This is what happened. On the night that the worst heat wave in northern New England history finally broke-the night of July 19-the entire western Maine region was lashed with the most vicious thunderstorms I have ever seen.　We lived on Long Lake, and we saw the first of the storms beating its way across the water toward us just before dark. For an hour before, the air had been utterly still. The American flag that my father put up on our boathouse in 1936 lay limp against its pole. Not even its hem fluttered. The heat was like a solid thing, and it seemed as deep as sullen quarry-water. Tha　

The Efficiency Expertby Edgar Rice BurroughsCHAPTER I.JIMMY TORRANCE, JR.The gymnasium was packed as Jimmy Torrance stepped into the ring for the final event of the evening that was to decide the boxing championship of the university. Drawing to a close were the nearly four years of his college careerprofitable years, Jimmy considered them, and certainly successful up to this point. In the beginning of his senior year he had captained the varsity eleven, and in the coming spring he would again sally forth upon the diamond as the star initial sacker of collegedom....　

　　THE GUILLOTINE; brutal instantaneous bloody death, a hellish instrument of execution. It dominated the white-tiled room, a. metallic structure that gleamed evilly in the stark fluorescent light.　　　　Louis Nevillon was calm as his guards allowed him a few seconds to savour his fate. They were gloating, he could read it in their smug, supposedly impassive, expressions. Even the priest. Tete-de-chien! The executioner was masked, a custom that went back centuries, but there was a gleam in the pale blue eyes that stared out of the cloth slits that was unmistakable. It was Gallon, of course. Who e　

Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speechesby Edmund BurkeContentsIntroductionThoughts on the Present DiscontentsSpeech on the Middlesex Election.Speech on the Powers of Juries in Prosecutions for Libels.Speech on a Bill for Shortening the Duration of ParliamentsSpeech on Reform of Representation in the House of CommonsINTRODUCTIONEdmund Burke was born at Dublin on the first of January, 1730. Hisfather was an attorney, who had fifteen children, of whom all butfour died in their youth. Edmund, the second son, being of delicatehealth in his childhood, was taught at home and at his grand　

THE HISTORY OF THE CALIPH VATHEKTHE HISTORY OF THECALIPH VATHEK1- Page 2-THE HISTORY OF THE CALIPH VATHEKINTRODUCTIONWilliam Beckford, born in 1759, the year before the accession of KingGeorge the Third, was the son of an Alderman who became twice LordMayor of London. His family, originally of Gloucestershire, had thrivenby the plantations in Jamaica; and his father, sent to school in England,...　

VOLUME IICHAPTER IAvaunt! and quit my sight! Let the Earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold! Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which Thou dost glare with! Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery hence! Macbeth.Continuation of the History of Don Raymond.My journey was uncommonly agreeable: I found the Baron a Man of some sense, but little knowledge of the world. He had past a great part of his life without stirring beyond the precincts of his own domains, and consequently his manners were far from being the 　

The Faith of Menby Jack LondonContents:A Relic of the PlioceneA Hyperborean BrewThe Faith of MenToo Much GoldThe One Thousand DozenThe Marriage of Lit-litBatardThe Story of Jees UckA RELIC OF THE PLIOCENEI wash my hands of him at the start. I cannot father his tales,nor will I be responsible for them. I make these preliminaryreservations, observe, as a guard upon my own integrity. I possessa certain definite position in a small way, also a wife; and forthe good name of the community that honours my existence with its...　

The Wandering Jew, Volume 9by Eugene SueBOOK IX.XV. The Constant WandererXVI. The LuncheonXVII. Rendering the AccountXVIII. The Square of Notre DameXIX. The Cholera MasqueradeXX. The DefianceXXI. Brandy to the RescueXXII. MemoriesXXIII. The PoisonerXXIV. CathedralXXV. The MurderersXXVI. The PatientXXVII. The LureXXVIII. Good NewsXXIX. The OperationXXX. The TortureXXXI. Vice and VirtueXXXII. SuicideCHAPTER XV.THE CONSTANT WANDERER....　

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...　

The Cleveland Era, A Chronicle of the New Order in Politicsby Henry Jones FordCONTENTSI. A TRANSITION PERIODII. POLITICAL GROPING AND PARTY FLUCTUATIONIII. THE ADVENT OF CLEVELANDIV. A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISISV. PARTY POLICY IN CONGRESSVI. PRESIDENTIAL KNIGHT-ERRANTRYVII. THE PUBLIC DISCONTENTSVIII. THE REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITYIX. THE FREE SILVER REVOLTX. LAW AND ORDER UPHELDBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTETHE CLEVELAND ERACHAPTER I. A TRANSITION PERIODPoliticians at Washington very generally failed to realize that the advent of President Hayes marked the dismissal of the issues of war and reconstruction. The　

DREAM DAYSDREAM DAYSBY KENNETH GRAHAME1- Page 2-DREAM DAYSTHE TWENTY-FIRST OFOCTOBERIn the matter of general culture and attainments, we youngsters stoodon pretty level ground. True, it was always happening that one of uswould be singled out at any moment, freakishly, and without regard to hisown preferences, to wrestle with the inflections of some idiotic language...　

　　The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling - a post of greed and fear and nervous tension - bees unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.　James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always knew when his body or his mind had had enough and he always acted on the knowledge. This helped him to avoid staleness and the sensual bluntness that breeds mistakes.　He shifted himself unobtrusively away from the roulette he had been playing and went to stand for a moment at the brass rail which surrounde　

Heartbreak Houseby George Bernard ShawA FANTASIA IN THE RUSSIAN MANNER ON ENGLISH THEMESHEARTBREAK HOUSE AND HORSEBACK HALLWhere Heartbreak House StandsHeartbreak House is not merely the name of the play which followsthis preface. It is cultured, leisured Europe before the war.When the play was begun not a shot had been fired; and only theprofessional diplomatists and the very few amateurs whose hobbyis foreign policy even knew that the guns were loaded. A Russianplaywright, Tchekov, had produced four fascinating dramaticstudies of Heartbreak House, of which three, The Cherry Orchard,...　

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeareby E. Nesbit"It may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence. He has been imitated by all succeeding writers; and it may be doubted whether from all his successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or more rules of practical prudence can be collected than he alone has given to his country."Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON.PREFACEThe writings of Shakespeare have been justly termed "the richest, the purest, the fairest, that genius uninspired ever penned."Shakespeare instructed by delighting. His plays alone　

The Iron Puddlerby James J. DavisMY LIFE IN THE ROLLING MILLS AND WHAT CAME OF ITIntroduction by JOSEPH G. CANNONThe man whose life story is here presented between book covers is at the time of writing only forty-eight years old. When I met him many years ago he was a young man full of enthusiasm. I remember saying to him then, "With your enthusiasm and the sparkle which you have in your eyes I am sure you will make good."Why should so young a man, one so recently elevated to official prominence, write his memoirs? That question will occur to those who do not know Jim Davis. His elevation to 　

EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY.EARLY KINGS OFNORWAY.by Thomas Carlyle1- Page 2-EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY.The Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; andwere, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It is to thisfact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their oldtragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, it seems,...