THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZby L. FRANK BAUMThis Book is DedicatedTo My GranddaughterOZMA BAUMTo My ReadersSome of my youthful readers are developing wonderfulimaginations. This pleases me. Imagination has broughtmankind through the Dark Ages to its present state ofcivilization. Imagination led Columbus to discoverAmerica. Imagination led Franklin to discoverelectricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine,the telephone, the talking-machine and the automobile,...　

THE YELLOW DWARFOnce upon a time there lived a queen who had been themother of a great many children, and of them all only onedaughter was left. But then SHE was worth at least a thousand.Her mother, who, since the death of the King, herfather, had nothing in the world she cared for so much asthis little Princess, was so terribly afraid of losing her thatshe quite spoiled her, and never tried to correct any of herfaults. The consequence was that this little person, whowas as pretty as possible, and was one day to wear a crown,grew up so proud and so much in love with her own beauty...　

Lesser Hippiasby Plato (see Appendix I)Translated by Benjamin JowettAPPENDIX I.It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings ofPlato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is ofmuch value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of acentury later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of theAristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertaintyconcerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed tohim. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, and...　

MINNIKINTHERE was once upon a time a couple of needy folk who livedin a wretched hut, in which there was nothing but black want;so they had neither food to eat nor wood to burn. But if they hadnext to nothing of all else they had the blessing of God so far aschildren were concerned, and every year brought them one more.The man was not overpleased at this. He was always going aboutgrumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him thatthere might be such a thing as having too many of these goodgifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into...　

380 BCPROTAGORASby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettPROTAGORASPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES, who is the narrator of theDialogue to his Companion; HIPPOCRATES; ALCIBIADES; CRINAS;PROTAGORAS, HIPPIAS, PRODICUS, Sophists; CALLIAS, a wealthyAthenian. Scene: The House of CalliasCom. Where do you come from, Socrates? And yet I need hardly ask thequestion, for I know that you have been in chase of the fair...　

The Golden Asseby Lucius ApuleiusTranslated by William AdlingtonDedicationTo the Right Honourable and Mighty Lord, THOMAS EARLE OF SUSSEX, Viscount Fitzwalter, Lord of Egremont and of Burnell, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, Iustice of the forrests and Chases from Trent Southward; Captain of the Gentleman Pensioners of the House of the QUEENE our Soveraigne Lady.After that I had taken upon me (right Honourable) in manner of that unlearned and foolish Poet, Cherillus, who rashly and unadvisedly wrought a big volume in verses, of the valiant prowesse of Alexander the Great, to t　

The Perils of Certain English Prisonersby Charles DickensCHAPTER ITHE ISLAND OF SILVER-STOREIt was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-four, that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then thehonour to be a private in the Royal Marines, stood a-leaning overthe bulwarks of the armed sloop Christopher Columbus, in the SouthAmerican waters off the Mosquito shore.My lady remarks to me, before I go any further, that there is nosuch christian-name as Gill, and that her confident opinion is, that...　

Liber Amoris, or, The New Pygmalionby William HazlittADVERTISEMENTThe circumstances, an outline of which is given in these pages, happened a very short time ago to a native of North Britain, who left his own country early in life, in consequence of political animosities and an ill-advised connection in marriage. It was some years after that he formed the fatal attachment which is the subject of the following narrative. The whole was transcribed very carefully with his own hand, a little before he set out for the Continent in hopes of benefiting by a change of scene, but he died soon after i　

The White Mollby Frank L. PackardCONTENTSCHAPTERI. NIGHT IN THE UNDERWORLDII. SEVEN-THREE-NINEIII. ALIAS GYPSY NANIV. THE ADVENTURERV. A SECOND VISITORVI. THE RENDEZVOUSVII. FELLOW THIEVESVIII. THE CODE MESSAGEIX. ROOM NUMBER ELEVENX. ON THE BRINKXI. SOME OF THE LESSER BREEDXII. CROOKS vs. CROOKSXIII. THE DOOR ACROSS THE HALLXIV. THE LAME MANXV. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERXVI. THE SECRET PANEL...　

PART IVTHE ANCIENT PEOPLEITHE San Francisco Mountain lies in Northern Arizona,above Flagstaff, and its blue slopes and snowy summitentice the eye for a hundred miles across the desert. Aboutits base lie the pine forests of the Navajos, where the greatred-trunked trees live out their peaceful centuries in thatsparkling air. The PINONS and scrub begin only where theforest ends, where the country breaks into open, stony...　

THE SKETCH BOOKTHE STAGE COACHby Washington IrvingOmne beneSine poenaTempus est ludendi.Venit horaAbsque moraLibros deponendi.OLD HOLIDAY SCHOOL SONG.IN THE preceding paper I have made some general observations onthe Christmas festivities of England, and am tempted to illustratethem by some anecdotes of a Christmas passed in the country; in...　

The Turmoilby Booth TarkingtonTo Laurel.There is a midland city in the heart of fair, open country, a dirty andwonderful city nesting dingily in the fog of its own smoke. The strangermust feel the dirt before he feels the wonder, for the dirt will be upon himinstantly. It will be upon him and within him, since he must breathe it, andhe may care for no further proof that wealth is here better loved thancleanliness; but whether he cares or not, the negligently tended streetsincessantly press home the point, and so do the flecked and grimy citizens. At...　

Eugenie Grandetby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Maria.May your name, that of one whose portrait is the noblest ornamentof this work, lie on its opening pages like a branch of sacredbox, taken from an unknown tree, but sanctified by religion, andkept ever fresh and green by pious hands to bless the house.De Balzac.EUGENIE GRANDETIThere are houses in certain provincial towns whose aspect inspiresmelancholy, akin to that called forth by sombre cloisters, drearymoorlands, or the desolation of ruins. Within these houses there is,...　

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyriaby Theophilus G. PinchesCHAPTER IFOREWORDPosition, and Period.The religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians was the polytheistic faith professed by the peoples inhabiting the Tigris and Euphrates valleys from what may be regarded as the dawn of history until the Christian era began, or, at least, until the inhabitants were brought under the influence of Christianity. The chronological period covered may be roughly estimated at about 5000 years. The belief of the people, at the end of that time, being Babylonian heathenism leavened with Judaism, the country　

Nada the Lilyby H. Rider HaggardDEDICATIONSompseu:For I will call you by the name that for fifty years has been honouredby every tribe between Zambesi and Cape Agulbas,I greet you!Sompseu, my father, I have written a book that tells of men andmatters of which you know the most of any who still look upon thelight; therefore, I set your name within that book and, such as it is,I offer it to you.If you knew not Chaka, you and he have seen the same suns shine, youknew his brother Panda and his captains, and perhaps even that very...　

THE FORGED COUPONPART FIRSTIFEDOR MIHAILOVICH SMOKOVNIKOV, the presi-dent of the local Income Tax Department, a manof unswerving honestyand proud of it, tooa gloomy Liberal, a free-thinker, and an enemyto every manifestation of religious feeling, whichhe thought a relic of superstition, came home fromhis office feeling very much annoyed. The Gov-ernor of the province had sent him an extraordi-narily stupid minute, almost assuming that hisdealings had been dishonest.Fedor Mihailovich felt embittered, and wroteat once a sharp answer. On his return home...