A FAIR PENITENTA FAIR PENITENTby WILKIE COLLINS1- Page 2-A FAIR PENITENTCharles Pineau Duclos was a French writer of biographies and novels,who lived and worked during the first half of the eighteenth century. Heprospered sufficiently well, as a literary man, to be made secretary to theFrench Academy, and to be allowed to succeed Voltaire in the office ofhistoriographer of France. He has left behind him, in his own country,...
THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERSTHE SEVEN POORTRAVELLERSby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERSCHAPTER IIN THE OLD CITYOF ROCHESTERStrictly speaking, there were only six Poor Travellers; but, being aTraveller myself, though an idle one, and being withal as poor as I hope tobe, I brought the number up to seven. This word of explanation is due at...
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,and restless citizens, who, with their knives in their...
The Adventures of Pinocchioby C. Collodi[Pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini]CHAPTER 1How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter,found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a childCenturies ago there lived"A king!" my little readers will say immediately.No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon a timethere was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive pieceof wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood,one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire inwinter to make cold rooms cozy and warm....
THE ILIADby Homertranslated by Samuel ButlerBOOK ISing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that broughtcountless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it sendhurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogsand vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from theday on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, firstfell out with one another.And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the...
MUGBY JUNCTIONMUGBY JUNCTIONBy Charles Dickens1- Page 2-MUGBY JUNCTIONCHAPTER IBARBOXBROTHERSI"Guard! What place is this?""Mugby Junction, sir.""A windy place!""Yes, it mostly is, sir.""And looks comfortless indeed!""Yes, it generally does, sir."...
Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russiaby Maxime KovalevskyLecture 6The Origin, Growth, and Abolition of Personal Servitude in RussiaAn account of the origin, growth, and abolition of serfdom inRussia might easily be made to fill volumes, so vast and sovarious are the materials on which the study of it is based. Butfor the purpose now in view, that of bringing before your noticethe general conclusion to which Russian historians and legistshave come as to the social development of their country, perhapsa single lecture will suffice. In it I cannot pretend to do more...
SpringThe opening of large tracts by the ice-cutters commonly causes apond to break up earlier; for the water, agitated by the wind, evenin cold weather, wears away the surrounding ice. But such was notthe effect on Walden that year, for she had soon got a thick newgarment to take the place of the old. This pond never breaks up sosoon as the others in this neighborhood, on account both of itsgreater depth and its having no stream passing through it to melt orwear away the ice. I never knew it to open in the course of a...
The Origination of Living Beingsby Thomas H. HuxleyIn the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to indicate to you theextent of the subject-matter of the inquiry upon which we are engaged;and now, having thus acquired some conception of the Past and Presentphenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that which constitutesthe great problem which we have set before ourselves;I mean, thequestion of what knowledge we have of the causes of these phenomena oforganic nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable.Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets us. There are...
The Soul of the Far EastThe Soul of the Far Eastby Percival Lowell1- Page 2-The Soul of the Far EastCHAPTER 1. Individuality.The boyish belief that on the other side of our globe all things are ofnecessity upside down is startlingly brought back to the man when he firstsets foot at Yokohama. If his initial glance does not, to be sure, disclose...
GRACIOSA AND PERCINETONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen who had onecharming daughter. She was so graceful and pretty andclever that she was called Graciosa, and the Queen was so fond ofher that she could think of nothing else.Everyday she gave the Princess a lovely new frock of gold brocade,or satin, or velvet, and when she was hungry she had bowls full ofsugar-plums, and at least twenty pots of jam. Everybody said shewas the happiest Princess in the world. Now there lived at thissame court a very rich old duchess whose name was Grumbly....
The Divine Comedyby DANTE ALIGHIERI(1265-1321)TRANSLATED BYHENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW(1807-1882)Incipit Comoedia Dantis Alagherii,Florentini natione, non moribus.The Divine Comedytranslated by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowINFERNOInferno: Canto IMidway upon the journey of our lifeI found myself within a forest dark,For the straightforward pathway had been lost.Ah me! how hard a thing it is to sayWhat was this forest savage, rough, and stern,Which in the very thought renews the fear.So bitter is it, death is little more;...
THE SKETCH BOOKCHRISTMAS EVEby Washington IrvingSaint Francis and Saint BenedightBlesse this house from wicked wight;From the night-mare and the goblin,That is hight good fellow Robin;Keep it from all evil spirits,Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets:From curfew timeTo the next prime.CARTWRIGHT.IT WAS a brilliant moonlight night, but extremely cold; our chaise...
The Conflictby David Graham PhillipsIFour years at Wellesley; two years about equally divided among Paris, Dresden and Florence. And now Jane Hastings was at home again. At home in the unchanged housespacious, old-fashionedlooking down from its steeply sloping lawns and terraced gardens upon the sooty, smoky activities of Remsen City, looking out upon a charming panorama of hills and valleys in the heart of South Central Indiana. Six years of striving in the East and abroad to satisfy the restless energy she inherited from her father; and here she was, as restless as everyet with everythin
TWICE-TOLD TALESTHE PROPHETIC PICTURESby Nathaniel HawthorneBUT THIS PAINTER!" cried Walter Ludlow, with animation. "He notonly excels in his peculiar art, but possesses vast acquirements inall other learning and science. He talks Hebrew with Dr. Mather, andgives lectures in anatomy to Dr. Boylston. In a word, he will meet thebest instructed man among us on his own ground. Moreover, he is apolished gentleman- a citizen of the world- yes, a true cosmopolite;for he will speak like a native of each clime and country of the globe...
SHE STANDS ACCUSEDSHE STANDSACCUSEDBY VICTOR MacCLURE1- Page 2-SHE STANDS ACCUSEDBeing a Series of Accounts of the Lives and Deeds of NotoriousWomen, Murderesses, Cheats, Cozeners, on whom Justice was Executed,and of others who, Accused of Crimes, were Acquitted at least in Law;Drawn from Authenticated Sources2- Page 3-SHE STANDS ACCUSED...