Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:46

Excerpt #1, from A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

…even Woola’s life to threaten the success of my venture, much less his momentary happiness, for I doubted not he soon would forget me. And so I bade the poor beast an affectionate farewell, promising him, however, that if I came through my adventure in safety that in some way I should find the means to search him out. He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed back in the direction of Thark he turned sorrowfully away, nor could I bear to watch him go; but resolutely set my face toward Zodanga and with a touch of heartsickness approached her frowning walls. The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance to the vast, walled city. It was still very early in the morning and the streets were practically deserted. The residences, raised high upon their metal columns, resembled huge rookeries, while the uprights themselves presented the appearance of steel tree trunks. The shops as a rule were not raised from the ground nor were their doors bolted or barred, since thievery is practically unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination is the ever-present fear of all Barsoomians, and for this reason alone their homes are raised high above the ground at night, or in times of danger. The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for reaching the point of the city where I could find living accommodations and be near the offices of the government agents to whom they had given me letters….

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Excerpt #2, from The Radio Boys Rescue the Lost Alaska Expedition, by Gerald Breckenridge

…“Never was more alive in my life,” said Bob. “Hey, they’re running away.” He darted away from his chums and sprang downhill. True enough. The two whom he had disposed of first, who had dropped out of the fight, had gained their feet and were running madly through the trees. Jack ran after Bob and restrained him. “Let them go, Bob. They are alone. There are three others here we must tie up before they come to.” Bob followed him back to where Frank was bending over the man whom the big fellow had tossed over his head. The half-breed was recovering consciousness, and beginning to moan. “Broken arm, I think,” said Frank. “He’ll not bother us. How about the two whose heads you bumped together?” “They’re recovering consciousness, too,” said Jack. “Nothing much the matter with them. We had better tie them up, so they can’t cause us any trouble.” “Here, take the other fellow’s belt and tie his hands behind his back with it,” said Bob. At the same time, he suited action to word in the case of the nearer of the two, whipped off the fellow’s belt and tied him with it. “Won’t they try to run away, Bob? Ought we to tie their legs, too?”…

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Excerpt #3, from History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent

…of the vaguest and most uncertain character, but such as it was it had to suffice, in the absence of more reliable data. In settling all problems connected with early Chaldæan chronology, the starting-point was, and in fact still is, the period of Sargon I, King of Agade, inasmuch as the date of his reign is settled, according to the reckoning of the scribes of Nabonidus, as about 3800 B.C. It is true that this date has been called in question, and ingenious suggestions for amending it have been made by some writers, while others have rejected it altogether, holding that it merely represented a guess on the part of the late Babylonians and could be safely ignored in the chronological schemes which they brought forward. But nearly every fresh discovery made in the last few years has tended to confirm some point in the traditions current among the later Babylonians with regard to the earlier history of their country. Consequently, reliance may be placed with increased confidence on the truth of such traditions as a whole, and we may continue to accept those statements which yet await confirmation from documents more nearly contemporary with the early period to which they refer. It is true that such a date as that assigned by Nabonidus to Sargon is not to be regarded as absolutely fixed, for Nabonidus is obviously speaking in round numbers, and we may allow for some minor inaccuracies in the calculations of his scribes. But it is…

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Excerpt #4, from Anna Karenina, by graf Leo Tolstoy

…emaciation, but still almost the same condition of things. He had expected himself to feel the same distress at the loss of the brother he loved and the same horror in face of death as he had felt then, only in a greater degree. And he had prepared himself for this; but he found something utterly different. In a little dirty room with the painted panels of its walls filthy with spittle, and conversation audible through the thin partition from the next room, in a stifling atmosphere saturated with impurities, on a bedstead moved away from the wall, there lay covered with a quilt, a body. One arm of this body was above the quilt, and the wrist, huge as a rake-handle, was attached, inconceivably it seemed, to the thin, long bone of the arm smooth from the beginning to the middle. The head lay sideways on the pillow. Levin could see the scanty locks wet with sweat on the temples and tense, transparent-looking forehead. “It cannot be that that fearful body was my brother Nikolay?” thought Levin. But he went closer, saw the face, and doubt became impossible. In spite of the terrible change in the face, Levin had only to glance at those eager eyes raised at his approach, only to catch the faint movement of the mouth under the sticky mustache, to realize the terrible truth that this death-like body was his living brother. The glittering eyes looked sternly and reproachfully at his brother as…

