Ursulaby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Mademoiselle Sophie Surville,It is a true pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you thisbook, the subject and details of which have won theapprobation, so difficult to win, of a young girl to whom theworld is still unknown, and who has compromised with none ofthe lofty principles of a saintly education. Young girls areindeed a formidable public, for they ought not to be allowedto read books less pure than the purity of their souls; they...　

Old Christmasby Washington IrvingBut is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair ofhis good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that,seeing that I cannot have more of him.Hue and Cry after Christmas.CONTENTSCHRISTMASTHE STAGE-COACHCHRISTMAS EVECHRISTMAS DAYTHE CHRISTMAS DINNERA man might then beholdAt Christmas, in each hallGood fires to curb the cold,And meat for great and small.The neighbours were friendly bidden,And all had welcome true,The poor from the gates were not chidden,...　

HERMOD AND HADVOR [32][32] From the Icelandic.Once upon a time there were a King and a Queen who had an onlydaughter, called Hadvor, who was fair and beautiful, and being anonly child, was heir to the kingdom. The King and Queen had alsoa foster son, named Hermod, who was just about the same age asHadvor, and was good-looking, as well as clever at most things.Hermod and Hadvor often played together while they were children,and liked each other so much that while they were still youngthey secretly plighted their troth to each other.As time went on the Queen fell sick, and suspecting that it w　

At the Back of the North Windby George MacDonaldCHAPTER ITHE HAY-LOFTI HAVE been asked to tell you about the back of the north wind.An old Greek writer mentions a people who lived there,and were so comfortable that they could not bear it any longer,and drowned themselves. My story is not the same as his.I do not think Herodotus had got the right account of the place.I am going to tell you how it fared with a boy who went there.He lived in a low room over a coach-house; and that was not by anymeans at the back of the north wind, as his mother very well knew....　

Hunted DownHunted Downby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-Hunted DownI.Most of us see some romances in life. In my capacity as ChiefManager of a Life Assurance Office, I think I have within the last thirtyyears seen more romances than the generality of men, howeverunpromising the opportunity may, at first sight, seem....　

New Yorkby James Fenimore CooperTHE increase of the towns of Manhattan, as, for the sake ofconvenience, we shall term New York and her adjuncts, in all thatcontributes to the importance of a great commercial mart, rendersthem one of the most remarkable places of the present age. Withinthe distinct recollections of living men, they have grown from acity of the fifth or sixth class to be near the head of all thepurely trading places of the known world. That there aresufficient causes for this unparalleled prosperity, will appear...　

Fraternityby John GalsworthyCHAPTER ITHE SHADOWIn the afternoon of the last day of April, 190-, a billowy sea of little broken clouds crowned the thin air above High Street, Kensington. This soft tumult of vapours, covering nearly all the firmament, was in onslaught round a patch of blue sky, shaped somewhat like a star, which still gleameda single gentian flower amongst innumerable grass. Each of these small clouds seemed fitted with a pair of unseen wings, and, as insects flight on their too constant journeys, they were setting forth all ways round this starry blossom which burned so clea　

TWICE-TOLD TALESOLD ESTHER DUDLEYby Nathaniel HawthorneTHE HOUR HAD COME- the hour of defeat and humiliation- when SirWilliam Howe was to pass over the threshold of the Province House, andembark, with no such triumphal ceremonies as he once promised himself,on board the British fleet. He bade his servants and militaryattendants go before him, and lingered a moment in the loneliness ofthe mansion, to quell the fierce emotions that struggled in hisbosom as with a death throb. Preferable, then, would he have deemed...　

METEOROLOGYby Aristotletranslated by E. W. WebsterBook I1WE have already discussed the first causes of nature, and allnatural motion, also the stars ordered in the motion of the heavens,and the physical element-enumerating and specifying them and showinghow they change into one another-and becoming and perishing ingeneral. There remains for consideration a part of this inquiry...　

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCEand THE BOOK of THELby William BlakeSONGS OF INNOCENCEINTRODUCTIONPiping down the valleys wild,Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child,And he laughing said to me:"Pipe a song about a Lamb!"So I piped with merry cheer."Piper, pipe that song again;"So I piped: he wept to hear."Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;Sing thy songs of happy cheer:!"...　

THE HUNTING OF THE SNARKLewis CarrollTHE HUNTING OF THE SNARKan Agony in Eight FitsbyLewis CarrollPREFACEIf-and the thing is wildly possible-the charge of writing nonsensewere ever brought against the author of this brief but instructivepoem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line (in p.4)...　

450 BCTHE CHOEPHORIby Aeschylustranslated by E.D.A. MoresheadCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYORESTES, son of AGAMEMNON and CLYTEMNESTRACHORUS OF SLAVE WOMENELECTRA, sister of ORESTESA NURSECLYTEMNESTRAAEGISTHUSAN ATTENDANTPYLADES, friend of ORESTES(SCENE:-By the tomb of Agamemnon near the palace in Argos.ORESTES and PYLADES enter, dressed as travellers. ORESTES carries...　

THE RED ONETHE RED ONEby Jack London1- Page 2-THE RED ONETHE RED ONETHERE it was! The abrupt liberation of sound! As he timed it withhis watch, Bassett likened it to the trump of an archangel. Walls of cities,he meditated, might well fall down before so vast and compelling asummons. For the thousandth time vainly he tried to analyse the tone-...　

Lecture IICIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE TOPICMost books on the philosophy of religion try to begin with aprecise definition of what its essence consists of. Some ofthese would-be definitions may possibly come before us in laterportions of this course, and I shall not be pedantic enough toenumerate any of them to you now. Meanwhile the very fact thatthey are so many and so different from one another is enough toprove that the word "religion" cannot stand for any singleprinciple or essence, but is rather a collective name. The...　

My Memories of Eighty Yearsby Chauncey M. DepewTO MY WIFE MAY PALMER DEPEW THIS BOOK GREW FROM HER ENCOURAGEMENTFOREWORDFor many years my friends have insisted upon my putting in permanent form the incidents in my life which have interested them. It has been my good fortune to take part in history-making meetings and to know more or less intimately people prominent in world affairs in many countries. Every one so situated has a flood of recollections which pour out when occasion stirs the memory. Often the listeners wish these transcribed for their own use....　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE FLYING TRUNKby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a merchant who was so rich that he could have pavedthe whole street with gold, and would even then have had enough fora small alley. But he did not do so; he knew the value of money betterthan to use it in this way. So clever was he, that every shilling heput out brought him a crown; and so he continued till he died. His soninherited his wealth, and he lived a merry life with it; he went to...