Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:53

Excerpt #1, from The Book of Hallowe’en, by Ruth Edna Kelley

…HALLOWE’EN IN AMERICA In Colonial days Hallowe’en was not celebrated much in America. Some English still kept the customs of the old world, such as apple-ducking and snapping, and girls tried the apple-paring charm to reveal their lovers’ initials, and the comb-and-mirror test to see their faces. Ballads were sung and ghost-stories told, for the dead were thought to return on Hallowe’en. “There was a young officer in Phips’s company at the time of the finding of the Spanish treasure-ship, who had gone mad at the sight of the bursting sacks that the divers had brought up from the sea, as the gold coins covered the deck. This man had once lived in the old stone house on the ‘faire greene lane,’ and a report had gone out that his spirit still visited it, and caused discordant noises. Once … on a gusty November evening, when the clouds were scudding over the moon, a hall-door had blown open with a shrieking draft and a force that caused the floor to tremble.” BUTTERWORTH: Hallowe’en Reformation. Elves, goblins, and fairies are native on American soil. The Indians believed in evil manitous, some of whom were water-gods who exacted tribute from all who passed over their lakes. Henry…

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Excerpt #2, from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills, by Virgil M. Harris

…nothing but mind can account for it.’ ‘You are right,’ was his answer; ‘in some incomprehensible way, God Almighty has created these beings, and I cannot doubt of their immortality any more than I doubt of my own.’ His fealty to the rights of animals exceeded that of any great naturalist who ever preceded him. Incompetent as we are to give him his due rank among the great naturalists of the world, we think he excelled every naturalist who has gone before him in striking at the soul and individuality of all animals below man. It is impossible to convey in words the peculiar feeling which Agassiz had on this matter. Doubtless this large and genial genius is now satisfied. We cannot penetrate beyond the veil. “What we can do, however, is to celebrate Agassiz as a teacher, and try to send a new glow into the heart of every person engaged in the difficult art of teaching. How hard is their work! The present generation is brought up, as far as education is concerned, on the most economical principles. No consideration whatever is given to the point of the will of Agassiz. When he proudly calls himself ‘a teacher,’ he means that he is a radiator of heat as well as of light. A poet has well described the method of instruction adopted by Agassiz: “‘He was like the sun giving me life; Pouring into the caves of my young brain…

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Excerpt #3, from Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings, by Trench H. Johnson

…America are the Democrats, whose political aims are above cliques or parties; therefore they refuse to be influenced by a “Caucus.” =Mulatto.= From the Spanish mulato, a mixed breed, through mulo, a mule, the offspring of a white and a Negro. =Mumm.= A strong German beer named after Christian Mumme, who first brewed it. =Mummer.= Slang for an actor. This old English term, derived from the German mumme, a mask, was applied to the performers in a Christmas masque or buffoonery. =Mummock.= An Americanism for handle, disarrange, or play with–e.g. “Don’t mummock things about.” The word is really obsolete provincial English for “maul.” =Munich.= From the German monchen, monks. On the spot where the city stands some monks built a warehouse for the salt which they obtained in the neighbourhood. In the twelfth century Henry the Lion made this Villa Minichen, as it was then called, into a mint, and a town grew up around it. =Munster Road.= From Munster House, the residence of Melesina Schulenberg, created Duchess of Munster by George II. =Munster Square.= In honour of the eldest son of William IV., created Earl of Munster….

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Excerpt #4, from The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells

…the sky, however: that slow movement which is imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes, had long since rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings. But the Milky Way, it seemed to me, was still the same tattered streamer of star-dust as of yore. Southward (as I judged it) was a very bright red star that was new to me; it was even more splendid than our own green Sirius. And amid all these scintillating points of light one bright planet shone kindly and steadily like the face of an old friend. “Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future. I thought of the great precessional cycle that the pole of the earth describes. Only forty times had that silent revolution occurred during all the years that I had traversed. And during these few revolutions all the activity, all the traditions, the complex organisations, the nations, languages, literatures, aspirations, even the mere memory of Man as I knew him, had been swept out of existence. Instead were these frail creatures who had forgotten their high ancestry, and the white Things of which I went in terror. Then I thought of the Great Fear that was between the two species, and for the first time, with a sudden shiver, came the clear…

