 section 10 of A to Z. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Louise J. Bell. A to Z by Various. The Jellyfish takes a journey. From Japanese Fairy Tales by Grace James. Once upon a time the Jellyfish was a very handsome fellow. His form was beautiful and round as the full moon. He had glittering scales and fins and a tail as other fishes have, but he had more than these. He had little feet as well so that he could walk upon the land as well as swim in the sea. He was merry and he was gay. He was beloved and trusted of the Dragon King. In spite of all this, his grandmother always said he would come to a bad end because he would not mind his books at school. She was right. It all came about in this wise. The Dragon King was but lately wed when the young Lady Dragon, his wife, fell very sick. She took to her bed and stayed there and wise folk in Dragonland shook their heads and said her last day was at hand. Doctors came from far and near and they dosed her and they bled her, but no good at all could they do her the poor young thing nor recover her of her sickness. The Dragon King was beside himself. Hearts desire, he said to his pale bride, I would give my life for you. Little good would it do me, she answered. How be it, if you will fetch me a monkey's liver, I will eat it and live. A monkey's liver, cried the Dragon King. A monkey's liver. You talk wildly, O light of mine eyes. How shall I find a monkey's liver? Know you not, sweet one, that monkeys dwell in the trees of the forest whilst we are in the deep sea? Tears ran down the Dragon Queen's lovely countenance. If I do not have the monkey's liver, I shall die. She said. Then the Dragon went forth and called to him the jellyfish. The Queen must have a monkey's liver, he said, to cure her of her sickness. What will she do with the monkey's liver? Asked the jellyfish. Why she will eat it, said the Dragon King. Oh, said the jellyfish. Now, said the King, you must go and fetch me a live monkey. I have heard that they dwell in the tall trees of the forest. Therefore swim quickly, O jellyfish, and bring a monkey with you back again. How will I get the monkey to come back with me, said the jellyfish? Tell him of all the beauties and pleasures of Dragonland. Tell him he will be happy here, and that he may play with mermaids all the day long. Well, said the jellyfish, I'll tell him that. Off set the jellyfish, and he swam, and he swam, till at last he reached the shore where grew the tall trees of the forest. And sure enough, there was a monkey sitting in the branches of a persimmon tree, eating persimmons. The very thing, said the jellyfish to himself, I'm in luck. Noble monkey, he said, will you come to Dragonland with me? How should I get there, said the monkey? Only sit on my back, said the jellyfish, and I'll take you there. You'll have no trouble at all. Why should I go there, after all, said the monkey? I'm very well off as I am. Ah, said the jellyfish, it's plain that you know little of all the beauties and pleasures of Dragonland. There you will be happy as the day is long. You will win great riches and honor. Besides, you may play with the mermaids from morn till eve. I'll come, said the monkey, and he slipped down from the persimmon tree and jumped on the jellyfish's back. When the two of them were about halfway over to Dragonland, the jellyfish laughed. Now jellyfish, why do you laugh? I laugh for joy, said the jellyfish. When you come to Dragonland, my master, the dragon king, will get your liver and give it to my mistress, the dragon queen, to eat, and then she will recover from her sickness. My liver, said the monkey. Why, of course, said the jellyfish. Alas and a lack, cried the monkey, I am grieved indeed, but if it's my liver you're wanting, I haven't it with me. To tell you the truth, it weighs pretty heavy, so I just took it out and hung it upon the branch of that persimmon tree where you found me. Quick, quick, let's go back for it. Back they went, and the monkey was up in the persimmon tree in a twinkling. Mercy me, I don't see it at all, he said. Where can I have mislaid it? I should not be surprised if some rascal has stolen it, he said. Now, if the jellyfish had minded his books at school, would he have been hoodwinked by the monkey? You may believe not, but his grandmother always said he would come to a bad end. I shall be some time finding it, said the monkey. You'd best be getting home to Dragonland. The king would be loath for you to be out after dark. You can call for me another day. Sayonara. The monkey and the jellyfish parted on the best of terms. The minute the dragon king set eyes on the jellyfish, where's the monkey, he said. I'm to call for him another day, said the jellyfish, and he told all the tale. The dragon king flew into a towering rage. He called his executioners and bid them beat the jellyfish. Break every bone in his body, he cried, beat him to a jelly. Alas for the sad fate of the jellyfish. Jelly he remains to this very day. As for the young dragon queen, she was feigned to laugh when she heard the story. If I can't have a monkey's liver, I must need's do without it, she said. Give me my best brocade gown and I will get up, for I feel a good deal better. End of section 10. The jellyfish takes a journey. Recording by Louise J. Bell. Sebastopol, California. Section 11 of A2Z. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A2Z by Various. Kin to sorrow. By Edna St. Vincent Millay. Am I kin to sorrow? Am I kin to sorrow? That so oft falls the knocker of my door, neither loud nor soft, but as long accustomed under sorrow's hand. Marigolds around the steppe and rosemary stand, and then comes sorrow. And what does sorrow care for the rosemary or the marigolds there? Am I kin to sorrow? Are we kin? That so oft upon my door. Oh, come in. End of section 11. Section 12 of A2Z. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Louise J. Bell. A2Z by Various. The Lie by Holloway Horn. The hours had passed with the miraculous rapidity which tinctures time when one is on the river, and now, overhead, the moon was a gorgeous yellow lantern in a grayish purple sky. The punt was moored at the lower end of Glover's Island on the Middlesex side, and rose and fell gently on the ebbing tide. A girl was lying back amidst the cushions, her hands behind her head, looking up through the vague tracery of leaves to the soft moonlight. Even in the garish day she was pretty, but in that enchanting dimness she was wildly beautiful. The hint of strength around her mouth was not quite so evident, perhaps. Her hair was the color of otten straw in autumn, and her deep blue eyes were dark in the gathering night. But despite her beauty the man's face was averted from her. He was gazing out across the smoothly flowing water, troubled and thoughtful. A good-looking face, but not so strong as the girl's in spite of her prettiness, and enormously less vital. Ten minutes before he had proposed to her and had been rejected. It was not the first time, but he had been very much more hopeful than on the other occasions. The air was softly, embracingly warm that evening. Together they had watched the lengthening shadows creep out across the old river. And it was spring still, which makes a difference. There is something in the year's youth, the sap is rising in the plants. Something there is anyway beyond the sentimentality of the poets. And overhead was the great yellow lantern gleaming at them through the branches, with ironic approval. But in spite of everything she had shaken her head, and all he received was the maddening assurance that she liked him. I shall never marry, she had concluded. Never. You know why. Yes, I know, the man said miserably, corothers. And so he was looking out moodily, almost savagely across the water, when the temptation came to him. He would not have minded quite so much if corothers had been alive, but he was dead and slept in the now silent salient where a little cross marked his bed. Alive one could have striven against him, striven desperately, although corothers had always been rather a proposition. But now it seemed hopeless. A man cannot strive with a memory. It was not fair. So the man's thoughts were running. He had shared corothers' risks, although he had come back. This persistent and exclusive devotion to a man who would never return to her was morbid. Suddenly his mind was made up. Olive, he said. Yes, she replied quietly. What I am going to tell you I do for both our sakes. You will probably think I'm a cad, but I'm taking the risk. He was sitting up, but did not meet her eyes. What on earth are you talking about? she demanded. You know that, apart from you, corothers and I were pals. Yes, she said, wondering. And suddenly she burst out petulantly. What is it you want to say? He was no better than other men, he replied bluntly. It is wrong that you should sacrifice your life to a memory. Wrong that you should worship an idol with feet of clay. I loathe parables, she said coldly. Will you tell me exactly what you mean about feet of clay? The note in her voice was not lost on the man by her side. I don't like telling you, under other conditions I wouldn't. But I do it for both our sakes. Then for goodness sake, do it. I came across it accidentally at the Gordon Hotel in Brighton. He stayed there whilst he was engaged to you, with a lady whom he described as Mrs. Corothers. It was on his last leave. Why do you tell me this? she asked after a silence. Her voice was low and a little husky. Surely, my dear, you must see. He was no better than other men. The ideal you have conjured up is no ideal. He was a brave soldier, a darned brave soldier, and, until we both fell in love with you, my pal. But it is not fair that his memory should absorb you. It's unnatural. I suppose you think I should be indignant? There was no emotion of any kind in her voice. I simply want you to see that your idol has feet of clay, he said, with the stubbornness of a man who feels he is losing. What has that to do with it? You know I loved him. Other girls have loved, he said bitterly, and forgotten. Yes, I know, she interrupted him. But I do not forget, that is all. But, after what I have told you, surely, you see, I knew, she said, even more quietly than before. You knew? Yes. It was I who was with him. It was his last leave, she added thoughtfully. And only the faint noise of the water and the wistful wind in the trees overhead broke the silence. End of section 12. The Lie. Recording by Louise J. Bell. Sebastopol, California. Section 13 of A to Z. