"Toinen rakkaus" by Paul Bourget is a novel written in the late 19th century. It is a psychologically acute study of love, weariness, and conscience centered on Elie Laurence, a disillusioned young diplomat who becomes entangled with Claire de Velde and her lover Gérard Lairesse in Parisian high society. The narrative probes a delicate triangle where friendship, desire, and moral duty collide, examining the cost of “second love” against social judgment and inner truth. The opening of this novel first sketches Bourget’s career and method—his meticulous psychological analysis of the elite—then begins Elie Laurence’s story: after a duel abroad derails his career, he returns to Paris and confronts a profound spiritual ennui born of trivial affairs and empty routine. He unexpectedly meets Gérard Lairesse, once scandalously eloped with the dignified Claire Audry (now Claire de Velde), and is invited to their home. Elie notes subtle signs of distance between the pair—separate rhythms, awkward meals, mismatched interests—while Claire’s reserved grace and quiet sadness captivate him. Drawn to her afternoon solitude, he becomes a daily visitor, their conversations deepening into a tender, avowed “friendship.” A pivotal evening finds Claire in despair; shared sympathy binds them, and Elie realizes he loves her even as he vows to remain only a friend out of loyalty to Gérard. The segment closes with Elie’s growing jealousy and his clear sense that Gérard stays with Claire less from passion than from duty, setting the stage for the novel’s central emotional conflict. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Ristimiekka by Jussi Snellman" is a collection of lyric poems written in the early 20th century. The book meditates on spiritual struggle and redemption, the ache of love and solitude, and the pull of nature and conscience against the noise of modern life. The opening sequence frames a moral transformation as a killing sword becomes a blessing cross, then moves through prayers from darkness, visions of stars and hell, and images of withering trees and waterlilies torn between roots and sun. A central cluster of love poems swings between rapture and remorse: ecstatic meetings by shore and forest path, sleepless waiting, erotic abandon that still longs for the beloved’s soul, and parting as two currents drift to opposite banks. Spring poems widen the view to freedom and flight, a caged swan’s yearning, hymns to creation, and portraits of an idealist who rejects violence, a serene grandmother, and an artist whose marble dreams outshine a corrupt world. Summer brings playful and satiric pieces about haste, voyeurism, drink, and human vanity, before the voice turns inward again to say that each of us is crucified in some way. The final section follows a seeker who pleads for truth, receives a quiet commission to bear light, contemplates Gandhi’s nonviolent courage, and ends in a humble, encompassing prayer. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The three sphinxes, and other poems by George Sylvester Viereck" is a collection of lyric and dramatic poems written in the early 20th century. The book probes the tensions between erotic desire and spiritual idealism, drawing on myth, religion, and modern psychology to meditate on love, art, faith, and mortality. An opening essay frames the poems as “complexes” revolving around Eros, Jesus, Lilith, and Eve. The title poem stages a dialogue in the desert where facets of Love confront the sacred and the bestial; elsewhere, terse pieces weigh fate and biology, while longer monologues and ballads reimagine biblical and cultural figures to test moral codes. A fierce credo reduces human certainties to appetite and death; a visit from Christ to a Puritan town rebukes joyless piety; Faust tires of heaven and hell while yearning to fuse Helen and Marguerite; Eve speaks the long suffering of women; and tributes, elegies, and city-visions praise the stubborn life of art. Across love lyrics, satires, and visionary psalms, the collection moves between ecstasy and disenchantment, ending in stark addresses to God and man’s frail, defiant will. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The golden pool : A story of a forgotten mine" by R. Austin Freeman is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Richard Englefield, a weary English bank clerk who seizes a chance to ship out as purser on the brig Lady Jane and is drawn into West African trading, local legends, and hints of hidden gold. Guided and sometimes misled by sailors, merchants, and colonials—including Captain Bithery and the dignified trader Pereira—he stumbles on stories of a sacred treasure and a “forgotten” mine that promise peril and discovery. The opening of the story traces how a misplaced matchbox leads Englefield into a tavern brawl, a hasty rescue of a surly shipmaster, and an impulsive offer to sail as purser to the West African coast. After a fair voyage, he helps establish trade at Quittah, learning the rhythms of buying and selling palm oil, rubber, and copra, while hearing unsettling tales: a Hausa merchant’s talk of a king’s treasure house and “many blind men,” and Pereira’s account of fetish-guarded gold at the Aboasi pool. A Sunday trip inland reveals a mission graveyard and a scarred, eyeless Krepi man who seems a former Ashanti slave, deepening the mystery. Sent down the coast to Adena, Englefield meets the smooth Olympio, endures a fiery local feast, and in a secret compartment of an old sea chest discovers the faded journal of Captain Barnabas Hogg—an artifact that hints his own quest is only beginning. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Fools and mules : [A Shorty McKay story] by Ray Humphreys" is a Western short story written in the early 20th century. Set in the snowbound Sangre de Cristo mountains near Monte Vista, it centers on a perilous winter payroll run and a run-in with a notorious road agent. The likely topic is a frontier adventure that blends danger, irony, and rough humor to test a deputy’s judgment and highlight the surprising worth of a mule. Shorty McKay is tasked with carrying a mine’s payroll through deep snow; he rejects a mule for his trusted horse, Lobo Loco. On a narrow, icy trail he’s held up by Buck Bancroft, who rides a huge white mule, and is forced to ride that mule, bound and captive. A sudden avalanche sweeps Shorty and the mule into a snow pocket, while Lobo Loco turns back, bolts to town, and—by scraping the dozing outlaw off in a stable—delivers Bancroft and the recovered cash to the sheriff. Stranded and helpless, Shorty survives the night as the mule’s relentless braying guides Sheriff Cook’s rescue party to their hidden perch. Humbled, Shorty admits his mistake about “fools and mules,” insists the mule be saved first, and concedes that in a pinch the mule’s noise and stamina were the difference between life and death. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Tarutarha by Larin-Kyösti" is a collection of children’s poems written in the early 20th century. The book blends fairy-tale fantasy, Finnish folklore, and everyday rural life, offering lullabies, play-songs, letters in verse, seasonal pieces, and moral fables for young readers. Across short, melodic poems, a small girl resists a witch’s lure and runs home, a boy and his loyal dog brave make-believe dangers, and lively portraits of children—Irja, Liisa, Niilo, and Anni—show games, chores, letters to parents, and earnest prayers. House and sauna spirits (tonttu) fuss over family order and kind behavior; carols and star-processions bring Christmas awe; a street musician’s song hints at loneliness and hope; and a closing fable pits a sly raven against a wary dove to warn against flattery and deceit. Nature, home, and imagination weave through the pieces, gently guiding children toward courage, kindness, and the comfort of family. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Elettyjä pikkuseikkailuja" by Knut Hamsun is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The pieces are autobiographical vignettes of “lived little adventures,” shifting from American prairies and Parisian boulevards to a stark Norwegian parish. A frank, restless first-person narrator observes fear, crowds, work, and the uncanny with sharp sensory detail and dry humor. Readers get atmospheric snapshots rather than a single plot, anchored by the narrator’s roaming life. The opening of the collection first offers a compact biographical sketch of the author’s life and major works, then moves into several first-person episodes. In “Pelkoa,” the narrator recalls a night in Madelia on the American prairie when intruders break into a house, triggering overwhelming terror as he bluffs them off with a single bullet. “Muuan katuvallankumous” recreates Paris street unrest in the 1890s, from barricades and smashed lamps to scuffles with police and soldiers, mixing menace with absurdity (an umbrella “confiscated” because “it’s a revolution”). “Aave” returns to a northern childhood: after pocketing a tooth from a graveyard, the boy is haunted for years by a red-bearded apparition with a missing tooth. “Vehnäaavikolla” sketches grueling harvest work on the Red River wheat plains, the eccentric Irishman Evans, a snake slipping into a Swede’s boot, and the raucous post‑payday spree where Evans borrows the narrator’s wallet to gamble, then regains control and wins back money. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

