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34,093 public-domain books, summarised. Page 490 of 711.

T. Haviland Hicks, Senior
James Raymond Elderdice
The impulsive and irrepressible T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. navigates his final years at Bannister College, transforming from a campus prankster into a loyal friend through a series of athletic mysteries and heartfelt personal growth.

The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the Soul
Bede Jarrett
The indwelling of the Spirit is not a remote theological abstraction, but the vital, constant heartbeat of a life lived in grace. This quiet meditation explores how a person might recognize and nurture that presence.

The Arctic Whaleman
Lewis Holmes
The whale ship Citizen met its end in the Arctic ice in 1852, leaving its crew to face a harrowing nine-month struggle for survival among indigenous Siberian tribes. This account captures the raw reality of maritime disaster and the endurance required to survive the frozen north.

The Boy Ranchers on Roaring River
Willard F. Baker
A group of young ranchers, accustomed to cattle, find themselves caught in a dangerous federal investigation when their new property becomes a hub for illegal human smuggling on the Mexican border.

The Causes of the Rebellion in Ireland Disclosed: In an Address to the People of England, in Which It Is Proved by Incontrovertible Facts, That the System for Some Years Pursued in That Country, Has Driven It into Its Present Dreadful Situation
Anonymous
The political grievances of a nation are rarely born of sudden madness; they are the carefully cultivated harvest of years of systematic neglect and administrative arrogance. This impassioned address serves as a primary-source autopsy of the conditions that fractured Irish society at the close of the eighteenth…

The Cave Twins
Lucy Fitch Perkins
Firetop and Firefly, two curious red-haired children in the dawn of humanity, navigate a world of shifting landscapes and lurking predators by learning to outthink the fierce forces of nature.

The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, March 1885
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
This collection serves as a vibrant, educational portal, offering a window into the intellectual life and moral aspirations of late 19th-century America. It captures a moment when self-improvement was a shared national project.

The Christiana Riot and the Treason Trials of 1851: An Historical Sketch
W. U. (William Uhler) Hensel
The year is 1851, and the fragile peace of a Pennsylvania community shatters when a Maryland slaveholder arrives to reclaim his human property, setting a nation on a collision course with civil war.

The Crystal Hunters: A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps
George Manville Fenn
The jagged peaks and hidden crevasses of the high Alps offer a perilous, glittering playground for those brave enough to seek the treasures buried within the ice. This tale follows a determined expedition into the heart of the mountains, where the bonds of friendship are forged in the face of constant danger.

The development of armor-piercing shells (with suggestions for their improvement)
Carlos De Zafra
A high-stakes industrial arms race demands constant innovation in steel and ballistics, where the smallest structural flaw can mean the difference between a successful strike and total disintegration upon impact.

The Dixie Book of Days
Matthew Page Andrews
This collection invites readers to travel through the calendar year by way of the Southern United States, pairing significant historical dates with evocative literary excerpts. It serves as both a historical record and a window into the regional identity of the early 20th century.

The Evidence in the Case: A Discussion of the Moral Responsibility for the War of 1914, as Disclosed by the Diplomatic Records of England, Germany, Russia
James M. (James Montgomery) Beck
This legalistic examination of the 1914 diplomatic crisis strips away the fog of war to assign moral culpability, arguing that Germany and Austria acted with calculated, deceptive intent.

The Expositor's Bible: Judges and Ruth
Robert A. (Robert Alexander) Watson
The ancient narratives of Israel’s judges and the devotion of Ruth serve as a mirror for the individual soul’s struggle between worldly complacency and the demanding, redemptive call of a higher purpose.

The Foundations (An Extravagant Play)
John Galsworthy
A sharp, satirical look at the chasm between the idle rich and the struggling poor, this play uses a simple misunderstanding to expose the absurdity of class, media, and social reform.