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Chad Horner from Ballyclair in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland. A to Z by various. A to Z by David Ricardo. Chapter 29. Mr. Malthus' Opinions on Rent. Although the nature of rent has in the former pages of this work been treated on at some length, yet I consider myself bound to notice some opinions on the subject, which appear to me erroneous and which are the more important, as they are found in the writings of one to him, of all men of the present day. Some branches of economical science are the most indebted to Mr. Malthus' essay on population. I am happy in the opportunity here to afford at me of expressing my admiration. The assaults of the opponents of this great work have only served to prove its strength, and I am persuaded that its just reputation will spread with the cultivation of that science of which it is so imminent and ornamented. Mr. Malthus too has satisfactorily explained the principles of rent and showed that it rises or falls in proportion to the relative advantages of the utility or situation, or the different lands and cultivation, and has thereby thrown much light on many difficult points connected with the subject of rent, which were before either unknown or very imperfectly understood. Yet he appears to me to have fallen into some errors, which his authority makes it the more necessary, whilst his characteristic candor renders it less unpleasant to notice. One of these errors lies in supposing rent to be a clear gain and a new creation of riches. I do not assent to all the opinions of Mr. Buchanan concerning rent, but with those expressed in the following passages quoted from his work by Mr. Malthus, I fully agree, and therefore I must desist from Mr. Malthus's comment on them. In this view, it, rent, can form no general addition to the stock of the community, as the neat surplus in question is nothing more than a revenue transferred from one class to another and from the mere circumstance of its thus changing hand. It is clear that no fund can arise out of which to pay taxes. The revenue which pays for the produce of the land exists already in the hands of those who purchased that produce. And if the price of subsistence were lower, it would still remain in their hands where it would be, just as available for taxation as when, by a higher price, it is transferred to the land of proprietor. After various observations on the difference between raw produce and manufactured commodities, Mr. Malthus asks, is it possible then, with Madam D. Cismondi, to regard rent as the sole produce of labour, which has a great value, purely nominal, and the mere result of that augmentation of price, which a seller obtains in consequence of a peculiar privilege, or with Mr. Buchanan to consider it as no addition to the national wealth, but merely transfer of value, advantageous only to the landlords and proportionably injurious to the consumers I have already expressed my opinion on this subject in treating of rent and have now only further to add that rent is a creation of value as I understand that word, but not a creation of wealth. If the price of corn from the difficulty of producing any portion of it should rise from £4 to £5 per quarter, a million of quarters will be of the greater amount of value and as no one else will in consequence have a less, the society altogether will be possessed of greater value and in that sense rent is a creation of value, but this value is so far nominal that it adds nothing to the wealth, that is to say to the necessaries, conveniences and enjoyments of the society. We should have precisely the same quantity and no more of commodities and the same million quarters of corn as before, but the effect of its being rated at £5 per quarter instead of £4 would be to transfer a portion of the value of the corn and commodities from their former possessors to the landlords. Rent then is a creation of value, but not a creation of wealth. It adds nothing to the resources of a country, it does not enable it to maintain fleets and armies, for the country would have a greater disposable fund if its land were of a better quality, but it could employ the same capital without generating a rent. In another part of Mr Malthus' inquiry he observes that the immediate cause of rent is obviously the excess of wealth and the high price above the cost of production at which raw produce sells in the market, and in another place he says that the causes of the high price of raw produce may be stated to be three. First and mainly, that quality of the earth by which it can be made to yield a greater portion of the necessaries of life than it's required for the maintenance of the persons employed on the land. Secondly, that quality peculiar to the necessaries of life of being able to create their own demand and the number of demanders in proportion to the quantity of necessaries produced. And thirdly, the comparative scarcity of the most fertile land in speaking of the high price of corn, Mr Malthus evidently does not mean the price per quarter or per bushel, but rather the excess of price for which the whole produce will sell above the cost of its production, including always the term cost of production, profits as well as wages. One hundred and fifty quarters of corn at three points, ten cents per quarter, would yield a larger rent to the landlord than one hundred quarters at four pounds, provided the cost of production, where in both cases the same. High price, if the expression be used in this sense, cannot then be called a cause of rent. It cannot be said that the immediate cause of rent is obviously the excess of price above the cost of production at which raw produce sells in the market. For that excess is itself rent. Rint, Mr Malthus has defined, to be that portion of the value of the whole produce, which remains to the owner of the land, after all the outings belonging to its cultivation of whatever kind have been paid, including the profits of the capital employed, estimated according to the usual and ordinary rate of the profits of agricultural stock at the time being. Now, whatever sum this excess may sell for, is money rent. It is what Mr Malthus means by the excess of price above the cost of production. At which raw produce sells in the markets. And therefore, in an inquiry into the causes, which may elevate the price of raw produce, compared with the costs of production, we are inquiring into the causes which may elevate rent. In reference to the first cause of the rise of rent, Mr Malthus has following observations. We still want to know why the consumption and supply are such as to make the price so greatly exceed the cost of production. We are still looking at the cost of production, because it is so greatly exceed the cost of production, and the main causes evidently the fertility of the earth in producing the necessaries of life. Diminish this plenty, diminish the fertility of the soil, and the excess will diminish. Diminish is still further, and it will disappear. True, the excess of necessaries will diminish and disappear, but that is not the question. The question is whether the excess of their price above the cost of their production will diminish and disappear, for it is on this that the money rent depends. Mr Malthus warranted in his inference that because the excess of quantity will diminish and disappear, therefore the cause of the high price of the necessaries of life above the cost of production is to be found in their abundance, rather than in their scarcity. And is it not only essentially different from the high price occasioned by artificial monopolies, but from the high price of those peculiar products of the earth, not connected with food, which may be called natural and necessary monopolies? Are there no circumstances under which the fertility of the land and the plenty of its produce may be diminished? Without occasioning a diminished excess of its price above the cost of production, that is to say a diminished rent, if there are Mr Malthus's proposition, is much too universal. For he appears to me to state it as a general principle, true under all circumstances, that rent will rise with the increased fertility of the land and will fall with its diminished fertility. Mr Malthus would undoubtedly be right if, in proposition, as the land yielded abundantly, a greater share of the whole produce were paid to the landlord, but the contrary is the fact, when no other but the most fertile land is in cultivation, the landlord has the smallest share of the whole produce, as well as the smallest value. And it is only when inferior lands are required to feed an augmenting population that both the landlord's share of the whole produce and the value he receives progressively increase. Suppose that the demand is for a million of quarters of corn and that they are the produce of the land actually in cultivation. Now I suppose the fertility of all the land to be so diminished that the very same lands will yield only 900,000 quarters. The demand being for a million of quarters, the price of corn would rise and recourse must necessarily be had to land of an inferior quality, sooner than if the superior land had continued to produce a million of quarters. But it is this necessity of taking inferior land into cultivation, which is the cause of the rise of rent. Rent, it must be remembered, is not in proportion to the absolute fertility of the land in cultivation, but in proportion to its relative fertility. Whatever cause may drive capital to inferior land must elevate rent. The cause of rent being as stated by Mr. Malthus in his third proposition, the comparative scarcity of the most fertile land, the price of corn will naturally rise with the difficulty of producing the last portions of it. But as the cost of production will not increase as wages and profits taken together will continue always of the same value, it is evident that the excess of price above the cost of production, or in other words, rent, must rise with the diminished fertility of the land unless it is counteracted by a great reduction of capital, population and demand. It does not appear then that Mr. Malthus's proposition is correct. Rent does not immediately and necessarily rise or fall with the increased or diminished fertility of the land, but its increased fertility renders it capable of paying at some future time an augmented rent. Land possessed of very little fertility can never bear any rent. Land of moderate fertility may be made as population increases to bear a moderate rent. The land of great fertility a high rent, but it is one thing to be able to bear a high rent and another thing actually to pay it. Rent may be lower in a country where lands are exceedingly fertile than in a country where they yield a moderate return, it being in proportion rather to relative than absolute fertility to the value of the produce and not to its abundance. Mr. Malthus says that the cause of the excess of price of the necessaries of life above the cost of production is to be found in their abundance and their scarcity and is essentially different from the high price of those peculiar products of the earth not connected with food which may be called natural and necessary monopolies. In what are they essentially different? Would not the abundance of those peculiar products of the earth cause a rise of rent if the demand for them at the same time increased and can rent ever rise whatever the commodity produced may be from abundance merely and without an increase of demand. The second cause of rent mentioned by Mr. Malthus namely that quality peculiar to the necessaries of life of being able to create their own demand or to raise up a number of demanders in proportion to the quantity of necessaries produced does not appear to me to be any way essential to it. It is not the abundance of necessaries which raises up demanders but the abundance of demanders which raises up necessaries. We are under no necessity of producing permanently any greater quantity of a commodity than that which is demanded that any greater quantity were produced. It would fall below its natural price and therefore would not pay the cost of production together with the usual and ordinary profits of stock. Thus the supply would be checked till it conformed to the demand and the marketplace rose to the natural price. Mr. Malthus appears to me to be too much inclined to think that population is only increased by the previous provision of food that it is food that