For one may apprehend the whole truth to be somewhat thus.  Satiric comedy, or comedy of manners, is the art of making ludicrous in dramatic form some phase of life.  The writers of our old comedy thought that certain vices—gambling, adultery, and the like—formed a phase of life which for divers reasons, essential and accidental, lent itself best to their purpose.  They may, or may not, have... more...

CHAPTER I THE GREAT MARINE FILM "Well, at last a breathing period, Ruth. Oh, I am surely tired!" and the girl threw herself on the couch, without stopping to remove her light jacket and hat. Her head sank wearily on a cushion. "Oh, Alice! Be careful! Look out!" exclaimed the other occupant of the pleasant little room, a room made habitable by the articles of tasteful adornment in it,... more...

In the year 1768 a German peddler, named George Gist, left the settlement of Ebenezer, on the lower Savannah, and entered the Cherokee Nation by the northern mountains of Georgia. He had two pack-horses laden with the petty merchandise known to the Indian trade. At that time Captain Stewart was the British Superintendent of the Indians in that region. Besides his other duties, he claimed the right to... more...

EPIGRAMS POETRY She comes like the hushed beauty of the night, But sees too deep for laughter; Her touch is a vibration and a light From worlds before and after. [Charles E. Markham Poetry? Can I define it, you inquire? Yes; by your pleasure, Poetry is Thought, in princeliest attire, Treading a measure. [Duffield Osborne[2]THE YEAR’S MINSTRELSY Spring, the low prelude of a lordlier song; Summer, a... more...

THE AMERICAN TYPE OFISTHMIAN CANAL It was on June 14, 1906, when the Canal subject was up for final consideration, that Mr. Dryden addressed the Senate. The official records show that "S. 6191, to provide for the construction of a sea-level canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the method of construction," was before Congress, and it was in opposition to this... more...

CHAPTER I Bath House, the most ambitious structure ever erected in the West Indies, and perhaps the most beautiful hotel the world has ever seen, was the popular winter refuge of English people of fashion in the earlier half of the nineteenth century. This immense irregular pile of masonry stood on a terraced eminence rising from the flat border of Nevis, a volcano whose fires had migrated to less... more...

CHAPTER I.—THE BISON OR AMERICAN BUFFALO. When we became a nation in 1776, the buffaloes, the first animals to vanish when the wilderness is settled, roved to the crests of the mountains which mark the western boundaries of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. They were plentiful in what are now the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. But by the beginning of the present century they had... more...

CHAPTER I. The last wisp of hay was in the Eddy mows. "Come on!" shouted Jot."Here she goes—hip, hip, hoo-ray!" "Hoor-a-ay!" echoed Kent. But of course Old Tilly took it calmly. He planted his brown hands pocket-deep and his bare, brown legs wide apart, and surveyed the splendid, bursting mows with honest pride. "Yes, sir, that's the finest lot o' hay in Hexham... more...

Biological exploration of México and Central America has revealed the presence of a diverse fauna, elements of which have undergone speciation in separate areas within the relatively small region. Some genera of amphibians, especially Eleutherodactylus and Hyla, are represented by many species having small geographic ranges in México and Central America. Most of the species of Hyla inhabiting the... more...

CHAPTER I. A GREAT CHANGE. HALF a dozen boys were gathered in one of the studies at Shrewsbury. A packed portmanteau and the general state of litter on the floor was sufficient to show that it was the last day of term. "Well, I am awfully sorry you are going, Bullen; we shall all miss you. You would certainly have been in the football team next term; it is a nuisance altogether." "It is a... more...