a wild, disorderly way of living, so that they never came home again.The youngest, who was called simpleton, set out to seek his brothers,but when at length he found them they mocked him for thinking that hewith his simplicity could get through the world, when they two couldnot make their way, and yet were so much cleverer.They all three traveled away together, and came to an ant-hill. Thetwo elder wanted to destroy it, to see the little ants creeping aboutin their terror, and carrying their eggs away, but simpleton said,leave the creatures in peace, I will not allow you to disturb them....
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE SAUCY BOYby Hans Christian AndersenONCE upon a time there was an old poet, one of those right goodold poets.One evening, as he was sitting at home, there was a terrible stormgoing on outside; the rain was pouring down, but the old poet satcomfortably in his chimney-corner, where the fire was burning andthe apples were roasting."There will not be a dry thread left on the poor people who areout in this weather," he said."Oh, open the door! I am so cold and wet through," called a little...
old, and lost all his teeth, so that he could no longer hold onto anything. One day the farmer was standing with his wife beforethe house-door, and said, to-morrow I intend to shoot old sultan,he is no longer of any use.His wife, who felt pity for the faithful beast, answered, he hasserved us so long, and been so faithful, that we might well givehim his keep.What, said the man, you are not very bright. He has not a toothleft in his head, and not a thief is afraid of him, now he cango. If he has served us, he has had good feeding for it.The poor dog, who was lying stretched out in the sun n
THE COMPARISON OF SERTORIUS WITH EUMENESby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHESE are the most remarkable passages that are come to ourknowledge concerning Eumenes and Sertorius. In comparing theirlives, we may observe that this was common to them both; that beingaliens, strangers, and banished men, they came to be commanders ofpowerful forces, and had the leading of numerous and warlike armies,made up of divers nations. This was peculiar to Sertorius, that thechief command was, by his whole party, freely yielded to him, as to...
ADVERTISEMENT TO EDITION 1829It has been the occasional occupation of the Author of Waverley forseveral years past to revise and correct the voluminous series ofNovels which pass under that name, in order that, if they shouldever appear as his avowed productions, he might render them insome degree deserving of a continuance of the public favour withwhich they have been honoured ever since their first appearance. Fora long period, however, it seemed likely that the improved and illustratededition which he meditated would be a posthumous publication.But the course of the events which occasioned
1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTWO BROTHERSby Hans Christian AndersenON one of the Danish islands, where old Thingstones, the seatsof justice of our forefathers, still stand in the cornfields, and hugetrees rise in the forests of beech, there lies a little town whose lowhouses are covered with red tiles. In one of these houses strangethings were brewing over the glowing coals on the open hearth; therewas a boiling going on in glasses, and a mixing and distilling,while herbs were being cut up and pounded in mortars. An elderly man looked after it all....
AMENDED OBITUARIESTO THE EDITOR:Sir,I am approaching seventy; it is in sight; it is only threeyears away. Necessarily, I must go soon. It is but matter-of-coursewisdom, then, that I should begin to set my worldly house inorder now, so that it may be done calmly and with thoroughness,in place of waiting until the last day, when, as we have often seen,the attempt to set both houses in order at the same time has beenmarred by the necessity for haste and by the confusion and wasteof time arising from the inability of the notary and the ecclesiastic...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE DUMB BOOKby Hans Christian AndersenIN the high-road which led through a wood stood a solitaryfarm-house; the road, in fact, ran right through its yard. The sun wasshining and all the windows were open; within the house people werevery busy. In the yard, in an arbour formed by lilac bushes in fullbloom, stood an open coffin; thither they had carried a dead man,who was to be buried that very afternoon. Nobody shed a tear over him;his face was covered over with a white cloth, under his head they...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENBY THE ALMSHOUSE WINDOWby Hans Christian AndersenNEAR the grass-covered rampart which encircles Copenhagen lies agreat red house. Balsams and other flowers greet us from the long rowsof windows in the house, whose interior is sufficientlypoverty-stricken; and poor and old are the people who inhabit it.The building is the Warton Almshouse.Look! at the window there leans an old maid. She plucks thewithered leaf from the balsam, and looks at the grass-covered rampart,...
LITTLE RED RIDING HOODONCE upon a time there lived in a certain village alittle country girl, the prettiest creature was ever seen.Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmotherdoted on her still more. This good woman hadmade for her a little red riding-hood; which became the girlso extremely well that everybody called her Little RedRiding-Hood.One day her mother, having made some custards, saidto her:"Go, my dear, and see how thy grandmamma does, forI hear she has been very ill; carry her a custard, and thislittle pot of butter."...
1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTWO MAIDENSby Hans Christian AndersenHAVE you ever seen a maiden? I mean what our pavers call a maiden, a thing with which they ram down the paving-stones in the roads. A maiden of this kind is made altogether of wood, broad below, and girt round with iron rings. At the top she is narrow, and has a stick passed across through her waist, and this stick forms the arms of the maiden.In the shed stood two Maidens of this kind. They had their placeamong shovels, hand-carts, wheelbarrows, and measuring-tapes; and to all this company the news had come that t
EARLY LITERARY EXPERIMENTSTRANSFORMATIONMine eyes are so confused,My cheek it is so pale,My head is so bemused,A realm of fairy-tale.I wanted, boldly daring,Sea-going ways to follow,Where a thousand crags rise soaring,And Floods flow bleak and hollow.I clung to Thought high-soaring,On its two wings did ride,And though storm winds were roaring,...
Vanity Fairby William Makepeace ThackerayBEFORE THE CURTAINAs the manager of the Performance sits before the curtainon the boards and looks into the Fair, a feeling of profoundmelancholy comes over him in his survey of the bustling place.There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making loveand jilting, laughing and the contrary, smoking, cheating,fighting, dancing and fiddling; there are bullies pushing about,bucks ogling the women, knaves picking pockets, policemenon the look-out, quacks (OTHER quacks, plague take them!)...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BUCKWHEATby Hans Christian AndersenVERY often, after a violent thunder-storm, a field of buckwheatappears blackened and singed, as if a flame of fire had passed overit. The country people say that this appearance is caused bylightning; but I will tell you what the sparrow says, and thesparrow heard it from an old willow-tree which grew near a field ofbuckwheat, and is there still. It is a large venerable tree, thougha little crippled by age. The trunk has been split, and out of the...
DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPSA TRIBUTEEven now I cannot realize that he is dead, and often in the citystreetson Fifth Avenue in particularI find myself glancingahead for a glimpse of the tall, boyish, familiarfigureexperience once again a flash of the old happy expectancy.I have lived in many lands, and have known men. I never knew afiner man than Graham Phillips.His were the clearest, bluest, most honest eyes I ever saweyesthat scorned untrutheyes that penetrated all sham.In repose his handsome features were a trifle sternand the...