| | 361 | Author: | Grahame, Kenneth | Add | | | Title: | Dream Days  | | | | Published: | 1994 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN the matter of general culture and attainments, we
youngsters stood on pretty level ground. True, it was always
happening that one of us would be singled out at any moment,
freakishly, and without regard to his own preferences, to wrestle
with the inflections of some idiotic language long rightly dead;
while another, from some fancied artistic tendency which always
failed to justify itself, might be told off without warning to
hammer out scales and exercises, and to bedew the senseless keys
with tears of weariness or of revolt. But in subjects common to
either sex, and held to be
necessary even for him whose ambition soared no higher than to
crack a whip in a circus-ring—in geography, for instance,
arithmetic, or the weary doings of kings and queens—each would
have scorned to excel. And, indeed, whatever our individual
gifts, a general dogged determination to shirk and to evade kept
us all at much the same dead level,—a level of ignorance
tempered by insubordination. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 362 | Author: | Grahame, Kenneth | Add | | | Title: | The Golden Age | | | | Published: | 1994 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | LOOKING back to those days of old, ere the
gate shut behind me, I can see now that to
children with a proper equipment of parents
these things would have worn a different
aspect. But to those whose nearest were
aunts and uncles, a special attitude of mind
may be allowed. They treated us, indeed,
with kindness enough as to the needs of the
flesh, but after that with indifference (an
indifference, as I recognise, the result of a
certain stupidity), and therewith the
commonplace conviction that your child is
merely animal. At a very early age I
remember realising in a quite impersonal and
kindly way the existence of that stupidity,
and its tremendous influence in the world;
while there grew up in me, as in the parallel
case of Caliban upon Setebos, a vague sense
of a ruling power, wilful and freakish, and
prone to the practice of vagaries—"just
choosing so"; as, for instance, the giving
of authority over us
to these hopeless and incapable creatures,
when it might far more reasonably have been
given to ourselves over them. These elders,
our betters by a trick of chance, commanded
no respect, but only a certain blend of
envy — of their good luck — and pity — for their
inability to make use of it. Indeed, it was
one of the most hopeless features in their
character (when we troubled ourselves to
waste a thought on them: which wasn't often)
that, having absolute licence to indulge in
the pleasures of life, they could get no good
of it. They might dabble in the pond all
day, hunt the chickens, climb trees in the
most uncompromising Sunday clothes; they were
free to issue forth and buy gunpowder in the
full eye of the sun — free to fire cannons and
explode mines on the lawn: yet they never did
any one of these things. No irresistible
Energy haled them to church o' Sundays; yet
they went there regularly of their own
accord, though they betrayed no greater
delight in the experience than ourselves. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 363 | Author: | Grahame, Kenneth | Add | | | Title: | The Wind in the Willows | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters;
then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of
whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes
of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary
arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below
and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house
with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small
wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor,
said `Bother!'
and `O blow!' and also `Hang spring-cleaning!'
and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his
coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he
made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to
the gravelled carriage-drive owned by animals whose residences
are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and
scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled
and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws
and muttering to himself, `Up we go! Up we go!' till at last,
pop! his snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself
rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 367 | Author: | Grinnell, George Bird | Add | | | Title: | The Indian on the Reservation | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | WHEN an Indian tribe had given up fighting, surrendered to the
whites, and taken up a reservation life, its position was that of a group
of men in the stone age of development, suddenly brought into contact
with modern methods, and required on the instant to renounce all they
had ever been taught and all they had inherited; to alter their practices of
life, their beliefs, and their ways of thought; and to conform to manners
and ways representing the highest point reached by civilization. It is
beyond the power of our imagination to grasp the actual meaning to any
people of such a condition of things. History records no similar case
with which we can compare it. And if it is hard for us to comprehend
such a situation, what must it have been for the savage to understand it,
and, still more, to act it out? | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 369 | Author: | Grinnell, George Bird | Add | | | Title: | The Wild Indian | | | | Published: | 1994 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IF after a long period the Indian problem remains a problem still,
it is because we have no sufficient knowledge of the people we are
striving to teach. The solution of the problem is not to be reached until
the stronger race shall understand the weaker, and, in the light of that
understanding, shall deal with it wisely and well. I say this with the
more confidence because for many years I have lived with the plains
people in their homes, engaging in their pursuits, sharing their joys and
sorrows, standing toward them in all essentials as one of themselves. I
have thus learned to think and feel as an Indian thinks and feels, and to
see things as he sees them and from his point of view. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 370 | Author: | Gronniosaw, James Albert Ukawsaw | Add | | | Title: | A narrative of the most remarkable particulars in the life of
James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African prince, written by
himself. | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | I WAS born in the city of Baurnou, my mother was the eldest daughter of the
reigning King there. I was the youngest of six children, and particularly
loved by my mother, and my grand-father almost doated on me. I had,
from my infancy, a curious turn of mind ; was more grave and
reserved, in my disposition, than either of my brothers and sisters, I
often teazed them with questions they could not answer ; for which
reason they disliked me, as they supposed that I was either foolish or
insane. 'T was certain that I was, at times, very unhappy in myself : It
being strongly impressed on my mind that there was some GREAT
MAN of power which resided above the sun, moon and stars, the
objects of our worship. — My dear, indulgent mother would bear
more with me than any of my friends beside. — I often raised
my hand to heaven, and asked her who lived there ?
