"Wouldn't it be well to go the day before?" Frank ventured to ask. "Japan abounds in sulphur, and the supply is said to be inexhaustible. The copper used at the mint for making the Japanese small coins is of native production, and so is most of the silver; but occasionally the supply of the latter metal runs short, and then American silver comes into play. Last year nearly half a million trade-dollars were melted at the mint at Osaka, to be made into Japanese yens, and this year a large number have met a similar fate. The American trade-dollar has not yet become a popular coin for circulation in Japan and China, but is in good demand for the melting-pot. But I suppose we do not care what they do with our silver money so long as they pay for it; and the more they melt up, the better we shall be pleased." "At one place we looked into a little den where some people were smoking opium. They were lying on benches, and were very close together. The room wasn't more than eight feet square, and yet there were a dozen people in it, and perhaps one or two more. The guide told us it was a mistake to suppose that they smoked opium as we smoke tobacco. We stand, sit, or walk while smoking; but when a Chinese uses opium, he always reclines on a bench or bed, and gives himself up to his enjoyment.[Pg 325] Men go to the shops where opium is sold and lie down on the benches for a period of pleasure. Sometimes two persons go together, and then they lie on the same bench and take turns in filling each other's pipe. "No, I would not!" But I had to yield. My dream was that our General had told me a fable. It was of a young rat, which seeing a cockerel, whose tail was scarcely longer than his own, leap down into a barrel, gather some stray grains of corn and fly out again, was tempted to follow his example, but having got in, could only stay there. The boys furnished the moral; it was not complimentary. She backed half a step, and quite needlessly I let it go. Then she bade me not forget I had promised her the words of a certain song. "Want them? Indeed, yes! Did you not say it was an unpublished song written by a messmate of yours?--oh, Mr. Smith! I see why you stammer! You said 'a member of your mess'! oh!--oh!--oh!--you wrote it, yourself! And you wrote it to-day! That explains--" She drew an awesome breath, rose to her toes and knit her knuckles under her throat. Rising to higher ground, we turned into the Natchez, and Port Gibson road where a farm-house and country "store" constituted Clifton. Still at a gallop we left these behind and entered a broad lane between fields of tasselling corn, where we saw a gallant sight. In the early sunlight and in the pink dust of their own feet, down the red clay road at an easy trot in column by fours, the blue-gray of their dress flashing with the glint of the carbines at their backs, came Ferry's scouts with Ned Ferry at their head. There was his beautiful brown horse under him, too. My captive and I dropped to a walk, the column did the same, and Ferry trotted forward, beckoning us to halt. His face showed triumph and commendation, but no joy. Oliver answered his scrutiny with a blaze of defiance. "How, then, did she know?" "Nobody," remarked Arthur, cramming bread and butter into his mouth. "Game off." "No," said Arthur, and he glanced at the Clockwork man's bald forehead and noticed something peculiar about the construction of the back of his head; there seemed to be[Pg 78] some object there which he could not see because they were facing each other. "I'm sorry," he continued, looking rather hopelessly around him, "perhaps we could find them somewhere." Allingham shot a look of veiled anger at the other, and prepared to re-enter the car. "NO," thundered the Doctor, suddenly leaping to his feet. "By heavens, no. Not that!"
The voice ceased; nothing more could be heard but the humming of the wire. Bruce swished into the dining-room and huddled on his coat. "Leon--?" 4. The speed at which shafts should run is governed by their size, the nature of the machinery to be driven, and the kind of bearings in which they are supported. Owing to this difference in the manner of guiding and supporting the cutting edges, and the advantages of an axial support for tools in boring, it becomes an operation by which the most accurate dimensions are attainable, while drilling is a comparatively imperfect operation; yet the ordinary conditions of machine fitting are such that nearly all small holes can be drilled with sufficient accuracy. We need not follow Plato’s investigations into the meaning of knowledge and the causes of illusion any further; especially as they do not lead, in this instance, to any positive conclusion. The general tendency is to seek for truth within rather than without; and to connect error partly with the disturbing influence of sense-impressions on the higher mental faculties, partly with the inherent confusion and instability of the phenomena whence those impressions are derived. Our principal concern here is to note the expansive power of generalisation which was carrying philosophy back again from man to Nature—the deep-seated contempt of Plato for public opinion—and the incipient differentiation of demonstrated from empirical truth. IV. she wouldn't have flouted you in your old age, but would have obeyed Is a long row of bungalows in their own gardens, on each side of an avenue of thick trees that meet above the road. We crossed the bed of a dry torrent and came to the native village, a labyrinth of clay huts and narrow alleys through which goats and cows wandered, finding their way home to their own stables. On a raised terrace[Pg 47] three Parsees, bowing to the sun with clasped hands, prostrated themselves in adoration, and watched the crimson globe descend wrapped in golden haze; and as soon as the disc had vanished, leaving a line of fiery light in the sky, all three rose, touched each other's hands, passed their fingers lightly over their faces, and resumed their conversation.
