Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:02

Excerpt #1, from Twenty years at sea: Leaves from my old log

…crustaceans. So, after the first week the crab nets were neglected, and we were forced into spending our few hours of leisure in sleep, an unfailing resource for a sailor. However, the first lighter laden with cotton soon came down from Mobile, and with it a gang of stevedores who were to stow this precious cargo. At that time freights to Liverpool were quoted at “three half-pence a pound,” which represented the very considerable sum of fifteen dollars a bale. So it was very much to the interest of our owners to get every pound or bale squeezed into the ship that was possible. The cotton had already been subjected to a very great compression at the steam cotton presses in Mobile, which reduced the size of the bales as they had come from the plantations fully one half. It was now to be forced into the ship, in the process of stowing by the stevedores, with very powerful jackscrews, each operated by a gang of four men, one of them the “shantier,” as he was called, from the French word chanteur, a vocalist. This man’s sole duty was to lead in the rude songs, largely improvised, to the music of which his companions screwed the bales into their places. The pressure exerted in this process was often sufficient to lift the planking of the deck, and the beams of ships were at times actually sprung….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

…I was obliged to turn my face from her. “Don’t ask me!” I said. “Have I suffered as you have suffered? What right have I to decide?” “I used to think of him,” she pursued, dropping her voice and moving closer to me, “I used to think of him when Percival left me alone at night to go among the Opera people. I used to fancy what I might have been if it had pleased God to bless me with poverty, and if I had been his wife. I used to see myself in my neat cheap gown, sitting at home and waiting for him while he was earning our bread–sitting at home and working for him and loving him all the better because I had to work for him–seeing him come in tired and taking off his hat and coat for him, and, Marian, pleasing him with little dishes at dinner that I had learnt to make for his sake. Oh! I hope he is never lonely enough and sad enough to think of me and see me as I have thought of HIM and see HIM!” As she said those melancholy words, all the lost tenderness returned to her voice, and all the lost beauty trembled back into her face. Her eyes rested as lovingly on the blighted, solitary, ill-omened view before us, as if they saw the friendly hills of Cumberland in the dim and threatening sky. “Don’t speak of Walter any more,” I said, as soon as I could control myself. "Oh, Laura, spare us both the wretchedness of talking of him…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts, by Frank Richard Stockton

…notwithstanding his furiously dissenting voice it was determined to surrender, and when Mr. Rhett sailed up to the Royal James, intending to board her if the pirates still showed resistance, he found them ready to submit to terms and to yield themselves his prisoners. Thus ended the great sea-fight between the private gentlemen, and thus ended Stede Bonnet’s career. He and his men were taken to Charles Town, where most of the pirate crew were tried and executed. The green-hand pirate, who had wrought more devastation along the American coast than many a skilled sea-robber, was held in custody to await his trial, and it seems very strange that there should have been a public sentiment in Charles Town which induced the officials to treat this pirate with a certain degree of respect simply from the fact that his station in life had been that of a gentleman. He was a much more black-hearted scoundrel than any of his men, but they were executed as soon as possible while his trial was postponed and he was allowed privileges which would never have been accorded a common pirate. In consequence of this leniency he escaped and had to be retaken by Mr. Rhett. It was so long before he was tried that sympathy for his misfortunes arose among some of the tender-hearted citizens of Charles Town whose houses he would have pillaged and whose families he would have murdered if the exigencies of piracy had rendered such action desirable….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings, by Trench H. Johnson

…=Go one better.= Originally a sporting expression, meaning that by jumping farther a contestant would make a scratch on the ground beyond the one just scored. =Goose.= The tailor’s smoothing iron, from the resemblance of its handle to the neck of a goose. =Gooseberry.= A corruption of Gorseberry, rough or coarse, on account of the hairs or diminutive prickles which distinguish this berry. =Gordon Hotels.= Established by the late Frederick Gordon, a solicitor of Bloomsbury. These middle-class hotels have supplied a long-felt want in London and elsewhere. =Gordon Square.= In compliment to Lady Georgina Gordon, wife of the sixth Duke of Bedford, the ground landlord. =Gospel.= From the Anglo-Saxon God-spell, “good news.” =Gospel Oak.= From the oak-tree marking the juncture of St Pancras and Hampstead parishes, beneath which the Gospel was annually read. =Goswell Road.= From an ancient spring, styled “God’s Well,” discovered in this neighbourhood. =Gotham.= The city of New York. Washington Irving first gave it this name in his “Salmagundi.” Its people in his time were anything but fools, yet he may not have appreciated the singular wisdom attributed to them. By referring to the city as Gotham he made a…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories, by Kate Chopin

