Fiction Books

SONNIE-BOY'S PEOPLE The man with the gold-headed cane had been headed for the cottage, but espying the boy at the water's edge, he changed his course. He crept to within a few paces of the lad before he hailed: "Halloo, little boy! I'll bet I know who your papa is." The boy looked casually around. Seeing that it was a stranger, he faced about and stood respectfully erect.... more...

I am glad to have this opportunity once more of speaking to you before I leave Japan. My stay here has been so short that one may think I have not earned my right to speak to you about anything concerning your country. I feel sure that I shall be told, that I am idealising certain aspects, while leaving others unnoticed, and that there are chances of my disillusionment, if I remain here for long. For I... more...

THE BOY MECHANIC VOLUME I Transcriber's Notes This text accurately reproduces the original book except for adherence to Project Gutenburg guidelines. Each project title is followed by its original page number to allow use of the alphabetical contents (index) at the end of the book. The book used very complex typesetting to conserve space. This transcription uses simple one-column linear layout.... more...

I had intended to allow the records that follow—the records of a pilgrimage sorely beset and hampered by sorrow and distress—to speak for themselves. Let me only say that one who makes public a record so intimate and outspoken incurs, as a rule, a certain responsibility. He has to consider in the first place, or at least he cannot help instinctively considering, what the wishes of the writer would... more...

CHAPTER I I cannot truthfully commence these reminiscences with the usual formula of the amateur author,—namely, by stating that, "At the solicitation of numerous friends, the writer was most reluctantly prevailed upon to publish his narrative," and so forth. No one has asked me to write my recollections of the past and my impressions of the present. I do so to please myself, because on... more...

CHAPTER I A MESSAGE FROM THE WEST Surely it was no longer ago than yesterday. I had left the scythe lying at the edge of the long grass, and gone up through the rows of nodding Indian corn to the house, seeking a draught of cool water from the spring. It was hot in the July sunshine; the thick forest on every side intercepted the breeze, and I had been at work for some hours. How pleasant and inviting... more...

INTRODUCTION. I now commence my tale; pay attention to it, and be just to its merits. In the "Adventures of the Four Darwesh, [43]" it is thus written, and the narrator has related, that formerly in the Empire of Rum [44] there reigned a great king, in whom were innate justice equal to that of Naushirwan, [45] and generosity like that of Hatim. [46] His name was Azad-Bakht, and his imperial... more...

We had the driver let us off in the central district and took a copter-taxi back to Homefield. There's no disgrace about it, of course; we just didn't feel like having all the neighbors see the big skycar with Lydna Project painted on its side, and then having them drop in casually to express what they would call interest and we would know to be curiosity. There are people who boast that... more...

ACT I. SCENE I. A rich Chamber. A Table with Lights, Abdelazer sullenly leaning his Head on his Hands: after a little while, still Musick plays. SONG.     _Love _in fantastick Triumph sat,      Whilst bleeding Hearts around him flow'd,    For whom fresh Pains he did create,      And strange Tyrannick Pow'r he shewed;    From thy bright Eyes he took his... more...

THE BRIDAL MARCH There lived last century, in one of the high-lying inland valleys of Norway, a fiddler, who has become in some degree a legendary personage. Of the tunes and marches ascribed to him, some are said to have been inspired by the Trolls, one he heard from the devil himself, another he made to save his life, &c., &c. But the most famous of all is a Bridal March; and its story does... more...