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Excerpt #5, from History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent

…owner thirty times its value as compensation, whereas if the thief were a member of the middle class he only had to pay ten times its price, but if he had no property and so could not pay compensation he was put to death. The penalty for manslaughter was less if the assailant was a man of the middle class, and such a man could also divorce his wife more cheaply, and was privileged to pay his doctor or surgeon a smaller fee for a successful operation. But the privileges enjoyed by a man of the middle class were counterbalanced by a corresponding diminution of the value at which his life and limbs were assessed. Thus, if a doctor by carrying out an operation unskilfully caused the death of a member of the upper class, or inflicted a serious injury upon him, such as the loss of an eye, the punishment was the amputation of both hands, but no such penalty seems to have been exacted if the patient were a member of the middle class. If, however, the patient were a slave of a member of the middle class, in the event of death under the operation, the doctor had to give the owner another slave, and in the event of the slave losing his eye, he had to pay the owner half the slave’s value. Penalties for assault were also regulated in accordance with the social position and standing of the parties to the quarrel. Thus, if one member of the upper class knocked out the eye or the tooth of one of his equals, his own eye or…

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Excerpt #6, from Around the World with Josiah Allen’s Wife, by Marietta Holley

…“Well, no,” he admitted, “I believe that the Church of Christ is invincible.” “Do you vote, Elder Minkley?” “Well, no, as it were, Sister Arvilly, I have felt for years that politics was too vile for me to mix myself with.” Sez Arvilly, “Do you believe in following the Lord Jesus Christ?” Sez Elder Minkley, his good natured face lighting up, “My Divine Master; yes, I will follow him to the stake, to the death, if need be.” “Did he turn away from sinners and the evils of the sinful world and say they wuz too vile for him to mix with?” “I–I–Sister Arvilly–I why–I don’t know what you mean.” “Yes, you do know what I mean!” sez the intrepid but agonized Arvilly. “By your criminal indifference and neglect, you encourage the evil power that rules and ruins.” Elder Minkley’s face began to look red–red as blood–and sez he, “You present the subject in a way I never thought on before, Sister Arvilly. I will think of it; I will pray over it.” “Will you vote as you pray?” sez Arvilly anxiously. “I will!” sez Elder Minkley, solemnly, “I will!”…

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Excerpt #7, from The Radio Amateur’s Hand Book, by A. Frederick Collins

…parallel with the secondary coil is necessary. CHAPTER VII MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL TUNING There is a strikingly close resemblance between sound waves and the way they are set up in the air by a mechanically vibrating body, such as a steel spring or a tuning fork, and electric waves and the way they are set up in the ether by a current oscillating in a circuit. As it is easy to grasp the way that sound waves are produced and behave something will be told about them in this chapter and also an explanation of how electric waves are produced and behave and thus you will be able to get a clear understanding of them and of tuning in general. Damped and Sustained Mechanical Vibrations.–If you will place one end of a flat steel spring in a vice and screw it up tight as shown at A in Fig. 34, and then pull the free end over and let it go it will vibrate to and fro with decreasing amplitude until it comes to rest as shown at B. When you pull the spring over you store up energy in it and when you let it go the stored up energy is changed into energy of motion and the spring moves forth and back, or vibrates as we call it, until all of its stored up energy is spent. [Illustration: Fig. 34.–Damped and Sustained Mechanical Vibrations.]…

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Excerpt #8, from Latin for Beginners, by Benjamin L. D’Ooge

…islands, «domī», at home, and a few other words. «268.» RULE. «Locative and Locative Ablative.» To express the «place in which» with names of towns and small islands, «if they are singular and of the first or second declension», use the locative; otherwise use the locative ablative without a preposition; as, «Galba Rōmae habitat», Galba lives at Rome «Galba Corinthī habitat», Galba lives at Corinth «Galba domī habitat», Galba lives at home Here «Rōmae», «Corinthī», and «domī» are locatives, being singular and of the first and second declensions respectively. But in «Galba Athēnīs habitat», Galba lives at Athens, «Galba Pompēiīs habitat», Galba lives at Pompeii «Athēnīs» and «Pompēiīs» are locative ablatives. These words can have no locative case, as the nominatives «Athēnae» and «Pompēiī» are plural and there is no plural locative case form. «269.» The word «domus», home, house, has forms of both the second and the fourth declension. Learn its declension (§468). «270.» EXERCISES First learn the special vocabulary, p. 293. I. 1. Corinthī omnia īnsignia aurī ā ducibus victōribus rapta erant. 2. Caesar Genāvam exercitum magnīs itineribus dūxit. 3. Quem pontem…

