Cyprus, as I Saw it in 1879by Sir Samuel W. BakerCONTENTSINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I. ARRIVAL AT LARNACACHAPTER II. THE GIPSY-VANS ENCOUNTER DIFFICULTIESCHAPTER III. ROUTE TO NICOSIACHAPTER IV. THE MESSARIACHAPTER V. START FOR THE CARPASCHAPTER VI. CAPE ST. ANDREACHAPTER VII. KYRENIA AND THE NORTH COASTCHAPTER VIII. ROUTE TO BAFFOCHAPTER IX. FROM BAFFO TO LIMASOLCHAPTER X. THE WINE DISTRICT OF LIMASOLCHAPTER XI. FROM LIMASOL TO THE MOUNTAINS...¡¡

THE LITTLE GREEN FROG[8][8] Cabinet des Fees.In a part of the world whose name I forget lived once upon a timetwo kings, called Peridor and Diamantino. They were cousins aswell as neighbours, and both were under the protection of thefairies; though it is only fair to say that the fairies did notlove them half so well as their wives did.Now it often happens that as princes can generally manage to gettheir own way it is harder for them to be good than it is forcommon people. So it was with Peridor and Diamantino; but of thetwo, the fairies declared that Diamantino was much the worst;...¡¡

The Discovery of Guianaby Walter RaleighINTRODUCTORY NOTESir Walter Raleigh may be taken as the great typical figure of theage of Elizabeth. Courtier and statesman, soldier and sailor,scientist and man of letters, he engaged in almost all the mainlines of public activity in his time, and was distinguished inthem all.His father was a Devonshire gentleman of property, connected withmany of the distinguished families of the south of England. Walterwas born about 1552 and was educated at Oxford. He first sawmilitary service in the Huguenot army in France in 1569, and in...¡¡

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE MAZARIN STONEby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleIt was pleasant to Dr. Watson to find himself once more in theuntidy room of the first floor in Baker Street which had been thestarting-point of so many remarkable adventures. He looked round himat the scientific charts upon the wall, the acid-charred bench ofchemicals, the violin-case leaning in the corner, the coal-scuttle,which contained of old the pipes and tobacco. Finally, his eyes cameround to the fresh and smiling face of Billy, the young but very...¡¡

Karl MarxWritten in 1837First published in the Athenaum.Zeitschrift fur das gebildete Deutschland,January 23, 1841I.THE FIDDLERThe Fiddler saws the strings,His light brown hair he tosses and flings.He carries a sabre at his side,He wears a pleated habit wide."Fiddler, why that frantic sound?...¡¡

Heartbreak Houseby George Bernard ShawA FANTASIA IN THE RUSSIAN MANNER ON ENGLISH THEMESHEARTBREAK HOUSE AND HORSEBACK HALLWhere Heartbreak House StandsHeartbreak House is not merely the name of the play which followsthis preface. It is cultured, leisured Europe before the war.When the play was begun not a shot had been fired; and only theprofessional diplomatists and the very few amateurs whose hobbyis foreign policy even knew that the guns were loaded. A Russianplaywright, Tchekov, had produced four fascinating dramaticstudies of Heartbreak House, of which three, The Cherry Orchard,...¡¡

Down the Mother Lode - Pioneer Tales of CaliforniaBy Vivia HemphillForewordSo many inquiries have been made as to exactly where, and what is the "Mother Lode"!The geologist and the historian agree as to its location and composition, but the old miners and "sojourners" of the vanished golden era give strangely different versions of it. Some of these are here set down, if not all for your enlightenment at least, I hope, for your entertainment.That is, after all, the principal aim of these tales of the old days in California, that are gone "for good." Mark Twain says in his preface to "Roughing ¡¡

Cressyby Bret HarteCHAPTER I.As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pinewoods into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stoppedwhistling, put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away somewild flowers he had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed thesevere demeanor of his profession and his mature agewhich was atleast twenty. Not that he usually felt this an assumption; it wasa firm conviction of his serious nature that he impressed others,as he did himself, with the blended austerity and ennui of deep and...¡¡

