IN A FAR COUNTRY.WHEN A MAN JOURNEYS into a far country, he must be prepared toforget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire suchcustoms as are inherent with existence in the new land; he mustabandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he mustreverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto beenshaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, thenovelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but tothose who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they werecreated, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, and...
The Mansionby Henry van DykeThere was an air of calm and reserved opulence aboutthe Weightman mansion that spoke not of money squandered,but of wealth prudently applied. Standing on a corner ofthe Avenue no longer fashionable for residence, it looked uponthe swelling tide of business with an expression of complacencyand half-disdain.The house was not beautiful. There was nothing in its straightfront ofchocolate-colored stone, its heavy cornices, its broad, staringwindows ofplate glass, its carved and bronze-bedecked mahogany doors at the...
Minna von Barnhelmby Gotthold Ephraim LessingTranslated By Ernest BellINTRODUCTORY NOTEGotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22, 1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen and Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty. In 1748 he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time was powerfully influenced by him. The most important product of this period was his tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a modern version of the story of Medea, which began the vogue of the sentimental middle-class play in Germany. After a se
A Woman of Thirtyby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageDEDICATIONTo Louis Boulanger, Painter.A WOMAN OF THIRTYI.EARLY MISTAKESIt was a Sunday morning in the beginning of April 1813, a morning which gave promise of one of those bright days when Parisians, for the first time in the year, behold dry pavements underfoot and a cloudless sky overhead. It was not yet noon when a luxurious cabriolet, drawn by two spirited horses, turned out of the Rue de Castiglione into the Rue de Rivoli, and drew up behind a row of carriages standing before the newly opened barrier half-way down the Terras
HERMOD AND HADVOR [32][32] From the Icelandic.Once upon a time there were a King and a Queen who had an onlydaughter, called Hadvor, who was fair and beautiful, and being anonly child, was heir to the kingdom. The King and Queen had alsoa foster son, named Hermod, who was just about the same age asHadvor, and was good-looking, as well as clever at most things.Hermod and Hadvor often played together while they were children,and liked each other so much that while they were still youngthey secretly plighted their troth to each other.As time went on the Queen fell sick, and suspecting that it w
A PERSONAL RECORDBY JOSEPH CONRADA FAMILIAR PREFACEAs a general rule we do not want much encouragement to talk aboutourselves; yet this little book is the result of a friendlysuggestion, and even of a little friendly pressure. I defendedmyself with some spirit; but, with characteristic tenacity, thefriendly voice insisted, "You know, you really must."It was not an argument, but I submitted at once. If one must! ....
The Works of Edgar Allan PoeVolume 1 of the Raven EditionIN FIVE VOLUMESVOLUME I ContentsEdgar Allan Poe, An AppreciationLife of Poe, by James Russell LowellDeath of Poe, by N. P. WillisThe Unparalled Adventures of One Hans PfallThe Gold BugFour Beasts in OneThe Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Mystery of Marie Rog阾The Balloon HoaxMS. Found in a BottleThe Oval PortraitEDGAR ALLAN POEAN APPRECIATIONCaught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden boreTill the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore...
Roundabout to Bostonby William Dean HowellsDuring the four years of my life in Venice the literary intention waspresent with me at all times and in all places. I wrote many things inverse, which I sent to the magazines in every part of the English-speaking world, but they came unerringly back to me, except in threeinstances only, when they were kept by the editors who finally printedthem. One of these pieces was published in the Atlantic Monthly; anotherin Harpers Magazine; the third was got into the New York Ledger throughthe kindness of Doctor Edward Everett Hale, who used I know not what
The Wreck of the Golden Maryby Charles DickensTHE WRECKI was apprenticed to the Sea when I was twelve years old, and I haveencountered a great deal of rough weather, both literal andmetaphorical. It has always been my opinion since I first possessedsuch a thing as an opinion, that the man who knows only one subjectis next tiresome to the man who knows no subject. Therefore, in thecourse of my life I have taught myself whatever I could, andalthough I am not an educated man, I am able, I am thankful to say,to have an intelligent interest in most things....
MY KINSMAN, MAJOR MOLINEUXAfter the kings of Great Britain had assumed the right ofappointing the colonial governors, the measures of the latterseldom met with the ready and generous approbation which had beenpaid to those of their predecessors, under the original charters.The people looked with most jealous scrutiny to the exercise ofpower which did not emanate from themselves, and they usuallyrewarded their rulers with slender gratitude for the compliancesby which, in softening their instructions from beyond the sea,they had incurred the reprehension of those who gave them. The...
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V12BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARK1895CONTENTS:CHAPTER XXIV. to CHAPTER XXXI.CHAPTER XXIV.After the brilliant successes obtained by the Emperor in such a shorttime, and with forces so exceedingly inferior to the great masses of theenemy, his Majesty, realizing the necessity of allowing his troops totake a rest of some days at Troyes, entered into negotiations for anarmistice with the Prince von Schwarzenberg.At this juncture it was announced to the Emperor that General Blucher,...
The Gentle Grafterby O. HenryCONTENTSI. The Octopus MaroonedII. Jeff Peters as a Personal MagnetIII. Modern Rural SportsIV. The Chair of PhilanthromathematicsV. The Hand That Riles the WorldVI. The Exact Science of MatrimonyVII. A Midsummer MasqueradeVIII. Shearing the WolfIX. Innocents of BroadwayX. Conscience in ArtXI. The Man Higher UpXII. A Tempered WindXIII. Hostages to MomusXIV. The Ethics of PigTHE GENTLE GRAFTERITHE OCTOPUS MAROONED"A trust is its weakest point," said Jeff Peters."That," said I, "sounds like one of those unintelligible remarks such...
The Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouseby Thomas BurkeBuying and SellingThroughout the day I sit behind the counter of my shopAnd the odours of my country are all about meAreca nut, and betel leaf, and manioc,Lychee and suey sen,Li-un and dried seaweed,Tchah and sam-shu;And these carry my mind to half-forgotten daysWhen tales were plentiful and care was hard to hold.All day I sell for trifling sums the wares of my own land,And buy for many cash such things as people wish to sell,That I may sell them again to others,With some profit to myself....
Lecture IXCONVERSIONTo be converted, to be regenerated, to receive grace, toexperience religion, to gain an assurance, are so many phraseswhich denote the process, gradual or sudden, by which a selfhitherto divided, and consciously wrong inferior and unhappy,becomes unified and consciously right superior and happy, inconsequence of its firmer hold upon religious realities. This atleast is what conversion signifies in general terms, whether ornot we believe that a direct divine operation is needed to bring...
THE SKETCH BOOKA SUNDAY IN LONDON*by Washington Irving* Part of a sketch omitted in the previous editions.IN A preceding paper I have spoken of an English Sunday in thecountry, and its tranquillizing effect upon the landscape; but whereis its sacred influence more strikingly apparent than in the veryheart of that great Babel, London? On this sacred day, the giganticmonster is charmed into repose. The intolerable din and struggle ofthe week are at an end. The shops are shut. The fires of forges and...
THE SCARLET LETTERby Nathaniel HawthorneINTRODUCTORYTHE CUSTOM-HOUSE.INTRODUCTORY TO "THE SCARLET LETTER".IT is a little remarkable, that- though disinclined to talk overmuchof myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personalfriends- an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life havetaken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time wasthree or four years since, when I favoured the reader- inexcusably,and for no earthly reason, that either the indulgent reader or the...