A knife in time by Ray Humphreys is a Western short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on frontier mule-skinning, workplace rivalry, and a public wagon-race where a scorned driver’s knife and nerve become crucial. Tom Morgan, a slight but gifted mule skinner, is mocked by fellow teamsters for wearing a sheath knife, despite the wagon boss McCarthy valuing his skill. When the Q B outfit brings five polished hitches to a rodeo race overseen by the owner, Ashton, the event turns dangerous: Ashton’s borrowed sorrel mule bolts, dragging him by a caught stirrup straight into the path of the racing wagons. Morgan leaps from his seat, scrambles along his moving hitch, mounts a leader, and slices that mule free to chase the runaway. His driverless team collides with another, killing a mule and injuring a driver, but Morgan presses on, transfers to the sorrel at speed, and cuts Ashton loose just in time. In the aftermath, Morgan explains he carries the knife after once losing mules he might have saved; Ashton, grateful and alive, ends the crew’s prejudice and promotes Morgan to assistant wagon boss. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Error''s chains : How forged and broken : A comparative history of the…" by Frank S. Dobbins is a comparative religious history written in the late 19th century. Aimed at general readers and richly illustrated, it surveys how humanity moved from an original monotheism into nature-worship, polytheism, and idolatry across civilizations, contrasting these with Christianity. Drawing on sacred texts, folklore, archaeology, and travel accounts, it traces global beliefs, myths, and rituals to show how “error” was forged and how it might be remedied. The opening of the work sets out its popular purpose, sources, and scope, then argues that humanity began with one God and later declined into many gods and idols. The preface promises a readable, illustrated tour of world religions, credits scholarly helpers, and states a Christian aim: to heighten appreciation for biblical faith and concern for the “heathen” world. Chapter I presents two witnesses for an original unity—an “old record” (Genesis) and the kinship of languages—then uses comparative folklore (the “Master Thief” cycle in Norse, Egyptian, Hindu, Spanish, and Scottish variants) to argue for a common cultural origin before the dispersion from Babel; it also notes widespread “golden age” memories and traces of a supreme deity. Chapter II explains the transition from monotheism to nature-worship and personification of the elements, quotes early hymns (Varuna, Indra, Agni, Surya) and prayers, and sketches how idols likely arose (from aids to devotion and sacred stones to animal and human forms like teraphim, Dagon, and serpent images). Chapter III begins compiling creation and flood traditions—from Chaldean Xisuthrus and Hindu Manu to Chinese Fuh-he, Mexican Coxcox/Tezpi, Fijian and North American tales, and Greek Deucalion—using their shared contours to reinforce the biblical narrative, and it moves toward the Babel story as the next link. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Three essays" by Thomas Mann is a collection of essays written in the early 20th century. The volume examines towering figures and ideas—chiefly Goethe and Tolstoy, but also Frederick the Great and an occult episode—to probe how art, culture, power, and belief shape human life. Expect comparative criticism, historical reflection, and personal insight rather than narrative fiction. The opening of the book presents the essay “Goethe and Tolstoy,” beginning with an anecdote about a Weimar schoolmaster who glimpsed Goethe in youth and, decades later, unknowingly hosted Tolstoy in his classroom—an encounter used to justify juxtaposing the two. From there, the author develops a wide-ranging comparison that treats the “and” between their names as a principled contrast, weighing questions of rank and “godlike” charisma, their shared Rousseauian inheritance (nature, education, confession), and the polarity of nature versus spirit, classic versus romantic, health versus disease, and freedom versus necessity. Goethe and Tolstoy are paired as children of nature and creation, set against Schiller and Dostoyevsky as champions of spirit and critique; this frames Tolstoy’s lifelong struggle to renounce nature for moral rigor, his crises and illnesses, and parallel moments in Goethe’s career. The section surveys their attitudes