creates its own demand that it is by first providing food that encouragement is given to marriage instead of considering that the general progress of population is affected by the increase of capital the consequent demand for labour and the rise of wages and that the production of food is but the effect of that demand. It is by giving the workman more money or any other quantity in which wages are paid and which has not fallen in value that his situation is improved. The increase of population and the increase of food in wages the amended condition of the labourer in consequence of the increased value which is paid him does not necessarily oblige him to marry and take upon himself the charge of a family. He may if it plays him exchange his increased wages for any commodities that may contribute to his enjoyments for chairs, tables and hardware or for better clothes, sugar and tobacco. His increased wages will then be attended with no other effect than an increased demand and as the race of labourers will not be materially increased his wages will continue permanently high but although this might be the consequence of high wages yet so great are the delights of domestic society that in practice it is invariably found that an increase of population follows the amended condition of the labourer and it is only because it does so that a new and increased demand arises for food. This demand then is only because the expenditure of the people takes this direction that the market price of necessaries exceeds the natural price and that the quantity of food required is produced and it is because the number of people is increased that wages fall again. What motive can a farmer have to produce more corn than is actually demanded when the consequence would be a depression of its market price below its natural price and consequently a privation to him of the general rate. If says Mr Malthus the necessary supply the most important products of land had not the property of creating an increase of demand proportioned to their increased quantity such increased quantity would occasion a fall in their exchangeable value however abundant might be the produce of a country its population might remain stationary and this abundance without a proportionate demand might reduce the price of raw produce like the price of manufacturers to the cost of production might reduce the price of raw produce to the cost of production is it ever for any length of time either above or below this price does not Mr Malthus himself state it never to be so I hope he says to be excused for dwelling a little and presenting to the reader in various forms the doctrine that corn in reference to that it's necessary price like manufacturers because I consider it as a truth of the highest importance which has been overlooked by the economists by Adam Smith and all those riders who have represented raw produce as selling always at a monopoly price every extensive country may thus be considered as possessing a gradation of machines for the production of corn and raw materials which every territory has generally an abundance but the inferior machinery which may be said to be employed when good land is further and further forced for additional produce as the price of raw produce continues to rise these inferior machines are successfully called into action and as the price of raw produce continues to fall they are successfully thrown out of action the illustration here used serves to show at once the effect which would attend a great reduction in the price of any particular manufacturer and a great reduction in the price of raw produce how are these passages to be reconciled to that which affirms that if the necessary supply had not the property of creating an increase of demand proportioned to their increased quantity the abundant quantity produced would then and then only were just the price of raw produce to the cost of production than the actual population require it to be for their own consumption no store can be laid up for the consumption of others it will have it can never then by its cheapness and abundance be a stimulus to population in proportion as corn can be produced cheaply the increased wages of the labourers will have more power to maintain families in America population increases rapidly because food can be produced at a cheap price in the usual and ordinary court of things the demand for all commodities precedes their supply by saying that corn would like manufacturers sink to its price of production if it could not raise up demanders Mr Malthus cannot mean that all rent would be absorbed for he has himself just leave remarked that if all rent were given up by the landlords corn would not fall in price rent being the effect and not the cause of high price and there being always one quality of land in cultivation which pays no rent whatever the corn from which replaces by its price only wages and profits in the following passage Mr Malthus has given an able exposition of the causes of the rise in the price of raw produce in rich and progressive countries in every word of which I concur of the propositions maintained by him in some parts of his essay on rent I have no hesitation in stating that independently of the irregularities in the currency of a country and other contemporary and accidental circumstances the cause of the high comparative money price of corn is its high comparative real price or the greater quantity of capital and labor which must be employed to produce it and that the reasons why which are already rich and still advancing in prosperity and population is to be found in the necessity of resorting constantly to poor land to machines which require a greater expenditure to work them and which consequently occasion each fresh addition to the raw produce of the country to be purchased at a greater cost in short it is to be found in the important truth that corn in a progressive country is sold at the price where the supply becomes more and more difficult the price rises in proportion the real price of a commodity is here properly stated to depend on the greater or less quantity of labor and capital that is accumulated labor which must be employed to produce it real price does not as some have contended depend on money value nor as others have said on value relatively to corn labor or any other commodity taken singly on the greater or less quantity of capital and labor which must be employed to produce it among the causes of the rise of rent Mr. Malthus mentions such an increase of population as will lower the wages of labor but if as the wages of labor fall the profits of stock rise and they be together always of the same value no fall of wages can raise rent for it will neither diminish the portion nor the value of the portion of the produce will be together and therefore will not leave a larger portion nor any larger value for the landlord in proportion as less as appropriate for wages more will be appropriate for profits and vice versa this division will be settled by the farmer and as laborers without any inference of the landlord and indeed it is a matter in which he can have no interest otherwise than as one division may be more favorable than another to new accumulations these rose profits and not rent would fall the rise of rent and wages and the fall of profits are generally the inevitable effects of the same cause the increasing demand for food the increased quantity of labor required to produce it and its consequently high price if the landlord were to forego his whole rent the laborers would not be in the least benefit it if the laborers were to give up their whole wages the landlords would derive no advantage from such a circumstance and retain all which they relinquished it has been my endeavour to show in this work that a fall of wages would have no other effect than to raise profits another cause of the rise of rent according to Mr Malthus is such agricultural improvements or such increase of exertions as will diminish the number of laborers necessary to produce a given effect this would not raise the value of the whole produce and would therefore not increase rent it would rather have a contrary tendency it would lower rent for if in consequence of these improvements the actual quantity of food required could be furnished either with fewer hands or with a less quantity of land the price of raw produce would fall the capital would be withdrawn from the land nothing can raise rent but a demand for new land of an inferior quality or some cause which shall occasion an alteration in the relative fertility of the land and in the division of cultivation improvements in agriculture and in the division of labour are common to all land they increase the absolute quantity of raw produce obtained from each but probably do not much disturb the relative proportions which before existed between them Mr Malthus has justly commented on an error of Adam Smith and says the substance of his Dr Smith's argument is that corn is of so particular a nature that its real price cannot be raised by an increase of its money price and that as it is clearly an increase of real price alone which can encourage its production the rise of money price occasioned by a bounty can have no such effect he continues it is by no means intended to deny the powerful influence of the price of corn upon the price of labour on an average of a considerable number of years but that this influence is not such as to prevent the movement of capital to or from the land at this point in question will be made sufficiently evident by a short inquiry into the manner in which labour is paid and brought into the market and by a consideration of the consequences to which the assumption of Adam Smith's proposition would inevitably lead Mr Malthus then proceeds to show that demand and high price will as effectively encourage the production of raw produce as the demand and high price of any other commodity will encourage its production as Mr Malthus said of the FX of bounties that I entirely concur I have noticed the passage Mr Malthus' observations on the corn laws for the purpose of showing in what a different sense the term real price is used here and in his other pamphlets entitled grounds of an opinion etc in this passage Mr Malthus tells us that it is clearly an increase of real price alone which can encourage the production of corn and by real price it is relatively to all other things or in other words the rise in its market above its natural price or the cost of its production if by real price this is what is meant Mr Malthus' opinion is undoubtedly correct it is the rise in the market price of corn which alone encourages its production for it may be laid down as a principle uniformly true that the only encouragement to the increased production of a commodity is its market value this is not the meaning which Mr Malthus on other occasions attaches to the term real price in the essay on Rint Mr Malthus says by the real growing price of corn I mean the real quantity of labour and capital which has been employed to produce the last additions which have been made to the national produce in another party states the cause of the high comparative real price of corn to be the greater quantity of capital and labour which must be employed to produce it in the foregoing passage we were to substitute this definition of real price would it not then run thus it is clearly the increase in the quantity of labour and capital which must be employed to produce corn which alone can encourage its production