THE FIVE BOONS OF LIFEChapter IIn the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:"Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others. And be wary,chose wisely; oh, choose wisely! for only one of them is valuable."The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death.The youth said, eagerly:"There is no need to consider"; and he chose Pleasure.He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youthdelights in. But each in its turn was short-lived and disappointing,vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him. In the end he said:...
At the Sign of the Cat and Racketby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara BellDEDICATIONTo Mademoiselle Marie de MontheauAT THE SIGN OF THE CAT AND RACKETHalf-way down the Rue Saint-Denis, almost at the corner of the Rue duPetit-Lion, there stood formerly one of those delightful houses whichenable historians to reconstruct old Paris by analogy. The threateningwalls of this tumbledown abode seemed to have been decorated withhieroglyphics. For what other name could the passer-by give to the Xsand Vs which the horizontal or diagonal timbers traced on the front,...
THE PROCESSION OF LIFELife figures itself to me as a festal or funereal procession. Allof us have our places, and are to move onward under the directionof the Chief Marshal. The grand difficulty results from theinvariably mistaken principles on which the deputy marshals seekto arrange this immense concourse of people, so much morenumerous than those that train their interminable length throughstreets and highways in times of political excitement. Theirscheme is ancient, far beyond the memory of man or even therecord of history, and has hitherto been very little modified by...
The Childrenby Alice MeynellContentsFellow Travellers with a Bird, I.Fellow Travellers with a Bird, II.Children in MidwinterThat Pretty PersonOut of TownExpressionUnder the Early StarsThe Man with Two HeadsChildren in BurlesqueAuthorshipLettersThe FieldsThe Barren ShoreThe BoyIllnessThe Young ChildrenFair and BrownReal ChildhoodFELLOW TRAVELLERS WITH A BIRD, I.To attend to a living child is to be baffled in your humour,disappointed of your pathos, and set freshly free from all the pre-occupations. You cannot anticipate him. Blackbirds, overheard year...
The Bean-FieldMeanwhile my beans, the length of whose rows, added together,was seven miles already planted, were impatient to be hoed, for theearliest had grown considerably before the latest were in theground; indeed they were not easily to be put off. What was themeaning of this so steady and self-respecting, this small Herculeanlabor, I knew not. I came to love my rows, my beans, though so manymore than I wanted. They attached me to the earth, and so I gotstrength like Antaeus. But why should I raise them? Only Heaven...
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 thr
The Psychology of RevolutionGustave le BonCONTENTSINTRODUCTION. THE REVISION OF HISTORYPART ITHE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTSBOOK IGENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONSCHAPTER I. SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS1. Classification of Revolutions2. Scientific Revolutions3. Political Revolutions4. The results of Political RevolutionsCHAPTER II. RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS1. The importance of the study of Religious Revolutions in...
THE GOBLIN AND THE HUCKSTERby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a regular student, who lived in a garret, and hadno possessions. And there was also a regular huckster, to whom thehouse belonged, and who occupied the ground floor. A goblin lived withthe huckster, because at Christmas he always had a large dish fullof jam, with a great piece of butter in the middle. The huckster couldafford this; and therefore the goblin remained with the huckster,which was very cunning of him.One evening the student came into the shop through the back door...
THE VITAL MESSAGETHE VITAL MESSAGEARTHUR CONAN DOYLE1- Page 2-THE VITAL MESSAGEPREFACEIn "The New Revelation" the first dawn of the coming change hasbeen described. In "The Vital Message" the sun has risen higher, and onesees more clearly and broadly what our new relations with the Unseenmay be. As I look into the future of the human race I am reminded of how...
Glinda of Ozby L. Frank BaumIn which are related the Exciting Experiences of PrincessOzma of Oz, and Dorothy, in their hazardous journeyto the home of the Flatheads, and to the MagicIsle of the Skeezers, and how they wererescued from dire peril by thesorcery of Glinda theGoodby L. FRANK BAUM"Royal Historian of Oz"This Bookis Dedicated toMy SonRobert Stanton BaumLIST OF CHAPTERS...
A Modest Proposalby Jonathan SwiftA Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people inIreland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and formaking them beneficial to the publick.by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this greattown, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, theroads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, andimportuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of...
On Public Creditby David HumeIt appears to have been the common practice of antiquity,make provision, during peace, for the necessities of war, and tohoard up treasures before-hand, as the instruments either ofconquest or defence; without trusting to extraordinaryimpositions, much less to borrowing, in times of disorder andconfusion. Besides the immense sums above mentioned, which wereamassed by ATHENS, and by the PTOLEMIES, and other successors ofALEXANDER; we learn from PLATO, that the frugal LACEDEMONIANS hadalso collected a great treasure; and ARRIAN and PLUTARCH take...
The Nature of Rentby T.R. Malthus1815An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and thePrinciples by which it is regulated.by Rev. T.R. Malthus,Professor of History and Political Economy In the East IndiaCollege, HertfordshireLondon, Printed for John Murray, Albemarle Street1815.AdvertisementThe following tract contains the substance of some notes onrent, which, with others on different subjects relating topolitical economy, I have collected in the course of myprofessional duties at the East India College. It has been my...
A Theologico-Political Treatise [Part III]by Benedict de SpinozaAlso known as Baruch SpinozaTranslated by R. H. M. ElwesPart III - Chapters XI to XVTABLE OF CONTENTS:CHAPTER XI - An Inquiry whether the Apostles wrote theirEpistles as Apostles and Prophets, or merely as Teachers,and an Explanation of what is meant by Apostle.The epistles not in the prophetic style.The Apostles not commanded to write or preach in particular places.Different methods of teaching adopted by the Apostles....
The Friendly Road; New Adventures in Contentmentby David Grayson"Surely it is good to be alive at a time like this."A WORD TO HIM WHO OPENS THIS BOOKI did not plan when I began writing these chapters to make an entire book, but only to put down the more or less unusual impressions, the events and adventures, of certain quiet pilgrimages in country roads. But when I had written down all of these things, I found I had material in plenty."What shall I call it now that I have written it?" I asked myself.At first I thought I should call it "Adventures on the Road," or "The Country Road," or someth
The Patagoniaby Henry JamesCHAPTER IThe houses were dark in the August night and the perspective ofBeacon Street, with its double chain of lamps, was a foreshorteneddesert. The club on the hill alone, from its semi-cylindrical front,projected a glow upon the dusky vagueness of the Common, and as Ipassed it I heard in the hot stillness the click of a pair ofbilliard-balls. As "every one" was out of town perhaps the servants,in the extravagance of their leisure, were profaning the tables. Theheat was insufferable and I thought with joy of the morrow, of the...