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Willa Cather

William Dean Howells

http://www.online-literature.com/willa-cather/4303/

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We have all known that intoxicating period when we thought we "understood life," because we had read Daudet, Zola and Guy de Maupassant, and like Mr. Howells we all looked back rather fondly upon the time when we believed that books were the truth and art was all. After a while books grow matter of fact like everything else and we always think enviously of the days when they were new and wonderful and strange. That's a part of existence. We lose our first keen relish for literature just as we lose it for ice cream and confectionery. The taste grows older, wiser and more subdued. We would all wear out of very enthusiasm if it did not. But why should Mr. Howells tell the world this common experience in detail as though it were his and his alone. He might as well write a detailed account of how he had the measles and the whooping cough. It was all right and proper for Mr. Howells to like Heine and Hugo, but, in the words of the circus clown, "We've all been there."

Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14838/14838-h/14838-h.htm

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Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate. He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes. After losing them, he ran on four legs and went faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether if he had not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass buttons, quite new. Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself. Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him. And rushed into the tool-shed, and jumped into a can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not had so much water in it.

wikipedia

Civil_law_(legal_system)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_(legal_system)

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Civil law, civilian law, or Roman law is a legal system originating in Europe, intellectualized within the framework of late Roman law, and whose most prevalent feature is that its core principles are codified into a referable system which serves as the primary source of law. This can be contrasted with common law systems whose intellectual framework comes from judge-made decisional law which gives precedential authority to prior court decisions on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions (doctrine of judicial precedent, or stare decisis). Historically, a civil law is the group of legal ideas and systems ultimately derived from the Code of Justinian, but heavily overlaid by Napoleonic, Germanic, canonical, feudal, and local practices, as well as doctrinal strains such as natural law, codification, and legal positivism. Conceptually, civil law proceeds from abstractions, formulates general principles, and distinguishes substantive rules from procedural rules. It holds case law to be secondary and subordinate to statutory law. When discussing civil law, one should keep in mind the conceptual difference between a statute and a codal article.

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TRIALS OF STRING SHEAF BINDERS AT DERBY, ENGLAND.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 299

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8408/8408-h/8408-h.htm

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It would appear that it is impossible to secure the binding of every single sheaf. Here and there, even with the best binders, an occasional miss will occur, in which the corn is thrown out unbound. However, with Messrs Samuelson's machine this was extremely rare, and the neatness of the sheaves produced was remarkable. No doubt the shortness of the crop in the portion allotted to this machine may have had something to do with this, as a longer straw is more likely than a shorter one to connect two sheaves and produce that hanging together which in other machines is so often observed to precede a miss in the binding. Mr. Wood's machine had a stronger crop and longer straw to deal with, and the hanging together of the sheaves occurred far too frequently, and was almost always followed by a loose sheaf. The Johnston harvester went through a very fair performance; there was no hanging except at turning the corners, and the piece of work was finished in a shorter time than with the other machines.

ALFRED SELWYN

ROSA BONHEUR

The Nursery, No. 165. September, 1880, Vol. 28 A Monthly Magazine For Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14493/14493-h/14493-h.htm#ROSA_BONHEUR

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They were wonderfully true to life; and what made them still more remarkable was, that they were the production of a girl only nineteen years old. That young French girl, Rosalie Bonheur, is now the famous artist known the world over as "Rosa Bonheur." She was born in Bordeaux in 1822. Her father, Raymond Bonheur, was an artist of much merit, and he was her first teacher. From earliest youth she had a great fondness for animals, and delighted in studying their habits. So, naturally enough, she made animals the subjects of her pictures, and it is in this peculiar department of art that she has become eminent. Her works are quite numerous and widely known. One of the most famous is her "Horse-Fair," which was the chief attraction of the Paris Exhibition in 1853. She is still practising her art; and in addition to that she is the directress of a gratuitous "School of Design" for young girls. When Paris was besieged by the Prussians, the studio and residence of Rosa Bonheur were spared and respected by special order of the crown prince.

By Charles Kingsley

HOW THEY TOOK THE GOLD-TRAIN

Title: Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24532/24532-h/24532-h.htm#HOW_THEY_TOOK_THE_GOLD-TRAIN

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They soon left the high road; and for several days held on downwards, hewing their path slowly and painfully through the thick underwood. On the evening of the fourth day, they had reached the margin of a river, at a point where it seemed broad and still enough for navigation. For those three days they had not seen a trace of human beings, and the spot seemed lonely enough for them to encamp without fear of discovery, and begin the making of their canoes. They began to spread themselves along the stream, in search of the soft-wooded trees proper for their purpose; but hardly had their search begun, when, in the midst of a dense thicket, they came upon a sight which filled them with astonishment. Beneath a honey-combed cliff, which supported one enormous cotton-tree, was a spot of some thirty yards square sloping down to the stream, planted in rows with magnificent banana-plants, full twelve feet high, and bearing among their huge waxy leaves clusters of ripening fruit; while, under their mellow shade, yams and cassava plants were flourishing luxuriantly, the whole being surrounded by a hedge of orange and scarlet flowers.

Sanjana Chetia

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

CLD

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/celebrating-cinco-de-mayo

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In the late 1800s, Mexico was in big trouble. The treasury was nearly bankrupt after fifteen years of civil war and two years fighting the United States. The country owed money to many European countries. The new President of Mexico — a Zapotec man named Benito Juárez — had to halt the debt payments because there was no money to complete them. Angry with Juárez's decision, Britain, Spain, and France sent troops to Veracruz, Mexico. They demanded the money owed to them. Luckily, President Juárez was able to reach an agreement with Britain and Spain. But Emperor Napoleon III of France refused to talk and settle the debts. He saw this as an opportunity to grow his empire. He soon sent troops to claim Mexican land for France. This forced President Juárez into a war that Mexico was not prepared for: the Franco-Mexican War. President Juárez quickly rounded up a ragtag army of 2,000 men. They were led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza. The army moved to the small town of Puebla de Los Angeles in the Mexican state of Puebla. The soldiers secured the town and waited for the French to arrive.

Hunter Myüz and Michael C. Hout

Trick or Treat? How Artificial Sweeteners Affect the Brain and Body

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00051

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Although sometimes we cannot taste the difference between artificial and real sugars (despite the fact that they are actually very different), our brains and bodies can react to the differences. Our bodies can sometimes even detect very small differences between types of sugars and respond differently to each. Artificial sweeteners are highly concentrated—meaning that for the same physical amount, they can be between 200 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar! Even though artificial sugars are sweeter than real ones, they are nearly calorie-free. In some studies, scientists have even found that people prefer the taste of artificial sugars over real ones. However, there is also data to suggest that there is greater brain activation in response to real sugar than to saccharin (a common artificial sugar), and this effect is particularly strong when people are hungry . Our brains and bodies have different responses to artificial sweeteners and sugars because these substances are different from one another at the level of microscopic molecules. Reward pathways are like racetracks for neurons in our brains that when excited result in the release of chemicals (such as dopamine, a common neurotransmitter) that make us feel good.

Ivan Kirloff

Fortune and the Beggar

The Ontario Readers: Third Book

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18561/18561-h/18561-h.htm#Fortune

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As he was grumbling at his lot, he kept wondering why it was that folks who had so much money were never satisfied but were always wanting more. "Here," said he, "is the master of this house—I know him well. He was always a good business man, and he made himself wondrously rich a long time ago. Had he been wise he would have stopped then. He would have turned over his business to some one else, and then he could have spent the rest of his life in ease. But what did he do instead? He built ships and sent them to sea to trade with foreign lands. He thought he would get mountains of gold. "But there were great storms on the water; his ships were wrecked, and his riches were swallowed up by the waves. Now all his hopes lie at the bottom of the sea, and his great wealth has vanished. "There are many such cases. Men seem to be never satisfied unless they gain the whole world. "As for me, if I had only enough to eat and to wear, I would not want anything more." Just at that moment Fortune came down the street.