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Excerpt #9, from Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, by Grenville Kleiser

…verbose manner verdant hope verifiable facts veritable triumph vernacular expression vernal charm [vernal = resembling spring; fresh; youthful] versatile grace vexatious circumstances vicarious virtue vigilant sensibility vigorous invective [invective = abusive language] vile desecrater villainous inconsistency vindictive sentiment violent agitation virgin grace virile leadership virtual surrender virtuous disdain virulent prejudice visible embarrassment…

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Excerpt #10, from Ulysses, by James Joyce

…carried. Might just walk into her here. The lane is safer. He passed the cabman’s shelter. Curious the life of drifting cabbies. All weathers, all places, time or setdown, no will of their own. Voglio e non. Like to give them an odd cigarette. Sociable. Shout a few flying syllables as they pass. He hummed: Là ci darem la mano La la lala la la. He turned into Cumberland street and, going on some paces, halted in the lee of the station wall. No-one. Meade’s timberyard. Piled balks. Ruins and tenements. With careful tread he passed over a hopscotch court with its forgotten pickeystone. Not a sinner. Near the timberyard a squatted child at marbles, alone, shooting the taw with a cunnythumb. A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantle not to wake her. Open it. And once I played marbles when I went to that old dame’s school. She liked mignonette. Mrs Ellis’s. And Mr? He opened the letter within the newspaper. A flower. I think it’s a. A yellow flower with flattened petals. Not annoyed then? What does she say? Dear Henry I got your last letter to me and thank you very much for it. I am sorry…

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Excerpt #11, from The Early History of the Airplane, by Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright

…Wilbur remained in camp while I went to get the new shafts. I did not get back to camp again till Friday, the 11th of December. Saturday afternoon the machine was again ready for trial, but the wind was so light a start could not have been made from level ground with the run of only sixty feet permitted by our monorail track. Nor was there enough time before dark to take the machine to one of the hills, where, by placing the track on a steep incline, sufficient speed could be secured for starting in calm air. Monday, December 14, was a beautiful day, but there was not enough wind to enable a start to be made from the level ground about camp. We therefore decided to attempt a flight from the side of the big Kill Devil Hill. We had arranged with the members of the Kill Devil Hill Life Saving Station, which was located a little over a mile from our camp, to inform them when we were ready to make the first trial of the machine. We were soon joined by J. T. Daniels, Robert Westcott, Thomas Beachem, W. S. Dough and Uncle Benny O’Neal, of the station, who helped us get the machine to the hill, a quarter mile away. We laid the track 150 feet up the side of the hill on a 9-degree slope. With the slope of the track, the thrust of the propellers and the machine starting directly into the wind, we did not anticipate any trouble in getting up flying speed on the 60-foot monorail track. But we did not feel certain the…

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Excerpt #12, from The Student’s Elements of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell

…Teeth of Recent and Post-pliocene Mammalia. We have seen in the last chapter that the uppermost or newest strata are called Post-tertiary, as being more modern than the Tertiary. It will also be observed that the Post-tertiary formations are divided into two subordinate groups: the Recent, and Post-pliocene. In the former, or the Recent, the mammalia as well as the shells are identical with species now living: whereas in the Post-pliocene, the shells being all of living forms, a part, and often a considerable part, of the mammalia belonged to extinct species. To this nomenclature it may be objected that the term Post-pliocene should in strictness include all geological monuments posterior in date to the Pliocene; but when I have occasion to speak of the whole collectively, I shall call them Post-tertiary, and reserve the term Post-pliocene for the older Post-tertiary formations, while the Upper or newer ones will be called “Recent.” Cases will occur where it may be scarcely possible to draw the boundary line between the Recent and Post-pliocene deposits; and we must expect these difficulties to increase rather than diminish with every advance in our knowledge, and in proportion as gaps are filled up in the series of records. RECENT PERIOD…

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