Classics Books

CHAPTER I HOW BELTANE LIVED WITHIN THE GREENWOOD In a glade of the forest, yet not so far but that one might hear the chime of bells stealing across the valley from the great minster of Mortain on a still evening, dwelt Beltane the Smith. Alone he lived in the shadow of the great trees, happy when the piping of the birds was in his ears, and joying to listen to the plash and murmur of the brook that... more...

AN ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT. "FOR which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost?" An interesting question is here asked by the direction of infinite wisdom. This question contains the following useful and important instruction: That no man or body of men should attempt the accomplishment of any great object without duly estimating the evils and... more...

INTRODUCTION. THIS book is not for the purpose of instruction in singing, as singing is an art which cannot be taught from book or correspondence. Neither is it a technical treatise on the voice, but instead I aim through the medium of my book to have a "heart-to-heart" talk with the beginner, and with those who contemplate the study of voice culture. Books abounding in technical terms are... more...

INTRODUCTION Up to the years of the Crimean War Russia was always a strange, uncouth riddle to the European consciousness. It would be an interesting study to trace back through the last three centuries the evidence of the historical documents that our forefathers have left us when they were brought face to face, through missions, embassies, travel, and commerce, with the fantastic life, as it seemed... more...

We will speak no further now of Renier of Trit but return to the Emperor Baldwin, who is in Constantinople, with but very few people, and greatly angered and much distracted. He was waiting for Henry his brother, and all the people on the other side of the straits, and the first who came to him from the other side of the straits came from Nicomedia, viz.: Macaire of Sainte-Menehould, and Matthew of... more...

SANPEUR. The great King Constantine is at the hunt;The brilliant cavalcade of knights and dames,On palfreys and on chargers trapped in goldAnd silver and red purple, ride in mirthAlong the winding way, by hill and tarnAnd violet-sprinkled dell. Impatient houndsSniff the keen morning air, and startled birdsRustle the foliage redolent with spring. From time to time some courtier reins his steedBeside the... more...

CHAPTER IX A pair of well-matched bays in silver-plated harness, and driven by a coachman in livery, turn an easy curve round a corner of the narrow country road, forcing you to step on the sward by the crimson-leaved bramble bushes, and sprinkling the dust over the previously glossy surface of the newly fallen horse chestnuts. Two ladies, elegantly dressed, lounge in the carriage with that graceful... more...

Now in the nooning, with the sun high overhead and the shadows huddling dispiritedly at their sides, the threat that existed in this wild desert was completely invisible. The girl, Nora Martin, said, "What I don't understand is why we were so stupid as to come here in the first place. We could have stayed on Earth and had homes and families." Becoming conscious of what she had said, she... more...

CHAPTER I. A SALIENT BASTION FOR THE SLAVERY EMPIRE. Whatever else may be said of Southern statesmen, of the elder school, they certainly had an imperial breadth of view. They took in the whole continent in a way that their Northern colleagues were slow in doing. It cannot be said just when they began to plan for a separate Government which would have Slavery as its cornerstone, would dominate the... more...

At one o’clock the busy seen begin,Quick to the hall they all are posting in;The cautious merchant takes his stand,The farmer shows the product of his land:If wheat the merchant says it’s damp or cold,If Dawling Market, that’s the case I’m told.If it is barley he’ll your mind unhinge,And say good Sir it has a gloomy dinge;Reduce three shillings of the currant price,And with the farmer he’ll... more...