Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:42

Excerpt #1, from A Humorous History of England, by Charles Harrison

…They coalesced in eight-two-seven. [Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic] Alfred Of good King Alfred we’ve all heard 872-901 How when hiding he incurred A lady’s anger for not taking Care of Cakes which she was baking. (Most probably she left the King While she went out a-gossiping.) Before he died in nine-nought-one, Old England’s Navy had begun. He laid a tax on every town To aid his fleet to gain renown. He was the best of Saxon Kings And did a lot of useful things; Built Oxford with its noble spires And mapped out England into Shires. Danes In seven-eight-three first came the Danes 783 Who caused the Saxons aches and pains. They sailed right up our rivers broad, Putting the natives to the sword. “Danegeld” For centuries our sadly fated…

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Excerpt #2, from Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

…year." “Your birthday?” said Pooh in great surprise. “Of course it is. Can’t you see? Look at all the presents I have had.” He waved a foot from side to side. “Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.” Pooh looked–first to the right and then to the left. “Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?” “Can’t you see them?” “No,” said Pooh. “Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!” Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this. “But is it really your birthday?” he asked. “It is.” “Oh! Well, Many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.” “And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear.” “But it isn’t my birthday.” “No, it’s mine.” “But you said ‘Many happy returns’—-” “Well, why not? You don’t always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?” “Oh, I see,” said Pooh….

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Excerpt #3, from Latin for Beginners, by Benjamin L. D’Ooge

…(b) «Perseus terram trīstitiā līberat» Perseus frees the land from sorrow (figurative separation–no actual motion is expressed) «181.» RULE. «Ablative of the Personal Agent.» The word expressing the person from whom an action starts, when not the subject, is put in the ablative with the preposition «ā» or «ab.» a. In this construction the English translation of «ā», «ab» is by rather than from. This ablative is regularly used with passive verbs to indicate the person by whom the act was performed. «Mōnstrum ā Perseō necātur», the monster is being slain by (lit. from) Perseus b. Note that the active form of the above sentence would be «Perseus monstrum necat», Perseus is slaying the monster. In the passive the object of the active verb becomes the subject, and the subject of the active verb becomes the ablative of the personal agent, with «ā» or «ab». c. Distinguish carefully between the ablative of means and the ablative of the personal agent. Both are often translated into English by the preposition by. (Cf. §100. b.) Means is a «thing»; the agent or actor is a «person». The ablative of means…

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Excerpt #4, from 13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison, by John Alan Lyde Caunter

…did not bring one to light, so there was nothing for it but to get wet. However, Fox had a plan whereby two of us might be saved a wetting. He being the heaviest was to strip and stand in the middle of the stream while we crossed over, using his shoulders as a stepping-stone. When he got into the stream he found the bottom very muddy and the water came up to his chest. I was to try the ‘stunt’ first. All the food bags, etc., were carried across, and then Fox stood ready to do his part. Stepping well out from the bank and placing one foot on his shoulder I reached down until I could catch hold of his hands and waited for his signal. At the word, I sprang, he simultaneously throwing me, and before I had time to realise anything, I found myself rolling over and over on the other side. The timing had been perfect and I had landed completely dry. Blank was also got across successfully, and then the two of us pulled Fox out. But not without an effort, as one of his feet had got well embedded in the mud. He told us then that a large stone had prevented the other from getting similarly stuck. Rapid marching was the order after this episode, and we covered a great distance in an extraordinarily short space of time. We had omitted to fill our water-bottles at the last stream, and this…

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Excerpt #5, from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete, by Ulysses S. Grant

…thousand men. One division of these, Blair’s, only arrived in time to take part in the battle of Champion’s Hill, but was not engaged there; and one brigade, Ransom’s of McPherson’s corps, reached the field after the battle. The enemy had at Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Jackson, and on the roads between these places, over sixty thousand men. They were in their own country, where no rear guards were necessary. The country is admirable for defence, but difficult for the conduct of an offensive campaign. All their troops had to be met. We were fortunate, to say the least, in meeting them in detail: at Port Gibson seven or eight thousand; at Raymond, five thousand; at Jackson, from eight to eleven thousand; at Champion’s Hill, twenty-five thousand; at the Big Black, four thousand. A part of those met at Jackson were all that was left of those encountered at Raymond. They were beaten in detail by a force smaller than their own, upon their own ground. Our loss up to this time was: KILLED WOUNDED MISSING Port Gibson….. 131 719 25 South Fork Bayou Pierre….. .. 1 .. Skirmishes, May 3 ….. 1 9 .. Fourteen Mile Creek….. 6 24 .. Raymond…………… 66 339 39…