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Excerpt #5, from A Humorous History of England, by Charles Harrison

…Wat Tyler and Jack Straw at head. Præmunire Præmunire Act is passed To check the Papal Bulls at last. Chaucer Chaucer the Poet this same year Makes Pilgrimage to Becket’s bier. [Illustration: FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT. IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic] Age of This was the age, aye verily, Chivalry Of ryghte goode noble chivalry, When Knights went forth through storm and stress To rescue beauty in distress. [Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic.] Or sallied out in valiant way A monster dragon for to slay, Or with lance or trusty blade Defend from harm the hapless maid. Henry IV. Henry Four, called ‘Bolingbroke’ 1399-1413 In Richard’s wheel puts many a spoke; Compels him to resign the throne Which thereupon he makes his own. Through John of Gaunt, Lancastrian famed,…

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Excerpt #6, from Seven O’Clock Stories, by Robert Gordon Anderson

…under his clothes. And though he was only twelve he had two chins. Every once in a while he would eat so much that a button would pop off. He was eating apples now. One, two, three, four, five, he ate. He did not offer one to his friends, not even the core! Another apple he took. That made six! Pop went a button and–splash–it landed in a puddle of brown water. For three days it had rained, washing the white snow away. The ruts in the road were full of these puddles, nice and brown and inviting. Sammy’s eyes and Jehosophat’s eyes followed the button as it landed in the water, making little rings which grew larger all the time. “Let’s slosh,” said Sammy. “Let’s!” cried Lizzie Fizzletree, “it’s lots of fun, sloshin’.” Into a big puddle marched Sammy Soapstone, and after him marched Lizzie and Sophy, and at the end of the procession waddled Fatty. “Slop, slosh, slop, slosh,” they went through puddle after puddle. Glorious fun it was. Showers of spray flew all over the road. But Jehosophat walked on ahead in the middle of the road. Hadn’t his mother told him, particularly, not to get his feet wet? “Come on in, it’s fine!” they all shouted at Jehosophat. “Aw, come on!” Sammy Soapstone repeated, and Fatty called:…

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Excerpt #7, from The Book of the Dead, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

…“O Usekh-nemmit, comer forth from Anu, I have not committed sin.”O Fenti, comer forth from Khemenu, I have not robbed. “O Neha-hau, comer forth from Re-stau, I have not killed men.”O Neba, comer forth in retreating, I have not plundered the property of God. “O Set-qesu, comer forth from Hensu, I have not lied.”O Uammti, comer forth from Khebt, I have not defiled any man’s wife. “O Maa-anuf, comer forth from Per-Menu, I have not defiled myself.”O Tem-Sep, comer forth from Tetu, I have not cursed the king. “O Nefer-Tem, comer forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I have not acted deceitfully; I have not committed wickedness.”O Nekhen, comer forth from Heqat, I have not turned a deaf ear to the words of the Law (or Truth)." The names of most of the Forty-Two gods are not ancient, but were invented by the priests probably about the same time as the names in the Book of Him that is in the Tuat and the Book of Gates, i.e., between the XIIth and the XVIIIth dynasties. Their artificial character is shown by their meanings. Thus Usekh-nemmit means “He of the long strides”; Fenti means “He of the Nose”; Neha-hau means “Stinking-members”; Set-qesu means “Breaker of bones,” etc. The early Egyptologists called the second part of the CXXVth Chapter the…

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Excerpt #8, from The Golden Wheel Dream

…you have not the book to find more particular answers. A METHOD BY WHICH TO DISCOVER IF YOUR WISH WILL BE FULFILLED. Take a pack of cards, shuffle it, and let the person inquiring cut three times; then place singly five cards upon the table, and upon each of these cards another, taken from the top, and so on, until the pack is exhausted, and the cards are divided into five nearly equal heaps. The person in question now selects a suit, spades or clubs, &c.—or a card may previously be drawn to determine the suit. Suppose diamonds is the chosen suit: you take up the first heap, and throw away all the cards until you come to a matadore of diamonds. (The matadores are the ace, king, queen, knave and ten.) You do the same with the other heaps. If any one of the heaps does not contain a matadore, you cast it entirely aside. The heaps which are left you now place one upon another in order, beginning at the left hand, and, without shuffling them, you lay them in five heaps, and proceed as before. This time there are, of course, fewer cards, beside matadores, than before. After having cast aside the cards which you meet with before finding a matadore, you take up the heaps, and, without shuffling them, lay them in five heaps, for the third time. This third and last time, you must, if your wish is to be fulfilled, be able to discard all the cards except the matadores. If…

