Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:10

Excerpt #1, from Everybody’s Book of Luck, by Anonymous

…“He loves me”; at the second, “He loves me not.” These sentences are repeated alternately until the flower is deprived of all its petals. Whichever sentence was uttered last describes “his” affections. THE IVY.– Ivy, ivy, I thee pluck, And in my bosom, I thee put. The first young man who speaks to me My own true lover he shall be. [Illustration: No. 22.] THE HAWTHORN OR MAY.–Once upon a time, every porch was decorated with a branch of May to avert the evil eye and prevent witchcraft, but the idea has been departed from, and now it is regarded as a harbinger of ill-luck, and is rarely brought inside a house. THE MISTLETOE.–From very ancient times, this plant has been regarded with curious veneration. Probably it gained special fame, in the first instance, owing to the peculiar manner in which it grew. The Druids looked upon it as a plant possessing marvelous properties, and they esteemed nothing in the world more sacred than it. They gathered it when the moon was just six days old because the moon was then thought to be at its greatest power. This done, they sacrificed two young bullocks which were milk-white. After that, the mistletoe was cut into…

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Excerpt #2, from The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

…“Does Sir Percy Blakeney know that . . . I mean, does he know the part you played in the arrest of the Marquis de St. Cyr?” She laughed—a mirthless, bitter, contemptuous laugh, which was like a jarring chord in the music of her voice. “That I denounced the Marquis de St. Cyr, you mean, to the tribunal that ultimately sent him and all his family to the guillotine? Yes, he does know. . . . I told him after I married him. . . .” “You told him all the circumstances—which so completely exonerated you from any blame?” “It was too late to talk of ‘circumstances’; he heard the story from other sources; my confession came too tardily, it seems. I could no longer plead extenuating circumstances: I could not bemean myself by trying to explain—” “And?” “And now I have the satisfaction, Armand, of knowing that the biggest fool in England has the most complete contempt for his wife.” She spoke with vehement bitterness this time, and Armand St. Just, who loved her so dearly, felt that he had placed a somewhat clumsy finger upon an aching wound. “But Sir Percy loved you, Margot,” he repeated gently. “Loved me?—Well, Armand, I thought at one time that he did, or I should…

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Excerpt #3, from Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

…kingdom will appear at the windows of his royal palace, and as soon as he beholds the knight, recognising him by his arms and the device on his shield, he will as a matter of course say, ‘What ho! Forth all ye, the knights of my court, to receive the flower of chivalry who cometh hither!’ At which command all will issue forth, and he himself, advancing half-way down the stairs, will embrace him closely, and salute him, kissing him on the cheek, and will then lead him to the queen’s chamber, where the knight will find her with the princess her daughter, who will be one of the most beautiful and accomplished damsels that could with the utmost pains be discovered anywhere in the known world. Straightway it will come to pass that she will fix her eyes upon the knight and he his upon her, and each will seem to the other something more divine than human, and, without knowing how or why they will be taken and entangled in the inextricable toils of love, and sorely distressed in their hearts not to see any way of making their pains and sufferings known by speech. Thence they will lead him, no doubt, to some richly adorned chamber of the palace, where, having removed his armour, they will bring him a rich mantle of scarlet wherewith to robe himself, and if he looked noble in his armour he will look still more so in a doublet. When night comes he will sup with the king, queen, and princess; and all the time he will never take his eyes…

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Excerpt #4, from Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, by Lewis Carroll

…my dear paws! oh my fur and whiskers! She’ll have me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder?" Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking for the nosegay and the pair of white kid gloves, and she began hunting for them, but they were now nowhere to be seen–everything seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool, and her walk along the river-bank with its fringe of rushes and forget-me-nots, and the glass table and the little door had vanished. Soon the rabbit noticed Alice, as she stood looking curiously about her, and at once said in a quick angry tone, “why, Mary Ann! what are you doing out here? Go home this moment, and look on my dressing-table for my gloves and nosegay, and fetch them here, as quick as you can run, do you hear?” and Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once, without saying a word, in the direction which the rabbit had pointed out. She soon found herself in front of a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name W. RABBIT, ESQ. She went in, and hurried upstairs, for fear she should meet the real Mary Ann and be turned out of the house before she had found the gloves: she knew that one pair had been lost in the hall, “but of course,” thought Alice, "it has plenty more of them…

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Excerpt #5, from Soldiers’ Stories of the War, by Walter Wood and A. C. Michael

