Fiction Books

CHAPTER I HICKS—WILD WEST BAD MAN   "Oh, a bold, bad man was Chuckwalla Bill—  An' he lived in a shanty on Tom-cat Hill;  Ten notches on the six-gun he toted on his hip—  For he'd sent ten buckos on the One-way Trip!" Big Butch Brewster, captain and full-back of the Bannister College football squad, his behemoth bulk swathed in heavy blankets and crowded into a narrow... more...

Coblenz is the place which many years ago gave me my first associations with the Rhine. From a neighboring town we often drove to Coblenz, and the wide, calm flow of the river, the low, massive bridge of boats and the commonplace outskirts of a busy city contributed to make up a very different picture from that of the poetic "castled" Rhine of German song and English ballad. The old town has,... more...

In order to obtain profitable returns from farming in boll weevil territory, we must—First, grow an early crop of cotton; second, use every means possible to destroy the weevil and reduce their number to a minimum; third, follow a system of diversified farming. Grow an Early Variety of Cotton: To secure maximum cotton crops in spite of the boll weevil pest, the cotton grower must use every effort... more...

MARTHA   In the long run all love is paid by love,    Tho' undervalued by the hosts of earth.  The great eternal government above    Keeps strict account, and will redeem its worth.  Give thy love freely; do not count the cost;    So beautiful a thing was never lost          In the long run. ——Ella Wheeler Wilcox. THOMAS PERKINS was astonished beyond words. Martha... more...

THE VOYAGE IS BEGUN “A-a-ll ha-a-ands! Up anchor! A-ho-oy!” Instantly all was bustle and action on board the brig Josephine. The sailors ran hither and thither, the sails were loosed and the yards braced. The clanking of the windlass soon told that the anchor was being raised. “Whew! I never saw so much excitement and hurry in all my life,” exclaimed a boy, who with three companions stood on the... more...

The extensive collection of Mexican mammals made by Mr. J. R. Alcorn for the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History contains fourteen piñon mice from lava rocks eight miles northeast of the city of Durango, Mexico. These mice are all much darker than the piñon mice, Peromyscus truei gentilis, of adjoining areas in Durango and Zacatecas and show a superficial resemblance to the widespread P.... more...

CHAPTER I THE HAUNTED MAKE-BELIEVE "CASTLE." It was about the middle of a fall afternoon, and Friday at that, when five well-grown lads, clad in faded khaki suits that proclaimed them to be Boy Scouts, dropped down upon a moss covered log near a cold spring at which they had just quenched their thirst. The one who acted as leader, and to whom the others often deferred, answered to the name of... more...

SCENE I. Enter ORCANES king of Natolia, GAZELLUS viceroy of Byron,URIBASSA, and their train, with drums and trumpets. ORCANES. Egregious viceroys of these eastern parts,Plac'd by the issue of great Bajazeth,And sacred lord, the mighty Callapine,Who lives in Egypt prisoner to that slaveWhich kept his father in an iron cage,—Now have we march'd from fair NatoliaTwo hundred leagues, and on... more...

CHAPTER I The Wrecked Space-Ship When I came to, it was dark; so dark that the night seemed all but fluid with black pigment. Breathing was difficult, but in spite of that, however, I felt exhilarated mentally. Also I felt strong, stronger than I ever had in my life before. I tried to raise my hands, and found that I was handcuffed. I lay sprawled out on a sharply canted floor of metal, and from... more...

Yesterday morning this thing happened to me: I was reading the New York Times and my eyes suddenly fell upon one word, and that word rang a little bell in my memory, “Kirkwall!” The next moment I had closed my eyes in order to see backward more clearly, and slowly, but surely, the old, old town––standing boldly upon the very beach of the stormy North Sea––became clear in my mental vision.... more...