THE FORTY THIEVESIN a town in Persia there dwelt two brothers, one namedCassim, the other Ali Baba. Cassim was married to arich wife and lived in plenty, while Ali Baba had to maintainhis wife and children by cutting wood in a neighboringforest and selling it in the town. One day, when AliBaba was in the forest, he saw a troop of men on horseback,coming toward him in a cloud of dust. He wasafraid they were robbers, and climbed into a tree forsafety. When they came up to him and dismounted, hecounted forty of them. They unbridled their horses and...　

Chapter VI of Volume III (Chap. 48)THE whole party were in hopes of a letter from Mr. Bennet the next morning, but the post came in without bringing a single line from him. His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and dilatory correspondent, but at such a time they had hoped for exertion. They were forced to conclude that he had no pleasing intelligence to send, but even of that they would have been glad to be certain. Mr. Gardiner had waited only for the letters before he set off.When he was gone, they were certain at least of receiving constant information of wha　

Chapter XI of Volume II (Chap. 34)WHEN they were gone, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her being in Kent. They contained no actual complaint, nor was there any revival of past occurrences, or any communication of present suffering. But in all, and in almost every line of each, there was a want of that cheerfulness which had been used to characterize her style, and which, proceeding from the serenity of a mind at ease with itself, and kindly di　

Chapter the LastA parting glance at such of the actors in this little history asit has not, in the course of its events, dismissed, will bring itto an end.Mr Haredale fled that night. Before pursuit could be begun, indeedbefore Sir John was traced or missed, he had left the kingdom.Repairing straight to a religious establishment, known throughoutEurope for the rigour and severity of its discipline, and for themerciless penitence it exacted from those who sought its shelter as...　

"Pigs is Pigs"by Ellis Parker ButlerMike Flannery, the Westcote agent of the Interurban Express Company,leaned over the counter of the express office and shook his fist. Mr.Morehouse, angry and red, stood on the other side of the counter,trembling with rage. The argument had been long and heated, and at lastMr. Morehouse had talked himself speechless. The cause of the troublestood on the counter between the two men. It was a soap box across the topof which were nailed a number of strips, forming a rough but serviceablecage. In it two spotted guinea-pigs were greedily eating lettuce leaves....　

Chapter XIII of Volume II (Chap. 36)IF Elizabeth, when Mr. Darcy gave her the letter, did not expect it to contain a renewal of his offers, she had formed no expectation at all of its contents. But such as they were, it may be well supposed how eagerly she went through them, and what a contrariety of emotion they excited. Her feelings as she read were scarcely to be defined. With amazement did she first understand that he believed any apology to be in his power; and stedfastly was she persuaded that he could have no explanation to give, which a just sense of shame would not conceal. With a st　

SolitudeThis is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense,and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with astrange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along thestony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool aswell as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me,all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trumpto usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borneon the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the...　

HIGH-WATER MARKWhen the tide was out on the Dedlow Marsh, its extended drearinesswas patent. Its spongy, low-lying surface, sluggish, inky pools,and tortuous sloughs, twisting their slimy way, eel-like, towardthe open bay, were all hard facts. So were the few green tussocks,with their scant blades, their amphibious flavor and unpleasantdampness. And if you choose to indulge your fancyalthough theflat monotony of the Dedlow Marsh was not inspiringthe wavy lineof scattered drift gave an unpleasant consciousness of the spentwaters, and made the dead certainty of the returning tide a gloomy...　

JESPER WHO HERDED THE HARESThere was once a king who ruled over a kingdom somewhere betweensunrise and sunset. It was as small as kingdoms usually were inold times, and when the king went up to the roof of his palaceand took a look round he could see to the ends of it in everydirection. But as it was all his own, he was very proud of it,and often wondered how it would get along without him. He hadonly one child, and that was a daughter, so he foresaw that shemust be provided with a husband who would be fit to be king afterhim. Where to find one rich enough and clever enough to be a...　

TWICE-TOLD TALESTHE AMBITIOUS GUESTby Nathaniel HawthorneONE SEPTEMBER NIGHT a family had gathered round their hearth, andpiled it high with the driftwood of mountain streams, the dry cones ofthe pine, and the splintered ruins of great trees that had comecrashing down the precipice. Up the chimney roared the fire, andbrightened the room with its broad blaze. The faces of the fatherand mother had a sober gladness; the children laughed; the eldestdaughter was the image of Happiness at seventeen; and the aged...　

THE RIGHT EYE OF THE COMMANDERThe year of grace 1797 passed away on the coast of California in asouthwesterly gale. The little bay of San Carlos, albeit shelteredby the headlands of the blessed Trinity, was rough and turbulent;its foam clung quivering to the seaward wall of the Mission garden;the air was filled with flying sand and spume, and as the SenorCommandante, Hermenegildo Salvatierra, looked from the deepembrasured window of the Presidio guardroom, he felt the saltbreath of the distant sea buffet a color into his smoke-driedcheeks....　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE FIR TREEby Hans Christian AndersenFAR down in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh airmade a sweet resting-place, grew a pretty little fir-tree; and yetit was not happy, it wished so much to be tall like its companions-the pines and firs which grew around it. The sun shone, and the softair fluttered its leaves, and the little peasant children passed by,prattling merrily, but the fir-tree heeded them not. Sometimes thechildren would bring a large basket of raspberries or strawberries,...　

The Boy CaptivesAn Incident of the Indian War of 1695by John Greenleaf WhittierTHE township of Haverhill, even as late as the close of theseventeenth century, was a frontier settlement, occupying anadvanced position in the great wilderness, which, unbroken by theclearing of a white man, extended from the Merrimac River to theFrench villages on the St. Francois. A tract of twelve miles on theriver and three or four northwardly was occupied by scatteredsettlers, while in the centre of the town a compact village hadgrown up. In the immediate vicinity there were but few Indians,...　

OF TRAGEDYDavid Hume1757It seems an unaccountable pleasure, which the spectators ofa well-written tragedy receive from sorrow, terror, anxiety, andother passions, that are in themselves disagreeable and uneasy.The more they are touched and affected, the more are they...　

Chamber Musicby James JoyceContents:IStrings in the earth and airMake music sweet;IIThe twilight turns from amethystTo deep and deeper blue,IIIAt that hour when all things have repose,O lonely watcher of the skies,IVWhen the shy star goes forth in heavenAll maidenly, disconsolate,VLean out of the window,Goldenhair,VII would in that sweet bosom be(O sweet it is and fair it is!)VIIMy love is in a light attireAmong the apple-trees,...　

FELICIA AND THE POT OF PINKSONCE upon a time there was a poor laborer who, feelingthat he had not much longer to live, wished to divide hispossessions between his son and daughter, whom he loveddearly.So he called them to him, and said: "Your motherbrought me as her dowry two stools and a straw bed; Ihave, besides, a hen, a pot of pinks, and a silver ring,which were given me by a noble lady who once lodged inmy poor cottage. When she went away she said to me:"`Be careful of my gifts, good man; see that you do notlose the ring or forget to water the pinks. As for your...