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Excerpt #6, from Curiosities of the Sky, by Garrett Putman Serviss

…It is probable that the tracks of the sun and the others stars are also irregular, and possibly spiral, although, as far as can be at present determined, they appear to be practically straight. Every star, wherever it may be situated, is attracted by its fellow-stars from many sides at once, and although the force is minimized by distance, yet in the course of many ages its effects must become manifest. Looked at from another side, is there not something immensely stimulating and pleasing to the imagination in the idea of so stupendous a journey, which makes all of us the greatest of travelers? In the course of a long life a man is transported through space thirty thousand million miles; Halley’s Comet does not travel one-quarter as far in making one of its immense circuits. And there are adventures on this voyage of which we are just beginning to learn to take account. Space is full of strange things, and the earth must encounter some of them as it advances through the unknown. Many singular speculations have been indulged in by astronomers concerning the possible effects upon the earth of the varying state of the space that it traverses. Even the alternation of hot and glacial periods has sometimes been ascribed to this source. When tropical life flourished around the poles, as the remains in the rocks assure us, the needed high…

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Excerpt #7, from An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde

…stronger than you are. The big battalions are on my side. You have a splendid position, but it is your splendid position that makes you so vulnerable. You can’t defend it! And I am in attack. Of course I have not talked morality to you. You must admit in fairness that I have spared you that. Years ago you did a clever, unscrupulous thing; it turned out a great success. You owe to it your fortune and position. And now you have got to pay for it. Sooner or later we have all to pay for what we do. You have to pay now. Before I leave you to-night, you have got to promise me to suppress your report, and to speak in the House in favour of this scheme. SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. What you ask is impossible. MRS. CHEVELEY. You must make it possible. You are going to make it possible. Sir Robert, you know what your English newspapers are like. Suppose that when I leave this house I drive down to some newspaper office, and give them this scandal and the proofs of it! Think of their loathsome joy, of the delight they would have in dragging you down, of the mud and mire they would plunge you in. Think of the hypocrite with his greasy smile penning his leading article, and arranging the foulness of the public placard. SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Stop! You want me to withdraw the report and to make a short speech stating that I believe there are possibilities in the…

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Excerpt #8, from Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy, by Anonymous

…men were preserved, and these with the four who had saved themselves in the jolly-boat, were the whole of the survivors of this fine ship’s company. A circumstance occurred in which that cool thoughtlessness of danger, which so often distinguishes our British tars, was displayed in such a striking manner, that it would be inexcusable to omit it. Daniel Monro, had, as we have already seen, gained the fore-top. He suddenly disappeared, and it was concluded that he had been washed away like many others. After being absent from the top about two hours, he, to the surprise of Dunlap, who was likewise on the fore-top, raised his head through the lubber-hole; Dunlap inquiring where he had been, he told him he had been cruising for a better birth; that after swimming about the wreck for a considerable time, he had returned to the fore-shrouds, and crawling in on the catharpins, had actually been sleeping there more than an hour, and appeared greatly refreshed. [Illustration] BURNING OF THE PRINCE, A FRENCH EAST INDIAMAN. On the 19th of February 1752, a French East Indiaman, called the Prince, sailed from Port L’Orient on a voyage outward bound. But soon afterwards, a sudden shift of wind drove her on a sand bank, where she…

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Excerpt #9, from Mr. Punch’s Golf Stories, by J. A. Hammerton

