Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:48

Excerpt #1, from Round the Red Lamp: Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…The old man chuckled. “I’ve got brother Jarge’s girl to look after me now. She’ll see I don’t break barracks or do what I hadn’t ought to. Why, darn my skin, I knew something was amiss!”With what?" “Why, with them soldiers. You saw them pass, doctor–eh? They’d forgot their stocks. Not one on ’em had his stock on.” He croaked and chuckled for a long time over his discovery. “It wouldn’t ha’ done for the Dook!” he muttered. “No, by Jimini! the Dook would ha’ had a word there.” The doctor smiled. “Well, you are doing very well,” said he. “I’ll look in once a week or so, and see how you are.” As Norah followed him to the door, he beckoned her outside. “He is very weak,” he whispered. “If you find him failing you must send for me.” “What ails him, doctor?” “Ninety years ails him. His arteries are pipes of lime. His heart is shrunken and flabby. The man is worn out.” Norah stood watching the brisk figure of the young doctor, and pondering over these new responsibilities which had come upon her. When she turned a tall, brown-faced artilleryman, with the three gold…

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Excerpt #2, from The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

…* * * * =BIGAMY= A form of insanity in which a man insists on paying three board bills instead of two. … * * * =BILLIOUSNESS= A liver complaint often mistaken for piety. … * * * =BILL-OF-FARE= A list of eatables. Distinguished from Menu by figures in the right-hand column. … * * * =BIOGRAPH= A stereopticon picture taken with a chill and shown with tremors. … * * * =BIRDIE= A term a woman is apt to apply to a man she is playing for a jay. … * * * =BIRTHDAY= Anniversary of one’s birth. Observed only by men and children. … * * * =BLUBBER= The useful product of a dead whale. The useless product of a live baby. … * * * *

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Excerpt #3, from Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

…Piglet to say “How?” or “Pooh, you couldn’t!” or something helpful of that sort, but Piglet said nothing. The fact was Piglet was wishing that he had thought about it first. “I shall do it,” said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, “by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet.” “Pooh,” said Piglet, feeling quite happy again now, “I will.” And then he said, “How shall we do it?” and Pooh said, “That’s just it. How?” And then they sat down together to think it out. Pooh’s first idea was that they should dig a Very Deep Pit, and then the Heffalump would come along and fall into the Pit, and—- “Why?” said Piglet. “Why what?” said Pooh. “Why would he fall in?” Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at the sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down, when it would be too late. Piglet said that this was a very good Trap, but supposing it were raining already? Pooh rubbed his nose again, and said that he hadn’t thought of that. And…

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Excerpt #4, from The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

…CHAPTER XIV. ONE O’CLOCK PRECISELY! Supper had been extremely gay. All those present declared that never had Lady Blakeney been more adorable, nor that “demmed idiot” Sir Percy more amusing. His Royal Highness had laughed until the tears streamed down his cheeks at Blakeney’s foolish yet funny repartees. His doggerel verse, “We seek him here, we seek him there,” etc., was sung to the tune of “Ho! Merry Britons!” and to the accompaniment of glasses knocked loudly against the table. Lord Grenville, moreover, had a most perfect cook—some wags asserted that he was a scion of the old French noblesse, who, having lost his fortune, had come to seek it in the cuisine of the Foreign Office. Marguerite Blakeney was in her most brilliant mood, and surely not a soul in that crowded supper-room had even an inkling of the terrible struggle which was raging within her heart. The clock was ticking so mercilessly on. It was long past midnight, and even the Prince of Wales was thinking of leaving the supper-table. Within the next half-hour the destinies of two brave men would be pitted against one another—the dearly-beloved brother and he, the unknown hero….