toward art, music, and society, evokes the pilgrim magnetism of Weimar and Yasnaya Polyana, notes their aristocratic bearing, and closes mid-argument as it contrasts Tolstoy’s sensuous realism with Dostoyevsky’s visionary idealism and revisits Goethe’s poised acceptance of necessity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"The Arctic legions by A. De Herries Smith" is a pulp adventure short story written in the early 20th century. The story centers on a Mountie and the dangerous prisoner he’s captured, stranded amid a vast caribou migration on the Barren Lands, where their standoff becomes a brutal test of will, cunning, and survival against nature’s relentless tide. Corporal Conroy, injured and disarmed, faces Yeyik, the Yellowknife killer, on a boulder as millions of caribou thunder past. Yeyik taunts him with a stolen Colt while both men fray under the maddening click of hooves. Conroy needles the vain hunter into firing into the herd; Yeyik leaps onto a deer, and Conroy dives after him, the pair swallowed by the stampede. Fighting through the chaos, Conroy wrests control, hauls Yeyik back to safety, and waits as wolves arrive, signaling the migration’s end. With the danger passed, he reclaims the gun, disarms the prisoner, and marches him toward the post across the suddenly silent Barrens. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Der Liebe Lust und Leid der Frau zur Frau" by Emilie Knopf is an erotic novel written in the late 19th century. The work examines women’s same-sex desire within fashionable society, following the refined narrator Felicita and her captivating beloved Edita as admiration blossoms into passion, jealousy, and self-justification. Framed as a caution against excess while reveling in allure, it blends confession, romance, and social scandal. The opening of the novel juxtaposes a press report about the book’s obscenity case with a preface that invokes Sappho and casts the narrative as a warning about misdirected “women’s love.” The story then introduces Felicita, a wealthy aesthete who meets Edita at a masquerade ball; their intense friendship swiftly becomes a love affair, celebrated in art and private moments. At a seaside resort Felicita is tempted by Comtesse Eugénie, provoking Edita’s hurt and a reconciliation that culminates at Edita’s Rhine castle, where their bond deepens. Travel to Italy leads them into an aristocratic “ladies’ night” of voyeurism and indulgence, where Edita playfully stokes Felicita’s jealousy before restoring harmony. On the return through Tyrol they befriend a singer and an industrialist’s wife, overhearing a transactional liaison that the narrator views with distaste. Back home the pair devote themselves to painting and music, receive pupils, and later welcome the Venetian Marchesa and her companion—where the excerpt ends. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Sämtliche Werke 21 : Der Spieler. Der ewige Gatte : Zwei Romane" by Dostoyevsky is a collection of two novels written in the late 19th century. The volume couples a tale of gambling fever and romantic obsession at a European spa with a stark psychological study of jealousy and humiliation. In the first, a young Russian tutor is drawn to the roulette table and to the proud Polina amid a circle of schemers and pretenders; in the second, a haunted widower confronts a former rival. Across both, money, pride, and desire strip away social veneers among émigré Russians abroad. The opening of Der Spieler follows Alexei, tutor to a Russian General’s family, as he rejoins them in Roulettenburg, where they posture as wealthy while quietly awaiting an inheritance from the ailing “Babushka.” The General dazzles and borrows, a slick French “marquis” and the calculating Mademoiselle Blanche circle, and the shy Englishman Mr. Astley silently adores Polina. Alexei’s charged, unequal bond with Polina dominates: she commands him to gamble for her, and he first wins a tidy sum, then rashly loses everything, even as he grows convinced he will surely win when playing for himself. Between tense dinners and nationalist spats, Alexei studies the casino’s rituals, the genteel pose versus plebeian hunger, and the household’s dependence on news of the old woman’s death. Polina hints at urgent debts and presses him for more money, while Alexei’s pride, passion, and fatalism harden into a vow to test his luck alone. The section ends with their strained exchange hanging in the air and the roulette wheel looming as his chosen fate. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Cap al tard : Poesies by Joan Alcover" is a collection of lyric and elegiac poems written in the early 20th century. The book explores Mallorcan landscapes and folk life, personal grief and faith, and a renewed sense of Catalan cultural identity. The poems first celebrate the Serra de Tramuntana and the sea, giving voice to hermits, pines, sirens, and a captive vulture to reflect on freedom, destiny, and the island’s soul. Pastoral scenes of villages and coves shift into moral and spiritual meditations, as a traveler finds refuge in an hermitage and the quiet is broken by an execution. The Elegies dwell on bells, childhood gardens, longing, and desolation, culminating in a dialogue with the Muse that turns private mourning—especially for lost children—into art and prayer. The book embraces the native tongue and history, honoring medieval valor in a poem of the cross, greeting Catalonia across the sea, and kindling a collective awakening in the vision of “the spark.” Addresses to fellow artists and island scenes add portraits of contemporary culture and place. The final section gathers youthful pieces of love and devotion and concludes with a visionary homage to Ramon Llull, binding nature, memory, sorrow, and hope into a single, resonant voice. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Through Keeweenaw by Keith Henney" is a nautical short story written in the early 20th century. Set on the Great Lakes, it blends maritime realism with a subtle supernatural edge, focusing on a fogbound approach to the Portage Lake Canal and a captain haunted by past losses. The likely topic is a tense passage through fog where grief, superstition, and wireless technology intersect. A radio operator narrates as a new skipper, Captain Trinder, takes command of the steamer Chippewa after years of avoiding the canal where his wife drowned and long after losing his grandson in another wreck. Fascinated by the idea that the dead might speak through radio, Trinder presses on into thick fog near the canal entrance, where the foghorn’s direction proves unreliable and the ship edges dangerously close to the breakwater. At the crisis, the operator receives a strange signal—“SSE… SSE, Anna”—which the captain treats as guidance; steering south-southeast, they pass a small boat named Anna and slip safely into the channel, arriving only slightly late. Though the signal likely came from that craft’s call letters, the captain believes his wife sent it, and the tale ends on an ambiguous note between coincidence and faith. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Us, and our charge" by Amy Le Feuvre is a children''s novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Grisel Marjoribanks and her siblings—Denys, Aylwin, Lynette, and little Puff—newly orphaned rector’s children who move from their English rectory to their stern Scottish grandfather’s seaside home, trying to live by their father’s last words, “Hold fast.” Blending family drama, seaside adventure, and gentle Christian moral purpose, it explores grief, loyalty, and courage as the children test rules, make friends, and find their place in a new household. The opening of the story traces the children’s bereavement and upheaval: after their father dies, a kind lawyer reveals an estranged grandfather who offers them a home at Bantock Hall. Narrator Grisel records their anxious journey north, a chilly first meeting with the gouty Colonel Noble and aloof Aunt Isobel, and a tussle over independence versus being treated like “nursery” children. The coast becomes their refuge: a comic escape with the old cart leads to the daring rescue of lively Pat Douglas using the carriage reins, then a sudden scare when Pat’s empty sailboat is found drifting; that night Denys and Aylwin spot a bonfire on the offshore islands, reach Pat stranded in a cave at high tide, and bring him home injured but alive. Alongside these adventures, Puff wins over “Gruffy” (grandfather), and Grisel frames the family’s resolve around their father’s charge to “hold fast.” (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Jock with Mousie" by Agnes Giberne is a children''s novel written in the early 20th century. It follows sensitive, spirited Jock Munro, left in England with his grandmother and strict Aunt Judith when his mother sails to India, as he befriends the impulsive Phœbe “Mousie” Moore and learns hard lessons about obedience, truthfulness, and growing up. Set in a village world of curates, great houses, and childhood adventures, it blends warmth with moral guidance. The opening of the story introduces Jock’s close bond with his mother, his eighth birthday, and the blow that she must join his father in India without him, sending Jock to live