Excerpt from Hugo: A Fantasia on Modern Themes
He wakened from a charming dream, in which the hat had played a conspicuous part.
'I shouldn't mind having that hat, ' he murmured.
A darkness which no eye could penetrate surrounded him as he lay in bed. Absolute obscurity was essential to the repose of that singular brain, and he had perfected arrangements for supplying the deficiencies of Nature's night.
He touched a switch, and in front of him at a distance of thirty feet the ivory dial of a clock became momentarily visible under the soft yellow of a shaded electric globe. It...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute...

"Leonara" from Arnold Bennett. English writer (1867-1931).

" ...]experienced an ordeal to which she ought not to have been exposed and to which no girl ought to have been exposed. Miss Grig again It was Miss Grig, not Felix, who had sneered at hold-ups. There had been no hold-up, but there might have been a hold-up, and, in any case, she had passed through the worst sensations of a hold-up. Scandalous Anxious to be effective, she took up the typing of a novel which had been sent in by one of their principal customers, a literary agency, and tried to tap as prosaically as if the hour were 11.30 A.M. instead of 11.30 P.M. Bravado She knew that she...

"Judith" from Arnold Bennett. English writer (1867-1931).

"Over There" from Arnold Bennett. English writer (1867-1931).

"Tales of the Five Towns" from Arnold Bennett. English writer (1867-1931).

"Mr Prohack" from Arnold Bennett. English writer (1867-1931).

Excerpt from Sacred and Profane Love: A Play in Four Acts, Founded Upon the Novel of the Same Name
Mrs. Joicey and Louisa are talking together. A faint knocking is heard from the front door on the ground floor.
Mrs. Joicey. Bless us Here they come Now don't spill the lemonade. And do run down and open the door.
Louisa. Oh Begins to remove her apron.]
Mrs. Joicey. What are you taking that apron off for, Louisa?
Louisa. All the work's done. Why should I pretend to be a servant when I'm your sister?
Mrs. Joicey. Louisa, have I got to begin that all over again? A nice...

Excerpt from Mental Efficiency: And Other Hints to Men and Women
If there is any virtue in advertisements-and a journalist should be the last person to say that there is not-the American nation is rapidly reaching a state of physical efficiency of which the world has probably not seen the like since Sparta. In all the American newspapers and all the American monthlies are innumerable illustrated announcements of "physical-culture specialists," who guarantee to make all the organs of the body perform their duties with the mighty precision of a 60 h.p. motor-car that never breaks down....