this would be to say that it is clearly the rise in the natural or necessary price of corn which encourages its production this would be to say that it is clearly the rise in the natural or necessary price of corn and it is not the price at which corn can be produced that has any influence on the quantity produced but the price at which it can be sold it is in proportion to the degree of the excess of its price above the cost of production that capital is attracted to or repelled from the land if that excess be such as to give to capital so employed a greater than the general profit of stock capital will go to the land if less it will be withdrawn from it it is not then by an alteration in the real price of corn that its production is encouraged but by an alteration in its market price it is not because a greater quantity of capital and labour must be employed to produce it Mr Malthus' just definition of real price that more capital and labour are attracted to the land but because the market price rises above this its real price and notwithstanding the increased charge makes the cultivation of land and capital employment of capital nothing can be more just than the following observations of Mr Malthus on Adam Smith's standard of value Adam Smith was evidently led into this train of argument from his habit of considering labour as the standard measure of value and corn as the measure of labour but that corn is a very inaccurate measure of labour the history of our own country will amply demonstrate where labour compared with corn is striking variations not only from year to year but from century to century and for 10, 20 and 30 years together and that neither labour nor any other commodity can be an accurate measure of real value in exchange is now considered as one of the most incontrovertible doctrines of political economy and indeed follows from the very definition of value in exchange if neither corn nor labour in exchange which they clearly are not what other commodity is certainly none if then the expression real price of commodities have any meaning it must be that which Mr Malthus has stated in the essay on rent it must be measured by the proportionate quantity of capital and labour necessary to produce them in Mr Malthus's inquiry into the nature of rent and mental circumstances the cause of the high comparative money price of corn is its high comparative real price or the greater quantity of capital and labour which must be employed to produce it this I apprehend is to correct account of all permanent variations in price whether of corn or of any other commodity a commodity can only permanently rise in price either because a great quantity of capital and labour must be employed to produce it or because money has fallen in value a variation a variation arising from the latter of either of these alternatives an altered value of money is common at once to all commodities but a variation arising from the former cause is confined to the particular commodity requiring more or less labour in its production by allowing the free importation of corn or by improving all the products of the commodity By allowing the free importation of corn, or by improvements in agriculture, raw produce would fall, but the price of no other commodity would be affected, except in proportion to the fall in the real value or cost of production of the raw produce which entered into its composition. Mr Malthus, having acknowledged this principle, cannot, I think, consistently maintain that the whole money value of all the commodities in the country must sink exactly in proportion to the fall in the price of corn. If the corn consumed in the country were of the value of 10 millions per annum, and the manufactured and foreign commodities consumed were of the value of 20 millions, making altogether 30 millions, it would not be admissible to infer that the annual expenditure was reduced to 15 millions because corn had fallen 50% or from 10 to 5 millions. The value of the raw produce which entered into the composition of these manufacturers might not, for example, exceed 20% of their whole value, and therefore the fall in the value of manufactured commodities instead of being from 20 to 10 millions would be only from 20 to 18 millions, and after the fall in the price of corn of 50%, the whole amount of the annual expenditure instead of falling from 30 to 25 millions would fall from 30 to 23 millions. Instead of thus considering the effect of a fall in the value of raw produce as Mr Malthus was bound to do by his previous admission, he considers it as precisely the same thing with a rise of 100% in the value of money and therefore argues as if all commodities would sink to half their former price. During the 20 years, beginning with 1794 he says, and ending with 1813, the average price of British corn per quarter was about 83 shillings, during the 10 years ending with 1813, 92 shillings, and during the last 5 years of the 20, 108 shillings. In the course of these 20 years, the government borrowed near 500 millions of real capital for which, on a rough average, exclusive of the sinking fund, it engaged to pay about 5%. But if corn should fall to 50 shillings a quarter and other commodities in proportion instead of an interest of about 5%, the government would really pay an interest of 7, 8, 9 and for the last 200 millions, 10%. With this extraordinary generosity towards the stockholders, I should be disposed to make no kind of objection. If it were not necessary to consider by him, it is to be paid. And the moment's reflection will show us that it can only be paid by the industrious classes of society and the landlords, that is, by all those whose nominal income will vary with the variations in the measure of value, the nominal revenues of this part of the society, compared with the average of the last 5 years, will be diminished one half, and out of this nominally reduced income, they will have to pay the same nominal amount of taxes. In the first place, I think I have already shown that the nominal income of the whole country will not be diminished in the proportion for which Mr Malthus here contains. It would not follow that because corn fell 50%, each man's income would be reduced 50% in value. In the second place, I think the reader will agree with me that the increased charge, if admitted, will not fall exclusively on the landlords and the industrious classes of society. The stockholder, by his expenditure, contributes his share to the support of the public burdens in the same way as the other classes of society. If their money became really more valuable, although he would receive a greater value, he would also pay a greater value in taxes, and therefore it cannot be true that the whole addition to the real value of the interest would be paid by the landlords and the industrious classes. The whole argument, however, of Mr Malthus is built on an infirm basis. It supposes because the gross income of the country is diminished, that therefore the net income must also be diminished. In the same proportion, it has been one of the objects of this work to show that with every fall in the real value of necessaries, the wages of labour would fall, and that the profits of stock would rise. In other words, that of any given annual value, a less portion would be paid to the labouring class, and a larger portion to those whose funds employed this class. Suppose the value of the commodities produced in a particular manufacturer would be £1,000 and to be divided between the master and his labourers in the proportion of £800 to labourers and £200 to the master. If the value of these commodities would fall to £900 and £100 be saved from the wages of labour in consequence of the fall of necessaries, the net income of the masters would be in no degree impaired, and therefore he could with just as much facility pay the same amount of taxes after as before the reduction of price, and that wages would fall as much as a mass of commodities, or rather that the net income remaining to landlords, farmers, manufacturers, traders and stockholders, the only real payers of taxes would be as great as before, is very highly probable, for nothing would be even nominally lost to the society by the freest importation of corn, but that portion of rent of which the landlords would be deprived in consequence of the fall of raw produce. The difference between the value of corn and all other commodities sold in the country before and after the importation of cheap corn would be only equal to the fall of rent, because independently of rent the same quantity of labour would always produce the same value. The whole reduction which is made in wages is a value actually added to the value of the net income before possessed by the society, whilst the only value which is taken from that net income is the value of that part of their rent of which the landlords will be deprived by a fall of raw produce. When we consider that the fall of produce acts upon a limited number of landlords while it regresses, the wages not only of those who are employed in agriculture, but of all those who are occupied in manufacturers and commerce, it may well be doubted whether the net revenue of the society would suffer any abatement whatever, but if it did, it must not be supposed that the ability to pay taxes will diminish in the same degree as the money value, even of the net revenue. Suppose that my net revenue were diminished from £1,000 to £900, but that my taxes continued to be the same to be £100, is it not probable that my ability to pay this £100 may be greater with the smaller than with the larger revenue? Commodities cannot fall so universally as Mr Malthus supposes, without greatly benefiting the consumers, without enabling them with a much smaller money revenue to command more of the conveniences, necessaries and luxuries of human life, and the question resolves itself into this, whether those who are in possession of the net revenue of the country will be benefited as much by the diminished price of commodities as they will suffer by the greater real taxation, on which side the balance may preponderate will depend on the proportion which taxes bear on the annual revenue, if it be enormously large it may undoubtedly more than any counterbalance the advantages from cheap necessaries, but I trust enough has been said to show that Mr Malthus has very greatly overrated the loss to the taxpayers from a fall in one of the most important necessaries of life, and that if they were not entirely remunerated for the real increase of taxes by the fall of wages and increase of profits they would be more than compensated by the cheaper price of all objects on which their incomes were expended, that the stockholder is benefited by a great fall in the value of corn cannot be doubted, but if no one else be injured that is no reason why corn should be made dear for the gains of the stockholder are national gains and increase as all other gains do the real wealth and power of the country, if they are unjustly benefited let the degree in which they are so be accurately ascertained and then it is for the legislator to devise a remedy, but no policy can be more unwise than to shut ourselves out from the great advantages arising from cheap corn and abundant productions, merely because the stockholder would have an undue proportion of the increase. To regulate the dividends on stock by the money value of corn has never yet been attempted, if justice and good faith required such a regulation a great debt is due to