Non-Classifiable Books

I. INTRODUCTION —The city room is the place where a reporter presents himself for work the first day. It is impossible to give an exact description of this room, because no two editorial offices are ever alike. If the reporter has allied himself with a country weekly, he may find the city room and the business office in one, with the owner of the paper and himself as the sole dependence for village... more...

“TABLEAU DES BACAB.” Having recently come into possession of Leon de Rosny’s late work entitled “Les Documents ecrits de l’Antiquite Americaine,” I find in it a photo-lithographic copy of two plates (or rather one plate, for the two are but parts of one) of the Maya Manuscript known as the Codex Cortesianus. This plate (I shall speak of the two as one) is of so much importance in the study... more...

BUDDHA About five hundred years before the birth of Christ a mighty king reigned in India over the land of the Sakyas, from which the snowy tops of the Himalaya Mountains could be seen. His name was Suddhodana and he had two wives called Maya and Pajapati; but for a long time they bore him no children, and the King despaired of having an heir to his throne. Then Queen Maya bore a son and after he was... more...

PREFACE. It has always appeared to me a curious thing that the bow, without which the fiddle could have no being, should have received so scant attention, not alone from the community of fiddlers, but also from writers on the subject. I only know of one book in which the subject is adequately handled. Out of every twenty violinists who profess to some knowledge of the various types of Cremonese and... more...

CHAPTER I THE RIVER OF AN UNWRITTEN EPIC IT was Carlyle—was it not?—who said that all great works produce an unpleasant impression on first acquaintance. It is so with the Missouri River. Carlyle was not, I think, speaking of rivers; but he was speaking of masterpieces—and so am I. It makes little difference to me whether or not an epic goes at a hexameter gallop through the ages, or whether it... more...

A singular fatality has ruled the destiny of nearly all the most famous of Leonardo da Vinci's works. Two of the three most important were never completed, obstacles having arisen during his life-time, which obliged him to leave them unfinished; namely the Sforza Monument and the Wall-painting of the Battle of Anghiari, while the third—the picture of the Last Supper at Milan—has suffered... more...

THE LOSS OF THE KENT EAST INDIAMAN. My Dear E——, You are aware that the Kent, Captain Henry Cobb, a fine new ship of 1,350 tons, bound to Bengal and China, left the Downs on the 19th of February, with 20 officers, 344 soldiers, 43 women, and 66 children, belonging to the 31st regiment; with 20 private passengers, and a crew (including officers) of 148 men—in all, 641 persons on board. The bustle... more...

INTRODUCTION Though it is probable that for a long time to come the mass of mankind in civilized countries will find it both necessary and advantageous to labor for wages, and to accept the condition of hired laborers (or, as it has absurdly become the fashion to say, employees), every thoughtful and kind-hearted person must regard with interest any device or plan which promises to enable at least the... more...

The western harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis, inhabits most parts of the central Great Plains and adjacent regions of tall grass prairie to the eastward, shows a marked predilection for grassy habitats, is common in many areas, and is notably less variable geographically than most other cricetids found in the same region. R. megalotis occurs (see Hall and Kelson, 1959:586, map 342) from... more...

Preface Wenceslas Link to all believers in Christ: The wise Solomon says in Proverbs 11: "The people who withhold grain curse him. But there is a blessing on those who sell it." This verse speaks truly concerning all that can serve the common good or the well-being of Christendom. This is the reason the master in the gospel reprimands the unfaithful servant like a lazy scoundrel for having... more...