The Soul of the Far EastThe Soul of the Far Eastby Percival Lowell1- Page 2-The Soul of the Far EastCHAPTER 1. Individuality.The boyish belief that on the other side of our globe all things are ofnecessity upside down is startlingly brought back to the man when he firstsets foot at Yokohama. If his initial glance does not, to be sure, disclosethe natives in the every-day feat of standing calmly on their heads, an...　

The Story of a Bad BoyThe Story of a Bad BoyBy Thomas Bailey Aldrich1- Page 2-The Story of a Bad BoyCHAPTER OneIn Which I Introduce MyselfThis is the story of a bad boy. Well, not such a very bad, but a prettybad boy; and I ought to know, for I am, or rather I was, that boy myself.Lest the title should mislead the reader, I hasten to assure him here thatI have no dark confessions to make. I call my story the story of a bad boy,...　

　　ACKNOWLEDGMENTS　　 There are a lot of people to thank for helping me bring this one home. It was a devil of a book to write, for a host of reasons. For one thing, I began writing it the week before my father passed away, and inevitably the long shadow of that event dimmed the joy of writing, at least for the first six months or so, slowing it to a crawl.　 Paradoxically, even as my production of useable text diminished, I could feel the scale of the story I wanted to tell getting bigger. What had originally begun life as an idea for a short, satiric stab at Hollywood began to blossom into something larger, lusher and stranger: a fantasia on Hollywood both in its not-so-innocent youth and in　

The Water-Babiesby Charles KingsleyCHAPTER I"I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined; In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind."To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think, What man has made of man."WORDSWORTH.Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend. He could not read nor write, and　

A Dome of Many-Coloured GlassA Dome of Many-Coloured Glassby Amy Lowell1- Page 2-A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass"Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radianceof Eternity."Shelley, "Adonais"."Le silence est si grand que mon coeur en frissonne, Seul, le bruit demes pas sur le pave resonne."Albert Samain.2- Page 3-A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass...　

Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of EnglandEdited by Robert BellINTRODUCTION.IN 1846, the Percy Society issued to its members a volume entitled ANCIENT POEMS, BALLADS, AND SONGS OF THE PEASANTRY OF ENGLAND, edited by Mr. James Henry Dixon. The sources drawn upon by Mr. Dixon are intimated in the following extract from his preface:-He who, in travelling through the rural districts of England, has made the road-side inn his resting-place, who has visited the lowly dwellings of the villagers and yeomanry, and been present at their feasts and festivals, must have observed that there are certain old poems, ballads, and songs, which are favourites with the masses, and ha　

　Neither do they expect trouble with a cargo that is sewn up tight.　Only a privileged few knew exactly when the Kruxator Collection would arrive in the country. That it was due to e to Britain was mon knowledge, and you had only to read a newspaper to discover that March 15th was the day on which the fabled group of paintings and jewellery were to go on display - for two weeks - at the Victoria and Albert Museum.　The Kruxator Collection is called after its founder, the late Niko Kruxator, whose fabulous wealth arose from sources unknown, for he had arrived penniless in the United States at about the time of the Wall Street Crash in October 1929. By the time he died in 1977, most people th　

　To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates　From its own wreck the thing it contemplates.　Percy Bysshe Shelley,　Prometheus Unbound　Prologue　False Angels　　JERUSALEM　The wound was their path.　Nathan Lee Swift sat strapped in the belly of the cargo helicopter with a dozen assorted archangels, looking down upon what little remained. The earthquake was visible mostly by what was no longer visible. Cities and villages had simply vanished in puffs of dust. Even his ruins were gone. The map had gone blank.　The air was hot. It was summer. There was no horizon. The sands stretched into haze. He felt chained to the giant beside him, his former professor David Ochs. He had not wanted to leave, now he　

　　His mind absorbed the scene before him, so quiet and calm and . . . normal. It was the life he had always wanted, a gathering of family and friends-he knew that they were just that, though the only one he recognized was his dear mother.　　This was the way it was supposed to be. The warmth and the love, the laughter and the quiet times. This was how he had always dreamed it would be, how he had always prayed it would be. The warm, inviting smiles. The pleasant conversation. The gentle pats on shoulders.　　But most of all there was the smile of his beloved mother, so happy now, no more a slave. When she looked at him, he saw all of that and more, saw how proud she was of him, how joyful her l　

　To William Howells　　　"Praise not the day until evening has e; a woman until she is burnt; a sword until it is tried; a maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk."　VIKING PROVERB　　"Evil is of old date."　ARAB PROVERB　　INTRODUCTION　THE IBN FADLAN MANUSCRIPT REPRESENTS THE earliest known eyewitness account of Viking life and society. It is an extraordinary document, describing in vivid detail events which occurred more than a thousand years ago. The manuscript has not, of course, survived intact over that enormous span of time. It has a peculiar history of its own, and one no less remarkable than the text itself.　...　

　　　　LUCY LOOKS INTO A WARDROBE　　　　ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids. They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. (Their names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not e into the story much.) He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as we　

　　William Blake　　　　"Nature does not premeditate; she does not use mathematics; she does not deliberately produce whole patterns, she lets whole patterns produce themselves. Nature does what nature demands; she is beyond blame and responsibility."　　Peter S. StevensPatterns in NatureOne　　Sunday, November 23　　Paradise, Pennsylvania　　3:00 a.m.　　　　The thing Boonie loved most about dumping off Black Bridge was how altogether goddam convenient it was. Take, for example, the traveling time. Even with miniature minefields of ice booby-trapping the backroads of Hellam, he figured ten minutes tops in the old Dodge truck to hump a full load of barrels from there to here....