the old stockholders, for they have been receiving the same money dividends for more than a century, although corn has perhaps been doubled or trebled in price. Mr Malthus says it is true that the last additions to the agricultural projects of an improving country are not attended with a great proportion of rent, and it is precisely this circumstance that may make it answer to a rich country to import some of its corn, if it can be secure of obtaining an equitable supply, but in all cases the importation of foreign corn must fail to answer nationally, if it is not so much cheaper than the corn that can be grown at home as to equal both the profits and the rent of the grain which it displaces, groins etc. page 36, as rent is the effect of the high price of corn the loss of rent is the effect of a low price, foreign corn never enters into competition with such home corn as affords a rent, the fall of price invariably affects the landlord till the whole of his rent is absorbed, if it falls still more the price will not afford even the common profits of stock, capital will then quit the land for some other employment and the corn which was before grown upon it will then and not till then be imported, from the loss of rent there will be a loss of value of estimated money value, but there will be a gain of wealth, the amount of raw produce and other productions together will be increased from the greater facility with which they are produced they will though augmented in quantity be diminished in value, two men employ equal capitals, one in agriculture the other in manufacturers, that in agriculture produces an annual value of £1200 of which £1000 is retained for profit and £200 is paid for rent, the other in manufacturers produces only an annual value of £1000, suppose that by importation the same quantity of corn can be obtained for commodities which costs £950 and that in consequence the capital employed in agriculture is diverted to manufacturers where it can produce a value of £1000, the net revenue of the country will be of less value it will be reduced from £2200 to £2000 but there will not only be the same quantity of commodities in corn for its own consumption but also as much addition to that quantity as £50 would purchase, the difference between the value at which its manufacturers were sold to the foreign country and the value of the corn which was produced from it, Mr Malthus says it has been justly observed by Adam Smith that no equal quantity of productive labour employed in manufacturers can ever occasion so great a reproduction as in agriculture, if Adam Smith speaks of value he is correct but if he speaks of riches which is the important point he is mistaken, for he has himself defined riches to consist of the necessaries, conveniences and enjoyments of human life, one set of necessaries and conveniences admits of no comparison with another set, value and use cannot be measured by any known standard, it is differently estimated by different persons. End of Section 13 Jane A. Delano and Harvey Strong and the American Red Cross Chapter 3 Babies and their care, nursing bottles and nipples Nursing bottles should be of heavy glass cylindrical in shape without angles or corners to make cleaning difficult The number of bottles provided should be 2 or 3 more than the number of feedings given in 24 hours, short black rubber nipples which slip over the neck of the bottles should be selected, they should be of such a shape that they can easily be turned inside out and nipple turner costs little and is well worth the price, nipples should be discarded when they become soft or when the opening grows so large that the milk runs in a stream rather than drop by drop, as soon as the baby has finished his meal the bottle should be removed from his mouth, brinst in clear hot water and left standing, I filled with cold water until a convenient time for boiling, all the bottles to be used during the next 24 hours, sufficient time must be allowed for the bottles to cool thoroughly between the time when they are boiled and the time when they are refilled, when it is time to boil the bottles they should be placed in an, a gate or other suitable kettle, covered with water and boiled vigorously for 3 minutes, a cloth placed in the bottom of the kettle will help to prevent the bottles from breaking, after the bottles have been removed from the boiling water they should be stoppered at once, either with rubber stoppers or plugs of sterile cotton, the stoppers if used should be boiled with the bottles, sterile cotton maybe purchased by the package, an easy and satisfactory method to care for rubber nipples is the following, provide as many nipples as the number of feedings given in 24 hours and another if desired to be used in case of accident, provide also 2 cups of ordinary white enamel, each one large enough to hold all the nipples at once, one cup should have a cover, the other should not, to avoid mistakes it is well to have the cups different in shape, as soon as each feeding is finished the nipples should be thoroughly cleansed under running water, by scrubbing it inside and out with a nipple brush, the nipple thus cleansed is placed in the cup without a cover, when all the nipples have been used, cleansed and collected in the uncovered cup, they are transferred into the other cup, water is added, the cup is covered and its contents are boiled for 3 minutes, the nipples remain uncovered in the boiled water until needed, they are removed one by one for the successive feedings, care must be used in removing a nipple to take it by the rim, not to touch other nipples during the process and not to dip the fingers into the water, the best way is to remove them by means of a glass rod, which is boiled with the nipples and kept with them in the cup when not in use, there are several advantages of this method of caring for nipples, it is easy to reduce to a minimum the necessary handling of the nipples after boiling, and it reduces the probability of using the wrong nipple, since boiled nipples are always in one kind of receptacle unused nipples in another, it also prevents the too common practice of continuing to keep nipples in a supposedly antiseptic solution long after this solution has become badly soiled. End of chapter 3, babies and their care, nursing bottles and nipples, by Jane A. Delano, Anne Harvey, Strong and the American Red Cross, this recording is in the public domain. Section 15 of A to Z, this is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A to Z, by Various Observations on Puddings and Pies, by William Kitchener The quality of the various articles employed in the composition of puddings and pies varies so much that two puddings made exactly according to the same receipt, will be so different one would hardly suppose they were made by the same person, and certainly not with precisely the same quantities of the apparently same ingredients. Flower fresh ground, pure new milk, fresh laid eggs, fresh butter, fresh soot etc, will make a very different composition than when kept till each article is half spoiled. Plum puddings, when boiled if hung up in a cool place in the cloth they are boiled in, will keep good some months, when wanted take them out of the cloth and put them into a clean cloth and as soon as warmed through they are ready. Memorandum, in composing these receipts the quantities of eggs, butter etc are considerably less than are ordered in other kukui books, but quite sufficient for the purpose of making the puddings light and wholesome. We have diminished the expense without impoverishing the preparations and the rational epicure will be as well pleased with them as the rational economist. Milk in its genuine state varies considerably in the quantity of cream it will throw up, depending on the material with which the cow is fed. The cow that gives the most milk does not always produce the most cream, which varies 15 or 20%. Eggs vary considerably in size, in the following receipts we mean the full-sized hen's egg, if you have only pullet's eggs use two for one. Break eggs one by one into a basin and not all into the bowl together, because then, if you meet with a bad one, that will spoil all the rest. Strain them through a sieve to take out the treadles. Endy, to preserve eggs for 12 months in a sweet and palatable state for eating in the shell or using for salads by boiling them for one minute, and when wanted for use let them be boiled in the usual manner. The white may be a little tougher than a new laid egg, but the yolk will show no difference. Snow and small beer have been recommended by some economists as admirable substitutes for eggs. They will no more answer this purpose than as substitutes for sugar or brandy. Flour, according to that champion against adulteration, Mr Ackham, varies in quality as much as anything. Butter also varies much in quality. Salt butter may be washed from the salt, and then it will make very good pastry. Lard varies extremely from the time it is kept, etc. When you purchase it, have the bladder cut, and ascertain that it be sweet and good. Beef is the best, then mutton and veal. When this is used in very hot weather, while you chop it, dredge it lightly with a little flour. Beef marrow is excellent for most of the purposes for which sewage is employed. Drippings, especially from beef, when very clean and nice, are frequently used for kitchen crusts and pies, and for such purposes are a satisfactory substitute for butter, lard, etc. To clean and preserve drippings, see footnote number 83. Currents, previous to putting them into the pudding, should be plumped. This is done by pouring some boiling water upon them. Wash them well and lay them on a sieve or cloth before the fire. Pick them clean from the stones. This not only makes them look better, but cleanses them from all dirt. Raisins, figs, dried cherries, candied orange and lemon peel, citron, and preserves of all kinds, fresh fruits, gooseberries, currants, plums, damsons, etc., are added to batter and sweet puddings, or enclosed in the crust ordered for apple dumplings, and make all the various puddings called by those names. Butter puddings must be quite smooth and free from lumps. To ensure this, first mix the flour with a little milk, add the remainder by degrees, and then the other ingredients. If it is a plain pudding, put it through a hair sieve. This will take out all lumps effectually. Butter puddings should be tied up tight. If boiled in a mould, butter it first. If baked, also butter the pound. Be sure the water boils before you put in the pudding. Set your stew pan on a trivet over the fire and keep it steadily boiling all the time. If set upon the fire, the pudding often burns. Be scrupulously careful that your pudding cloth is perfectly sweet and clean. Wash it without any soap, unless very greasy, then rinse it thoroughly in clean water after. Immediately before you use it, dip it in boiling water, squeeze it dry and dredge it with flour. If your fire is very fierce, mind and stir the puddings every now and then to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. If in a mould, this care is not so much required, but to keep plenty of water in the saucepan. When puddings are boiled in a cloth, it should be just dipped in a basin of cold water before you untie the pudding cloth, as that will prevent it from sticking. But when boiled in a mould, if it is well buttered, they will turn out without. Custard or bread puddings require to stand five minutes before they are turned out. They should