Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:23

Excerpt #1, from Right Ho, Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

…“A liberal tumblerful, sir.” “Would that be a normal dose for an adult defeatist, do you think?” “I fancy it should prove adequate, sir.” “I wonder. We must not spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar. I think I’ll add just another fluid ounce or so.” “I would not advocate it, sir. In the case of Lord Brancaster’s parrot—-” “You are falling into your old error, Jeeves, of thinking that Gussie is a parrot. Fight against this. I shall add the oz.” “Very good, sir.”… “And, by the way, Jeeves, Mr. Fink-Nottle is in the market for bright, clean stories to use in his speech. Do you know any?” “I know a story about two Irishmen, sir.” “Pat and Mike?” “Yes, sir.” “Who were walking along Broadway?” “Yes, sir.” “Just what he wants. Any more?” “No, sir.” “Well, every little helps. You had better go and tell it to him.” “Very good, sir.”…

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Excerpt #2, from Grimms’ Fairy Tales, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

…he came back she had bound up her hair again, and all was safe. So they watched the geese till it grew dark. In the evening, after they came home, Curdken went to the old king, and said, ‘I cannot have that strange girl to help me to keep the geese any longer.’ ‘Why?’ said the king. ‘Because, instead of doing any good, she does nothing but tease me all day long.’ Then the king made him tell him what had happened. And Curdken said, ‘When we go in the morning through the dark gate with our flock of geese, she cries and talks with the head of a horse that hangs upon the wall, and says: ‘Falada, Falada, there thou hangest!’ and the head answers: ‘Bride, bride, there thou gangest! Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it, Sadly, sadly, would she rue it.’ And Curdken went on telling the king what had happened upon the meadow where the geese fed; how his hat was blown away; and how he was forced to run after it, and to leave his flock of geese to themselves. But the old king told the boy to go out again the next day: and when morning came, he placed himself behind the dark gate, and heard how she spoke to Falada, and how Falada answered. Then he went into the field, and hid himself in a bush by the meadow’s side; and he soon saw with his own…

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Excerpt #3, from Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period, by J. Franklin Jameson

…Declareth That having lived in Barbadoes and Jamaica and traded in severall parts of the West Indies, meeting of late with great losses of above £12,000 sterling by the Earthquake and Enemyes and through misfortune, came to New York and there finding Captain Kid comeing out with a full Power to the East Indies to take the Pyrates, which he shewed me by the means of my Friends, so resolved to go with him to the East Indies and to remain there at Surrat or any other place where I could best follow my profession, being a Jeweller, for he told me he would put into some of the said Parts. Wee sailed from New York the 6th September 1696 in Company with a Brigantine belonging to Bermudas, bound to the Maderaes. there met with a Brigantine from Barbadoes bound for England who had lost her Mast and Boltsprit, whom Captain Kid assisted with a Mast, Riggin and Canvas, for which kindness [the] Master gave him a few flour Barrells with Sugar. the same Brigantine after she had what she wanted proceeded on her Voyage. And a day or two after wee espyed a Ship whom Wee gave chase to three days and came up with her, found her to be a Portuguez from Brazile bound to the Maderaes. the Captain of the Portuguez pre[sen]ted Captain Kid with a Roll of Brazile Tobacco and some Sugar, in lieu of which Captain Kid sent him a Cheshire Cheese and a Barrell of White Bisket, but through mistake of the Steward the Barrell thought to be Bisket proved to be…

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Excerpt #4, from Adventures of Bindle, by Herbert George Jenkins

…perplexity, then, as light dawned upon him, he would break out into a grin, make a dive for the pancakes and quickly exchange them for the oysters. The names of the various dishes he found almost beyond him and, to overcome the difficulty, he asked the customers to point out on the menu what they required. Then again he found himself expected to carry a multiplicity of plates and dishes. At first he endeavoured to emulate his confrères. On one occasion he set out from the dining-room with three dishes containing respectively “caille en casserole,” a Welsh rarebit, and a steak and fried potatoes. The steak and fried potatoes were for a lady of ample proportions with an almost alarmingly low-cut blouse. In placing the steak and metal dish of potatoes before her, Bindle’s eye for a second left the other two plates, which began to tilt. The proprietor of the large-bosomed lady was, with the aid of a fish-knife, able to hold in place the Welsh rarebit; but he was too late in his endeavour to reach the under-plate on which reposed the “caille en casserole,” which suddenly made a dive for the apex of the V of the lady’s blouse. As she felt the hot, moist bird touch her, she gave a shriek and started back. Bindle also started, and the lady’s possessor lost his…

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Excerpt #5, from The Genetic Effects of Radiation, by Isaac Asimov and Theodosius Dobzhansky

