AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOROutin the state of Washington recently, a veteran of more than ninety years stepped into an aëroplane with the mail pilot and flew from Seattle to Victoria in British Columbia, and back again. The aged pioneer took the trip with all the zest of youth and returned enthusiastic over the adventure.This youthful veteran was Ezra Meeker, of Oregon Trail fame, who throughout his... more...

INTRODUCTION. Public attention has been repeatedly and prominently directed to New Guinea during the last few months.  The name often appears in our newspapers and missionary reports, and bids fair to take a somewhat prominent place in our blue-books.  Yet very few general readers possess accurate information about the island itself, about the work of English missionaries there, or about the part New... more...

I. THE BEGINNINGS Coleridge lived in what may safely be called the most momentous period of modern history. In the year following his birth Warren Hastings was appointed first governor-general of India, where he maintained English empire during years of war with rival nations, and where he committed those acts of cruelty and tyranny which called forth the greatest eloquence of the greatest of English... more...

Complimentary Pieces Addressed to the Author. 1Well as the author knows that the following testimonies are not so much about as above him, and that men of great ingenuity, as well as our friends, are apt, through abundant zeal, so to praise us as rather to draw their own likeness than ours, he was yet unwilling that the world should remain always ignorant of compositions that do him so much honour; and... more...

THE EAGLE AND THE MOLE Avoid the reeking herd,Shun the polluted flock,Live like that stoic bird,The eagle of the rock. The huddled warmth of crowdsBegets and fosters hate;He keeps, above the clouds,His cliff inviolate. When flocks are folded warm,And herds to shelter run,He sails above the storm,He stares into the sun. If in the eagle's trackYour sinews cannot leap,Avoid the lathered pack,Turn... more...

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Can it be possibly believed, by the present eminently practical generation, that a busy people like the English, whose diversified occupations so continually expose them to the chances and changes of a proverbially fickle sky, had ever been ignorant of the blessings bestowed on them by that dearest and truest friend in need and in deed, the UMBRELLA? Can you, gentle reader, for... more...

CHAPTER I OVER THE 'PHONE Mrs. Forbes, Mr. Evringham's housekeeper, answered the telephone one afternoon. She was just starting to climb to the second story and did not wish to be hindered, so her "hello" had a somewhat impatient brevity. "Mrs. Forbes?" "Oh," with a total change of voice and face, "is that you, Mr. Evringham?" "Please send Jewel to the... more...

SKETCHES LIFE OF HENRY A. SCHOOLCRAFT. The early period at which Mr. Schoolcraft entered the field of observation in the United States as a naturalist; the enterprise he has from the outset manifested in exploring the geography and geology of the Great West; and his subsequent researches as an ethnologist, in investigating the Indian languages and history, are well known to the public, and may be... more...

A WORD TO THE CHILDREN AND THE WISE We hope that the children who read this book will like the boys and girls who are in it. They are real, and the good times they have are real, as any boy or girl who has lived out-of-doors will know. And the stories are true. Peter is not always good. But do you expect a child always to be good? We do not. Sometimes, too, the frolics turn into a scramble to catch a... more...

THE IMPORTANCE OF SWIMMING That all persons ought to know how to safeguard themselves when in deep water is becoming more and more recognized as time passes. While swimming is probably the oldest pastime known to man, and has had, and still has, its votaries in every country, civilized or uncivilized, it is curious that this most useful science should have been so much neglected. For an adult person to... more...