always be boiled in a mould or cups. Keep your pasteboard, rolling pin, cutters and tins very clean. The least dust on the tins and cutters or the least hard paste on the rolling pin will spoil the whole of your labour. Things used for pastry or cakes should not be used for any other purpose. Be very careful that your flour is dried at the fire before you use it for puff paste or cakes. If damp, it will make them heavy. If using butter for puff paste, you should take the greatest care to previously work it well on the pasteboard or slab to get out all the water and buttermilk which very often remains in. When you have worked it well with a clean knife, dab it over with a soft cloth and it is then ready to lay on your paste. Do not make your paste over stiff before you put it in your butter. For those who do not understand making puff paste, it is by far the best way to work the butter in at two separate times, divide it in half and break the half in little bits and cover your paste all over. Dredge it lightly with flour, then fold it over each side and ends, roll it out quite thin and then put in the rest of the butter, fold it and roll it again. Remember always to roll puff paste from you. The best made paste, if not properly baked, will not do the cook any credit. Those who use iron ovens do not always succeed in baking puff paste, fruit pies etc. Puff paste is often spoiled by baking it after fruit pies in an iron oven. This may be easily avoided by putting two or three bricks that are quite even into the oven before it is first set to get hot. This will not only prevent the syrup from boiling out of the pies, but also prevent a very disagreeable smell in the kitchen and house and almost answers the same purpose as a brick oven. College puddings Beat four eggs, yolks and whites together in a quart basin with two ounces of flour, half a nutmeg, a little ginger and three ounces of sugar. Pounded loaf sugar is best. Beat it into a smooth butter, then add six ounces of suet, chopped fine, six of currants well washed and picked, mix it all well together. A glass of brandy or white wine will improve it. These puddings are generally fried in butter or lard, but they are much nicer baked in an oven in patty pans. Twenty minutes will bake them. If fried, fry them till they are a nice light brown and when fried, roll them in a little flour. You may add one ounce of orange or citron, minced very fine. When you bake them, add one more egg or two spoonfuls of milk. Serve them up with white wine sauce. Rice puddings baked or boiled. Wash in cold water and pick very clean six ounces of rice. Put it in a quart stew pan, three parts filled with cold water. Set it on the fire and let it boil five minutes. Pour away the water and put in one quart of milk, a roll of lemon peel and a bit of cinnamon. Let it boil gently till the rice is quite tender. It will take at least one hour and a quarter. Be careful to stir it every five minutes. Take it off the fire and stir in an ounce and a half of fresh butter and beat up three eggs on a plate. A salt spoonful of nutmeg, two ounces of sugar. Put it into the pudding and stir it till it is quite smooth. Line a pie dish begin after hold it with puff paste. Notch it round the edge. Put in your pudding and bake it three quarters of an hour. This will be a nice firm pudding. If you like it to eat more like custard, add one more egg and half a pint more milk. It will be better a little thinner when boiled. One hour will boil it. If you like it in little puddings, butter small tea cups and either bake or boil them. Half an hour will do either. You may vary the pudding by putting in candied lemon or orange peel, minced very fine or dried cherries or three ounces of currants or raisins or apples minced fine. If the puddings are baked or boiled serve them with white wine sauce or butter and sugar. Ground rice pudding. Put four ounces of ground rice into a stew pan and by degrees stir in a pint and a half of milk. Set it on the fire with a roll of lemon and a bit of cinnamon. Keep stirring it till it boils. Beat it to a smooth batter then set it on the trivet where it will simmer gently for a quarter of an hour. Then beat three eggs on a plate. Stir them into the pudding with two ounces of sugar and two dracoms of nutmeg. Take out the lemon peel and cinnamon. Stir it all well together. Line a pie dish with thin puff paste. Big enough to hold it or butter the dish well and bake it half an hour. If boiled it will take one hour in a mould well buttered. Three ounces of currants may be added. Rice snowballs. Wash and pick half a pound of rice very clean. Put it on in a saucepan with plenty of water. When it boils let it boil ten minutes. Drain it on a sieve till it is quite dry and then pair six apples weighing two ounces and a half each. Divide the rice into six parcels. In separate cloths put one apple in each. Tie it loose and boil it one hour. Serve it with sugar and butter or wine sauce. Rice blemange. Put a tea cup of whole rice into the least water possible till it almost bursts. Then add half a pint of good milk or thin cream and boil it till it is quite a mash, stirring it the whole time it is on the fire that it may not burn. Dip a shape in cold water and do not dry it. Put in the rice and let it stand until quite cold when it will come easily out of the shape. This dish is much approved of. It is eaten with cream or custard and preserved fruits, raspberries are best. It should be made the day before it is wanted that it may get firm. This blemange will eat much nicer, flavoured with spices, lemon peel etc and sweetened with a little loaf of sugar. Add it with the milk and take out the lemon peel before you put in the mould. Save all pudding. Put any scraps of bread into a clean saucepan. To about a pound put a pint of milk. Set it on the trivet till it boils. Beat it up quite smooth then break in three eggs, three ounces of sugar with a little nutmeg, ginger or allspice and stir it all well together. Butter a dish big enough to hold it. Put in the pudding and have ready two ounces of suet chopped very fine. Strew it over the top of the pudding and bake it three quarters of an hour. Four ounces of currents will make it much better. Butter pudding baked or boiled. Break three eggs in a basin with as much salt as will lie on a sixpence. Beat them well together and then add four ounces of flour. Beat it into a smooth batter and by degrees add half a pint of milk. Have your saucepan ready boiling and butter an earthen mould well. Put the pudding in and tie it tight over with a pudding cloth and boil it one hour and a quarter or put it in a dish that you have well buttered and bake it three quarters of an hour. Currents washed and picked clean or raisin stoned are good in this pudding and it is then called a black cap or add loaf sugar and a little nutmeg and ginger without the fruit and it is very good that way. Serve it with wine sauce. Apple pudding boiled. Chop four ounces of beef suet very fine or two ounces of butter, lard or dripping. But the suet makes the best and lightest crust. Put it on the paste board with eight ounces of flour and a salt spoonful of salt. Mix it very well together with your hands and then put it all over a heap and make a hole in the middle. Break one egg in it, stir it well together with your finger and by degrees infuse as much water as will make of it a stiff paste. Roll it out two or three times with the rolling pin and then roll it large enough to receive 13 ounces of apples. It will look neater if boiled in a basin. Well buttered then when boiled in a pudding cloth. Well floured. Boil it an hour and three quarters but the surest way is to stew the apples first in a stew pan with a wine glass full of water and then one hour will boil it. Some people like it flavoured with cloves and lemon peel and sweeten it with two ounces of sugar. Gooseberries, currants, raspberries and cherries, damsons and various plums and fruits are made into puddings with the same crust directed for apple puddings. Apple dumplings. Make paste the same as for apple pudding. Divide it into as many pieces as you want dumplings. Peel the apples and core them then roll out your paste large enough and put in the apples. Close it all round and tie them in pudding cloths very tight. One hour will boil them and when you take them up just dip them in cold water and put them in a cup the size of the dumpling while you untie them. They will then turn out without breaking. Suet pudding or dumplings. Chop six ounces of suet very fine. Put it in a basin with six ounces of flour, two ounces of breadcrumbs and a teaspoon full of salt. Stir it all well together. Beat two eggs on a plate. Add to them six tablespoons of milk. Put it by degrees into the basin and stir it all well together. Divide it into six dumplings and tie them separate. Previously dredging the cloth lightly with flour. Boil them one hour. This is very good the next day fried in a little butter. The above will make a good pudding boiled in an earthenware mould with the addition of one more egg, a little more milk and two ounces of suet. Boil it two hours. Envy, the most economical way of making suet dumpling is to boil them without a cloth in a pot with beef or mutton. No eggs are then wanted and the dumplings are quite as light without. Roll them in flour before you put them into the pot. Add six ounces of currants washed and picked and you have current pudding. Or divide it into six parts, current dumplings. A little sugar will improve them. Cottage potato pudding or cake. Peel, boil and mash a couple of pounds of potatoes. Beat them up into a smooth batter with about three quarters of a pint of milk, two ounces of moist sugar and two or three beaten eggs. Bake it about three quarters of an hour. Three ounces of currants or raisins may be added. Leave out the milk and add three ounces of butter. It will make a very nice cake. Footnote. An old gentlewoman who lived almost entirely on puddings told us it was a long time before she could get them made uniformly good till she made the following rule. If the pudding was good she let the cook have the remainder of it. If it was not good she gave it to her lapdog. But as soon as this resolution was known, poor little Baowau seldom got the sweet treat after. End of section 15 Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Chapter 37 Pardon, oh pardon, that my soul should make Pardon, oh pardon, that my soul should make Of all that strong divineness which I know Where thine and thee, an image only so, Formed of the sand and fit to shift and break It is that distant years which did not take Thy sovereignty, recording with a blow, Have forced my swimming brain to undergo Their doubt and dread and blind-leaf, too, for sake Thy purity of likeness and distort Thy worthiest love to a worthless counterfeit As if a shipwrecked pagan, safe in port His guardian, sea god, too, commemorate Should set a sculptured purpoise, gills a snort, And vibrant tale within the temple gate End of poem, this recording is in the public domain Section 17 of A to Z This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Larry Wilson A to Z by Various The Quantum Jump by Robert Wicks Brandon was looking at the Milky Way Through his perma-glass canopy He could see it trailing across the black Velvet of space like a white bridal veil Below his SC-9B scout ship Stretched the red-dust deserts of Sirius III Illuminated by the thin light of two ice moons He looked at the Milky Way He looked at it as a man looks at a flickering