INTRODUCTION  "The pleasant books, that silently amongOur household treasures take familiar places,Are to us, as if a living tongueSpake from the printed leaves, or pictured faces!" The aim of the Author in preparing this volume has been to put in a form, convenient for preservation and future reference, a brief historical sketch of the work and workers connected with the founding and... more...

CHAPTER I. Joined the Rifles. Walcheren Expedition. A young Soldier. A Marine View. Campaign in South Beeveland. Retreat to Scotland. I joined the second battalion rifle brigade, (then the ninety-fifth,) at Hythe-Barracks, in the spring of 1809, and, in a month after, we proceeded to form a part of the expedition to Holland, under the Earl of Chatham. With the usual Quixotic feelings of a youngster, I... more...

PREFACE. Memoirs such as these of Henry of Monmouth might doubtless be made more attractive and entertaining were their Author to supply the deficiencies of authentic records by the inventions of his fancy, and adorn the result of careful inquiry into matters of fact by the descriptive imagery and colourings of fiction. To a writer, also, who could at once handle the pen of the biographer and of the... more...

THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES—Ishoemakerbeautifulto-morrowleatheralreadyboughtsewenoughA shoemaker and his wife lived in a little house on the edge of a wood. They were very, very poor, and each day they grew poorer and poorer. At last there was nothing left in the house but leather for one pair of shoes. "I will cut out this last pair of shoes," the shoemaker said to his wife. "To-morrow I... more...

I.  HIGH AND DRY. A gallant ship, some three feet in length, with full equipment of white sails and sturdy masts, rigging, pennon, and figurehead; but it had never seen the sea—never!  It had “cast anchor” nearly a year before my story begins in the Leslies’ nursery—a very pleasant, airy room, with nice pictures on the wall and a good many toys scattered about, but certainly not the very... more...

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, more than four hundred and fifty years ago. Genoa was a rich town on the Mediterranean Sea. She had trading routes to India, China and Japan. Columbus was fond of stories of the sea and liked the study of geography. He was anxious to go to sea and while a boy made his first voyage. When he grew up to be a man, he went to Lisbon the capital of Portugal. The... more...

The Boy that was not loaded. In the course of his travels in Europe, Rollo went with his uncle George one summer to spend a fortnight in Scotland. There are several ways of going into Scotland from England. One way is to take a steamer from Liverpool, and go up the Clyde to Glasgow. This was the route that Mr. George and Rollo took. On the way from Liverpool to Glasgow, Rollo became acquainted with a... more...

STUDY I. FOREWORD AND APPEAL. Memory Verse: "And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."—(Dan. xii, 3.) Scripture for Meditation: Matt. vi, 19-23; Rev. iii, 14-22. Fred B—— was a medical student. He was stricken, with that dreaded scourge, consumption. The physicians advised a trip to the... more...

SIX MONTHS AFTER. "It's most time for Paul to come home," said Mrs. Hoffman. "I must be setting the table for supper." "I wonder how he will like my new picture," said Jimmy, a delicate boy of eight, whose refined features, thoughtful look, and high brow showed that his mind by no means shared the weakness of his body. Though only eight years of age he already manifested a... more...

ATTRIBUTED TO CHEVALIER JOHNSTONE. Hope that heavenly, healing balm, that gift from Providence, blended with persecutions to blunt the sharpness of their sting and hinder the unfortunate from being overwhelmed, and sinking under the load of their afflictions, never dies out—never abandons the distressed. "We don't believe in dangers," says Machiavel, "until they are over our heads;... more...