Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:16

Excerpt #1, from Astounding Stories, August, 1931, by Various

…around. He saw no one observing him, and could count on carrying a pretty good bluff in his uniform, which was rapidly shedding its water. With a firm step Mich’l walked to Lane Mollon’s door, threw it open, and entered. * * * * * Lane sat up on his couch, his feet striking the floor with an angry thump. But when he recognized Mich’l he paled slightly. “Where is she?” Mich’l demanded roughly, “before I burn you down!” “You said once,” Lane began sneeringly, “that you wanted to fight me. Now, if you’ll just put down that–” “Not now,” Mich’l dissented with deadly coldness. “Where is Nida? Speak fast.” Lane did so. “She isn’t here. The little short[2] crowned me with a chair, and slipped out. How did I–” [Footnote 2: Short–trouble-maker, spitfire. A colloquialism probably growing out of the once frequently used electrical term “short-circuit.”] “When? Hurry up!” "Hardly an hour ago. She walked down the corridor, showed a thick-witted guard my own executive pass, and got away. But I got that…

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Excerpt #2, from Science and the modern world: Lowell Lectures 1925, by Alfred North Whitehead

…the observed state of large multitudes of analogous entities, with high powers of endurance. For the environment automatically develops with the species, and the species with the environment. The first question to ask is, whether there is any direct evidence for such a mechanism for the evolution of enduring organisms. In surveying nature, we must remember that there are not only basic organisms whose ingredients are merely aspects of eternal objects. There are also organisms of organisms. Suppose for the moment and for the sake of simplicity, we assume, without any evidence, that electrons and hydrogen nuclei are such basic organisms. Then the atoms, and the molecules, are organisms of a higher type, which also represent a compact definite organic unity. But when we come to the larger aggregations of matter, the organic unity fades into the background. It appears to be but faint and elementary. It is there; but the pattern is vague and indecisive. It is a mere aggregation of effects. When we come to living beings, the definiteness of pattern is recovered, and the organic character again rises into prominence. Accordingly, the characteristic laws of inorganic matter are mainly the statistical averages resulting from confused aggregates. So far are they from throwing light on the ultimate nature of things, that they blur and obliterate the individual characters of the individual organisms. If we wish to throw light upon the facts…

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Excerpt #3, from Ox Team Days on the Oregon Trail, by Howard R. Driggs and Ezra Meeker

…left for cattle. In fact, the run on provisions for the gold rush was so great that at one time we were almost threatened with famine. Finally our cattle, mostly cows, were loaded in an open scow and taken in tow alongside the steamer, the Sea Bird, I think it was. [Illustration: A “shaker” used to wash out gold.] All went well enough until we arrived off the head of Whidby Island. Here a choppy sea from a light wind began slopping over the scow and evidently would sink us despite our utmost efforts at bailing. When the captain would slow down the speed of his steamer, all was well; but the moment greater power was applied, over the gunwales would come the water. The dialogue that ensued between the captain and me was more emphatic than elegant. He dared not risk letting go of us, however, or of running us under, for fear of incurring the risk of heavy damages. I would not consent to be landed. So about the twentieth of June we were set adrift in Bellingham Bay and, tired and sleepy, landed on the beach. Our cows must have feed, they must be milked, the milk must be marketed. There was no rest for us during another thirty-six hours. In fact, there was but little sleep for anybody on that beach at the time. Several ocean steamers had just dumped three thousand people on the beach, and there was still a scramble to find a place to build a house or stretch…

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Excerpt #4, from Familiar Quotations, by John Bartlett

…falls scattered down, the, 501. fast by a, 428. I could not hear the, 634. is deep, where the, 93. noise like of a hidden, 499. Siloa’s, 223. sparkling with a, 536. that turns a mill, 455. the weather, many can, 55. Brooks, books in the running, 67. in Vallombrosa, 224. make rivers, 274. moon looks on many, 521. murmuring near the running, 471. panteth after the water, 820. rivers wide and shallow, 248. shallow, rivers wide, 248. sloping into, 536. Brooked the eternal devil, 110. Brookside, I wandered by the, 634….

