Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:26

Excerpt #1, from Mental Radio, by Upton Sinclair

…hanging out. Pursuing the tests past the period until more than 300 have been had, we find that Mr. Sinclair drew a cow’s head three times. Once the percipient’s response was technically a failure; it resembled horns, or rather antlers. The second time she got a chicken’s face, again strictly a failure, but at least something with animal life. The third time was the “cow with tongue hanging out.” And there were three other times that Mrs. Sinclair either drew a cow’s head or wrote “cow” or “calf.” For the first see Figures 15, 15a. In the second instance the agent had drawn a face, not that of a cow but of a man. The third was a brilliant success, not in name but in form. The agent had drawn what was doubtless intended for a donkey with a harness band across its neck. In the reproduction the donkey’s long ears were metamorphosed to resemble horns, and across the cow’s neck is a band, which the lady interpreted in the following script: “Cow’s head in stock.” March 2, 1929. The agent drew six concentric circles (Fig. 144). As in the case of the balloon (see Figs. 95, 95a), the percipient seemed to “see” only part of the original. She also draws concentric circles, but omits about a quarter of each (Fig. 144a). We can allow space but for one more exhibit, and this because of its…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914 to 1918, Vol. 3 of 3, by Ponsonby

…“The term bomb is officially confined to projectiles fired from trench mortars or dropped from aeroplanes. Projectiles thrown by hand are ‘grenades.’”The G.O.C. Guards Division is in error in supposing that the Grenadier Guards are the only Regiment in which the word grenadier forms part of the title of the Regiment. “It would appear that the term Grenadiers is merely an unofficial abbreviation of Grenadier Guards, and does not appear in any official documents in relation to that Regiment.”The Grenade fired proper is the badge of many Regiments, and it would seem that a claim to the sole use of the title ‘Grenadier’ has as little foundation as one to be the only wearers of the Grenade badge. “It would seem that Modern Warfare has necessitated a partial return to the Grenadier Companies of former days which it is believed existed without any prejudice to the rights of the Grenadier Guards.” Lord Cavan, however, could not let the matter rest there, and again wrote to the Adjutant-General on December 22, meeting the arguments put forward by him. He said: "I beg respectfully to reply to the remarks of the A.G….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from The Sky Detectives; Or, How Jack Ralston Got His Man, by Ambrose Newcomb

…With his accustomed sagacity Jack made notes of some of the facts thus laid before him; but since these were in shorthand, and would be utterly unintelligible to any outside party, should they chance to fall into enemy hands, there was no danger that any mischief would follow. By degrees he was filling up with scraps of description, and everything connected with former attempts at locating the hideout, where all this unlawful scrip was being turned off the press, to flood the Southwest. That was always his way of doing—when given a tough job Jack would live alongside it, breathing the very atmosphere of the undertaking, until he found himself sympathetic with the aims and ambitions of the criminals whose apprehension was placed on his shoulders by his Big Boss. “We’ll have dinner early, Perk,” he told the other, who had been carrying out a number of special duties while Jack was busy elsewhere, “so as to retire to our room at the hotel. No going out after nightfall for us just at present, especially in a strange city, where some sneak might waylay us coming back from the theater. All that sort of pleasure must be put out of our heads just at present.” “Huh! guess you’re hittin’ the nail on the head, old hoss, when you say that,” grunted Perk, who very probably had already picked out just the screen play he wanted so badly to see; but he was a good scout, and able to put duty above pleasure, when the occasion arose for making a…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie

…Cinderella.” They talked of Cinderella, and Tootles was confident that his mother must have been very like her. It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by him as silly. “All I remember about my mother,” Nibs told them, “is that she often said to my father, ‘Oh, how I wish I had a cheque-book of my own!’ I don’t know what a cheque-book is, but I should just love to give my mother one.” While they talked they heard a distant sound. You or I, not being wild things of the woods, would have heard nothing, but they heard it, and it was the grim song: “Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life, The flag o’ skull and bones, A merry hour, a hempen rope, And hey for Davy Jones.” At once the lost boys—but where are they? They are no longer there. Rabbits could not have disappeared more quickly. I will tell you where they are. With the exception of Nibs, who has darted away to reconnoitre, they are already in their home under the ground, a very delightful residence of which we shall see a good deal…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, by Peter Mark Roget