JANE L. STEWART

The Camp Fire Girls On the Farm or Bessie King's New Chum

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15726/15726-h/15726-h.htm

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"I never dreamed of such a lovely room, Zara, did you?" Bessie King, her eyes open with admiration and wonder, asked her chum the question in a room in the home of Eleanor Mercer, Guardian of the Manasquan Camp Fire, of the Camp Fire Girls. Both the girls were new members of the organization, and Bessie, who had lived all her life in the country, and had known nothing of the luxuries and comforts that girls in the city, or the luckier ones of them, at least, take almost as a matter of course, had found something new to astonish her in almost every hour since they had come to the city. "I've dreamed of it—yes," said Zara. "You see I've been in the city before, Bessie; and I've seen houses like this, and I've guessed that the rooms inside must be something like this, though I never lived in one. It's beautiful." "I almost wish we were going to stay here, Zara. But I suppose it will be nice when we go to the farm."

Susan Glaspell

A Jury of Her Peers

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https://www.commonlit.org/texts/a-jury-of-her-peers

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"Martha!" now came her husband's impatient voice. "Don't keep folks waiting out here in the cold." She again opened the storm-door, and this time joined the three men and the one woman waiting for her in the big two-seated buggy. After she had the robes tucked around her she took another look at the woman who sat beside her on the back seat. She had met Mrs. Peters the year before at the county fair, and the thing she remembered about her was that she didn't seem like a sheriff's wife. She was small and thin and didn't have a strong voice. Mrs. Gorman, sheriff's wife before Gorman went out and Peters came in, had a voice that somehow seemed to be backing up the law with every word. But if Mrs. Peters didn't look like a sheriff's wife, Peters made it up in looking like a sheriff. He was to a dot the kind of man who could get himself elected sheriff — a heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly genial with the law-abiding, as if to make it plain that he knew the difference between criminals and non-criminals.

F. J. H. Darton

Havelok Married Against His Will

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html

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There came at last a year of great dearth. Corn was so scarce that all men were in poverty, and Grim did not know how to feed all his family. For Havelok he had great dread, for he was strong and hearty, and would eat more than he could earn. And soon the fish in the sea also began to fail them, so that they were in sore straits. But Grim cared more for Havelok than for all his own family; all his thoughts ran on Havelok. "Dear son Havelok," he said at last, "we shall die of hunger shortly; all our food is gone. It is better for you to go hence, and strive for yourself only, and not try to help us here. You are stout and strong; go to Lincoln; there is many a man of substance there, who might take you in service. It were better for you to serve there than to see us starve here and to starve along with us.

L.D. SNOOK.

SOME IN-DOOR GAMES AT MARBLES.

St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm

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A strip of board, half an inch thick, five inches wide, and twenty-two inches long, has notches cut in one side, two inches wide at the bottom, and tapering as shown. Short bits of board nailed upon each end keep the strip upright. Then it is placed upon the floor within two feet of the wall. Each player is provided with the same number of marbles (from three to five, or as many as the players wish), and from the opposite side of the room, he rolls at the board, the object being to roll through the arches, which have numbers immediately above them in the manner shown. The one making the most counts after rolling all the marbles is entitled to one game. Or, if you have but five or six marbles, each party rolls the whole number by himself, and should there be a tie between those who make the highest aggregate number, they must roll again, the one then having the highest tally winning the game.

Sarah Parsons Doughty

Willie’s Gold Dollar

Playing Santa Claus and Other Christmas Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54803/54803-h/54803-h.htm#willie

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His hope was not disappointed: for the stocking was found most bountifully filled; and Willie eagerly hastened to examine its contents. It was fortunate that he had borrowed his grandfather's long stocking for the occasion; for his own little sock could never have contained the beautiful, large humming-top, and the pretty Noah's ark, which now met his eyes. And then the large, soft ball, just right for playing in the house in stormy weather; and the nice transparent slate, with which Willie could amuse himself when the older folks wished him to be quiet. All these things, and many more, were safely packed away in grandpa's great stocking. Papers of candy, stores of nuts and almonds, and pretty little lady-apples, came to light as Willie continued his search; and last of all, in a tiny wooden box, was found a bright gold dollar.

?

RECENT EXPERIMENTS AFFECTING THE RECEIVED THEORY OF MUSIC.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 401

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8742/8742-h/8742-h.htm

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Koenig has also found out the laws of the resultant sounds produced by other intervals than the octave, and has extended his researches to intervals differing by any number of vibrations, as may be seen from the above table. His conclusion is that beats and resultant sounds are one and the same phenomenon. Thus, for example, the lowest number of vibrations capable of producing a musical sound is 32 per second; in like manner, a clear musical sound is produced by two simple notes of sufficient intensity which produce 32 beats per second. Koenig also made a very ingenious modification of the siren for the purpose of enabling Seebeck to sound simultaneously notes whose vibrations had any given ratio. It is furnished for this purpose with eight disks, each of which contains a given number of circles of holes arranged at different angular distances. A description of this instrument, which is also the property of the Stevens Institute, and of Seebeck's experiments is thus given in a letter by Koenig himself.

J. H. Stickney

THE FIR TREE

CHRISTMAS STORIES AND LEGENDS

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17770/17770-h/17770-h.htm#Page_13

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A short time before Christmas the discontented fir tree was the first to fall. As the axe cut sharply through the stem, and divided the pith, the tree fell with a groan to the earth, conscious of pain and faintness, and forgetting all its dreams of happiness, in sorrow at leaving its home in the forest. It knew that it should never again see its dear old companions, the trees, nor the little bushes and many-colored flowers that had grown by its side; perhaps not even the birds. Nor was the journey at all pleasant. The tree first recovered itself while being unpacked in the courtyard of a house, with several other trees; and it heard a man say, "We only want one, and this is the prettiest. This is beautiful!" Then came two servants in grand livery, and carried the fir tree into a large and beautiful apartment. Pictures hung on the walls, and near the great stove stood great china vases, with lions on the lids. There were rocking chairs, silken sofas, large tables covered with pictures, books, and playthings that had cost a hundred times a hundred dollars; at least so said the children.

Edith's Papa

BILLY AND THE PIG

The Nursery, February 1877, Vol. XXI. No. 2 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28130/28130-h/28130-h.htm#Page_61

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One day, when my father wished to go away to the mill, he sent my brother Robert down to the pasture to catch Billy. Robert brought the horse up to the house, tied him to the fence in the backyard, and gave him some oats in a pail. In a pen back of the house we kept three pigs: two of them were white; and the other was spotted,—black and white. These pigs had got out of the pen by pushing off a board from one side of it. Soon after Billy began to eat his dinner, the two white pigs came running through the yard. They saw Billy eating his oats; and, thinking it would be nice for them to have some as well as he, they ran up to his pail, and without as much as saying, "By your leave," began to help themselves. Billy had no idea of sharing his dinner with such company as this: so he lopped back his ears, looked as cross as he possibly could, snapped at the pigs fiercely with his teeth, raised his hind-feet from the ground, as if to kick them, and at last succeeded in frightening them away.

Gustavus Frankenstein

The Tower Mountain

St. Nicholas Magazine Volume 5 No. 2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15373/15373-h/15373-h.htm#towermountain

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In the neighboring streams were many kinds of fishes, some of which I knew to be very good eating, and I could have caught and eaten as many birds as I wished; but the fruits and nuts were so plentiful, and of so many different sorts, that I cared for, and, indeed, needed, no other kind of food. Thus, several months passed away, and I was not weary of this paradise. There was enough to occupy my mind in the examination of the structure and mode of growth of a vast number of species of plants. Their flowering, their fruitage, and their decay offered a boundless field for thought, and kept up a never-flagging interest. For the first four months the sun traced his course through the heavens to the north of me; I knew, therefore, that I was almost immediately under the equator. For several days at the end of the four months, the sun rose directly in the east, passing through the sky in a line dividing it almost exactly into halves north and south. After that, for six months, I had the great luminary to the south of me.