…in the baby suggested the man. And that was he also in kilts, at the age of five, wearing long curls and holding a whip in his hand. It made Edna laugh, and she laughed, too, at the portrait in his first long trousers; while another interested her, taken when he left for college, looking thin, long-faced, with eyes full of fire, ambition and great intentions. But there was no recent picture, none which suggested the Robert who had gone away five days ago, leaving a void and wilderness behind him. “Oh, Robert stopped having his pictures taken when he had to pay for them himself! He found wiser use for his money, he says,” explained Madame Lebrun. She had a letter from him, written before he left New Orleans. Edna wished to see the letter, and Madame Lebrun told her to look for it either on the table or the dresser, or perhaps it was on the mantelpiece. The letter was on the bookshelf. It possessed the greatest interest and attraction for Edna; the envelope, its size and shape, the post-mark, the handwriting. She examined every detail of the outside before opening it. There were only a few lines, setting forth that he would leave the city that afternoon, that he had packed his trunk in good shape, that he was well, and sent her his love and begged to be affectionately remembered to all. There was no special message to Edna…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

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

…with 22.10¢ at the close of the previous week and 10.81¢ for the corresponding day last year. The decline in October future contracts on the New York Cotton Exchange amounted to 38 points, and on the New Orleans Cotton Exchange to 39 points. October future contracts on the Liverpool Cotton Association closed at 12.24d. per lb. on July 28, compared with 12.59d. at the close of the previous week and 8.39d. for the corresponding day last year. The volume of spot sales as reported by the cotton exchanges in the 10 designated markets was somewhat larger than the previous week, amounting to 29,057 bales, compared with 26,939 bales the previous week and 29,715 bales for the corresponding period in 1921. The total sales reported by the exchanges in the 10 designated spot markets from Aug. 1 to July 29 amounted to 3,361,605 bales, compared with 3,303,552 bales for the corresponding period last season. Dullness was reported to have developed in the dry goods trade, but with little change in the price levels as compared with those of the previous week. Closing Future Prices for July 29 and for the Corresponding Days in 1921 and 1920. ─────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── Month. │ New York. │ New Orleans….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from Ox Team Days on the Oregon Trail, by Howard R. Driggs and Ezra Meeker

…yoke from the tidewaters of the Pacific to the tidewaters of the Atlantic, at the Battery, New York City, and on to Washington City to meet the President. He finally became subdued, though not conquered. At times he became threatening with his horns, and I never did trust his heels. [Illustration: Taking off the wagon box.] The other ox, Twist, died suddenly on August 9, 1906, and was buried within a few rods of the trail. It was two months to a day after his death before I could find a mate for the Dave ox, and then I had to take another five-year-old steer off the cattle range of Nebraska. This steer, Dandy, evidently had never been handled; but he came of good stock and, with the exception of awkwardness, gave me no serious trouble. Dandy was purchased out of the stockyard at Omaha. He then weighed 1,470 pounds, and the day before he went to see the President he tipped the scales at the 1,760-pound notch. Dandy proved to be a faithful, serviceable ox. On the journey Dave had to be shod fourteen times, I think, and he always struggled to get away. Once, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, we had to throw Dave and tie him hard and fast before we could shoe him. It takes two shoes to one foot for an ox, instead of one as for a horse, though the fastening is the same; that is, by nailing…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

…picked it up." “Pooh,” said Christopher Robin solemnly, “the Expedition is over. You have found the North Pole!” “Oh!” said Pooh. Eeyore was sitting with his tail in the water when they all got back to him. “Tell Roo to be quick, somebody,” he said. “My tail’s getting cold. I don’t want to mention it, but I just mention it. I don’t want to complain but there it is. My tail’s cold.” “Here I am!” squeaked Roo. “Oh, there you are.” “Did you see me swimming?” Eeyore took his tail out of the water, and swished it from side to side. “As I expected,” he said. “Lost all feeling. Numbed it. That’s what it’s done. Numbed it. Well, as long as nobody minds, I suppose it’s all right.” “Poor old Eeyore. I’ll dry it for you,” said Christopher Robin, and he took out his handkerchief and rubbed it up. "Thank you, Christopher Robin. You’re the only one who seems to understand about tails. They don’t think–that’s what the matter with some of these others. They’ve no imagination. A tail isn’t a tail to…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley

