The Amateur Cracksmanby E. W. HornungTO A. C. D. THIS FORM OF FLATTERYTHE AMATEUR CRACKSMANTHE IDES OF MARCHIIt was half-past twelve when I returned to the Albany as a last desperate resort. The scene of my disaster was much as I had left it. The baccarat-counters still strewed the table, with the empty glasses and the loaded ash-trays. A window had been opened to let the smoke out, and was letting in the fog instead. Raffles himself had merely discarded his dining jacket for one of his innumerable blazers. Yet he arched his eyebrows as though I had dragged him from his bed....　

The Jacket (Star-Rover)by Jack LondonCHAPTER IAll my life I have had an awareness of other times and places. Ihave been aware of other persons in me.Oh, and trust me, so haveyou, my reader that is to be. Read back into your childhood, andthis sense of awareness I speak of will be remembered as anexperience of your childhood. You were then not fixed, notcrystallized. You were plastic, a soul in flux, a consciousness andan identity in the process of formingay, of forming andforgetting.You have forgotten much, my reader, and yet, as you read these...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD HOUSEby Hans Christian AndersenA VERY old house stood once in a street with several that werequite new and clean. The date of its erection had been carved on oneof the beams, and surrounded by scrolls formed of tulips andhop-tendrils; by this date it could be seen that the old house wasnearly three hundred years old. Verses too were written over thewindows in old-fashioned letters, and grotesque faces, curiouslycarved, grinned at you from under the cornices. One story projected...　

The Scouts of the Valleyby Joseph A. AltshelerCHAPTER ITHE LONE CANOEA light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and without noise.The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun, which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft, piercing straig　

BOOK II: OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANSIF any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some othertown, or desires to travel and see the rest of the country, heobtains leave very easily from the syphogrant and tranibors whenthere is no particular occasion for him at home: such as travel,carry with them a passport from the Prince, which both certifiesthe license that is granted for travelling, and limits the time oftheir return. They are furnished with a wagon, and a slave who...　

Swan Songby Anton CheckovPLAYS BY ANTON TCHEKOFFTRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARIAN FELLCONTENTSIntroductionChronological List of WorksThe Swan SongINTRODUCTIONANTON TCHEKOFFTHE last years of the nineteenth century were for Russia tingedwith doubt and gloom. The high-tide of vitality that had risenduring the Turkish war ebbed in the early eighties, leavingbehind it a dead level of apathy which lasted until life wasagain quickened by the high interests of the Revolution. Duringthese grey years the lonely country and stagnant provincial towns...　

THESEUSLegendaryby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenAs geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps partsof the world which they do not know about, adding notes in themargin to the effect, that beyond this lies nothing but the sandydeserts full of wild beasts, unapproachable bogs, Scythian ice, or afrozen sea, so in this work of mine, in which I have compared thelives of the greatest men with one another, after passing through...　

ANNALS OF THE PARISHANNALS OF THEPARISHby John Galt1- Page 2-ANNALS OF THE PARISHINTRODUCTIONIn the same year, and on the same day of the same month, that hisSacred Majesty King George, the third of the name, came to his crown andkingdom, I was placed and settled as the minister of Dalmailing. {1}When about a week thereafter this was known in the parish, it was thought...　

Cabin Feverby B. M. BowerCONTENTSCHAPTERI THE FEVER MANIFESTS ITSELFII TWO MAKE A QUARRELIII TEN DOLLARS AND A JOB FOR BUDIV HEAD SOUTH AND KEEP GOINGV BUD CANNOT PERFORM MIRACLESVI BUD TAKES TO THE HILLSVII INTO THE DESERTVIII MANY BARREN MONTHS AND MILESIX THE BITE OF MEMORYX EMOTIONS ARE TRICKY THINGSXI THE FIRST STAGESXII MARIE TAKES A DESPERATE CHANCEXIII CABIN FEVER IN ITS WORST FORMXIV CASH GETS A SHOCKXV AND BUD NEVER GUESSEDXVI THE ANTIDOTEXVII LOVIN CHILD WRIGGLES INXVIII THEY HAVE THEIR TROUBLES...　

