDEN THRESHOLDTHE GOLDENTHRESHOLDBy Sarojini Naidu1- Page 2-THE GOLDEN THRESHOLDINTRODUCTIONIt is at my persuasion that these poems are now published. Theearliest of them were read to me in London in 1896, when the writer wasseventeen; the later ones were sent to me from India in 1904, when shewas twenty-five; and they belong, I think, almost wholly to those two...
An Anthology of Australian VerseEdited by Bertram StevensDedicated toDAVID SCOTT MITCHELL, Esq.SydneyPrefaceThe Editor has endeavoured to make this selection representativeof the best short poems written by Australians or inspired byAustralian scenery and conditions of life, "Australian" in this connectionbeing used to include New Zealand. The arrangement isas nearly as possible chronological; and the appendix containsbrief biographical particulars of the authors, together with noteswhich may be useful to readers outside Australia....
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 been...
Chapter XIX of Volume III (Chap. 61)HAPPY for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity i