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The Pony Express rider

Earl C. McCain

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is a short Western adventure story written in the early 20th century. It likely centers on a young Pony Express rider facing perils on the trail while confronting questions of honor, reputation, and redemption. A young Kentuckian, Dixie Rollins, arrives at Ross’s Post hoping to prove himself as a Pony Express rider under the watchful eye of superintendent Jim Slade. His stern older brother, Clint, distrusts him due to rumors from a Sacramento mine robbery. Jack Settes, a notorious gunman tied to that crime, pressures Dixie to steal an incoming letter that would exonerate an innocent man and implicate Settes. Dixie refuses, determined to carry the mail and clear his name the right way. With quiet support from Mildred Ross, who overhears Settes and later recovers an incriminating note from his room, Dixie anticipates an ambush in the sandstone buttes. Using his knowledge of Settes’s gun trick, he outmaneuvers and kills the outlaw in self-defense. Clint arrives too late to help but admits he misjudged his brother. The crucial confession proceeds with the mail, saving the condemned man, while Dixie wins both vindication and Mildred’s love, and reconciles with Clint. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Strange waters

Kingsbury Scott

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is a maritime adventure short story written in the late 1920s. The book likely centers on merchant seamen pressed into wartime duty, showing how ingenuity and grit in an engine room can turn the tables on a submarine threat. A seasoned Great Lakes fireman, Tim Donahue, clings to his beloved freighter when it is cut and reassembled for ocean service and sent across the Atlantic in the Great War. In the danger zone, a German U-boat stalks the ship, rakes her decks with shellfire, and forces the crew to abandon ship. Tim holds the stokehold together, then, with his watch partner Schultz—a German-born sailor who hates the submarine service—springs an ambush: they lure the boarding party below, club them senseless, steal their uniforms, and use the ruse to seize the submarine itself. With the captured U-boat in tow, they await dawn, when an American destroyer arrives, confirms the safety of the abandoned crew, and orders the battered freighter on to port under convoy—leaving Tim’s fierce loyalty and quick wits the quiet heroes of the voyage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The rebellion of Constable Kitt

Thomas Morris Longstreth

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is an adventure short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Canadian West, pairing a brisk tale of law enforcement with a romance subplot. The likely topic is a young constable’s clash between modern methods and traditional discipline as he proves his worth by pursuing border smugglers. A rookie Mountie, Ed Kitt, scorns horses and idolizes engines, which puts him at odds with his stern sergeant-major, “Frozen-face,” whose niece, Rena, secretly tutors Ed in police procedure. After they’re discovered and Rena is sent away, the pair impulsively elope but on the road they spot the notorious Duff smuggling gang. Ed disables the gang’s car, is overpowered, and is saved when Rena arms herself and forces the criminals to surrender. They deliver the prisoners back to barracks at dawn; the sergeant-major, furious over the breach of discipline, nonetheless shields Ed before the Inspector, allowing the capture to stand. Ed earns promotion and reward, the sergeant-major’s hidden decency shows through, and Ed and Rena’s partnership—founded on duty and courage—ends in marriage and family. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

On advance of time

George Keyports Brady

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is a short story written in the early 20th century. Set in a gritty American railroad town, it focuses on rail-yard life, a looming catastrophe, and a rough-edged courtship where bravery reveals true character. The story follows Elsie Macumber, who refuses the surly hostler Sam Dobinski and favors the big, bashful brakeman Patrick O’Hara. Stung by rejection, Sam drunkenly schemes to send a free engine onto the main line in heavy fog, aiming to wreck the express driven by Elsie’s father, Engineer Macumber. As the express barrels in under “advance of time” orders, Patrick spots the danger, leaps aboard the loose engine, and coaxes it ahead just in time, while Macumber slams the brakes—averting disaster by a hair. Sam slips away in the fog, and Patrick, embarrassed by praise, retreats—only to be invited days later by Macumber, who has “used his influence,” to step into the parlor, where Elsie is eagerly waiting. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Mountain killers

Thomas Barclay Thomson

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is a short story written in the early 20th century. It likely explores vengeance, moral hesitation, and the harsh, fateful justice of a rugged mountain landscape. A stoic mountaineer, Olaf Swensen, ambushes Sim Satterlee, the man acquitted of murdering Olaf’s brother, along a sunlit trail. As Sim approaches with his pack mules, a starving cougar crouches above, turning the standoff into a three-way tension. Olaf, after taunting his enemy, breaks and cannot shoot; at that instant the cougar leaps, and Sim draws his revolver, wounding the beast midair. The animal overshoots Olaf and crashes down on Sim; despite more shots, it mauls him fatally. When Olaf rushes down, Sim’s last words reveal he had tried to kill Olaf and simply missed; he dies unrepentant, and fate—not the avenger’s hand—delivers the final justice. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The enchanted kingdom

Nevis Shane

The enchanted kingdom by Nevis Shane is a romantic short story written in the late 1920s. It follows a young couple whose love is tested by hardship, sudden wealth, jealousy, and temptation, asking whether the true “enchanted kingdom” is luxury or the steadfast bond between two people. Candis Moore marries oil driller Ronald Carlton and follows him to the harsh Texas outpost of Sola, where they craft a loving home through poverty and loss, including the stillbirth of their child. Years later, a gusher makes them rich, and a whirlwind of European luxury pulls Ronald into high finance and away from Candis. Lonely, she meets Stephen Trent, while a flirtatious socialite, Gelda Blair, stirs suspicion. When Candis discovers a letter confirming Ronald’s brief, regretted lapse, she leaves him and, briefly considering Trent, recoils from the cheapness of revenge. Ronald confronts Trent, then desperately searches for Candis in vain until he returns to their old Sola shack. There, Candis has also come back, and they recognize that their real enchanted kingdom is not wealth but their enduring love, and they reconcile. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Beatrice of old York

E. A. Taylor

"Beatrice of Old York" by E. A. Taylor is a historical novel written in the early 20th century. Set on both sides of the Atlantic during the War of 1812, it follows spirited Bee Goode (called Beatrice Haslem in England), steadfast young militiaman Ned Edgar, and Bee’s troubled cousin Vere Haslem as family loyalties, national identities, and personal convictions collide. Themes of Methodism versus gentry privilege, duty versus conscience, and British-Canadian resilience frame a fast-moving tale that leads to the American attack on York (Toronto). The opening of the novel introduces Bee’s arrival from Canada to England to live with her autocratic grandfather, Sir John Haslem, where she quickly allies with Ned Edgar, a principled youth raised among Quakers and Methodists, and clashes with her vain cousin Vere. A vivid chapel scene features Private George Ferguson, a devout Irish Methodist whose lay preaching stirs both boys, though only Ned openly commits. War breaks out; Ned’s father summons him to Canada, and an arduous troopship voyage—marked by storm, scarcity, and Ferguson’s calming faith—lands him at Halifax, then Quebec and Kingston, amid news of Detroit and Queenston Heights. In York, Ned joins the militia under his father’s eye, resisting pressure to drink and to renounce his faith, while Bee, Sir John, and Vere arrive as shipbuilding lags. When the American fleet appears off the peninsula, York’s defenders fight along Humber Bay; Ned saves a wounded U.S. officer who proves to be Bee’s brother, Eli, then later carries the wounded Vere to safety as a devastating magazine explosion kills many on both sides. The section closes with York’s surrender and the looting that follows, as Edgar—accused for his ties to Indigenous allies—faces rough justice until Eli publicly attests to his character. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Bacchus; or, wine to-day and to-morrow

P. Morton (Philip Morton) Shand

"Bacchus; or, wine to-day and to-morrow" by P. Morton Shand is a cultural treatise written in the early 20th century. It examines wine’s future in the face of Prohibitionist zeal, mass-production, adulteration, misleading branding, and shifting tastes, arguing for authenticity, terroir, and educated consumption. Mixing satire with scholarship, it critiques fads (from sparkling-at-all-costs to “tonic” and dealcoholised wines), dissects trade practices and laws, and urges readers to value real places, real grapes, and real vintages. The opening of this work launches a spirited attack on Prohibition and Puritanism, defending wine as a civilizing table drink best enjoyed at home and condemning the squalor bred by teetotal dogma. It then identifies the chief threats to quality: over-cropping and high yields, the spread of common hybrids, misuse of revered names, and a public that chases a handful of famous labels. Detailed sections explain type-wines and co-operative blends (illustrated by Margaux), the rise of proprietary “Monopole” brands that dilute regional character, and the legal stakes of appellations of origin. The author surveys legal and illegal manipulations (from chaptalisation to sulphuring), the craze for turning everything sparkling or “tonic,” and the pseudo-solution of non-alcoholic grape-juice. He recounts vine plagues (Oidium, Phylloxera) and the rescue via grafting, then critiques Empire wines for imitation rather than identity, urging them to develop their own names and terroirs. Trade policy and state control models (Scandinavia, Belgium, Canada) are weighed alongside Britain’s lax labelling, with Port and Madeira as rare protected exceptions. Finally, fashion and feminism enter: tastes rise and fall by vogue, Champagne dries to suit the age, and women begin to claim the cellar—while the text needles the era’s pose of preferring “dry” over the quietly persistent love of sweet wines. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Rajan lapset : Kertomus

Signe Stenbäck-Lönnberg

"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. From its opening, it reads as a borderland family drama set on a Karelian farm, following the boy Asko, his parents Hilkka and Gregor, Gregor’s mother Jelisaveta, and Asko’s new lapphund puppy, Nikke. The story foregrounds identity, faith, and inheritance—Orthodox roots versus Lutheran life, parental expectations versus personal longing—against growing unease along the nearby frontier. The opening of the book introduces eight-year-old Asko, who thrills at receiving a lapphund pup, Nikke, as his mother returns home through the winter dusk; in Tyrni’s warm pirtit the puppy skirmishes with the house cat, falls ill, and forges a surprising peace. The focus then widens to Gregor: son of the wandering singer Nikita and the devout Jelisaveta, raised among graves and Orthodox rites, now master of Tyrni through marriage to the commanding Hilkka, yet inwardly torn between homeland, faith, and duty. Night chores reveal his quiet longing and midsummer memory of first love, while the stern former patriarch Jaakko brings generational friction and pride. As summer ripens, fields hum with work, a passing aircraft hints at cross-border ventures, and the gentle monk Isä Iirak arrives; around the table he voices wary compassion for the mounting Aunus fervor, blesses departing youths, and prays for mercy. The section closes as he enters the chapel and Jelisaveta begins a halting confession about love, loss, and the son who has drifted from her ways. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 06 (of 11)

Thomas Hobbes

"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. It likely delivers a fast-paced mystery-thriller of crime and intrigue, with a resourceful protagonist drawn into a perilous conspiracy marked by ominous clues and sudden violence. The opening of the provided text presents a rigorous dialogue between a Philosopher and a Lawyer about the nature of law, reason, and sovereign power. They dispute Sir Edward Coke’s claims about “legal reason,” argue that authority—not mere wisdom—makes law, and weigh statute versus common law and equity. The conversation presses the case for the monarch’s supremacy in legislation, judicature, and control of the militia and revenue, especially in crises, while critiquing parliamentary resistance during the civil wars. It defines justice and property as products of sovereign settlement, distinguishes law from right (obligation from liberty), and contends that equity is the law of reason under the crown. The speakers also survey English courts (King’s Bench, Common Pleas, Chancery, Admiralty), review how errors and judgments are corrected, and cite Bracton and other authorities to reinforce royal prerogative. Overall, the opening is a pointed constitutional debate about obedience, security, and the machinery of English justice. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Leben und Taten des scharfsinnigen Edlen Don Quijote von la Mancha, Erster Band

Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quijote [dɔnkiˈxoːtə] (Aussprache [ˌdoŋ kiˈxɔte] ; Don Quixote [ˌdoŋ kiˈʃɔte] oder [ˌdoŋ kiˈçɔte] in mittelspanischer, Don Quichotte [dɔ̃ kiˈʃɔt] in französischer Orthografie) ist ein Roman von Miguel de Cervantes. Der erste Teil wurde 1605 veröffentlicht, der zweite 1615. Das berühmteste Buch der spanischen Literatur gilt als erster moderner Roman und ist eines der bedeutendsten Werke der Weltliteratur. 2002 wählten es – organisiert vom Osloer Nobelinstitut – hundert bekannte Schriftsteller zum „besten Buch der Welt“. Der vollständige Titel lautet: El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (deutsch: Der sinnreiche Edelmann Don Quijote von der Mancha). Don Quijote ist zugleich der Name des Protagonisten. (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

Poems, Scots and English

John Buchan

Insomnia by Sir James Sawyer is a collection of poems written in the World War I era. The book blends Scots dialect and English verse to explore Scottish rural life, faith, memory, and the shocks of modern war, with classical echoes and ballad tones running throughout. The collection is arranged in two parts, “Scots” and “English.” The Scots poems capture Border voices and scenes: a satiric letter on church controversy, a shepherd’s gruff lament for declining men and sheep, playful domestic refrains, love of the “South Countrie,” and humble reckonings with conscience. Bucolic pastorals recast Theocritus in Lowland speech, and a powerful wartime sequence renders billets, assault, home-leave grief, the steadying ring of a kirk bell, and elegy for fallen friends. The English poems widen the canvas with tributes and landscapes, a pilgrim’s prayer for adventure tempered by moorland peace, songs of the soldier of fortune and the wandering singer, a call out of complacency, the exile’s homesickness at Avignon, a gipsy love-ballad, woodland magic that nods to old gods, a sea captain’s far quest and steadfast love, and light classical epigrams. Together they form a clear, musical homage to place, courage, loss, and the durable consolations of home. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

El proceso

Franz Kafka

El proceso (título original alemán: Der Prozess) es una novela inacabada de Franz Kafka, publicada de manera póstuma en 1925 por Max Brod, basándose en el manuscrito inconcluso de Kafka, escrito entre 1914 y 1915. En el relato, Josef K. es arrestado una mañana por una razón que desconoce. Desde este momento, el protagonista se adentra en una pesadilla para defenderse de algo que nunca se sabe qué es y con argumentos aún menos concretos, tan solo para encontrar, una y otra vez, que las más altas instancias a las que pretende apelar no son sino las más humildes y limitadas, creándose así un clima de inaccesibilidad a la 'justicia' y a la 'ley'. De la novela procede un famoso relato kafkiano, Ante la ley, devenida en la esencia de la 'pesadilla kafkiana'. En él un hombre llegado de lejos pretende cruzar la puerta de la Ley, pero un Guardián se lo impide durante años. En el final, cuando el hombre agoniza, el guardián le grita: "Ninguna otra persona podía haber recibido permiso para entrar por esta puerta, pues esta entrada estaba reservada sólo para ti. Ahora me voy y cierro la puerta". (This summary is from Wikipedia.)

