Classics Books

THE NOCTURNAL VISIT.* * * Whence is that knocking?How is't with me when every sound appals me?* * * I hear a knockingIn the south entry! Hark!—More knocking!—Shakespeare. Hurricane Hall is a large old family mansion, built of dark-red sandstone, in one of the loneliest and wildest of the mountain regions of Virginia. The estate is surrounded on three sides by a range of steep, gray rocks,... more...

ACT I., SCENE I. The Exchange. Enter YOUNG MASTER ARTHUR and YOUNG MASTER LUSAM. Y. ART. I tell you true, sir; but to every manI would not be so lavish of my speech:Only to you, my dear and private friend,Although my wife in every eye be heldOf beauty and of grace sufficient,Of honest birth and good behaviour,Able to win the strongest thoughts to her,Yet, in my mind, I hold her the most hatedAnd... more...

INTRODUCTORY. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the famous chronicler of legendary British history, tells us,—in reference to the time when the Celtic kings of Britain were struggling against the Saxon invaders,—that "there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting its rays, at the end of which was a globe of fire in the form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays; one of... more...

LADIES and GENTLEMEN. PERMIT me to observe that the Horse is an animal, which, from the earliest ages of the world, has been destined to the pleasure and services of Man; the various and noble qualities with which nature has endowed him sufficiently speaking the ends for which he was designed. Mankind were not long before they were acquainted with them, and found the means of applying them to the... more...

CHAPTER ITHE TENANT AT THE FIRS It was a hot autumn afternoon. Mrs. Olcott, a young and attractive woman, reclined in a canvas chair beside a tea-table on the lawn in front of the cottage she had lately taken in the country. Her thin white dress displayed a slender and rather girlish form; her dark hair emphasized the delicate coloring of her face, which wore a nervous look. As a matter of fact, she... more...

CHAPTER I. THE TREACHERY OF KING MARK. The story of Tristram's valorous deeds, and of the high honor in which he was held at Camelot, in good time came to Cornwall, where it filled King Mark's soul with revengeful fury, and stirred the heart of La Belle Isolde to the warmest love. The coward king, indeed, in his jealous hatred of his nephew, set out in disguise for England, with murderous... more...

ugh McCann took the last of the photographic plates out of the developer and laid them on the table beside the others. Then he picked up the old star charts—Volume 1, Number 1—maps of space from various planetary systems within a hundred light years of Sol. He looked around the observation room at the others. "We might as well start checking." The men and women around the table nodded. None... more...

INTRODUCTION. No other branch of business can bear comparison with the wonderful results achieved by Department Stores, such a success as has made them the wonder of modern merchandising. These stores, that have grown to greatness from small beginnings, have a force and power behind them that commands general interest. Their store-keeping rests upon certain well-defined principles, and not upon chance,... more...

THE MASCOT OF SWEET BRIAR GULCH The gulch ran in a trough of beauty to the foot of Jones’s Hill, which rose in a sweeping curve into the clouds. Wild flowers, trees in profuse leaf, and mats of vines covered the scarred earth, and the sky was as limpid as spring water; the air carried a weight of heart-stirring odors, yet Jim Felton, sitting on the door-step of his cabin in the brilliant sunshine,... more...

CHAPTER ONE In the whole wide world there were no comrades who loved each other better than Petrik,[1] Ondrejko,[2] and Fido. All three were orphans and had had a hard time in the world thus far. Both parents of Petrik had died of a malignant fever. He became a public charge and was sent from place to place, till finally he was placed in charge of "Bacha"[3] Filina, who was his father's... more...