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RIVER IMPROVEMENTS NEAR ST. LOUIS

Scientific American Supplement, Nos. 360

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8559/8559-h/8559-h.htm#4

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The improvement of the Mississippi River near St. Louis progresses satisfactorily. The efficacy of the jetty system is illustrated in the lines of mattresses which showed accumulations of sand deposits ranging from the surface of the river to nearly sixteen feet in height. At Twin Hollow, thirteen miles from St. Louis and six miles from Horse-Tail Bar, there was found a sand bar extending over the widest portion of the river on which the engineering forces were engaged. Hurdles are built out from the shore to concentrate the stream on the obstruction, and then to protect the river from widening willows are interwoven between the piles. At Carroll's Island mattresses 125 feet wide have been placed, and the banks revetted with stone from ordinary low water to a 16 foot stage. There is plenty of water over the bar, and at the most shallow points the lead showed a depth of twelve feet. Beard's Island, a short distance further, is also being improved, the largest force of men at any one place being here engaged. Four thousand feet of mattresses have been begun, and in placing them work will be vigorously prosecuted until operations are suspended by floating ice.

simple wiki

Pyramid

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid

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In Egypt, kings and queens, called Pharaohs, were buried in huge square-bottomed pyramids built of stone. They were usually built to be used as tombs for Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptian pyramids are very well built. Some of the pyramids still stand today. The oldest man-made pyramid found is called the Step pyramid. It is in the Giza Necropolis in Saqqara, near Cairo, Egypt. It was built for King Djoser thousands of years ago. Later pyramids were built much larger. The largest one was the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is near Cairo. It was the tallest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris, in 1889. The Great Pyramid was built by the pharaoh Khufu (= Cheops) from the Ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom. Herodotus was told by his Egyptian guides that it took twenty years for a force of 100,000 workers to build the pyramid (with another ten years to build a stone causeway that connected to a temple in the valley below). People once thought pyramids were built by slaves. More recent evidence suggests that the workers who built the pyramids were paid and well-cared for.

Alice B. Emerson

Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest Or, The Indian Girl Star of the Movies

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15720/15720-h/15720-h.htm

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She certainly was the life of the party. Helen and Ruth had too recently bidden Tom Cameron good-bye to feel like joining with Jennie in repartee. Though it might have been that even the girl's repartee was more a matter of repertoire. She was expected to be funny, and so forced herself to make good her reputation. This trip by automobile in fact was a forced attempt to cheer each other up on the part of the chums. At the Outlook, the Cameron's handsome country home, matters had become quite too awful to contemplate with calm, now that Tom had gone back to France. At least, so Helen stated. At the Red Mill Ruth had been (she admitted it) ready to "fly to pieces." For naturally poor Aunt Alvirah and Jabez Potter, the miller, were pot cheerful companions. And the two chums had Jennie Stone as their guest, for she had returned from New York with them, where they had all gone to bid Tom and Henri Marchand farewell.

H.H. ASQUITH.

PRIME MINISTER'S LETTER.

The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 2

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16331/16331-h/16331-h.htm#Summons_of_the_Nation_to_Arms

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My Lords: The time has come for combined effort to stimulate and organize public opinion and public effort in the greatest conflict in which our people has ever been engaged. No one who can contribute anything to the accomplishment of this supremely urgent task is justified in standing aside. I propose, as a first step, that meetings should be held without delay, not only in our great centres of population and industry, but in every district, urban and rural, throughout the United Kingdom, at which the justice of our cause should be made plain, and the duty of every man to do his part should be enforced. I venture to suggest to your lordships that the four principal cities over which you respectively preside should lead the way. I am ready myself, so far as the exigencies of public duty permit, to render such help as I can, and I should be glad, with that object, to address my fellow-subjects in your cities. I have reason to know that I can count upon the co-operation of the leaders of every section of organized political opinion.

simple wiki

Photon

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon

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Science

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Photons (from Greek, meaning light), in many atomic models in physics, are particles which transmit light. In other words, light is carried over space by photons. Photon is an elementary particle that is its own antiparticle. In quantum mechanics each photon has a characteristic quantum of energy. Photons have a rest mass of 0 (zero). However, Einstein's theory of relativity says that they do have a certain amount of momentum. Before the photon got its name, Einstein revived the proposal that light consists of separate pieces of energy (particles). These particles came to be known as photons. A photon is usually given the symbol C (gamma). Photons are fundamental particles. Although they can be created and destroyed, their lifetime is infinite. In a vacuum, all photons move at the speed of light, c, which is equal to 299,792,458 meters (approximately 300,000 kilometers) per second.

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DOT AND THE LEMONS

The Nursery, Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1875

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14335/14335-h/14335-h.htm#Page_158

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Dot's father is a funny man. One night, he brought home some lemons for mamma,—twelve long, fat, yellow lemons, in a bag. Dot was sitting at the piano with mamma when his father came in, and did not run, as usual, to greet him with a kiss. So Dot's father opened the bag, and let the lemons drop one by one, and roll all over the floor. Then Dot looked around, and cried, "Lemons, lemons! Get down; Dot get down!" And he ran and picked up the lemons one by one, and put them all together in the great black arm-chair. As he picked them up, he counted them: "One, two, three, five, six, seven, nine, ten!" When Dot got tired of seeing them on the chair, he began to put them on the floor again, one at a time, and all in one spot. While he was doing this, his father stooped down, and when the little boy's back was turned, took the lemons, slyly from the spot where Dot was placing them, and put them behind his own back,—some behind his right foot, and some behind his left.

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ACHILLE DELESSE.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 299

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8408/8408-h/8408-h.htm

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His nomination to the Academy of Sciences, which took place on the 6th of January, 1879, satisfied the ambition of his life. He was for two years President of the Central Commission of the Geographical Society; he was also President of the Geological Society. He was not long to enjoy the noble position acquired by his intelligence and his work. He suffered from a serious malady, which, however, did not weaken his intellect, and he continued from his bed of suffering to prepare the reports for the Council-General of Mines, and that which recently he addressed to the Academy on the occasion of his election. The greatness and the rectitude of mind of Delesse, his astounding power of work, his profound knowledge of science, his sympathetic sweetness, which were associated with sterling modesty and loyalty of character, made him esteemed and cherished throughout his whole career. He died on the 24th of March.

Logan Marshall

DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT

Favorite Fairy Tales

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20748/20748-h/20748-h.htm#dick

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Dick got safely to London, and was in such a hurry to see the fine streets paved with gold, that he ran through many of them, thinking every moment to come to those that were paved with gold; for Dick had seen a guinea three times in his own little village, and remembered what a lot of money it brought in change; so he thought he had nothing to do but to take up some little bits of pavement, and he would then have as much money as he could wish for. Poor Dick ran till he was tired, and had quite forgotten his friend the driver. At last, finding it grow dark, and that every way he turned he saw nothing but dirt instead of gold, he sat down in a dark corner, and cried himself to sleep. Next morning, being very hungry, he got up and walked about, and asked everybody he met to give him a halfpenny to keep him from starving. At last, a good-natured-looking gentleman saw how hungry he looked. "Why don't you go to work, my lad?" said he. "I would," answered Dick, "but I do not know how to get any."

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BLOSSOM AND I

The Nursery, September 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 3

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24940/24940-h/24940-h.htm#Page_85

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I will tell you a true story about my sister and me. I am five years old, and Fanny (papa calls her Blossom) is three. We are in Germany now, but our home is in America; and, when I go out to play with the boys here, they call me "America." We came over the ocean in a big ship. Papa and mamma were seasick, but Fanny and I were not, and we liked to live on the water. When mamma packed our trunks, I wanted her to put in my little pails and wheelbarrow; and she said there wasn't room, but that we could bring as many numbers of "The Nursery" as we pleased. So we brought all we had. We have used them so much, that papa says they are not fit to be bound; but I don't want to put them away on a shelf to be kept nice. I like to have them every day; and so does Fanny. When we were coming on the steamer, Fanny used to sit in the captain's lap and tell him the stories.

