Idle Ideas in 1905by Jerome K. JeromeContents:Are We As Interesting As We Think We Are?Should Women Be Beautiful?When Is The Best Time To Be Merry?Do We Lie A-Bed Too Late?Should Married Men Play Golf?Are Early Marriages A Mistake?Do Writers Write Too Much?Should Soldiers Be Polite?Ought Stories To Be True?Creatures That One Day Shall Be MenHow To Be Happy Though LittleShould We Say What We Think, Or Think What We Say?Is The American Husband Made Entirely Of Stained GlassDoes The Young Man Know Everything Worth Knowing?How Many Charms Hath Music, Would You Say?...　

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...　

Muratby Alexander Dumas, pereITOULONOn the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europewas being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar wassilently following the road from Toulon to Marseilles.Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on alittle eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country;then either because he had reached the end of his journey, orbecause, before attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which iscalled the Thermopylae of Provence, he wished to enjoy themagnificent view which spread to the southern horizon a littl　

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...　

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　

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 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...　

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　

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...　

The Return Of Tarzanby Edgar Rice BurroughsCONTENTSCHAPTER1 The Affair on the Liner2 Forging Bonds of Hate and ?3 What Happened in the Rue Maule4 The Countess Explains5 The Plot That Failed6 A Duel7 The Dancing Girl of Sidi Aissa8 The Fight in the Desert9 Numa "El Adrea"10 Through the Valley of the Shadow11 John Caldwell, London12 Ships That Pass13 The Wreck of the "Lady Alice"14 Back to the Primitive15 From Ape to Savage16 The Ivory Raiders17 The White Chief of the Waziri...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMANby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSherlock Holmes was in a melancholy and philosophic mood thatmorning. His alert practical nature was subject to such reactions."Did you see him?" he asked."You mean the old fellow who has just gone out?""Precisely.""Yes, I met him at the door.""What did you think of him?""A pathetic, futile, broken creature.""Exactly, Watson. Pathetic and futile. But is not all lifepathetic and futile? Is not his story a microcosm of the whole? We...　

Personal Memoirs of P.H.Sheridan V1 of 2by Philip Henry SheridanPREFACEWhen, yielding to the solicitations of my friends, I finally decidedto write these Memoirs, the greatest difficulty which confronted mewas that of recounting my share in the many notable events of thelast three decades, in which I played a part, without entering toofully into the history of these years, and at the same time withoutgiving to my own acts an unmerited prominence. To what extent I haveovercome this difficulty I must leave the reader to judge....　

PRINCE RING [30][30] From the Icelandic.Once upon a time there was a King and his Queen in their kingdom.They had one daughter, who was called Ingiborg, and one son,whose name was Ring. He was less fond of adventures than men ofrank usually were in those days, and was not famous for strengthor feats of arms. When he was twelve years old, one fine winterday he rode into the forest along with his men to enjoy himself.They went on a long way, until they caught sight of a hind with agold ring on its horns. The Prince was eager to catch it, if...　

Inhabitants of the Alhambra.I HAVE often observed that the more proudly a mansion has beentenanted in the day of its prosperity, the humbler are its inhabitantsin the day of its decline, and that the palace of a king commonly endsin being the nestling-place of the beggar.The Alhambra is in a rapid state of similar transition. Whenever atower falls to decay, it is seized upon by some tatterdemalion family,who become joint-tenants, with the bats and owls, of its gilded halls,and hang their rags, those standards of poverty, out of its windows...