The Writings of Abraham Lincolnby Abraham LincolnVOLUME II.1843-1858FIRST CHILDTO JOSHUA F. SPEED.SPRINGFIELD, May 18, 1843.DEAR SPEED:Yours of the 9th instant is duly received, which Ido not meet as a "bore," but as a most welcome visitor. I willanswer the business part of it first.In relation to our Congress matter here, you were right insupposing I would support the nominee. Neither Baker nor I,however, is the man, but Hardin, so far as I can judge frompresent appearances. We shall have no split or trouble about thematter; all will be harmony. In relation to the "coming events"...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BOTTLE NECKby Hans Christian AndersenCLOSE to the corner of a street, among other abodes of poverty,stood an exceedingly tall, narrow house, which had been so knockedabout by time that it seemed out of joint in every direction. Thishouse was inhabited by poor people, but the deepest poverty wasapparent in the garret lodging in the gable. In front of the littlewindow, an old bent bird-cage hung in the sunshine, which had not evena proper water-glass, but instead of it the broken neck of a bottle,turned upside down, and a cork stuck in to make it hold the water with...　

Active Serviceby Steven CraneCHAPTER I.MARJORY walked pensively along the hall. In the cool shadows made by the palms on the window ledge, her face wore the expression of thoughtful melancholy expected on the faces of the devotees who pace in cloistered gloom. She halted before a door at the end of the hall and laid her hand on the knob. She stood hesitating, her head bowed. It was evident that this mission was to require great fortitude.At last she opened the door. " Father," she began at once. There was disclosed an elderly, narrow-faced man seated at a large table and surrounded by manuscripts and books. The sunlight flowing through curtains of Turkey red fell sanguinely upon the bust of　

Styleby Walter RaleighStyle, the Latin name for an iron pen, has come to designate the art that handles, with ever fresh vitality and wary alacrity, the fluid elements of speech. By a figure, obvious enough, which yet might serve for an epitome of literary method, the most rigid and simplest of instruments has lent its name to the subtlest and most flexible of arts. Thence the application of the word has been extended to arts other than literature, to the whole range of the activities of man. The fact that we use the word "style" in speaking of architecture and sculpture, painting and music, dancing, play-acting, and cricket, that we can apply it to the careful achievements of the houseb　

Essays on Life, Art and Scienceby Samuel ButlerContents:IntroductionQuis Desiderio?Ramblings in CheapsideThe Aunt, The Nieces, and the DogHow to make the best of lifeThe Sanctuary of MontrigoneA Medieval Girl SchoolArt in the Valley of SaasThought and LanguageThe Deadlock in DarwinismINTRODUCTIONIt is hardly necessary to apologise for the miscellaneous characterof the following collection of essays. Samuel Butler was a man ofsuch unusual versatility, and his interests were so many and sovarious that his literary remains were bound to cover a wide field.Nevertheless it will be found that several of the subjects to which...　

The Playboy of the Western Worldby J. M. SyngeA COMEDY IN THREE ACTSPREFACEIn writing THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, as in my other plays, I have usedone or two words only that I have not heard among the country people ofIreland, or spoken in my own nursery before I could read the newspapers. Acertain number of the phrases I employ I have heard also from herds andfishermen along the coast from Kerry to Mayo, or from beggar-women andballadsingers nearer Dublin; and I am glad to acknowledge how much I owe tothe folk imagination of these fine people. Anyone who has lived in realintimacy with the Irish peasantry will know that the wildest sayings and ideas...　

The Voice of the Cityby O HenryTHE VOICE OF THE CITYTwenty-five years ago the school children usedto chant their lessons. The manner of their deliverywas a singsong recitative between the utterance of anEpiscopal minister and the drone of a tired sawmill.I mean no disrespect. We must have lumber andsawdust.I remember one beautiful and instructive littlelyric that emanated from the physiology class. Themost striking line of it was this:"The shin-bone is the long-est bone in the hu-manbod-y."What an inestimable boon it would have been ifall the corporeal and spiritual facts pertaining to...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD STREET LAMPby Hans Christian AndersenDID you ever hear the story of the old street lamp? It is notremarkably interesting, but for once in a way you may as well listento it. It was a most respectable old lamp, which had seen many, manyyears of service, and now was to retire with a pension. It was thisevening at its post for the last time, giving light to the street. Hisfeelings were something like those of an old dancer at the theatre,who is dancing for the last time, and knows that on the morrow shewill be in her garret, alone and forgotten. The lamp had very great...　

400 BCON AIRS, WATERS, AND PLACESby HippocratesTranslated by Francis AdamsWHOEVER wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceedthus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and whateffects each of them produces for they are not at all alike, butdiffer much from themselves in regard to their changes. Then thewinds, the hot and the cold, especially such as are common to allcountries, and then such as are peculiar to each locality. We mustalso consider the qualities of the waters, for as they differ from one...　

A Little Tour In Franceby Henry JamesWe good Americans - I say it without presumption - are too apt to think that France is Paris, just as we are accused of being too apt to think that Paris is the celestial city. This is by no means the case, fortun- ately for those persons who take an interest in modern Gaul, and yet are still left vaguely unsatisfied by that epitome of civilization which stretches from the Arc de Triomphe to the Gymnase theatre. It had already been intimated to the author of these light pages that there are many good things in the _doux pays de France_ of which you get no hint in a walk between those ornaments of the capital; but the truth had been re- vealed only in q　

Brother Jacobby George Eliot [Mary Anne Evans]CHAPTER IAmong the many fatalities attending the bloom of young desire, thatof blindly taking to the confectionery line has not, perhaps, beensufficiently considered. How is the son of a British yeoman, whohas been fed principally on salt pork and yeast dumplings, to knowthat there is satiety for the human stomach even in a paradise ofglass jars full of sugared almonds and pink lozenges, and that thetedium of life can reach a pitch where plum-buns at discretion ceaseto offer the slightest excitement? Or how, at the tender age when aconfectioner seems to him a very prince whom all the world must...　

My Discovery of Englandby Leacock, StephenIntroduction of Mr. Stephen Leacock Given by Sir Owen Seaman on the Occasion of His First Lecture in LondonLADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It is usual on these occasions for the chairman to begin something like this: "The lecturer, I am sure, needs no introduction from me." And indeed, when I have been the lecturer and somebody else has been the chairman, I have more than once suspected myself of being the better man of the two. Of course I hope I should always have the good mannersI am sure Mr. Leacock hasto disguise that suspicion. However, one has to go through these formalities, and I will therefore introduce the lecturer to you....