Lecture IVThe Tribe and the LandIt has been very commonly believed that, before the agrarianmeasures of James the First, Ireland was one of the countries inwhich private property in land was invested with leastsacredness, and in which forms of ownership generally consideredas barbarous most extensively prevailed. Spenser and Daviscertainly suggest this opinion, and several modern writers haveadopted it. The Brehon law-tracts prove, however, that it can...　

The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Volume 4by Charles Dudley WarnerCONTENTS:BEING A BOYON HORSEBACKBEING A BOYOne of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, though it needs some practice to be a good one. The disadvantage of the position is that it does not last long enough; it is soon over; just as you get used to being a boy, you have to be something else, with a good deal more work to do and not half so much fun. And yet every boy is anxious to be a man, and is very uneasy with the restrictions that are put upon him as a boy. Good fun as it is　

George Cruikshankby William Makepeace ThackerayAccusations of ingratitude, and just accusations no doubt, are madeagainst every inhabitant of this wicked world, and the fact is, thata man who is ceaselessly engaged in its trouble and turmoil, bornehither and thither upon the fierce waves of the crowd, bustling,shifting, struggling to keep himself somewhat above waterfightingfor reputation, or more likely for bread, and ceaselessly occupiedto-day with plans for appeasing the eternal appetite of inevitablehunger to-morrowa man in such straits has hardly time to think of...　

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautifuldaughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to theking, and in order to make himself appear important he saidto him, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. Theking said to the miller, that is an art whichpleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bringher to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test.And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a roomwhich was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and areel, and said, now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning...　

AS CONCERNS INTERPRETING THE DEITYIThis line of hieroglyphics was for fourteen years thedespair of all the scholars who labored over the mysteries of theRosetta stone: [Figure 1]After five years of study Champollion translated it thus:Therefore let the worship of Epiphanes be maintained in allthe temples, this upon pain of death.That was the twenty-forth translation that had beenfurnished by scholars. For a time it stood. But only for atime. Then doubts began to assail it and undermine it, and thescholars resumed their labors. Three years of patient work...　

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...　

Classic Mystery and Detective Stories - Old Time EnglishEdited by Julian HawthorneTable of ContentsCHARLES DICKENS (1812-70)The Haunted HouseNo. I Branch Line: The Signal ManBULWER-LYTTON (1803-73)The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the BrainThe IncantationTHOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859)The AvengerCHARLES ROBERT MATURIN (1782-1824)Melmoth the WandererLAURENCE STERNE (1713-68)A Mystery with a MoralWILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-63)...　

My Buried Treasureby Richard Harding DavisThis is a true story of a search for buried treasure. The onlypart that is not true is the name of the man with whom I searchedfor the treasure. Unless I keep his name out of it he will not letme write the story, and, as it was his expedition and as my shareof the treasure is only what I can make by writing the story, Imust write as he dictates. I think the story should be told,because our experience was unique, and might be of benefit toothers. And, besides, I need the money.There is, however, no agreement preventing me from describing him...　

War and the Futureby H. G. WellsItaly, France and Britain at WarContentsThe Passing of the EffigyThe War in Italy (August, 1916)I. The Isonzo FrontII. The Mountain WarIII. Behind the FrontThe Western War (September, 1916)I. RuinsII. The Grades of WarIII. The War LandscapeIV. New Arms for Old OnesV. TanksHow People Think About the WarI. Do they Really Think at all?II. The Yielding Pacifist and the Conscientious ObjectorIII. The Religious RevivalIV. The Riddle of the BritishV. The Social Changes in ProgressVI. The Ending of the War...　

A Wagner MatineeI received one morning a letter, written in pale ink onglassy, blue-lined notepaper, and bearing the postmark of alittle Nebraska village. This communication, worn and rubbed,looking as though it had been carried for some days in a coatpocket that was none too clean, was from my Uncle Howard andinformed me that his wife had been left a small legacy by abachelor relative who had recently died, and that it would benecessary for her to go to Boston to attend to the settling ofthe estate. He requested me to meet her at the station and...　

THE FIRST WRITING-MACHINESFrom My Unpublished AutobiographySome days ago a correspondent sent in an old typewritten sheet,faded by age, containing the following letter over the signatureof Mark Twain:"Hartford, March 10, 1875."Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulgethat fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped usingthe typewriter, for the reason that I never could write a letterwith it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that Iwould not only describe the machine, but state what progress I had...　

Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Versesby Thomas HardyContents:Moments of VisionThe Voice of Things"Why be at pains?""We sat at the window"Afternoon Service at MellstockAt the Wicket-gateIn a MuseumApostrophe to an Old Psalm TuneAt the Word "Farewell"First Sight of Her and AfterThe RivalHeredity"You were the sort that men forget"She, I, and TheyNear Lanivet, 1872Joys of MemoryTo the MoonCopying Architecture in an Old MinsterTo ShakespeareQuid hic agis?On a Midsummer EveTiming HerBefore KnowledgeThe Blinded Bird...　

BOOK II: OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFEAGRICULTURE is that which is so universally understood among themthat no person, either man or woman, is ignorant of it; they areinstructed in it from their childhood, partly by what they learnat school and partly by practice; they being led out often intothe fields, about the town, where they not only see others atwork, but are likewise exercised in it themselves. Besidesagriculture, which is so common to them all, every man has somepeculiar trade to which he applies himself, such as the...　

THE UNEXPECTEDIT is a simple matter to see the obvious, to do the expected. Thetendency of the individual life is to be static rather thandynamic, and this tendency is made into a propulsion bycivilization, where the obvious only is seen, and the unexpectedrarely happens. When the unexpected does happen, however, and whenit is of sufficiently grave import, the unfit perish. They do notsee what is not obvious, are unable to do the unexpected, areincapable of adjusting their well-grooved lives to other andstrange grooves. In short, when they come to the end of their own...　

A BURLESQUE BIOGRAPHYTwo or three persons having at different times intimated that if Iwould write an autobiography they would read it when they got leisure,I yield at last to this frenzied public demand and herewith tendermy history.Ours is a noble house, and stretches a long way back into antiquity.The earliest ancestor the Twains have any record of was a friend ofthe family by the name of Higgins. This was in the eleventh century,when our people were living in Aberdeen, county of Cork, England.Why it is that our long line has ever since borne the maternal...　

OWL POSTHarry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning