THE $30,000 BEQUESTCHAPTER ILakeside was a pleasant little town of five or six thousand inhabitants,and a rather pretty one, too, as towns go in the Far West.It had church accommodations for thirty-five thousand, which isthe way of the Far West and the South, where everybody is religious,and where each of the Protestant sects is represented and has a plantof its own. Rank was unknown in Lakesideunconfessed, anyway;everybody knew everybody and his dog, and a sociable friendlinesswas the prevailing atmosphere.Saladin Foster was book-keeper in the principal store, and the onlyhigh-salaried man of his profession in Lakeside. He was thirty-five...　

TALES FROM TWO HEMISPHERES.TALES FROM TWOHEMISPHERES.BY HJALMAR HJORTH BOYSEN.THE MAN WHO LOST HISNAME.ION the second day of June, 186, a young Norseman, Halfdan Bjerkby name, landed on the pier at Castle Garden. He passed through thestraight and narrow gate where he was asked his name, birthplace, andhow much money he had,at which he grew very much frightened."And your destination?"demanded the gruff-looking functionary at...　

The Yellow Godor An Idol of Africaby H. Rider HaggardCHAPTER ISAHARA LIMITEDSir Robert Aylward, Bart., M.P., sat in his office in the City ofLondon. It was a very magnificent office, quite one of the finest thatcould be found within half a mile of the Mansion House. Its exteriorwas built of Aberdeen granite, a material calculated to impress theprospective investor with a comfortable sense of security. Otherstucco, or even brick-built, offices might crumble and fall in anactual or a financial sense, but this rock-like edifice of granite,surmounted by a life-sized statue of Justice with her scales, admiredfrom either corner by pleasing effigies of Commerce and of Industry,...　

Of Taxesby David HumeThere is a prevailing maxim, among some reasoners, that everynew tax creates a new ability in the subject to bear it, and thateach encrease of public burdens encreases proportionably theindustry of the people. This maxim is of such a nature as is mostlikely to be abused; and is so much the more dangerous, as itstruth cannot be altogether denied: but it must be owned, whenkept within certain bounds, to have some foundation in reason andexperience.When a tax is laid upon commodities, which are consumed bythe common people, the necessary consequence may seem to be,either that the poor must retrench something from their way of...　

The Diary of a Nobodyby George and Weedon GrossmithCHAPTER I.We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesmen trouble us a bit, so does the scraper. The Curate calls and pays me a great compliment.My clear wife Carrie and I have just been a week in our new house, "The Laurels," Brickfield Terrace, Holloway - a nice six-roomed residence, not counting basement, with a front breakfast-parlour. We have a little front garden; and there is a flight of ten steps up to the front door, which, by-the-by, we keep locked with the chain up. Cummings, Gowing, and our other intimate friends always come to the little side entrance, which saves the servant the trouble of going up t　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENIN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEAby Hans Christian AndersenSOME years ago, large ships were sent towards the north pole, toexplore the distant coasts, and to try how far men could penetrateinto those unknown regions. For more than a year one of these shipshad been pushing its way northward, amid snow and ice, and the sailorshad endured many hardships; till at length winter set in, and thesun entirely disappeared; for many weeks there would be constantnight. All around, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could beseen but fields of ice, in which the ship remained stuck fast. The...　

THE MONKEY AND THE JELLY-FISHChildren must often have wondered why jelly-fishes have noshells, like so many of the creatures that are washed up everyday on the beach. In old times this was not so; the jelly-fishhad as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through hisown fault, as may be seen in this story.The sea-queen Otohime, whom you read of in the story ofUraschimatoro, grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengerswere sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every countryunder the sea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidlyworse instead of better. Everyone had almost given up hope, whenone day a doctor arrived who was cleverer than the rest, and said...　

Tarzan and the Jewels of OparTarzan and the Jewels ofOparby Edgar Rice Burroughs1- Page 2-Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar1Belgian and ArabLieutenant Albert Werper had only the prestige of the name he haddishonored to thank for his narrow escape from being cashiered. At firsthe had been humbly thankful, too, that they had sent him to this...　

50 Bab Balladsby W. S. GilbertPREFACE.THE "BAB BALLADS" appeared originally in the columns of "FUN,"when that periodical was under the editorship of the late TOM HOOD.They were subsequently republished in two volumes, one called "THEBAB BALLADS," the other "MORE BAB BALLADS." The period duringwhich they were written extended over some three or four years;many, however, were composed hastily, and under the discomfortingnecessity of having to turn out a quantity of lively verse by acertain day in every week. As it seemed to me (and to others) thatthe volumes were disfigured by the presence of these hastily...　

The High Price of Bullionby David Ricardo1810The High Price of Bullion, a Proof of the Depreciation of BankNotes.by David RicardoLondon: Printed for John Murray, 32, Fleet-Street; And Sold byEvery Other Bookseller in Town and Country1810IntroductionThe writer of the following pages has already submitted somereflections to the attention of the public, on the subject ofpaper-currency, through the medium of the Morning Chronicle. Hehas thought proper to republish his sentiments on this questionin a form more calculated to bring it to fair discussion; and his...　

THE DIAMOND MAKERSome business had detained me in Chancery Lane nine in theevening, and thereafter, having some inkling of a headache, I wasdisinclined either for entertainment or further work. So much ofthe sky as the high cliffs of that narrow canon of traffic leftvisible spoke of a serene night, and I determined to make my waydown to the Embankment, and rest my eyes and cool my head bywatching the variegated lights upon the river. Beyond comparisonthe night is the best time for this place; a merciful darknesshides the dirt of the waters, and the lights of this transitionalage, red glaring orange, gas-yellow, and electric white, are set in...　

SUN TZU ON THE ART OF WARTHE OLDEST MILITARY TREATISE IN THE WORLDTranslated from the Chinese with Introductionand Critical NotesBYLIONEL GILES, M.A.Assistant in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS.in the British MuseumFirst Published in 1910-To my brotherCaptain Valentine Giles, R.G.in the hope thata work 2400 years oldmay yet contain lessons worth consideration...