AN INTERRUPTED DREAM Walter Upton pushed aside books and papers, yawned, stretched, yawned again, then settled back in his chair comfortably, his hands clasped behind his head. "I'm glad that vacation is only one week off," he murmured. "School is all right, and I know I'm going to be mighty sorry when school-days end for good. Just the same, this infernal grind to get a... more...

SONGS OF DESIRE I'd like to be a gypsyWith gold rings in my ears,Along the road to sit and sing,And not do another thingFor years and years; A road to dream upon by day,A fire for dreams at night,Free to wander far away,Free to shout and free to play,Quite impolite. I'd pitch my tent beside a wall,All apple trees within,And if the apples didn't fall,I wouldn't hesitate at... more...

I do not feel wholly sure that my Pussy wrote these letters herself. They always came inside the letters written to me by my mamma, or other friends, and I never caught Pussy writing at any time when I was at home; but the printing was pretty bad, and they were signed by Pussy's name; and my mamma always looked very mysterious when I asked about them, as if there were some very great secret about... more...

This subject divides itself into two heads: (1) The "Need" suggested; and (2) The "Aims for a New Era," which shall meet the need. It seems to me that there is an irresistible tendency in the Negro mind in this land to dwell morbidly and absorbingly upon the servile past. The urgent needs of the present, the fast-crowding and momentous interests of the future appear to be forgotten.... more...

CHAPTER I. The bright rays of an Autumn sun fell upon the richly stained glass, sending a flood of soft, mellow rainbow tinted light through the quaintly curved and deeply mullioned windows which adorned a portion of the eastern wing of that grand old Baronial residence, Vellenaux, on a fine September morning, at the period during which our story opens. This handsome pile, now the property of Sir... more...

CHAPTER I If you go to Southampton and search the register of the Walloon Church there, you will find that in the summer of '57, "Madame Vefue de Montgomery with all her family and servants wereadmitted to the Communion"—"Tous ceux ce furent Recus la a Cene du'57, comme passans, sans avoir Rendu Raison de la foj, mes sur latesmognage de Mons. Forest, Ministre de Madame, quj... more...

CHAPTER ONE FIRE WORSHIP.—FIRE EATING AND HEAT RESISTANCE.—IN THE MIDDLE AGES.—AMONG THE NAVAJO INDIANS.—FIRE-WALKERS OF JAPAN.—THE FIERY ORDEAL OF FIJI. Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements. To the early tribes it must also have been the most mysterious; for, while earth and air and water were always in evidence, fire came and went in a... more...

INTRODUCTION To-day the garden is in the zenith of its glory. The geraniums and salvias blaze in the autumn sun; the begonias have grown to a small forest of beautiful foliage and bloom; the heliotropes have become almost little trees, and load the air with their delicate fragrance. To-night—who knows?—grim winter may fling the first fleet-winged detachment of his advance across the land, by every... more...

INTRODUCTION We have had illuminating books upon Japan. Those of Lafcadio Hearn will always be remembered for the poetry he brought in them to bear upon the poetic aspects of the country and the people. Buddhism had a fascination for him, as it had for Mr. Fielding in his remarkable book on the practice of this religion in Burma. There is also the work of Captain Brinkley, to which we are largely... more...

WHY FLY AWAY, MOTHER GOOSE? "MOTHER GOOSE, Mother Goose,Why fly away?""Because Mother Truth isA-coming to-day.She'll tell you funny things,But they'll be true;She'll bring you picturesSo charming and new;She'll sing you Melodies, helping to showHow, to true women and men, you may grow."   {14} TOSS THE BABY. Toss the baby high in air;Catch him though, with special... more...