Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:44

Excerpt #1, from Uncle Wiggily’s Adventures, by Howard Roger Garis

…sudden a voice cried: “Let me in!” “Who are you?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I’m the bad alligator,” was the answer, “and if you don’t let me in, I’ll smash down your paper house with one swoop of my scalery-ailery tail.” “You can’t come in!” cried the rabbit, and then that bad alligator gave one swoop of his tail, and smashed Uncle Wiggily’s nice paper house all to pieces! But do you s’pose the rabbit was there? No, indeed. He just grabbed up his crutch and valise, and ran down into his cellar as far and as fast as he could run, just as the roof fell in. And the cellar wasn’t big enough for the alligator to get in, and so he had to stay outside, and he couldn’t get Uncle Wiggily. And then it rained, and thundered and lightninged, and the alligator got scared, and ran off, but the rabbit gentleman was safe down in his cellar, and he didn’t get a bit wet, and went to sleep there for the rest of the night. Now, please go to bed, and in case my toothbrush, doesn’t go out roller skating, and fall down and get bald-headed, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the paper boat. STORY XXI UNCLE WIGGILY IN A PAPER BOAT…

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Excerpt #2, from Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, by Thomas Preston

…662. GALLED HORSE. Touch a galled horse, and he will wince. 663. GAPETH. He that gapeth until he be fed Well may he gape until he be dead. 664. GARDEN. Many things grow in the garden that were never planted there. 665. GARDENING. This rule in gardening never forget, To sow dry and set wet. 666. GARLAND. One flower makes no garland. 667. GEMS. Gems must not be valued by what they are set in. 668. GENTILITY. Gentility without ability is worse than plain beggary. 669. GENTLE STROKES. Gentle strokes make the sweetest harmony. 670. GET. Get what you can, and what you get, hold, ’Tis the stone which will turn your lead into gold. 671. GIFT HORSE. Look not a gift horse in the mouth. 672. GIFT. A gift with a kind countenance is a double gift. 673. GIVE. To give and keep there is need of wit. 674. GIVETH. He giveth twice who gives in a trice. 675. GIVING….

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Excerpt #3, from Weather, Crops, and Markets. Vol. 2, No. 6, by Anonymous

…Alfalfa: │ │ │ │ No. 1 │ │ │ │ alfalfa │ 17.00│ 25.00│ 24.00│ 22.50 Standard │ │ │ │ alfalfa │ 16.00│ 23.50│ │ 19.50 No. 2 │ │ │ │ alfalfa │ 14.00│ 22.00│ │ 17.00 Prairie: │ │ │ │ No. 1 upland│ │ │ │ No. 2 upland│ │ │ │ No. 1 │ │ │ │ midland │ │ │ │ Grain: │ │ │ │ No. 1 wheat │ │ │ │ No. 1 oat │ │ │ │ FEED │ │ │ │ (bagged). │ │ │ │ Wheat bran: │ │ │ │ Spring │ 21.00│ 24.00│ 24.00│ 18.50 Soft winter │ 21.50│ 24.00│ │ Hard winter │ 21.00│ 24.00│ │…

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Excerpt #4, from Across Asia on a Bicycle, by Thomas Gaskell Allen and William Lewis Sachtleben

…by three distinct river-systems emanating from Ararat’s immediate vicinity. No other region has seen or heard so much of the story of mankind. In its grim presence empires have come and gone; cities have risen and fallen; human life has soared up on the wings of hope, and dashed against the rocks of despair. To the eye Ararat presents a gently inclined slope of sand and ashes rising into a belt of green, another zone of black volcanic rocks streaked with snow-beds, and then a glittering crest of silver. From the burning desert at its base to the icy pinnacle above, it rises through a vertical distance of 13,000 feet. There are but few peaks in the world that rise so high (17,250 feet above sea-level) from so low a plain (2000 feet on the Russian, and 4000 feet on the Turkish, side), and which, therefore, present so grand a spectacle. Unlike many of the world’s mountains, it stands alone. Little Ararat (12,840 feet above sea-level), and the other still smaller heights that dot the plain, only serve as a standard by which to measure Ararat’s immensity and grandeur. Little Ararat is the meeting-point, or corner-stone, of three great empires. On its conical peak converge the dominions of the Czar, the Sultan, and the Shah. The Russian border-line runs from Little Ararat along the high ridge which separates it from Great Ararat, through the peak of the latter, and onward a short distance to the northwest, then…

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Excerpt #5, from Astounding Stories, August, 1931, by Various