I MADAME VIGéE LE BRUN CHAPTER I “Next you’ll be saying the letter was in a registered envelope from California and was written in Cairo!” laughed Dick. 117 The airplane was flattening out! CHAPTER XX SANDY TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF 254 “drop a signal flare,” urged Sandy. “We’ll come a-flying!” After a time, when a soldier bent over him and held a flask to his teeth, he drank, and then he pointed feebly, and his lips framed the question he could not seem to speak. It was slow, toilsome work urging the lumbering cattle along over the steep, tortuous mountain paths. Naturally, the nimblest, friskiest steers got in the front, and they were a sore trial to the Deacon, to restrain them to the line of march, and keep them from straying off and getting lost. Of course, a Deacon in the Baptist Church could not swear under any provocation, but the way he remarked on the conduct of some of the "critters" as "dumbed," "confounded," and "tormented," had almost as vicious a ring as the profuse profanity of his fellow-herders.
THE disturbance in the Deacon's family when Shorty's note was delivered by little Sammy Woggles quite came up to that romance-loving youth's fond anticipations. If he could only hope that his own disappearance would create a fraction of the sensation he would have run away the next day. It would be such a glorious retribution on those who subjected him to the daily tyranny of rising early in the morning, washing his face, combing his hair, and going to school. For the first time in his life the boy found himself the center of interest in the family. He knew something that all the rest were intensely eager to know, and they plied him with questions until his young brain whirled. He told them all that he knew, except that which Shorty had enjoined upon him not to tell, and repeated his story without variation when separately examined by different members of the family. All his leisure for the next few days was put in laboriously constructing, on large sheets of foolscap, the following letter, in which the thumb-marks and blots were more conspicuous than the "pot-hook" letters: "I see through it all," Shorty communed with himself. "They're goin' to the same place that we are, and've got them carpet-bags filled with revolvers and cartridges. Somebody's goin' to have a little surprise party before he's a day older." Every bright sally of Maria was punctuated with shrieks of laughter from the girls accompanying her. Led by her, they swarmed into the dull, bare room, filling it with the brightness of their youthful presence, their laughter, and their chirruping comments on everything they saw. The jail was a place of deep mystery to them, and it was a daring lark for them to venture in even to the outside rooms. "Goodness," gasped Gid Mackall, much of whose vim had been soaked out of him by the fearful downpour, and who was oppressed by fatigue, hunger, and the dense blackness of the night in the strange woods. "You don't have to fight when you're wetter'n a drowned rat, and so tired you're ready to drop, do you?" Never before, in all his countless millions of journeys around the globe, had he seen a human force of such tremendous aggressive power concentrated on such a narrow space. He may have seen larger armies—though not many—but he had never seen 100,000 such veterans as those—originally of as fine raw material as ever gathered under a banner, and trained to war by nearly three years of as arduous schooling as men ever knew, which sifted out the weaklings, the incompetents, the feeblewilled by the boisterous winnowing of bitter war. They could not realize that the battlecloud had rolled away just as suddenly as it had burst upon them, and they stood there tightly grasping their reloaded guns, and staring fixedly into the distance for the next horrid development. "What place is this?" "I've got to tell you," he said. "I came here—I don't know why, but maybe I just came to tell you what's happening." As Dictated and Preserved on Tape by Historical Commission HN3-40-9 She was not exaltedly happy or wildly expectant. Her anticipations were mostly material, buyings and stitchings. She looked forward to her position as mistress of Odiam, and stocked her linen cupboard. As for Reuben, her attitude towards him had changed at once with surrender. If he no longer terrified, also he no longer thrilled. She had grown fond of him, peacefully and domestically so, in a way she could never have been fond of Harry. She loved to feel his strong arm round her, his shoulder under her head, she loved to nestle close up to him and feel his warmth. His kisses were very different from Harry's, more lingering, more passionate, but, paradoxically, they thrilled her less. There had always been a touch of the wild and elfin in Harry's love-making which suggested an adventure in fairyland, whereas Reuben's suggested nothing but earth, and the earth is not exciting to those who have been in faery. He repeated the word almost stupidly. But he had already forgotten her. He stood with his arm round Bessie, stooping under the canvas roof, half choking in the brazier reek, while his lips came closer and closer to her face.... Caro and Tilly did not rebel. Somehow or other their young backs did not break under the load of household toil, nor, more strangely, did their young hearts, in the loneliness of their hard, uncared-for lives.
