THE CELESTIAL RAILROADNot a great while ago, passing through the gate of dreams, Ivisited that region of the earth in which lies the famous City ofDestruction. It interested me much to learn that by the publicspirit of some of the inhabitants a railroad has recently beenestablished between this populous and flourishing town and theCelestial City. Having a little time upon my hands, I resolved togratify a liberal curiosity by making a trip thither.Accordingly, one fine morning after paying my bill at the hotel,and directing the porter to stow my luggage behind a coach, I...
A Mortal Antipathyby Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.PREFACE."A MORTAL ANTIPATHY" was a truly hazardous experiment. A very wiseand very distinguished physician who is as much at home in literatureas he is in science and the practice of medicine, wrote to me inreferring to this story: "I should have been afraid of my subject."He did not explain himself, but I can easily understand that he feltthe improbability of the, physiological or pathological occurrence onwhich the story is founded to be so great that the narrative couldhardly be rendered plausible. I felt the difficulty for myself as...
The Beast in the Jungleby Henry JamesCHAPTER IWhat determined the speech that startled him in the course of their encounter scarcely matters, being probably but some words spoken by himself quite without intentionspoken as they lingered and slowly moved together after their renewal of acquaintance. He had been conveyed by friends an hour or two before to the house at which she was staying; the party of visitors at the other house, of whom he was one, and thanks to whom it was his theory, as always, that he was lost in the crowd, had been invited over to luncheon. There had been after lunche
Sons of the Soilby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Monsieur P. S. B. Gavault.Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote these words at the beginning of hisNouvelle Heloise: "I have seen the morals of my time and I publishthese letters." May I not say to you, in imitation of that greatwriter, "I have studied the march of my epoch and I publish thiswork"?The object of this particular studystartling in its truth solong as society makes philanthropy a principle instead ofregarding it as an accidentis to bring to sight the leading...
The Golden Sayings of EpictetusIAre these the only works of Providence within us? What wordssuffice to praise or set them forth? Had we but understanding,should we ever cease hymning and blessing the Divine Power, bothopenly and in secret, and telling of His gracious gifts? Whetherdigging or ploughing or eating, should we not sing the hymn toGod:Great is God, for that He hath given us such instruments to tillthe ground withal:Great is God, for that He hath given us hands and the power ofswallowing and digesting; of unconsciously growing and...
The Yellow Godor An Idol of Africaby H. Rider HaggardCHAPTER ISAHARA LIMITEDSir Robert Aylward, Bart., M.P., sat in his office in the City ofLondon. It was a very magnificent office, quite one of the finest thatcould be found within half a mile of the Mansion House. Its exteriorwas built of Aberdeen granite, a material calculated to impress theprospective investor with a comfortable sense of security. Otherstucco, or even brick-built, offices might crumble and fall in anactual or a financial sense, but this rock-like edifice of granite,surmounted by a life-sized statue of Justice with her sca
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V5BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARKCONTENTS:CHAPTER I. to CHAPTER VI.CHAPTER I.I left the Emperor at Berlin, where each day, and each hour of the day,he received news of some victory gained, or some success obtained by hisgenerals. General Beaumont presented to him eighty flags captured fromthe enemy by his division, and Colonel Gerard also presented sixty takenfrom Blucher at the battle of Wismar. Madgeburg had capitulated, and agarrison of sixty thousand men had marched out under the eyes of General...
Samuel Brohl & Companyby Victor CherbuliezCHAPTER IWere the events of this nether sphere governed by the calculus of probabilities, Count Abel Larinski and Mlle. Antoinette Moriaz would almost unquestionably have arrived at the end of their respective careers without ever having met. Count Larinski lived in Vienna, Austria; Mlle. Moriaz never had been farther from Paris than Cormeilles, where she went every spring to remain throughout the fine weather. Neither at Cormeilles nor at Paris had she ever heard of Count Larinski; and he, on his part, was wholly unaware of the existence of Mlle. Mor
The Ball at Sceauxby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara BellTo Henri de Balzac, his brother Honore.The Comte de Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou,had served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during thewar in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all thedangers which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormyperiod of modern history, he was wont to say in jest, "I am one of themen who gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne." Andthe pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead...
THE WONDERFUL SHEEPONCE upon a timein the days when the fairies livedthere was a king who had three daughters, who were allyoung, and clever, and beautiful; but the youngest of thethree, who was called Miranda, was the prettiest andthe most beloved.The King, her father, gave her more dresses and jewelsin a month than he gave the others in a year; but she wasso generous that she shared everything with her sisters,and they were all as happy and as fond of one another asthey could be.Now, the King had some quarrelsome neighbors, who,...
The Vested Interests and the Common Manby Thorstein Veblen1919Chapter 1The Instability of Knowledge and BeliefAs is true of any other point of view that may becharacteristic of any other period of history, so also the modernpoint of view is a matter of habit. It is common to the moderncivilised peoples only in so far as these peoples have comethrough substantially the same historical experience and havethereby acquired substantially the same habits of thought andhave fallen into somewhat the same prevalent frame of mind. Thismodern point of view, therefore, is limited both in time and...
The Passing of the Frontier, A Chronicle of the Old Westby Emerson HoughCONTENTSI. THE FRONTIER IN HISTORYII. THE RANGEIII. THE CATTLE TRAILSIV. THE COWBOYV. THE MINESVI. PATHWAYS OF THE WESTVII. THE INDIAN WARSVIII. THE CATTLE KINGSIX. THE HOMESTEADERBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTETHE PASSING OF THE FRONTIERChapter I. The Frontier In HistoryThe frontier! There is no word in the English language more stirring, more intimate, or more beloved. It has in it all the elan of the old French phrase, En avant! It carries all of the old Saxon command, Forward!! It means all that America ever meant. It means the
Noto, an unexplored corner of Japanby Percival LowellFrom you, my dear Basil, the confidant of my hopes toward Noto, Iknow I may look for sympathy now that my advances have met with suchhappy issue, however incomplete be my account. And so I ask you tobe my best man in the matter before the world.Ever yours,Percival Lowell.Basil Hall Chamberlain, Esq.Contents.I. An Unknown.II. Off and On.III. The Usui Pass.IV. Zenkoji.V. No.VI. On a New Cornice Road....
Worldly Ways and BywaysWorldly Ways andBywaysEliot Gregory1- Page 2-Worldly Ways and BywaysTo the ReaderTHERE existed formerly, in diplomatic circles, a curious custom,since fallen into disuse, entitled the Pele Mele, contrived doubtless bysome distracted Master of Ceremonies to quell the endless jealousies andquarrels for precedence between courtiers and diplomatists of contending...
Majorie DawMajorie Dawby Thomas Bailey Aldrich1- Page 2-Majorie DawCHAPTER I.DR. DILLON TO EDWARD DELANEY, ESQ., AT THE PINES.NEAR RYE, N.H.August 8, 1872.My Dear Sir: I am happy to assure you that your anxiety is withoutreason. Flemming will be confined to the sofa for three or four weeks, and...
Fantastic Fablesby Ambrose BierceContents:The Moral Principle and the Material InterestThe Crimson CandleThe Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled ErmineThe Ingenious PatriotTwo KingsAn Officer and a ThugThe Conscientious OfficialHow Leisure CameThe Moral SentimentThe PoliticiansThe Thoughtful WardenThe Treasury and the ArmsThe Christian SerpentThe Broom of the TempleThe CriticsThe Foolish WomanFather and SonThe Discontented Malefactor...