…foresaw. The invasion must be stopped at all costs! He and Milli must pit their puny wits against these supermen! But what could they do? As they were pondering this problem, a girl entered their sitting room–the same who had brought Abbot’s breakfast on his first day in the caves. Milli introduced George to the newcomer, whose name was Romehl. Romehl appeared so woebegone that the young American ventured to inquire if she too had been having difficulty with one of her tests. But that was not the trouble; hers was rather of the heart. About the same age as Milli, Romehl had recently passed her twentieth birthday test and hence was eligible to marry; so she and a young man named Hakin had requested the fish-masters to give them the requisite permission. But their overlords for some reason had peremptorily denied the request. Romehl and Hakin were desolate. * * * * * Young Abbot’s sympathies were at once aroused. “Can’t something be done?” he started to ask. But Milli silenced him with a warning glance. “Of course not!” she said. “Who are we to question the judgment of our all-knowing masters?”…

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Excerpt #6, from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

…this, I must leave it just there where I found it, and not be able to launch it into the water? One would have thought I could not have had the least reflection upon my mind of my circumstances while I was making this boat, but I should have immediately thought how I should get it into the sea; but my thoughts were so intent upon my voyage over the sea in it, that I never once considered how I should get it off the land: and it was really, in its own nature, more easy for me to guide it over forty-five miles of sea than about forty-five fathoms of land, where it lay, to set it afloat in the water. I went to work upon this boat the most like a fool that ever man did who had any of his senses awake. I pleased myself with the design, without determining whether I was ever able to undertake it; not but that the difficulty of launching my boat came often into my head; but I put a stop to my inquiries into it by this foolish answer which I gave myself—“Let me first make it; I warrant I will find some way or other to get it along when it is done.” This was a most preposterous method; but the eagerness of my fancy prevailed, and to work I went. I felled a cedar-tree, and I question much whether Solomon ever had such a one for the building of the Temple of Jerusalem; it was five feet ten inches diameter at the lower part…

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Excerpt #7, from The Open Boat and Other Stories, by Stephen Crane

…could balance himself under any conditions. The engineer shook his head dejectedly. “This old biscuit-box will never see port again. Why, she’ll fall to pieces.” Finally at night the captain said, “Launch the boats.” The Cubans hovered about him. “Is the ship going to sink?” The captain addressed them politely. “Gentlemen, we are in trouble, but all I ask of you is that you just do what I tell you, and no harm will come to anybody.” The mate directed the lowering of the first boat, and the men performed this task with all decency, like people at the side of a grave. A young oiler came to the captain. “The chief sends word, sir, that the water is almost up to the fires.” “Keep at it as long as you can.” “Keep at it as long as we can, sir?” Flanagan took the senior Cuban officer to the rail, and, as the steamer sheered high on a great sea, showed him a yellow dot on the horizon. It was smaller than a needle when its point is towards you. “There,” said the captain. The wind-driven spray was lashing his face. “That’s Jupiter Light on the Florida coast. Put your men in the boat we’ve just launched, and the mate will take you to that light.” Afterwards Flanagan turned to the chief engineer. “We can never beach,” said the old man. “The stokers have got to quit in a minute.” Tears…

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Excerpt #8, from The Wave: An Egyptian Aftermath, by Algernon Blackwood

…slight diversion, for the movement was already in his legs and in another moment must have set his feet upon that dreadful shuffling. As from a distance, he heard the formal talk and introductions, his father’s statement that he had won his round of golf with ‘the Dean,’ praise of the weather, and something or other about the strange stillness of the sea– but then, with a sudden, hollow crash against his very ear, the appalling words: ‘. . . broke his mashie into splinters, yes. And, by the by, the Dean knows the Aylmers. They were staying here earlier in the summer, he told me. Lettice, the girl,–Mary’s friend, you remember–is going to be married this week. . . .’ Tom clutched the back of the wicker-chair in front of him. The sun went out. An icy air passed Up his spine. The blood drained from his face. The tennis courts, and the group of white figures moving towards them, swung up into the sky. He gripped the chair till the rods of wicker pressed through the flesh into the bone. For a moment he felt that the sensation of actual sickness was more than he could master; his legs bent like paper beneath his weight. ‘You remember Lettice, Tom, don’t you?’ his father was saying somewhere in mid-air above him. ‘Yes, rather.’ Apparently he said these words; the air at any rate went through his teeth and lips, and the same minute, with a superhuman effort…

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Excerpt #9, from The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English