ROSAMOND UPHAM

MISCHIEF

Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25359/25359-h/25359-h.htm#Page_297

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One morning in January, the weather being very severe, Mischief was taken into the kitchen to live, and a happier dog than he could not be imagined, trotting about after the cook and housemaid from morning until night, chasing the cats, stealing towels and brushes—in fact, attending to all the mischief that came in his way. One day, about two weeks after he came into the house to live, a letter came from Milwaukee saying that he, too, must be sent off. And of course, Mischief knew about it. How could he help it, when the whole household were so sorry to have him go? And accordingly he began to make ready for the long journey he was so soon to take. As he sat by the range, evidently trying to make up his mind what to take with him, his first thought was of the old coat he had had as a bed; so he crossed the room, took the coat in his mouth, and with his paws scratched it up into a bundle.

Mary Hartwell Catherwood

THE WHIZZER

Who ate the pink sweetmeat? And Other Christmas Stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48747/48747-h/48747-h.htm#THE_WHIZZER

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The man turned round after he passed us, and came rearing back, away up on that wheel, and I stood as close before the sled as I could. He sat high up in the air, and wiggled his feet on each side of the wheel, and I never saw a camel or elephant, or any kind of wild thing at a show that made me feel so funny. But just when I thought he's going to cut through us, he turned short, and stopped. He had on an overcoat to his ears, and a fur cap down to his nose, and hairy gloves on, and a little satchel strapped over his shoulder, and I saw there was a real small wheel behind the big one that balanced him up. He wasn't sitting on the tire neither, but on a saddle place, and the big wheel had lots of silver spokes crossing back and forward.

Luba Sominsky & Sarah J. Spencer

How Food Can Change a Baby’s Brain

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00053

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As both children and adults, we have brains that are usually very good at telling us when we are hungry and when we are full. You may notice that, just before dinner time, you start feeling hungry, even if you are busy playing an interesting game. But you do not usually feel hungry all day. This is because we have a hormone called "ghrelin." that increases in the blood just before mealtimes or when we have not eaten for a while. Ghrelin comes from the stomach and travels in the blood. Ghrelin ends up in the brain and tells the brain to feel hungry and start eating. Just like the players on a football team, all of the different parts of the brain have different jobs to do. They keep communicating with each other to help each other out, but they still have fairly separate functions. The part of the brain that ghrelin talks with to tell our bodies that we are hungry is called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is really important.

Rogier A. Kievit, Ivan L. Simpson-Kent, & Delia Fuhrmann

Why Your Mind Is Like a Shark: Testing the Idea of Mutualism

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2020.00060

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Whenever you try to solve a problem—at school or elsewhere—you use what psychologists call your cognitive abilities. Cognitive abilities are things like memory (how well you can remember things from the past), vocabulary (how many words you know) and reasoning (how good you are at solving problems). Many things you do and learn in school rely on cognitive abilities. Vocabulary, for instance, is a really important building block of language, as well as other skills. For example, you use your vocabulary when you apply for a job, tell a story, or write a message to a friend. Normally, scientists study different cognitive abilities separately, just like you study lots of different subjects in school. However, in some recent studies, scientists have discovered exciting connections between cognitive abilities. As it turns out, rather than being entirely separate skills, your cognitive abilities behave a bit like sharks and suckerfish—they help each other grow over time. Your vocabulary is not just useful for improving language skills, it may also help your reasoning, which, in turn, may help your maths skills, which may help your vocabulary.

From The London Times, Nov. 25, 1914

RUMANIA’S CLAIMS

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20521/20521-h/20521-h.htm#Where_Rumania_Stands_in_the_Crisis

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The concessions offered by Count Tisza, the Hungarian Premier, in the hope of averting the coming storm, make no impression on the Rumanians either within or without the monarchy. He promises to allow the teaching of Rumanian in the schools, the use of the language in the public services, and increased Rumanian representation in the Hungarian Parliament. But the time for concessions has gone by. The Austrian advance into Serbia threatens to cut off Rumania from Southern and Western Europe and to prevent the arrival from the United States of the large supplies of stores and medicaments ordered there. It is evident that neither Rumania nor Bulgaria can long maintain their present attitudes. It remains for the powers of the Entente to devise a means for securing the co-operation of both States. Serbia recently inquired in Bucharest whether Rumania would oppose territorial concessions to a neighboring State, evidently indicating Bulgaria. Rumania replied that she would be happy to see all the quarrels of her neighbors arranged. The Government at Nish, appreciating the necessities of the situation, is now disposed toward a policy of concession. Serbia's only hope of maintaining an independent existence lies in the success of the Entente powers.

Rudyard Kipling

A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH

PUCK OF POOK'S HILL

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/557/557-h/557-h.htm#weland

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They were the 'Godlike Kings', and when old Hobden piled some comfortable brushwood between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him 'Hands of Giants'. Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still awhile, scowling as scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for Volaterrae is an important watch-tower that juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out of the hillside. Pook's Hill lay below her and all the turns of the brook as it wanders out of the Willingford Woods, between hop-gardens, to old Hobden's cottage at the Forge. The sou'-west wind (there is always a wind by Volaterrae) blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill stands. Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to happen, and that is why on blowy days you stand up in Volaterrae and shout bits of the Lays to suit its noises.

Phumy Zikode

The boy who nobody loved

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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He continued walking. He saw some splendid new clothes. He took off his clothes and put on the new ones. Then he thought about what the old woman had said. He took off the new clothes and put his old ones back on. Next he saw the root. It was withered from the sun. He asked himself what the old woman thought he would do with the root. Next to the root, there was a bowl of food. The food smelled delicious and the boy was hungry. He couldn't stop himself from eating. When he had finished, he remembered what the old woman had told him. The old woman had said he must only take the root. He looked around for the root, but he couldn't see it anymore. The boy left the forest feeling disappointed. He went back to tell the old woman what had happened. But the old woman was gone.

Channing Whitaker

APPARATUS FOR PRINTING BY THE BLUE PROCESS

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 365

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18763/18763-h/18763-h.htm

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Very naturally, I first examined the printing frame used in ordinary photography. This frame is extremely simple, and is very well adapted to its use. It is, undoubtedly, the best frame for blue process printing, when the area of the glass is not too large. The glass is set in an ordinary wooden frame, while the backboard is stiff and divided into two parts. A flat, bow-shaped spring is attached by a pivot to the center of each half of the backboard. The two halves of the backboard are hinged together by ordinary butts. Four lugs are fastened to the back of the frame, and, when the backboard is placed in position, the springs may be swung around, parallel to the line of the hinges, and pressed under the lugs, so that the back of the backboard is pressed most severely at the center of each half, while the glass is prevented from springing away from the backboard by the resistance of the frame at its edges.

A.J. Jarman.

ELECTRIC LIGHT APPARATUS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 312

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17817/17817-h/17817-h.htm

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To produce the electric current, all that is needed is to lower these suspended elements down into the trough, having previously connected the wires to the electric lamp. At once a light starts up, between the carbon pencils of a thousand-candle power or more. With a light of this power, a large head on cabinet or carte size plate may be produced in three or four seconds. The generator occupies a floor space of three feet six inches by two feet, and stands two feet six inches high. The cells will cost 5s. to charge, and will produce upward of sixty negatives before being exhausted. All that is necessary, in recharging, is to lift the elements up out of the way, take out the troughs by their handles and empty them, charging them again by means of a toilet jug. When replaced, the whole apparatus is fit for use again; the whole of the above operation occupies but a quarter of an hour, and as there are no earthenware cells employed, there is no fear of breakage.

Judge Parry

AN INTRODUCTION TO THAT SPANISH GENTLEMAN

THE JUNIOR CLASSICS: A LIBRARY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS VOLUME FOUR: HEROES AND HEROINES OF CHIVALRY

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323-images.html

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Once upon a time there lived in a certain village in a province of Spain called the Mancha, a gentleman named Quixada or Queseda, whose house was full of old lances, halberds, and other weapons. He was, besides, the owner of an ancient target or shield, a raw-boned steed, and a swift greyhound. His food consisted daily of common meats, some lentils on Fridays, and perhaps a roast pigeon for Sunday's dinner. His dress was a black suit with velvet breeches, and slippers of the same colour, which he kept for holidays, and a suit of homespun which he wore on week-days. On the purchase of these few things he spent the small rents that came to him every year. He had in his house a woman-servant about forty years old, a niece not yet twenty, and a lad that served him both in field and at home, and could saddle his horse or manage a pruning-hook.

