This book is an early history of the Starved Rock Area in Northern Illinois. In the pre-Columbian era, the Starved Rock area was home to Native Americans, particularly the Kaskaskia who lived in the Grand Village of the Illinois across the river. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans recorded as exploring the region, and by 1683, the French had established Fort St. Louis on a large sandstone butte overlooking the river. According to a native legend, a group of Illinois Confederation (Illini) pursued by the Ottawa and Potawatomi fled to the butte in the late 18th century. The Ottawa and Potawatomi besieged the butte until all of the Illini had starved, and the butte ...

This book, with the subtitle "Across the Continent of South America" describes the scientific expedion of 1867 to the equatorial Andes and the Amazon. The route was from Guayaquil to Quito, over the Cordillera, through the forest to Napo, and, finally, on the Rio Napo to Pebas on the Maranon.

Besides this record, the expedition - under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute - collected samples of rocks and plants, and numerous specimen of animals. The scientists also compiled a vocabulary of local languages and produced a new map of equatorial America.

James Orton (1830 - 1877) was Professor in Natural History in Vassar College, and corresponding member of the Academy of Natural...

"Ukochałem lud biedny ponad miarę,
Bom się jego pieśnią wykołysał.
Ukochałem zwyczaje i gwarę,
którem jako dziecko z piersi matki wyssał."
- fragment wiersza "Przygrywka" Władysława Orkana (1875-1930).

Julian Krzyżanowski nazwał go "pieśniarzem krainy kęp i wiecznej nędzy". Rzeczywiście, całe życie Orkana, tak jego pisarstwo jak działalność społeczna, poświęcona jest biednym, prostym ludziom z rodzinnej ziemi gorczańskiej.
Ale nawet w tej "wiecznej nędzy" potrafił Orkan znaleźć uśmiech. Ta kolekcja wybranych opowiadań przedstawia Orkana humorystę. Od obrazka Włoch, widzianych oczami prostego górala, Jędrka (Jak Jędrek Śklarz po Włochach jeździł), do rozmowy dwóc...

This is a sequel novel to the Scarlet Pimpernel. The second Pimpernel book written by Orczy, it comes (chronologically) third in the series and should be read after Sir Percy Leads the Band and before The Elusive Pimpernel.

When a group of Russian anarchists kidnap a Russian prince in Vienna there are repercussions. On learning that the Cardinal d'Orsay has agreed to convey some hollow candlesticks from the Emperor to the Princess Marionoff in St Petersburg, two spies both see the possibility of using them to convey messages safely into Russia. One is an eager young idealist involved in the plot against the prince, the other is Madame Demidoff, a beautiful agent of the Tsar. When the candlesticks go missing at the border, the two engage in a race to get them back, both realizing that their very lives could depend on the retrieval.

Up the River is the sixth and last of “The Great Western Series.” The events of the story occur on the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Mississippi River. The volume and the series close with the return of the hero, by a route not often taken by tourists, to his home in Michigan. His voyaging on the ocean, the Great Lakes, and the Father of Waters, is finished for the present; but the writer believes that his principal character has grown wiser and better since he was first introduced to the reader. He has made mistakes of judgment, but whatever of example and inspiration he may impart to the reader will be that of a true and noble boy, with no vices to disfigure his...

"I am for England and England only," John Lutchester, the Englishman, asserted.
"I am for Japan and Japan only," Nikasti, the Jap, insisted.
"I am for Germany first and America afterwards," Oscar Fischer, the German-American pronounced.
"I am for America first, America only, America always," Pamela Van Tale, the American girl, declared.

They were all right except the German-American.

It is during World War I. A chemist, Sandy Graham, has discovered a new powerful explosive, but he let's it slip in a London restaurant that he has made the discovery. Graham is ready to join some friends for luncheon at the restaurant but chooses to clean up before joining them. He nev...

Herbert Wrayson, a bachelor returns to his flat one night to find a young lady rifling his desk. He questions her and finds she thought she was in the apartment of his neighbor, Morris Barnes, who lives above him. While he is on the telephone, she quietly slips out of his flat and heads to Barnes’ abode. A few hours later, she is once again at his door – this time looking scared and faint. She asks Wrayson to escort her downstairs as the hallway is unlit. As they emerge, a hansom sits at the doorway with Morris Barnes in it. But, they discover that Barnes has been strangled. Wrayson soon learns that the young lady is the estranged older daughter of a club acquaintance, retired Colonel Fit...

An Englishman is enjoying his dinner at Stephano's, at which he is a regular diner. A man enters quickly, sits at his table, starts eating his food, and hands him a packet underneath the table! So begins Paul Walmsley's acquaintance - and adventures - with American adventurer Joseph H. Parker and his lovely daughter, Eve. (Intro by TriciaG)

Note that there is an alternate reading of section 8. Both are excellent renditions, so enjoy either or both of them.

Red Candles and a Mermaid, the masterpiece of OGAWA Mimei (1882-1961) appeared on The Newspaper Tokyo-Asahi in 1921. A mermaid was raised by an elderly couple. She painted on candles and made their business prosper. But the couple became greedy and sold their daughter to a circus.