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The FS Daily

Daily Excerpts: My humble attempt at offering fresh, daily, bookstore-style browsing…

Below you’ll find twelve book excerpts selected at random, each day, from over 400 different hand-selected Project Gutenberg titles. This includes many of my personal favorites.

Excerpts for Saturday, September 26, 2026

Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:43

Excerpt #1, from Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3

…Mr. O’CONNELL. I think, isn’t that in connection with the civil-liberties trust? It is not in connection with the trade-union trust. Isn’t that right? Mr. TAVENNER. That was paid out from another fund in the same trust, not from the one in which—- Mr. O’CONNELL. No. The will established, I think I can explain it, the will established three trusts, one that was called the Robert Marshall Foundation, we were denoted always as the trade-union trust. The second trust was a civil-liberties trust and 5 trustees, not all of the 5 trustees on the trade-union trust, were trustees on the civil-liberties trust. There were 15. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you on both? Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I was only on the trade union trust. Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have any knowledge of the payment from this other trust–that is, the civil-liberties trust–of the grant of $20,000 for defense of Remington? Mr. O’CONNELL. I know nothing about it except, was that contained in Mr. Dies’ speech? Was that reported—- Mr. TAVENNER. No. Mr. O’CONNELL. I really personally have no–I am not a member of that civil-liberties trust and I don’t know. There is also a…

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Excerpt #2, from The Boy’s Book of the Sea, by Eric Wood

…had just told the Friends the whole story of the mutiny. Lyons soon put them right on that little matter, and they went back to their champagne, appeased. The incident showed Taffir how slender was the thread on which his life hung, and he knew that he would have to be careful, for if these men suspected that he was playing them false there was little doubt that they would kill him out of hand, and risk what happened afterwards. They were like so many madmen, and one day Taffir saw the Turk go up to the Chinese steward and gash his arm open with a large knife for no apparent reason whatever. It turned out that they were forcing him to collect all the ship’s papers, which they threw overboard. Then they had a row about the captain’s watch, which was missing, and accused Taffir of having stolen it. It never was found, and was a sore point all through. On October 2 land was sighted, and now that they had no further use for him, the mutineers sent Taffir to Coventry. No one spoke to him or took any notice of him; they even refused to let him work the ship, which they turned about. They sent Taffir to his cabin then, where he remained all day. At night Blanco went down and ordered him up on deck, where he found that they were clewing up the sails and getting the boats out….

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Excerpt #3, from The Third Officer: A Present

…some of them lying aground with a heavy list. It was now close on sunset. The tranquil waters of the harbour were shrouded in deepening shadow, while the horizontal rays of the setting sun bathed the summit of the eastern cliffs in a glint of reddish gold. Beyond that serrated line of sun-bathed cliff the sky was broken by three thin columns of smoke rising slowly in the still air. “It’s a snug berth at all events,” observed Burgoyne, with a sailor’s unerring instinct for a safe harbour. “But it would puzzle a stranger to find his way in.” “Will they set us ashore to-night, do you think?” asked Colonel Vivian. Before Alwyn could reply the door was thrown open, and the engineer officers of both watches entered. That was a sign that their work in the engine-room was finished. In the dim light no one noticed that Withers was not with them, but that instead there was a stranger, a tall, slender fellow of almost Withers’s height and build, rigged out in the company’s uniform, and with the peaked cap raked jauntily over the left eye. And until the “fellow” went straight up to the Colonel and took hold of his hands, even Burgoyne failed to recognize Hilda Vivian….

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Excerpt #4, 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 #5, from Simple Sabotage Field Manual, by United States. Office of Strategic Services

…though unseen, group of saboteurs operating against the enemy or the government of his own country and elsewhere. This can be conveyed indirectly: suggestions which he reads and hears can include observations that a particular technique has been successful in this or that district. Even if the technique is not applicable to his surroundings, another’s success will encourage him to attempt similar acts. It also can be conveyed directly: statements praising the effectiveness of simple sabotage can be contrived which will be published by white radio, freedom stations, and the subversive press. Estimates of the proportion of the population engaged in sabotage can be disseminated. Instances of successful sabotage already are being broadcast by white radio and freedom stations, and this should be continued and expanded where compatible with security. (c) More important than (a) or (b) would be to create a situation in which the citizen-saboteur acquires a sense of responsibility and begins to educate others in simple sabotage. (2) Encouraging Destructiveness It should be pointed out to the saboteur where the circumstances are suitable, that he is acting in self-defense against the enemy, or retaliating against the enemy for other acts of destruction. A reasonable amount of humor in the presentation of suggestions for…

