A Phyllis Of The Sierrasby Bret HarteCHAPTER I.Where the great highway of the Sierras nears the summit, and thepines begin to show sterile reaches of rock and waste in theirdrawn-up files, there are signs of occasional departures from themain road, as if the weary traveller had at times succumbed to thelong ascent, and turned aside for rest and breath again. The tiredeyes of many a dusty passenger on the old overland coach have gazedwistfully on those sylvan openings, and imagined recesses ofprimeval shade and virgin wilderness in their dim perspectives.Had he descended, however, and followed one of these diverging...　

THE MYSTERIOUS PORTRAITPART INowhere did so many people pause as before the little picture-shop inthe Shtchukinui Dvor. This little shop contained, indeed, the mostvaried collection of curiosities. The pictures were chieflyoil-paintings covered with dark varnish, in frames of dingy yellow.Winter scenes with white trees; very red sunsets, like ragingconflagrations, a Flemish boor, more like a turkey-cock in cuffs thana human being, were the prevailing subjects. To these must be added afew engravings, such as a portrait of Khozreff-Mirza in a sheepskincap, and some generals with three-cornered hats and hooked noses.Moreover, the doors of such shops are usually festooned with bundles...　

EPILOGUEMOONSTONE again, in the year 1909. The Metho-dists are giving an ice-cream sociable in the groveabout the new court-house. It is a warm summer night offull moon. The paper lanterns which hang among thetrees are foolish toys, only dimming, in little lurid circles,the great softness of the lunar light that floods the blueheavens and the high plateau. To the east the sand hillsshine white as of old, but the empire of the sand is grad-ually diminishing. The grass grows thicker over the dunesthan it used to, and the streets of the town are harder and...　

CHAPTER VIIThe Lion and the UnicornThe next moment soldiers came running through the wood, at firstin twos and threes, then ten or twenty together, and at last insuch crowds that they seemed to fill the whole forest. Alice gotbehind a tree, for fear of being run over, and watched them go by.She thought that in all her life she had never seen soldiers souncertain on their feet: they were always tripping oversomething or other, and whenever one went down, several morealways fell over him, so that the ground was soon covered withlittle heaps of men.Then came the horses. Having four feet, these managed rather...　

Joan of Naples1343-1382By ALEXANDER DUMAS, PERECHAPTER IIn the night of the 15th of January 1343, while the inhabitants of Naples lay wrapped in peaceful slumber, they were suddenly awakened by the bells of the three hundred churches that this thrice blessed capital contains. In the midst of the disturbance caused by so rude a call the first bought in the mind of all was that the town was on fire, or that the army of some enemy had mysteriously landed under cover of night and could put the citizens to the edge of the sword. But the doleful, intermittent sounds of all these fills, which disturbed the silence at regular and distant intervals, were an invitation to the faithful pray for a pas　

Desperate Remediesby Thomas HardyCONTENTSPREFATORY NOTEI. THE EVENTS OF THIRTY YEARSII. THE EVENTS OF A FORTNIGHTIII. THE EVENTS OF EIGHT DAYSIV. THE EVENTS OF ONE DAYV. THE EVENTS OF ONE DAYVI. THE EVENTS OF TWELVE HOURSVII. THE EVENTS OF EIGHTEEN DAYSVIII. THE EVENTS OF EIGHTEEN DAYSIX. THE EVENTS OF TEN WEEKSX. THE EVENTS OF A DAY AND NIGHTXI. THE EVENTS OF FIVE DAYSXII. THE EVENTS OF TEN MONTHSXIII. THE EVENTS OF ONE DAYXIV. THE EVENTS OF FIVE WEEKSXV. THE EVENTS OF THREE WEEKSXVI. THE EVENTS OF ONE WEEKXVII. THE EVENTS OF ONE DAYXVIII. THE EVENTS OF THREE DAYSXIX. THE EVENTS OF A DAY AND NIGHT...　

The Story of Mankindby Hendrik van LoonTHE STORY OF MANKINDBY HENDRIK VAN LOON, PH.D.Professor of the Social Sciences in Antioch College.Author of The Fall of the Dutch Republic, The Rise of the DutchKingdom, The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators,A Short Story of Discovery, Ancient Man.To JIMMIE``What is the use of a book without pictures?' said Alice.FOREWORDFor Hansje and Willem:WHEN I was twelve or thirteen years old, an uncle ofmine who gave me my love for books and pictures promisedto take me upon a memorable expedition. I was to go withhim to the top of the tower of Old Saint Lawrence in Rotterdam....　

The Man versus the Stateby Herbert Spencer1884PrefaceThe Westminster Review for April 1860, contained an article entitled "Parliamentary Reform: the Dangers and the Safeguards." In that article I ventured to predict some results of political changes then proposed. Reduced to its simplest expression, the thesis maintained was that, unless due precautions were taken, increase of freedom in form would be followed by decrease of freedom in fact. Nothing has occurred to alter the belief I then expressed. The drift of legislation since that time has been of the kind anticipated. Dictatorial measures, rapidly multiplied, have tended continually to narrow the liberties of individuals; and have　

BluebeardA Musical Fantasyby Kate Douglas WigginDedication: To my friend Walter DamroschMaster of the art form so irreverently treated in these pages.Kate Douglas WigginPREFACEMore than a dozen years ago musical scholars and critics began toilluminate the musical darkness of New York with lecture-recitalsexplanatory of the more abstruse German operas. Previous to this era no onehad ever thought, for instance, of unfolding the story, or the "_Leit__motive_" (if there happened to be any!), in "The Bohemian Girl,""Maritana," or "Martha." These and many other delightful but thoroughlythird-class works unfolded themselves as they went along, to the entire...　

The Annals of the Parishby John GaltOr The Chronicle of Dalmailing during the ministry of the Rev. Micah Balwhidder. Written by himself and arranged and edited by John GaltINTRODUCTIONIn the same year, and on the same day of the same month, that his Sacred Majesty King George, the third of the name, came to his crown and kingdom, 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 a wonderful thing, and everybody spoke of me and the new king as united in our trusts and temporalities, marvelling how the same should come to pass, and thinking the hand of Providence was in it, and that surely we were preordaine　

The University of Hard Knocksby Ralph ParletteThe School That Completes Our Education"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son"Revelation 21:7."Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And thus our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks Sermons in stones, and good in everything."ShakespeareWhy It Is PrintedMORE than a million people have sat in audiences in all parts of the United States and have listened to "The University of Hard Knocks." It has been delivered to date more than twenty-five hundred times upon lyceum courses, at 　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE TOADby Hans Christian AndersenTHE well was deep, and therefore the rope had to be a long one; itwas heavy work turning the handle when any one had to raise abucketful of water over the edge of the well. Though the water wasclear, the sun never looked down far enough into the well to mirroritself in the waters; but as far as its beams could reach, greenthings grew forth between the stones in the sides of the well.Down below dwelt a family of the Toad race. They had, in fact,come head-over-heels down the well, in the person of the old...