Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes ofsnow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat ata window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of blackebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the windowat the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and threedrops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked prettyupon the white snow, and she thought to herself, would that I hada child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as thewood of the window-frame.Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white assnow, and as red 　

Tales and Fantasiesby Robert Louis StevensonContentsThe Misadventures of John NicholsonThe Body-SnatcherThe Story of a LieTHE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSONCHAPTER I - IN WHICH JOHN SOWS THE WINDJOHN VAREY NICHOLSON was stupid; yet, stupider men than heare now sprawling in Parliament, and lauding themselves asthe authors of their own distinction. He was of a fat habit,even from boyhood, and inclined to a cheerful and cursoryreading of the face of life; and possibly this attitude of...　

　　Even before the events in the supermarket, Jim Ironheart should have known trouble was ing. During the night he dreamed of being pursued across a field by a flock of large blackbirds that shrieked around him in a turbulent flapping of wings and tore at him with hooked beaks as precisely honed as surgical scalpels. When he woke and was unable to breathe, he shuffled onto the balcony in his pajama bottoms to get some fresh air.　At nine-thirty in the morning, the temperature, already ninety degrees, only contributed to the sense of suffocation with which he had awakened.　A long shower and a sh　

Idylls of the KingIN TWELVE BOOKSby Alfred, Lord TennysonFlos Regum Arthurus (Joseph of Exeter)ContentsDedicationThe Coming of ArthurTHE ROUND TABLEGareth and LynetteThe Marriage of GeraintGeraint and EnidBalin and BalanMerlin and VivienLancelot and ElaineThe Holy GrailPelleas and EttarreThe Last TournamentGuinevereThe Passing of ArthurTo the QueenDedicationThese to His Memorysince he held them dear,Perchance as finding there unconsciouslySome image of himselfI dedicate,I dedicate, I consecrate with tears...　

The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 3by Charles Farrar BrowneWith a biographical sketch by Melville D. Landon, "Eli Perkins"CONTENTS.PART III.Stories and Romances.3.1. Moses the Sassy; or, The Disguised Duke.3.2. Marion: A Romance of the French School.3.3. William Barker, the Young Patriot.3.4. A RomanceThe Conscript.3.5. A RomanceOnly a Mechanic.3.6. Roberto the Rover; A Tale of Sea and Shore.3.7. Red Hand: A Tale of Revenge.3.8. Pyrotechny: A Romance after the French.3.9. The Last of the Culkinses....　

Aaron Trowby Anthony TrollopeI would wish to declare, at the beginning of this story, that Ishall never regard that cluster of islets which we call Bermuda asthe Fortunate Islands of the ancients. Do not let professionalgeographers take me up, and say that no one has so accounted them,and that the ancients have never been supposed to have gottenthemselves so far westwards. What I mean to assert is thisthat,had any ancient been carried thither by enterprise or stress ofweather, he would not have given those islands so good a name. Thatthe Neapolitan sailors of King Alonzo should have been w　

The Poor Clareby Elizabeth GaskellCHAPTER I.December 12th, 1747.My life has been strangely bound up with extraordinary incidents, some of which occurred before I had any connection with the principal actors in them, or indeed, before I even knew of their existence. I suppose, most old men are, like me, more given to looking back upon their own career with a kind of fond interest and affectionate remembrance, than to watching the events though these may have far more interest for the multitude immediately passing before their eyes. If this should be the case with the generality of old people　

The Cruise of the Jasper B.by Don MarquisTO ALL THE COPYREADERS ON ALL THE NEWSPAPERS OF AMERICACHAPTER IA BRIGHT BLADE LEAPS FROM A RUSTY SCABBARDOn an evening in April, 191-, Clement J. Cleggett walked sedatelyinto the news room of the New York Enterprise with a drab-coloredwalking-stick in his hand. He stood the cane in a corner,changed his sober street coat for a more sober office jacket,adjusted a green eyeshade below his primly brushed grayish hair,unostentatiously sat down at the copy desk, and unobtrusively...　

A MOONLIGHT FABLEThere was once a little man whose mother made him a beautiful suitof clothes. It was green and gold and woven so that I cannotdescribe how delicate and fine it was, and there was a tie oforange fluffiness that tied up under his chin. And the buttonsin their newness shone like stars. He was proud and pleased by hissuit beyond measure, and stood before the long looking-glass whenfirst he put it on, so astonished and delighted with it that hecould hardly turn himself away.He wanted to wear it everywhere and show it to all sorts of...　

METEOROLOGYby Aristotletranslated by E. W. WebsterBook I1WE have already discussed the first causes of nature, and allnatural motion, also the stars ordered in the motion of the heavens,and the physical element-enumerating and specifying them and showinghow they change into one another-and becoming and perishing ingeneral. There remains for consideration a part of this inquiry...　

EPILOGUEMOONSTONE again, in the year 1909. The Metho-dists are giving an ice-cream sociable in the groveabout the new court-house. It is a warm summer night offull moon. The paper lanterns which hang among thetrees are foolish toys, only dimming, in little lurid circles,the great softness of the lunar light that floods the blueheavens and the high plateau. To the east the sand hillsshine white as of old, but the empire of the sand is grad-ually diminishing. The grass grows thicker over the dunes...　

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCEand THE BOOK of THELby William BlakeSONGS OF INNOCENCEINTRODUCTIONPiping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:"Pipe a song about a Lamb!"So I piped with merry cheer."Piper, pipe that song again;"So I piped: he wept to hear."Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;Sing thy songs of happy cheer:!"...　

The Bravo of Venice - A Romanceby M. G. LewisINTRODUCTION.Matthew Gregory Lewis, who professed to have translated this romanceout of the German, very much, I believe, as Horace Walpole professedto have taken The Castle of Otranto from an old Italian manuscript,was born in 1775 of a wealthy family. His father had an estate inIndia and a post in a Government office. His mother was daughter toSir Thomas Sewell, Master of the Rolls in the reign of George III.She was a young mother; her son Matthew was devoted to her from the...　

Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V1by ConstantTRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARKCONTENTS:CHAPTER I. to CHAPTER VI.PREFACEThough this work was first published in 1830, it has never before beentranslated into English. Indeed, the volumes are almost out of print.When in Paris a few years ago the writer secured, with much difficulty,a copy, from which this translation has been made. Notes have been addedby the translator, and illustrations by the publishers, which, it isbelieved, will enhance the interest of the original work by Constant....　

The Tale of Balenby Algernon Charles SwinburneDEDICATIONTO MY MOTHERLove that holds life and death in fee,Deep as the clear unsounded seaAnd sweet as life or death can be,Lays here my hope, my heart, and meBefore you, silent, in a song.Since the old wild tale, made new, found grace,When half sung through, before your face,It needs must live a springtide space,While April suns grow strong.March 24, 1896.THE TALE OF BALENIn hawthorn-time the heart grows light,The world is sweet in sound and sight,Glad thoughts and birds take flower and flight,...　

Men of Invention and Industryby Samuel Smiles"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, withouteloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage toperform that which they lacked language to explain. Such menhave worked the deliverance of nations and their own greatness.Their hearts are their books; events are their tutors; greatactions are their eloquence."MACAULAY.Contents.PrefaceCHAPTER I Phineas Pett:Beginings of English ShipbuildingCHAPTER II Francis Pettit Smith:...