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Excerpt #5, from Second Treatise of Government, by John Locke

…forfeited them; but he has not thereby a right and title to their possessions. This I doubt not, but at first sight will seem a strange doctrine, it being so quite contrary to the practice of the world; there being nothing more familiar in speaking of the dominion of countries, than to say such an one conquered it; as if conquest, without any more ado, conveyed a right of possession. But when we consider, that the practice of the strong and powerful, how universal soever it may be, is seldom the rule of right, however it be one part of the subjection of the conquered, not to argue against the conditions cut out to them by the conquering sword. Sect. 181. Though in all war there be usually a complication of force and damage, and the aggressor seldom fails to harm the estate, when he uses force against the persons of those he makes war upon; yet it is the use of force only that puts a man into the state of war: for whether by force he begins the injury, or else having quietly, and by fraud, done the injury, he refuses to make reparation, and by force maintains it, (which is the same thing, as at first to have done it by force) it is the unjust use of force that makes the war: for he that breaks open my house, and violently turns me out of doors; or having peaceably got in, by force keeps me out, does in effect the same thing; supposing we are in such a state, that we have no common judge on earth, whom I may…

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Excerpt #6, from The Subterranean World, by G. Hartwig

…reason why the Irish coal-mines have, as yet, been so little worked. When we consider the vast importance of coal, we cannot wonder at the paramount influence which it has exercised over the distribution of our population in modern times. While Salisbury, Winchester, and Canterbury— important towns of mediæval England—are reduced to atrophy from the distance and absence of coal-fields, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, and a host of other flourishing towns may truly be said to be built on coal. Where there are large coal-fields there is life and a prospect of almost unlimited prosperity, for they are sure to attract machinery and man. Take a geological map of a new and thinly-populated country; and if it be marked with coal-fields the spots where large cities will exist hereafter may be safely determined. A more detailed examination of the chief coal-fields of England shows us the immensity of the mineral riches which are here still hoarded up for the benefit of future generations. The superficial extent of the South Welsh coal-fields is about a thousand square miles. On its northern wing we find on an average twenty-one coal bands, forming an aggregate thickness of eighty and a half feet. In some parts of the south wing there are even as many as thirty-three bands of an aggregate thickness of one hundred and four…

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Excerpt #7, from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, by Charlotte Brontë

…one like a fostering sunbeam. How will she manage to please him when they are married? I do not think she will manage it; and yet it might be managed; and his wife might, I verily believe, be the very happiest woman the sun shines on.” I have not yet said anything condemnatory of Mr. Rochester’s project of marrying for interest and connections. It surprised me when I first discovered that such was his intention: I had thought him a man unlikely to be influenced by motives so commonplace in his choice of a wife; but the longer I considered the position, education, &c., of the parties, the less I felt justified in judging and blaming either him or Miss Ingram for acting in conformity to ideas and principles instilled into them, doubtless, from their childhood. All their class held these principles: I supposed, then, they had reasons for holding them such as I could not fathom. It seemed to me that, were I a gentleman like him, I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love; but the very obviousness of the advantages to the husband’s own happiness offered by this plan convinced me that there must be arguments against its general adoption of which I was quite ignorant: otherwise I felt sure all the world would act as I wished to act. But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master: I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a…

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Excerpt #8, from The Valley of the Moon, by Jack London

…ever seen.” The visitor now commenced to laugh. He stood on one leg as he laughed harder, then stood on the other leg. Finally he sat down on a log of driftwood. “And you were there,” he managed to gasp to Billy at last. “You saw it. You saw it.” He turned to Saxon. “–And you?” She nodded. “Say,” Billy began again, as their laughter eased down, “what I wanta know is what’d you wanta do it for. Say, what’d you wanta do it for? I’ve been askin’ that to myself ever since.” “So have I,” was the answer. “You didn’t know Timothy McManus, did you?” “No; I’d never seen him before, and I’ve never seen him since.” “But what’d you wanta do it for?” Billy persisted. The young man laughed, then controlled himself. “To save my life, I don’t know. I have one friend, a most intelligent chap that writes sober, scientific books, and he’s always aching to throw an egg into an electric fan to see what will happen. Perhaps that’s the way it was with me, except that there was no aching. When I saw those legs flying past, I merely stuck my stick in between. I didn’t know I was going to do it. I just did it. Timothy McManus was no more…