MARCELLUS268?-208 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHEY say that Marcus Claudius, who was five times consul of theRomans, was the son of Marcus; and that he was the first of his familycalled Marcellus; that is, martial, as Posidonius affirms. He was,indeed, by long experience, skilful in the art of war, of a strongbody, valiant of hand, and by natural inclinations addicted to war.This high temper and heat he showed conspicuously in battle; in...　

INDIAN HEROES AND GREAT CHIEFTAINSINDIAN HEROES ANDGREAT CHIEFTAINSBYCHARLES A. EASTMAN (OHIYESA)1- Page 2-INDIAN HEROES AND GREAT CHIEFTAINSRED CLOUDEVERY age, every race, has its leaders and heroes. There were oversixty distinct tribes of Indians on this continent, each of which boasted itsnotable men. The names and deeds of some of these men will live in...　

THE SEVEN FOALSTHERE was once upon a time a couple of poor folks who lived ina wretched hut, far away from everyone else, in a wood. Theyonly just managed to live from hand to mouth, and had great difficultyin doing even so much as that, but they had three sons, andthe youngest of them was called Cinderlad, for he did nothing elsebut lie and poke about among the ashes.One day the eldest lad said that he would go out to earn his living;he soon got leave to do that, and set out on his way into the world.He walked on and on for the whole day, and when night was beginning...　

The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Volume 3by Charles Dudley WarnerCONTENTS:IN THE WILDERNESSHOW SPRING CAME IN NEW ENGLANDCAPTAIN JOHN SMITHPOCOHANTASIN THE WILDERNESSHOW I KILLED A BEARSo many conflicting accounts have appeared about my casual encounter with an Adirondack bear last summer that in justice to the public, to myself, and to the bear, it is necessary to make a plain statement of the facts. Besides, it is so seldom I have occasion to kill a bear, that the celebration of the exploit may be excused.The encounter was unpremeditated on both sides. I was not hunting for 　

Oliver Wendell Holmesby William Dean HowellsElsewhere we literary folk are apt to be such a common lot, withtendencies here and there to be a shabby lot; we arrive from all sorts ofunexpected holes and corners of the earth, remote, obscure; and at thebest we do so often come up out of the ground; but at Boston we were ofascertained and noted origin, and good part of us dropped from the skies.Instead of holding horses before the doors of theatres; or capping versesat the plough-tail; or tramping over Europe with nothing but a flute inthe pocket; or walking up to the metropolis with no luggage 　

Stories from Pentameroneby Giambattista BasileNOTEThe collection of folk-tales known as Il Pentamerone was firstpublished at Naples and in the Neopolitan dialect, by GiambattistaBasile, Conte di Torrone, who is believed to have collected themchiefly in Crete and Venice, and to have died about the year 1637.CONTENTS1. How the Tales came to be told2. The Myrtle3. Peruonto4. Vardiello5. The Flea6. Cenerentola7. The Merchant8. Goat-Face9. The Enchanted Doe10. Parsley11. The Three Sisters12. Violet13. Pippo14. The Serpent...　

The Wife and Other Storiesby Anton ChekhovTranslated by CONSTANCE GARNETTCONTENTSThe WifeDifficult PeopleThe GrasshopperA Dreary StoryThe Privy CouncillorThe Man in CaseGooseberriesAbout LoveThe Lottery TicketTHE WIFEII RECEIVED the following letter:"DEAR SIR, PAVEL ANDREITCH!"Not far from you that is to say, in the village of Pestrovo very distressing incidents are taking place, concerning which I feel it my duty to write to you. All the peasants of that village sold their cottages and all their belongings, and set off for the province of Tomsk, but did not succeed in getting there, and ha