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Excerpt #5, from Anne of the Island, by L. M. Montgomery

…the grave, on which all the main facts of his history are recorded. For the most part no great art or skill was lavished on those old tombstones. The larger number are of roughly chiselled brown or gray native stone, and only in a few cases is there any attempt at ornamentation. Some are adorned with skull and cross-bones, and this grizzly decoration is frequently coupled with a cherub’s head. Many are prostrate and in ruins. Into almost all Time’s tooth has been gnawing, until some inscriptions have been completely effaced, and others can only be deciphered with difficulty. The graveyard is very full and very bowery, for it is surrounded and intersected by rows of elms and willows, beneath whose shade the sleepers must lie very dreamlessly, forever crooned to by the winds and leaves over them, and quite undisturbed by the clamor of traffic just beyond. Anne took the first of many rambles in Old St. John’s the next afternoon. She and Priscilla had gone to Redmond in the forenoon and registered as students, after which there was nothing more to do that day. The girls gladly made their escape, for it was not exhilarating to be surrounded by crowds of strangers, most of whom had a rather alien appearance, as if not quite sure where they belonged. The “freshettes” stood about in detached groups of two or three, looking askance at each other; the “freshies,” wiser in their day and…

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Excerpt #6, from The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties, by Richard Runciman Terry

…This was the most popular shanty for ‘sweating-up.’ There are many variants of it. The present version I learnt from Capt. John Runciman. In this shanty no attempt was ever made to sing the last word. It was always shouted. 30. PADDY DOYLE’S BOOTS This shanty differs from all others, as (a) it was sung tutti throughout; (b) it had only one verse, which was sung over and over again; and (c) it was used for one operation and one operation only, viz. bunting up the foresail or mainsail in furling. In this operation the canvas of the sail was folded intensively until it formed a smooth conical bundle. This was called a bunt, and a strong collective effort (at the word ‘boots’) was required to get it on to the yard. Although the same verse was sung over and over again, very occasionally a different text would be substituted, which was treated in the same manner. Capt. Whall gives two alternatives, which were sometimes used: ‘We’ll all drink brandy and gin,’ and– ‘We’ll all shave under the chin.’ Mr. Morley Roberts also told me that a variant in his ship was– ‘We’ll all throw dirt at the cook.’…

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Excerpt #7, from Gallipoli Diary, Volume 1, by Ian Hamilton

…Commander can fix up an armistice off his own bat, and provided it is clear we do not ask for the armistice but grant it to them–the suppliants. Herbert brings amazing fine detail about the night and day battle on the high ridges. Birdie has fairly taken the fighting edge off Liman von Sanders’ two new Divisions: he has knocked them to bits. A few more shells and they would have been swept off the face of the earth. As it is we have slaughtered a multitude. Since the 18th we are down to two rounds per gun per diem, but the Turks who have been short of stuff since the 8th instant are now once more well found. Admiral Thursby tells me he himself counted 240 shells falling on one of Birdwood’s trenches in the space of ten minutes. I asked him if that amounted to one shell per yard and he said the whole length of the trench was less than 100 yards. On the 18th fifty heavy shells, including 12-inch and 14-inch, dropped out of the blue vault of heaven on to the Anzacs. Everyone sorry to say good-bye to Thursby who goes to Italy. Rumours that Winston is leaving the Admiralty. This would be an awful blow to us out here, would be a sign that Providence had some grudge against the Dardanelles. Private feelings do not count in war, but alas, how grievous is this set-back to one who has it in him to revive the part of Pitt, had he but Pitt’s place. Haldane, too. Are the benefits of his organization of our army to be discounted because they had a German…

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Excerpt #8, from A Short History of the World, by H. G. Wells

…To which riddle the reply of one important political group was to set about “dividing up.” They wanted to intensify and universalize property. Aiming at the same end by another route, there were the primitive socialists—or, to be more exact, communists—who wanted to “abolish” private property altogether. The state (a democratic state was of course understood) was to own all property. It is paradoxical that different men seeking the same ends of liberty and happiness should propose on the one hand to make property as absolute as possible, and on the other to put an end to it altogether. But so it was. And the clue to this paradox is to be found in the fact that ownership is not one thing but a multitude of different things. It was only as the nineteenth century developed that men began to realize that property was not one simple thing, but a great complex of ownerships of different values and consequences, that many things (such as one’s body, the implements of an artist, clothing, toothbrushes) are very profoundly and incurably one’s personal property, and that there is a very great range of things, railways, machinery of various sorts, homes, cultivated gardens, pleasure boats, for example, which need each to be considered very particularly to determine how far and under what limitations it may come under private ownership, and how far it falls into the public domain and may be administered and let out by the state…

