The light of stars is so damn stark.　　When I look up, I fill with fear.　　If all we have is what lies here,　　this lonely world, this troubled place,　　then cold dead stars and empty space.　　Well, I see no reason to persevere,　　no reason to laugh or shed a tear,　　no reason to sleep or ever to wake,　　no promises to keep, and none to make.　　And so at night I still raise my eyes　　to study the clear but mysterious skies　　that arch above us, as cold as stone.　　Are you there, God? Are we alone?　　-The Book of Counted Sorrows　　ONELOST FOREVER...　

The Second Funeral of Napoleonby William Makepeace Thackeray"by Michael Angelo Titmarch."I. On the Disinterment of Napoleon at St. HelenaII. On the Voyage from St. Helena to ParisIII. On the Funeral CeremonyI.ON THE DISINTERMENT OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.MY DEAR ,It is no easy task in this world to distinguishbetween what is great in it, and what is mean; and many and many isthe puzzle that I have had in reading History (or the works offiction which go by that name), to know whether I should laud up to...　

Droll Stories [V. 3]by Honore de BalzacCOLLECTED FROM THE ABBEYS OF TOURAINEVOLUME III: THE THIRD TEN TALESCONTENTSTHE THIRD TEN TALESPROLOGUEPERSEVERANCE IN LOVECONCERNING A PROVOST WHO DID NOT RECOGNISE THINGSABOUT THE MONK AMADOR, WHO WAS A GLORIOUS ABBOT OF TURPENAYBERTHA THE PENITENTHOW THE PRETTY MAID OF PORTILLON CONVINCED HER JUDGEIN WHICH IT IS DEMONSTRATED THAT FORTUNE IS ALWAYS FEMININECONCERNING A POOR MAN WHO WAS CALLED LE VIEUX PAR-CHEMINSODD SAYINGS OF THREE PILGRIMSINNOCENCE...　

THERE was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had beenwandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning;but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early)the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and arain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out ofthe question.I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chillyafternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight,with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidingsof Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my.　

We Twoby Edna LyallCHAPTER I. Brian Falls in LoveStill humanity grows dearer, Being learned the more. Jean Ingelow.There are three things in this world which deserve no quarter Hypocrisy, Pharisaism, and Tyranny. F. RobertsonPeople who have been brought up in the country, or in small places where every neighbor is known by sight, are apt to think that life in a large town must lack many of the interests which they have learned to find in their more limited communities. In a somewhat bewildered way, they gaze at the shifting crowd of strange faces, and wonder whether it would be possible to　

A Theologico-Political Treatise Part 2A Theologico-PoliticalTreatise Part 2Chapters VI to XBaruch Spinoza1- Page 2-A Theologico-Political Treatise Part 2CHAPTER VI. - OFMIRACLES.(1) As men are accustomed to call Divine the knowledge whichtranscends human understanding, so also do they style Divine, or the work...　

IBill never realized that sex was the cause of it all. If the sun that morning had not been burning so warmly in the brassy sky of Phigerinadon II, and if he had not glimpsed the sugar-white and wine-barrel-wide backside of Inga-Maria Calyphigia, while she bathed in the stream, he might have paid more attention to his plowing than to the burning pressures of heterosexuality and would have driven his furrow to the far side of the hill before the seductive music sounded along the road. He might never have heard it, and his life would have been very, very different. But he did hear it and droppe　

　　Book One　　Chapter 01　　Behind every great fortune there is a crime.　BALZAC　Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.　　The judge, a formidably heavy-featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe as if to physically chastise the two young men standing before the bench. His face was cold with majestic contempt. But there was something false in all this that Amerigo Bonasera sensed but did not yet understand.　　"You acted like the worst kind of degenerates," the　

　　 In the Court of the Fountain the sun of March shone through young leaves of ash and elm, and water leapt and fell through shadow and clear light. About that roofless court stood four high walls of stone. Behind those were rooms and courts, passages, corridors, towers, and at last the heavy outmost walls of the Great House of Roke, which would stand any assault of war or earthquake or the sea itself, being built not only of stone, but of incontestable magic. For Roke is the Isle of the Wise, where the art magic is taught; and the Great House is the school and central place of wizardry; and 　

　　This darkness troubles me. I yearn for the light.　　This silence is so deep. I long for voices, the drumming of rain, the whistle of wind, music.　　Why are you being so cruel to me? Let me see. Let me hear. Let me live. I beg of you.　　I am so lonely in this bottomless darkness.　　So lonely.　　Lost.　　You think I have no heart. But if I have no heart, what is this ache? What is this anguish? If I have no heart, what is it that threatens to break inside me?　　This darkness is haunted. I am afraid here. I am lost and afraid here.　　Have you no passion?　　I only wanted to be like you. To walk in the su　

　1　 With a gentle sigh the service tube dropped a message capsule into the receiving cup. The attention bell chimed once and was silent. Jason dinAlt stared at the harmless capsule as though it were a ticking bomb.　 Something was going wrong. He felt a hard knot of tension form inside of him. This was no routine service memo or hotel munication, but a sealed personal message. Yet he knew no one on this planet, having arrived by spacer less than eight hours earlier. Since even his name was new-dating back to the last time he had changed ships- there could be no personal messages. Yet here one 　

Letters on LiteratureLetters on LiteratureBy Andrew Lang1- Page 2-Letters on LiteratureDEDICATIONDear Mr. Way,After so many letters to people who never existed, may I venture ashort one, to a person very real to me, though I have never seen him, andonly know him by his many kindnesses? Perhaps you will add another tothese by accepting the Dedication of a little work, of a sort experimental in...　

Nisidaby Alexandre Dumas, PereIf our readers, tempted by the Italian proverb about seeing Naplesand then dying, were to ask us what is the most favourable moment forvisiting the enchanted city, we should advise them to land at themole, or at Mergellina, on a fine summer day and at the hour whensome solemn procession is moving out of the cathedral. Nothing cangive an idea of the profound and simple-hearted emotion of thispopulace, which has enough poetry in its soul to believe in its ownhappiness. The whole town adorns herself and attires herself like a...　

A LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURYRiverdale-on-the-Hudson, OCTOBER 15, 1902.THE HON. THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, WASHINGTON, D. C.:Sir,Prices for the customary kinds of winter fuel having reachedan altitude which puts them out of the reach of literary persons instraitened circumstances, I desire to place with you the following order:Forty-five tons best old dry government bonds, suitable for furnace,gold 7 per cents., 1864, preferred.Twelve tons early greenbacks, range size, suitable for cooking.Eight barrels seasoned 25 and 50 cent postal currency, vintage of 1866,...　

The Essays of Montaigne, V4by Michel de MontaigneTranslated by Charles CottonEdited by William Carew Hazilitt1877CONTENTS OF VOLUME 4.XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law receivedXXIII. Various events from the same counsel.XXIV. Of pedantry.CHAPTER XXIIOF CUSTOM, AND THAT WE SHOULD NOT EASILY CHANGE A LAW RECEIVEDHe seems to me to have had a right and true apprehension of the power ofcustom, who first invented the story of a country-woman who, havingaccustomed herself to play with and carry a young calf in her arms, and...　

BEASTS AND SUPER-BEASTSBEASTS AND SUPER-BEASTSH. H. MUNRO ("SAKI")1- Page 2-BEASTS AND SUPER-BEASTSTHE SHE-WOLFLEONARD BILSITER was one of those people who have failed tofind this world attractive or interesting, and who have soughtcompensation in an "unseen world" of their own experience or...