…the sheet. (Do not trouble to insert your nickname, as it is a matter of indifference to the examiners whether you are locally known as “Tiger,” “Ginger,” or “Bill Bailey.”) 2. State your age. If this is less than six, or more than seventy-five years, you may omit the remaining questions and retire at once from the examination. 3. Are you married or single? Give reasons for your answer. 4. Illustrate the finer points of distinction between (a) a niblick and a gutty; (b) a bye and a bulger. 5. Are you a Protectionist or a Total Abstainer? 6. Rewrite the following passage, correcting anything that may strike you as an error or an incongruity:–“In an 18-hole match, X., a scratch player with a handicap of 20, stood dormy 12 at the 17th hole, but while half-way through the final green was unfortunate enough to get badly bunkered behind the tee-box. Being required to play ‘two more’ to his opponent Y., who had laid himself dead in 6, he only played one of them, thus holing out in 5, and securing a victory by the narrow margin of 4 up and 7 to play.” 7. Given that the regulation charge for a round is a shilling, would you…

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Excerpt #10, from Legends of the City of Mexico, by Thomas A. Janvier

…was sputtering out its very last sparks. Therefore the Padre went out in a hurry through the still open door into the street; and no sooner had he come there than the door closed behind him sharply, as though some one on the inside had pushed against it strongly to shut it fast. Out in the street he had expected to find the old woman waiting for him; and he looked about for her everywhere, desiring to tell her that she must send for him when the man’s fever left him–that he might return and hear from the man a real confession, and really shrive him of his sins. But the old woman was quite gone. Thinking that she must have slipped past him in the darkness into the house, he knocked at the door lightly, and then loudly; but no answer came to his knocking–and when he tried to push the door open, using all his strength, it held fast against his pushing as firmly as though it had been a part of the stone wall. So the Padre, having no liking for standing there in the cold and rain uselessly, hurried onward to his friend’s house–and was glad to get into the room where his friends were waiting for him, and where plenty of candles were burning, and where it was dry and warm. He had walked so fast that his forehead was wet with sweat when he took his hat off, and to dry it he put his hand into his pocket for his handkerchief; but his handkerchief was not in his pocket–and then…

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Excerpt #11, from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; the Art of Controversy, by Arthur Schopenhauer

…privation. * * * * * Every happiness that a man enjoys, and almost every friendship that he cherishes, rest upon illusion; for, as a rule, with increase of knowledge they are bound to vanish. Nevertheless, here as elsewhere, a man should courageously pursue truth, and never weary of striving to settle accounts with himself and the world. No matter what happens to the right or to the left of him,–be it a chimaera or fancy that makes him happy, let him take heart and go on, with no fear of the desert which widens to his view. Of one thing only must he be quite certain: that under no circumstances will he discover any lack of worth in himself when the veil is raised; the sight of it would be the Gorgon that would kill him. Therefore, if he wants to remain undeceived, let him in his inmost being feel his own worth. For to feel the lack of it is not merely the greatest, but also the only true affliction; all other sufferings of the mind may not only be healed, but may be immediately relieved, by the secure consciousness of worth. The man who is assured of it can sit down quietly under sufferings that would otherwise bring him to despair; and though he has no pleasures, no joys and no friends, he can rest in and on himself; so powerful is the comfort to be derived from a vivid consciousness of this advantage; a…

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Excerpt #12, from You no longer count, by René Boylesve

…until the hour for going to the hospital. She had photographs of Jean in her bed-room as in her drawing-room. And now it seemed to her that to give way to her grief was, indeed, “a delight”! She was in the habit of giving herself up to sorrow; who would have believed that it was a way of giving herself up to pleasure? Yet in comparison with the excessive sadness of the present time, to wrap herself up, weeping, in the memory of happy days, was to set herself apart, to abstract herself in herself, to intoxicate herself with the fragrance of the incense on her own private altar, to divest herself of strength for the great common act which it had given her so much pain to accept, but the imperious command of which she could not now deny. “It is still a pleasure,” she repeated to herself. What chaos must have been wrought that her most acute sufferings, recalled to her by imagination, should take on the form of felicity! Mme. de Calouas had affirmed that, for her part, had she fewer years, she would not hesitate to marry again!–Ah, no, that was too much! Anything, anything, but that! “‘They endured the pains of hell, and did not die until afterward?’ Yes, their martyrdom, their death, I would gladly accept for myself; but I refuse to be false to my adored memories—-” Another burst of grief overwhelmed her in which her whole tortured…

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