Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:42

Excerpt #1, from Ivanhoe: A Romance, by Walter Scott

…nor awe of heaven. So say the few warriors who have returned from Palestine.—Well; it is but for one night; he shall be welcome too.—Oswald, broach the oldest wine-cask; place the best mead, the mightiest ale, the richest morat, the most sparkling cider, the most odoriferous pigments, upon the board; fill the largest horns 13 —Templars and Abbots love good wines and good measure.—Elgitha, let thy Lady Rowena, know we shall not this night expect her in the hall, unless such be her especial pleasure.” “But it will be her especial pleasure,” answered Elgitha, with great readiness, “for she is ever desirous to hear the latest news from Palestine.” Cedric darted at the forward damsel a glance of hasty resentment; but Rowena, and whatever belonged to her, were privileged and secure from his anger. He only replied, “Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion. Say my message to thy mistress, and let her do her pleasure. Here, at least, the descendant of Alfred still reigns a princess.” Elgitha left the apartment. “Palestine!” repeated the Saxon; “Palestine! how many ears are turned to the tales which dissolute crusaders, or hypocritical pilgrims, bring from that fatal land! I too might ask—I too might enquire—I too might listen with a beating heart to fables which the wily strollers devise…

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Excerpt #2, from The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

…Buck he knew that he was one in a thousand—“One in ten t’ousand,” he commented mentally. Buck saw money pass between them, and was not surprised when Curly, a good-natured Newfoundland, and he were led away by the little weazened man. That was the last he saw of the man in the red sweater, and as Curly and he looked at receding Seattle from the deck of the Narwhal, it was the last he saw of the warm Southland. Curly and he were taken below by Perrault and turned over to a black-faced giant called François. Perrault was a French-Canadian, and swarthy; but François was a French-Canadian half-breed, and twice as swarthy. They were a new kind of men to Buck (of which he was destined to see many more), and while he developed no affection for them, he none the less grew honestly to respect them. He speedily learned that Perrault and François were fair men, calm and impartial in administering justice, and too wise in the way of dogs to be fooled by dogs. In the ’tween-decks of the Narwhal, Buck and Curly joined two other dogs. One of them was a big, snow-white fellow from Spitzbergen who had been brought away by a whaling captain, and who had later accompanied a Geological Survey into the Barrens. He was friendly, in a treacherous sort of way, smiling into one’s face the while he meditated some underhand trick, as, for instance, when he stole from Buck’s food at…

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Excerpt #3, from Rilla of Ingleside, by L. M. Montgomery

…it is incredible that the spring can come as usual. The spring does not fail because of the million agonies of others–but for mine–oh, can the universe go on?’ “‘Don’t feel bitter with yourself, dear,’ mother said gently. ‘It is a very natural thing to feel as if things couldn’t go on just the same when some great blow has changed the world for us. We all feel like that.’”Then that horrid old Cousin Sophia of Susan’s piped up. She was sitting there, knitting and croaking like an old ‘raven of bode and woe’ as Walter used to call her. “‘You ain’t as bad off as some, Miss Oliver,’ she said, ‘and you shouldn’t take it so hard. There’s some as has lost their husbands; that’s a hard blow; and there’s some as has lost their sons. You haven’t lost either husband or son.’”‘No,’ said Gertrude, more bitterly still. ‘It’s true I haven’t lost a husband–I have only lost the man who would have been my husband. I have lost no son–only the sons and daughters who might have been born to me–who will never be born to me now.’ "‘It isn’t ladylike to talk like that,’ said Cousin Sophia in a shocked tone; and then Gertrude laughed right out, so wildly that Cousin Sophia was really frightened. And when poor tortured Gertrude, unable to…

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Excerpt #4, from Remarks, by Bill Nye

…across the street and pizen yourself with some real old Mormon Valley tan, made last week from ground feed and prussic acid?” I told him that I had just been to dinner, and the doctor had forbidden my drinking any more, and that I had promised several people on their death beds never to touch liquor, and besides, I had just taken a large drink, so he would have to excuse me. But in Maine none of these common styles of invitation prevail. It is all shrouded in mystery. You give the sign of distress to any member in good standing, pound three times on the outer gate, give two hard kicks and one soft one on the inner door, give the password, “Rutherford B. Hayes,” turn to the left, through a dark passage, turn the thumbscrew of a mysterious gas fixture 90 deg. to the right, holding the goblet of the encampment under the gas fixture, then reverse the thumbscrew, shut your eyes, insult your digester, leave twenty-five cents near the gas fixture, and hunt up the nearest cemetery, so that you will not have to be carried very far. If a man really wants to drink himself into a drunkard’s grave, he can certainly save time by going to Maine. Those desiring the most prompt and vigorous style of jim-jams at cut rates will do well to examine Maine goods before going elsewhere. Let a man spend a week in Boston, where the Maine liquor law, I understand, is not in force, and then, with no warning whatever, be taken into the heart of Maine; let him land there a stranger…