with Grannie and Aunt Judith. After a kind journey under Mr. Royle’s care, Jock settles into village life, meets the lively Moore family, and becomes fast friends with Mousie. Mousie lures him “out of bounds” to a pond in a private wood; Jock bruises his arm, Artie briefly goes missing, and the children sneak home, keeping the escapade secret. When Aunt Judith questions him, Jock won’t betray Mousie and is accused of lying; he nearly writes a distressing letter to his mother but is steadied by Captain Royle’s counsel to take responsibility. He accepts punishment, is comforted by Grannie, and life moves on toward spring, schoolroom prizes, and a tentative easing of tensions as his new world takes shape. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Aamuruskon siivillä : Runosäkeistöjä by Waldemar Piha" is a collection of lyric poetry written in the early 20th century. The poems revolve around the tension between darkness and light, the cycles of nature and the seasons, inward longing and faith, and the shaping forces of homeland, myth, and memory. The book moves from existential wandering to renewal. After an opening on the traveler’s uncertain path, the first section sinks into night, storm, and mortality while guarding a stubborn spark of hope. The sonnets turn to longing, battle and fear (Ares), the forest’s hidden springs, parents and inheritance, and a tragic echo of Aino. Muinaisuus looks back to antiquity and legend (Aphrodite), sketches a homeless prince and the quiet step of Death, then circles home to birthplace, childhood, and a prophetic voice that exalts steadfastness. In the final section, spring breaks the ice: waters loosen, light ascends, the human spirit kindles, sea sunrise and moonlit forest enlarge the gaze, and the title poem greets dawn’s wings; symbols like the lily, hymns to happiness, and a closing “Resurrection” seal the arc from wintered despair to liberated, luminous resolve. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Korpi liikkuu : Yksinäytöksinen näytelmä by Kaarle Halme" is a one-act play written in the early 20th century. It dramatizes the awakening of working-class consciousness in a small industrial community, focusing on labor rights, workplace injustice, and the pushback against corporate power. The play unfolds in the blacksmith Perttu’s home, where news rolls in: wages have been cut, the factory wants to buy the family’s land, and the foreman Huikari has harassed Lyyli, Antti’s fiancée. Antti defends her and soon both he and Perttu are dismissed—ostensibly for insubordination and agitation after a workers’ meeting. Mikko, the local landowner and Lyyli’s uncle, refuses to sell the land to the factory. Huikari arrives proposing a “settlement” that would reinstate the men if agitation stops and the land sale proceeds, but Antti rejects the terms and demands Huikari’s removal. Heljo, a young machinist, brings word that the workers have gathered, approved firm resolutions, and stand united. The act ends with renewed resolve and the hopeful refrain that “the forest moves,” a metaphor for a community stirring to collective action. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

"Four American poets : William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John…." by Sherwin Cody is a collection of biographical sketches written in the late 19th century. Aimed at young readers, it presents the lives and signature works of Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, and Holmes in an uplifting, instructive tone. The focus is on character, industry, patriotism, and a cultivated love of nature and poetry. The opening of the volume frames the series’ purpose for “young Americans,” then devotes a full, readable life of William Cullen Bryant: a primer on loving Nature (with an extended look at his “Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood”), his Puritan New England childhood, early verses and “The Embargo,” the rediscovery and publication of “Thanatopsis,” a reluctant turn to law, and his defining career as editor of the New York Evening Post, including his disciplined habits, public principles, travels, prosperity, and later honors; it closes with practical guidance on how to appreciate his poems. It then turns to Henry W. Longfellow, tracing his Portland ancestry and boyhood, first publications, the local color behind “My Lost Youth,” Bowdoin days alongside Hawthorne, his early professorships, marriage and bereavement, the move to Cambridge and the Craigie House, and the convivial “Five of Clubs,” ending as his Cambridge circle and literary life come into view. (This is an automatically generated summary.)