Non-Classifiable Books

He was not a very good boy, or a very bad boy, or a very bright boy, or an unusual boy in any way. He was just a boy; and very often he forgets that he is not a boy now. Whatever there may be about The Boy that is commendable he owes to his father and to his mother; and he feels that he should not be held responsible for that. His mother was the most generous and the most unselfish of human beings. She... more...

Madam, It will be naturally expected, that when I write the Life of Shamela, I should dedicate it to some young Lady, whose Wit and Beauty might be the proper Subject of a Comparison with the Heroine of my Piece. This, those, who see I have done it in prefixing your Name to my Work, will much more confirmedly expect me to do; and, indeed, your Character would enable me to run some Length into a... more...

At 8:10 o'clock on the night of Oct. 14, 1912, a shot was fired the echo of which swept around the entire world in thirty minutes. An insane man attempted to end the life of the only living ex-president of the United States and the best known American. The bullet failed of its mission. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, carrying the leaden missile intended as a pellet of death in his right side, has... more...

PREFACE When I consented to prepare this volume for a series, which should deal with the notables of American history with some familiarity and disregard of historic gravity, I did not anticipate the seriousness of the task. But investigation of the subject showed me that while Captain John Smith would lend himself easily enough to the purely facetious treatment, there were historic problems worthy of... more...

In the life of any individual, association, or nation, there will probably be one or more occurrences which may be considered as success or failure according to the dramatic features of the event and the ultimate results. Of this the Battle of Bunker Hill is a striking example. On the morning of June 17th, 1775, a force of British soldiers attacked a small body of raw, ill-equipped American volunteers,... more...

TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD. Private and confidential EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, October 28, 1863.GENERAL JOHN M. SCHOFIELD:There have recently reached the War Department, and thence been laid before me, from Missouri, three communications, all similar in import and identical in object. One of them, addressed to nobody, and without place or date, but having the signature of (apparently) the writer, is a... more...

I AMONG THE MASSES, OR TRAITS OF CHARACTER. Whatever criticism I choose to make on human character, I hope to soften the criticism with the "milk of human kindness." As rude rough rocks on mountain peaks wear button-hole bouquets so there are intervening traits in the rudest human character, which, if the clouds could only part, would show out in redeeming beauty. To begin with, I believe... more...

WEAR AND TEAR, OR HINTS FOR THE OVERWORKED. Many years ago I found occasion to set before the readers of Lippincott's Magazine certain thoughts concerning work in America, and its results. Somewhat to my surprise, the article attracted more notice than usually falls to the share of such papers, and since then, from numerous sources, I have had the pleasure to learn that my words of warning have... more...

CHAPTER I. ON HEALING BY ESCHAR. Having been led, by several circumstances, to try the effects of the Lunar Caustic in the treatment of Wounds and Ulcers, and having great reason, from these trials, to think that this remedy may be used with much advantage far more extensively than has hitherto been done, I lay the results of my experience before my medical brethren. A very natural mode of healing... more...

WHY A BOAT FLOATSBEFORE taking up the construction of any of the model power boats described in this book, it will be well for the young boat-builder to become acquainted with such terms as buoyancy, displacement, center of gravity, etc. Knowledge of these subjects is more or less necessary if successful boats are to be made. Aside from this, they are terms that every boy who claims an interest in... more...