Herminder Ohri

Sniffles the Crocodile and Punch the Butterfly

African Storybook Level 5

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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Sniffles did not want to be a crocodile. "I am so ugly," he thought, bursting into tears. He did not even want to live like crocodiles do. His best friend was Punch, a golden yellow butterfly. And Punch wanted to be big and strong. So, Punch always had her feeler curled into a fist saying, "Look out! I will punch you in the mouth." They made a very funny pair. Sniffles swimming with Punch perched on his head. The other crocodiles would laugh and make fun of them. That did not bother Sniffles. He continued crying, sniffling and being friends with Punch. One sunny afternoon, Punch settled herself near Sniffles' ear and told him, "I have seen two men come this way with guns, they want to kill crocodiles for their skins." "Don't these men have skins of their own?" asked a puzzled Sniffles. "I don't know Sniffles." replied Punch. "Tell the other crocodiles and hide." "But Punch, they might shoot you. Oh! What will I do?" cried Sniffles sobbing loudly. "People catch butterflies with nets and pin them on a board, my grandaunt told me," said Punch and flew away.

Fannie

WHAT DEMPSEY IS PROUD OF

The Nursery, May 1873, Vol. XIII. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest People

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24478/24478-h/24478-h.htm#Page_134

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"What are you proudest of?" said Mattie to Bertie. "I'm proudest of my new red-top boots," said Bertie. "I'm proudest of my new black hat," said Clay. Mattie was proudest of her muff and boa. Little Bell was proudest of her wax doll. But Dempsey had the oddest pride of all. He had no boots or mittens; and his clothes were coarse and worn. What had he to be proud of? This is what he said, "I'm proudest of my papa's wooden leg." The other little people were too polite to laugh at him; but they looked at him with wonder. "Let me tell you," said he, "why I'm proud of my papa's wooden leg. One time when there was a war, and men were wanted to help fight the battles, my papa took his gun, and went into the army.

?

NED AND ROVER AND JACK

Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25359/25359-h/25359-h.htm#Page_317

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Ned helped him to harness Rover in it like a horse, and Jack climbed in and took the reins. "Get up!" said Jack, and away they went out into the yard and on into a big field. But just then a little rabbit started up in front of them, and the minute Rover saw it, he began to race after the rabbit. Poor Jack couldn't hold him at all. Round and round they went, and they ran, and they ran, and they ran! Jack called out, "Whoa, Rover! Stop, Rover!" But Rover didn't stop. He wanted to catch the rabbit and he forgot about Jack. At last the rabbit ran toward a hole under the wall, where Rover could not get him. But Rover dashed after him as fast as he could go. "Bumpity-bump" went the little wagon, and just as Rover missed the rabbit, the wheel struck a big stone and poor Jack tumbled out on the ground. But he didn't cry.

Viol

OUR FLY

The Nursery, March 1878, Vol. XXIII. No. 3 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28142/28142-h/28142-h.htm#Page_84

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When my mamma was sick, he used to fly about her, and make a great buzzing; and, when the girl brought up her dinner, he would crawl about the tray as if he were hungry. Mamma would give him some sugar, which he liked very much. We missed him once for a whole week. We looked all over the room, but could not find him anywhere. At last, one day, we saw him on the window trying to fly, and what do you think? The poor fellow had lost one of his wings. Mamma said that he must have flown into the gas-light, and got burnt. She gave him some sugar, and he seemed to feel better for eating it. I watched him a long time, and when he had eaten enough he crawled on to my hand. I took him off, and put him on the window again; but he kept coming back to my hand, and I think, if he could have spoken, he would have said, "Thank you, little girl, for my nice dinner."

Eden Daniels

Andiswa soccer star

African Storybook Level 2

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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The coach put his hands on his hips. "At this school, only boys are allowed to play soccer," he said. The boys told her to go and play netball. They said that netball is for girls and soccer is for boys. Andiswa was upset. The next day, the school had a big soccer match. The coach was worried because his best player was sick and could not play. Andiswa begged the coach, "Please, let me play." The coach was not sure what to do. Then he decided that Andiswa could join the team. The game was tough. Nobody had scored a goal by half time. During the second half of the match, Andiswa got the ball. She moved very fast towards the goal post. Andiswa kicked the ball hard and scored a goal. The crowd went wild with joy. Since that day, girls were also allowed to play soccer at the school.

Parinita Shetty

The Time Traveling River

https://freekidsbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Time-travelling-river_Pratham-FKB.pdf

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Some rivers are peaceful in the winter. Some rivers are small and shy in the summer. Some rivers roar angrily in the monsoons. A river may be brown, grey, black, blue, green or several other shades. They change their colour based on what's inside them or what's around them. Sometimes they are the colour of the rocks at the bottom of the river. Sometimes they match the colour of the sky. Rivers also change their course. If a river is in one spot in the past, it may be somewhere else in the future. Many rivers like the Ganga are thousands of years old. They have seen humankind grow up. People have always loved living and working near rivers. Rivers know how to take care of people. Some of our food comes from rivers and river water is used to grow most food. When the food has made its way through the body, rivers to the rescue again! If rivers could speak, they might demand people dump their poop somewhere else. Humans aren't the only creatures rivers look after. Many birds and plants, animals and fishes, insects and flowers rely on rivers.

Russian Men of Letters

The English Word, Thought, and Life

The European War, Vol 2, No. 5

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22460/22460-h/22460-h.htm

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We have known you for a long time. We have known you since we Russians came to a communion with Western Europe and began to draw from the great spiritual treasury created by our brethren of Western Europe. From generation to generation we have watched intently the life of England, and have stored away in our minds and our hearts everything brilliant, peculiar, and individual, that has impressed itself upon the English word, the English thought, and the English life. We have always wondered at the breadth and the manifoldness of the English soul, in whose literature one finds, side by side, Milton and Swift, Scott and Shelley, Shakespeare and Byron. We have always been amazed by the incessant and constantly growing power of civic life in England; we have always known that the English people was the first among the peoples of the world to enter upon a struggle for civic rights, and that nowhere does the word freedom ring so proud and so triumphant as it does in England.

simple wiki

Discrete_cosine_transform

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete_cosine_transform

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A discrete cosine transform is a math process that can be used to make things like MP3s, and JPEGs smaller. It does this by breaking the sound or picture into different frequencies. One way to calculate a discrete cosine transform is to use the Fourier transformation. "Discrete" means that it works on discrete-time signals (sampled data). For sounds, frequencies are the same as simple tones. You can make any sound by playing several tones at the same time. The discrete cosine transform is a way to find out which tones to play in order to make a given sound. The only difference between the tones is their pitch. Human ears are good at hearing low pitches, but bad at hearing high pitches. If you use the DCT to break a sound into tones, you do not need to be as careful when playing the higher tones because people cannot hear them as well. MP3 encoders (programs which make MP3s) use this fact to make the sound smaller.

The Constantinople correspondent of The Daily Atlantis of New York wrote on Sept. 17

APPROACHING THE CRISIS

The European War, Vol. 1 - No. 6

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20521/20521-h/20521-h.htm#How_Turkey_Went_to_War

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We are daily approaching a crisis. The Government has not swerved from its warlike attitude, and is threatening not only Greece, but Russia and the Triple Entente as well, while, on the other hand, it has failed to secure Rumanian or Bulgarian co-operation in its militant policy. At the same time, the Porte has learned that efforts are being made in the Balkans for common action against Turkey. It also became known that the Governments of London and Petrograd agreed to indemnify Bulgaria by giving her Adrianople and Thrace, while Greece was to have Smyrna, with a considerable hinterland. During this period the Turkish press maintained an active campaign against England and the Allies. The following extract from an editorial article published in the Terdjumani-Hakkikat thus characterizes the situation: Everybody knows that the Balkan States are traversing a period of doubts, and that the belligerent parties are doing their best in order to secure the sympathies and the assistance of the Balkan States.

