Non-Classifiable Books

It is sometimes said that this is a pleasure-seeking age. Whether it be a pleasure-seeking age or not, I doubt whether it is a pleasure-finding age. We are supposed to have great advantages in many ways over our predecessors. There is, on the whole, less poverty and more wealth. There are supposed to be more opportunities for enjoyment: there are moving pictures, motor-cars, and many other things which... more...

BY WAY OF PROLOGUE "Years of Plenty" was the name an Englishman recently gave to a book of his school days. My own years of secondary school and college were different from his, by far, but no less full. I shall only say by way of preface that they numbered seven. There were two of them at high school, one at a military school on the Hudson, and four at our city's university. Seven in all.... more...

HISTORY OF GIRL SCOUTS Girl Scouts, like Boy Scouts, are found all over the world. When Sir Robert Baden-Powell formed the first troops of Boy Scouts, six thousand girls enrolled themselves, but, as Sir Robert's project did not include the admission of girls, he asked his sister, Miss Baden-Powell, to found a similar organization for girls, based on the Boy Scout laws, with activities and... more...

On the night of my original meeting with Scott he was but lately home from his first adventure into the Antarctic and my chief recollection of the occasion is that having found the entrancing man I was unable to leave him. In vain he escorted me through the streets of London to my home, for when he had said good-night I then escorted him to his, and so it went on I know not for how long through the... more...

PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. CHAPTER I.THE RISE AND PROGRESS of TAXIDERMY. TAXIDERMY, which is derived from two Greek words, a literal translation of which would signify the "arrangement of skins," appears to have been practised in a limited degree ages ago, for may we not say without doubt that the first taxidermists were the ancient Egyptians, who, despite the fact that they seldom or never appear to... more...

INTRODUCTION Animal husbandry is the sure foundation of profitable, permanent agriculture. Where many animals are kept and their manure properly cared for and returned to the land, the soil becomes richer and crop-production steadily increases. And the farmer grows rich with his land. Further, the keeping of live stock distributes the farm labor and the farm income over the entire year. This is true... more...

Let me live harmlessly, and near the brinkOf Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place:Where I may see my fly or cork down sink,With eager bite of pike, or bass, or dace,And on the world and my Creator think:While some men strive ill-gotten goods t'embrace:And others spend their time in base excessOf wine, or worse, in war or wantonness.Let them that will, these pastimes still pursue,And on such pleasing... more...

AN EVENING IN VENICE It was a glorious summer evening. The moon, rising over the city of Venice, shone down on towers and domes and marble palaces, and made a golden path in the rippling waters of the lagoon. The squares of the city were all ablaze with lights, while from every window and balcony twinkling jets of flame found their reflection in the canals, and lengthened into shimmering arrows of... more...

ST. PATRICK'S PARENTAGE. ABOUT the middle of the fourth century a noble decurion named Calphurnius espoused Conchessa, the niece of St. Martin of Tours. Heaven blessed their union with several children, the youngest of whom was a boy, who received at his baptism the name of Succath, which in the Gaelic tongue signifies "valiant." Jocelin is responsible for the statement that the parents of... more...

RHETORIC AND ELOQUENCE WHAT RHETORIC IS Rhetoric has been commonly defined as "The power of persuading." This opinion originated with Isocrates, if the work ascribed to him be really his; not that he intended to dishonor his profession, tho he gives us a generous idea of rhetoric by calling it the workmanship of persuasion. We find almost the same thing in the Gorgias of Plato, but this is the... more...