Was much dissatisfied when she told me the sun, moon and stars, being
persuaded, in my own mind, that there must be some SUPERIOR
POWER. — I was
frequently lost in wonder at the works of the creation : Was afraid, and
uneasy, and restless, but could not tell for what. I wanted to be
informed of things that no person could tell me ; and was always
dissatisfied. — These wonderful impressions began in my
childhood, and followed me continually till I left my parents, which
affords me matter of admiration and thankfulness. To this moment I
grew more and more uneasy every day, insomuch that one Saturday
(which is the day on which we kept our sabbath) I laboured under
anxieties and fears that cannot be expressed ; and, what is more
extraordinary, I could not give a reason for it. — I rose, as our
custom is, about three o'clock (as we are obliged to be at our place of
worship an hour before the sun rise) we say nothing in our worship, but
continue on our knees with our hands held up, observing a strict silence
till the sun is at a certain height, which I suppose to be about 10 or 11
o'clock in England : When, at a certain sign made
by the Priest, we get up (our duty being over) and disperse to our
different houses. — Our place of meeting is under a large palm
tree ; we divide ourselves into many congregations ; as it is impossible
for the same tree to cover the inhabitants of the whole city, though they
are extremely large, high and majestic ; the beauty and usefulness of
them are not to be described ; they supply the inhabitants of the country
with meat, drink and clothes ; * the body of
the palm tree is very large ; at a certain season of the year they tap it,
and bring vessels to receive the wine, of which they draw great
quantities, the quality of which is very delicious : The leaves of this
tree are of a silky nature ; they are large and soft ; when they are dried
and pulled to pieces, it has much the same appearance as the English
flax, and the inhabitants of BOURNOU manufacture it for clothing,
&c. This tree likewise produces a plant, or substance, which has
the appearance of a cabbage, and very like it, in taste almost the same :
It grows between the branches. Also the palm tree produces a nut,
something like a cocoa, which contains a kernel, in which is a
large quantity of milk, very pleasant to the taste : The shell is of a hard
substance, and of a very beautiful appearance, and serves for basons,
bowls, &c. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 371 | Author: | Hadden, Jeffrey | Add | | | Title: | The Electronic Churches | | | | Published: | 2003 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | In recent years the
electronic church has become a source of great controversy.
The initial critics, largely mainline Protestant leaders,
charged that the electronic church constitutes a threat to
local congregations. The television preachers, critics
argued, make it too easy for people to get their religion in
the comfort of their living rooms. [1]
The perceived threat of
losing communicants from the pews and dollars from the
offering plate has resulted in a barrage of wide-ranging
attacks on the televangelists. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 378 | Author: | Hagar, Albert D. | Add | | | Title: | Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior | | | | Published: | 1994 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN the month of March, 1848, Samuel O. Knapp and J. B. Townsend
discovered, from tracks in the snow, that a hedgehog had taken up
his winter-quarters in a cavity of a ledge of rocks, about twelve
miles from Ontonagon, Lake Superior, in the neighborhood of the
Minnesota Copper Mine. In order to capture their game, they
procured a pick and shovel, and commenced an excavation by removing
the vegetable mould and rubbish that had accumulated about the
mouth of what proved to be a small cavern in the rock. At the
depth of a few feet they discovered numerous stone hammers or
mauls; and they saw that the cavern was not a natural one, but had
been worked out by human agency, and that the stone implements,
found in great profusion in and about it, were the tools used in
making the excavation. Further examination developed a well-defined vein of native copper running through the rock; and it was
evidently with a view of getting this metal that this extensive
opening had been made. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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