Zoe M. Flack; Jessica S. Horst

Why Do Little Kids Ask to Hear the Same Story Over and Over?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00030

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If we want to see if kids learn new words from hearing a book, there are different ways we could do this. We would, of course, read them a story and then measure how many words from the story they know. But is it really that simple? How would we know that the kids did not already know those words before they heard the stories? We have a really fun solution: we write our own storybooks so we can put special words in them! These special words are called "target words." The special words we use are made-up words like "sprock" and "manu." They sound like real words but we make them up. That way, we can know that kids do not already know the words before we even read the stories. Lots of studies use made-up words like these for the same reason. One famous study is "the Wug Test" . Kids have not heard the word wug before, but if you tell them "Here is a wug, here is another wug, now there are two ___" they know the next word is "wugs."

Kleber Neves, Felipe daCunha, and Suzana Herculano-Houzel

What Are Different Brains Made Of?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00021

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Each species has their different habits: a monkey jumps from branch to branch until it finds some fruit to eat, a bat flies around in the dark of the night between trees, a whale swims in the wide-open ocean. Since the brains of these animals help them to do all these tasks, we would guess that their brains would be very different. But it turns out that the main parts of the brain and the connections within the brain are all pretty much the same for all mammals. This similarity in brain structure exists because of the evolutionary history that all these brains share. In fact, if we put brains of different mammals next to each other, the similarities are easy to spot. Even though the brains vary (a lot) in their size and in their folds, they all have the same parts. All these brains have a cerebral cortex, a cerebellum, and a brain stem. Also, the same kinds of cells make up all brains: they are made of neurons, glial cells, and the cells that make the capillaries (small blood vessels) that bring blood into the brain.

Ayn Rand

Anthem

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1250/1250-h/1250-h.htm

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So, we went into the Home of the Street Sweepers. It is a grey house on a narrow street. There is a sundial in its courtyard, by which the Council of the Home can tell the hours of the day and when to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we all arise from our beds. The sky is green and cold in our windows to the east. The shadow on the sundial marks off a half-hour while we dress and eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there are five long tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each table. Then we go to work in the streets of the City, with our brooms and our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high, we return to the Home and we eat our midday meal, for which one-half hour is allowed.

Bas Altena Andreas Kääb

Observing Change in Glacier Flow from Space

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00009

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A glacier is a large moving body of ice. Glaciers are natural phenomena that occur at the colder places of this Earth. When you travel to a glacier and look at it, you will see an enormous collection of ice, which lays in between mountains tops. At first sight, nothing seems to be moving, but this is not the case. Ice is actually a very thick liquid, and moves like honey, but very slowly. If you want to see a glacier move, you will need to wait a long time. But if you take a picture and come back some days or weeks later to take a second picture, the ice will have moved, and this can be measured if you compare both images. When we research glaciers, we use the same technique, but we use pictures from satellites. The satellites fly over every part of the Earth and can see any glacier. This makes it possible for us to look at the flow of glaciers anywhere on Earth.

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Three boxes of wealth

African Storybook Level 3

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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Haile took the brothers to the wise old man. "Good morning, we have come to ask advice about inheritance," said Haile to the old man. Haile told the wise old man about the three boxes that Hagos had left for his sons. "Now they are quarrelling because only one received gold," explained Haile. The wise old man asserted, "Your father had a reason for giving each of you a particular box." He continued, "The one who received gold, your father wants you to be a merchant. The one who received soil, your father wants you to be a farmer." "The one who received animal dung, your father wants you to be a cowboy. Your father wanted you each to have his own profession," the old man concluded. After they listened to the old man's advice the three brothers agreed. They worked in their professions and lived happily.

A. T. Quiller-Couch

Shakespeare's Christmas

Shakespeare's Christmas and other stories

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54274/54274-h/54274-h.htm#Page_1

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At the theatre in Shoreditch, on Christmas Eve, 1598, the Lord Chamberlain's servants presented a new comedy. Never had the Burbages played to such a house. It cheered every speech—good, bad, or indifferent. To be sure, some of the dramatis personæ—Prince Hal and Falstaff, Bardolph and Mistress Quickly—were old friends; but this alone would not account for such a welcome. A cutpurse in the twopenny gallery who had been paid to lead the applause gave up toiling in the wake of it, and leaned back with a puzzled grin. "Bravo, master!" said he to his left-hand neighbour a burly, red-faced countryman well past middle age, whose laughter kept the bench rocking. "But have a care, lest they mistake you for the author!" "The author? Ho-ho!"——but here he broke off to leap to his feet and lead another round of applause. "The author?" he repeated, dropping back and glancing an eye sidelong from under his handkerchief while he mopped his brow. "You shoot better than you know, my friend: the bolt grazes. But a miss, they say, is as good as a mile."

L. M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51/51-h/51-h.htm

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She enjoyed the evening tremendously, but the end of it rather spoiled all. Gilbert again made the mistake of saying something sentimental to her as they ate their supper on the moonlit verandah; and Anne, to punish him, was gracious to Charlie Sloane and allowed the latter to walk home with her. She found, however, that revenge hurts nobody quite so much as the one who tries to inflict it. Gilbert walked airily off with Ruby Gillis, and Anne could hear them laughing and talking gaily as they loitered along in the still, crisp autumn air. They were evidently having the best of good times, while she was horribly bored by Charlie Sloane, who talked unbrokenly on, and never, even by accident, said one thing that was worth listening to. Anne gave an occasional absent "yes" or "no," and thought how beautiful Ruby had looked that night, how very goggly Charlie's eyes were in the moonlight—worse even than by daylight—and that the world, somehow, wasn't quite such a nice place as she had believed it to be earlier in the evening.

Thomas Tapper

Chopin : The Story of the Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35013/35013-h/35013-h.htm

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Chopin was only nine years old when he first played in public. It is said that he created quite a sensation. But like all those who know that talent is something to be worked for, he did not stop studying just because his playing was pleasing to other people. In fact, it was just on that account that he began to work all the harder. Then there came a great change. He left his home and went to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. Even though he was but a youth of twenty-one, he had already composed two concertos for the piano. These he had played in public to the great delight of all who heard him, but especially of his countrymen. You see, Chopin's going to Paris was a strange journey. The boy was leaving his mother's country and going to the land of his father. Like Joseph Haydn, who went away at the age of six, Chopin never lived at home again. But he did not reach Paris a stranger. The world of music had heard of him and some of its great ones welcomed his coming.

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A THREADED SET COLLAR.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 433

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9076/9076-h/9076-h.htm#11

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There are cases where a long screw must be rotated with a traversing nut or other threaded piece traveling on its thread a limited and variable distance. At one time the threaded nut or piece may be required to go almost the entire length of the screw, and at another time a much shorter traverse would be required. In many instances the use of side check nuts is inconvenient, and in some it is impossible. One way of utilizing the nut as a set collar is to drill through its side for a set screw, place it on its screw, pour a little melted Babbitt metal, or drop a short, cold plug of it into the hole, tap the hole, and the tap will force the Babbitt into the threads. Insert the set screw, and when it acts on the Babbitt metal it will force it with great friction on to the thread without injuring the thread; and when the set screw tension is released, the nut turns freely. A similar and perhaps a better result may be obtained by slotting the hole through the nut as though for the reception of a key.

wikipedia

Polytheism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism

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Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. In most religions which accept polytheism, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles, and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of a creator God or transcendental absolute principle (monistic theologies), which manifests immanently in nature (panentheistic and pantheistic theologies). It is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but can be henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity. Other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the typical form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age, up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions which enforced strict monotheism.

Sarah L. Firth Josh A. Firth

How Do Birds Cope with Losing Members of Their Group?

