The only direct evidence which has come to me regarding the bite of the hundred-legged crawler was from an English naturalist whom I met in Venezuela. He was bitten on the ankle by a centipede nearly a foot long. So severe was the laceration that his sock was clotted with blood before he could get it off...

 "Please, sir, is this Plumfield?" asked a ragged boy of the man who opened the great gate at which the omnibus left him.    "Yes. Who sent you?"    "Mr...

  "Well, good by, Rodney! I leave school tomorrow. I am going to learn a trade."     "I am sorry to part with you, David...

 A group of boys was assembled in an open field to the west of the public schoolhouse in the town of Crawford. Most of them held hats in their hands, while two, stationed sixty feet distant from each other, were "having catch."    Tom Pinkerton, son of Deacon Pinkerton, had just returned from Brooklyn, and while there had witnessed a match game between two professional clubs...

A BOY of sixteen, with a small gripsack in his hand, trudged along the country road. He was of good height for his age, strongly built, and had a frank, attractive face. He was naturally of a cheerful temperament, but at present his face was grave, and not without a shade of anxiety...

 PHIL BRENT was plodding through the snow in the direction of the house where he lived with his step-mother and her son, when a snow-ball, moist and hard, struck him just below his ear with stinging emphasis. The pain was considerable, and Phil’s anger rose.    He turned suddenly, his eyes flashing fiercely, intent upon discovering who had committed this outrage, for he had no doubt that it was intentional...

   The stage rumbled along the main street of Granville, and drew up in front of the only hotel of which the village could boast. The driver descended from his throne, and coming round to the side opened the door and addressed the only passenger remaining within. "Where do you want to go, miss?" A girl’s face looked out inquiringly...

 ``WHAT do you think of this storm, Joe?’’    ``I think it is going to be a heavy one, Ned. I wish we were back home,’’ replied Joe Bodley, as he looked at the heavy clouds which overhung Lake Tandy.    ``Do you think we’ll catch much rain before we get back?’’ And Ned, who was the son of a rich man and well dressed, looked at the new suit of clothes that he wore...

 "HANNAH!"    The speaker was a tall, pompous-looking man, whose age appeared to verge close upon fifty. He was sitting bolt upright in a high-backed chair, and looked as if it would be quite impossible to deviate from his position of unbending rigidity.    Squire Benjamin Newcome, as he was called, in the right of his position as Justice of the Peace, Chairman of the Selectmen, and wealthiest resident of Wrenville, was a man of rule and measure...

    "HERE’S your prize packages! Only five cents! Money prize in every package! Walk up, gentlemen, and try your luck!"    The speaker, a boy of fourteen, stood in front of the shabby brick building, on Nassau street, which has served for many years as the New York post office. In front of him, as he stood with his back to the building, was a small basket, filled with ordinary letter envelopes, each labeled "Prize Package...