by O Henry I STRICTLY BUSINESS I suppose you know all about the stage and stage people. You've been touched with and by actors, and you read the newspaper criticisms and the jokes in the weeklies abou...

by English Authors in London THE INCONSIDERATE WAITER BY J. M. BARRIE Frequently I have to ask myself in the street for the name of the man I bowed to just now, and then, before I can answer, the wind...

BY ENGLISH AUTHORS IN ITALY A FAITHFUL RETAINER BY JAMES PAYN When I lived in the country,--which was a long time ago,--our nearest neighbours were the Luscombes. They were very great personages in th...

By English Authors in Germany THE BIRD ON ITS JOURNEY BY BEATRICE HARRADEN It was about four in the afternoon when a young girl came into the salon of the little hotel at C in Switzerland, and drew he...

by English Authors in France A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON It was late in November, 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a ...

by English Authors, Orient THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING BY RUDYARD KIPLING The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again...

Concerning the fundamental points of method in telling a story, I have little to add to the principles which I have already stated as necessary, in my opinion, in the book of which this is, in a way, ...

by Irvin S. Cobb Respectfully dedicated to two classes: Those who have already been operated on Those who have not yet been operated on Now that the last belated bill for services professionally ren...

by Charles Dickens A CHRISTMAS TREE 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...

by Thackeray ON SOME CARP AT SANS SOUCI We have lately made the acquaintance of an old lady of ninety, who has passed the last twenty-five years of her old life in a great metropolitan establishment, ...