Juvenile Nonfiction Books

Lecture One. GIRLHOOD. If the angels look down upon earth and behold any natural object with especial delight, it must be Girlhood. And yet if they are not gifted with prophetic vision, they must tremble with fearful solicitude while they gaze delighted. There is a fearfulness in the beauty of Girlhood which mingles anxiety in the cup of admiration. No good being can look upon it without casting a... more...

A Gold Hunter's Experience Early in the summer of 1860 I had a bad attack of gold fever. In Chicago the conditions for such a malady were all favorable. Since the panic of 1857 there had been three years of general depression, money was scarce, there was little activity in business, the outlook was discouraging, and I, like hundreds of others, felt blue. Gold had been discovered in the fall of... more...

This preface, though placed at the beginning, as a preface must be, should be read at the end of the book. I have received a large amount of correspondence concerning this small work, and many reviews of it—some of them nearly as long as the book itself—have been printed. But scarcely any of the comment has been adverse. Some people have objected to a frivolity of tone; but as the tone is not, in... more...

THE MAN WHO DID NOT DIE. AFTER the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam became ruler of the Israelites. The prodigality and magnificence of Solomon's court, and his lavish way of living had been met by heavy taxation. Seeing the vast revenues of the kingdom employed in this way, the people had grown discontented, and then disloyal. After Rehoboam had become king, the Israelites appealed to him... more...

BEHAVIOR AND MANNERS. My Dear Daughter:—One of the greatest blessings I could wish for you, as you pass out from the guardianship of home into life with its duties and trials, is that you should possess the power of winning love and friends. With this power, the poor girl is rich; without it, the richest girl is poor. In the main, this power of winning friends and love depends upon two things:... more...

THE UGLY DUCKLING. under broke does keep only turkey warm ugly water A duck made her nest under some leaves. [Illustration: THE DUCK'S NEST.] She sat on the eggs to keep them warm. At last the eggs broke, one after the other. Little ducks came out. Only one egg was left. It was a very large one. At last it broke, and out came a big, ugly duckling. "What a big duckling!" said the old duck.... more...

CHAPTER I.—INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER. "Unless above himself he can Erect himself, how poor a thingis man"—DANIEL. "Character is moral order seen through the medium, of anindividual nature.... Men of character are the conscience ofthe society to which they belong."—EMERSON. "The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundanceof its revenues, nor on the strength of its... more...

SITE AND ANTECEDENTS In the middle of the seventeenth century when the English King, Charles II, was generously settling Virginia land upon loyal subjects, what is now the port of Alexandria was part of six thousand acres granted by the Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley, in the name of His Majesty, to Robert Howsing. The grant was made in 1669 as a reward for bringing into the colony one hundred and... more...

INTRODUCTION. 1. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. The great object to be accomplished in reading, as a rhetorical exercise, is to convey to the hearer, fully and clearly, the ideas and feelings of the writer. In order to do this, it is necessary that a selection should be carefully studied by the pupil before he attempts to read it. In accordance with this view, a preliminary rule of importance is the following:... more...

PHILEMON AND BAUCIS I Long ago, on a high hill in Greece, Philemon and Baucis lived. They were poor, but they were never unhappy. They had many hives of bees from which they got honey, and many vines from which they gathered grapes. One old cow gave them all the milk that they could use, and they had a little field in which grain was raised. The old couple had as much as they needed, and were always... more...