Vanha maininki : Runoja

Aleksanteri Aava

Insomnia by Sir James Sawyer is a collection of lyric poems written in the early 20th century. The book dwells on northern forests and lakes, farm work and hearth life, and the pull of folk memory and myth, turning them into meditations on home, time, love, and death. The poems open with a spring-lit entry into the “house of song,” where feelings quicken into verse, then move to the shore where an old swell from a great lake booms against rock—a living emblem of inherited song and force. Vivid forest scenes follow: a bear rejoices in its power; a fox hunt flashes past in snow; a grandson learns dawn craft and courage beside his old hunter-grandfather. Intimate pieces catch brief human fates—a remembered meeting by a river, three visits to a cottage that end in loss, an old woman calling for death while a girl clings to life, a smoky sauna where folk remedies and rumor shape a newborn’s future, and a roadside tale where a proud lord yields to a timber hauler. A hymn to homeland fields and waters leads into a yearning journey “back,” guided by a maiden over bog to a Kalevala-like hearth, where an elder teaches that a people’s honor lies in building on ancestral work, and a man’s “four brides” are birthplace, kantele, field, and a good companion. The closing poems turn spare and inward: night skiing with a message from a dying beloved, the hush after the “day” has gone, a tribute to Aino, and, finally, the forest’s hymn of upward striving—faith that though one hero falls, new growth carries the shared ideal on. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Green Thursday : stories

Julia Peterkin

Green Thursday by Julia Peterkin is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. Set on a Southern plantation, it follows Black families whose daily lives are shaped by work, weather, faith, and folklore, rendered in lyrical description and rich dialect. Early tales center on figures like the indomitable Maum Hannah, the field hand Killdee, his wife Rose, and the orphaned girl Missie, tracing endurance, loss, and community ritual. The opening of the collection moves from a broad, vivid portrait of the plantation to intimate, character-driven episodes: in Ashes, Maum Hannah is told to leave her cabin for a newcomer’s house; taking a “sign” from God as ashes and fire, she burns the new house and then calmly confesses to the sheriff, who quietly lets her return home. In Green Thursday, Killdee breaks the taboo against working on Ascension Day to save his choked fields; a storm brings his mule colic and, while he struggles outside, his little daughter is fatally burned, after which he and Rose mourn as a new child is being born. In Missie, a ragged girl who brings fatwood chips for bread is taken in by Killdee and Rose; she is scrubbed, shorn of lice, and gently attaches herself to Killdee while learning house tasks. Meeting shows Missie’s first prayer meeting, where an old exhorter warns of death “the stranger,” elders pray fiercely, and the congregation shouts, mingling fear, comfort, and community. Mount Pleasant then sends Rose, Missie, and Maum Hannah by wagon to Sunday preaching, detailing dress, talk, and the slow dignity of arrival at the church. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The way of all earth

Edith Barnard Delano

"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. From its opening, it reads as a taut domestic and social drama centered on Brice Denison and his ambitious wife Anne, whose suburban marriage buckles under money worries, status hunger, and the charm of the well-heeled Ranney Copeland. The scenes of commuter life, country‑club chatter, and carefully staged home rituals frame a clash between steady prudence and risky aspiration. The opening of this novel follows Brice from the evening rush to his modest home, where Anne arrives with the affluent Ranney, foreshadowing tension. Over dinner and afterward, Brice reveals hopes for a promotion while Anne presses for social advancement, gambling at bridge, and “knowing the right people,” including Ranney, who flirts and sends costly flowers. Anne’s display of sophistication at the country club contrasts with Brice’s desire for a simple, “cozy” home life; she soon lets Ranney whisk her to a roadhouse lunch and, chafing at limits, secretly gives him $4,000 from their joint account to “invest.” When Brice learns of her day with Ranney and finds the money gone just as he needs to pay insurance and bills, their fight turns raw, with Anne hinting she could choose Ranney. She then removes herself to a friend’s house for several days, returns to an empty home, and, increasingly panicked, goes to Brice’s office—only to learn he has abruptly resigned after being unable to buy firm stock tied to his hoped‑for promotion. Stunned, she turns to a friend for help as the marital and financial crisis deepens. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

