Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:39

Excerpt #1, from Ten Months in a German Raider: A prisoner of war aboard the Wolf, by Cameron

…and was familiar with this particular make. I told him I was, having owned at one time an engine of this make. After giving the officer this information he was overheard by one of the womenfolk repeating it to the Chief Officer. We top side prisoners were some worked up, believe me. We had it all “doped out” that after sinking the Matunga we should proceed off some island that was inhabited but had no wireless or cable connections, there the women, children and medicos would be put in the life-boat and I would tow them with the launch to some nearby harbour. This would have been the logical thing to do if Commander Nerger wanted to conform to the articles of the Geneva Convention, which specifically states that medical officers in event of capture shall be set free at the first available opportunity. Nerger also told me and my wife that he would land us in some safe place at the first opportunity, provided he could do so without jeopardising his own safety. He also told the medical officers and the rest of the women the same thing. I maintain that at this time Nerger could have landed us with perfect safety to himself and his ship–as the Wolf was about to leave the Pacific Ocean, having finished her activities in that locality. At that time nobody had information regarding the Wolf’s previous movements nor any knowledge of her mine-laying operations. However, at the last…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Busy Life of Eighty Five Years of Ezra Meeker, by Ezra Meeker

…McLeod, was one of the party (mob, the company called it), but the records do not show whether he read his chapter in the Bible that day, or whether instead, he took a double portion of whiskey to relieve his conscience. It is doubtful whether the old man thought he was doing wrong or thought anything about it, except that he had a belief that somehow or other a survey might make against him getting a title to his own claim. I had a similar experience at a later date with the Indians near the Muckleshute Reservation, while attempting to extend the sub-divisional lines of the township near where the reserve was located. I could not convince the Indians that the survey meant no harm to them. The case was different in the first instance, as in fact, neither party was acting within the limits of their legal rights, and for the time being, the strongest and most belligerent prevailed, but only to be circumvented at a little later date by a secret completion of the work, sufficient to platting the whole. All this while the little party was halting. The father said the island home would not do, and as he had come two thousand miles to live neighbors, I must give up my claim and take another near theirs, and so, abandoning over a year’s hard work, I acted upon his request with the result told elsewhere, of fleeing from our new chosen home, as we…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from Postal Riders and Raiders, by W. H. Gantz

…clerks and postmasters–postmasters, from Hiram Hairpin at Crackerville, Ga., all the way up–fourth, third, second class postmasters to the first-class postmasters in our larger cities–why, I ask, is Mr. Hitchcock working so strenuously to get the vast political machine of his department lined up against the protest of millions of our people, unless he is still after those pestiferous, independent magazines? Why, again, it may be asked, are he and his assistants coaching the 220,000 clerks of his department and the 60,000 postmasters, assistant postmasters, etc., on his “staff” to put up a promotion talk for a one-cent rate on first-class (letter or sealed) matter? It should be a one-cent rate. Nobody at all informed as to mail service rates and revenues will question that. But it is equally true that, up to a recent date, there have been, comparatively speaking (the comparison being with the millions protesting against an increase in the second-class rate) but few complaints and complainants against the present rate of two cents for carrying and handling a letter. Why, then, I ask, is Mr. Hitchcock so actively cranking up his departmental political machine to make neighborhood runs and do some hill climbing in advocacy of that one-cent rate for first-class matter? Yes, why? Is it a legitimate assumption to say that the present agitation for a…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, by John Stuart Mill

…the story of Cæsar’s accidentally stumbling in the act of landing on the African coast; and the presence of mind with which he converted the direful presage into a favorable one by exclaiming, “Africa, I embrace thee.” Such omens, it is true, were often conceived as warnings of the future, given by a friendly or a hostile deity; but this very superstition grew out of a pre-existing tendency; the god was supposed to send, as an indication of what was to come, something which people were already disposed to consider in that light. So in the case of lucky or unlucky names. Herodotus tells us how the Greeks, on the way to Mycale, were encouraged in their enterprise by the arrival of a deputation from Samos, one of the members of which was named Hegesistratus, the leader of armies. Cases may be pointed out in which something which could have no real effect but to make persons think of misfortune, was regarded not merely as a prognostic, but as something approaching to an actual cause of it. The εὐφήμει of the Greeks, and favete linguis, or bona verba quæso, of the Romans, evince the care with which they endeavored to repress the utterance of any word expressive or suggestive of ill fortune; not from notions of delicate politeness, to which their general mode of conduct and feeling had very little reference, but from bona fide alarm lest the event so suggested to the imagination should in fact occur. Some vestige of a similar superstition has been known to exist among uneducated persons…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, by Lewis Carroll