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Excerpt #6, from The Odyssey, by Homer

…now in my fourth year, in the waning of moons, and many days had been accomplished, those good for nothing hussies my maids betrayed me to the suitors, who broke in upon me and caught me; they were very angry with me, so I was forced to finish my work whether I would or no. And now I do not see how I can find any further shift for getting out of this marriage. My parents are putting great pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the ravages the suitors are making upon his estate, for he is now old enough to understand all about it and is perfectly able to look after his own affairs, for heaven has blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding all this, tell me who you are and where you come from—for you must have had father and mother of some sort; you cannot be the son of an oak or of a rock.” Then Ulysses answered, “Madam, wife of Ulysses, since you persist in asking me about my family, I will answer, no matter what it costs me: people must expect to be pained when they have been exiles as long as I have, and suffered as much among as many peoples. Nevertheless, as regards your question I will tell you all you ask. There is a fair and fruitful island in mid-ocean called Crete; it is thickly peopled and there are ninety cities in it: the people speak many different languages which overlap one another, for there are Achaeans, brave Eteocretans, Dorians of three-fold race, and noble Pelasgi. There is a…

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Excerpt #7, from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne

…………. “And your lamp?” …………. “Out.” …………. “But the guiding stream?” …………. “Is lost!” …………. “Keep your courage, Harry. We will do our best.” …………. “One moment, my uncle,” I cried; “I have no longer strength to answer your questions. But–for heaven’s sake–do you–continue–to speak–to me!” Absolute silence, I felt, would be annihilation. “Keep up your courage,” said my uncle. "As you are so weak, do not speak. We have been searching for you in all directions, both by going upwards and downwards in the gallery. My dear boy, I had begun to give over all hope–and you can never know what bitter tears of sorrow and regret I have shed. At last, supposing you to be still on the road beside the Hansbach, we again descended, firing off guns as signals. Now, however, that we have found you, and that our voices reach each…

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Excerpt #8, from A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, by Surendranath Dasgupta

…beginning from the first disturbance of the prak@rti to the final transformation as the world-order, is subject to “a definite law which it cannot overstep.” In the words of Dr B.N.Seal [Footnote ref 1], "the process of evolution consists in the development of the differentiated (_vai@samya_) within the undifferentiated (sâmyâvasthâ) of the determinate (vies’a) within the indeterminate (avis’esa) of the coherent (yutasiddha) within the incoherent (ayutasiddha). The order of succession is neither from parts to whole nor from whole to the parts, but ever from a relatively less differentiated, less determinate, less coherent whole to a relatively more differentiated, more determinate, more coherent whole." The meaning of such an evolution is this, that all the changes and modifications in the shape of the evolving collocations of gu@na reals take place within the body of the prak@rti. Prak@rti consisting of the infinite reals is infinite, and that it has been disturbed does not mean that the whole of it has been disturbed and upset, or that the totality of the gu@nas in the prak@rti has been unhinged from a state of equilibrium. It means rather that a very vast number of gu@nas constituting the worlds of thought and matter has been upset. These gu@nas once thrown out of balance begin to group themselves together first in one form, then in another, then…

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Excerpt #9, from Japanese Literature, by Epiphanius Wilson