La rive d'Asie

Claude Anet

"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. It unfolds as a reflective, first-person portrait of a young Frenchman’s awakening to desire and love, moving from bucolic adolescence to Parisian and seaside encounters. The narrator, Philippe, wrestles with timidity, mounting passions, and ideals as he navigates friendships, a formative affair, and a consuming fascination with a married woman. The tone is sensuous and introspective, dwelling on youth, sexuality, and the molding of a romantic temperament. The opening of the story follows an adolescent narrator raised in the countryside, tormented by early sensual fever yet tender with girls his age, especially the neighbor Henriette Maure and her cousin Gertrude. After a summer of flirtations and parting, he realizes he loves Henriette, but a trip to the spa with his mother leads to a clandestine initiation by the worldly Comtesse de Francheret, which he pointedly separates from his idealized love. Returning in late summer, he struggles to reach Henriette through a watchful suitor and Gertrude’s constant presence, until a moonlit walk breaks the stalemate and grants the lovers a brief, rapturous week before she departs—and later marries another. In Paris, he drifts through studies and affairs without love, observes society, and befriends the Saint-Aignans, all while seeking a grand passion. His heart stirs again when he encounters a woman with unforgettable periwinkle eyes, Mme de Sées; he patiently penetrates her reserved, provincial circle, converses about faith and morals, and engineers proximity in Normandy. By the end of this opening portion, he has become an intimate visitor and, on the verge of a fuller avowal, is carefully advancing a slow, strategic courtship. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Le vrai bonheur : ou, Les amants de Stresa

Henri de Régnier

Insomnia by Sir James Sawyer is a literary novella written in the early 20th century. It examines the lure and fragility of happiness, tracing how a woman, buoyed by fortune‑telling and hope, believes she has found perfect joy in a love that defies convention. A reflective narrator recalls meeting Germaine de Gaillandre, a refined Parisian widow, anxious and superstitious, who clings to charms and the forecasts of a discreet seer, Mme Quittenard. After the narrator’s absence, he learns from a dandyish acquaintance and a painter, Massot, that Germaine has fallen for the breathtakingly beautiful Jean de Querdrun, a youth she met in Massot’s studio. Visiting them in Stresa on Lake Maggiore, the narrator sees Germaine blissful and transformed, while Jean—gentle, vain, and fond of silks and her jewels—accepts adoration with childlike ease. Two years later Germaine returns to Paris in shock: Jean has vanished overnight with her finest pieces, including her beloved pearls. Mme Quittenard’s civil‑servant son traces Jean to his Latin Quarter room, where he surrenders the jewels in tears—especially the pearls—and bluntly says he left because he’d “had enough,” intending to finish law and wed a local girl. The tale closes on the seer’s dry consolation: Germaine had three years of perfect happiness—and, at least, she recovered her necklace. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The work of the War Refugees Committee : An address given by Lady Lugard to the Royal Society of Arts, March 24th, 1915

Flora L. (Flora Louisa) Shaw

Insomnia by Sir James Sawyer is a public address and organizational account written in the World War I era. It presents a humanitarian effort in Britain, explaining how volunteers and public institutions mobilized to receive, house, and support a sudden influx of Belgian refugees. The likely topic is the rapid creation of a nationwide relief network, its departments and hostels, and the evolving policies that guided refugee care and employment. The text recounts how an initial plan for evacuating civilians in Ireland inspired the swift formation of the War Refugees Committee, with cross-denominational backing, Foreign Office support, and Belgian government coordination. It describes the overwhelming public response—offers of homes, funds, clothing, and volunteer labor—followed by the rapid setup of key departments for correspondence, transport, allocation, clothing, and local committees, and the leadership that coordinated them. Early chapters dwell on the harrowing experiences of the first arrivals and the immediate relief provided, then on government-run refuges such as Alexandra Palace and Earl’s Court that scaled shelter, feeding, and sanitation. After the fall of Antwerp the committee managed immense daily flows, matching families to hosts and moving thousands by rail. As arrivals changed from rural to urban populations, policy shifted from pure hospitality toward employment via labour bureaux and recruiting offices, while new needs among professional and propertied refugees were met through “gratuitous hotels,” furnished flats, and targeted grants. Further sections outline education placements, health services, a dispensary, and a “Missing Relatives” bureau, all sustained by a large volunteer force, and close with a pledge to maintain support until repatriation becomes possible. (This is an automatically generated summary.)