…It is not to be expected that the large majority of humanity that makes up the populations outside the United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union can be expected to accept stoically the risk of even limited quantities of genetic damage, out of any feeling of loyalty to nations not their own. Even within the populations of the three major nuclear powers there are strong feelings that the possible benefits of nuclear testing do not balance the certain dangers. Public opinion throughout the world is a key factor, then, in enforcing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed by the governments of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union on October 10, 1963. Effects on Mammals Although genetic findings on such comparatively simple creatures as fruit flies and bacteria seem to apply generally to all forms of life, it seems unsafe to rely on these findings completely in anything as important as possible genetic damage to man through radiation. During the 1950s and 1960s, therefore, there have been important studies on mice, particularly by W. L. Russell at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. While not as short-lived or as fecund as fruit flies, mice can nevertheless produce enough young over a reasonable period of time to yield statistically useful results. Experimenters have worked with…

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Excerpt #6, from Nick Carter Stories No. 143, June 5, 1915: The sultan’s pearls; or, Nick

…table, hiding his victim completely. “With the wires on him, and the dose of dope he has in his system, he will be safe enough for a while,” he reflected. “Now I come to the real risk of the job. I’m glad I’m not deficient in nerve.” He looked around him, felt in all the pockets of the clothing he had taken off to make sure he had everything out–including the bags of jewelry–patted his chest to assure himself that the flat bag was in its place under his shirt, and pushed his discarded garments under the table with the senseless Portersham. “Now for it!” he breathed softly. He opened the door without any noise and stepped into the hallway. His heart beat a little faster than usual, but he never faltered in what he had set himself to do. Neither did he show in his demeanor what a strain there was upon even his steely nerves. Briggs was sitting inside a small room off the hall that was his particular domain. The door was open, so that the butler could see everybody who might pass up and down. His orders were to make sure no one loafed about the palace unless he had business there. As a public building, many strangers were in the palace during the day. But in the late afternoon and evening, when official business was…

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Excerpt #7, from The Wave: An Egyptian Aftermath, by Algernon Blackwood

…Tony and his Amanda had been with them. The incident in question had left a singular impression on his mind, though why it emerged now, as they wandered through the quiet wood, he could not tell. It had occurred a week or two ago. He now saw it again–in a tenth of the time it takes to tell. The scene was laid in ancient Egypt, and while the play was commonplace, the elaborate production–scenery, dresses, atmosphere–was good. But Tom, unable to feel interest in the trivial and badly acted story, had felt interest in another thing he could not name. There was a subtle charm, a delicate glamour about it as of immensely old romance, but some lost romance of very far away. Yet, whether this charm was due to the stage effects or to themselves, sitting there in the stalls together, escaped him. For in some singular way the party, his hostess certainly, seemed to interpenetrate the play itself. She, above all, and Tony vaguely, seemed inseparable from what he gazed at, heard, and felt. Continually he caught himself thinking how delightful it was to know himself next to Madame Jaretzka, so close that he shared her atmosphere, her perfume, touched her even; that their minds were engaged intimately together watching the same scene; and also, that on her other side, sat Tony, affectionate, whimsical, fascinating Tony, whom they were trying to help ‘find himself’; and that he, again, was next to a girl he liked….

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Excerpt #8, from The School and Society, by John Dewey

…metals. This work has been also a continuous course in geography, since the children have had to imagine and work out the various physical conditions necessary to the different forms of social life implied. What would be the physical conditions appropriate to pastoral life? to the beginning of agriculture? to fishing? What would be the natural method of exchange between these peoples? Having worked out such points in conversation, they have afterward represented them in maps and sand-molding. Thus they have gained ideas of the various forms of the configuration of the earth, and at the same time have seen them in their relation to human activity, so that they are not simply external facts, but are fused and welded with social conceptions regarding the life and progress of humanity. The result, to my mind, justifies completely the conviction that children, in a year of such work (of five hours a week altogether), get indefinitely more acquaintance with facts of science, geography, and anthropology than they get where information is the professed end and object, where they are simply set to learning facts in fixed lessons. As to discipline, they get more training of attention, more power of interpretation, of drawing inferences, of acute observation and continuous reflection, than if they were put to working out arbitrary problems simply for the sake of discipline. I should like at this point to refer to the recitation. We all know what…

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Excerpt #9, from Sailing Alone Around the World, by Joshua Slocum