"Rubbidge!" said Reuben. "Wot's worth while?" Towards evening uneasiness sprang up again, with the old question—would he return? She told herself that if he did, she would not hold back, she would not let her inexperience and timidity rob her or him of their love. She would let him kiss her as he pleased—love was too good a thing to risk for a few qualms. But would he come?—would he give her the chance of reparation? The sun dipped behind Castweasel, the hot sky cooled into a limpid green—stars specked it in the north, and the moon came up behind Iden Woods, huge and dim. One day Albert sent his father a message through Pete. "Bill, do you think that if we stay here, Odiam 'ull' do for us wot it did for Caro?" "She's got a hundred a year, and that 'ud m?ake our fortunes at Odiam." No one spoke, but from Realf's yard came sounds of shouting, the uneasy lowing and stamping of cattle, and the neigh of terrified horses. The whole place was lit up by the glare of the fire, and soon Reuben could see Realf and his two men, Dunk and Juglery, with Mrs.[Pg 437] Realf, the girls, and young Sidney, passing buckets down from the pond and pouring them on the blazing stacks—with no effect at all. He had not proceeded far along his path, when the heavy tread of a man on the rustling leaves, caused him to raise his eyes, and he saw a short, thickset figure, in grey woollen hose, and a vest of coarse medley cloth reaching no higher than the collar-bone, hastening onward. A gleam of hope lighted Calverley's face as he observed this man. The steward's first care was to put up his horse at an inn a little within the north-gate of Gloucester; and then, proceeding on to where the four streets, leading from the four gates of the city form a cross, he went down Westgate-street, and, passing the beautiful cathedral, presently reached the Severn. The evening was dark, and, looking cautiously round, he dropt the damask dress,—and, as he thought, the prohibitory writ,—in the oblivious waters. A pause of a few minutes ensued, and though each was anxious to introduce some allusion to the intended trial, yet both hesitated to begin;—Calverley, from a prudential fear of committing himself, and Black Jack from an apprehension of hazarding a chance of employment by too ready a proffer of his services. "Another time, Margaret—not now; but—the child was born before its father declared himself a wretch! and I will look upon it—poor little creature!" he continued, gazing at the babe as Margaret raised it up, "what a strange colour it is!" BOOK II. CHAPTER I.Xi extends condolences over Hong Kong building fire, urges all-out rescue efforts to minimize losses
(Xinhua) 08:02, November 27, 2025
BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday extended condolences over a deadly residential building fire in Hong Kong, which killed at least 13 people.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, expressed sympathy to the families of the victims and those affected by the disaster. He urged all-out efforts to extinguish the fire and minimize casualties and losses.
In the wake of the fire, Xi attached great importance to the accident and immediately sought updates on the rescue efforts and casualties.
Xi instructed the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to convey his condolences and sympathies to HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee.
He required the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the liaison office to support the HKSAR government in making all-out efforts to put out the fire, do everything possible in search and rescue, treat the injured, and comfort the victims' families.
(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Du Mingming)
China releases white paper on arms control in new era
(Xinhua) 10:19, November 27, 2025
BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council Information Office on Thursday released a white paper titled "China's Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation in the New Era."
The white paper said that China plays a constructive role in international arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation, and actively offers its initiatives and solutions.
China has been and will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, it said.
The white paper was released to comprehensively present China's policies and practices on arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation, and its position on security governance in emerging fields such as outer space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence.
It was also to restate China's commitment to safeguarding world peace and security, and to call on countries around the world to work together for international arms control.
The white paper noted that China is committed to upholding the international arms control regime with the United Nations (UN) at its core. It works to promote global governance in arms control, supports all efforts to build a world of lasting peace and common security, and serves as a key promoter of international arms control.
It also noted that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has actively safeguarded the authority and effectiveness of the international arms control regime, played a constructive role in multilateral arms control in the nuclear, biological, chemical and other fields, and conscientiously performed its duties prescribed by international arms control treaties, making its due contribution to international arms control.
Emerging fields such as outer space, cyberspace, and AI represent new frontiers for human development. They create a new focus of strategic security, and new territories of global governance, the white paper pointed out.
China proposes that with the universal participation of all countries, the UN should play a pivotal role in fostering a global governance framework and standards for emerging fields based on broad consensus, while increasing the representation and voice of developing countries, it added.
The white paper stressed that China continues to build its domestic nonproliferation capacity, actively participating in the international nonproliferation process, promoting international cooperation on peaceful uses of science and technology, and facilitating the improvement of global nonproliferation governance.
Chinese modernization follows the path of peaceful development, and China's growth contributes to the growth of the world's peaceful forces. China stands ready to work with all peace-loving countries to build an equal and orderly multipolar world and promote universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. It will consolidate and develop the UN-centered international arms control regime, work with all parties to build a community with a shared future for humanity, and create a brighter future for all, according to the white paper.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the atmosphere of the phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday was "positive, friendly, and constructive."
At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning confirmed that the U.S. side had initiated the call. She noted that since the start of President Trump's second term, the two leaders have maintained frequent communication.
Mao said the two heads of state exchanged views on issues of mutual concern, stressing that such communication is vital for the stable development of China鈥揢.S. relations.
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