…fuji-shaped, fujigata [Jap.]. 243. [Irregularity of form.] Distortion – N. distortion, detortion^, contortion; twist, crookedness &c (obliquity) 217; grimace; deformity; malformation, malconformation^; harelip; monstrosity, misproportion^, want of symmetry, anamorphosis^; ugliness &c 846; talipes^; teratology. asymmetry; irregularity. V. distort, contort, twist, warp, wrest, writhe, make faces, deform, misshape. Adj. distorted &c v.; out of shape, irregular, asymmetric, unsymmetric^, awry, wry, askew, crooked; not true, not straight; on one side, crump^, deformed; harelipped; misshapen, misbegotten; misproportioned^, ill proportioned; ill-made; grotesque, monstrous, crooked as a ram’s horn; camel backed, hump backed, hunch backed, bunch backed, crook backed; bandy; bandy legged, bow legged; bow kneed, knock kneed; splay footed, club footed; round shouldered; snub nosed; curtailed of one’s fair proportions; stumpy &c (short) 201; gaunt &c (thin) 203; bloated &c 194; scalene; simous^; taliped^, talipedic^. Adv. all manner of ways. Phr. crooked as a Virginia fence [U.S.]. 2. SPECIAL FORM 244. Angularity – N. angularity, angularness^; aduncity^; angle, cusp,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Twain

…We know that the class of maladies benefited by the water and baths at Aix are those due to defect of nourishment, debility of the nervous system, or to a gouty, rheumatic, herpetic, or scrofulous diathesis–all diseases extremely debilitating, and requiring a tonic, and not depressing action of the remedy. This it seems to find here, as recorded experience and daily action can testify. According to the line of treatment followed particularly with due regard to the temperature, the action of the Aix waters can be made sedative, exciting, derivative, or alterative and tonic. The “Establishment” is the property of France, and all the officers and servants are employees of the French government. The bathhouse is a huge and massive pile of white marble masonry, and looks more like a temple than anything else. It has several floors and each is full of bath cabinets. There is every kind of bath–for the nose, the ears, the throat, vapor baths, swimming baths, and all people’s favorite, the douche. It is a good building to get lost in, when you are not familiar with it. From early morning until nearly noon people are streaming in and streaming out without halt. The majority come afoot, but great numbers are brought in sedan chairs, a sufficiently ugly contrivance whose cover is a steep little tent made of striped canvas. You see nothing of the patient in this diving bell as the bearers tramp along,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

…Buck he knew that he was one in a thousand—“One in ten t’ousand,” he commented mentally. Buck saw money pass between them, and was not surprised when Curly, a good-natured Newfoundland, and he were led away by the little weazened man. That was the last he saw of the man in the red sweater, and as Curly and he looked at receding Seattle from the deck of the Narwhal, it was the last he saw of the warm Southland. Curly and he were taken below by Perrault and turned over to a black-faced giant called François. Perrault was a French-Canadian, and swarthy; but François was a French-Canadian half-breed, and twice as swarthy. They were a new kind of men to Buck (of which he was destined to see many more), and while he developed no affection for them, he none the less grew honestly to respect them. He speedily learned that Perrault and François were fair men, calm and impartial in administering justice, and too wise in the way of dogs to be fooled by dogs. In the ’tween-decks of the Narwhal, Buck and Curly joined two other dogs. One of them was a big, snow-white fellow from Spitzbergen who had been brought away by a whaling captain, and who had later accompanied a Geological Survey into the Barrens. He was friendly, in a treacherous sort of way, smiling into one’s face the while he meditated some underhand trick, as, for instance, when he stole from Buck’s food at…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from Mr. Munchausen , by John Kendrick Bangs

…to bring the balloon down so near to the earth that our anchor rope dangled directly over the encampment, so that my valet and I, without wasting any of our gas, could climb down and secure all the magnificent treasures in rugs and silks and rare jewels these robbers of the desert had managed to get together in the course of their depredations. When these were placed in the car another breeze came up, and for the rest of the time we drifted idly about in the heavens waiting for a convenient place to land. In this manner we were blown hither and yon for three months over land and sea, and finally we were wrecked upon a tall tree in India, whence we escaped by means of a convenient elephant that happened to come our way, upon which we rode triumphantly into Calcutta. The treasures we had secured from the Arabs, unfortunately, we had to leave behind us in the tree, where I suppose they still are. I hope some day to go back and find them." Here Mr. Munchausen paused for a moment to catch his breath. Then he added with a sigh. “Of course, I went back to France immediately, but by the time I reached Paris the war was over, and the Emperor was in exile. I was too late to save him–though I think if he had lived some sixty or seventy years longer I should have managed to restore his throne, and Imperial splendour to him.” The Twins gazed into the fire in silence for a minute or two. Then one…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The British Navy Book, by Cyril Field

