In the seventeenth century, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal looked up at the night sky and then looked down at a mite, picturing “legs with joints, veins in its legs, blood in the veins, humors in the blood, drops in the humors, vapors in the drops,” and onward and downward to the atoms. “The eternal […] Read more

When the man had finished, he filled his pipe and took his comfortable time over a smoke. Then he pulled on his mittens, settled the ear-flaps of his cap firmly about his ears, and took the creek trail up the left fork. The dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire. This man did […] Read more

He worked slowly and carefully, keenly aware of his danger. Gradually, as the flame grew stronger, he increased the size of the twigs with which he fed it. He squatted in the snow, pulling the twigs out from their entanglement in the brush and feeding directly to the flame. He knew there must be no […] Read more

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Preface Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. — Charles Lamb Chapter 1 When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about […] Read more

Chapter 1 Limpy stuck his head out of the grass and peered up and down the highway. He felt his crook leg twitching and his warts tingling like they always did when he was excited. And scared. All clear. No headlights speeding out of the darkness. No trucks, cars, buses, or caravans thundering down the […] Read more

Travels with Charley – Montana Script: Travels with Charley: In Search of America is a travelogue written by American author John Steinbeck. It recounts tales of a 1960 road trip around the United State with his French standard poodle, Charley. The next passage in my journey is a love affair. I am in love with […] Read more

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas or Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas by Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828) (previously believed to be by Clement Clarke Moore) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, […] Read more

First Impressions The first day we passed at sea was Sunday. As we were just from port, and there was a great deal to be done on board, we were kept at work all day, and at night the watches were set, and everything was put into sea order. When we were called aft to […] Read more

The scene was not exactly new to me. Moved by the spirit of adventure, or by an excess of ennui which overtakes me at times, I had several times visited the gaudy establishment of Mercer, on the fashionable side of Fifth Avenue in the Fifties. In either case I had found disappointment; where the stake […] Read more