Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:29

Excerpt #1, from Dave Dashaway, Air Champion; Or, Wizard Work in the Clouds, by Roy Rockwood

…Bruce. “I felt sure that sooner or later some one would suspect or identify me. It wasn’t safe for my sister. I didn’t know what to do, for what little I had earned wouldn’t take us far. Then came my big luck,” and the face of the speaker became radiant. “Tell it,” directed Hiram, on the edge with curiosity. “Some one had stolen an automobile from the village banker,” went on Bruce. “I had heard of it. I had read the posters giving the number and make of the machine, and offering a hundred dollars as a reward for its recovery. Just think of it! that very day an invalid lady I had chopped some wood for, asked me if I could get her a bunch of water lilies. I made a few inquiries of some boys I met. They directed me to a swamp about two miles from the town. I found a fine bed of the lilies, and was wading out with an armful, when down among a nest of reeds, where it had been run by the ride-stealers was the missing automobile.” “That was fine,” remarked Hiram. “I guess you got back to town on the double quick.” “I did for a fact,” agreed Bruce. “And inside of two hours I had the reward in my pocket. Oh but I felt rich! I went to the matron of the home and told her my whole story for the first time. She not only thought I had better get Lois to some safer place, and further away from Hillshore, but gave me a letter to a relative living on a farm…

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Excerpt #2, from An Introduction to the History of Science, by Walter Libby

…countries farther north; while stars always above the horizon in northern countries are seen to set from countries to the south. Consequently the earth is not only spherical but also not large; otherwise this phenomenon would not present itself on so limited a change of position on the part of the observer. “It seems, therefore, not incredible that the region about the Pillars of Hercules [Gibraltar] is connected with that of India, and that there is thus only one ocean.” It is known that this passage from The Philosopher influenced Columbus in his undertaking to reach the Orient by sailing west from the coast of Spain. We must pass over Aristotle’s observation of a relationship (homology) between the arms of man, the forelegs of quadrupeds, the wings of birds, and the pectoral fins of fishes, as well as many other truths to which his genius for generalization led him. In the field of botany Aristotle had a wide knowledge of natural phenomena, and raised general questions as to mode of propagation, nourishment, relation of plants to animals, etc. His pupil and lifelong friend, and successor as leader of the Peripatetic school of philosophy, Theophrastus, combined a knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, botany, and mineralogy. His History of Plants describes about five hundred species. At the same time he treats the general principles of botany,…

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Excerpt #3, from Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë

…vouchsafed no answer. He walked up and down, with his hands in his pockets, apparently quite forgetting my presence; and his abstraction was evidently so deep, and his whole aspect so misanthropical, that I shrank from disturbing him again. You’ll not be surprised, Ellen, at my feeling particularly cheerless, seated in worse than solitude on that inhospitable hearth, and remembering that four miles distant lay my delightful home, containing the only people I loved on earth; and there might as well be the Atlantic to part us, instead of those four miles: I could not overpass them! I questioned with myself—where must I turn for comfort? and—mind you don’t tell Edgar, or Catherine—above every sorrow beside, this rose pre-eminent: despair at finding nobody who could or would be my ally against Heathcliff! I had sought shelter at Wuthering Heights, almost gladly, because I was secured by that arrangement from living alone with him; but he knew the people we were coming amongst, and he did not fear their intermeddling. I sat and thought a doleful time: the clock struck eight, and nine, and still my companion paced to and fro, his head bent on his breast, and perfectly silent, unless a groan or a bitter ejaculation forced itself out at intervals. I listened to detect a woman’s voice in the house, and filled the interim with wild regrets and dismal anticipations,…

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Excerpt #4, from The Republic of Plato, by Plato

…with strict orders to prevent any embryo which may come into being from seeing the light; and if any force a way to the birth, the parents must understand that the offspring of such an union cannot be maintained, and arrange accordingly. That also, he said, is a reasonable proposition. But how 461D will they know who are fathers and daughters, and so on? They will never know. The way will be this:–dating from the day of the hymeneal, the bridegroom who was then married will call all the male children who are born in the seventh and tenth month afterwards his sons, and the female children his daughters, and they will call him father, and he will call their children his grandchildren, and they {156} will call the elder generation grandfathers and grandmothers. All who were begotten at the time when their fathers and mothers came together will be called their brothers and 461E sisters, and these, as I was saying, will be forbidden to inter-marry. This, however, is not to be understood as an absolute prohibition of the marriage of brothers and sisters; if the lot favours them, and they receive the sanction of the Pythian oracle, the law will allow them. Quite right, he replied. Such is the scheme, Glaucon, according to which the guardians of our State are to have their wives and families in common. And now you would have the…

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Excerpt #5, from The Best British Short Stories of 1922, by Stacy Aumonier et al.

