CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTLike most other young matrons, Meg began her married life with the determination to be a model housekeeper. John should find home a paradise, he should always see a smiling face, should fare sumptuously every day, and never know the loss of a button. She brought so much love, energy, and cheerfulness to the work that she could not but succeed, in spite of some obstacles. Her paradise was not a tranquil one, for the little woman fussed, was over-anxious to please, and bustled about like a true Martha, cumbered with many cares. She was too tired, sometimes, even to smile, Jo　

AT THE SHRINE OF ST. WAGNERBayreuth, Aug. 2d, 1891It was at Nuremberg that we struck the inundation of music-mad strangers that was rolling down upon Bayreuth. It had beenlong since we had seen such multitudes of excited and strugglingpeople. It took a good half-hour to pack them and pair them intothe trainand it was the longest train we have yet seen inEurope. Nuremberg had been witnessing this sort of experience acouple of times a day for about two weeks. It gives one animpressive sense of the magnitude of this biennial pilgrimage....　

YOUNG GOODMAN BROWNYoung Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street at Salemvillage; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, toexchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as thewife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street,letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while shecalled to Goodman Brown."Dearest heart," whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when herlips were close to his ear, "prithee put off your journey untilsunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is...　

THE BLACK ARROW - A TALE OF THE TWO ROSESPROLOGUE - JOHN AMEND-ALLOn a certain afternoon, in the late springtime, the bell uponTunstall Moat House was heard ringing at an unaccustomed hour. Farand near, in the forest and in the fields along the river, peoplebegan to desert their labours and hurry towards the sound; and inTunstall hamlet a group of poor country-folk stood wondering at thesummons.Tunstall hamlet at that period, in the reign of old King Henry VI.,wore much the same appearance as it wears to-day. A score or so of...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENSOUP FROM A SAUSAGE SKEWERby Hans Christian Andersen"WE had such an excellent dinner yesterday," said an old mouseof the female sex to another who had not been present at the feast. "Isat number twenty-one below the mouse-king, which was not a bad place.Shall I tell you what we had? Everything was first rate. Mouldy bread,tallow candle, and sausage. And then, when we had finished thatcourse, the same came on all over again; it was as good as two feasts....　

THE SKETCH BOOKA ROYAL POETby Washington IrvingThough your body be confined,And soft love a prisoner bound,Yet the beauty of your mindNeither check nor chain hath found.Look out nobly, then, and dareEven the fetters that you wear.FLETCHER.ON A soft sunny morning in the genial month of May, I made anexcursion to Windsor Castle. It is a place full of storied and...　

The Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouseby Thomas BurkeBuying and SellingThroughout the day I sit behind the counter of my shopAnd the odours of my country are all about meAreca nut, and betel leaf, and manioc,Lychee and suey sen,Li-un and dried seaweed,Tchah and sam-shu;And these carry my mind to half-forgotten daysWhen tales were plentiful and care was hard to hold.All day I sell for trifling sums the wares of my own land,And buy for many cash such things as people wish to sell,That I may sell them again to others,With some profit to myself....　

ON SLEEP AND SLEEPLESSNESSby Aristotletranslated by J. I. Beare1WITH regard to sleep and waking, we must consider what they are:whether they are peculiar to soul or to body, or common to both; andif common, to what part of soul or body they appertain: further,from what cause it arises that they are attributes of animals, andwhether all animals share in them both, or some partake of the one...　

350 BCON MEMORY AND REMINISCENCEby Aristotletranslated by J. I. Beare1WE have, in the next place, to treat of Memory and Remembering,considering its nature, its cause, and the part of the soul to whichthis experience, as well as that of Recollecting, belongs. For thepersons who possess a retentive memory are not identical with thosewho excel in power of recollection; indeed, as a rule, slow people...　

Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empressby George Bernard ShawANNAJANSKA is frankly a bravura piece. The modern variety theatredemands for its "turns" little plays called sketches, to lasttwenty minutes or so, and to enable some favorite performer tomake a brief but dazzling appearance on some barely passabledramatic pretext. Miss Lillah McCarthy and I, as author andactress, have helped to make one another famous on many seriousoccasions, from Man and Superman to Androcles; and Mr CharlesRicketts has not disdained to snatch moments from his paintingand sculpture to design some wonderful dresses for 　

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...　

The Cruise of the DolphinThe Cruise of theDolphinby Thomas Bailey Aldrich1- Page 2-The Cruise of the Dolphin(1 An episode from The Story of a Bad Boy, the narrator being TomBailey, the hero of the tale.)Every Rivermouth boy looks upon the sea as being in some waymixed up with his destiny. While he is yet a baby lying in his cradle, hehears the dull, far-off boom of the breakers; when he is older, he wanders...　

Swan Songby Anton CheckovPLAYS BY ANTON TCHEKOFFTRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARIAN FELLCONTENTSIntroductionChronological List of WorksThe Swan SongINTRODUCTIONANTON TCHEKOFFTHE last years of the nineteenth century were for Russia tingedwith doubt and gloom. The high-tide of vitality that had risenduring the Turkish war ebbed in the early eighties, leavingbehind it a dead level of apathy which lasted until life wasagain quickened by the high interests of the Revolution. Duringthese grey years the lonely country and stagnant provincial towns...　

THE YOUNG KING[TO MARGARET LADY BROOKE - THE RANEE OF SARAWAK]It was the night before the day fixed for his coronation, and theyoung King was sitting alone in his beautiful chamber. Hiscourtiers had all taken their leave of him, bowing their heads tothe ground, according to the ceremonious usage of the day, and hadretired to the Great Hall of the Palace, to receive a few lastlessons from the Professor of Etiquette; there being some of themwho had still quite natural manners, which in a courtier is, I needhardly say, a very grave offence....　

THE INVISIBLE PRINCEOnce upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over theearth, the sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons.The eldest, who was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination,she made Lord of Fire, which was in her opinion the noblest ofall the elements. To the second son, whose wisdom and prudencemade amends for his being rather dull, she gave the government ofthe earth. The third was wild and savage, and of monstrousstature; and the Fairy, his mother, who was ashamed of hisdefects, hoped to hide them by creating him King of the Seas....　

The Pond in WinterAfter a still winter night I awoke with the impression that somequestion had been put to me, which I had been endeavoring in vain toanswer in my sleep, as what how when where? But there wasdawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broadwindows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips.I awoke to an answered question, to Nature and daylight. The snowlying deep on the earth dotted with young pines, and the very slopeof the hill on which my house is placed, seemed to say, Forward!...