Non-Classifiable Books

Sir Charles Russell: I stand but for a single instant between you and our friend, Mr. Lockwood.  He needs no introduction here; but I am sure I may in your name bid him a hearty welcome. Mr. Frank Lockwood: Mr. Attorney-General, Ladies and Gentlemen—It is some little time ago that I was first asked whether I was prepared to deliver a lecture.  Now I am bound at the outset to confess to you that... more...

THE ESPERANTO ALPHABET(WITH PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION). The Esperanto Alphabet has 28 letters—23 consonants, 5 vowels:—A, a(ah) likeainfatherorpa; aspatro(pah'troh). In unaccented syllables it should not be dwelt upon, and in all cases it should be pronounced quite purely, without the slight drawlingr-sound which is sometimes added to the corresponding vowel in EnglishahB, b(bo) as in EnglishbC,... more...

Not long ago, I chanced to open a magazine at a story of Italian life which dealt with a curious popular custom. It told of the love of the people for the performances of a strangely clad, periodically appearing old man who was a professional story-teller. This old man repeated whole cycles of myth and serials of popular history, holding his audience-chamber in whatever corner of the open court or... more...

CHAPTER I.BEFORE DAWN. About thirty miles from the sea, on the River Loire, in France, stands the quaint, sleepy old town of Nantes. The Erdre and the Sevre, two smaller streams unite with the Loire just here and the town is spread out in an irregular fashion over the islands, the little capes between the rivers, and the hills that stand round about. The old part of the town is on the hill-side and... more...

CHAPTER I. CHRISTMAS "Don't look! There, now it's done!" cried Bertha. It was two nights before Christmas. Bertha was in the big living-room with her mother and older sister. Each sat as close as possible to the candle-light, and was busily working on something in her lap. But, strange to say, they did not face each other. They were sitting back to back. "What an unsociable way to... more...

PREFACE. "You are publishing a great and interesting national document.... The whole narrative is as fine, manly, and explicit an account as ever was given of so interesting a transaction." So wrote Sir Walter Scott to Captain Maitland after reading the manuscript of his Narrative of the Surrender of Buonaparte. It is undoubtedly a historical document of the first importance, not only as a... more...

PREFACE In placing this second edition in the hands of my readers I most gratefully acknowledge the splendid assistance of my subscribers, and the kindness with which this book has been received by the General Public, who made it possible for me to accomplish my intended purpose, ever since I left home, that I should give, to the general public, an account of my conversion into a practical Christian... more...

CHAPTER I The Shadow of the Knickerbockers Boughton, had you bid me chantHymns to Peter Stuyvesant.Had you bid me sing of Wouter.(He! the Onion-head! the Doubter!)But to rhyme of this one-mocker,Who shall rhyme to Knickerbocker?—Austin Dobson. Before the writer, as he begins the pleasant task, is an old half-illegible map, or rather, fragment of a map. Near-by are three or four dull prints. They are... more...

To record the woes of authors and to discourse de libris fatalibus seems deliberately to court the displeasure of that fickle mistress who presides over the destinies of writers and their works. Fortune awaits the aspiring scribe with many wiles, and oft treats him sorely. If she enrich any, it is but to make them subject of her sport. If she raise others, it is but to pleasure herself with their... more...

MORE THAN CONQUEROR. Is that a death-bed where the Christian lies? Yes,—but not his: 'Tis death itself there dies. Coleridge. She was not an infant—an unconscious subject of grace. But the Saviour has led through a long sickness, and through death, a daughter of nineteen years, and has made her, and those who loved and watched her, say, We are more than conquerors. To speak of Him, and not to... more...