…“Don’t scurry,” he whispered, “or she’ll hear. I’m sorry for waking you, but I didn’t think you’d be asleep so soon.” “Why, what’s the time, then?” Seaton wore, what was then rather unusual, a night-suit, and he hauled his big silver watch out of the pocket in his jacket. “It’s a quarter to twelve. I never get to sleep before twelve–not here.” “What do you do, then?” “Oh, I read and listen.” “Listen?” Seaton stared into his candle-flame as if he were listening even then. “You can’t guess what it is. All you read in ghost stories, that’s all rot. You can’t see much, Withers, but you know all the same.” “Know what?” “Why, that they’re there.” “Who’s there?” I asked fretfully, glancing at the door. “Why, in the house. It swarms with ’em. Just you stand still and listen outside my bedroom door in the middle of the night. I have, dozens of times; they’re all over the place.” “Look here, Seaton,” I said, "you asked me to come here, and I didn’t mind chucking up a leave just to oblige you and because I’d promised;…

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Excerpt #6, from A Lad of Grit: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times

…spell of fine weather would guarantee our safety. Having washed, changed my ragged garments, and eaten a hearty meal, I went below to the cockpit. Here, lighted by the dismal glimmer of a few ship’s lanterns, a ghastly sight met my eyes, while a hot, fetid stench filled the gloomy region like a cloud. Stretched upon rough wooden trestles, or huddled in rows upon the bare deck, were dozens of human beings, some moaning, others shrieking and cursing in their agony. Our surgeon was about to operate upon a little powder-monkey, a lad of about fifteen years of age, who had received a ball in the shoulder. Lying by the lad’s side was his father, whose leg had just been removed, the pitch with which the stump had been smeared still smoking. In spite of the pain caused by the rough-and-ready surgery, the father grasped his son’s hand, encouraging and comforting the boy, as the surgeon probed for the bullet. At length I found Captain Poynings. He, refusing the comfort of his own cabin, preferred to share with his gallant crew the horrors of the cockpit, and lay, with his head and shoulders swathed in bandages, on a rough mattress, as if he had been an ordinary mariner. Added to the dismal noises came the dull thud of the carpenters’ hammers and mallets as they drove plugs into the shot holes betwixt wind and…

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Excerpt #7, from Nick Carter Stories No. 143, June 5, 1915: The sultan’s pearls; or, Nick

…There is a time for everything, and the secret of success in life lies in doing things at just the right minute. A veterinary surgeon had occasion to instruct a colored stableman how to administer medicine to an ailing horse. He was to get a common tin tube–a bean blower–put a dose of the medicine in it, insert one end of the tube into the horse’s mouth, and blow vigorously into the other end, and so force the medicine down the horse’s throat. Half an hour afterward, the colored man appeared at the surgeon’s office, looking very much out of sorts. “What is the matter?” inquired the doctor, with some concern. “Why, boss, dat hoss, he–he blew fust!” THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. Story of “Scotty” Hero of Zinc Fields. Picture a man who has been badly bent at times–aye, even broke unto the last jitney–one who has tasted the bitter things of life along with the sweet, one who has seen a fortune swept away in a twinkling, only to be regained after a long, persistent struggle. Picture a good loser, who has lost more than most men will ever earn, and who pins his faith in the mining industry to such an extent that he laughs at failure and hangs on like a bulldog until he succeeds, and you have a mind’s-eye view of J. M. Short, the best known operator in the mining…

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Excerpt #8, from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

…out of my bed, my heart was not only comforted, but I was guided and encouraged to pray earnestly to God for deliverance: when I had done praying I took up my Bible, and opening it to read, the first words that presented to me were, “Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” It is impossible to express the comfort this gave me. In answer, I thankfully laid down the book, and was no more sad, at least on that occasion. In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions, and reflections, it came into my thoughts one day that all this might be a mere chimera of my own, and that this foot might be the print of my own foot, when I came on shore from my boat: this cheered me up a little, too, and I began to persuade myself it was all a delusion; that it was nothing else but my own foot; and why might I not come that way from the boat, as well as I was going that way to the boat? Again, I considered also that I could by no means tell for certain where I had trod, and where I had not; and that if, at last, this was only the print of my own foot, I had played the part of those fools who try to make stories of spectres and apparitions, and then are frightened at them more than anybody. Now I began to take courage, and to peep abroad again, for I had not stirred out of my castle for three days and nights, so that I began to…

