General Books

CHAPTER I "I hear that Janus Grubb is going to take a passel of gals on a tramp over the hills," observed the postmaster, helping himself to a cracker from the grocer's barrel. "Gals?" questioned the storekeeper. "Yes. There's a lot of mail here for the parties, mostly postals. Can't make much out of the postals, but some of the letters I can read through the... more...

CRAZY JANE'S WILD DRIVE "Tommy, what are you doing?" demanded Margery Brown, shaking back a lock of unruly hair from her flushed face. "Conthulting the Oracle," lisped Grace Thompson, more familiarly known among her friends as Tommy. "I should think you would prefer to cool off in the shade after that climb up the hill. I'm perishing. If you knew what sight you are... more...

THE ARRIVAL "Oh, Peggy, I am afraid!" "Why, Margaret!" "Yes, I am. I feel very shy and queer, going among strangers. You see, I have never really been away in my life; never in this way, I mean. I was always with father; and then—afterward—I went to Fernley; and though so many people have come into my life, dear, delightful people, I have never somehow gone into theirs. And now,... more...

THE MEXICAN TWINS This is a picture of Antonio Francisco Gomez and his twin sister, Margarita Teresa Gomez. They live on the great hacienda, or plantation, of Señor Fernandez, in the wonderful country of Mexico, and they are eight years old. The boy is named Antonio for Saint Antonio and Francisco for his father, and the girl is named Margarita for Saint Margarita and Teresa for her mother. But nobody... more...

OFF FOR THE MOUNTAINS. “Sunrise Camp! What next, pray tell me?” sighed Miss Helen Campbell. “But it doesn’t mean getting up at sunrise, Cousin Helen,” Billie Campbell assured her. “Although Papa says we would like it, once we got started. Campers always do rise with the sun. It’s the proper thing to do.” “But why do they give it that uncivilized name?” continued Miss Campbell in an... more...

CHAPTER I THE SPY "Well, Ruth, aren't you almost ready?" "Just a moment, Alice. I can't seem to get my collar fastened in the back. I wish I'd used the old-fashioned hooks and eyes instead of those new snaps." "Oh, I think those snaps are just adorable!" "Oh, Alice DeVere! Using such an extreme expression!" "What expression, Ruth?"... more...

AUGUST lived in a little town called Hall. Hall is a favorite name for several towns in Austria and in Germany; but this one especial little Hall, in the Upper Innthal, is one of the most charming Old-World places that I know, and August for his part did not know any other. It has the green meadows and the great mountains all about it, and the gray-green glacier-fed water rushes by it. It has paved... more...

CHAPTER I. The old man lived in a wood. He had a wife and a bag. The bag was quite a large bag. One day the old man went out for a walk. He took the bag with him. By and by he saw a hen in a field. Now when you see a hen in a field you say "Chuck, chuck!" The old man said "Chuck, chuck!" And the hen came to him. So that he caught her by the neck and put her in his bag. She made a great... more...

EONARD DOBBIN had a humble cottage upon Squire Courtenay's estate; but although the cottage was humble, it was always kept neat and clean, and was a pattern of everything that a poor man's dwelling should be. The white-washed walls, the smoothly raked gravel walk, and the sanded floor, were so many evidences that Leonard was a careful and a thrifty man; and while some of his poorer neighbours... more...

LONGING FOR NIGHT. "I think there's trouble ahead, Dan'l." "There isn't any doubt of it, Simon." The first remark was made by the famous pioneer ranger, Simon Kenton, and the second fell from the lips of the more famous Daniel Boone. It was at the close of a warm day in August, more than a century ago, that these veterans of the woods came together for the purpose of... more...