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00008

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Have you ever wondered how animals might respond to losing a member of their group? Many human activities, like hunting or changing the environment animals live in, can cause the loss of individual animals. However, how this loss affects the remaining animals in a group is still widely unknown. We wanted to investigate this question, so we tracked wild birds known as great tits. These birds form small groups within their population, called flocks. By removing individual birds from the wild, we were able to monitor how birds responded to losing a flockmate. Interestingly, the birds that lost their flockmates responded by making new flockmates and also by spending more time with their previous flockmates. These findings show us that losing animals from a population can affect how the remaining animals behave. This research could help improve people's understanding of the effects of losing animals.

Beatrice Clay

The Adventures of Sir Percivale

Junior Classics Vol. 4

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6323/pg6323.html

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So Sir Percivale continued his journey on foot as well as he might; and ever the way became lonelier, until at last he came to the shores of a vast sea. There Sir Percivale abode many days, without food and desolate, doubting whether he should ever escape thence. At last it chanced that, looking out to sea, Sir Percivale descried a ship and, as it drew nearer, he saw how it was all hung with satin and velvet. Presently it reached the land and out of it there stepped a lady of marvellous beauty, who asked him how he came there; "For know," said she, "ye are like to die here by hunger or mischance." "He whom I serve will protect me," said Sir Percivale. "I know well whom ye desire most to see," said the lady. "Ye would meet with the Red Knight who bears the red-cross shield." "Ah! lady, I pray you tell me where I may find him," cried Sir Percivale. "With a good will," said the damsel; "if ye will but promise me your service when I shall ask for it."

By Hezekiah Butterworth.

A THANKSGIVING DINNER THAT FLEW AWAY

Good Cheer Stories Every Child Should Know

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19909/19909-h/19909-h.htm#A_THANKSGIVING_DINNER_THAT_FLEW_AWAY

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The bridegroom cried "Shoo!" but he might as well have said "Shoo" to a steam engine. On came the gander, with his head and neck upon the ground. He seized the lad by the calf of his leg, and made an immediate application of his wings. The latter seemed to think he had been attacked by dragons. As soon as he could shake him off he ran. So did the bride, but in another direction; and while the two were thus perplexed and discomfited, the bride's father appeared in a carriage, and gave her a most forcible invitation to ride home with him. She accepted it without discussion. What became of the bridegroom, or how the matter ended, we never knew. "Aunt, what makes you keep that gander year after year?" said I one evening, as we were sitting on the lawn before the door. "Is it because he is a kind of watchdog, and keeps troublesome people away?"

G. A. Henty

The Cornet of Horse A Tale of Marlborough's Wars

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17403/17403-h/17403-h.htm

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Rupert sat near one end of the table, with the eldest son of the host. As a matter of course they kept absolute silence in an assembly of their elders, only answering shortly and respectfully when spoken to. When dinner was over, however, and the ladies rose, they slipped away to a quiet room, and made up for their long silence by chatting without cessation of their dogs, and hawks, and sports, until at six o'clock the coach came round to the door, and Rupert, again donning his cloak and riding boots, mounted his horse, and rode slowly off after the carriage. Slow as the progress had been in the daytime, it was slower now. The heavy coach jolted over great lumps of rough stone, and bumped into deep ruts, with a violence which would shake a modern vehicle to pieces. Sometimes, where the road was peculiarly bad, the lackeys would get down, light torches at the lanterns that hung below the box, and show the way until the road improved.

Joey Shapiro Key

The New Astronomy: Observing Our Universe With Light and Gravity

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00123

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The stars in the night sky may seem like they have been there forever, but each star was created from gas and dust in space pulled together by gravity. A newly born star burns brightly until it runs out of fuel. Small- and medium-size stars like our own Sun end their lives as white dwarf stars, the glowing remains of the star's core. Stars much bigger than our Sun die a spectacular death, exploding as supernovae. The remains of a supernova explosion is a dense, dark core, either a neutron star or a black hole. The idea of a neutron star was first presented over 80 years ago, in 1934, but it was another 33 years before astronomers found a neutron star. In 1967, X-rays were detected from a distant neutron star and later the same year, the first radio pulsar was discovered. A pulsar is a highly magnetized neutron star that is spinning, sending a beam of radio pulse toward the Earth with each spin. Radio telescopes here on Earth can watch these pulses, which arrive like a steady ticking clock.

DR. EDWARD HOPKINSON

THE PORTRUSH ELECTRIC RAILWAY, IRELAND

Scientific American Supplement, No. 388

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15417/15417-h/15417-h.htm

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The current is conveyed under the gaps by means of an insulated copper cable carried in wrought-iron pipes, placed at a depth of 18 inches. At the passing places, which are situated on inclines, the conductor takes the inside, and the car ascending the hill also runs on the inside, while the car descending the hill proceeds by gravity on the outside lines. From the brushes the current is taken to a commutator worked by a lever, which switches resistance frames placed under the car, in or out, as may be desired. The same lever alters the position of the brushes on the commutator of the dynamo machine, reversing the direction of rotation, in the manner shown by the electrical hoist. The current is not, as it were, turned full on suddenly, but passes through the resistances, which are afterward cut out in part or altogether, according as the driver desires to run at part speed or full speed.

P. G. Wodehouse

THE HEAD OF KAY'S

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6877/6877-h/6877-h.htm#link2H_4_0004

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For a time the operation of chairing Fenn up the steps occupied the active minds of the Kayites. When he had disappeared into the first eleven room, they turned their attention in other directions. Caustic and uncomplimentary remarks began to fly to and fro between the representatives of Kay's and Blackburn's. It is not known who actually administered the first blow. But, when Fenn came out of the pavilion with Kennedy and Silver, he found a stirring battle in progress. The members of the other houses who had come to look on at the match stood in knots, and gazed with approval at the efforts of Kay's and Blackburn's juniors to wipe each other off the face of the earth. The air was full of shrill battle-cries, varied now and then by a smack or a thud, as some young but strenuous fist found a mark. The fortune of war seemed to be distributed equally so far, and the combatants were just warming to their work.

Leo Daly

Lynne's birthday surprise

African Storybook Level 2

https://www.africanstorybook.org/

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Lynne, Oupa Karel and Anton were getting things ready for Lynne's birthday party. Anton and Lynne are going to bake a cake. Oupa Karel reads the recipe. "Let's mix these ingredients in the big bowl," said Lynne. Anton stirred the ingredients and made a big mess. "The cake feels heavy now," said Oupa Karel. "Your friends have arrived," said Oupa Karel. Anton thought the first present would be heavy because it was big. It was a pillow and it weighed very little. Anton thought the next present would be light because it was small. It was a painted rock and it weighed a lot. The children said that one kilogram of rocks weighs the same as one kilogram of feathers. Lynne's cake was burnt. Lynne was very sad. Auntie Mavis asked Anton to guess how much her present weighed. "It weighs the same as the cake that burned," said Anton. Everyone said, "happy birthday, Lynne."

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THE BUFFALO

Journeys Through Bookland, vol 7

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23405

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Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo! Last year's signs of them were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we found an admirable substitute in the bois de vache, which burns exactly like peat, producing no unpleasant effects. The wagons one morning had left the camp; Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry Chatillon still sat cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, playing pensively with the lock of his rifle, while his sturdy Wyandotte pony stood quietly behind him, looking over his head. At last he got up, patted the neck of the pony (whom, from an exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had christened "Five Hundred Dollar"), and then mounted with a melancholy air. "What is it, Henry?" "Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder over the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black—all black with buffalo!"

Thomas Tapper

Handel : The Story of a Little Boy who Practiced in an Attic

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35157/35157-h/35157-h.htm

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One day when little George was seven years old his father set out by coach to visit another son, who was in the service of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. The little boy begged his father to let him go on the journey. "No," he replied, "you are too young to go so far." However, when the coach set out George Frederick set out too on foot to follow, and he would not be sent home again. He kept on trudging along as fast as his little feet would go. Everyone hoped he would get tired and go back, but finally the father had to order the coach to stop and take him in. Thus, did he show that determination which helped him all his life. Arrived at the castle the boy soon made friends with the chapel musicians. They took him to the organ loft, where he played for them. All were delighted with his talent. One day the Duke himself heard him play. He, too, was astonished that one so young should show so much skill. Calling the father into his presence, he pointed out how wrong it was to deny the boy the right to study music.

