Non-Classifiable Books

It is a curious truth that Spain in these days of her decline exercises almost as much control over the mind of the world as she exercised over its territories in the days of her great empire. Cervantes in literature and Velazquez in art seem destined to secure for their country a measure of immortality that throws into the background the memory of such people as Carlos Quinto, Philip II., and those... more...

Preface It was a day in the spring of 1921. Dismal shadows, really Hechtian shadows, filled the editorial "coop" in The Chicago Daily News building. Outside the rain was slanting down in the way that Hecht's own rain always slants. In walked Hecht. He had been divorced from our staff for some weeks, and had married an overdressed, blatant creature called Publicity. Well, and how did he... more...

Obstacles have long existed to my presenting the public with a perfect edition of Shelley's Poems. These being at last happily removed, I hasten to fulfil an important duty,—that of giving the productions of a sublime genius to the world, with all the correctness possible, and of, at the same time, detailing the history of those productions, as they sprang, living and warm, from his heart and... more...

SUGAR BOILING. This branch of the trade or business of a confectioner is perhaps the most important. All manufacturers are more or less interested in it, and certainly no retail shop could be considered orthodox which did not display a tempting variety of this class. So inclusive is the term "boiled goods" that it embraces drops, rocks, candies, taffies, creams, caramels, and a number of... more...

WAHNFRIED I visited Bayreuth on the 24th of July, 1883, and attended two crowded performances of Wagner's last work, Parsifal. In the morning I went into the beautiful gardens of the Neue Schloss. On either side of a lake, upon which float a couple of swans and innumerable water-lilies, the long parklike avenue of trees are vocal with wild doves, and the robin is heard in the adjoining thickets.... more...

Chapter I—The Operation Of Geographic Factors In HistoryMan a product of the earth's surface.Man is a product of the earth's surface. This means not merely that he is a child of the earth, dust of her dust; but that the earth has mothered him, fed him, set him tasks, directed his thoughts, confronted him with difficulties that have strengthened his body and sharpened his wits, given him his... more...

CHAPTER I WHAT IS A PHOTOPLAY? As its title indicates, this book aims to teach the theory and practice of photoplay construction. This we shall attempt by first pointing out its component parts, and then showing how these parts are both constructed and assembled so as to form a strong, well-built, attractive and salable manuscript. The Photoplay Defined and Differentiated A photoplay is a story told... more...

THE WORLD'S FAIR; OR, CHILDREN'S PRIZE GIFT BOOK OF THE   What a pretty picture we have in the first title page, of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park! This gigantic structure is built of iron, glass, and wood; but as, at a distance, it seems to be made entirely of glass, it is called the "Crystal Palace." Does it not look like one of those magnificent palaces we read about in fairy... more...

CHAPTER I. THE EARLIEST BRISTOL POSTS, 1580.—FOOT AND RUNNING POSTS.—THE FIRST BRISTOL POSTMASTERS: ALLEN AND TEAGUE, 1644-1660.—THE POST HOUSE.—EARLIEST LETTERS, 1662. The difficulty in Queen Elizabeth's time of communicating with persons at a distance from Bristol before the establishment of a post office is illustrated by the following item from the City Chamberlain's accounts:—... more...

MMEDIATELY upon the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, in November, 1860, a predetermined plan of secession was entered upon by the leading public men of the South, on the plea that his election was dangerous the interests of slavery. In February, 1861, seven of the slave States having united in the movement, an independent government was organized, under the name of the Southern Confederacy,... more...