…(p. 173).] were many willing hands. Even in half-an-hour a wonderful difference had been made in the streets, and those people who had been rushing towards the country for safety began to return. They brought in reports of losses which had been suffered in the outskirts through shells; but, as I have said, the worst cases of all were just about here. One house was completely demolished, and the father, mother, and half-a-dozen children were killed, so that home and family were wiped out in an instant. One part of the Old Town is so utterly destroyed that it is called “Louvain,” and if you look at the houses there you will find that they are just heaps of rubbish and ruins, with beds and furniture and so on, buried. Shells had exploded in the streets, in houses, fields, at the gasworks, in shipyards–anywhere and everywhere–and one big thing stuck itself in a house and is kept as a relic. Another crashed through four railway waggons, and another shell, which travelled low on the ground, went through several sets of the steel metals on the railway, which shows the fearful penetrative power of the projectile. If the Germans had had their way, no doubt this place would have been wiped out altogether. They made a dead set at the gasworks, but did not do a great deal of mischief there, though it meant that that night a lot…

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Excerpt #6, from Behind the Beyond, and Other Contributions to Human Knowledge, by Stephen Leacock

…Then they began pumping in gas. The sensation of this part of it I cannot, unfortunately, recall. It happened that just as they began to administer the gas, I fell asleep. I don’t quite know why. Perhaps I was overtired. Perhaps it was the simple home charm of the surroundings, the soft drowsy hum of the gas pump, the twittering of the dentists in the trees–did I say the trees? No; of course they weren’t in the trees–imagine dentists in the trees–ha! ha! Here, take off this gaspipe from my face till I laugh–really I just want to laugh–only to laugh—- Well,–that’s what it felt like. Meanwhile they were operating. [Illustration: I did go . . . I kept the appointment.] Of course I didn’t feel it. All I felt was that someone dealt me a powerful blow in the face with a sledgehammer. After that somebody took a pickax and cracked in my jaw with it. That was all. It was a mere nothing. I felt at the time that a man who objects to a few taps on the face with a pickax is overcritical. I didn’t happen to wake up till they had practically finished. So I really missed the whole thing. The assistants had gone, and the dentist was mixing up cement and humming airs from light opera just like old times. It made the world…

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Excerpt #7, from Candide, by Voltaire

…the numerous inns where I have been servant, I have taken notice of a vast number of people who held their own existence in abhorrence, and yet I never knew of more than eight who voluntarily put an end to their misery; three negroes, four Englishmen, and a German professor named Robek.[14] I ended by being servant to the Jew, Don Issachar, who placed me near your presence, my fair lady. I am determined to share your fate, and have been much more affected with your misfortunes than with my own. I would never even have spoken to you of my misfortunes, had you not piqued me a little, and if it were not customary to tell stories on board a ship in order to pass away the time. In short, Miss Cunegonde, I have had experience, I know the world; therefore I advise you to divert yourself, and prevail upon each passenger to tell his story; and if there be one of them all, that has not cursed his life many a time, that has not frequently looked upon himself as the unhappiest of mortals, I give you leave to throw me headforemost into the sea." XIII HOW CANDIDE WAS FORCED AWAY FROM HIS FAIR CUNEGONDE AND THE OLD WOMAN. The beautiful Cunegonde having heard the old woman’s history, paid her all the civilities due to a person of her rank and merit. She likewise accepted her proposal, and engaged all the passengers, one after the other, to relate their adventures; and then both she and Candide allowed…

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Excerpt #8, from The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, by Oscar Wilde

…This Bunburying, as you call it, has not been a great success for you. [Goes into the house.] ALGERNON. I think it has been a great success. I’m in love with Cecily, and that is everything. [Enter Cecily at the back of the garden. She picks up the can and begins to water the flowers.] But I must see her before I go, and make arrangements for another Bunbury. Ah, there she is. CECILY. Oh, I merely came back to water the roses. I thought you were with Uncle Jack. ALGERNON. He’s gone to order the dog-cart for me. CECILY. Oh, is he going to take you for a nice drive? ALGERNON. He’s going to send me away. CECILY. Then have we got to part? ALGERNON. I am afraid so. It’s a very painful parting….