…end by wearying us. What were you going to say?" he added, turning to me. “I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon,” said I. “Let us carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it down before the pavilion door. If the carbonari come, why, it’s theirs at any rate.” “No, no,” cried Mr. Huddlestone; “it does not, it cannot, belong to them! It should be distributed pro rata among all my creditors.” “Come now, Huddlestone,” said Northmour, “none of that.” “Well, but my daughter,” moaned the wretched man. “Your daughter will do well enough. Here are two suitors, Cassilis and I, neither of us beggars, between whom she has to choose. And as for yourself, to make an end of arguments, you have no right to a farthing, and, unless I’m much mistaken, you are going to die.” It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone was a man who attracted little sympathy; and, although I saw him wince and shudder, I mentally indorsed the rebuke; nay, I added a contribution of my own. “Northmour and I,” I said, “are willing enough to help you to save your life, but not to escape with stolen property.” He struggled for awhile with himself, as though he were on the point of giving way to anger, but prudence had the best of the controversy. “My dear boys,” he said, “do with me or my money what you will. I leave all in your hands. Let me compose myself.”…

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Excerpt #10, from The Invasion of India, by Alexander the Great as described, by Arrian, Q. Curtius

…ancient authors as one of the most powerful nations of India. Their very name indicates their warlike propensities and predominance, for if it is not identical with that of the military caste, Kshatriya, it is at least a modified form of that word. Arrian subsequently (vi. 15) mentions a tribe of independent Indians whose name is a still closer transliteration of Kshatriya, the Xathroi, whose territories lay between the Indus and the lower course of the Akesinês. Strabo (XV. i. 30) notices some of the peculiar manners and customs of the Kathaians, such as infanticide, and Sati. Lassen has pointed out that their name is connected with that of the Kattia, a nomadic race scattered at intervals through the plains of the Panjâb, but supposed to be the aborigines of the country and of Kolarian descent. Their name occurs in that of the province of Kâthiawâr, which now comprises the province of Gujerat. NOTE M.—SANGALA Sir E. H. Bunbury, referring to the uncertainty of the identifications of the tribes and cities of the Panjâb mentioned by Alexander’s historians, says: “While the general course of his march must have followed approximately the same line of route that has been frequented in all ages from the banks of the Indus to those of the Beas, his expeditions against the various warlike tribes that refused submission to his arms led him into frequent excursions to the right and left of his main direction. And…

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Excerpt #11, from Around the World on a Bicycle Volume II, by Thomas Stevens

…just as the sun is finishing his race for the day by painting the sky with fanciful tints and streaks. The long, straight avenue which I have wheeled down, for miles hereabout runs east and west. The sun, rotund and fiery, sets immediately in the perspective of the avenue; and at his disappearance there shoot from the same point iridescent javelins that spread, fan-like, over the whole heavens. A sight never to be forgotten is the long white road and the ribs of the glorious celestial fan meeting together in the vista-like distance; and–oh, for the brush and palette and genius of a Turner!–one of the rainbow-tinted javelins spits the crescent moon and holds it to toast before the glowing sunset fires, like a piece of green cheese. The heat of the night is ominously suggestive of shed’s popularly conceived temperature, and, in the absence of the customary punkah and nodding, see-sawing wallah, a villager is employed to sit beside my charpoy and agitate the air immediately about my head with a big palm-leaf fan. But sleep is next to impossible; the morning finds me feeling but little refreshed and with a decided yearning to remain all day long in the shade instead of taking to the road. Not a moment’s respite is possible from the oppressive heat; an hour in the saddle develops a sensation of grogginess and an amphibian inclination for wallowing in some road-side tank….

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Excerpt #12, from History for ready reference, Volume 1 (of 6), A

…Phoenician vessels were at Hydros, in the Isle of Cyprus, he immediately sailed thither and took or destroyed the whole of them. The victory on the Eurymedon may be regarded as the termination of the conflict between Greece and Persia. The year after it (Ol. 78,4) [B. C. 465], Xerxes was assassinated, and the usual confusion took place in the court of Susa." T. Keightley, History of Greece, part 1, chapter 13. ALSO IN W. W. Lloyd, The Age of Pericles, chapter 27 (volume 1). See also PERSIA: B. C. 486-405. {158} ATHENS: B. C. 466-454. Leadership in the Delian confederacy changed to sovereignty. Revolt and subjugation of Thasos. Help to Sparta and its ungracious requital. Fall and exile of Cimon. Rise of Pericles and the democratic anti-Spartan policy. Removal of the federal treasury from Delos. Building the Long Walls. "It was now evident to the whole body of the allies of Athens that by joining the league they had provided themselves with a…

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