Fiction Books

SAMSON AND DELILAH.Thus he grewTolerant of what he half disdained. And she,Perceiving that she was but half disdained,Began to break her arts with graver fits—Turn red or pale, and often, when they met,Sigh deeply, or, all-silent, gaze upon himWith such a fixed devotion, that the old man,Though doubtful, felt the flattery, and at timesWould flatter his own wish, in age, for love,And half believe her... more...

CHAPTER I. FAITHFUL TO THE DEATH. The sun was setting gloriously over the hills which encompass Jerusalem, pouring its streams of golden light on the valleys clothed with the vine, pomegranate, and olive, sparkling on the brook Kedron, casting a rich glow on flat-roofed dwellings, parapets, and walls, and throwing into bold relief from the crimson sky the pinnacles of the Temple, which, at the period... more...

THE WIFE OR THE WUDDY. “There was a criminal in a cartAgoing to be hanged—Reprieve to him was granted;The crowd and cart did stand,To see if he would marry a wife,Or, otherwise, choose to die!‘Oh, why should I torment my life?’The victim did reply;‘The bargain’s bad in every part—But a wife’s the worst!—drive on the cart.’” Honest Sir John Falstaff talketh of “minions of the... more...

THE DEPARTUREAmbrose Thompson opened his front door and looked out. It was May, the sun had just risen over Pennyroyal, and before him lay Kentucky's carnival of spring. The boy drew a deep breath that seemed to rise and quiver over his face like a breeze coming away at the end of his long, curiously emotional nose. "Glory, what a day!" he whispered; "seems about good enough to... more...

CHAPTER I THE BLACK PATCH Considering it was nearly the height of the London winter season, the Great Empire Hotel was not unusually crowded. This might perhaps have been owing to the fact that two or three of the finest suites of rooms in the building had been engaged by Mark Fenwick, who was popularly supposed to be the last thing in the way of American multi-millionaires. No one knew precisely who... more...

1 Joan Randle reined in her horse on the crest of the cedar ridge, and with remorse and dread beginning to knock at her heart she gazed before her at the wild and looming mountain range. "Jim wasn't fooling me," she said. "He meant it. He's going straight for the border... Oh, why did I taunt him!" It was indeed a wild place, that southern border of Idaho, and that year was to... more...

I myself have never seen a ghost (I am by no means sure that I wish ever to do so), but I have a friend whose experience in this respect has been less limited than mine. Till lately, however, I had never heard the details of Lady Farquhar's adventure, though the fact of there being a ghost story which she could, if she chose, relate with the authority of an eye-witness, had been more than once... more...

THE LOMBARD CONQUEST AND ITS RESULTS. Before tracing the beginnings of renewed municipal life in Northern Italy, we must consider the conditions of land and people, which first rendered possible and then fostered the spirit of local independence of which such beginnings were the natural expression. To do this we must commence our researches with the first domination of the Lombards in the country. In... more...

A small collection of Mexican reptiles and amphibians recently acquired by the University of Kansas Natural History Museum contains five specimens of a species of the genus Hyla (sensu lato) which is here described as new. Hyla proboscidea sp. nov. Type.—University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, No. 23626, collected 2 km. west of Jico, Veracruz, Mexico, at an elevation of 4,200 ft., Oct. 28,... more...

[Transcriber's Notes] Here are the definitions of some unfamiliar (to me) terms. antediluvianPerson who lived before the Biblical Flood. Very old or old-fashioned.cavilRaise irritating and trivial objections; find fault unnecessarily.coniesRabbitsChromo (chromolithograph)Colored printlivery (clothing)Distinctive uniform.taresWeedy plants of the genus Vicia, especially the common vetch. Several... more...