Classics Books

CHAPTER I The person who, next to the actors themselves, chanced to know most of their story, lived just below ‘Top o’ Town’ (as the spot was called) in an old substantially-built house, distinguished among its neighbours by having an oriel window on the first floor, whence could be obtained a raking view of the High Street, west and east, the former including Laura’s dwelling, the end of the... more...

KEEPING UP WITH LIZZIE IN WHICH THE LEADING TRADESMEN OF POINTVIEW BECOME A BOARD OF ASSESSORS The Honorable Socrates Potter was the only "scientific man" in the village of Pointview, Connecticut. In every point of manhood he was far ahead of his neighbors. In a way he had outstripped himself, for, while his ideas were highly modern, he clung to the dress and manners that prevailed in his... more...

TOMMY ENJOYS HIMSELF Tommy Fox was having a delightful time. If you could have come upon him in the woods you would have been astonished at his antics. He leaped high off the ground, and struck out with his paws. He opened his mouth and thrust his nose out and then clapped his jaws shut again, with a snap. Tommy burrowed his sharp face into the dead leaves at his feet and tossed his head into the air.... more...

CHAPTER I.THE TIMBER WOLF. Wolves of all species belong to that class of animals known as the dog family, the members of which are considered to be the most intelligent of brute animals. They are found, in one species or another, in almost every part of the world. They are strictly carnivorous and are beyond all doubt the most destructive of all wild animals. In general appearance the wolf resembles a... more...

CHAPTER I. [Bill o’th Hoylus End might be termed a local Will-o’th-Wisp. He has been everything by turns, and nothing long. Now, a lean faced lad, “a mere anatomy, a mountebank, a thread bare juggler, a needy, hollow-ey’d, sharp looking wretch;” now acting the pert, bragging youth, telling quaint stories, and up to a thousand raw tricks; now tumbling and adventuring into manhood with yet the... more...

THE SONG OF DEIRDRA Farewell, grey Albyn, much loved land,   I ne’er shall see thy hills again;Upon those hills I oft would stand   And view the chase sweep o’er the plain. ’Twas pleasant from their tops I ween   To see the stag that bounding ran;And all the rout of hunters keen,   The sons of Usna in the van. The chiefs of Albyn feasted high,   Amidst them Usna’s children shone;And... more...

THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK The motto of this book is expressed in its title: Britain for the British. At present Britain does not belong to the British: it belongs to a few of the British, who employ the bulk of the population as servants or as workers. It is because Britain does not belong to the British that a few are very rich and the many are very poor. It is because Britain does not belong to the... more...

"The Italian sculptors of the earlier half of the fifteenth century are more than mere forerunners of the great masters of its close, and often reach perfection within the narrow limits which they chose to impose on their work. Their sculpture shares with the paintings of Botticelli and the churches of Brunelleschi that profound expressiveness, that intimate impress of an indwelling soul, which is... more...

CHAPTER I. THE CROWN PRINCE RUNS AWAY The Crown Prince sat in the royal box and swung his legs. This was hardly princely, but the royal legs did not quite reach the floor from the high crimson-velvet seat of his chair. Prince Ferdinand William Otto was bored. His royal robes, consisting of a pair of blue serge trousers, a short Eton jacket, and a stiff, rolling collar of white linen, irked him. He had... more...

Chapter I An Impulse of Mischief"When to mischief mortals bend their will,How soon they find fit instruments of ill."—Pope. Rape of the Lock. It was four o'clock. The little town of Louisiana, Missouri, had slumbered all afternoon in the spring sunshine, but woke suddenly to life as the doors of the big brick school house opened, and the boys and girls poured forth. As the outgoing... more...