A rousing adventure of cryptography, dark secrets, and the characteristic quick thinking of Sherlock Holmes.

Socrates's final defence and statements before and as he is condemned to death, written by Plato.

The famous sculptor comes to appreciate one beauty after another.

Thoreau refused to pay taxes in 1846, based on his opposition to the Mexican War, and was later jailed...

The meaning of friendship is explained in the recounting to the Water Rat of the tale of the Miller and Little Hans.

An entertaining essay about diddling, otherwise known as scamming or conning.

A man encounters a mysterious green door that seems to appear at various times in his life in different places about London.

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

A short story penned by Edgar Allen Poe, an American poet, a master of the horror tale...

The author gives the facts about an experiment in mesmerism he recently conducted.

Mark Twain's story about a person allowed to choose between the five boons of life...

An orchid fancier complains that nothing interesting ever happens to him... with predictable results.

The Gift of the Magi is one of O. Henry's most famous stories.

Ichabod Crane, the schoolmaster of a quiet farming community, encounters something mysterious in the night.

Prince Prospero and his courtiers, locked safely away from the plague of the Red Death...

The narrator's trial, condemnation, and torment at the hands of the monks of the Inquisition is related.

Poems by Emily Dickinson (1890) was the first volume of her poetry to be published posthumously

An English boy tries desperately to answer the voices whispering around the house,"there must be more money."

The author holds forth on the subject of success and its true value in life.

Thoreau's notes on living alone in the woods in a house he fashioned himself for over two years.