This book deals with the history of the sewing machine.After almost a century of attempts to invent a machine that would sew, the practical sewing machine evolved in the mid-19th century.In all the preceding centuries of civilization hand sewing was exclusively employed, and it was reserved for the Nineteenth Century to relieve women from the drudgery which for so many centuries had enslaved them.Embroidery machines had been patented in England by Weisenthal in 1755...

Marathon was a plain on the North-East coast of Attica (or Attic Peninsula), divided from the plain of Athens by the range of Pentelicus. It contained four villages: Marathon, Probalinthos, Tricorythos and Oenoe, which originally formed an independent tetrapolis and in historical times still upheld peculiar rites and legendary associations, chiefly connected with Heracles and Theseus. In the 6th century B.C. it served as a base for Peisistratus, who owned much property in that district, fo...

The first domestication of the horse was one of the greatest achievements of man in the animal kingdom...If we say that of all brute animals none is more valuable to man than the horse, and that the neglect of any means which may promote and insure his welfare and efficiency is a blunder not easily distinguishable from crime, we may fairly be charged with uttering truisms. If we urge that this value is not recognized as it should be, and that this neglect is miserably common, we ma...

This book deals with the Christian philosophy of love.Jesus taught his philosophy of life in three ways: the personal, by example; the artistic, by parable; and the scientific, by propositions.The first, though most vital and effective of all, is expensive and wasteful. For in life principles are so embedded in "muddy particulars," trivial and sordid details, that they are liable to get lost. The Master may be a long time with His disciples, and yet not really be known. Eve...

This book deals with the life of Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse.Everyone knows the popular conception of Florence Nightingale. The saintly, self-sacrificing woman, the delicate maiden of high degree who threw aside the pleasures of a life of ease to succor the afflicted, the Lady with the Lamp, gliding through the horrors of the hospital at Scutari, and consecrating with the radiance of her goodness the dying soldier's couch—the vision is familiar to all. But the truth was ...

Charlemagne,or Charles the Great, was great in war and great in peace; a great conqueror,great law-maker, great scholar, great organizer, great civilizer. He subduedsavage nations, introduced learning, extended religion, encouraged the arts andsciences, and established one of the mightiest empires of the olden times. Allthe races of Germany, of Italy, and of France were welded by him into one greatmonarchy. He maintained and extended the influence of Christian culture. Alarge part of his l...

It is now four or five years since my attention was called to the collection of native American ballads from the Southwest, already begun by Professor Lomax. At that time, he seemed hardly to appreciate their full value and importance. To my colleague, Professor G.L. Kittredge, probably the most eminent authority on folk-song in America, this value and importance appeared as indubitable as it appeared to me. We heartily joined in encouraging the work, as a real contribution both to literat...

However many legends of other kindsthere may be, the buried treasure or lost mine legend is the typical legend ofTexas…The people who tell these legendsrepresent many standards and strata of life, but the ultimate source of theirlegendary gold and their tales is common: Mexican or Spanish.The nativeTexan frequently makes no distinction between “Spaniard” and “Mexican”; thewealth of legend, however, is generally Spanish. And that wealth would fade theactual riches of Potosi ...

This book deals with the general intelligence of Bees and Wasps; their powers of Communication; powers of special sense, memory and emotions; their general habits in architecture, wars...“Those who have stored honey in their houses understand very well how important it is to prevent a single bee from discovering its location. Such discovery is sure to be followed by a general onslaught from the hive unless all means of access is prevented...According to De Fravière, bees have...

The history of dolphins is one of the most fascinating and instructive in the history of ideas in the western world. Indeed, it provides one of the most illuminating examples of what has probably occurred many times in human culture – a virtually complete loss of knowledge, at least in most segments of the culture, of what was formerly well understood by generations of men.Dolphins are mammals. They belong in the order Cetacea, suborder Odontoceti, family Delphinidae. Within the Del...

Ulysses was king of Ithaca, and had been, like many other princes of Greece, a suitor of the beautiful Helen. Believing that he had no hope for success among so many competitors, Ulysses asked the hand of Penelope, daughter of Icarus...The Odyssey, the second of the two great poems attributed to Homer, is a history of the wanderings of Ulysses. After some adventures of minor importance, the ships of the hero were overtaken by a storm which drove them southward for nine days, and as...

This book deals with a study of neurosis in relation to the war and writings on assistance during the Great War.“I’m not fond of telling this story, said the General, because each time, like the old fool I am, it brings tears to my eyes ...It’s about two boys, astonishingly gifted, full of heart and brains, that nobody could meet without liking. I knew them when they were tiny little fellows. At the time war broke out, the younger one, François, had just passed his examinat...