THE CRIPPLE; OR, EBENEZER THE DISOWNED. It is proverbial to say, with reference to particular constitutions or habits of body, that May is a trying month, and we have known what it is to experience its trials in the sense signified. With our grandmothers too, yea, and with our grandfathers also, May was held to be an unlucky month. Nevertheless, it is a lovely, it is a beautiful month, and the... more...

Dear Pierrepont: Your Ma got back safe this morning and she wants me to be sure to tell you not to over-study, and I want to tell you to be sure not to under-study. What we’re really sending you to Harvard for is to get a little of the education that’s so good and plenty there. When it’s passed around you don’t want to be bashful, but reach right out and take a big helping every time, for I... more...

CHAPTER I   THE SCHOLAR AND PRIEST: HIS ENVIRONMENT The century now closing has redeemed Knox from neglect, and has gathered around his name a mass of biographical material. That material, too, includes much that is of the nature of self-revelation, to be gleaned from familiar letters, as well as from his own history of his time. Yet, after all that has been brought together, Knox remains to many... more...

A huge agave, or century plant, is now blooming at Auburn, N.Y. A few days ago the great plant became tinged with a delicate yellowish-white color, as its 4,000 buds began to develop into the full-blown flowers, whose penetrating fragrance, not unlike that of the pond lily, now attracts swarms of bees and other insects. The plant was purchased in 1837 by the owner, and was then twelve years old. For... more...

CHAPTER I How it Began "Dear, dear!" said Grannie, "woes cluster, as my mother used to say." "Let us hope that this is the last woe, and that now the luck will turn," said Aunt Mary. Mollie did not say anything. She had smiled the Guides' smile valiantly through the worst of her misfortunes, but now she was so tired that she felt nothing short of a hammer and two tacks... more...

Chapter I. --"But I'll not chide thee;Let shame come when it will, I do not call it;I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot,Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove;Mend when thou canst--" Lear. It is almost as impossible to describe minutely what occurred on the boat's reaching the Wallingford, as to describe all the terrific incidents of the struggle between Drewett and myself in... more...

AS USUAL It was the hottest day of the hottest week of the hottest June ever recorded in the weather man’s book of statistics. The parched earth had split open everywhere in gaping cracks that intersected and made patterns in the garden like a crazy quilt. The gray-coated leaves hung motionless from the shriveling twigs, limp and discouraged. Horses lifted their seared feet wearily from the sizzling,... more...

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE TEAM The boys looked at the Professor in amazement. They were too much excited and concerned at the new situation to be able to interpret what the sudden disappearance of their team meant. The Professor turned to the boys: "Are you sure the yaks were tied before we left them?" "I was particularly careful," answered Harry, "to tie both of them."... more...

I had taken Mrs. Prest into my confidence; in truth without her I should have made but little advance, for the fruitful idea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips. It was she who invented the short cut, who severed the Gordian knot. It is not supposed to be the nature of women to rise as a general thing to the largest and most liberal view—I mean of a practical scheme; but it has... more...

The Christmas Kalendsof Provence IFancy you've journeyed down the Rhône,Fancy you've passed Vienne, Valence,Fancy you've skirted Avignon—And so are comeen pleineProvence.Fancy a mistral cutting keenAcross the sunlit wintry fields,Fancy brown vines, and olives green,And blustered, swaying, cypress shields.Fancy a widely opened door,Fancy an eager outstretched hand,Fancy—nor need you... more...