…“Yet, how can I disobey his commands to go back?” exclaimed the boy, and so he returned to Genji without any written answer to him. “I was weary of waiting for you. Perhaps you, too, had forgotten me,” said Genji, when he saw the boy, who was, however, silent and blushed. “And what answer have you brought me?” continued Genji, and then the boy replied in the exact words which his sister had used. “What?” cried Genji: and continued, “Perhaps you may not know, so I will tell you. I knew your sister before she knew Iyo. But she likes to treat me so because she thinks she has got a very good friend in Iyo; but do you be like a brother to me. The days of Iyo will be probably fewer than mine.” He now returned to the Palace taking Komini with him, and, going to his dressing-room, attired him nicely in the Court style; in a word, he treated him as a parent would do. By the boy’s assistance several more letters were conveyed to his sister. Her resolution, however, remained unshaken. “If one’s heart were once to deviate from the path,” she reflected, “the only end we could expect would be a damaged reputation and misery for life: the good and the bad result from one’s self!” Thus thinking, she resolved to return no answer. She might, indeed, have admired the person of Genji, and probably did so, yet, whenever…

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Excerpt #10, from Guide to Fortune Telling, by Dreams, by Anonymous

…because such a dream indicates that you will not prosper in it; to the sailor it denotes storms and shipwreck, with disappointment in love. Fire.–To dream of this subtle element denotes health and happiness to the lover, marriage with the object of your affections, and many children; you will be very angry with some one on a trifling occasion. Burning lights descending, as it were from heaven, are a very bad sign; it portends some dreadful accident–having your brains dashed out, breaking your legs, getting into prison, or other strange accidents; to the lover it also denotes the loss of the affections of your sweetheart; to the tradesman bad fortune in business. To dream that you are burnt by fire denotes great danger, and that enemies will injure you. Fishing.–To dream you are fishing is a sure sign of sorrow and trouble; if you catch any fish you will be successful in love and business; if you catch none you will never marry your present sweetheart, nor succeed in your present undertakings; if they slip out of your hands after you have caught them, the person you marry will be of a roving disposition, and some pretended friend will deceive you. Flowers.–To dream you are gathering flowers is a very favorable omen; expect to thrive in everything you undertake, and that you will be successful in love, marry happily, and have beautiful children; should…

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Excerpt #11, from Ulysses, by James Joyce

…the forest. The flowers that bloom in the spring. It was pairing time. Capillary attraction is a natural phenomenon. Lotty Clarke, flaxenhaired, I saw at her night toilette through illclosed curtains with poor papa’s operaglasses: The wanton ate grass wildly. She rolled downhill at Rialto bridge to tempt me with her flow of animal spirits. She climbed their crooked tree and I… A saint couldn’t resist it. The demon possessed me. Besides, who saw? (Staggering Bob, a whitepolled calf, thrusts a ruminating head with humid nostrils through the foliage.) STAGGERING BOB: (Large teardrops rolling from his prominent eyes, snivels.) Me. Me see. BLOOM: Simply satisfying a need I… (With pathos.) No girl would when I went girling. Too ugly. They wouldn’t play… (High on Ben Howth through rhododendrons a nannygoat passes, plumpuddered, buttytailed, dropping currants.) THE NANNYGOAT: (Bleats.) Megeggaggegg! Nannannanny! BLOOM: (Hatless, flushed, covered with burrs of thistledown and gorsespine.) Regularly engaged. Circumstances alter cases. (He gazes intently downwards on the water.) Thirtytwo head over heels per second. Press nightmare. Giddy Elijah. Fall from cliff. Sad end of government printer’s clerk. _(Through silversilent summer air the dummy…

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Excerpt #12, from Seven O’Clock Stories, by Robert Gordon Anderson

…beautiful surprise. Then his head grew very tired, and his eyes began to droop till they were tight shut and he fell asleep. The Toyman looked at him and smiled. “Poor little feller!” he said. Then he closed his knife, and picked up the paper and the shavings and the surprise, and out of the room he tiptoed. Out to the workshop he went, and opened the door. On the shelves were brushes of different sizes and cans of paint of all colours. He took down three of the cans, humming to himself: “We’ll paint ‘em red An’ yeller an’ blue.” “A little brown would go well too,” he added as he took down another can. He worked away with his paint brushes until the surprise was finished. Then he placed it on the work-table to dry. The next afternoon there was another tap at the bedroom door. But Marmaduke didn’t answer. He was taking his afternoon nap. So the Toyman slipped in and put the surprise at the foot of the bed. After that he sat by the fire, watching the little sick soldier. He sat very still, stirring the embers just once in a while to keep the room warm. At last Marmaduke opened his eyes, a little at first, then wider….

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