THE YOUNG TSARTHE young Tsar had just ascended the throne.For five weeks he had worked without ceasing, inthe way that Tsars are accustomed to work. Hehad been attending to reports, signing papers, re-ceiving ambassadors and high officials who cameto be presented to him, and reviewing troops. Hewas tired, and as a traveller exhausted by heatand thirst longs for a draught of water and forrest, so he longed for a respite of just one dayat least from receptions, from speeches, fromparadesa few free hours to spend like an ordi-nary human being with his young, clever, and...　

Prayers Written At VailimaPrayers Written AtVailimaRobert Louis Stevenson1- Page 2-Prayers Written At VailimaINTRODUCTIONIn every Samoan household the day is closed with prayer and thesinging of hymns. The omission of this sacred duty would indicate, notonly a lack of religious training in the house chief, but a shameless...　

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeareby E. Nesbit"It may be said of Shakespeare, that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence. He has been imitated by all succeeding writers; and it may be doubted whether from all his successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or more rules of practical prudence can be collected than he alone has given to his country."Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON.PREFACEThe writings of Shakespeare have been justly termed "the richest, the purest, the fairest, that genius uninspired ever penned."Shakespeare instructed by delighting. His plays alone　

Abraham Lincolnby James Russell LowellTHERE have been many painful crises since the impatient vanity ofSouth Carolina hurried ten prosperous Commonwealths into acrime whose assured retribution was to leave them either at themercy of the nation they had wronged, or of the anarchy they hadsummoned but could not control, when no thoughtful Americanopened his morning paper without dreading to find that he had nolonger a country to love and honor. Whatever the result of theconvulsion whose first shocks were beginning to be felt, there...　

Green Mansions A Romance of the Tropical Forestby W. H. HudsonFOREWORDI take up pen for this foreword with the fear of one who knows that he cannot do justice to his subject, and the trembling of one who would not, for a good deal, set down words unpleasing to the eye of him who wrote Green Mansions, The Purple Land, and all those other books which have meant so much to me. For of all living authorsnow that Tolstoi has gone I could least dispense with W. H. Hudson. Why do I love his writing so? I think because he is, of living writers that I read, the rarest spirit, and has the clearest gi　

A WARD OF THE GOLDEN GATEA WARD OF THEGOLDEN GATEBret Harte1- Page 2-A WARD OF THE GOLDEN GATEPROLOGUE.In San Francisco the "rainy season" had been making itself a realityto the wondering Eastern immigrant. There were short days of driftingclouds and flying sunshine, and long succeeding nights of incessantdownpour, when the rain rattled on the thin shingles or drummed on the...　

　　Inasmuch as the scene of this story is that historic pile, Belpher Castle, in the county of Hampshire, it would be an agreeable task to open it with a leisurely description of the place, followed by some notes on the history of the Earls of Marshmoreton, who have owned it since the fifteenth century. Unfortunately, in these days of rush and hurry, a novelist works at a disadvantage. He must leap into the middle of his tale with as little delay as he would employ in boarding a moving tramcar. He must get off the mark with the smooth swiftness of a jack-rabbit surprised while lunching. Otherw　

An Old Town By The SeaAn Old Town By The Seaby Thomas Bailey Aldrich1- Page 2-An Old Town By The SeaPISCATAQUA RIVERThou singest by the gleaming isles, By woods, and fields of corn,Thou singest, and the sunlight smiles Upon my birthday morn.But I within a city, I, So full of vague unrest, Would almost give mylife to lie An hour upon upon thy breast.To let the wherry listless go, And, wrapt in dreamy joy, Dip, and surge...　

Female Suffrageby Susan Fenimore CooperA LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN WOMEN OF AMERICA.Part I.The natural position of woman is clearly, to a limited degree, asubordinate one. Such it has always been throughout the world, in allages, and in many widely different conditions of society. There arethree conclusive reasons why we should expect it to continue so forthe future.FIRST. Woman in natural physical strength is so greatly inferior toman that she is entirely in his power, quite incapable of self-defense, trusting to his generosity for protection. In savage life this...　

The Grey BrethrenThe Grey Brethren1- Page 2-The Grey BrethrenThe Grey BrethrenSome of the happiest remembrances of my childhood are of days spentin a little Quaker colony on a high hill.The walk was in itself a preparation, for the hill was long and steepand at the mercy of the north-east wind; but at the top, sheltered by acopse and a few tall trees, stood a small house, reached by a flagged...　

　　THOMAS COVENANT is a happy and successful author until an unfelt infection leads to the amputation of two fingers. Then his doctor tells him he has leprosy. The disease is arrested at a leprosarium, but he returns home to find himself an outcast. His wife has divorced him and ignorant fear makes all his neighbors shun him. He bees a lonely, bitter pariah.　In rebellion, he goes to town. There, just after he meets a strange beggar, he stumbles in front of a police car. Disorientation overes him. He revives in a strange world where the evil voice of Lord Foul gives him a mocking message of doo　

　　There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers　　exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will　　instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more　　bizarre and inexplicable.　　　　There is another theory which states that this has already happened.　　　　Chapter 1　　　　The story so far:　　In the beginning the Universe was created.　　This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.　　Many races believe that it was created by some sort of God, though the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI believe that the entire Universe was in fact sne　

　　　A NOTE ON CHRONOLOGY　A Song of Ice and Fire is told through the eyes of characters who are sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles apart from one another. Some chapters cover a day, some only an hour; others might span a fortnight, a month, half a year. With such a structure, the narrative cannot be strictly sequential; sometimes important things are happening simultaneously, a thousand leagues apart.　In the case of the volume now in hand, the reader should realize that the opening chapters of A Storm of Swords do not follow the closing chapters of A Clash of Kings so much as overlap　

Letters to His Son, 1749by The Earl of ChesterfieldLETTERS TO HIS SONBy the EARL OF CHESTERFIELDon the Fine Art of becoming aMAN OF THE WORLDand aGENTLEMANLETTER LXIILONDON, January 10, O. S. 1749.DEAR BOY: I have received your letter of the 31st December, N. S. Your thanks for my present, as you call it, exceed the value of the present; but the use, which you assure me that you will make of it, is the thanks which I desire to receive. Due attention to the inside of books, and due contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense and his books....　

The Heir of Redclyffeby Charlotte M. YoungeCHAPTER 1In such pursuits if wisdom lies,Who, Laura, can thy taste despise?GAYThe drawing-room of Hollywell House was one of the favoured apartments,where a peculiar air of home seems to reside, whether seen in themiddle of summer, all its large windows open to the garden, or, as whenour story commences, its bright fire and stands of fragrant green-houseplants contrasted with the wintry fog and leafless trees of November.There were two persons in the rooma young lady, who sat drawing at...　

Chapter XI of Volume II (Chap. 34)WHEN they were gone, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her being in Kent. They contained no actual complaint, nor was there any revival of past occurrences, or any communication of present suffering. But in all, and in almost every line of each, there was a want of that cheerfulness which had been used to characterize her style, and which, proceeding from the serenity of a mind at ease with itself, and kindly di