1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE TOP AND BALLby Hans Christian AndersenA WHIPPING TOP and a little ball lay together in a box, amongother toys, and the top said to the ball, "Shall we be married, aswe live in the same box?"But the ball, which wore a dress of morocco leather, and thoughtas much of herself as any other young lady, would not evencondescend to reply.The next day came the little boy to whom the playthingsbelonged, and he painted the top red and yellow, and drove abrass-headed nail into the middle, so that while the top wasspinning round it looked splendid."Look at me," said the top to the ball. "What do you say now?Shall we be engaged to each other? We should suit s　

A Voyage to Abyssiniaby Father Jerome Lobotranslated from the French by Samuel Johnson.INTRODUCTION by Henry Morley, Editor of the 1887 editionJeronimo Lobo was born in Lisbon in the year 1593. He entered the Order of the Jesuits at the age of sixteen. After passing through the studies by which Jesuits were trained for missionary work, which included special attention to the arts of speaking and writing, Father Lobo was sent as a missionary to India at the age of twenty- eight, in the year 1621. He reached Goa, as his book tells, in 1622, and was in 1624, at the age of thirty-one, told off as one of the missionaries to be employed in the conversion of the Abyssinians. They were to be co　

THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFTHE HOUSE OF THEWOLFby STANLEY WEYMAN1- Page 2-THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFINTRODUCTION.The following is a modern English version of a curious French memoir,or fragment of autobiography, apparently written about the year 1620 byAnne, Vicomte de Caylus, and brought to this countryif, in fact, theoriginal ever existed in Englandby one of his descendants after theRevocation of the Edict of Nantes. This Anne, we learn from other...　

THE HAZEL-NUT CHILD [29][29] From the Bukowniaer. Van Wliolocki.There was once upon a time a couple who had no children, and theyprayed Heaven every day to send them a child, though it were nobigger than a hazel-nut. At last Heaven heard their prayer andsent them a child exactly the size of a hazel-nut, and it nevergrew an inch. The parents were very devoted to the littlecreature, and nursed and tended it carefully. Their tiny son toowas as clever as he could be, and so sharp and sensible that allthe neighbours marvelled over the wise things he said and did.When the Hazel-nut child was fifteen years old, and was sittingone day in an egg-shell on the table beside his mother, she...　

　"The Captive"　Chapter One　She sat by the creek, half-hidden in lush grasses. Carefully she twined purple summer flowers into her single dark brown braid, and dabbled bare feet in the rushing water. Stems and crushed blooms littered the coarse yellow gown she wore and damp earth stained the garment, but she paid it no mind. She was purpose-fully intent on her work, for if she allowed her thoughts to range freely she would be overtaken by the knowledge and the hope that he still might e.　A songbird called from the forest behind and she glanced up, smiling at the delicate melody. Then her attention was caught by an approaching rider, and she let fall the flowered braid from limp fingers....　

　　ODESSA, RUSSIA, 1918　　THE DENSE FOG rolled into the harbor late in the afternoon, nudged by a sudden change in wind direction. The damp gray billows washed over the stone quays, swirled up the Odessa Steps and brought an early nightfall to the busy Black Sea port. Passenger ferries and freighters canceled their runs, idling dozens of sailors. As Captain Anatoly Tovrov groped his way through the bone-chilling mists that enveloped the waterfront, he could hear bursts of drunken laughter from the crowded dives and brothels. He walked past the main concentration of bars, turned down an alley and opened an unmarked door. Warm air, heavy with the smell of cigarette smoke and vodka, invaded his 　

　On the fine, bright morning in early May when the whole sensational affair of the Gwytherin relics may properly be considered to have begun, Brother Cadfael had been up long before Prime, pricking out cabbage seedlings before the day was aired, and his thoughts were all on birth, growth and fertility, not at all on graves and reliquaries and violent deaths, whether of saints, sinners or ordinary decent, fallible men like himself. Nothing troubled his peace but the necessity to take himself indoors for Mass, and the succeeding half-hour of chapter, which was always liable to stray over by an extra ten minutes. He grudged the time from his more congenial labours out here among the vegetables　

The Pursuit of the House-Boatby John Kendrick BangsCHAPTER I: THE ASSOCIATED SHADES TAKE ACTIONThe House-boat of the Associated Shades, formerly located upon the River Styx, as the reader may possibly remember, had been torn from its moorings and navigated out into unknown seas by that vengeful pirate Captain Kidd, aided and abetted by some of the most ruffianly inhabitants of Hades. Like a thief in the night had they come, and for no better reason than that the Captain had been unanimously voted a shade too shady to associate with self-respecting spirits had they made off with the happy floating club-house of their betters; and worst of all, with them, by force of circumstances over whic　

CROME YELLOWCROME YELLOWBy ALDOUS HUXLEY1- Page 2-CROME YELLOWCHAPTER I.Along this particular stretch of line no express had ever passed. All thetrainsthe few that there werestopped at all the stations. Denis knewthe names of those stations by heart. Bole, Tritton, Spavin Delawarr,Knipswich for Timpany, West Bowlby, and, finally, Camlet-on-the-Water.Camlet was where he always got out, leaving the train to creep indolentlyonward, goodness only knew whither, into the green heart of England....　

Against Apion.(1)by Flavius JosephusTranslated by William WhistonBOOK 1.1. I Suppose that by my books of the Antiquity of the Jews, most excellent Epaphroditus, (2) have made it evident to those who peruse them, that our Jewish nation is of very great antiquity, and had a distinct subsistence of its own originally; as also, I have therein declared how we came to inhabit this country wherein we now live. Those Antiquities contain the history of five thousand years, and are taken out of our sacred books, but are translated by me into the Greek tongue. However, since I observe a considerable number of people giving ear to the reproaches that are laid against us by those who bear ill-will to us　

Worldly Ways and BywaysWorldly Ways andBywaysEliot Gregory1- Page 2-Worldly Ways and BywaysTo the ReaderTHERE existed formerly, in diplomatic circles, a curious custom,since fallen into disuse, entitled the Pele Mele, contrived doubtless bysome distracted Master of Ceremonies to quell the endless jealousies andquarrels for precedence between courtiers and diplomatists of contendingpretensions. Under this rule no rank was recognized, each person being...　

The Rhythm of Life and Other EssaysThe Rhythm of Life andOther Essays1- Page 2-The Rhythm of Life and Other EssaysTHE RHYTHM OF LIFEIf life is not always poetical, it is at least metrical. Periodicity rulesover the mental experience of man, according to the path of the orbit of histhoughts. Distances are not gauged, ellipses not measured, velocities notascertained, times not known. Nevertheless, the recurrence is sure. Whatthe mind suffered last week, or last year, it does not suffer now; but it will...