The Calico Cat

The Calico Cat

Charles Miner Thompson

Fiction / Classics / Mystery

THE CALICO CAT I Mr. peaslee looked more complacent than ever. It was Saturday noon, and Solomon had just returned from his usual morning sojourn "up-street." He had taken off his coat, and was washing his face at the sink, while his wife was "dishing up" the midday meal. There was salt codfish, soaked fresh, and stewed in milk—"picked up," as the phrase goes; there were baked potatoes and a thin, pale-looking pie. Mrs. Peaslee did not believe in pampering the flesh, and she did believe in saving every possible cent. "Well," said Mr. Peaslee, as they sat down to this feast, "I guess I\'ve got news for ye." His wife gazed at him with interest. "Are ye drawed?" she asked. "Got the notice from Whitcomb right in my pocket. Grand juror. September term. \'T ain\'t more\'n a week off." The staccato utterance was caused by the big mouthfuls of codfish and potato which, between phrases, Mr. Peaslee conveyed to his mouth. It was plain to see that he was greatly pleased with his new dignity. "What do they give ye for it?" asked his wife. Solomon should accept no office which did not bring profit. "Two dollars a day and mileage," said Mr. Peaslee, with the emphasis of one who knows he will make a sensation. "Mileage? What\'s that?" "Travelin\' expenses. State allows ye so much a mile. I get eight cents for goin\' to the courthouse." "Ye get eight cents every day?" asked his wife, her eyes snapping. She was vague about the duties of a grand juror; maybe he had to earn his two dollars; but she had exact ideas about the trouble of walking "up-street." To get eight cents for that was being paid for doing nothing at all, and she was much astonished at the idea. "Likely now, ain\'t it?" said Mr. Peaslee, with masculine scorn. "State don\'t waste money that way! Mileage\'s to get ye there an\' take ye home again when term\'s over. You\'re s\'posed to stay round \'tween whiles." "Humph!" said his wife, disappointed. "They give ye two dollars a day"—she hazarded the shot—"just for settin\' round and talkin\', don\'t they? Walkin\'s considerable more of an effort for most folks." "\'Settin\' round an\' talkin\'!\'" exclaimed Mr. Peaslee, so indignantly that he stopped eating for a moment, knife and fork upright in his rigid, scandalized hands, while he gazed at his thin, energetic, shrewish little wife. "\'Settin\' round and talkin\'!\' It\'s mighty important work, now I tell ye. I guess there wouldn\'t be much law and order if it wa\'n\'t for the grand jury. They don\'t take none but men o\' jedgment. Takes gumption, I tell ye. Ye have to pay money to get that kind." "Well," said his wife, with the air of one who concedes an unimportant point, "anyhow, it\'s good pay for a man whose time ain\'t worth anythin\'." "Ain\'t worth anythin\'!" exclaimed Mr. Peaslee, in hurt tones. "Now, Sarepty, ye know better\'n that. I don\'t know how they\'ll get along without me up to the bank. They\'ve got a pretty good idee o\' my jedgment \'bout mortgages. They don\'t pass any without my say so." Mrs. Peaslee sniffed. "I\'ve seen ye in the bank window, settin\' round with Jim Bartlett and Si Spooner and the rest of \'em....
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The Crimson Blind

The Crimson Blind

Fred M. White

Mystery / Classics / Novels

Frederick Merrick White (1859-1935) wrote a number of novels and short stories under the name "Fred M. White" including the six \'Doom of London\' science-fiction stories, in which various catastrophes beset London. These include The Four Days\' Night (1903), in which London is beset by a massive killer smog; The Dust of Death (1903), in which diphtheria infects the city, spreading from refuse tips and sewers; and The Four White Days (1903), in which a sudden and deep winter paralyses the city under snow and ice. These six stories all first appeared in Pearson\'s Magazine, and were illustrated by Warwick Goble.
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King John

King John

William Shakespeare

Theatre / Classics / Poetry

The Arden Shakespeare is the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare's plays. Now in its third series, Arden offers the best in contemporary scholarship. Each volume guides you to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's plays.This edition of King John provides: - A clear and authoritative text, edited to the highest standards of scholarship.- Detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text. - A full, illustrated introduction to the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts. - A full index to the introduction and notes. - A select bibliography of references and further reading. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary, The Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find.King John tells the story of John's struggle to retain the crown in the face of alternative claims to the throne from France and is one of the earlier history plays. The new Arden Third...
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The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne

The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne

Kathleen Thompson Norris

Classics / Fiction / Historical

"Tells the story of a mother who knows how to teacher her children the real richness of life." -Continent "Mrs. Burgoyne, a widow reputed to be of great wealth, comes with her two little girls to live in Santa Paloma, where her example works such a revolution among the town's pleasure-seeking and money-loving wives that when they have at last found out that Mrs. Burgoyne is not a rich woman, after all, her simple habits and refined tastes have become quite the fashion. The social lioness of the place has bee Mrs. White, clever, rich and purposely childless." -America Barry was usually welcome everywhere, although not at all approved in many cases, and criticised even by the people who liked him best. He was a sort of fourth cousin of Mrs. Carew, who sometimes felt herself called to the difficult task of defending him because of the distant kinship. He was very handsome, lean, and dark, with a sleepy smile and with eyes that all children loved; and he was clever, or, at least, everyone believed him to be so; and he had charm—a charm of sheer sweetness, for he never seemed to be particularly anxious to please. Barry was very gallant, in an impersonal sort of way: he took a keen, elder-brotherly sort of interest in every pretty girl in the village, and liked to discuss their own love affairs with them, with a seriousness quite paternal. He never singled any girl out for particular attention, or escorted one unless asked, but he was flatteringly attentive to all the middle-aged people of his acquaintance and his big helpful hand was always ready for stumbling old women on the church steps, or tearful waifs in the street—he always had time to listen to other people's troubles. Barry—everyone admitted—had his points. But after all— After all, he was lazy, and shiftless, and unambitious: he was content to be assistant editor of the Mail; content to be bullied and belittled by old Rogers; content to go on his own idle, sunny way, playing with his small, chubby son, foraging the woods with a dozen small boys at his heels, working patiently over a broken gopher-trap or a rusty shotgun, for some small admirer. Worst of all, Barry had been intemperate, years ago, and there were people who believed that his occasional visits to San Francisco, now, were merely excuses for revels with his old newspaper friends there. And yet, he had been such a brilliant, such a fiery and ambitious boy! All Santa Paloma had taken pride in the fact that Barry Valentine, only twenty, had been offered the editorship of the one newspaper of Plumas, a little town some twelve miles away, and had prophesied a triumphant progress for him, to the newspapers of San Francisco, of Chicago, of New York! But Barry had not been long in Plumas when he suddenly married Miss Hetty Scott of that town, and in the twelve years that had passed since then the golden dreams for his future had vanished one by one, until to-day found him with no one to believe in him—not even himself.
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Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Vol. 1

Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Vol. 1

Lucretia P. Hale

Fiction / Childrens / Classics

Excerpt from Among the Humorists and After-Dinner Speakers, Vol. 1: A New Collection of Humorous Stories and AnecdotesA mountaineer of one of the back counties of North Carolina was arraigned with several others for illicit distilling. Defendant, said the court, What is your name?About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Doctor Claudius, A True Story

Doctor Claudius, A True Story

F. Marion Crawford

Horror / Short Stories / Classics

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
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Henry VI, Part 1

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Theatre / Classics / Poetry

The authoritative edition Henry VI, Part 1 from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.Henry VI, Part 1 is an uncompromising celebration of early English nationalism that contrasts the English with the French, portrayed here as effeminate and scheming. A boy king, Henry VI, is on the English throne, and the indomitable Talbot leads the English cause in France. Joan La Pucelle (Joan of Arc), who becomes captain of the French, claims to be chosen by the Virgin Mary to liberate France. The English, however, consider her a sensual witch. Many of the English nobility remain, quarreling, at home. Once in France, some seek permission to fight each other there. Talbot and his son cannot prevail; the English defeat themselves by preying on each other. This edition includes: -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full...
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Jessies Parrot

Jessie's Parrot

Joanna H. Mathews

Fiction / Childrens / Classics

Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience.
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Mother: A Story

Mother: A Story

Kathleen Thompson Norris

Classics / Fiction / Historical

Mother is a romance by Kathleen Norris, one of the most successful women writers of the first decades of the 20th century. The story was published in 1911 and it was the first out of the 75 novels by the author. It brought Norris instant success and established her as a novelist so popular that President Theodore Roosevelt visited the author personally to congratulate her.The story is set in a small town a few hours' distance from New York. The Mother in the title is Mrs. Paget, a woman devoted to her husband and her seven children, willing to undertake hardships and never ceasing to sacrifice her own good for her loved ones, but most of the story is about her beautiful daughter, Margaret. The girl is charming and wishes to live a life of richness and luxury, but is forced to stay with her family, teaching at the local school. A strange incident introduces her to a rich lady from New York, Mrs. Carr-Boldt, who is charmed by the young girl and invites her to the city to become her secretary. Margaret accepts the job offer and moves to Mrs. Carr-Boldt's luxurious home. The two ladies go abroad where Margaret meets Dr. Tenison, a charming young gentleman and they fall in love with each other. They are forced to part, then they become reunited in Margaret's home town.At the end of the novel, Tenison meets Margaret's mother, too and he tells the girl that he recognizes in her the qualities she inherited from her mother and these are in fact the qualities that he finds most charming about Margaret. It is these qualities what makes Margaret's character so exemplary and what makes the novel resonate with today's readers, too - the appreciation of love over riches, of depth over shallowness and of family values over mundane life.
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