The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Volume 1by Elizabeth Claghorn GaskellCHAPTER IThe Leeds and Skipton railway runs along a deep valley of the Aire; a slow and sluggish stream, compared to the neighbouring river of Wharfe. Keighley station is on this line of railway, about a quarter of a mile from the town of the same name. The number of inhabitants and the importance of Keighley have been very greatly increased during the last twenty years, owing to the rapidly extended market for worsted manufactures, a branch of industry that mainly employs the factory population of this part of Yorkshire, w　

PAUL THE PEDDLEROR THE FORTUNES OF A YOUNG STREET MERCHANTBY HORATIO ALGER, JR.BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHYHoratio Alger, Jr., an author who lived among and for boys andhimself remained a boy in heart and association till death, wasborn at Revere, Mass., January 13, 1834. He was the son of aclergyman, was graduated at Harvard College in 1852, and at itsDivinity School in 1860 and was pastor of the Unitarian Church atBrewster, Mass., in 1862-66.In the latter year he settled in New York and began drawing...　

The Club of Queer Tradesby G.K.ChestertonChapter 1The Tremendous Adventures of Major BrownRabelais, or his wild illustrator Gustave Dore, must have had something to do with the designing of the things called flats in England and America. There is something entirely Gargantuan in the idea of economising space by piling houses on top of each other, front doors and all. And in the chaos and complexity of those perpendicular streets anything may dwell or happen, and it is in one of them, I believe, that the inquirer may find the offices of the Club of Queer Trades. It may be thought at the first 　

THE GOLDEN BRANCHONCE upon a time there was a King who was so morose anddisagreeable that he was feared by all his subjects, and withgood reason, as for the most trifling offences he would have theirheads cut off. This King Grumpy, as he was called, had oneson, who was as different from his father as he could possibly be.No prince equalled him in cleverness and kindness of heart, butunfortunately he was most terribly ugly. He had crooked legs andsquinting eyes, a large mouth all on one side, and a hunchback.Never was there a beautiful soul in such a frightful little body, but...　

DEMETRIUS337?-283 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenINGENIOUS men have long observed a resemblance between the arts and the bodily senses. And they were first led to do so, I think, by noticing the way in which, both in the arts and with our senses, we examine opposites. Judgment once obtained, the use to which we put it differs in the two cases. Our senses are not meant to pick out black rather than white, to prefer sweet to bitter, or soft and yielding to hard and resisting objects; all they have to do is to receive impressions as they occur, and rep　

CORIOLANUSLegendary, 5th Century B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHE patrician house of the Marcii in Rome produced many men ofdistinction, and among the rest, Ancus Marcius, grandson to Numa byhis daughter, and king after Tullus Hostilius; of the same family werealso Publius and Quintus Marcius, which two conveyed into the city thebest and most abundant supply of water they have at Rome. Aslikewise Censorinus, who, having been twice chosen censor by the...　

Tales and Fantasiesby Robert Louis StevensonContentsThe Misadventures of John NicholsonThe Body-SnatcherThe Story of a LieTHE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSONCHAPTER I - IN WHICH JOHN SOWS THE WINDJOHN VAREY NICHOLSON was stupid; yet, stupider men than heare now sprawling in Parliament, and lauding themselves asthe authors of their own distinction. He was of a fat habit,even from boyhood, and inclined to a cheerful and cursoryreading of the face of life; and possibly this attitude of...　

For the Term of His Natural Lifeby Marcus ClarkeDEDICATIONTOSIR CHARLES GAVAN DUFFYMy Dear Sir Charles, I take leave to dedicate this work to you, not merely because your nineteen years of political and literary life in Australia render it very fitting that any work written by a resident in the colonies, and having to do with the history of past colonial days, should bear your name upon its dedicatory page; but because the publication of my book is due to your advice and encouragement.The convict of fiction has been hitherto shown only at the beginning or at the end of his career. Either hi　

The Relics of General Chasseby Anthony TrollopeThat Belgium is now one of the European kingdoms, living by its ownlaws, resting on its own bottom, with a king and court, palaces andparliament of its own, is known to all the world. And a very nicelittle kingdom it is; full of old towns, fine Flemish pictures, andinteresting Gothic churches. But in the memory of very many of uswho do not think ourselves old men, Belgium, as it is now calledinthose days it used to be Flanders and Brabantwas a part ofHolland; and it obtained its own independence by a revolution. In...　

To-morrowby Joseph ConradWhat was known of Captain Hagberd in the littleseaport of Colebrook was not exactly in his favour.He did not belong to the place. He had come tosettle there under circumstances not at all myste-rioushe used to be very communicative aboutthem at the timebut extremely morbid and un-reasonable. He was possessed of some little moneyevidently, because he bought a plot of ground, andhad a pair of ugly yellow brick cottages run upvery cheaply. He occupied one of them himself...　

The Complete Anglerby Izaak WaltonTo the Right worshipfulJohn Offleyof Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford Esquire, My most honoured FriendSir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and protection of this Book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that I shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practice so much.You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that Angling is an Art: and you know that Art better 　

The Scouts of the Valleyby Joseph A. AltshelerCHAPTER ITHE LONE CANOEA light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and without noise.The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun, which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft, piercing straig　

The Pursuit of the House-Boatby John Kendrick BangsCHAPTER I: THE ASSOCIATED SHADES TAKE ACTIONThe House-boat of the Associated Shades, formerly located upon the River Styx, as the reader may possibly remember, had been torn from its moorings and navigated out into unknown seas by that vengeful pirate Captain Kidd, aided and abetted by some of the most ruffianly inhabitants of Hades. Like a thief in the night had they come, and for no better reason than that the Captain had been unanimously voted a shade too shady to associate with self-respecting spirits had they made off with the happy fl　

With Lee in VirginiaA Story Of The American Civil Warby G.A. HentyPREFACE.My Dear Lads:The Great War between the Northern and Southern States ofAmerica possesses a peculiar interest for us, not only because itwas a struggle between two sections of a people akin to us in raceand language, but because of the heroic courage with which theweaker party, with ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-equipped regiments, for fouryears sustained the contest with an adversary not only possessed ofimmense numerical superiority, but having the command of the...　

Speeches: Literary and Socialby Charles DickensSPEECH: EDINBURGH, JUNE 25, 1841.[At a public dinner, given in honour of Mr. Dickens, and presidedover by the late Professor Wilson, the Chairman having proposed hishealth in a long and eloquent speech, Mr. Dickens returned thanksas follows:-]IF I felt your warm and generous welcome less, I should be betterable to thank you. If I could have listened as you have listenedto the glowing language of your distinguished Chairman, and if Icould have heard as you heard the "thoughts that breathe and words...　

400 BCON AIRS, WATERS, AND PLACESby HippocratesTranslated by Francis AdamsWHOEVER wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceedthus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and whateffects each of them produces for they are not at all alike, butdiffer much from themselves in regard to their changes. Then thewinds, the hot and the cold, especially such as are common to allcountries, and then such as are peculiar to each locality. We must...