THE DEVOTED FRIENDOne morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He hadbright beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers and his tail was like along bit of black india-rubber. The little ducks were swimmingabout in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, andtheir mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying toteach them how to stand on their heads in the water."You will never be in the best society unless you can stand on yourheads," she kept saying to them; and every now and then she showedthem how it was done. But the little ducks paid no attention 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　

Albert Savarusby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageDEDICATIONTo Madame Emile Girardin.ALBERT SAVARUSOne of the few drawing-rooms where, under the Restoration, theArchbishop of Besancon was sometimes to be seen, was that of theBaronne de Watteville, to whom he was particularly attached on accountof her religious sentiments.A word as to this lady, the most important lady of Besancon.Monsieur de Watteville, a descendant of the famous Watteville, themost successful and illustrious of murderers and renegadeshisextraordinary adventures are too much a part of history to be related...　

Ponkapog Papersby Thomas Bailey AldrichTO FRANCIS BARTLETTTHESE miscellaneous notes andessays are called Ponkapog Papersnot simply because they chanced, forthe most part, to be written within thelimits of the old Indian Reservation,but, rather, because there is somethingtypical of their unpretentiousness in themodesty with which Ponkapog assumesto being even a village. The littleMassachusetts settlement, nestled underthe wing of the Blue Hills, has no illu-sions concerning itself, never mistakesthe cackle of the bourg for the soundthat echoes round the world, and no...　

A Footnote to Historyby Robert Louis StevensonPREFACEAN affair which might be deemed worthy of a note of a few lines inany general history has been here expanded to the size of a volumeor large pamphlet. The smallness of the scale, and the singularityof the manners and events and many of the characters, considered,it is hoped that, in spite of its outlandish subject, the sketchmay find readers. It has been a task of difficulty. Speed wasessential, or it might come too late to be of any service to adistracted country. Truth, in the midst of conflicting rumours and...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBSby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleIt may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It costone man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yetanother man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly anelement of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month thatHolmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day bedescribed. I only refer to the matter in passing, for in my position...　

MY ANTONIAby Willa Sibert CatherTO CARRIE AND IRENE MINERIn memory of affections old and trueOptima dies ... prima fugitVIRGILINTRODUCTIONLAST summer I happened to be crossing the plains of Iowa in a seasonof intense heat, and it was my good fortune to have for a travelingcompanion James Quayle BurdenJim Burden, as we still call himin the West. He and I are old friendswe grew up togetherin the same Nebraska townand we had much to say to each other.While the train flashed through never-ending miles of ripe wheat,...　

THE WITCH [28][28] From the Russian.Once upon a time there was a peasant whose wife died, leaving himwith two childrentwinsa boy and a girl. For some years thepoor man lived on alone with the children, caring for them asbest he could; but everything in the house seemed to go wrongwithout a woman to look after it, and at last he made up his mindto marry again, feeling that a wife would bring peace and orderto his household and take care of his motherless children. So hemarried, and in the following years several children were born tohim; but peace and order did not come to the household. Fo　

THE BLACK DWARFTHE BLACK DWARFWalter Scott, Bart.1- Page 2-THE BLACK DWARFI. TALES OF MY LANDLORDCOLLECTED AND REPORTED BY JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM,SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH-CLERK OF GANDERCLEUGH.INTRODUCTION.As I may, without vanity, presume that the name and officialdescription prefixed to this Proem will secure it, from the sedate and...　

Those Extraordinary Twinsby Mark TwainA man who is born with the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time ofit when he tries to build a novel. I know this from experience. He hasno clear idea of his story; in fact he has no story. He merely has somepeople in his mind, and an incident or two, also a locality. He knowsthese people, he knows the selected locality, and he trusts that he canplunge those people into those incidents with interesting results. So hegoes to work. To write a novel? Nothat is a thought which comeslater; in the beginning he is only proposing to tell a little tale;　

The Deputy of Arcisby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyPART ITHE ELECTIONIALL ELECTIONS BEGIN WITH A BUSTLEBefore beginning to describe an election in the provinces, it is proper to state that the town of Arcis-sur-Aube was not the theatre of the events here related.The arrondissement of Arcis votes at Bar-sur-Aube, which is forty miles from Arcis; consequently there is no deputy from Arcis in the Chamber.Discretion, required in a history of contemporaneous manners and morals, dictates this precautionary word. It is rather an ingenious contrivance to make the descripti　

The Trees of Prideby G.K. ChestertonTHE TREES OF PRIDE:I. THE TALE OF THE PEACOCK TREESII. THE WAGER OF SQUIRE VANEIII. THE MYSTERY OF THE WELLIV. THE CHASE AFTER THE TRUTHTHE TREES OF PRIDEI. THE TALE OF THE PEACOCK TREESSquire Vane was an elderly schoolboy of English education and Irish extraction. His English education, at one of the great public schools, had preserved his intellect perfectly and permanently at the stage of boyhood. But his Irish extraction subconsciously upset in him the proper solemnity of an old boy, and sometimes gave him back the brighter outlook of a naughty boy. H　

To be Read at Duskby Charles DickensOne, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summitof the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remoteheights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of redwine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet hadtime to sink into the snow.This is not my simile. It was made for the occasion by thestoutest courier, who was a German. None of the others took anymore notice of it than they took of me, sitting on another bench on...　

The American Claimantby Mark TwainEXPLANATORYThe Colonel Mulberry Sellers here re-introduced to the public is the sameperson who appeared as Eschol Sellers in the first edition of the taleentitled "The Gilded Age," years ago, and as Beriah Sellers in thesubsequent editions of the same book, and finally as Mulberry Sellers inthe drama played afterward by John T. Raymond.The name was changed from Eschol to Beriah to accommodate an EscholSellers who rose up out of the vasty deeps of uncharted space andpreferred his requestbacked by threat of a libel suitthen went his...　

Stories by Modern American AuthorsEdited by Julian HawthorneCONTENTS:F. MARION CRAWFORD (1854-)By the Waters of ParadiseMARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN (1862-)The Shadows on the WallMELVILLE D. POST (1871-)The Corpus DelictiAMBROSE BIERCE (1842-)An Heiress from RedhorseThe Man and the SnakeEDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-49)The Oblong BoxThe Gold-BugWASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)Wolfert Webber, or Golden DreamsAdventure of the Black FishermanCHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN (1771-1810)...　

PERICLES490?-429 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenCAESAR once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying upand down with them in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs andmonkeys, embracing and making much of them, took occasion notunnaturally to ask whether the women in their country were not used tobear children; by that prince-like reprimand gravely reflecting uponpersons who spend and lavish upon brute beasts that affection and...