…tried hedges," the pigeon went on without attending to her, “but them serpents! There’s no pleasing ’em!” Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in saying anything till the pigeon had finished. “As if it wasn’t trouble enough hatching the eggs!” said the pigeon, “without being on the look out for serpents, day and night! Why, I haven’t had a wink of sleep these three weeks!” “I’m very sorry you’ve been annoyed,” said Alice, beginning to see its meaning. “And just as I’d taken the highest tree in the wood,” said the pigeon raising its voice to a shriek, “and was just thinking I was free of ’em at last, they must needs come down from the sky! Ugh! Serpent!” “But I’m not a serpent,” said Alice, “I’m a–I’m a–” “Well! What are you?” said the pigeon, “I see you’re trying to invent something.” “I–I’m a little girl,” said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through. “A likely story indeed!” said the pigeon, "I’ve seen a good many of them in my time, but never one with such a neck as yours! No, you’re a serpent, I know that well enough! I suppose you’ll tell…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from The Sea

…TREPLIEFF. We are alone. NINA. Isn’t that some one over there? TREPLIEFF. No. [They kiss one another.] NINA. What is that tree? TREPLIEFF. An elm. NINA. Why does it look so dark? TREPLIEFF. It is evening; everything looks dark now. Don’t go away early, I implore you. NINA. I must. TREPLIEFF. What if I were to follow you, Nina? I shall stand in your garden all night with my eyes on your window. NINA. That would be impossible; the watchman would see you, and Treasure is not used to you yet, and would bark. TREPLIEFF. I love you. NINA. Hush! TREPLIEFF. [Listening to approaching footsteps] Who is that? Is it you, Jacob? JACOB. [On the stage] Yes, sir. TREPLIEFF. To your places then. The moon is rising; the play must commence. NINA. Yes, sir….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from Uncle Wiggily’s Travels, by Howard Roger Garis

…and he kept thinking of how rich he would soon be, and how many nice things he would buy for Sammie and Susie Littletail. But if the rabbit had only known who it was he was following he wouldn’t have been so happy, for it was a crawly snake, and that snake was only fooling Uncle Wiggily, and trying to get him off to his den so he could eat him. And that’s why he didn’t show himself. On and on the snake wiggled through the grass, shaking his tail, and the poor rabbit followed after him. “Are we nearly to the gold?” asked Uncle Wiggily after a bit. “Almost,” answered the snake, making his voice soft and gentle. The snake was nearly at his den now, and he was just going to turn around and squeeze the rabbit to death, when all at once a yellow bumblebee that was flying overhead looked down and saw the crawly creature, and the bee knew what the snake was going to do. “Run away, Uncle Wiggily! Run!” called the bee, “the snake is fooling you!” Well, Uncle Wiggily didn’t wait a second. He jumped right over a briar bush and away he hopped as fast as he could hop, and the snake didn’t get him, and, oh, how mad that snake was! Uncle Wiggily hopped around and around in the woods and the first thing he knew he couldn’t find the path, he was so excited. And the more he tried…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from A Tall Ship, by Bartimeus

…or saucer. The guest’s chief concern, however, appeared to be in finding a more secure resting-place for it than his knee, coupled with anxiety not to drop crumbs on the carpet. Betty, presiding behind the silver tea-tray, had adopted her most grown-up manner. Decidedly it was all Betty’s fault, therefore. The most confirmed humorist could hardly be expected to indulge in drolleries in the presence of a girl who stuck her nose in the air and put on enough side for six. It became increasingly obvious that the depressed jester must straightway be removed from this blighting influence or ever the cap and bells would jingle. No sooner was tea over, therefore, than Joe sprang to his feet. “I say, would you like to go for a walk?” Once outside, the flower of wit would expand without a doubt. The Indiarubber Man appeared nonplussed at the proposal. “I–it’s very kind of you—-” Then he turned to Betty. “Shall we all three go for a walk?” “Oh, it’s no use asking her to go for a proper walk,” interposed the alarmed Joe. “Her skirts are too narrow; she can’t keep step, or jump ditches, or anything.” Betty laughed. “Are you anxious to jump ditches, Mr. Standish? Because, if not, I think I might be able to keep up with you both.”…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