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Excerpt #9, from The Prose Tales of Alexander Pushkin, by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin

…me the hero of some mysterious drama. He was fond of me; at least, with me alone did he drop his customary sarcastic tone, and converse on different subjects in a simple and unusually agreeable manner. But after this unlucky evening, the thought that his honour had been tarnished, and that the stain had been allowed to remain upon it in accordance with his own wish, was ever present in my mind, and prevented me treating him as before. I was ashamed to look at him. Silvio was too intelligent and experienced not to observe this and guess the cause of it. This seemed to vex him; at least I observed once or twice a desire on his part to enter into an explanation with me, but I avoided such opportunities, and Silvio gave up the attempt. From that time forward I saw him only in the presence of my comrades, and our confidential conversations came to an end. The inhabitants of the capital, with minds occupied by so many matters of business and pleasure, have no idea of the many sensations so familiar to the inhabitants of villages and small towns, as, for instance, the awaiting the arrival of the post. On Tuesdays and Fridays our regimental bureau used to be filled with officers: some expecting money, some letters, and others newspapers. The packets were usually opened on the spot, items of news were communicated from one to another, and the bureau used to present a very animated picture….

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Excerpt #10, from The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…nerves. But how in the name of wonder did you come here, and what have you been doing? I thought that you were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing.” “That was what I wished you to think.” “Then you use me, and yet do not trust me!” I cried with some bitterness. “I think that I have deserved better at your hands, Holmes.” “My dear fellow, you have been invaluable to me in this as in many other cases, and I beg that you will forgive me if I have seemed to play a trick upon you. In truth, it was partly for your own sake that I did it, and it was my appreciation of the danger which you ran which led me to come down and examine the matter for myself. Had I been with Sir Henry and you it is confident that my point of view would have been the same as yours, and my presence would have warned our very formidable opponents to be on their guard. As it is, I have been able to get about as I could not possibly have done had I been living in the Hall, and I remain an unknown factor in the business, ready to throw in all my weight at a critical moment.” “But why keep me in the dark?” “For you to know could not have helped us and might possibly have…

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Excerpt #11, from Grimm Tales Made Gay, by Guy Wetmore Carryl

…At ten o’clock, in discontent, Both Gwendolyn and Gladys went. Their sister stayed till after two, And, with a joy sincere, The prince obtained her crystal shoe By way of souvenir. “Upon the bridal path,” he cried, “We’ll reign together! Since I love you, you must be my bride!” (He was no slouch, that prince!) And into sudden languishment Both Gwendolyn and Gladys went. The Moral: All the girls on earth Exaggerate their proper worth. They think the very shoes they wear Are worth the average millionaire; Whereas few pairs in any town Can be half-sold for half a crown! [Illustration] How Little Red Riding Hood Came to be Eaten Most worthy of praise…

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Excerpt #12, from The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914 to 1918, Vol. 3 of 3, by Ponsonby

…Lieut. R. S. Challands No. 3 Company. Lieut. W. A. Pembroke " " 2nd Lieut. N. P. Andrews " " Lieut. H. Freeman-Greene No. 4 Company. 2nd Lieut. L. F. A. d’Erlanger " " 2nd Lieut. C. A. Fitch " " Capt. W. Lindsay, R.A.M.C. Medical Officer. Capt. the Rev. C. Venables Chaplain. [Sidenote: Nov. 5.] At 2.15 A.M. the Battalion moved out from Villers Pol with intervals of thirty yards between platoons, and marched to La Buvette cross-roads, where a halt was made, and the Lewis guns were taken off the limbers. Directed by two guides from the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, the Battalion made its way across country to a bridge, where a long halt was made to find the Headquarters of the 3rd Battalion Grenadiers–no easy matter in the dark. The Battalion eventually managed to get into position close behind the front line posts. No. 2 Company, under Lieutenant Kennaway, was on the right and in touch with the 2/20th London Regiment from the Sixty-second Division; No. 3 Company, under Lieutenant Challands, on the left in touch with the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards; No. 4 Company, under Lieutenant Freeman-Greene,…

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