On The Ruin of Britain (De Excidio Britanniae)by GildasTranslation by J.A. GilesThe Works of Gildas surnamed "Sapiens", or The Wise.I. The Preface1. Whatever in this my epistle I may write in my humble but wellmeaning manner, rather by way of lamentation than for display,let no one suppose that it springs from contempt of others or thatI foolishly esteem myself as better than they; -for alas! the subjectof my complaint is the general destruction of every thing that isgood, and the general growth of evil throughout the land;butthat I rejoice to see her revive therefrom: for it is my present...¡¡

The Country Doctorby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell"For a wounded heartshadow and silence."To my Mother.CHAPTER ITHE COUNTRYSIDE AND THE MANOn a lovely spring morning in the year 1829, a man of fifty or thereabouts was wending his way on horseback along the mountain road that leads to a large village near the Grande Chartreuse. This village is the market town of a populous canton that lies within the limits of a valley of some considerable length. The melting of the snows had filled the boulder-strewn bed of the torrent (often dry) that flows through this valley, ¡¡

The Half-Brothersby Elizabeth GaskellMy mother was twice married. She never spoke of her first husband,and it is only from other people that I have learnt what little Iknow about him. I believe she was scarcely seventeen when she wasmarried to him: and he was barely one-and-twenty. He rented a smallfarm up in Cumberland, somewhere towards the sea-coast; but he wasperhaps too young and inexperienced to have the charge of land andcattle: anyhow, his affairs did not prosper, and he fell into illhealth, and died of consumption before they had been three years man...¡¡

Ernest HemingwayWith a variety of themes and moods, dynamic action scenes andunexpectedlya rich and ribald sense of humor, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM tells a story closely resembling Hemingway¡¦s life.¡@Thomas Hudson is ¡§a good painter.¡¨ His solitary life of artistic self-discipline on the lush Caribbean island of Bimini is interrupted by a visit from his three lively sons. In a thrilling descriptive scene, David, the middle boy, shows his courage when attacked by a shark and his endurance while fighting a thousand-pound swordfish. It is an initiation into manhood.¡@Years later, Hudson is in Cuba mou¡¡

Further Adventures of Ladby Albert Payson TerhuneFOREWORDSunnybank Lad won a million friends through my book, "LAD: A DOG"; and through the Lad-anecdotes in "Buff: A Collie." These books themselves were in no sense great. But Laddie was great in every sense; and his life-story could not be marred, past interest, by my clumsy way of telling it.People have written in gratifying numbers asking for more stories about Lad. More than seventeen hundred visitors have come all the way to Sunnybank to see his grave. So I wrote the collection of tales which are now included in "Further Adventures of Lad¡¡

A DREAM OF ARMAGEDDONThe man with the white face entered the carriage at Rugby. Hemoved slowly in spite of the urgency of his porter, and even whilehe was still on the platform I noted how ill he seemed. He droppedinto the corner over against me with a sigh, made an incompleteattempt to arrange his travelling shawl, and became motionless,with his eyes staring vacantly. Presently he was moved by a senseof my observation, looked up at me, and put out a spiritless handfor his newspaper. Then he glanced again in my direction.I feigned to read. I feared I had unwittingly embarrassed...¡¡

Donal Grantby George MacDonaldCHAPTER I.FOOT-FARING.It was a lovely morning in the first of summer. Donal Grant wasdescending a path on a hillside to the valley belowa sheep-trackof which he knew every winding as well as any boy his half-mile toand from school. But he had never before gone down the hill withthe feeling that he was not about to go up again. He was on his wayto pastures very new, and in the distance only negatively inviting.But his heart was too full to be troublednor was his a heart toharbour a care, the next thing to an evil spirit, though not quite...¡¡

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE ELFIN HILLby Hans Christian AndersenA FEW large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts ofan old tree; they could understand one another very well, for theyspoke the lizard language."What a buzzing and a rumbling there is in the elfin hill," saidone of the lizards; "I have not been able to close my eyes for twonights on account of the noise; I might just as well have had thetoothache, for that always keeps me awake.""There is something going on within there," said the other lizard;...¡¡