The Hunted Outlaw, or, Donald Morrison, the Canadian Rob Roy
Anonymous
The law is a slow, heavy machine, and when it finally catches up to the man who defies it, the result is never as clean or as heroic as the legend suggests.

The Lady of the Decoration
Frances Little
HOOK A young widow flees the bitter memories of a failed marriage for the strange, blossoming world of Meiji-era Japan. Amidst the unfamiliarity of mission work, she discovers an unexpected path toward profound personal renewal.

The Lost House
Richard Harding Davis
A resourceful newspaper correspondent finds himself in an escalating London nightmare, risking everything to rescue an American heiress from a dangerous captor in an isolated house.

The Man Who Drove the Car
Max Pemberton
Every man should have a master, but for those who prefer a mistress with money and a taste for life, the chauffeur’s seat offers the ultimate vantage point for witnessing the secret dramas of the wealthy.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 287, December 15, 1827
Various
This period anthology captures the spirit of 1827 through a diverse blend of industrial innovation, historical reflection, and wry social commentary. It serves as a vivid window into the curiosity of the Georgian era.

The Mysteries of Paris, illustrated with etchings, Vol. 5
Eugène Sue
Hidden in the shadows of 19th-century Paris, a disguised nobleman maneuvers through a labyrinth of crime and corruption to protect the vulnerable from the predations of the powerful.

The Old Coast Road: From Boston to Plymouth
Agnes Rothery
A graceful journey through the physical and historical landscape of Massachusetts, tracing the ancient path from Boston to the hallowed shores of Plymouth.

The Philosophy of History, Vol. 2 of 2
Friedrich von Schlegel
A sweeping inquiry into the providential arc of human development, this work interprets the rise and fall of empires through a distinctly Christian lens.

The Popular Story of Blue Beard: Embellished with neat Engravings
Anonymous
Wealth and power can mask a multitude of sins, but curiosity—and the blood on a golden key—reveals the terrifying truth hidden behind a locked door. This classic tale serves as a grim cautionary fable about the dangers of deception and the high price of disobedience.

The Prodigal Judge
Vaughan Kester
A disgraced, wandering judge seeks redemption and the truth about a lost heir, navigating a web of greed and violence in the American frontier.

The Quest of Glory
Marjorie Bowen
The quest for glory is a fever that consumes the soul, driving men to seek immortality in the shadow of crumbling empires. This portrait of a young soldier’s disillusionment and eventual intellectual rebirth explores the high cost of ideals in a world governed by vanity and decay.

The Remarkable Adventures of an Old Woman and Her Pig: An Ancient Tale in a Modern Dress
Anonymous
A simple errand to the market turns into a frantic, escalating quest when a pig refuses to cross a stile. This classic tale transforms a moment of minor frustration into a grand, rhythmic chain reaction.

The Royal Pastime of Cock-fighting: The art of breeding, feeding, fighting, and curing cocks of the game
R. H. (Robert Howlett)
The battlefield of the pit is a mirror held up to human nature, where the spirit of a bird defines the courage of a gentleman. To witness this struggle is to study the very essence of resolve and strategic discipline.

The Star Mouse
Fredric Brown
A humble house mouse becomes a cosmic traveler and returns with the power of speech, sparking an improbable debate about the future of two species.

The Stoneground Ghost Tales: Compiled from the recollections of the Reverend Roland Batchel, Vicar of the parish
E. G. (Edmund Gill) Swain
HOOK The ancient, gravel-founded parish of Stoneground harbors secrets that defy the modern world, revealing that the boundary between the living and the departed is far thinner than the local villagers dare to admit.

The Toy Shop (1735) The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737)
Robert Dodsley
The world is a grand shop where everyone runs mad for rattles, but one man possesses the keys to the cabinet. These two dramatic pieces offer a sharp, moral mirror to the follies of high society and the hidden nobility of the rural heart.

The Water Goats, and Other Troubles
Ellis Parker Butler
A suburban landscape becomes a stage for absurd, escalating complications in this collection of tall tales. These stories transform mundane civic duties and domestic chores into grand, farcical disasters.

