THE FIRST WRITING-MACHINESFrom My Unpublished AutobiographySome days ago a correspondent sent in an old typewritten sheet,faded by age, containing the following letter over the signatureof Mark Twain:"Hartford, March 10, 1875."Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulgethat fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped usingthe typewriter, for the reason that I never could write a letterwith it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that Iwould not only describe the machine, but state what progress I had...
Original Short Stories, Vol. 8.By Guy de MaupassantVOLUME VIII.CLOCHETTETHE KISSTHE LEGION OF HONORTHE TESTFOUND ON A DROWNED MANTHE ORPHANTHE BEGGARTHE RABBITHIS AVENGERMY UNCLE JULESTHE MODELA VAGABONDTHE FISHING HOLETHE SPASMIN THE WOODMARTINEALL OVERTHE PARROTA PIECE OF STRINGCLOCHETTEHow strange those old recollections are which haunt us, without our beingable to get rid of them.This one is so very old that I cannot understand how it has clung sovividly and tenaciously to my memory. Since then I have seen so many...
Deruesby Alexandre Dumas, PereOne September afternoon in 1751, towards half-past five, about a score of small boys, chattering, pushing, and tumbling over one another like a covey of partridges, issued from one of the religious schools of Chartres. The joy of the little troop just escaped from a long and wearisome captivity was doubly great: a slight accident to one of the teachers had caused the class to be dismissed half an hour earlier than usual, and in consequence of the extra work thrown on the teaching staff the brother whose duty it was to see all the scholars safe home was compelled
ROUND THE MOONby JULES VERNEA SEQUEL TOFROM THE EARTH TO THE MOONPRELIMINARY CHAPTERTHE FIRST PART OF THIS WORK, AND SERVING AS A PREFACE TO THE SECONDDuring the year 186-, the whole world was greatly excited by ascientific experiment unprecedented in the annals of science.The members of the Gun Club, a circle of artillerymen formed atBaltimore after the American war, conceived the idea ofputting themselves in communication with the moon! yes, withthe moon by sending to her a projectile. Their president,Barbicane, the promoter of the enterprise, having consulted the...
THE SON OF THE WOLF.MAN RARELY PLACES A PROPER valuation upon his womankind, at leastnot until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtleatmosphere exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in it;but let it be withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to manifestitself in his existence, and he becomes hungry, in a vague sort ofway, for a something so indefinite that he cannot characterize it.If his comrades have no more experience than himself, they willshake their heads dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the...
Chapter VI of Volume III (Chap. 48)THE whole party were in hopes of a letter from Mr. Bennet the next morning, but the post came in without bringing a single line from him. His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and dilatory correspondent, but at such a time they had hoped for exertion. They were forced to conclude that he had no pleasing intelligence to send, but even of that they would have been glad to be certain. Mr. Gardiner had waited only for the letters before he set off.When he was gone, they were certain at least of receiving constant information of wha
On a ridge above Texas Flat upon a rock shaped like flame, a hand moved upon the lava. The hand moved and then was still. In all that vast beige-gray silence there was no other movement and no sound. A buzzard swinging in lazy circles above the serrated ridge had glimpsed that moving hand. Swinging lower, he saw a man who lay among the rocks atop the ridge. He was a long-bodied man in worn boots and jeans, a man with wide shoulders and a lean tough face. It was the face of a hunter but now of a man hunted. A man who lay with his rifle beside him and who wore a belted gun; but the man still l
Dusk was beginning to creep down from the mountains when the Witchfinder rode into Craiglowrie. His hunched position in the saddle of the black mare disguised his true height, yet all the same he was tall and terrible, the features beneath the dark broad-brimmed hat seemed like those of a sun-bleached skull from a distance. The grimace that revealed black and broken teeth; the eyes that glowed with the fire of a personal hatred, and seemed to search out each and every one of the peasants who trembled and watched behind the windows of their tumbledown bothies. They remembered the last t
Early Kings of Norwayby Thomas CarlyleThe Icelanders, in their long winter, had a great habit of writing; and were, and still are, excellent in penmanship, says Dahlmann. It is to this fact, that any little history there is of the Norse Kings and their old tragedies, crimes and heroisms, is almost all due. The Icelanders, it seems, not only made beautiful letters on their paper or parchment, but were laudably observant and desirous of accuracy; and have left us such a collection of narratives (_Sagas_, literally "Says") as, for quantity and quality, is unexampled among rude nations. Snorro
THE CONEThe night was hot and overcast, the sky red, rimmed with thelingering sunset of mid-summer. They sat at the open window,trying to fancy the air was fresher there. The trees and shrubs ofthe garden stood stiff and dark; beyond in the roadway a gas-lamp burnt, bright orange against the hazy blue of the evening.Farther were the three lights of the railway signal against thelowering sky. The man and woman spoke to one another in low tones."He does not suspect?" said the man, a little nervously."Not he," she said peevishly, as though that too irritated...
Moral Emblemsby Robert Louis StevensonContentsNOT I, AND OTHER POEMSI. Some like drinkII. Here, perfect to a wishIII. As seamen on the seasIV. The pamphlet here presentedMORAL EMBLEMS: A COLLECTION OF CUTS AND VERSESI. See how the children in the printII. Reader, your soul upraise to seeIII. A PEAK IN DARIEN - Broad-gazing on untrodden landsIV. See in the print how, moved by whimV. Mark, printed on the opposing pageMORAL EMBLEMS: A SECOND COLLECTION OF CUTS AND VERSESI. With storms a-weather, rocks-a-lee...
Dreamsby Olive SchreinerTo a small girl-child, who may live to grasp somewhat of that which for us is yet sight, not touch.Note.These Dreams are printed in the order in which they were written.In the case of two there was a lapse of some years between the writing of the first and last parts; these are placed according to the date of the first part.Olive Schreiner.Matjesfontein, Cape Colony, South Africa. November, 1890.CONTENTS.I. The Lost Joy.II. The Hunter (From "The Story of of an African Farm").III. The Gardens of Pleasure....
THAISTHAISby ANATOLE FRANCETranslated By Robert B. Douglas1- Page 2-THAISPART THE FIRSTTHE LOTUSIn those days there were many hermits living in the desert. On bothbanks of the Nile numerous huts, built by these solitary dwellers, ofbranches held together by clay, were scattered at a little distance from each...
What Diantha Didby Charlotte Perkins GilmanCHAPTER I.HANDICAPPEDOne may use the Old Man of the Sea,For a partner or patron,But helpless and hapless is heWho is ridden, inextricably,By a fond old mer-matron.The Warden house was more impressive in appearance than its neighbors.It had "grounds," instead of a yard or garden; it had wide pillaredporches and "galleries," showing southern antecedents; moreover, it hada cupola, giving date to the building, and proof of the continuingambitions of the builders.The stately mansion was covered with heavy flowering vines, also with...
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"At the hole where he went inRed-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.Hear what little Red-Eye saith:"Nag, come up and dance with death!"Eye to eye and head to head,(Keep the measure, Nag.)This shall end when one is dead;(At thy pleasure, Nag.)Turn for turn and twist for twist(Run and hide thee, Nag.)Hah! The hooded Death has missed!...
Hieroby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsXenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was apupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him landand property in Scillus, where he lived for manyyears before having to move once more, to settlein Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue, c. 474 B.C.,between Simonides of Ceos, the poet; and Hieron,of Syracuse and Gela, the despot....