The Conditions of Existenceby Thomas H. HuxleyIN the last Lecture I endeavoured to prove to you that, while, as ageneral rule, organic beings tend to reproduce their kind, there is inthem, also, a constantly recurring tendency to varyto vary to agreater or to a less extent. Such a variety, I pointed out to you,might arise from causes which we do not understand; we therefore calledit spontaneous; and it might come into existence as a definite andmarked thing, without any gradations between itself and the form whichpreceded it. I further pointed out, that such a variety having once...　

Pagan & Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaningby Edward Carpenter"The different religions being lame attempts to represent undervarious guises this one root-fact of the central universal life,men have at all times clung to the religious creeds and ritualsand ceremonials as symbolising in some rude way the redemptionand fulfilment of their own most intimate naturesand thiswhether consciously understanding the interpretations, or whether(as most often) only doing so in an unconscious or quitesubconscious way."The Drama of Love and Death, p. 96....　

A Modest Proposalby Jonathan SwiftA Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people inIreland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and formaking them beneficial to the publick.by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this greattown, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, theroads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, andimportuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of...　

Stories by Modern American AuthorsEdited by Julian HawthorneCONTENTS:F. MARION CRAWFORD (1854-)By the Waters of ParadiseMARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN (1862-)The Shadows on the WallMELVILLE D. POST (1871-)The Corpus DelictiAMBROSE BIERCE (1842-)An Heiress from RedhorseThe Man and the SnakeEDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-49)The Oblong BoxThe Gold-BugWASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)Wolfert Webber, or Golden DreamsAdventure of the Black FishermanCHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN (1771-1810)...　

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 related...　

A Vindication of the Rights of Womanby Mary Wollstonecraft [Godwin]WITH STRICTURES ON POLITICAL AND MORAL SUBJECTS,BY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.CONTENTS.INTRODUCTION.CHAPTER 1. THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED.CHAPTER 2. THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED.CHAPTER 3. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.CHAPTER 4. OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH WOMANIS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES.CHAPTER 5. ANIMADVERSIONS ON SOME OF THE WRITERS WHO HAVE RENDEREDWOMEN OBJECTS OF PITY, BORDERING ON CONTEMPT....　

Juanaby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley)DEDICATIONTo Madame la Comtesse Merlin.JUANA(THE MARANAS)CHAPTER IEXPOSITIONNotwithstanding the discipline which Marechal Suchet had introducedinto his army corps, he was unable to prevent a short period oftrouble and disorder at the taking of Tarragona. According to certainfair-minded military men, this intoxication of victory bore a strikingresemblance to pillage, though the marechal promptly suppressed it....　

IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSIN THE CARQUINEZWOODSby Bret Harte1- Page 2-IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSCHAPTER I.The sun was going down on the Carquinez Woods. The few shaftsof sunlight that had pierced their pillared gloom were lost in unfathomabledepths, or splintered their ineffectual lances on the enormous trunks of theredwoods. For a time the dull red of their vast columns, and the dull red...　

An Unprotected Female at the Pyramidsby Anthony TrollopeIn the happy days when we were young, no description conveyed to us socomplete an idea of mysterious reality as that of an Oriental city. Weknew it was actually there, but had such vague notions of its ways andlooks! Let any one remember his early impressions as to Bagdad orGrand Cairo, and then say if this was not so. It was probably takenfrom the "Arabian Nights," and the picture produced was one of strange,fantastic, luxurious houses; of women who were either very young andvery beautiful, or else very old and very cunning; but in e　

Wildfireby Zane GreyCHAPTER IFor some reason the desert scene before Lucy Bostil awoke varying emotionsasweet gratitude for the fullness of her life there at the Ford, yet a hauntingremorse that she could not be wholly contenta vague loneliness of soulathrill and a fear for the strangely calling future, glorious, unknown.She longed for something to happen. It might be terrible, so long as it waswonderful. This day, when Lucy had stolen away on a forbidden horse, she waseighteen years old. The thought of her mother, who had died long ago on their...　

The Boss and the Machine, A Chronicle of the Politicians and Party Organizationby Samuel P. OrthCONTENTSI. THE RISE OF THE PARTYII. THE RISE OF THE MACHINEIII. THE TIDE OF MATERIALISMIV. THE POLITICIAN AND THE CITYV. TAMMANY HALLVI. LESSER OLIGARCHIESVII. LEGISLATIVE OMNIPOTENCEVIII. THE NATIONAL HIERARCHYIX. THE AWAKENINGX. PARTY REFORMXI. THE EXPERT AT LASTBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTETHE BOSS AND THE MACHINECHAPTER I. THE RISE OF THE PARTYThe party system is an essential instrument of Democracy.Wherever government rests upon the popular will, there the party...　

Hermann and DorotheaBy Johann Wolfgang von GoetheTranslated by Ellen FrothinghamINTRODUCTORY NOTEThere are few modern poems of any country so perfect in their kind as the "Hermann and Dorothea" of Goethe. In clearness of characterization, in unity of tone, in the adjustment of background and foreground, in the conduct of the narrative, it conforms admirably to the strict canons of art; yet it preserves a freshness and spontaneity in its emotional appeal that are rare in works of so classical a perfection in form.The basis of the poem is a historical incident. In the year 1731 the Archbishop o　

The Children of the Nightby Edwin Arlington RobinsonA Book of PoemsTo the Memory of my Father and MotherContentsThe Children of the NightThree QuatrainsThe WorldAn Old StoryBallade of a ShipBallade by the FireBallade of Broken FlutesBallade of Dead FriendsHer EyesTwo MenVillanelle of ChangeJohn EvereldownLuke HavergalThe House on the HillRichard CoryTwo OctavesCalvaryDear FriendsThe Story of the Ashes and the FlameFor Some Poems by Matthew Arnold...　

ERYXIASERYXIASby a Platonic ImitatorTranslated by Benjamin Jowett1- Page 2-ERYXIASINTRODUCTION.Much cannot be said in praise of the style or conception of the Eryxias.It is frequently obscure; like the exercise of a student, it is full of smallimitations of Plato:Phaeax returning from an expedition to Sicily(compare Socrates in the Charmides from the army at Potidaea), the figure...　

Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding DavisA REMEMBRANCER OF BRITTANY FOR THE BEST FELLOW-TRAVELLER IN THE WORLDFRANCES WALDEAUX CHAPTER IIn another minute the Kaiser Wilhelm would push off from her pier in Hoboken. The last bell had rung, the last uniformed officer and white-jacketed steward had scurried up the gangway. The pier was massed with people who had come to bid their friends good-by. They were all Germans, and there had been unlimited embracing and kissing and sobs of "Ach! mein lieber Sckatz!" and "Gott bewahre Dick!"Now they stood looking up to the crowded decks, shouting out l　

A Book of Strife in the Form of The Diary of an Old Soulby George MacDonaldDEDICATIONSweet friends, receive my offering. You will findAgainst each worded page a white page set:This is the mirror of each friendly mindReflecting that. In this book we are met.Make it, dear hearts, of worth to you indeed:Let your white page be ground, my print be seed,Growing to golden ears, that faith and hope shall feed.YOUR OLD SOULThe Diary of an Old Soul.JANUARY.1.LORD, what I once had done with youthful might,Had I been from the first true to the truth,...