Showing results by narrator "Ella Porter" in All Categories

I had long been looking from the wildwoods and gardens of the Northern States to those of the warm South, and at last, all draw-backs overcome, I set forth [from Indianapolis] on the first day of September, 1867, joyful and free, on a thousand-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico. Crossing the Ohio at Louisville, I steered through the big city by compass without speaking a word to any one.

The positions of the stars indicated the time to plough, and the time to sow. To the mariner who was seeking a way across the trackless ocean, the heavenly bodies offered the only reliable marks by which his path could be guided. There was, accordingly, a stimulus both from intellectual curiosity and from practical necessity to follow the movements of the stars. In the ensuing chapters we have endeavoured to sketch the lives and the work of the great philosophers, by whose labours the science of astronomy has been created.

"All of Grace" ("An Earnest Word with Those Who Are Seeking Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ") by Charles H. Spurgeon aims to provide guidance for those who try to find the true meaning of life.

"The Prayers of St Paul" contains nine expository lectures by William H. Griffith Thomas. One of the most valuable elements in the Epistles of St Paul is their revelation of the writer's spiritual life. While they are necessarily doctrinal and theological, dealing with the fundamental realities of the Christian religion, they are also intensely personal, and express very much of the Apostle's own experience. They depict in a marked degree the sources and characteristics of the spiritual life.

"The Valley of Vision" is an inspirational novel by Henry Van Dyke. From the Preface: "Why do you choose such a title as The Valley of Vision for your book," said my friend; "do you mean that one can see farther from the valley than from the mountain-top?" The mountain-top is the place of outlook over the earth and the sea. But it is in the valley of suffering, endurance, and self-sacrifice that the deepest visions of the meaning of life come to us.

"North and South" is a social novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. She uses a protagonist from southern England to present and comment on the perspectives of both mill owners and mill workers in an industrializing city. "North and South" is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England. Forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the industrial revolution and employers and workers clashing in the first organized strikes.

"The Secret of Everyday Things" by Jean-Henri Fabre provides simple explanations for children about basic materials, their use and impacts. Contents: Thread, Pins, Needles, Silk, Wool, Flax and Hemp, Weaving, Woolen Cloth, Moths, Napery, Calico, Dyeing and Printing, Dyestuffs, Heat-Conduction, Human Habitations, Clothing, Ashes - Potash, Soap, Fire, Matches, Wood and Charcoal, Coal and Coal-Gas, Combustion, Heating, Lighting, Kerosene Oil, Glass, Iron, Rust, Tin-Plating, Pottery, Coffee, Sugar, etc.

"The Pilgrim'S Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come; Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream" is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. The protagonist is an everyman character, and the plot centers on his journey from his hometown, the "City of Destruction" ("this world"), to the "Celestial City" ("that which is to come": Heaven).

"The Old English Baron" is an early Gothic novel by Clara Reeve. The story follows the adventures of Sir Philip Harclay, who returns to medieval England to find that Arthur Lord Lovel, the friend of his youth, is dead. His cousin Walter Lord Lovel had succeeded to the estate, and sold the family castle to the baron, Fitz-Owen. Among the baron's household were his two sons and daughter Emma, several young gentlemen relations being educated with the sons, and Edmund Twyford, the son of a peasant, who had been brought to live with them.

"Religions of Ancient China" is a summary of the different spiritual beliefs in China. The audiobook has five chapters: The Ancient Faith, Confucianism, Taoism, Materialism, Buddhism and Other Religions. Excerpt from the book: The problem of the universe has never offered the slightest difficulty to Chinese philosophers. Before the beginning of all things, there was Nothing. In the lapse of ages Nothing coalesced into Unity, the Great Monad.

"A Horse's Tale" (1907) is a novel by Mark Twain, written against bullfighting. It was written partially in the voice of Soldier Boy, who is Buffalo Bill's favorite horse, at a fictional frontier outpost with the U.S. 7th Cavalry. Excerpt: I am Buffalo Bill's horse. I have spent my life under his saddle - with him in it, too, and he is good for two hundred pounds, without his clothes; and there is no telling how much he does weigh when he is out on the war-path and has his batteries belted on.

"War and Peace" (1869) is a classic novel by Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded as a central work of world literature and one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements. The novel chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families.

"The Lady from Nowhere" is a detective novel by Fergus Hume. Excerpt from the book: On the night of July 24th, in the year 1896, between the hours of eleven and twelve, Grangebury, a little-known suburb of London, was wrapped in slumber. The lamps were then extinguished by order of an economical municipality, the few lights still twinkling from the upper windows of various houses disappeared, and the little town lay under moon and stars as silent and almost as lonely as the spell-bound cities in eastern fables.

"Eighteen Months in the War Zone" is a memoir by Kate John Finzi about the service women provided during World War I on the Western Front. From the introduction by Major-Gen. Sir Alfred Turner: Miss Kate Finzi gives in a plain, unvarnished style a terrible and graphic picture of the horrors of war, which have been intensified, as never before, owing to the ferocious savagery of the German troops, as systematically ordered by their officers and commanded by the Kaiser himself, the greatest criminal in the world's record; for this war, planned and prepared deliberately by him, is the greatest crime ever committed against civilisation and humanity.

"The Upas Tree" by Florence Louisa Barclay is a thrilling novel which describes the spiritual growth of a man, who realizes his selfishness. Excerpt: Ronald West had swung off his horse a few moments before; thrown the bridle to a waiting groom, and made his way round to her stirrup. Then he had laid his hand upon Silverheels' mane, and looking up into his wife's glowing, handsome face, he had said: "May I come to your room for a talk, Helen? I have something very important to tell you."

"The Port of Missing Men" is a thriller by Meredith Nicholson. Excerpt from the book: "The knowledge that you're alive gives me no pleasure," growled the grim old Austrian premier. "Thank you!" laughed John Armitage, to whom he had spoken. "You have lost none of your old amiability; but for a renowned diplomat, you are remarkably frank. When I called on you in Paris, a year ago, I was able to render you - I believe you admitted it - a slight service."

Wherein Have We Robbed God? is "Malachi’s Message for the Men of Today" by G. Campbell Morgan. In this volume he answers this always actual question to his readers raised by the penultimate prophet of the Old Testament.

"Eugene Oneguine" (1833) is a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. The work is admired for the artfulness of its verse narrative as well as for its exploration of life, death, love, world-weariness, convention and passion. Excerpt from the book: Having performed his service truly, Deep into debt his father ran; Three balls a year he gave ye duly, At last became a ruined man. But Eugene was by fate preserved, For first "madame" his wants observed, And then "monsieur" supplied her place; The boy was wild but full of grace.

"The Man in Lower Ten" is a mystery by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Excerpt from the book: McKnight is gradually taking over the criminal end of the business. I never liked it, and since the strange case of the man in lower ten, I have been a bit squeamish. Given a case like that, where you can build up a network of clues that absolutely incriminate three entirely different people, only one of whom can be guilty, and your faith in circumstantial evidence dies of overcrowding.

Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers is a book of advice by Charles E. Jefferson. As an experienced clergyman, he could write short but sharp, smart and still relevant remarks, like: "If a minister says he loves God, and in his heart slights or despises his people, he is not only a liar but a murderer of the spiritual life of his parish."