Sally Dowsby Bret HarteCONTENTSSALLY DOWSTHE CONSPIRACY OF MRS. BUNKERTHE TRANSFORMATION OF BUCKEYE CAMPTHEIR UNCLE FROM CALIFORNIASALLY DOWS.PROLOGUE.THE LAST GUN AT SNAKE RIVER.What had been in the cool gray of that summer morning a dewycountry lane, marked only by a few wagon tracks that neverencroached upon its grassy border, and indented only by the faintfootprints of a crossing fox or coon, was now, before high noon,already crushed, beaten down, and trampled out of all semblance ofits former graciousness. The heavy springless jolt of gun-carriage...
To be Read at Duskby Charles DickensOne, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summitof the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remoteheights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of redwine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet hadtime to sink into the snow.This is not my simile. It was made for the occasion by thestoutest courier, who was a German. None of the others took anymore notice of it than they took of me, sitting on another bench on...
Introduction Only prejudice, and a trick of the Mercator projection, prevents us from recognizing the enormity of the African continent. Covering nearly twelve million square miles, Africa is almost as large as North America and Europe bined. It is nearly twice the size of South America. As we mistake its dimensions, we also mistake its essential nature: the Dark Continent is mostly hot desert and open grassy plains. In fact, Africa is called the Dark Continent for one reason only: the vast equatorial rain forests of its central region. This is the drainage basin of the Congo River, and on
Dusk was beginning to creep down from the mountains when the Witchfinder rode into Craiglowrie. His hunched position in the saddle of the black mare disguised his true height, yet all the same he was tall and terrible, the features beneath the dark broad-brimmed hat seemed like those of a sun-bleached skull from a distance. The grimace that revealed black and broken teeth; the eyes that glowed with the fire of a personal hatred, and seemed to search out each and every one of the peasants who trembled and watched behind the windows of their tumbledown bothies. They remembered the last t
THE RATCATCHERA VERY long time ago the town of Hamel in Germany wasinvaded by bands of rats, the like of which had never been seenbefore nor will ever be again.They were great black creatures that ran boldly in broaddaylight through the streets, and swarmed so, all over the houses, thatpeople at last could not put their hand or foot down anywhere withouttouching one. When dressing in the morning they found themin their breeches and petticoats, in their pockets and in their boots;and when they wanted a morsel to eat, the voracious horde had...
Herodiasby Gustave FlaubertCHAPTER IIn the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. Itwas built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by fourdeep valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth inthe rear. At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, agroup of houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlinesundulated with the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cuttingthrough the rocks, joined the city to the fortress, the walls of whichwere about one hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles...
EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOONOnce upon a time there was a poor husbandman whohad many children and little to give them in the wayeither of food or clothing. They were all pretty, but theprettiest of all was the youngest daughter, who was sobeautiful that there were no bounds to her beauty.So onceit was late on a Thursday evening in autumn,and wild weather outside, terribly dark, and raining soheavily and blowing so hard that the walls of the cottageshook againthey were all sitting together by the fireside,each of them busy with something or other, when...
The Trampling of the Liliesby Rafael SabatiniCONTENTSPART ITHE OLD RULECHAPTERI. MONSIEUR THE SECRETARYII. LORDS OF LIFE AND DEATHIII. THE WORD OF BELLECOURIV. THE DISCIPLES OF ROUSSEAUPART IITHE NEW RULEV. THE SHEEP TURNED WOLVESVI. THE CITIZEN COMMISSIONERVII. LA BOULAYE DISCHARGES A DEBTVIII. THE INVALIDS AT BOISVERTIX. THE CAPTIVESX. THE BAISER LAMOURETTEXI. THE ESCAPEXII. THE AWAKENINGXIII. THE ROAD TO LIEGEXIV. THE COURIER...
THE BLACK ARROW - A TALE OF THE TWO ROSESPROLOGUE - JOHN AMEND-ALLOn a certain afternoon, in the late springtime, the bell uponTunstall Moat House was heard ringing at an unaccustomed hour. Farand near, in the forest and in the fields along the river, peoplebegan to desert their labours and hurry towards the sound; and inTunstall hamlet a group of poor country-folk stood wondering at thesummons.Tunstall hamlet at that period, in the reign of old King Henry VI.,wore much the same appearance as it wears to-day. A score or so of...
THE SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRETONE afternoon I was sitting outside the Cafe de la Paix, watchingthe splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering overmy vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that waspassing before me, when I heard some one call my name. I turnedround, and saw Lord Murchison. We had not met since we had been atcollege together, nearly ten years before, so I was delighted tocome across him again, and we shook hands warmly. At Oxford we hadbeen great friends. I had liked him immensely, he was so handsome,...
Padre IgnacioOr The Song of Temptationby Owen WisterIAt Santa Ysabel del Mar the season was at one of those moments when theair rests quiet over land and sea. The old breezes were gone; the newones were not yet risen. The flowers in the mission garden opened wide;no wind came by day or night to shake the loose petals from their stems.Along the basking, silent, many-colored shore gathered and lingered thecrisp odors of the mountains. The dust hung golden and motionless longafter the rider was behind the hill, and the Pacific lay like a floor of...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENOUR AUNTby Hans Christian AndersenYou ought to have known our aunt; she was charming! That is tosay, she was not charming at all as the word is usually understood;but she was good and kind, amusing in her way, and was just as any oneought to be whom people are to talk about and to laugh at. She mighthave been put into a play, and wholly and solely on account of thefact that she only lived for the theatre and for what was donethere. She was an honorable matron; but Agent Fabs, whom she used to...
Carmenby Prosper MerimeeTranslated by Lady Mary LoydCHAPTER II had always suspected the geographical authorities did not know what they were talking about when they located the battlefield of Munda in the county of the Bastuli-Poeni, close to the modern Monda, some two leagues north of Marbella.According to my own surmise, founded on the text of the anonymous author of the /Bellum Hispaniense/, and on certain information culled from the excellent library owned by the Duke of Ossuna, I believed the site of the memorable struggle in which Caesar played double or quits, once and for all, with th
Steps to Christby ELLEN G.WHITE(5)FOREWORDFEW BOOKS ATTAIN A DISTRIBUTION RECKONED IN MILLIONS OR EXERT SO GREAT AN INFLUENCE IN THE UPLIFTING OF HUMANITY AS HAS STEPS TO CHRIST. IN COUNTLESS EDITIONS, THIS LITTLE VOLUME HAS BEEN PRINTED IN MORE THAN SEVENTY LANGUAGES, BRINGING INSPIRATION TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN AND WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, EVEN THOSE WHO DWELL IN THE REMOTE CORNERS OF THE EARTH. FROM THE APPEARANCE OF THE FIRST EDITION IN 1892, THE PUBLISHERS HAVE BEEN CALLED UPON TO ADD PRINTING TO PRINTING TO MEET THE IMMEDIATE AND SUSTAINED DEMAND FROM THE READING PUBLIC....