FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENIN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEAby Hans Christian AndersenSOME years ago, large ships were sent towards the north pole, toexplore the distant coasts, and to try how far men could penetrateinto those unknown regions. For more than a year one of these shipshad been pushing its way northward, amid snow and ice, and the sailorshad endured many hardships; till at length winter set in, and thesun entirely disappeared; for many weeks there would be constantnight. All around, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could be...
A SONG ABOUT MYSELFby John KeatsI.There was a naughty boy,A naughty boy was he,He would not stop at home,He could not quiet be-He tookIn his knapsackA bookFull of vowelsAnd a shirtWith some towels,A slight capFor night cap,A hair brush,...
Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empressby George Bernard ShawANNAJANSKA is frankly a bravura piece. The modern variety theatredemands for its "turns" little plays called sketches, to lasttwenty minutes or so, and to enable some favorite performer tomake a brief but dazzling appearance on some barely passabledramatic pretext. Miss Lillah McCarthy and I, as author andactress, have helped to make one another famous on many seriousoccasions, from Man and Superman to Androcles; and Mr CharlesRicketts has not disdained to snatch moments from his paintingand sculpture to design some wonderful dresses for
James Nasmyth: Engineer, An Autobiography.Edited by Samuel SmilesPREFACEI have had much pleasure in editing the following Memoir of my friend Mr. Nasmyth. Some twenty years since (in April 1863), when I applied to him for information respecting his mechanical inventions, he replied: "My life presents no striking or remarkable incidents, and would, I fear, prove but a tame narrative. The sphere to which my endeavours have been confined has been of a comparatively quiet order; but, vanity apart, I hope I have been able to leave a few marks of my existence behind me in the shape of useful con
The Relics of General Chasseby Anthony TrollopeThat Belgium is now one of the European kingdoms, living by its ownlaws, resting on its own bottom, with a king and court, palaces andparliament of its own, is known to all the world. And a very nicelittle kingdom it is; full of old towns, fine Flemish pictures, andinteresting Gothic churches. But in the memory of very many of uswho do not think ourselves old men, Belgium, as it is now calledinthose days it used to be Flanders and Brabantwas a part ofHolland; and it obtained its own independence by a revolution. In...
The Dominion of the Airby J. M. BaconCHAPTER I. THE DAWN OF AERONAUTICS."He that would learn to fly must be brought up to the constant practice of it from his youth, trying first only to use his wings as a tame goose will do, so by degrees learning to rise higher till he attain unto skill and confidence."So wrote Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, who was reckoned a man of genius and learning in the days of the Commonwealth. But so soon as we come to inquire into the matter we find that this good Bishop was borrowing from the ideas of others who had gone before him; and, look back as far as we wil
Flatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsEdwin A. Abbott (1838-1926. English scholar, theologian, and writer.)ToThe Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERALAnd H. C. IN PARTICULARThis Work is DedicatedBy a Humble Native of FlatlandIn the Hope thatEven as he was Initiated into the MysteriesOf THREE DimensionsHaving been previously conversantWith ONLY TWO...
ADVENTUREADVENTUREby Jack London1- Page 2-ADVENTURECHAPTER ISOMETHING TOBE DONEHe was a very sick white man. He rode pick-a-back on a woolly-headed, black-skinned savage, the lobes of whose ears had been piercedand stretched until one had torn out, while the other carried a circularblock of carved wood three inches in diameter. The torn ear had been...
St. Ives, The Adventures of a French Prisoner in Englandby Robert Louis StevensonCHAPTER I - A TALE OF A LION RAMPANTIT was in the month of May 1813 that I was so unlucky as to fall atlast into the hands of the enemy. My knowledge of the Englishlanguage had marked me out for a certain employment. Though Icannot conceive a soldier refusing to incur the risk, yet to behanged for a spy is a disgusting business; and I was relieved to beheld a prisoner of war. Into the Castle of Edinburgh, standing inthe midst of that city on the summit of an extraordinary rock, I...
Another Disc day dawned, but very gradually, and this is why. When light encounters a strong magical field it loses ail sense of urgency. It slows right down. And on the Discworld the magic was embarrassingly strong, which meant that the soft yellow light of dawn flowed over the sleeping landscape like the caress of a gentle lover or, as some would have it, like golden syrup. It paused to fill up valleys. It piled up against mountain ranges. When it reached Cori Celesti, the ten mile spire of grey stone and green ice that marked the hub of the Disc and was the home of its gods, it built up i
The Inca of Perusalemby George Bernard ShawAN ALMOST HISTORICAL COMEDIETTAI must remind the reader that this playlet was written when itsprincipal character, far from being a fallen foe and virtually aprisoner in our victorious hands, was still the Caesar whoselegions we were resisting with our hearts in our mouths. Manywere so horribly afraid of him that they could not forgive me fornot being afraid of him: I seemed to be trifling heartlessly witha deadly peril. I knew better; and I have represented Caesar asknowing better himself. But it was one of the quaintnesses of...
On the First Principles of Governmentby David HumeNothing appears more surprising to those, who consider humanaffairs with a philosophical eve, than the easiness with whichthe many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission,with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to thoseof their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder iseffected, we shall find, that, as FORCE is always on the side ofthe governed, the governors have nothing to support them butopinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government isfounded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and
The Lumley Autographby Susan Fenimore Cooper[Not long since an American author received an application from aGerman correspondent for "a few Autographs"the number of namesapplied for amounting to more than a hundred, and covering severalsheets of foolscap. A few years since an Englishman of literary notesent his Album to a distinguished poet in Paris for his contribution,when the volume was actually stolen from a room where every otherarticle was left untouched; showing that Autographs were morevaluable in the eyes of the thief than any other property. Amused...
ALEXANDER356-323 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenIT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and of Caesar, by whom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great actions affords so large a field that I were to blame if I should not by way of apology forewarn my reader that I have chosen rather to epitomize the most celebrated parts of their story, than to insist at large on every particular circumstance of it. It must be borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And the most glorious exploits do not alw
The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaiiby Jack LondonContents:The House of PrideKoolau the LeperGood-bye, JackAloha OeChun Ah ChunThe Sheriff of KonaJack LondonTHE HOUSE OF PRIDEPercival Ford wondered why he had come. He did not dance. He didnot care much for army people. Yet he knew them allgliding andrevolving there on the broad lanai of the Seaside, the officers intheir fresh-starched uniforms of white, the civilians in white andblack, and the women bare of shoulders and arms. After two years in...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LOVELIEST ROSE IN THE WORLDby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE lived once a great queen, in whose garden were found atall seasons the most splendid flowers, and from every land in theworld. She specially loved roses, and therefore she possessed the mostbeautiful varieties of this flower, from the wild hedge-rose, with itsapple-scented leaves, to the splendid Provence rose. They grew nearthe shelter of the walls, wound themselves round columns andwindow-frames, crept along passages and over the ceilings of the...