…original monuments of the reigns of Pepin and Charlemagne, in the 5th volume of the Historians of France.] 96 (return) [ The vision of Weltin, composed by a monk, eleven years after the death of Charlemagne, shows him in purgatory, with a vulture, who is perpetually gnawing the guilty member, while the rest of his body, the emblem of his virtues, is sound and perfect, (see Gaillard tom. ii. p. 317-360.)] 97 (return) [ The marriage of Eginhard with Imma, daughter of Charlemagne, is, in my opinion, sufficiently refuted by the probum and suspicio that sullied these fair damsels, without excepting his own wife, (c. xix. p. 98-100, cum Notis Schmincke.) The husband must have been too strong for the historian.] 971 (return) [ This charge of incest, as Mr. Hallam justly observes, “seems to have originated in a misinterpreted passage of Eginhard.” Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol.i. p. 16.—M.] 98 (return) [ Besides the massacres and transmigrations, the pain of death was pronounced against the following crimes: 1. The refusal of baptism. 2. The false pretence of baptism. 3. A relapse to idolatry. 4. The murder of a priest or bishop. 5. Human sacrifices. 6. Eating meat in Lent. But every crime might be expiated by baptism or penance, (Gaillard, tom. ii. p….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from My Adventures During the Late War, by Donat Henchy O’Brien

…soldiers in the first house, but they were so much elated and amused that they could not attend to make any observations upon us. We paid excessively dear here for everything; and in the morning we quitted it, and proceeded towards Waldsee, a town of Suabia, with a castle. At about six in the evening we passed it, leaving it at a respectable distance on the right. At eight we stopped at a small village, where we got beds and supper. At daylight we recommenced our journey, and about four in the afternoon we discovered the river Iler, which we had to cross. We were quitting the territory of Würtemberg, and entering Bavaria. We saw a bridge, but imagined also that we could distinguish a look-out house or turnpike on it, which alarmed us not a little; so we concealed ourselves in a wood until dusk, and then advanced, and crossed the bridge without any difficulty. There were several houses on each side, but, fortunately, we saw no police-officer, or any person that could cause the least apprehension. We continued our route above a league, when we came to a tavern thronged with waggoners; but we got a private room and went very early to bed. Our friend Barklimore was now seized with a very severe fit of fever, and it behoved us to be very circumspect in Bavaria, lest we should be obliged to quit our sick companion. The stimuli of danger and necessity enabled him the next morning to attempt the day’s fatigue. We walked…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from The Genetic Effects of Radiation, by Isaac Asimov and Theodosius Dobzhansky

…would not be able to afford a second mortgage. What humanity must do, if additional radiation damage is absolutely necessary, is to take on as little of that added damage as possible, and not pretend that any direct benefits will be involved. Any pretense of that sort may well lure us into assuming still greater damage—damage we may not be able to afford under any circumstances and for any reason. Actually, as the situation appears right now, it is not likely that the use of radiation in modern medicine, research, and industry will overstep the maximum bounds set by scientists who have weighed the problem carefully. Only nuclear warfare is likely to do so, and apparently those governments with large capacities in this direction are thoroughly aware of the danger and (so far, at least) have guided their foreign policies accordingly. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Books Radiation, Genes, and Man, Bruce Wallace and Theodosius Dobzhansky, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York 10017, 1963, 205 pp., $5.00 (hardback); $1.28 (paperback). Genetics in the Atomic Age (second edition), Charlotte Auerbach, Oxford University Press, Inc., Fair Lawn, New Jersey 07410, 1965, 111 pp., $2.50….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; the Art of Controversy, by Arthur Schopenhauer

…viii., c. 1. It is a trick which needs no illustration. V. To prove the truth of a proposition, you may also employ previous propositions that are not true, should your opponent refuse to admit the true ones, either because he fails to perceive their truth, or because he sees that the thesis immediately follows from them. In that case the plan is to take propositions which are false in themselves but true for your opponent, and argue from the way in which he thinks, that is to say, ex concessis. For a true conclusion may follow from false premisses, but not vice versâ. In the same fashion your opponent’s false propositions may be refuted by other false propositions, which he, however, takes to be true; for it is with him that you have to do, and you must use the thoughts that he uses. For instance, if he is a member of some sect to which you do not belong, you may employ the declared, opinions of this sect against him, as principles.[1] [Footnote 1: Aristotle, Topica bk. viii., chap. 2.] VI. Another plan is to beg the question in disguise by postulating what has to be proved, either (1) under another name; for instance, “good repute” instead of “honour”; “virtue” instead of “virginity,” etc.;…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net