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Excerpt #9, from Astounding Stories, May, 1931, by Various

…“Master, Harl was in it. And the Princess Tina.” “Ah!” “And a stranger. A man–” “From 1935? Did they stop there?” “Master, yes. But they stopped again, I think, in that same night of 1777, where I did your bidding. Master, the man Major Atwood is–” “That is very good, Migul,” Tugh said hastily. Mary and I standing gazing at him, did not know then that Mary’s father had been murdered. And Tugh did not wish us to know it. “Very good, Migul.” He regarded us as though about to speak, but turned again to the Robot. “And so Tina’s cage follows us–as you hoped?” “Yes, Master. But now there is only Harl in it. He approached us very close a while in the past. He is alone.” “So?” Tugh glanced at the Time-dials. “Stop us where we planned. You remember–in one of those years when this space was the big forest glade.” * * * * * He fronted Mary and me. “You are patient, young sir. You do not speak.” His glittering black eyes held me. They were red-rimmed eyes, like those of a beast. He had a strangely repulsive face. His lips were…

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Excerpt #10, from The Aztec Treasure

…were. Being shorn of a portion of its pious verbiage, and somewhat modernized in style, the ancient Spanish of this letter contained in effect these English words: [Illustration: THE LETTER FROM THE DEAD.] “VERY REVEREND FATHER,–This present letter will be sent forward to you by the first hand by which it may be hence transmitted; and in your wisdom, with God’s grace also guiding you, I doubt not that you will take measures for sending missionaries of our Order to the great company of the heathen whose whereabouts I am to disclose to you. And also, no doubt–keeping the matter secret from the pestilent Oidores of the Audiencia–you will communicate this strange matter through safe channels to our lord the King: that with our missionaries an army may go forth, and that so the great treasure of which I give tidings may be wrested from the heathen to be used for God’s glory and the enriching of our lord the King.”Know, Very Reverend Father, that a month since, I being then abroad from this mission of Santa Marta, preaching God’s word in a certain village of the Chichimecas that is five leagues to the northward, was so strengthened by God’s grace that many of the heathen professed our holy faith and were baptized. And of these…

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Excerpt #11, from The Story of King Arthur and his Knights, by Howard Pyle

…Now whiles they thus stood all together, there issued out from the castle the Lady Ettard and an exceedingly gay and comely Court of esquires and ladies, and these came across the meadow toward where Sir Pellias and the others stood. Then when Sir Pellias beheld that lady approach, he drew his misericordia and cut the thongs of his helmet, and took the helmet off of his head, and thus he went forward, bareheaded, for to meet her. [Sidenote: Sir Pellias greets the Lady Ettard in courteous wise.] But when he had come nigh to her he beheld that she was many times more beautiful than that image of her painted upon the ivory panel which he had aforetime beheld, wherefore his heart went forth unto her with a very great strength of liking. So therewith he kneeled down upon the grass and set his hands together palm to palm, before her, and he said: “Lady, I do very greatly crave thy forgiveness that I should thus have done battle against thy credit. For, excepting that I did that endeavor for my Queen, I would rather, in another case, have been thy champion than that of any lady whom I have ever beheld.” Now at that time Sir Pellias wore about his neck the collar of emeralds and opal stones and gold which the Lady of the Lake had given to him. Wherefore, when the Lady Ettard looked upon him, that necklace drew her heart unto him with very great enchantment. Wherefore she smiled upon…

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Excerpt #12, from A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, by Charles Dickens

…“On the wings of the wind,” replied the Ghost. “You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years,” said Scrooge. The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanked its chain so hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the Ward would have been justified in indicting it for a nuisance. “Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,” cried the phantom, “not to know, that ages of incessant labour by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!” “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands…

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