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Excerpt #9, from Uncle Wiggily’s Adventures, by Howard Roger Garis

…after him, for his tail was fast in the door hinge. “My, I must be more careful after this how I knock at doors, and ask for work,” the old gentleman rabbit thought. “I was nearly caught that time. I’ll try again, and I may have better luck.” So he walked along through the woods, and pretty soon he heard a voice singing, and this is the song, as nearly as I can remember it: Here I sit and wonder What I’m going to do. I’ve no one to help me, I think it’s sad; don’t you? I have to play the fiddle, But still I’d give a cent To any one who’d keep the boys From crawling in the tent. “Well, I wonder who that can be?” thought Uncle Wiggily. “He’ll give a cent, eh? to any one who keeps the boys from crawling in the tent. Now, if that isn’t a bear or a fox or a wolf maybe I can work for him, and earn that money. I’ll try.” So he peeped out of the bushes, and there he saw a nice monkey, all dressed up in a clown’s suit, spotted red, white and blue. And the monkey was playing a tune on a fiddle. Then, all of a sudden, he laid aside the…

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Excerpt #10, from The Pursuit of the House Boat, by John Kendrick Bangs

…playing-cards, out among the audience, and on each of them was found printed the words: SHERLOCK HOLMES, DETECTIVE. FERRETING DONE HERE. Plots for Sale. “I think he made a mistake in not taking the £200 for the watch. Such carelessness destroys my confidence in him,” said Shylock, who was the first to recover from the surprise of the revelation. III THE SEARCH-PARTY IS ORGANIZED “WELL, Mr. Holmes,” said Sir Walter Raleigh, after three rousing cheers, led by Hamlet, had been given with a will by the assembled spirits, “after this demonstration in your honor I think it is hardly necessary for me to assure you of our hearty co-operation in anything you may venture to suggest. There is still manifest, however, some desire on the part of the ever-wise King Solomon and my friend Confucius to know how you deduce that Kidd has sailed for London, from the cigar end which you hold in your hand.” [Picture: Three rousing cheers, led by Hamlet, had been given] “I can easily satisfy their curiosity,” said Sherlock Holmes, genially….

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Excerpt #11, from The Satyricon — Complete, by Petronius Arbiter

…calling for a bowl of wine, Dama spoke up, “A day’s nothing at all: it’s night before you can turn around, so you can’t do better than to go right to the dining-room from your bed. It’s been so cold that I can hardly get warm in a bath, but a hot drink’s as good as an overcoat: I’ve had some long pegs, and between you and me, I’m a bit groggy; the booze has gone to my head.” CHAPTER THE FORTY-SECOND. Here Seleucus took up the tale. “I don’t bathe every day,” he confided, “a bath uses you up like a fuller: water’s got teeth and your strength wastes away a little every day; but when I’ve downed a pot of mead, I tell the cold to suck my cock! I couldn’t bathe today anyway, because I was at a funeral; dandy fellow, he was too, good old Chrysanthus slipped his wind! Why, only the other day he said good morning’ to me, and I almost think I’m talking to him now! Gawd’s truth, we’re only blown-up bladders strutting around, we’re less than flies, for they have some good in them, but we’re only bubbles. And supposing he had not kept to such a low diet! Why, not a drop of water or a crumb of bread so much as passed his lips for five days; and yet he joined the majority! Too many doctors did away with him, or rather, his time had come, for a doctor’s not good for anything except for a consolation to your mind! He was well carried out, anyhow, in the very bed he slept in during his lifetime. And he was…

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Excerpt #12, from Second Treatise of Government, by John Locke

…to reinstate their legislative in the exercise of their power: for having erected a legislative, with an intent they should exercise the power of making laws, either at certain set times, or when there is need of it, when they are hindered by any force from what is so necessary to the society, and wherein the safety and preservation of the people consists, the people have a right to remove it by force. In all states and conditions, the true remedy of force without authority, is to oppose force to it. The use of force without authority, always puts him that uses it into a state of war, as the aggressor, and renders him liable to be treated accordingly. Sect. 156. The power of assembling and dismissing the legislative, placed in the executive, gives not the executive a superiority over it, but is a fiduciary trust placed in him, for the safety of the people, in a case where the uncertainty and variableness of human affairs could not bear a steady fixed rule: for it not being possible, that the first framers of the government should, by any foresight, be so much masters of future events, as to be able to prefix so just periods of return and duration to the assemblies of the legislative, in all times to come, that might exactly answer all the exigencies of the commonwealth; the best remedy could be found for this defect, was to trust this to the prudence of one who was always to be present, and whose business it was…

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