A Confessionby Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyII was baptized and brought up in the Orthodox Christian faith.I was taught it in childhood and throughout my boyhood and youth.But when I abandoned the second course of the university at the ageof eighteen I no longer believed any of the things I had beentaught.Judging by certain memories, I never seriously believed them,but had merely relied on what I was taught and on what wasprofessed by the grown-up people around me, and that reliance was...　

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V4BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARKCONTENTS:CHAPTER XXIII. to CHAPTER XXXI.CHAPTER XXIII.It was the 2d of January, 1805, exactly a month after the coronation,that I formed with the eldest daughter of M. Charvet a union which hasbeen, and will I trust ever be, the greatest happiness of my life. Ipromised the reader to say very little of myself; and, in fact, how couldhe be interested in any details of my own private life which did notthrow additional light upon the character of the great man about whom I...　

Minna von Barnhelmby Gotthold Ephraim LessingTranslated By Ernest BellINTRODUCTORY NOTEGotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22, 1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen and Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty. In 1748 he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time was powerfully influenced by him. The most important product of this period was his tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a modern version of the story of Medea, which began the vogue of the sentimental middle-class play in Germany. After a se　

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOWby Washington IrvingFound among the papers of the late Diedrech Knickerbocker.A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,Forever flushing round a summer sky.Castle of Indolence.In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent theeastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river...　

Fraternityby John GalsworthyCHAPTER ITHE SHADOWIn the afternoon of the last day of April, 190-, a billowy sea of little broken clouds crowned the thin air above High Street, Kensington. This soft tumult of vapours, covering nearly all the firmament, was in onslaught round a patch of blue sky, shaped somewhat like a star, which still gleameda single gentian flower amongst innumerable grass. Each of these small clouds seemed fitted with a pair of unseen wings, and, as insects flight on their too constant journeys, they were setting forth all ways round this starry blossom which burned so clea　

The Rivermanby Stewart Edward WhiteIThe time was the year 1872, and the place a bend in the river abovea long pond terminating in a dam. Beyond this dam, and on a flatlower than it, stood a two-story mill structure. Save for a small,stump-dotted clearing, and the road that led from it, all else wasforest. Here in the bottom-lands, following the course of thestream, the hardwoods grew dense, their uppermost branches justbeginning to spray out in the first green of spring. Farther back,where the higher lands arose from the swamp, could be discerned the...　

The Lesson of the Masterby Henry JamesHe had been told the ladies were at church, but this was correctedby what he saw from the top of the steps - they descended from agreat height in two arms, with a circular sweep of the mostcharming effect - at the threshold of the door which, from the longbright gallery, overlooked the immense lawn. Three gentlemen, onthe grass, at a distance, sat under the great trees, while thefourth figure showed a crimson dress that told as a "bit of colour"amid the fresh rich green. The servant had so far accompanied Paul...　

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautifuldaughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to theking, and in order to make himself appear important he saidto him, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. Theking said to the miller, that is an art whichpleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bringher to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test.And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a roomwhich was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and areel, and said, now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE STORY OF A MOTHERby Hans Christian AndersenA MOTHER sat by her little child; she was very sad, for she fearedit would die. It was quite pale, and its little eyes were closed,and sometimes it drew a heavy deep breath, almost like a sigh; andthen the mother gazed more sadly than ever on the poor littlecreature. Some one knocked at the door, and a poor old man walkedin. He was wrapped in something that looked like a greathorse-cloth; and he required it truly to keep him warm, for it was...　

Louis Lambertby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara Bell and James WaringDEDICATION"Et nunc et semper dilectoe dicatum."LOUIS LAMBERTLouis Lambert was born at Montoire, a little town in the Vendomois,where his father owned a tannery of no great magnitude, and intendedthat his son should succeed him; but his precocious bent for studymodified the paternal decision. For, indeed, the tanner and his wifeadored Louis, their only child, and never contradicted him inanything.At the age of five Louis had begun by reading the Old and NewTestaments; and these two Books, including so many books, had seal　

The Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouseby Thomas BurkeBuying and SellingThroughout the day I sit behind the counter of my shopAnd the odours of my country are all about meAreca nut, and betel leaf, and manioc,Lychee and suey sen,Li-un and dried seaweed,Tchah and sam-shu;And these carry my mind to half-forgotten daysWhen tales were plentiful and care was hard to hold.All day I sell for trifling sums the wares of my own land,And buy for many cash such things as people wish to sell,That I may sell them again to others,With some profit to myself....　

The Past Condition of Organic Natureby Thomas H. HuxleyIN the lecture which I delivered last Monday evening, I endeavoured tosketch in a very brief manner, but as well as the time at my disposalwould permit, the present condition of organic nature, meaning by thatlarge title simply an indication of the great, broad, and generalprinciples which are to be discovered by those who look attentively atthe phenomena of organic nature as at present displayed. The generalresult of our investigations might be summed up thus: we found that themultiplicity of the forms of animal life, great as that may 　

LYCURGUSLegendary, 9th Century B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenThere is so much uncertainty in the accounts which historians haveleft us of Lycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, that scarcely anything isasserted by one of them which is not called into question orcontradicted by the rest. Their sentiments are quite different as tothe family he came of, the voyages he undertook, the place andmanner of his death, but most of all when they speak of the laws he...　

AMENDED OBITUARIESTO THE EDITOR:Sir,I am approaching seventy; it is in sight; it is only threeyears away. Necessarily, I must go soon. It is but matter-of-coursewisdom, then, that I should begin to set my worldly house inorder now, so that it may be done calmly and with thoroughness,in place of waiting until the last day, when, as we have often seen,the attempt to set both houses in order at the same time has beenmarred by the necessity for haste and by the confusion and wasteof time arising from the inability of the notary and the ecclesiastic...　

A Sappho of Green Springsby Bret HarteCONTENTSA SAPPHO OF GREEN SPRINGSTHE CHATELAINE OF BURNT RIDGETHROUGH THE SANTA CLARA WHEATA MAECENAS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPEA SAPPHO OF GREEN SPRINGSCHAPTER I"Come in," said the editor.The door of the editorial room of the "Excelsior Magazine" began tocreak painfully under the hesitating pressure of an uncertain andunfamiliar hand. This continued until with a start of irritationthe editor faced directly about, throwing his leg over the arm of...　

FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20CHAPTER ISeven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history hadsubsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm. But themysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws oftheir motion are unknown to us) continued to operate.Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless, themovement of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of time.Various groups of people formed and dissolved, the coming formationand dissolution of kingdoms and displacement of peoples was in...