PREFACE I ventured to express the opinion in my book, 'With General French and the Cavalry in South Africa,' that if a high ideal of the duties and possibilities of Cavalry is set before our officers, and the means of instruction and training are placed within their reach, we shall possess in our next great War a force which, if led by men of the stamp of General Sir John French, will prove... more...

CHAPTER I. THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW. How many of us, I wonder, can look back over the misty, half-forgotten years and not see a few that stand out clear and golden, sharp-cut against the sky-line of memory? Years that we wish we could live again, so that we might revel in every full-blooded hour. For we so seldom get the proper focus on things until we look at them through the clarifying telescope of... more...

PROLOGUE Overture; forest sounds, roaring of lions, Christian hymn faintly. A jungle path. A lion's roar, a melancholy suffering roar, comes from the jungle. It is repeated nearer. The lion limps from the jungle on three legs, holding up his right forepaw, in which a huge thorn sticks. He sits down and contemplates it. He licks it. He shakes it. He tries to extract it by scraping it along the... more...

The decade of the nineties in League history bids fair to surpass, in exciting events, that of every preceding series of years known in the annals of professional base ball. The decade in question began with the players' revolt in 1890 and was followed up by the secession of the old American Association, a fatal movement, which ended in the death of that organization in the winter of 1891-92; the... more...

THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. Having left Ashbourne in the evening, we stopped to change horses at Derby, and availed ourselves of a moment to enjoy the conversation of my countryman, Dr. Butter, then physician there. He was in great indignation because Lord Mountstuart's bill for a Scotch militia[1] had been lost. Dr. Johnson was as violent against it. 'I am glad, (said he,) that... more...

HANSEL AND GRETEL In a little cottage at the edge of a forest in Germany, lived Peter, a poor broom maker, and his wife Gertrude. They had two children, Hansel and Gretel. One day Hansel and Gretel were left alone at home. Their father had gone to the village to sell brooms. Their mother was away, too. The children were left busily at work. The boy was mending brooms, the girl knitting stockings. After... more...

EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON Once on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children that he hadn’t much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty children they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter, who was so lovely there was no end to her loveliness. So one day, ’twas on a Thursday evening late at the fall of the year, the weather was so wild and rough... more...

THE BOY'SBOOK OF BALLADS. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne.When shawsbe sheen,and swards full fair,And leaves both large and long,It is merry walking in the fair forestTo hear the small birds' song.The woodweelsang, and would not cease,Sitting upon the spray,So loud, he wakened Robin Hood,In the greenwood where he lay.Now by my faith, said jolly Robin,A sweavenI had this night;I dreamt me of... more...

FROM DAY TO DAY. (A Study in Political Journalism, from some of the Morning Papers.) No. I. To-day, the first pollings of the General Election take place, and the electors will be called upon to decide one of the most momentous issues that have ever been submitted to the judgment of the country. For ourselves, we cannot doubt for a moment as to what the verdict will be. It is impossible that a policy... more...

The Golfer’s Rubáiyát I WAKE! for the sun has driven in equal flightThe stars before him from the Tee of Night,And holed them every one without a Miss,Swinging at ease his gold-shod Shaft of Light. WAKE, Loiterer! for already Dawn is seenWith her red marker on the eastern Green,And summons all her Little Ones to changeA joyous Three for every sad Thirteen. III AND as the Cock crew, those who stood... more...