…sandstorms, and swept him back into the waste, and then all was calm and cloudless as before. Seven days he strove against the storms, and seven days he was driven back, till he was spent with thirst and hunger, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. Here and there he fancied that he saw a fair lake, and the sunbeams shining on the water; but when he came to it it vanished at his feet, and there was nought but burning sand. And if he had not been of the race of the Immortals, he would have perished in the waste; but his life was strong within him, because it was more than man’s. Then he cried to Athené, and said— ‘Oh, fair and pure, if thou hearest me, wilt thou leave me here to die of drought? I have brought thee the Gorgon’s head at thy bidding, and hitherto thou hast prospered my journey; dost thou desert me at the last? Else why will not these immortal sandals prevail, even against the desert storms? Shall I never see my mother more, and the blue ripple round Seriphos, and the sunny hills of Hellas?’ So he prayed; and after he had prayed there was a great silence. The heaven was still above his head, and the sand was still beneath his feet; and Perseus looked up, but there was nothing but the blinding sun in the blinding blue; and round him, but there was nothing but the blinding sand….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

…none. On the contrary, if I have felt any anxiety at all on the subject, it has been in recollecting that he sometimes showed a want of pleasure and readiness in accepting my invitation, when I talked of his coming to Barton. Does Elinor expect him already?” “I have never mentioned it to her, but of course she must.” “I rather think you are mistaken, for when I was talking to her yesterday of getting a new grate for the spare bedchamber, she observed that there was no immediate hurry for it, as it was not likely that the room would be wanted for some time.” “How strange this is! what can be the meaning of it! But the whole of their behaviour to each other has been unaccountable! How cold, how composed were their last adieus! How languid their conversation the last evening of their being together! In Edward’s farewell there was no distinction between Elinor and me: it was the good wishes of an affectionate brother to both. Twice did I leave them purposely together in the course of the last morning, and each time did he most unaccountably follow me out of the room. And Elinor, in quitting Norland and Edward, cried not as I did. Even now her self-command is invariable. When is she dejected or melancholy? When does she try to avoid society, or appear restless and dissatisfied in it?” CHAPTER IX….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from Anna Karenina, by graf Leo Tolstoy

…heart rejoicing at the depth of his love for her, shown now in his jealousy. “The most awful part of it all is that you’re just as you always are, and especially now when to me you’re something sacred, and we’re so happy, so particularly happy—and all of a sudden a little wretch…. He’s not a little wretch; why should I abuse him? I have nothing to do with him. But why should my, and your, happiness….” “Do you know, I understand now what it’s all come from,” Kitty was beginning. “Well, what? what?” “I saw how you looked while we were talking at supper.” “Well, well!” Levin said in dismay. She told him what they had been talking about. And as she told him, she was breathless with emotion. Levin was silent for a space, then he scanned her pale and distressed face, and suddenly he clutched at his head. “Katya, I’ve been worrying you! Darling, forgive me! It’s madness! Katya, I’m a criminal. And how could you be so distressed at such idiocy?” “Oh, I was sorry for you.” “For me? for me? How mad I am!… But why make you miserable? It’s…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo

…“I think the likeness is strong.” “To my sister?” inquired Mademoiselle Gillenormand. “Yes, certainly.” The old man added:— “And to him also.” Once as he sat with his knees pressed together, and his eyes almost closed, in a despondent attitude, his daughter ventured to say to him:— “Father, are you as angry with him as ever?” She paused, not daring to proceed further. “With whom?” he demanded. “With that poor Marius.” He raised his aged head, laid his withered and emaciated fist on the table, and exclaimed in his most irritated and vibrating tone:— “Poor Marius, do you say! That gentleman is a knave, a wretched scoundrel, a vain little ingrate, a heartless, soulless, haughty, and wicked man!” And he turned away so that his daughter might not see the tear that stood in his eye. Three days later he broke a silence which had lasted four hours, to say to his daughter point-blank:— “I had the honor to ask Mademoiselle Gillenormand never to mention him to me.”…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net