…from her true course that she might ride safely over the waves. I was now scudding her for the channel between Africa and the island of Fuerteventura, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, for which I was on the lookout. At 2 P.M., the weather becoming suddenly fine, the island stood in view, already abeam to starboard, and not more than seven miles off. Fuerteventura is twenty-seven hundred feet high, and in fine weather is visible many leagues away. The wind freshened in the night, and the Spray had a fine run through the channel. By daylight, September 3, she was twenty-five miles clear of all the islands, when a calm ensued, which was the precursor of another gale of wind that soon came on, bringing with it dust from the African shore. It howled dismally while it lasted, and though it was not the season of the harmattan, the sea in the course of an hour was discolored with a reddish-brown dust. The air remained thick with flying dust all the afternoon, but the wind, veering northwest at night, swept it back to land, and afforded the Spray once more a clear sky. Her mast now bent under a strong, steady pressure, and her bellying sail swept the sea as she rolled scuppers under, courtesying to the waves. These rolling waves thrilled me as they tossed my ship, passing quickly under her keel. This was grand sailing….

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Excerpt #10, from Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, by Thomas Rainey

…TRANSPORT FREIGHT TO AUSTRALIA: REASONS FOR THE SAME: MOTION HER NORMAL CONDITION: MUST NOT BE MADE A DOCK: DELIVERY OF FREIGHTS: MAMMOTH STEAMERS TO BRAZIL: LARGE CLIPPERS LIE IDLE: NOT EVEN THIS LARGE CLASS OF STEAMERS CAN LIVE ON THEIR OWN RECEIPTS: EFFICIENT MAIL STEAMERS CARRY BUT LITTLE EXCEPT PASSENGERS: SOME HEAVY EXTRA EXPENSES IN REGULAR MAIL LINES: PACIFIC MAIL COMPANY’S LARGE EXTRA FLEET, AND ITS EFFECTS: THE IMMENSE ACCOUNT OF ITEMS AND EXTRAS: A PARTIAL LIST: THE HAVRE AND COLLINS DOCKS: GREAT EXPENSE OF FEEDING PASSENGERS: VIEWS OF MURRAY AND ATHERTON ON THE COST OF RUNNING STEAMERS, AND THE NECESSITY OF THE PRESENT MAIL SERVICE. From the foregoing Section it is evident that the cost of running ocean steamers is enormous, and that in the chief element of expenditure it increases as the cube of the velocity. This, although true, is certainly a startling ratio of increase, and calculated to arouse attention to the difficulties of postal marine navigation. Seeing that ocean speed is attainable at so high a cost, we naturally conclude that fast mail steamers can not live on their own receipts upon the ocean. Since Great Britain established her first ocean steam mail in 1833, she has gone on rapidly increasing the same facilities, until her noble lines of communication now extend to every land and compass…

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Excerpt #11, from Significant Achievements in Space Bioscience 1958

…—————————————————————– Carbonaceous chondrites 16 2.04 …—————————————————————– Most meteorites possess only traces of carbon, and studies of this carbon indicate that it is composed largely of graphite, cohenite, and moissanite, with some diamond. However, studies of the carbon in the carbonaceous chondrites have failed to detect any of these forms. Some carbonates are present in a minority of the carbonaceous group, but account for only a small percentage of the total carbon (perhaps about 10 percent of the total C in type I only). The carbonaceous chondrites contain organic carbon. The word “organic” is not used in a biological sense, merely as a chemical term to describe compounds of carbon other than carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbides. No evidence has been found of any form of carbon other than organic, except for traces of carbonates. Various studies have demonstrated possible methods of estimating the total amount of organic matter present in meteorites. Wiik ([ref.27]) has suggested that organics can be estimated by measuring the loss of weight on ignition. Unfortunately, this method has several disadvantages and gives very low values. Corrections must be made for weight gains due to oxidation of reduced constituents, such as FeO, Fe, Ni, and Co, and…

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Excerpt #12, from Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly, March 1899, by Various

…like one fifth its former size when it is able only with extreme difficulty to yield a quota of 20,000 such animals. 4. The death rate among young fur seals, especially among the pups, is very great. While the loss among the pups prior to their departure from the islands has been found in the past two years to approach twenty per cent of the whole number born, and though the rate of subsequent mortality is unknown, we may gather from the number which return each year that from one half to two thirds have perished before the age of three years–that is to say, the killable age for the males and the breeding age for the females. The maximum and minimum figures here represent a division of opinion. The larger figure of two thirds would even seem to be a conservative estimate. The birth rate of 1897, as we know from close estimate, was approximately 130,000; it must have been greater in 1894, approaching 200,000. From this larger birth rate only about 20,000 males survived (the quota of 1897). There was doubtless a like number of females, the sexes being equal at birth and subject to like causes of natural loss. This gives a total of 40,000 in all, out of a birth rate of 200,000, which survived to the age of three years. This is one fifth, and it is evident that the mortality exceeds rather than falls below the maximum…

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