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...　

THE CALASHThe town of B had become very lively since a cavalry regiment hadtaken up its quarters in it. Up to that date it had been mortallywearisome there. When you happened to pass through the town andglanced at its little mud houses with their incredibly gloomy aspect,the pen refuses to express what you felt. You suffered a terribleuneasiness as if you had just lost all your money at play, or hadcommitted some terrible blunder in company. The plaster covering thehouses, soaked by the rain, had fallen away in many places from theirwalls, which from white had become streaked and spotted, whi　

THE LITTLE GOOD MOUSEONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen who loved eachother so much that they were never happy unless they weretogether. Day after day they went out hunting or fishing; nightafter night they went to balls or to the opera; they sang, and danced,and ate sugar-plums, and were the gayest of the gay, and all theirsubjects followed their example so that the kingdom was called theJoyous Land. Now in the next kingdom everything was as differentas it could possibly be. The King was sulky and savage, and neverenjoyed himself at all. He looked so ugly and cross that all his...　

1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE WILL-O-THE WISP IS IN THE TOWN,SAYS THE MOOR WOMANby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was a man who once knew many stories, but they had slipped away from him- so he said. The Story that used to visit him of its own accord no longer came and knocked at his door. And why did it come no longer? It is true enough that for days and years the man had not thought of it, had not expected it to come and knock; and if he had expected it, it would certainly not have come; for without there was war, and within was the care and sorrow that war brings with it....　

Last Days in a Dutch Hotelby William Dean HowellsWhen we said that we were going to Scheveningen, in the middle ofSeptember, the portier of the hotel at The Hague was sure we should bevery cold, perhaps because we had suffered so much in his house already;and he was right, for the wind blew with a Dutch tenacity of purpose fora whole week, so that the guests thinly peopling the vast hostelry seemedto rustle through its chilly halls and corridors like so many autumnleaves. We were but a poor hundred at most where five hundred would nothave been a crowd; and, when we sat down at the long table　

THE SKETCH BOOKCHRISTMAS EVEby Washington IrvingSaint Francis and Saint BenedightBlesse this house from wicked wight;From the night-mare and the goblin,That is hight good fellow Robin;Keep it from all evil spirits,Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets:From curfew timeTo the next prime.CARTWRIGHT.IT WAS a brilliant moonlight night, but extremely cold; our chaise...　

THE ENCHANTED PIGONCE upon a time there lived a King who had three daughters.Now it happened that he had to go out to battle, so he calledhis daughters and said to them:`My dear children, I am obliged to go to the wars. The enemyis approaching us with a large army. It is a great grief to me toleave you all. During my absence take care of yourselves and begood girls; behave well and look after everything in the house.You may walk in the garden, and you may go into all the roomsin the palace, except the room at the back in the right-handcorner; into that you must not enter, for harm would befal　

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...　

THE DEATH OF JEANThe death of Jean Clemens occurred early in the morning ofDecember 24, 1909. Mr. Clemens was in great stress of mind whenI first saw him, but a few hours later I found him writingsteadily."I am setting it down," he said, "everything. It is arelief to me to write it. It furnishes me an excuse forthinking." At intervals during that day and the next I lookedin, and usually found him writing. Then on the evening of the26th, when he knew that Jean had been laid to rest in Elmira, hecame to my room with the manuscript in his hand....　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGERby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleWhen one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practicefor twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I wasallowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it willbe clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem hasalways been not to find but to choose. There is the long row ofyear-books which fill a shelf, and there are the dispatch-cases filledwith documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime but...　

American Literary Centersby William Dean HowellsOne of the facts which we Americans have a difficulty in making clear toa rather inattentive world outside is that, while we have apparently aliterature of our own, we have no literary centre. We have so muchliterature that from time to time it seems even to us we must have aliterary centre. We say to ourselves, with a good deal of logic, Wherethere is so much smoke there must be some fire, or at least a fireplace.But it is just here that, misled by tradition, and even by history, wedeceive ourselves. Really, we have no fireplace for such fir　

Of Refinement in the Artsby David HumeLUXURY is a word of an uncertain signification, and may betaken in a good as well as in a bad sense. In general, it meansgreat refinement in the gratification of the senses; and anydegree of it may be innocent or blameable, according to the age,or country, or condition of the person. The bounds between thevirtue and the vice cannot here be exactly fixed, more than inother moral subjects. To imagine, that the gratifying of anysense, or the indulging of any delicacy in meat, drink, orapparel, is of itself a vice, can never enter into a head, that...　

THE SKETCH BOOKWESTMINSTER ABBEYby Washington IrvingWhen I behold, with deep astonishment,To famous Westminster how there resorteLiving in brasse or stoney monument,The princes and the worthies of all sorte;Doe not I see reformde nobilitie,Without contempt, or pride, or ostentation,And looke upon offenselesse majesty,Naked of pomp or earthly domination?And how a play-game of a painted stone...　

The Cruise of the Dolphinby Thomas Bailey Aldrich( 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 way mixedup 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, hewanders by the sandy shore, watching the waves that come plungingup the beach like white-maned sea-horses, as Thoreau calls them;his eye follows the lessening sail as it fades into the bluehorizon, and he burns for the time when he shall stand on the...　

NEGORE, THE COWARDHE had followed the trail of his fleeing people for eleven days,and his pursuit had been in itself a flight; for behind him he knewfull well were the dreaded Russians, toiling through the swampylowlands and over the steep divides, bent on no less than theextermination of all his people. He was travelling light. Arabbit-skin sleeping-robe, a muzzle-loading rifle, and a few poundsof sun-dried salmon constituted his outfit. He would havemarvelled that a whole people - women and children and aged - couldtravel so swiftly, had he not known the terror that drove them on....　

Of Interestby David HumeNothing is esteemed a more certain sign of the flourishingcondition of any nation than the lowness of interest: And with reason;though I believe the cause is somewhat different from what is commonlyapprehended. Lowness of interest is generally ascribed to plenty ofmoney. But money, however plentiful, has no other effect, if fixed,than to raise the price of labour. Silver is more common than gold;and therefore you receive a greater quantity of it for the samecommodities. But do you pay less interest for it? Interest in BATAVIAand JAMAICA is at 10 per cent. in PORTUGAL a