The Story of Keesh by Jack London Keesh lived long ago on the rim of the polar sea, was head man of his village through many and prosperous years, and died full of honors with his name on the lips of men.? So long ago did he live that only the old men remember his…
Mr. and Mrs. Dove by Katherine Mansfield
Mr. and Mrs. Dove ?by Katherine Mansfield Of course he knew?no man better?that he hadn’t a ghost of a chance, he hadn’t an earthly. The very idea of such a thing was preposterous. So preposterous that he’d perfectly understand it if her father?well, whatever her father chose to do he’d perfectly understand. In fact, nothing…
An Encounter by James Joyce
An Encounter by James Joyce It was Joe Dillon who introduced the Wild West to us. He had a little library made up of old numbers of The Union Jack, Pluck and The Halfpenny Marvel. Every evening after school we met in his back garden and arranged Indian battles. He and his fat young brother…
About Love by Anton Chekhov
About Love by Anton Chekhov AT lunch next day there were very nice pies, crayfish, and mutton cutlets; and while we were eating, Nikanor, the cook, came up to ask what the visitors would like for dinner. He was a man of medium height, with a puffy face and little eyes; he was close-shaven, and…
Beyond the Bayou by Kate Chopin
Beyond the Bayou by Kate Chopin The bayou curved like a crescent around the point of land on which La Folle’s cabin stood. Between the stream and the hut lay a big abandoned field, where cattle were pastured when the bayou supplied them with water enough. Through the woods that spread back into unknown regions…
Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson
Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson The Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the moorland parish of Balweary, in the vale of Dule. A severe, bleak-faced old man, dreadful to his hearers, he dwelt in the last years of his life, without relative or servant or any human company, in the small and lonely…
The Sealed Room by Bernhard Severin Ingemann
The Sealed Room by Bernhard Severin Ingemann For many years there stood in a side street in Kiel an unpretentious old frame house which had a forbidding, almost sinister appearance, with its old-fashioned balcony and its overhanging upper stories. For the last twenty years the house had been occupied by a greatly respected widow,…
Tajima By Miss Mitford
Once upon a time, a certain ronin, Tajima Shume by name, an able and well-read man, being on his travels to see the world, went up to Kiyoto by the Tokaido
Nyarlathotep by H.P. Lovecraft
Nyarlathotep H. P. Lovecraft Nyarlathotep … the crawling chaos … I am the last … I will tell the audient void…. I do not recall distinctly when it began, but it was months ago. The general tension was horrible. To a season of political and social upheaval was added a strange and brooding apprehension of…
The Christmas Goblins by Charles Dickens
The Christmas Goblins by Charles Dickens In an old abbey town, a long, long while ago there officiated as sexton and gravedigger in the churchyard one Gabriel Grubb. He was an ill conditioned cross-grained, surly fellow, who consorted with nobody but himself and an old wicker-bottle which fitted into his large, deep waistcoat pocket. A…
Santa Claus at Simpson’s Bar by Bret Harte
Santa Claus at Simpson’s Bar by Bret Harte It was nearly midnight when the festivities were interrupted. “Hush!” said Dick Bullen, holding up his hand. It was the querulous voice of Johnny from his adjacent closet: “Oh, dad!” The Old Man arose hurriedly and disappeared in the closet. Presently he reappeared. “His rheumatiz is…
A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley, where stands the big, rambling castle in which his toys are manufactured. His workmen, selected from the ryls, knooks, pixies and fairies, live with him, and every one is as busy as can be from one year’s end to another….
MARLEY’S GHOST by Charles Dickens
MARLEY’S GHOST by Charles Dickens Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to….
AT CHRISTMAS TIME by Anton Chekhov
AT CHRISTMAS TIME by Anton Chekhov I “WHAT shall I write?” said Yegor, and he dipped his pen in the ink. Vasilisa had not seen her daughter for four years. Her daughter Yefimya had gone after her wedding to Petersburg, had sent them two letters, and since then seemed to vanish out of their…
A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little…