…armed the decks of the Great Michael, but you will find more about these and other old-fashioned cannon in another chapter. As soon as she was afloat the King had her fired at to test the resistance of her tremendously thick sides, but, says our old writer, “the cannon deired hir not”; that is to say, could not penetrate her. This is the oldest experiment of the kind of which we have any record. But the most remarkable thing about the Great Michael–at least to my mind–is her size. According to the old account from which I have quoted, which, by the way, was written by one Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, she must have had almost the exact dimensions of the Duke of Wellington, one of the last and finest of our steam three-deckers. Now I have a perfect idea of her size, because I had the honour of serving on board her for a couple of years. She was in the “sere and yellow leaf” then, her masts had gone, her engines had disappeared, and she had a roof which made her look much more like Noah’s Ark than a battleship, but I can remember her in all her glory when she carried the flag of the commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. I was only a boy then, but I recollect that her appearance was fine in the extreme. In reckoning the beam of the Great Michael we must remember to add 20 feet for the thickness of her sides, since Pitscottie only gives us her internal width. Having done this, I will put down the dimensions of the two ships for comparison–…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills, by Virgil M. Harris

…nephew Richard Hastings, then or lately living with his sister Anna Hastings, the sum of two thousand dollars each. “Third. I give to my friend Richard Watson Gilder, the watch given to me in 1893 by the said Gilder and E. C. Benedict and J. J. Sinclair–and also the chain attached to the same when last worn by me.” “Fifth. I give to Frank S. Hastings, my good friend and Executor of this will, as the most personal memento I can leave to him, the seal ring I have worn for many years, which was given to me by my dear wife, and with whose hearty concurrence this gift is made.” To his two daughters Esther and Marion, and his two sons, Richard F. and Francis G., he bequeaths the sum of two thousand dollars each, to be paid to them respectively as they each arrive at the age of twenty-one years, and until these legacies are paid, or shall lapse, they shall be kept invested, and the income derived therefrom shall be paid to his wife, and the aggregate of said income, shall be applied by her to the support, maintenance and education of the said children in such manner and in such proportions as she shall deem best, without any liability to any of said children on account thereof. If any of the said daughters, shall before her legacy becomes payable, cease for any reason to reside with her mother, then and from that time, the income arising from the investment of her legacy, shall be paid to said daughter. In case any of…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from Ethics, by Benedictus de Spinoza

…whereof the proof is of universal application). But the idea A is supposed to be referred to God, in so far as he is displayed through the human mind; therefore, the idea of the idea A must be referred to God in the same manner; that is (by II. xi. Coroll.), the adequate idea of the idea A will be in the mind, which has the adequate idea A; therefore he, who has an adequate idea or knows a thing truly (II. xxxiv.), must at the same time have an adequate idea or true knowledge of his knowledge; that is, obviously, he must be assured. Q.E.D. Note.–I explained in the note to II. xxi. what is meant by the idea of an idea; but we may remark that the foregoing proposition is in itself sufficiently plain. No one, who has a true idea, is ignorant that a true idea involves the highest certainty. For to have a true idea is only another expression for knowing a thing perfectly, or as well as possible. No one, indeed, can doubt of this, unless he thinks that an idea is something lifeless, like a picture on a panel, and not a mode of thinking–namely, the very act of understanding. And who, I ask, can know that he understands anything, unless he do first understand it? In other words, who can know that he is sure of a thing, unless he be first sure of that thing? Further, what can…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

…Mr. Bumble no sooner uttered Oliver’s name, in explanation of his errand, than Mrs. Bedwin, who had been listening at the parlour door, hastened into the passage in a breathless state. “Come in, come in,” said the old lady: “I knew we should hear of him. Poor dear! I knew we should! I was certain of it. Bless his heart! I said so all along.” Having heard this, the worthy old lady hurried back into the parlour again; and seating herself on a sofa, burst into tears. The girl, who was not quite so susceptible, had run upstairs meanwhile; and now returned with a request that Mr. Bumble would follow her immediately: which he did. He was shown into the little back study, where sat Mr. Brownlow and his friend Mr. Grimwig, with decanters and glasses before them. The latter gentleman at once burst into the exclamation: “A beadle. A parish beadle, or I’ll eat my head.” “Pray don’t interrupt just now,” said Mr. Brownlow. “Take a seat, will you?” Mr. Bumble sat himself down; quite confounded by the oddity of Mr. Grimwig’s manner. Mr. Brownlow moved the lamp, so as to obtain an uninterrupted view of the beadle’s countenance; and said, with a little impatience,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net