My early days at home. Brother Jack, a seaman’s bag over his shoulders, trudged sturdily ahead; father followed, carrying the oars, spars, sails, and other gear of the wherry, while as I toddled alongside him I held on with one hand to the skirt of his pea-jacket, and griped the boat-hook which had been given to my charge with the other. From the front of the well-known inn, the “Keppel’s... more...

CHAPTER I ON THE EDGE NEWCASTLE, NATAL, Thursday, October 5, 1899. Late last Sunday night I found myself slowly crawling towards the front from Pretoria in a commandeered train crammed full of armed Boers and their horses. I had rushed from the Cape to quiet little Bloemfontein, the centre of one of the best administered States in the world, where the heads of the nation in the intervals of discussing... more...

STORY IWHERE BUMPER CAME FROM There was once an old woman who had so many rabbits that she hardly knew what to do. They ate her out of house and home, and kept the cupboard so bare she often had to go to bed hungry. But none of the rabbits suffered this way. They all had their supper, and their breakfast, too, even if there wasn't a crust left in the old woman's cupboard. There were big... more...

THE FALKE TYPE TORPEDO BOAT. Among the different classes of vessels designed for special services, constructed by Messrs. Yarrow & Co., at Poplar, for the British government, is one which is stated to be the fastest torpedo boat in her majesty's navy. This boat has been put through its official trials; with a load of 15 tons, running continuously for two hours without stopping, a speed of 23... more...

The Old Stone House ulm rock was a wild place. You might search the coast for miles and not find another bit of nature so bare and rent and ragged as this. So fiercely had the storms driven over it, so wildly had the wind and waves beat, that the few cedars which once flourished as its only bit of greenness were long ago dead, and now held up only bleached and ragged hands. Jutting out into the sea,... more...

THE RAILROADItwas a wild story that came to the ears of Little Jack Rabbit for, as he came hopping down the Shady Forest Path, a whole troop of his playmates ran out to meet him, and one cried one thing, and one another, but the words which he heard most plainly were:"The railroad! The railroad! Oh, have you heard?" "Yes," answered Little Jack Rabbit, not at all excited, "I know a... more...

PREFACE. Lord Macaulay always looked forward to a publication of his miscellaneous works, either by himself or by those who should represent him after his death. And latterly he expressly reserved, whenever the arrangements as to copyright made it necessary, the right of such publication. The collection which is now published comprehends some of the earliest and some of the latest works which he... more...

MQuarrie, the City Editor, looked up as I entered his office. "Bond," he asked, "do you know Jim Carpenter?" "I know him slightly," I replied cautiously. "I have met him several times and I interviewed him some years ago when he improved the Hadley rocket motor. I can't claim a very extensive acquaintance with him." "I thought you knew him well. It is a surprise... more...

In great King Arthur’s reign, Tom’s history first begun;A farmer’s wife had sigh’d in vain to have a darling son!A fairy listen’d to her call, and granted her the same;But being very small, Tom Thumb she did him name.To please him every means she’d take,And a pudding large did for him make;But in trying to obtain a sip,Into the batter did he slip!The batter in the pot went plump;Tom made the... more...

THE DOG OF ST. BERNARD.   St. Bernard is the name of one of the high mountains of the Alps. The deep snow hangs so loosely on the sides of these mountains, that great masses often fall into the plains below, with a noise like thunder. Wild snow storms also come on, and the passes in the mountains become so blocked up and covered over, that it is impossible to find them out. In this way many travelers... more...