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Excerpt #5, from The Student’s Elements of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell

…Fig. 62: Two hands used to determine the inclination of strata. If not provided with a clinometer, a most useful instrument, when it is of consequence to determine with precision the inclination of the strata, the observer may measure the angle within a few degrees by standing exactly opposite to a cliff where the true dip is exhibited, holding the hands immediately before the eyes, and placing the fingers of one in a perpendicular, and of the other in a horizontal position, as in Fig. 62. It is thus easy to discover whether the lines of the inclined beds bisect the angle of 90°, formed by the meeting of the hands, so as to give an angle of 45°, or whether it would divide the space into two equal or unequal portions. You have only to change hands to get the line of dip on the upper side of the horizontal hand. Fig. 63: Section illustrating the structure of the Swiss Jura. It has been already seen, in describing the curved strata on the east coast of Scotland, in Forfarshire and Berwickshire, that a series of concave and convex bendings are occasionally repeated several times. These usually form part of a series of parallel waves of strata, which are prolonged in the same direction, throughout a considerable extent of country. Thus, for example, in the Swiss Jura, that lofty chain of mountains has been proved to consist of many parallel ridges, with intervening longitudinal valleys, as in Fig. 63, the ridges being…

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Excerpt #6, from The Sky Detectives; Or, How Jack Ralston Got His Man, by Ambrose Newcomb

…“Ginger pop! that means we’re booked for a bit o’ storm, mebbe, eh, Jack?” was his startled exclamation. “Let’s hope it turns out to be only a bluster,” the pilot went on to say, as he turned the nose of his ship upward, and commenced to climb, evidently in hopes that by so doing they might get above those low hanging clouds, and have clear sailing while the disturbance lasted. When shortly afterwards a second electrical crash almost stunned them by its violence, Perk began to fumble for his oilskin coat, which he was never without when aboard a boat with an open cockpit. Perk could take a ducking with as much good nature as the next fellow but just the same he did not intend to get soaked if he could help it, since a continuance of the flight, with a cold wind likely to follow the rain, would not prove to be the most delightful experience possible. No sooner had he accomplished the job of securing his raincoat than he gave Jack the well known signal that he meant to take over the stick, and thus allow his comrade to also protect himself against bad weather. Accordingly both of them were presently thus equipped, and ready to take whatever might be in the offing. Meanwhile the ascent was continued in spasms, for there was always a chance of getting above such a storm, and avoiding the worst of it. The thunder claps became more frequent, and also much louder, so that…

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Excerpt #7, from The Beetle: A Mystery, by Richard Marsh

…voluntarily placed myself under the treatment of an expert in mental pathology. For a considerable period of time I was under his constant supervision, but the visitations were as inexplicable to him as they were to me. ‘By degrees, however, they became rarer and rarer, until at last I flattered myself that I had once more become as other men. After an interval, to make sure, I devoted myself to politics. Thenceforward I have lived, as they phrase it, in the public eye. Private life, in any peculiar sense of the term, I have had none.’ Mr Lessingham ceased. His tale was not uninteresting, and, to say the least of it, was curious. But I still was at a loss to understand what it had to do with me, or what was the purport of his presence in my room. Since he remained silent, as if the matter, so far as he was concerned, was at an end, I told him so. ‘I presume, Mr Lessingham, that all this is but a prelude to the play. At present I do not see where it is that I come in.’ Still for some seconds he was silent. When he spoke his voice was grave and sombre, as if he were burdened by a weight of woe. ‘Unfortunately, as you put it, all this has been but a prelude to the play. Were it not so I should not now stand in such pressing want of the services of a confidential agent,–that is, of an experienced man…