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Excerpt #9, from The Submarine Hunters: A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War

…the day?" The victim of von Hauptwald’s attack had to be assisted into the boat, which, on making the ship, was quickly hoisted and secured. Meanwhile the Tehuantepec Girl was on the point of sinking. From stem to stern she was a roaring furnace. Mingled with the roar of the flames could be heard the hiss of water coming in contact with the red-hot plates, while ever and anon came the crash of metal as the deck beams gave way and fell into the hold. Suddenly she parted amidships. The flames died out, overpowered by the inrush of water. A thick column of smoke and steam arose as the bow and stem [Transcriber’s note: stern?] portions floated apart. Then with the roar of escaping air the remains of the Yankee cargo-boat disappeared, to find a resting-place 7000 fathoms deep on the bed of the Atlantic. CHAPTER XXIII Mined “So that accounts for the fellow’s behaviour,” remarked the Captain of the Oxford, after Ross and Vernon had communicated their discovery to the Commander, who in turn reported the news to the skipper. "The doctor says he is out of danger, eh? From a medical point of view, no doubt. Put him in the cells, Master-at-arms. We’ll take good care not…

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Excerpt #10, from Diary of Anna Green Winslow, a Boston School Girl of 1771, by Anna Green Winslow

…Go on I pray, & let me still pursue Those Golden ARTS the Vulgar never knew." Yr Dutifull Daughter ANNA GREEN WINSLOW. The poetry I transcrib’d from my Copy Book. March 19.–Thursday last I spent at home, except a quarter of an hour between sunset and dark, I stepped over the way to Mr. Glover’s with aunt. Yesterday I spent at Unkle Neddy’s & stitched wristbands for aunt Polly. By the way, I must inform you, (pray dont let papa see this) that yesterday I put on No 1 of my new shifts, & indeed it is very comfortable. It is long since I had a shift to my back. I dont know if I ever had till now–It seem’d so strange too, to have any linen below my waist–I am going to dine at Mrs. Whitwell’s to day, by invitation. I spent last evening at Mrs Rogers. Mr Hunt discoursed upon the doctrine of the Trinity–it was the second time that he spoke upon the subject at that place. I did not hear him the first time. His business last eve^g was to prove the divinity of the Son, & holy Ghost, & their equality with the Father. My aunt Deming says, it is a grief to her, that I don’t always write as well as I can, I can write pretily. March 21.–I din’d & spent the afternoon of Thursday last, at Mrs Whitwell’s. Mrs Lathrop, & Mrs Carpenter din’d there also. The latter…

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Excerpt #11, from Direct Conversion of Energy, by William R. Corliss

…thermionic conversion. The MHD generators use high-velocity electrically conducting gases to produce power and are generically closer to dynamic conversion concepts. The only concept they carry forward from the preceding conversion ideas is that of the plasma, the electrically conducting gas. Yet they are commonly classified as direct because they replace the rotating turbogenerator of the dynamic systems with a stationary pipe or duct. [Illustration: Figure 9 In the MHD duct (a), the electrons in the hot plasma move to the right under influence of force F in the magnetic field B. The electrons collected by the right-hand side of the duct are carried to the load. In a wire in the armature of a conventional generator (b) the electrons are forced to the right by the magnetic field.] a MHD Duct HOT PLASMA IN COOL GAS OUT TO RADIATOR Magnetic Field LOAD ELECTRONS b…

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Excerpt #12, from The Story of the Great War, Volume 1, by Churchill, Miller, and Reynolds

…that what one nation has done or neglected to do has an important relation to the fate of another nation, even though the two nations may have few points of contact and be separated by great distances. To describe historical events as they happen day by day or even year by year throughout the modern world is an almost hopeless task, because a description of this nature would result in a confusion which would be even worse than an entire lack of knowledge concerning these matters. We will, therefore, consider separately the historical development of each nation and thereby try to arrive finally at a clear understanding of the historical causes of the Great War of 1914. Some of these causes, of course, may be claimed to go back to the beginnings of the history of the various nations; but a majority of them had their origin in comparatively recent times. It is also true that the Napoleonic Wars resulted in certain international alignments some of which, at least in part, held over until comparatively recently. But it was only approximately at the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century that international relations assumed the important position and the fateful influence which they hold now. The short war of 1866 between Prussia and Austria, fought primarily to determine the supremacy in…

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