fireplace And thinks of other things He thought of the sun fifty-two trillion miles away A pinpoint of light lost in the dazzle Of the Milky Way The Earth, a speck of dust in orbit Just as this planet was to its master, Sirius Nine light-years away, of course Thirteen light-years had passed on Earth Since they had left Because the trip took four years by RT Relative time But even four years is a long time To be shut up in Astral One With five other men Especially when one of them was the Imperious Colonel Towers A quantum jump That's the way to beat the Reds The Colonel had said a thousand times His well-worn expression Had nothing to do with quantum mechanics The actual change in atomic configuration Due to the application of sufficient energy Rather it was a slang expression Referring to a major advance In interplanetary travel Due to a maximum scientific And technological effort Let him have Mars and Venus The Colonel would say Let him have the whole damn solar system We'll make a quantum jump Leap frog ahead of him We'll be the first men to set foot On a planet of another solar system Four years had gone by in the ship Thirteen years on Earth Four years of Colonel Towers Military discipline grew more strict Each day Space does funny things to some men Though we'll be the first men Had turned into I'll be the first man But it was Captain Brandon Who drew the assignment of scouting Sirius III for a suitable landing Place for Astro, of sampling Its atmosphere and observing Meteorological conditions Even as Brandon climbed into the Scout ship, Towers had cautioned Him. Remember, your assignment Is to locate a firm landing site With ample protection from the elements Under no circumstances Are you to land yourself? Is that clearly understood? Brandon nodded Was launched and now was cruising 100,000 feet above the alien planet Brandon tilted the ship up On one wing and glanced down At the brick-red expanse of desert Tiny red mists Marked at dust storms Certainly this was no place To set down the full weight Of Astro, nor to protect the crew And equipment from abrasive dust. He righted the ship Far on the horizon Was a bank of atmospheric clouds Perhaps conditions were more Promising there. He shoved the power setting to 90%. A fire warning indicator light Blinked on. Instantly, Brandon's eyes were On the instrument panel. The tailpipe temperature seemed all right. It could be a false indication. He eased back on the power setting. Maybe the light would go out. But it didn't. Instead he felt a surging rumble Deep in the bowels of the ship. Luminous needles danced And a second red light flashed on. He snapped the video switch And depressed the mic button. Astro one, this is Brandon over. A steady crackling sound Filled his earphones. A grid of light and shadow Fluttered on the screen. A thought entered his mind. He had put too much planet curvature Between Astro and himself. Astro one. Astro one, this is Brandon. Come in please. A series of muffled explosions Rocked the ship. He chopped the power back all the way And listened intently. Mayday, mayday Astro, this is Brandon. Mayday. A faint voice sputtered in his ear. The face of Reinhardt, the radio man Appeared before him. Brandon, this is Astro one. What is your position over? Brandon's voice sounded Strange and distant as he talked To his oxygen mass. Heading 180 Approximately 600 miles from you. Altitude 100,000 feet. What is the nature of your trouble, Brandon? Before Brandon could answer The face of Colonel Towers Appeared beside the radio man's. Brandon, what are you trying to pull? Engine trouble, sir. Losing altitude fast. Do you know the nature of the trouble? Negative. Might have thrown a compressor blade. Got a fire indication. Then a compressor surge. Chopped off the power. Towers frowned. Why didn't you use the straight rocket power? Well, sir... Never mind now. You may have encountered oxygen Or hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Milted your compressor blades. Try an air start on straight rocket. I want that ship back, Brandon. Repeat. I want that ship back. I may be able to write it down. Get it on the deck intact. Try an air start, Brandon. Towers leaned forward. His eyes fixed on Brandon. I don't want you to set foot on that planet. Get me? But there wasn't time to try anything. The cabin was filling with fumes. Brandon looked down. A fringe of blue flame crept Along between the floor And the bottom of the pilot's capsule. A cold ache filled the cavity in his stomach. Too late. Too late. I'm on fire. Capsuling out. Repeat. Capsuling out. Brandon! The colonel's glaring face flicked off As Brandon pushed the pre-adjection lever Into the lock position, All connections between the ship And the pilot's capsule. Brandon had a strange detached feeling As he pushed the ejection button. There was an explosion And the pilot's capsule shot up Like a wet bar of soap, Squeezed out of a giant's hand. The ship turned into a torch And sank beneath him. Brandon closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, He was staring at the Milky Way. Then the desert as he tumbled over and over. He walked to the Milky Way. Ten seconds. Should wait at least ten seconds Before releasing the drogue shoot. So I'll clear the ship. Then he spoke to the desert. Maybe another ten to give the capsule time To slow down. Then he counted. Then pulled the shoot release. Leiland streamed out behind him And snapped open with a tremendous jar. A moment later bundles of metal ribbons Floated out. The last thing he remembered Was the taste of blood on his lips. When Brandon opened his eyes He was staring at the silvery discs Of the twin moons. They were high in the sky, Obscuring the center of the Milky Way. Funny he should be lying on his back Looking at the sky, he thought. Then he remembered. The capsule was on his back And Brandon was still strapped Securely to the seat. His whole body ached. Tendons had been pulled. Muscles strained from the force Of the ejection. His oxygen mask was still in place But his helmet hung partly loose. He adjusted it automatically Then unbuckled the seat straps. He took a deep breath. Under the oxygen mask He was aware of dry blood Clotted in his nostrils. Caked around the corner of his lips. With an effort he sat on the seat back And looked through the permaclass. A tangle of cord stretched out To the nylon of the main chute Draped over a dust dune. Beyond it he could see The gleaming metal ribbons Of the drogue chute. Ahead of him behind some low hills He could see a dull red glow The ship, he thought. Astro may already be hovering over it. He dragged a survival kit From behind the seat And pulled out some rations. A first aid kit. Raising the antenna He plugged in the mic cord from his mask And held down the talk key with his thumb. Astro won. This is Brandon, come in. As he talked a picture flickered on the screen. It was the radio room on Astro won. Colonel Towers was pacing back and forth In front of the radio man. Shall I keep trying to raise him? He heard Ryan Hart ask. Damn, fool stunt. Towers sputtered. You know what I think. I think he went down deliberately. Just to be the first human being To walk the ground of a planet Of another solar system. Astro, this is Brandon. Come in, please. Towers continued to pace and talk. He did it despite me. But we can't raise him, sir, The radio operator said. Maybe he didn't get out alive. Colonel Towers, can't you hear me? Brandon yelled into his oxygen mask. He got out all right. The Colonel said. He's just stalling to make it look good. But we aren't going to give up The search, are we, sir? As the radio man. It would serve his soul right. The Colonel stopped pacing And faced the radio man. Keep trying to raise him, right Hart? I'm going to bring us down To forty thousand feet And search the area where he went down. Hell of a waste of running. Hell of a waste of rocket fuel Tooling around in the atmosphere. He muttered disappearing Through a bulkhead door. Wait, Colonel Towers. Brandon called. But he knew it was no use. Obviously he could pick up Astro But they could neither see nor hear him. Captain Brandon, this is Astro calling. Over. The radio man repeated the phrase a dozen times And each time Brandon acknowledged. Swore and acknowledged again. Finally in desperation He switched off the teletalking. He snapped open the back Of the unit and studied the maze Of transistors, resistors, and capacitors. If there was something wrong It was subtle. Like a burned out resistor Or a shorted condenser. Whatever it was it was beyond emergency repair. He dropped the teletalking Behind the seat and examined the gauge On his oxygen mask. There was enough to last the night But not much more. He sat down in the capsule to think. The first thing they'd locate Is the burning ship he decided. Then they would probably start searching In ever widening circles. But would they see him in the faint light Of the ice moons? He looked back at the nylon chute again. Another thought ran through his mind. Suppose they don't spot me in the dark. When the sun's serious I mean Comes up There's a good chance they'll spot the parachute And search for him. He slid the canopy open And looked down at the red soil of Sirius III. He hesitated for a moment Then swung his feet over the side And dropped to the ground. At least I'll have that satisfaction. He said, gritting under his oxygen mask. Very much aware of gravity After years of weightlessness He walked to the canopy of the chute And spread it out on the flat ground In a full circle. It billowed in the wind. To round found some glassy black rocks And anchored down the chute. Then he looked at the orange glow That marked the funeral pyre of the ship. He had a decision to make. Stay here with the capsule Or head for the fire. Couldn't be more than a thousand Yards away he decided. Charging a walk around oxygen bottle He transferred his oxygen hose To it. He strapped the survival kit to his belt And picked up the telitaki. The ship was more than a thousand Yards away. The first mile was across flat desert. He picked his way cautiously His boots churning up clouds of powdery dust. He remembered the Russian reports Of the weird and deadly creatures They had encountered in the Martian deserts. But aside from a few gray patches Of brush there seemed to be No sign of life. After all he thought The earth held no life for the better Part of its existence Selected this planet because it bore Relatively the same relationship To the brighter, hotter, serious As did the earth to the sun. While farther away it should have Approximately the same conditions As did the earth. And it had seas, not as large as on earth But seas nevertheless. Yet there was a fallacy In the argument. Presumably all of the stars In the outer arms of the Milky Way And their planets were about the same age With similar conditions as the earth Life must have been born And walked out of the seas of serious Three just as it did on earth. Something scurried into a wisp of a brush As if to bear out Brandon's realization. He froze His eyes on the brush His hand reaching for his hydrostatic Shock pistol. He could hear nothing but the wind hollowing His ears. He stood for a long moment. He cautiously skirted the brush And continued on toward the burning ship. There was an odd clicking sound And he stopped. It sounded again. Brandon realized he was Prespiring despite the chill Of the night desert. Again he moved on, the sound Fading in the distance behind him. The next mile brought him To a great sheet of ancient