The following, reprinted from the editorial page of the New York Sun, was written by the late Mr. Frank P. Church: We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear […]
Historic Articles by Authors
On Hanging a Stocking at Christmas by Charles S. Brooks
On Hanging a Stocking at Christmas (1920) by Charles S. Brooks As Christmas is, above all, a holiday for children, it is proper in its season to consider with what regard they hold its celebration. But as no one may really know the secrets of childhood except as he retains the recollection of his own, […]
Top 10 Christmas Stories
Here is our list of the top 10 Christmas stories on our site. For this season we are publishing a lot of holiday related articles, poetry, and stories. We feel many are these lists are currently missing from the web.
Of Truth by Francis Bacon
What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, […]
Central Park Walks and Talks by Walt Whitman
I visit Central Park now almost every day, sitting, or slowly rambling, or riding around. The whole place presents its very best appearance this current month
Walt Whitman on Thanksgiving
A large family supper party, a night or two ago, with voices and laughter of the young, mellow faces of the old, and a by-and-by pause in the general joviality.
Mark Twain is a Slob by Willa Cather
If there is anything which should make an American sick and disgusted at the literary taste of his country, and almost swerve his allegiance to his flag it is that controversy between Mark Twain
Shakespeare Sucks! by Leo Tolstoy
I remember the astonishment I felt when I first read Shakespeare. I expected to receive a powerful esthetic pleasure, but having read, one after the other, works regarded as his best: “King Lear,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet” and “Macbeth,” not only did I feel no delight, but I felt an irresistible repulsion and tedium, and doubted […]
Robert Louis Stevenson on Walt Whitman’s Style
A note from the editor Note from editor: I am going through and updating some of these classic articles/essays on writing. Some of these, are just so amazing. They are pieces of literary history. This particular piece is Robert Louis Stevenson’s review of Walt Whitman’s writing style. It’s a unique look from one famous mind […]
Twain’s Letter About Edgar Allan Poe
To W. D. Howells, in New York: STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., Jan. 18, ’09. Dear Howells, I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your Poe article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is unreadable—like […]