The Stolen White Elephantby Mark Twain[Left out of A Tramp Abroad, because it was feared that some of theparticulars had been exaggerated, and that others were not true. Beforethese suspicions had been proven groundless, the book had gone to press.M.T.]The following curious history was related to me by a chance railwayacquaintance. He was a gentleman more than seventy years of age, and histhoroughly good and gentle face and earnest and sincere manner imprintedthe unmistakable stamp of truth upon every statement which fell from hislips. He said:...　

JACK AND THE BEANSTALKJACK SELLS THE COWONCE upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a littlecottage with her only son Jack.Jack was a giddy, thoughtless boy, but very kind-hearted andaffectionate. There had been a hard winter, and after it the poorwoman had suffered from fever and ague. Jack did no work as yet,and by degrees they grew dreadfully poor. The widow saw thatthere was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvationbut by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, `I amtoo weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market...　

Memories and Portraitsby Robert Louis StevensonNOTETHIS volume of papers, unconnected as they are, it will be betterto read through from the beginning, rather than dip into at random.A certain thread of meaning binds them. Memories of childhood andyouth, portraits of those who have gone before us in the battle -taken together, they build up a face that "I have loved long sinceand lost awhile," the face of what was once myself. This has comeby accident; I had no design at first to be autobiographical; I was...　

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 　

The Black Tulipby Alexandre Dumas, PereChapter 1A Grateful PeopleOn the 20th of August, 1672, the city of the Hague, alwaysso lively, so neat, and so trim that one might believe everyday to be Sunday, with its shady park, with its tall trees,spreading over its Gothic houses, with its canals like largemirrors, in which its steeples and its almost Easterncupolas are reflected, the city of the Hague, the capitalof the Seven United Provinces, was swelling in all itsarteries with a black and red stream of hurried, panting,...　

Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, V12by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de BourrienneHis Private SecretaryEdited by R. W. PhippsColonel, Late Royal Artillery1891CONTENTS:CHAPTER XXVIII. to CHAPTER XXXVI. 1813-1814CHAPTER XXVIII.1813.Riots in Hamburg and LubeckAttempted suicide of M. KonningEvacuation of HamburgDissatisfaction at the conduct of General St.CyrThe Cabinets of Vienna and the TuileriesFirst appearance ofthe CossacksColonel Tettenborn invited to occupy HamburgCordialreception of the RussiansDepredationsLevies of troops...　

Barlaam and Ioasaphby St. John of DamascusIt is not known where or when this story was written, but it is believed to have been translated into Greek (possibly from a Georgian original) sometime in the 11th Century A.D. Although the ultimate author is usually referred to as "John the Monk", it has been traditionally ascribed to St. John of Damascus.BARLAAM AND IOASAPHAN EDIFYING STORY FROM THE INNER LAND OF THE ETHIOPIANS, CALLED THE LAND OF THE INDIANS, THENCE BROUGHT TO THE HOLY CITY, BY JOHN THE MONK (AN HONOURABLE MAN AND A VIRTUOUS, OF THE MONASTERY OF SAINT SABAS); WHEREIN ARE THE LIVE　

First Across the Continentby Noah BrooksThe Story ofThe Exploring Expedition of Lewisand Clark in 1804-5-6Chapter IA Great Transaction in LandThe people of the young Republic of the United States were greatly astonished, in the summer of 1803, to learn that Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, had sold to us the vast tract of land known as the country of Louisiana. The details of this purchase were arranged in Paris (on the part of the United States) by Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe. The French government was represented by Barbe-Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury.　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORKSby Hans Christian AndersenON the last house in a little village the storks had built a nest,and the mother stork sat in it with her four young ones, who stretchedout their necks and pointed their black beaks, which had not yetturned red like those of the parent birds. A little way off, on theedge of the roof, stood the father stork, quite upright and stiff; notliking to be quite idle, he drew up one leg, and stood on the other,so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood. "It...　

Styleby Walter RaleighStyle, the Latin name for an iron pen, has come to designate the art that handles, with ever fresh vitality and wary alacrity, the fluid elements of speech. By a figure, obvious enough, which yet might serve for an epitome of literary method, the most rigid and simplest of instruments has lent its name to the subtlest and most flexible of arts. Thence the application of the word has been extended to arts other than literature, to the whole range of the activities of man. The fact that we use the word "style" in speaking of architecture and sculpture, painting and musi　

DreamsDreamsby Jerome K. Jerome1- Page 2-DreamsThe most extraordinary dream I ever had was one in which I fanciedthat, as I was going into a theater, the cloak-room attendant stopped me inthe lobby and insisted on my leaving my legs behind me.I was not surprised; indeed, my acquaintanceship with theater harpieswould prevent my feeling any surprise at such a demand, even in my...　

400 BCOF THE EPIDEMICSby Hippocratestranslated by Francis AdamsOF THE EPIDEMICSBOOK I. Sect. I. First Constitution1. IN THASUS, about the autumn equinox, and under the Pleiades,the rains were abundant, constant, and soft, with southerly winds; thewinter southerly, the northerly winds faint, droughts; on the whole,the winter having the character of spring. The spring was southerly,...　

Mark Twain, A Biography, 1900-1907By Albert Bigelow PaineVOLUME III, Part 1: 1900-1907CCXIITHE RETURN OF THE CONQUERORIt would be hard to exaggerate the stir which the newspapers and thepublic generally made over the homecoming of Mark Twain. He had leftAmerica, staggering under heavy obligation and set out on a pilgrimage ofredemption. At the moment when this Mecca, was in view a great sorrowhad befallen him and, stirred a world-wide and soul-deep tide of humansympathy. Then there had followed such ovation as has seldom beenconferred upon a private citizen, and now approaching old age, st　

The Village Watch-Towerby Kate Douglas WigginDear old apple-tree, under whose gnarled branches thesestories were written, to you I dedicate the book. My head wasso close to you, who can tell from whence the thoughts came?I only know that when all the other trees in the orchard were barren,there were always stories to be found under your branches, and so itis our joint book, dear apple-tree. Your pink blossoms have fallenon the page as I wrote; your ruddy fruit has dropped into my lap;the sunshine streamed through your leaves and tipped my pencil with gold....　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE SHADOWby Hans Christian AndersenIN very hot climates, where the heat of the sun has great power,people are usually as brown as mahogany; and in the hottestcountries they are negroes, with black skins. A learned man oncetravelled into one of these warm climates, from the cold regions ofthe north, and thought he would roam about as he did at home; but hesoon had to change his opinion. He found that, like all sensiblepeople, he must remain in the house during the whole day, with every...　

THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATETHE GREAT WARSYNDICATEFRANK R. STOCKTONAuthor of "The Lady or the Tiger," "Rudder Grange," "The CastingAway of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine," "What Might Have BeenExpected," etc., etc.1- Page 2-THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATETHE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE.In the spring of a certain year, not far from the close of the nineteenth...