lava Laid bare by the elements. He climbed to the top. There still seemed to be about a thousand Yards ahead, beyond a ridge of low Hills. A distant flare lit up the sky ahead of him. It glowed for a few moments and died. They found the ship he thought. After four years I had completely Forgotten about the store of photo flash flares. He watched for a while But saw no more flares. Finally he scrambled down the other Side of the lava sheet. And continued on toward the wreck. Moving slowly, but steadily. The third mile brought him To the scene of the crash. A smoking cylinder of fused metal Lay in a gully. Parts were strewn along the bottom. A wing untouched by the fire Was leaning tip down Against the edge of another lava sheet Some distance away. He sat down. Another flare flashed in the sky Behind him, silhouetting a row Of grotesque trees. I'm over here, you fools, he thought. He watched until the flare flickered out. Then turned his head back Toward the remains of the ship. There wasn't much of a glow to it now. It would be hard to see Unless Astro was right on top of it. He raised the antenna of the Telitaki and snapped it on. The screen glowed into life. Towers were stepping through The bulkhead door into the radio room. Just like a television play in Installments, Brandon thought. Scene two coming up. No sign of him at the scene of the crash. Towers told Reinhardt. If he got out, observed Reinhardt, He could be a hundred miles away or more. If he got out, Towers said in a tone that irritated Brandon. I got out, Brandon said. And right now I'm walking around Your precious planet like a boy scout. Damn this Telitaki. I'd give a year's pay If you would see me now, Towers. We may yet spot the escape counter. We may yet spot the escape counter. We may yet spot the escape capsule. Reinhardt was saying. We're still continuing the search. Put in Towers. But I don't mind telling you. I'm not wasting much more fuel. The radio operator started to say something. Hesitated and finally settled for Yes, sir. Brandon's ward snapped off the set. He looked at his walk-around bottle. Can't stay here any longer, he muttered. He couldn't find the capsule. He walked three, perhaps four miles. He stopped and blotted his moist brow with his sleeve. He wasn't going to find it. Before him stretched an endless carpet of red dust. The light from the two moons was growing dim as each settled toward different horizons. He sat down. A cloud of powdery dust settled over his legs. The lightness in his head told him that his oxygen was running out. The weakness in his muscles reminded him that it had been a long time since he had walked in a planet's gravity. A distant flare lit up the horizon. He joked off a sob and beat his fist on the red dust. A wave of nausea swept over him. Bitter stomach juices welled up in his throat. But he swallowed them down again. Astro, this is Brandon, he said. Brandon, this is Astro, Reinhardt said. Brandon's body tensed. Thank God I finally got through to you. Listen Reinhardt, I must be about three. Brandon, this is Astro, said Reinhardt in a monotone. He said it again and again and again. Brandon fell back on the ground. His breathing was short, strained. His face was bathed in perspiration. The oxygen he realized was giving out. What are the odds that the air of Sirius III is breathable, he wondered? One in a hundred? The planet has water and both animal and plant life. Certainly it has sufficient gravity to hold its oxygen. But what other elements, noxious gases might be present. Maybe the odds are closer to one in fifty, he decided. But it's no way to gamble when you have nothing to lose, he told the Milky Way. Ripping off his oxygen mask, he took a deep breath of the alien atmosphere. He took a deep breath of oxygen. His ears rang. Black spots danced before his eyes. Then melted into solid blackness. Brandon could hear Towers' voice in a vortex of darkness. Let's face it. Brandon is dead. Must have burned with the ship. At least that's the way the report will read. Get me Reinhardt? Yes, sir. The disembodied voice of Reinhardt replied quietly. We're going to set her down on a solid piece of ground near one of the oceans. There was a pause. And Brandon could almost see Colonel Towers drawing up to his full height. I'm going to be the first man to set foot on a planet of another solar system. Know what that means, Reinhardt? A quantum jump, sir? Right. Leap frogging ahead of the Reds. Wait till they read the name Colonel John Towers. Maybe General John Towers. General? Brandon opened his eyes. Sirius was turning the sky to gray. Trimming a few scattered clouds with gold. As he stared at the sky, Sirius rose with a brassy glare. Near it he could see its white hot dwarf star companion. It was going to be a real scorcher, he decided. Worse than any desert on earth. He sat up stiffly. On the teletank screen, Reinhardt alone in the radio room was calling quietly for Brandon. The bulkhead door swung open and Towers poked his head through. Knock that off, said Towers sternly, and take your landing station. As Reinhardt rose to his feet, Brandon reached over and turned off the set. Brandon took a deep breath, his head spun and for the first time he realized he was still alive. He gazed across the shimmering desert to a ridge of scrubby hills. Blue mountains rose up beyond them. Great flows of black lava had rolled down onto the desert floor at some distant time. They were spotted with clumps of gray grass, even as was the desert. The hills were studded with weird trees standing stiff, branches outstretched like an army of scarecrows. The era of Sirius III was doing strange things to him. The trees seemed to be moving. He swayed and sat heavily. As he watched through a haze of red dust whipped up by the morning breeze the two trees came closer, turned into men wearing desert uniforms and leaned over him. Are you OK? one of them asked. Brandon said nothing. We saw you from our observation station over the hill, said the other pointing. They helped Brandon to his feet and gave him a swig of cool, sweet water from a canteen. I'm Captain Brandon of the Astro One. Astro One? The man removed his pith helmet to wipe his brow and Brandon noticed the gleaming US insignia on the front of the helmet. The Astro One left Earth 13 years ago, the man said. Only four years by RT, Brandon said. The man smiled and put his helmet back on his head. A lot of things have happened since you left. There was a war which we won and I guess you guys were almost forgotten and there was a lot of technological development. You mean you had a quantum jump, as Brandon, parroting Colonel Tower's favorite expression? Odd you would know that, replied the second man. It was through quantum mechanics that we learned to approximate the speed of light. While nine years pass on Earth while we make the trip, our RT is mere moments. Good Lord, Brandon said. You must have passed us up. Been on this planet for nearly a year. The first man said. Got men on dozens of planetary systems throughout the Milky Way. One ship went a thousand light years out. By the time they come back civilization on Earth will be two thousand years older. Have you got a teletaki? Brandon asked. Sure, said the first man, producing a set one-third the size of Brandon's. Could you tune it to twenty-eight point six microcycles? Sure, said the man again. He turned a dial with his thumb and handed the unit to Brandon. Brandon depressed the talk button. A crystal clear image of Colonel Towers on his full dress uniform appeared on the screen. This is an historic occasion Colonel Towers was announcing to his crew. Open the hatch and Reinhardt, be sure to stand by with the motion picture camera. Excuse me Colonel Towers said Brandon quietly. Towers swung around and looked out at Brandon. The Colonel's face paled. I have something to tell you, said Brandon grinning about the quantum jump. End of section seventeen. Section eighteen of A to Z. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by April six zero nine zero California, United States of America. A to Z. By various. R. The Raft. By Rachel Lindsay. The whole world on a raft. A king is here. The record of his grandeur, but a smear. Is it his deacon beard or old bald pate? That makes the band upon his whims to wait? Loot and mud honey have his soul defiled. Quack, pig and priest. He drives camp meetings wild. Until they shower their pennies like spring rain. That he may preach upon the Spanish Maine. What landlord, lawyer, voodoo man has yet a better native right to make men sweat? The whole world on a raft. A duke is here at sight of whose like-jaw the muse is leer. Journeyman, printer, lamb with ferret eyes. In life's skull-duggery he takes the prize. Yet stands at twilight wrapped in hamlet dreams. Into his eyes the Mississippi gleams. The Mars sings in moonlit veils of foam. A candle shines from one lone cabin home. The waves reflect it like a drunken star. A banjo and a hymn are heard afar. No solace on the lazy shore excels. The duke's blue castle with its steamer bells. The floor is running water and the roof. The star is brocade with cloudy warp and woof, and on past sorghum fields the current swings to Christian Jim the Mississippi sings. This prankish wave-swept bark has won its place. A ship of jesting for the human race. But do you laugh when Jim bows down for Lorne, his babe, his death Elizabeth to mourn? And do you laugh when Jim, from huck apart, gropes through the rain and night with breaking heart? But now that imp is here and we can smile. Jim's child and guardian this long-drawn while with knife and heavy gun a hunter keen. He stops for squirrel meat in islands green. The eternal game in sleeping half the day, then stripped and sleek a river fish at play, and then well dressed ashore he sees life spilt. The river bank is one bright crazy quilt. A patchwork dream of rap more red than lust where long-haired feudist hot spurs bite the dust. This huckleberry fin is but the race, America still lovely in disgrace, new childhood of the world that blenders on, and wonders at the darkness and the dawn. The poor dam's human race still unimpressed, with its damnation all its game impressed, shortling at dukes and kings with nigger Jim, then plotting for their fall with jesting's grim. Behold a republic where a river speaks then, and cries to those that love its ways. Answering again, when in the hearts extravagance the rascals bend to say, O singing Mississippi shine, sing for us today! But who is this in sweeping Oxford gown, who steers the raft or ambles up and down, or throws his gown aside and there in white stands gleaming like a pillar of the night? The line of high courts with hoary mane plaster that the boyish court will gain, Mark Twain, the bad world's idol, old Mark Twain. He takes his turn as watchman with the rest, with secret transports to the stars addressed, with night-long broodings upon cosmic law, with day-long laughter at this world so raw, all praise to Emerson and Whitman, yet the best they have to say their sons forget. But who can dodge this of the stream, the Mississippi Valley's laughing dream? He is the artery that finds the sea, in this the land of slaves and boys still free. He is the river and they one and all, sail on his breast and to each other call. Come, let us disgrace ourselves, knock the stuffed gods from their shelves, and cinders at the schoolhouse fling. Come, let us disgrace ourselves and live on a raft with gray Mark Twain, and Huck and Jim, and the Duke and the King. End of section 19