The Blue Flowerby Henry van DykeThe desire of the moth for the star,Of the night for the morrow,The devotion for something afarFrom the sphere of our sorrow.SHELLEY.ToTHE DEAR MEMORY OFBERNARD VAN DYKE1887-1897AND THE LOVE THAT LIVESBEYOND THE YEARSPREFACESometimes short stories are brought together like parcels ina basket. Sometimes they grow together like blossoms on abush. Then, of course, they really belong to one another,because they have the same life in them.The stories in this book have been growing together for a...
The Fifth Stringby John Philip SousaIThe coming of Diotti to Americahad awakened more than usualinterest in the man and his work. Hismarvelous success as violinist in theleading capitals of Europe, together withmany brilliant contributions to theliterature of his instrument, had long beenfavorably commented on by the criticsof the old world. Many stories of hisstruggles and his triumphs had foundtheir way across the ocean and had beenread and re-read with interest.Therefore, when Mr. Henry Perkins,...
THE COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICEROby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHESE are the most memorable circumstances recorded in history ofDemosthenes and Cicero which have come to our knowledge. Butomitting an exact comparison of their respective faculties inspeaking, yet thus much seems fit to be said; that Demosthenes, tomake himself a master in rhetoric, applied all the faculties he had,natural or acquired, wholly that way that he far surpassed in forceand strength of eloquence all his contemporaries in political and...
The Ethics [Part 5](Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata)by Benedict de SpinozaTranslated by R. H. M. ElwesPART V: Of the Power of the Understanding, or of Human FreedomPREFACEAt length I pass to the remaining portion of my Ethics, which is concernedwith the way leading to freedom. I shall therefore treat therein of thepower of the reason, showing how far the reason can control the emotions,and what is the nature of Mental Freedom or Blessedness; we shall then be...
THE THREE BROTHERS[17][17] From the Polish. Kletke.There was once upon a time a witch, who in the shape of a hawkused every night to break the windows of a certain villagechurch. In the same village there lived three brothers, who wereall determined to kill the mischievous hawk. But in vain did thetwo eldest mount guard in the church with their guns; as soon asthe bird appeared high above their heads, sleep overpowered them,and they only awoke to hear the windows crashing in.Then the youngest brother took his turn of guarding the windows,...
The Deputy of Arcisby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyPART ITHE ELECTIONIALL ELECTIONS BEGIN WITH A BUSTLEBefore beginning to describe an election in the provinces, it is proper to state that the town of Arcis-sur-Aube was not the theatre of the events here related.The arrondissement of Arcis votes at Bar-sur-Aube, which is forty miles from Arcis; consequently there is no deputy from Arcis in the Chamber.Discretion, required in a history of contemporaneous manners and morals, dictates this precautionary word. It is rather an ingenious contrivance to make the descripti
Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.IN THE cloisters of the ancient Benedictine convent of SanDomingo, at Silos, in Castile, are the mouldering yet magnificentmonuments of the once powerful and chivalrous family of Hinojosa.Among these reclines the marble figure of a knight, in complete armor,with the hands pressed together, as if in prayer. On one side of histomb is sculptured in relief a band of Christian cavaliers,capturing a cavalcade of male and female Moors; on the other side, thesame cavaliers are represented kneeling before an altar. The tomb,...
AFTER THE DANCE"AND you say that a man cannot, of himself,understand what is good and evil; that it is allenvironment, that the environment swamps theman. But I believe it is all chance. Take myown case . . ."Thus spoke our excellent friend, Ivan Vasilie-vich, after a conversation between us on the impos-sibility of improving individual character withouta change of the conditions under which men live.Nobody had actually said that one could not ofoneself understand good and evil; but it was ahabit of Ivan Vasilievich to answer in this way thethoughts aroused in his own mind by conversation,.
PRESTER JOHNJOHN BUCHANTOLIONEL PHILLIPSTime, they say, must the best of us capture,And travel and battle and gems and goldNo more can kindle the ancient rapture,For even the youngest of hearts grows old.But in you, I think, the boy is not over;So take this medley of ways and warsAs the gift of a friend and a fellow-loverOf the fairest country under the stars.J. B.CONTENTSi. The Man on the Kirkcaple Shoreii. Furth! Fortune!iii. Blaauwildebeestefonteiniv. My Journey to the Winter-Veldv. Mr Wardlaw Has a Premonition...
(Starring Three Witches, also kings, daggers, crowns, storms, dwarfs, cats, ghosts, spectres, apes, bandits, demons, forests, heirs, jesters, tortures, trolls, turntables, general rejoicing and drivers alarums.) The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills. The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among
On Books and the Housing of Themby William Ewart GladstoneIn the old age of his intellect (which atthis point seemed to taste a little ofdecrepitude), Strauss declared [1] that the doctrine ofimmortality has recently lost the assistanceof a passable argument, inasmuch as it hasbeen discovered that the stars are inhabited;for where, he asks, could room now be foundfor such a multitude of souls? Again, in viewof the current estimates of prospectivepopulation for this earth, some people have begun toentertain alarm for the probable condition of...
Two Poetsby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageDEDICATIONTo Monsieur Victor Hugo,It was your birthright to be, like a Rafael or a Pitt, a great poet at an age when other men are children; it was your fate, the fate of Chateaubriand and of every man of genius, to struggle against jealousy skulking behind the columns of a newspaper, or crouching in the subterranean places of journalism. For this reason I desired that your victorious name should help to win a victory for this work that I inscribe to you, a work which, if some persons are to be believed, is an act of courag
THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE"She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,"cried the young Student; "but in all my garden there is no redrose."From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, andshe looked out through the leaves, and wondered."No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyesfilled with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happinessdepend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and allthe secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BIRD OF POPULAR SONGby Hans Christian AndersenIT is winter-time. The earth wears a snowy garment, and looks likemarble hewn out of the rock; the air is bright and clear; the windis sharp as a well-tempered sword, and the trees stand like branchesof white coral or blooming almond twigs, and here it is keen as on thelofty Alps.The night is splendid in the gleam of the Northern Lights, andin the glitter of innumerable twinkling stars.But we sit in the warm room, by the hot stove, and talk about...
The Drums Of Jeopardyby Harold MacGrathCHAPTER IA fast train drew into Albany, on the New York Central, from theWest. It was three-thirty of a chill March morning in the firstyear of peace. A pall of fog lay over the world so heavy thatit beaded the face and hands and deposited a fairy diamond dustupon wool. The station lights had the visibility of stars, andlike the stars were without refulgence - a pale golden aureola,perhaps three feet in diameter, and beyond, nothing. The fewpassengers who alighted and the train itself had the same nebulosityof drab fish in a dim aquarium....
THE DIAMOND MAKERSome business had detained me in Chancery Lane nine in theevening, and thereafter, having some inkling of a headache, I wasdisinclined either for entertainment or further work. So much ofthe sky as the high cliffs of that narrow canon of traffic leftvisible spoke of a serene night, and I determined to make my waydown to the Embankment, and rest my eyes and cool my head bywatching the variegated lights upon the river. Beyond comparisonthe night is the best time for this place; a merciful darknesshides the dirt of the waters, and the lights of this transitional...