THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNERTHE STAR-SPANGLEDBANNERby John A. Carpenter1- Page 2-THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNEROn August 18, 1814, Admiral Cockburn, having returned with his fleetfrom the West Indies, sent to Secretary Monroe at Washington, thefollowing threat:SIR: Having been called upon by the Governor-General of theCanadas to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against...　

75 ADANTONY83?-30 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenANTONYTHE grandfather of Antony was the famous pleader, whom Marius put to death for having taken part with Sylla. His father was Antony, surnamed of Crete, not very famous or distinguished in public life, but a worthy good man, and particularly remarkable for his liberality, as may appear from a single example. He was not very rich, and was for that reason checked in the exercise of his good nature by his wife. A friend that stood in need of money came to borrow of him. Money he had none, but he b　

THE MESSENGERSTHE MESSENGERSBy Richard Harding Davis1- Page 2-THE MESSENGERSWhen Ainsley first moved to Lone Lake Farm all of his friends askedhim the same question. They wanted to know, if the farmer who sold itto him had abandoned it as worthless, how one of the idle rich, who couldnot distinguish a plough from a harrow, hoped to make it pay? Hisanswer was that he had not purchased the farm as a means of getting richer...　

Samuel Brohl & Companyby Victor CherbuliezCHAPTER IWere the events of this nether sphere governed by the calculus of probabilities, Count Abel Larinski and Mlle. Antoinette Moriaz would almost unquestionably have arrived at the end of their respective careers without ever having met. Count Larinski lived in Vienna, Austria; Mlle. Moriaz never had been farther from Paris than Cormeilles, where she went every spring to remain throughout the fine weather. Neither at Cormeilles nor at Paris had she ever heard of Count Larinski; and he, on his part, was wholly unaware of the existence of Mlle. Mor　

The Masque of the Red Deathby Edgar Allan PoeThe "Red Death" had long devastated the country. Nopestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was itsAvatar and its sealthe redness and the horror of blood. There weresharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at thepores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body andespecially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban whichshut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease,...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LAST PEARLby Hans Christian AndersenWE are in a rich, happy house, where the master, the servants, thefriends of the family are full of joy and felicity. For on this daya son and heir has been born, and mother and child are doing well. Thelamp in the bed-chamber had been partly shaded, and the windows werecovered with heavy curtains of some costly silken material. The carpetwas thick and soft, like a covering of moss. Everything invited to...　

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V7BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARKCONTENTS:CHAPTER XIII. to CHAPTER XXI.CHAPTER XIII.His Majesty remained only ten days at Saint-Cloud, passed two or three ofthese in Paris at the opening of the session of the Corps Legislatif, andat noon on the 29th set out a second time for Bayonne.The Empress, who to her great chagrin could not accompany the Emperor,sent for me on the morning of his departure, and renewed in most touchingaccents the same recommendations which she made on all his journeys, for...　

THE SCARLET LETTERby Nathaniel HawthorneINTRODUCTORYTHE CUSTOM-HOUSE.INTRODUCTORY TO "THE SCARLET LETTER".IT is a little remarkable, that- though disinclined to talk overmuchof myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personalfriends- an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life havetaken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time wasthree or four years since, when I favoured the reader- inexcusably,and for no earthly reason, that either the indulgent reader or the...　

The Rhythm of Life and Other EssaysThe Rhythm of Life andOther Essays1- Page 2-The Rhythm of Life and Other EssaysTHE RHYTHM OF LIFEIf life is not always poetical, it is at least metrical. Periodicity rulesover the mental experience of man, according to the path of the orbit of histhoughts. Distances are not gauged, ellipses not measured, velocities notascertained, times not known. Nevertheless, the recurrence is sure. What...　

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."...　

The Yellow Wallpaperby Charlotte Perkins GilmanIt is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John andmyself secure ancestral halls for the summer.A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say ahaunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicitybutthat would be asking too much of fate!Still I will proudly declare that there is something queerabout it.Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stoodso long untenanted?John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that inmarriage.John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with...　

A Simpletonby Charles ReadePREFACE.It has lately been objected to me, in studiously courteous terms ofcourse, that I borrow from other books, and am a plagiarist. Tothis I reply that I borrow facts from every accessible source, andam not a plagiarist. The plagiarist is one who borrows from ahomogeneous work: for such a man borrows not ideas only, but theirtreatment. He who borrows only from heterogeneous works is not aplagiarist. All fiction, worth a button, is founded on facts; andit does not matter one straw whether the facts are taken frompersonal experience, hearsay, or printed books;　

The National System of Political Economyby Friedrich Listtranslated by Sampson S. Lloyd, 1885First Book: The HistoryChapter 1The ItaliansAt the revival of civilisation in Europe, no county was in sofavourable a position as Italy in respect to commerce and industry.Barbarism had not been able entirely to eradicate the culture andcivilisation of ancient Rome. A genial climate and a fertile soil,notwithstanding an unskilful system of cultivation, yielded...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY CYCLISTby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleFrom the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was avery busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case ofany difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years,and there were hundreds of private cases, some of them of the mostintricate and extraordinary character, in which he played aprominent part. Many startling successes and a few unavoidablefailures were the outcome of this long period of continuous work. As I...　

The Magic Skinby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageTo Monsieur Savary, Member of Le Academie des Sciences.ITHE TALISMANTowards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered thePalais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the lawwhich protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. Hemounted the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished bythe number 36, without too much deliberation."Your hat, sir, if you please?" a thin, querulous voice called out. Alittle old man, crouching in the darkness behind a railing, suddenly...　

Sartor Resartusby Thomas CarlyleSARTOR RESARTUS: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh By Thomas Carlyle. [1831]BOOK I.CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY.Considering our present advanced state of culture, and how the Torch of Science has now been brandished and borne about, with more or less effect, for five thousand years and upwards; how, in these times especially, not only the Torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely than ever, but innumerable Rushlights, and Sulphur-matches, kindled thereat, are also glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest cranny or dog-hole in Nature or Art