Willa Cather

Edgar Allan Poe

http://www.online-literature.com/willa-cather/4304/

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The Shakespeare society of New York, which is really about the only useful literary organization in this country, is making vigorous efforts to redress an old wrong and atone for a long neglect. Sunday, Sept. 22, it held a meeting at the Poe cottage on Kingsbridge road near Fordham, for the purpose of starting an organized movement to buy back the cottage, restore it to its original condition and preserve it as a memorial of Poe. So it has come at last. After helping build monuments to Shelley, Keats and Carlyle we have at last remembered this man, the greatest of our poets and the most unhappy. I am glad that this movement is in the hands of American actors, for it was among them that Poe found his best friends and warmest admirers. Some way he always seemed to belong to the strolling Thespians who were his mother's people.

East Dorset, Vt. M. H. F.

THE OBEDIENT CHICKENS

The Nursery, March 1873, Vol. XIII. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest People

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24476/24476-h/24476-h.htm#Page_69

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They were a lively, stirring family, and used to go roving all over the farm; but never was there a better behaved, or more thoroughly trained set of children. If a hawk, or even a big robin, went sailing over head, how quickly they scampered, and hid themselves at their mother's note of warning! and how meekly they all trotted roost-ward at the first sound of her brooding-call! I wish all little folks were as ready to go to bed at the right time. One day when the chickens were five or six weeks' old, I saw them all following their mother into an old shed near the house. She led them up into one corner, and then, after talking to them for a few minutes in the hen language, went out and left them all huddled together. She was gone for nearly an hour; and never once did they stir away from the place where she left them.

simple wiki

Steam_engine

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine

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A steam engine is an engine which uses steam from boiling water to make it move. The steam pushes on the engine parts to make them move. Steam engines can power many kinds of machines including vehicles and electric generators. Steam engines were used in mine pumps starting in the early 18th century and were much improved by James Watt in the 1770s. They were very important during the industrial revolution where they replaced horses, windmills and watermills to work machines. The first steam engines were piston engines. The steam pressure pushed on a piston which made it move along a cylinder and so they had a reciprocal (back-and-forth) motion. This could move a pump directly or work a crank to turn a wheel and work a machine. They operated at low pressure and had to be very big to make much power. Steam engines were used in factories to work machines and in mines to move pumps. Later smaller engines were built that could move railway locomotives and steam boats.

Taishi Kawamoto

What Happens in Your Mind and Brain When You Are Excluded from a Social Activity?

Frontiers for Young Minds

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00046

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Social exclusion refers to the experience of being socially isolated, either physically (for example, being totally alone), or emotionally (for example, being ignored or told that one is unwanted). When someone excludes you, you probably feel bad or even experience "painful" feelings. Why does social exclusion cause these feelings? One possibility is that human beings are social animals, and we have been selected by evolution to live together with others. Social exclusion tells us that social relationships are threatened or damaged, and therefore, exclusion tells us there is a crisis, by causing aversive feelings. Previous research by psychologists (people who study the mind and behavior) and social neuroscientists (people who study the neural, hormonal, cellular, and gametic mechanisms underlying social interaction and behavior) has revealed much about what happens during and after social exclusion. Before beginning to explain how social exclusion dynamically affects our mind, brain, and behavior, I would like to briefly introduce the mystery of social pain—defined as the painful feeling caused by social exclusion.

H. G. Wells

IN LABRADOR

The Literary World Seventh Reader

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19721/19721-h/19721-h.htm

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The weather broke at last. One might say it smashed itself over their heads. There came an afternoon darkness swift and sudden, a wild gale, and an icy sleet that gave place in the night to snow, so that Trafford looked out next morning to see a maddening chaos of small white flakes, incredibly swift, against something that was neither darkness nor light. Even with the door but partly ajar, a cruelty of cold put its claw within, set everything that was movable swaying and clattering, and made Marjorie hasten shuddering to heap fresh logs upon the fire. Once or twice Trafford went out to inspect tent and roof and store-shed; several times, wrapped to the nose, he battled his way for fresh wood, and for the rest of the blizzard they kept to the hut. It was slumberously stuffy, but comfortingly full of flavors of tobacco and food. There were two days of intermission and a day of gusts and icy sleet again, turning with one extraordinary clap of thunder to a wild downpour of dancing lumps of ice, and then a night when it seemed all Labrador, earth and sky together, was in hysterical protest against inconceivable wrongs.

Ambrose Bierce

The Middle Toe of the Right Foot

Famous Modern Ghost Stories by Dorothy Scarborough et al.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15143/15143-h/15143-h.htm

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I am afraid of nothing," the man interrupted with another oath, and sprang to the ground. The two then joined the others at the door, which one of them had already opened with some difficulty, caused by rust of lock and hinge. All entered. Inside it was dark, but the man who had unlocked the door produced a candle and matches and made a light. He then unlocked a door on their right as they stood in the passage. This gave them entrance to a large, square room that the candle but dimly lighted. The floor had a thick carpeting of dust, which partly muffled their footfalls. Cobwebs were in the angles of the walls and depended from the ceiling like strips of rotting lace making undulatory movements in the disturbed air. The room had two windows in adjoining sides, but from neither could anything be seen except the rough inner surfaces of boards a few inches from the glass. There was no fireplace, no furniture; there was nothing: besides the cobwebs and the dust, the four men were the only objects there which were not a part of the structure.

simple wiki

Ethernet

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet

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Ethernet is a way of connecting computers together in a local area network or LAN. It has been the most widely used method of linking computers together in LANs since the 1990s. The basic idea of its design is that multiple computers have access to it and can send data at any time. This is comparatively easy to engineer. If two computers send data at the same time, a collision will occur. When this happens, the data sent is not usable. In general, both computers will stop sending, and wait a random amount of time, before they try again. A special protocol was developed to deal with such problems. It is called Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection or CSMA/CD. There are different Ethernet standards. Today, Ethernet cables look like thick telephone cables. They connect to boxes called hubs or switches. Each cable runs from a computer's network interface card (NIC) to such a box. This cable is called 10BaseT or 100BaseT, or 1000BaseT Cable.

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Petroleum Oils

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8391/8391-h/8391-h.htm#15

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The first oil obtained is known as gasoline, used in portable gas machines for making illuminating gas. Then, in turn, come naphthas of a greater or less gravity, benzine, high test water white burning oil, such as Pratt's Astral common burning oil or kerosene, and paraffine oils. When the oil has been distilled it is by no means fit for use, having a dirty color and most offensive smell; it is then refined. For this purpose it is pumped into a large vat or agitator, which holds from two hundred and fifty to one thousand barrels. There is then added to the oil about two per cent, of its volume of the strongest sulphuric acid. The whole mixture is then agitated by means of air pumps, which bring as much as possible every particle of oil in contact with the acid. The acid has no affinity for the oil, but it has for the tarry substance in it which discolors it, and, after the agitation, the acid with the tar settles to the bottom of the agitator, and the mixture is drawn off into a lead-lined tank.

Th. Du Moncel

ACTION OF MAGNETS UPON THE VOLTAIC ARC

Scientific American Supplement, No. 344

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8717/8717-h/8717-h.htm#20

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With the induction spark, magnets have an action only on the aureola which accompanies the line of fire of the static discharge; and this aureola, being only a sort of sheath of heated air containing many particles of metal derived from the rheophores, represents exactly the voltaic arc. Moreover, although the induced currents developed in the bobbin are alternately of opposite direction, the galvanometer shows that the currents that traverse the break are of the same direction, and that these are direct ones. The reversed currents are, then, arrested during their passage; and, in order to collect them, it becomes necessary to considerably diminish the gaseous pressure of the aeriform conductor interposed in the discharge; to increase its conductivity; or to open to the current a very resistant metallic derivation. By this latter means, I have succeeded in isolating, one from the other, in two different circuits, the direct induced currents and the reversed induced ones.