The White House (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume XII)
Paul de Kock
A mid-level clerk dreams of social standing and purchases a crumbling estate, only to find himself entangled in a web of romantic confusion, local superstition, and the dark, hidden history of his own property.

The Works of Henry Fielding, vol. 12
Henry Fielding
This collection gathers the sharp, satirical wit of a master observer, exposing the absurdities of eighteenth-century theater, social pretension, and the messy realities of London life.

Turandot: The Chinese Sphinx
Friedrich Schiller
A headstrong princess demands that every suitor solve her impossible riddles or face the executioner’s blade. This dramatic legend explores the collision between cold intellect and the surrender of love.

Two Boys in Wyoming: A Tale of Adventure: (Northwest Series, No. 3)
Edward Sylvester Ellis
Two privileged schoolboys venture into the untamed Wyoming wilderness, only to find themselves ensnared in a dangerous extortion plot orchestrated by a local criminal and a rogue scout.

Under Dewey at Manila
Edward Stratemeyer
A young stowaway finds himself in the middle of a global conflict, proving his mettle as a gunner’s assistant during the decisive naval engagement of the Spanish-American War.

Waterloo
Hilaire Belloc
HOOK This study of the 1815 Waterloo campaign examines the strategic interplay between political necessity and military failure, arguing that the battle’s outcome was determined long before the final shots were fired.

'Way Down East: A Romance of New England Life
Joseph Rhode Grismer
A young woman, burdened by a secret betrayal and a tragic past, seeks refuge in a rural community only to find her survival—and her dignity—challenged by the very people who offered her shelter.

We're Civilized!
Mark Clifton
This science fiction tale follows a human expedition to Mars, where a clash between imperial ambition and a peaceful, symbiotic alien culture mirrors the inevitable consequences of human territorial greed.

What Necessity Knows
L. (Lily) Dougall
A quiet, unsettled Canadian frontier serves as the stage for a collision between rigid tradition and the desperate, often misguided, quest for spiritual certainty.

Wild Northern Scenes
S. H. (Samuel H.) Hammond
Deep within the primeval forests of the Adirondack wilderness, a party of sportsmen finds refuge from the relentless pace of nineteenth-century city life. This collection of sketches captures the rugged essence of a landscape where nature still reigns supreme.

Winchester
Sidney Heath
This guided exploration of Winchester reveals a city defined by the quiet endurance of its landscape and the layered majesty of its architecture. It serves as an intimate chronicle of a place where history remains palpably present.

Wonderful escapes
Frédéric Bernard
The line between imprisonment and liberty is often drawn by the sheer force of human will, as evidenced by these accounts of high-stakes flight. This collection of historical narratives documents the ingenuity, desperation, and audacity required to slip the grasp of captors across centuries of political and…

Woodcraft
George Washington Sears
A call to trade the exhaustion of modern industry for the restorative simplicity of the wilderness, this practical guide offers a timeless blueprint for finding peace in the woods.

A Circuit Rider's Wife
Corra Harris
This narrative chronicles the life of a woman bound to the rigors and rhythms of a Methodist circuit rider’s existence in the rural South. It captures the tension between deep spiritual devotion and the inescapable pull of the secular world.

A College Girl
Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.
A vibrant portrait of youth, this story follows a spirited girl’s journey from a sheltered upbringing into the intellectual and social awakenings of university life.

A Five Years' Residence in Buenos Ayres, During the years 1820 to 1825: Containing Remarks on the Country and Inhabitants
George Thomas Love
An observant British expatriate captures the transformation of a post-colonial city, providing a vivid, candid portrait of life in Buenos Aires during its formative early years of independence.

A Florida Sketch-Book
Bradford Torrey
A traveler seeking quiet encounters with the natural world finds an unexpected, sun-drenched sanctuary in the pine barrens and coastal waterways of late 19th-century Florida.