'RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI'           At the hole where he went in          Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.          Hear what little Red-Eye saith:          'Nag, come up and dance with death!'           Eye to eye and head to head,             (Keep the measure, Nag.)          This shall end when one is... more...

The Kings and Queens of England, From the Battle of Hastings or the Norman Conquest, to the Present Reign, Inclusive.   First, William the Norman lays claim to the crown And retains it till death; then follows his son The red headed William, whose life is cut short By a shot from his friend, when hunting for sport. Then Henry his brother takes quiet possession, As Henry the first, of the great English... more...

CHAPTER THE FIRST AN ALTERED WORLD I It was on a blustering March morning in 1919 that Tabs regained his freedom. His last five months had been spent among doctors, having sundry bullets extracted from his legs. He walked with a limp which was not too perceptible unless he grew tired. His emotions were similar to those of a man newly released from gaol: he felt dazed, vaguely happy and a little lost.... more...

THE KINGDOM OF LOVE In the dawn of the day when the sea and the earth   Reflected the sunrise above,I set forth with a heart full of courage and mirth   To seek for the Kingdom of Love.I asked of a Poet I met on the way   Which cross-road would lead me aright;And he said “Follow me, and ere long you shall see   Its glittering turrets of light.” And soon in the distance a city shone... more...

THE KING’S HERALD.“On Jordan’s banks the Baptist’s cryAnnounces that the Lord is nigh;Awake and hearken, for he bringsGlad tidings of the King....” When the Saviour of the world was about to enter upon His public ministry, the Jewish nation was startled with the cry, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (S. Matt. iii. 2). Such was God’s call to His people of old time, to prepare... more...

CHAPTER I.   t last England and France had formally drawn the sword which they had sheathed only eight years before at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the great struggle known in history as the Seven Years' War had begun in earnest. Yet although the old countries had until now managed to abstain from a declared and open rupture in the Old World, it had for well-nigh two years past been far... more...

THE KING’S WAKE To-night is the night that the wake they hold,To the wake repair both young and old. Proud Signelil she her mother address’d:“May I go watch along with the rest?” “O what at the wake wouldst do my dear?Thou’st neither sister nor brother there. “Nor brother-in-law to protect thy youth,To the wake thou must not go forsooth. “There be the King and his warriors gay,If me... more...

Sons of the King. The sun shone down hotly on the hill-side, and that hill was one of a range of smooth rolling downs that ought to have been called ups and downs, from the way they seemed to rise and fall like the sea on a fine calm day. Not quite, for at such a time the sea looks as blue as the sky above it, while here on this particular hot day, though the sky was as blue as a sapphire stone, the... more...

CHAPTER I. THE EARLIEST BRISTOL POSTS, 1580.—FOOT AND RUNNING POSTS.—THE FIRST BRISTOL POSTMASTERS: ALLEN AND TEAGUE, 1644-1660.—THE POST HOUSE.—EARLIEST LETTERS, 1662. The difficulty in Queen Elizabeth's time of communicating with persons at a distance from Bristol before the establishment of a post office is illustrated by the following item from the City Chamberlain's accounts:—... more...

However boldly their warm blood was spilt,Their life was shame, their epitaph was guilt;And this they knew and felt, at least the one,The leader of the hand he had undone—Who, born for better things, had madly setHis life upon a cast, which linger’d yet. Byron. There is perhaps no event in the annals of our history which excited more alarm at the time of its occurrence, or has since been the... more...