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Excerpt #8, from A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…“Not at all. If my view of the case is correct, and I have every reason to believe that it is, this man would rather risk anything than lose the ring. According to my notion he dropped it while stooping over Drebber’s body, and did not miss it at the time. After leaving the house he discovered his loss and hurried back, but found the police already in possession, owing to his own folly in leaving the candle burning. He had to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his appearance at the gate. Now put yourself in that man’s place. On thinking the matter over, it must have occurred to him that it was possible that he had lost the ring in the road after leaving the house. What would he do, then? He would eagerly look out for the evening papers in the hope of seeing it among the articles found. His eye, of course, would light upon this. He would be overjoyed. Why should he fear a trap? There would be no reason in his eyes why the finding of the ring should be connected with the murder. He would come. He will come. You shall see him within an hour?” “And then?” I asked. “Oh, you can leave me to deal with him then. Have you any arms?” “I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges.” “You had better clean it and load it. He will be a desperate man, and though I shall take him unawares, it is as well to be ready for…

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Excerpt #9, from A Lad of Grit: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times

…months of inaction the prospect of a fight acted like magic. The officers held a consultation, and as it was well known that a Barbary corsair had been committing several acts of exceptional violence, hopes were entertained that the stranger would prove to be that particular vessel. Our captain showed himself to be a tactician as well as a fighter. “If this be the Algerine,” he said, “her speed will enable her to make off when she finds out who we are. It remains, therefore, to trick and entice her to us. See that all our ordnance is run in and the ports closed. Keep nearly all the men out of sight, and run the flag of Sicily up to the peak. And you, Master Bennet,” he added, addressing our newly made master, “lay me the Gannet close alongside the stranger and your duty will be done. Now, gentlemen, to your stations, and God save His Majesty King Charles!” The work of transforming the man-of-war into a seemingly peaceful merchantman was quickly performed, and long before the corsair (for such there was no doubt she was) came within range the Gannet was floundering along with yards badly squared, for all the world like a helpless trader, her course having been previously altered as if she were intent on running away. But on board everything was different. At each of her guns on the…

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Excerpt #10, from The Airship “Golden Hind”, by Percy F. Westerman

…cat: ‘Hind by Percy F. Westerman-39488-0.txt’: No such file or directory

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Excerpt #11, from Clairvoyance and Occult Powers, by William Walker Atkinson

…that the ornament itself was an antique when the Egyptian had acquired it. In another case, I had the psychometrist describe in detail the animal life, and the physical phenomena, of the age in which a fossil had existed when alive–many thousands of years ago. In the proper place in this book, I will explain just how it is possible to penetrate the secrets of the past by psychometric vision–that is to say, the psychic laws making the same possible. Some of the most remarkable of recorded instances of this form of psychometry known to the Western world are those related in the works of a geologist named Denton, who some fifty years ago conducted a series of investigations into the phenomena of psychometry. His recorded experiments fill several volumes. Being a geologist, he was able to select the best subjects for the experiments, and also to verify and decide upon the accuracy of the reports given by the psychometrists. His wife, herself, was a gifted psychometrist, and it has been said of her, by good authority, that “she is able, by putting a piece of matter (whatever be its nature) to her head, to see, either with her eyes closed or open, all that the piece of matter, figuratively speaking, ever saw, heard, or experienced.” The following examples will give a good idea of the Denton experiments, which are typical of this class of psychometry. Dr. Denton gave the psychometrist a small fragment broken from a large…

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Excerpt #12, from The White Company, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…answered, recognizing the escaped serf who had been so outspoken as to his wrongs. “By the Virgin! yes. You were the little clerk who sat so mum in the corner, and then cried fy on the gleeman. What hast in the scrip?” “Naught of any price.” “How can I tell that, clerk? Let me see.” “Not I.” “Fool! I could pull you limb from limb like a pullet. What would you have? Hast forgot that we are alone far from all men? How can your clerkship help you? Wouldst lose scrip and life too?” “I will part with neither without fight.” “A fight, quotha? A fight betwixt spurred cock and new hatched chicken! Thy fighting days may soon be over.” “Hadst asked me in the name of charity I would have given freely,” cried Alleyne. “As it stands, not one farthing shall you have with my free will, and when I see my brother, the Socman of Minstead, he will raise hue and cry from vill to vill, from hundred to hundred, until you are taken as a common robber and a scourge to the country.” The outlaw sank his club. “The Socman’s brother!” he gasped. “Now, by the keys of Peter! I had rather that hand withered and tongue was palsied ere I had struck or miscalled you. If you are the Socman’s…

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