Tales and Fantasiesby Robert Louis StevensonContentsThe Misadventures of John NicholsonThe Body-SnatcherThe Story of a LieTHE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSONCHAPTER I - IN WHICH JOHN SOWS THE WINDJOHN VAREY NICHOLSON was stupid; yet, stupider men than heare now sprawling in Parliament, and lauding themselves asthe authors of their own distinction. He was of a fat habit,even from boyhood, and inclined to a cheerful and cursoryreading of the face of life; and possibly this attitude of...　

360 BCPHILEBUSby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettPHILEBUSPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; PROTARCHUS; PHILEBUS.Socrates. Observe, Protarchus, the nature of the position whichyou are now going to take from Philebus, and what the other positionis which I maintain, and which, if you do not approve of it, is tobe controverted by you. Shall you and I sum up the two sides?Protarchus. By all means....　

　On July 16, in the aching torpid heat of the South Florida summer, Terry Whelper stood at the Avis counter at Miami International Airport and rented a bright red Chrysler LeBaron convertible. He had originally signed up for a Dodge Colt, a sensible low-mileage pact, but his wife had told him go on, be sporty for once in your life. So Terry Whelper got the red LeBaron plus the extra collision coverage, in anticipation of Miami drivers. Into the convertible he inserted the family-his wife Gerri, his son Jason, his daughter Jennifer-and bravely set out for the turnpike.　The children, who liked 　

Faustby Johann W. GeotheTranslated by Anna Swanwick ( 1808 )Introductory NoteJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest of German men of letters, wasborn at Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 28, 1749. His father was a man ofmeans and position, and he personally supervised the early education of hisson. The young Goethe studied at the universities of Leipsig and Strasburg,and in 1772 entered upon the practise of law at Wetzlar. At the invitation ofKarl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, he went in 1775 to live in Weimar,...　

Father Damienby Robert Louis StevensonAN OPEN LETTER TO THE REVEREND DR. HYDE OF HONOLULUSYDNEY,FEBRUARY 25, 1890.Sir, - It may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited,and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember thatyou have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to begrateful. But there are duties which come before gratitude, andoffences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Yourletter to the Reverend H. B. Gage is a document which, in my sight,if you had filled me with bread when I was starving, if you had sat...　

Of Interestby David HumeNothing is esteemed a more certain sign of the flourishingcondition of any nation than the lowness of interest: And with reason;though I believe the cause is somewhat different from what is commonlyapprehended. Lowness of interest is generally ascribed to plenty ofmoney. But money, however plentiful, has no other effect, if fixed,than to raise the price of labour. Silver is more common than gold;and therefore you receive a greater quantity of it for the samecommodities. But do you pay less interest for it? Interest in BATAVIAand JAMAICA is at 10 per cent. in PORTUGAL a　

METEOROLOGYby Aristotletranslated by E. W. WebsterBook I1WE have already discussed the first causes of nature, and allnatural motion, also the stars ordered in the motion of the heavens,and the physical element-enumerating and specifying them and showinghow they change into one another-and becoming and perishing ingeneral. There remains for consideration a part of this inquiry...　

EPILOGUEMOONSTONE again, in the year 1909. The Metho-dists are giving an ice-cream sociable in the groveabout the new court-house. It is a warm summer night offull moon. The paper lanterns which hang among thetrees are foolish toys, only dimming, in little lurid circles,the great softness of the lunar light that floods the blueheavens and the high plateau. To the east the sand hillsshine white as of old, but the empire of the sand is grad-ually diminishing. The grass grows thicker over the dunes...　

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCEand THE BOOK of THELby William BlakeSONGS OF INNOCENCEINTRODUCTIONPiping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:"Pipe a song about a Lamb!"So I piped with merry cheer."Piper, pipe that song again;"So I piped: he wept to hear."Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;Sing thy songs of happy cheer:!"...　

"Pigs is Pigs"by Ellis Parker ButlerMike Flannery, the Westcote agent of the Interurban Express Company,leaned over the counter of the express office and shook his fist. Mr.Morehouse, angry and red, stood on the other side of the counter,trembling with rage. The argument had been long and heated, and at lastMr. Morehouse had talked himself speechless. The cause of the troublestood on the counter between the two men. It was a soap box across the topof which were nailed a number of strips, forming a rough but serviceablecage. In it two spotted guinea-pigs were greedily eating lettuce leaves....　

Rosamund, Queen of the Lombardsby Algernon Charles SwinburnePERSONS REPRESENTEDALBOVINE, King of the Lombards.ALMACHILDES, a young Lombard warrior.NARSETES, an old leader and counsellor.ROSAMUND, Queen of the LombardsHILDEGARD, a noble Lombard maiden.SCENE, VERONATime, June 573ACT IA hall in the Palace: a curtain drawn midway across it.Enter ALBOVINE and NARSETES.ALBOVINE.This is no matter of the wars: in warThy king, old friend, is less than king of thine,And comrade less than follower. Hast thou lovedEverloved woman, not as chance may love,...　

THE SKETCH BOOKCHRISTMASby Washington IrvingCHRISTMASBut is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair ofhis good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that,seeing I cannot have more of him.HUE AND CRY AFTER CHRISTMAS.A man might then beholdAt Christmas, in each hallGood fires to curb the cold,And meat for great and small.The neighbors were friendly bidden,...　

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　

A Voyage to Abyssiniaby Father Jerome Lobotranslated from the French by Samuel Johnson.INTRODUCTION by Henry Morley, Editor of the 1887 editionJeronimo Lobo was born in Lisbon in the year 1593. He entered the Order of the Jesuits at the age of sixteen. After passing through the studies by which Jesuits were trained for missionary work, which included special attention to the arts of speaking and writing, Father Lobo was sent as a missionary to India at the age of twenty- eight, in the year 1621. He reached Goa, as his book tells, in 1622, and was in 1624, at the age of thirty-one, told off　

A Mountain EuropaBy John Fox, Jr.TO JAMES LANE ALLENIAs Clayton rose to his feet in the still air, the tree-tops began to tremble in the gap below him, and a rippling ran through the leaves up the mountain-side. Drawing off his hat he stretched out his arms to meet it, and his eyes closed as the cool wind struck his throat and face and lifted the hair from his forehead. About him the mountains lay like a tumultuous sea-the Jellico Spur, stilled gradually on every side into vague, purple shapes against the broken rim of the sky, and Pine Mountain and the Cumberland Range racing in like breake　

THE HISTORY OF DWARF LONG NOSEIt is a great mistake to think that fairies, witches, magicians,and such people lived only in Eastern countries and in such timesas those of the Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid. Fairies and theirlike belong to every country and every age, and no doubt weshould see plenty of them nowif we only knew how.In a large town in Germany there lived, some couple of hundredyears ago, a cobbler and his wife. They were poor andhard-working. The man sat all day in a little stall at thestreet corner and mended any shoes that were brought him. Hiswife sold the fruit and vegetables