The Home Book of Verse, Volume 1by Burton Egbert StevensonContents of Volumes 1 through 4 of The Home Book of VersePART IPOEMS OF YOUTH AND AGEThe Human Seasons John KeatsTHE BABY"Only a Baby Small" Matthias BarrOnly Harriet Prescott SpoffordInfant Joy William BlakeBaby George MacdonaldTo a New-Born Baby Girl Grace Hazard ConklingTo Little Renee William Aspenwall BradleyA Rhyme of One Frederick Locker-LampsonTo a New-Born Child Cosmo Monkhouse...　

THE YOUNG MAN WHO WOULD HAVE HIS EYES OPENEDOnce upon a time there lived a youth who was never happy unlesshe was prying into something that other people knew nothingabout. After he had learned to understand the language of birdsand beasts, he discovered accidentally that a great deal tookplace under cover of night which mortal eyes never saw. Fromthat moment he felt he could not rest till these hidden secretswere laid bare to him, and he spent his whole time wandering fromone wizard to another, begging them to open his eyes, but foundnone to help him. At length he reached an old magician calledMana, whose learning was greater than that of the rest, and who...　

The Fathers of the ConstitutionA Chronicle of the Establishment of the UnionBy Max FarrandCONTENTSI. THE TREATY OF PEACEII. TRADE AND INDUSTRYIII. THE CONFEDERATIONIV. THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCEV. DARKNESS BEFORE DAWNVI. THE FEDERAL CONVENTIONVII. FINISHING THE WORKVIII. THE UNION ESTABLISHEDAPPENDIXBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTENOTES ON THE PORTRAITS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTIONFATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTIONCHAPTER I. THE TREATY OF PEACE "The United States of America"! It was in the Declaration of Independence that this name was first and formally proclaimed to the world, and to maintain its verity the war of the Revolution was fought. Americans like to think that they were then assuming "amon　

THE COMPARISON OF SERTORIUS WITH EUMENESby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHESE are the most remarkable passages that are come to ourknowledge concerning Eumenes and Sertorius. In comparing theirlives, we may observe that this was common to them both; that beingaliens, strangers, and banished men, they came to be commanders ofpowerful forces, and had the leading of numerous and warlike armies,made up of divers nations. This was peculiar to Sertorius, that thechief command was, by his whole party, freely yielded to him, as tothe person of the greatest merit and renown, whereas Eumenes had...　

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 projecteda long way over the other, and under the roof ran a leaden gutter,...　

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 riverdenominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, andwhere they always prudently shortened sail and implored the...　

Mementos of Boabdil.WHILE my mind was still warm with the subject of the unfortunateBoabdil, I set forth to trace the mementos of him still existing inthis scene of his sovereignty and misfortunes. In the Tower ofComares, immediately under the Hall of Ambassadors, are two vaultedrooms, separated by a narrow passage; these are said to have beenthe prisons of himself and his mother, the virtuous Ayxa la Horra;indeed, no other part of the tower would have served for thepurpose. The external walls of these chambers are of prodigiousthickness, pierced with small windows secured by iron bars. A narrowstone gallery, with a low parapet, extends along three sides of the...　

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 wasvery unstable.I remember that before I was eleven a grammar school pupil,...　

The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. StevensonWilliam Ernest Henley and Robert Louis StevensonHenley is best known for this quote from Invictus:"I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul."INVICTUSOut of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,I think whatever gods may befor my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the yearsFinds and shall find me unafraid.It matters not how strait the gate,...　

The Secret Places of the Heartby H. G. Wells1922CONTENTSChapter1. THE CONSULTATION2. LADY HARDY3. THE DEPARTURE4. AT MAIDENHEAD5. IN THE LAND OF THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLES6. THE ENCOUNTER AT STONEHENGE7. COMPANIONSHIP8. FULL MOON9. THE LAST DAYS OF SIR RICHMOND HARDYTHE SECRET PLACES OF THE HEARTCHAPTER THE FIRSTSection 1The maid was a young woman of great natural calmness; she was accustomed to let in visitors who had this air of being annoyed and finding one umbrella too numerous for them. It mattered nothing to her that the gentleman was asking for Dr. Martineau as if he was asking for something with an unpleasant taste. Almost imperceptibly she relieved him of his umbrella and juggled his ha　

East Lynneby Mrs. Henry WoodCHAPTER I.THE LADY ISABEL.In an easy-chair of the spacious and handsome library of his town- house, sat William, Earl of Mount Severn. His hair was gray, the smoothness of his expansive brow was defaced by premature wrinkles, and his once attractive face bore the pale, unmistakable look of dissipation. One of his feet was cased in folds of linen, as it rested on the soft velvet ottoman, speaking of gout as plainly as any foot ever spoke yet. It would seemto look at the man as he sat there that he had grown old before his time. And so he had. His years were barely nine and forty, yet in all save years, he was an aged man.A noted character had been the Earl of Moun　

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 description of one town the frame for events which happened in another; and several times already in the cour