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Excerpt #9, from My Adventures During the Late War, by Donat Henchy O’Brien

…one or two were even snoring. By the guard’s light, as they passed, I found that I had got into the bed of a servant, an American named Clarke. He was so intolerably intoxicated (they managed that night to get some snique, or brandy, smuggled in) that I was a long time before I could rouse him; and when he was awake, I had as much difficulty in making him understand who I was, and why I had got into his bed. I dreaded lest the stupefied fellow might utter some ejaculation that might expose everything. Fortunately, however, as soon as he was able to understand what I said, he desired me to cover my face, and assisted me to conceal myself as well as he could. It afterwards appeared that he had gone to bed fully aware of the part he was to play the next morning, and that he had got a little drunk to give him courage for his enterprise; and as in drunkenness a little always leads to more, he had at last got very drunk, under the delusion that he would recover himself before the time of decamping arrived. This is the common self-deception, I believe, of all incipient drunkards. On discovering that the first door had been opened, the commanding officer of the searching party said, with a sneer, “That he would give us weeks to get through the next;” meaning the ponderous, massive iron door which I have already described. On advancing a few paces, one of the guards proclaimed, with a horrid oath, that even the iron door had…

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Excerpt #10, from Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What’s in a Dream, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

…will advance beyond present pursuits, but will retain former impressions of justice and knowledge, seeking these through every change. If the figure below be low, you will ignore your friends of former days in your future advancement. If it is on a plane or level with you, you will fail in your ambition to reach other spheres. If you seem to be going from it, you will force yourself to seek a change in spite of friendly ties or self-admonition. To dream you see a friend with a white cloth tied over his face, denotes that you will be injured by some person who will endeavor to keep up friendly relations with you. To dream that you are shaking hands with a person who has wronged you, and he is taking his departure and looks sad, foretells you will have differences with a close friend and alienation will perhaps follow. You are most assuredly nearing loss of some character. Frightened.[78] To dream that you are frightened at anything, denotes temporary and fleeting worries. [78] See Affrighted. Frogs. To dream of catching frogs, denotes carelessness in watching after your health, which may cause no little distress among…

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Excerpt #11, from The Swedish Fairy Book, by Klara Stroebe, George Hood, and Frederick Herman Martens

…The two foster-brethren now wandered out into the world. After they had gone a while, they came to a dark forest. And in this forest they met a man, strange-looking and very tall. He wore two swords at his side, and was accompanied by six great dogs. He gave them a friendly greeting: “Good-day, little fellows, whence do you come and whither do you go?” The boys told him they came from a high tower, and were going out into the world to seek their fortune. The man replied: “If such be the case, I know more about your origin than any one else. And that you may have something by which to remember your father, I will give each of you a sword and three dogs. But you must promise me one thing, that you will never part from your dogs; but take them with you wherever you go.” The boys thanked the man for his kind gifts, and promised to do as he had told them. Then they bade him farewell and went their way. When they had traveled for some time they reached a cross-road. Then Silverwhite said: “It seems to me that it would be the best for us to try our luck singly, so let us part.” Lillwacker answered: “Your advice is good; but how am I to know whether or not you are doing well out in the world?”…

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Excerpt #12, from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

…“Do you really think so?” cried Elizabeth, brightening up for a moment. “Upon my word,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “I begin to be of your uncle’s opinion. It is really too great a violation of decency, honour, and interest, for him to be guilty of. I cannot think so very ill of Wickham. Can you yourself, Lizzy, so wholly give him up, as to believe him capable of it?” “Not, perhaps, of neglecting his own interest; but of every other neglect I can believe him capable. If, indeed, it should be so! But I dare not hope it. Why should they not go on to Scotland if that had been the case?” “In the first place,” replied Mr. Gardiner, “there is no absolute proof that they are not gone to Scotland.” “Oh! but their removing from the chaise into a hackney coach is such a presumption! And, besides, no traces of them were to be found on the Barnet road.” “Well, then—supposing them to be in London. They may be there, though for the purpose of concealment, for no more exceptional purpose. It is not likely that money should be very abundant on either side; and it might strike them that they could be more economically, though less expeditiously, married in London than…

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