WHEN chapman billies leave the street,And drouthy neebors, neebors meet,As market-days are wearing late,An' folk begin to tak the gate;While we sit bousing at the nappy,An' getting fou and unco happy,We think na on the lang Scots miles,The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,That lie between us and our hame,Whar sits our sulky sullen dame,Gathering her brows like gathering storm,Nursing her... more...

CHAPTER I. THE DETACHED LEVER ESCAPEMENT. In this treatise we do not propose to go into the history of this escapement and give a long dissertation on its origin and evolution, but shall confine ourselves strictly to the designing and construction as employed in our best watches. By designing, we mean giving full instructions for drawing an escapement of this kind to the best proportions. The workman... more...

MONSIEUR JOSEPH. On the day that I left hospital, with a month's sick leave in hand, I went to dine at my favourite Soho restaurant, the Mazarin, which I always liked because it provided an excellent meal for an extremely modest sum. But this evening my steps turned towards the old place because I wanted a word with Monsieur Joseph, the head-waiter. I found him the same genial soul as ever, though... more...

GUY'S CLIFF. "A home of pleasure, a place meet for the Muses."—Leland. Warwick—what olden glories and tales of other times are associated with this county. How many of its sites are connected with high-minded men and great and glorious actions. To the antiquary, the poet, and the philosopher, every foot is hallowed ground; and even the cold calculations of the commercial speculator... more...

ANIMAL SHOW. An amusing game for children is one in which each child is to make some sort of animal out of vegetables or fruit, and toothpicks. When all the children have arrived, pass around slips of paper containing a number and the name of some animal. Each one must keep secret what his animal is to be. Let the hostess prepare a basket of vegetables, potatoes, beets, carrots, and fruits, lemons,... more...

I. FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. * * * * * This ode seems to owe its position at the head of Pindar's extant works to Aristophanes the grammarian, who placed it there on account of its being specially occupied with the glorification of the Olympic games in comparison with others, and with the story of Pelops, who was their founder. Hieron won this race B.C. 472, while at the... more...

VII.—CONTRACTS. That the Court of Directors of the East India Company had laid down the following fundamental rules for the conduct of such of the Company's business in Bengal as could be performed by contract, and had repeatedly and strictly ordered the Governor and Council of Port William to observe those rules, viz.: That all contracts should be publicly advertised, and the most reasonable... more...

CHAPTER I A small, squat and dirty-looking trading steamer, with the name Motutapu painted in yellow letters on her bows and stern, lay at anchor off the native village of Utiroa on Drummond's Island in the Equatorial Pacific. She was about 800 tons burden, and her stained and rusty sides made her appear as if she had been out of port for two years instead of scarcely four months. At this present... more...

I. The whole thing started when the clock on the Metropolitan Tower began to run backward. It was not a graceful proceeding. The hands had been moving onward in their customary deliberate fashion, slowly and thoughtfully, but suddenly the people in the offices near the clock's face heard an ominous creaking and groaning. There was a slight, hardly discernible shiver through the tower, and then... more...

CHAPTER I THE MAN AND THE WOMAN "Quick—a glass of water!" A man sprang to his feet, beckoning to an usher. When he reached the seat, the woman had recovered by a supreme effort of will and sat erect, her face flushed with anger at her own weakness. "Thank you, I am quite well now," she said with dignity. The man settled back and the usher returned to his place and stood watching her... more...