Non-Classifiable Books

Detailed Contents. Chapter I. Donner LakeA Famous Tourist ResortBuilding the Central PacificCalifornia's Skating ParkThe PioneersThe Organization of the Donner PartyHo! for California!A Mammoth TrainThe Dangers by the WayFalse Accounts of the Sufferings EnduredComplete Roll of the CompanyImpostors Claiming to Belong to the PartyKilled by the PawneesAn Alarmed CampResin IndiansA Mother's Death... more...

"Strive; for the grasp of the destroyer is upon you, and if you be not wrenched away, it will palsy you and crush you. Strive for the foe has seized upon your vitals: he holds possession of your Fort and renders your will a thing to be controled instead of a controling power. It chains the intellect and bids defiance to your better judgment. Strive like one who knows he has grappled with Death and... more...

The village school-house was situated on a pretty green, and surrounded by old elm-trees, and at a short distance and in full sight was a candy-shop, kept by an old woman, whom the children called Mother Grimes. Mother Grimes knew how to make the very best candies and cakes that ever were eaten, and almost every day she displayed in her shop-window some new kind of cake, or some new variety of candy,... more...

When in 1810, Henry Raeburn, then at the height of his powers, proposed to settle in London, Lawrence dissuaded him. It is unnecessary, as it would be unjust, to insinuate that the future President of the Royal Academy had ulterior and personal motives in urging him to rest content with his supremacy in the North. Raeburn was fifty-five at the time, and, after his undisputed reign at home, even his... more...

INTRODUCTION It is a common weakness of mankind to be caught by an idea and captivated by a phrase. To rest therewith content and to neglect the carrying of the idea into practice is a weakness still more common. It is this frequent failure of reformers to reduce their theories to practice, their tendency to dwell in the cloudland of the ideal rather than to test it in action, that has often made them... more...

CHAPTER I The Importance and Power of Cotton COTTON is the fabric of civilization. It has built up peoples, and has riven them apart. It has brought to the world vast and permanent wealth. It has enlisted the vision of statesmen, the genius of inventors, the courage of pioneers, the forcefulness of manufacturers, the initiative of merchants and shipbuilders, and the patient toil of many millions. A... 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...

Botany of the Tomato of our gardens belongs to the natural order Solanaceae and the genus Lycopersicum. The name from lykos, a wolf, and persica, a peach, is given it because of the supposed aphrodisiacal qualities, and the beauty of the fruit. The genus comprises a few species of South American annual or short-lived perennial, herbaceous, rank-smelling plants in which the many branches are spreading,... more...

JOY IN SERVICE. This is one of the sentences that dropped from the lips of Christ, which let us into his personal spiritual life and in some measure lay bare his mind. To be permitted thus to share his confidence is one of our greatest privileges. Viewing him from a distance, we may admire his character; viewing him in history, we may confess his incomparable power; viewing him when convincing us of... more...

INTRODUCTION The impression has always prevailed with me that one who might properly be classed as a genius is not precisely the person best fitted to expound rules and methods for the carrying on of his particular branch of endeavor. I have rather avoided looking the matter up for fear it might not turn out to be so after all. But doesn't it sound as if it ought to be? And isn't a... more...