Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:24:11

Excerpt #1, from A Tall Ship, by Bartimeus

…or saucer. The guest’s chief concern, however, appeared to be in finding a more secure resting-place for it than his knee, coupled with anxiety not to drop crumbs on the carpet. Betty, presiding behind the silver tea-tray, had adopted her most grown-up manner. Decidedly it was all Betty’s fault, therefore. The most confirmed humorist could hardly be expected to indulge in drolleries in the presence of a girl who stuck her nose in the air and put on enough side for six. It became increasingly obvious that the depressed jester must straightway be removed from this blighting influence or ever the cap and bells would jingle. No sooner was tea over, therefore, than Joe sprang to his feet. “I say, would you like to go for a walk?” Once outside, the flower of wit would expand without a doubt. The Indiarubber Man appeared nonplussed at the proposal. “I–it’s very kind of you—-” Then he turned to Betty. “Shall we all three go for a walk?” “Oh, it’s no use asking her to go for a proper walk,” interposed the alarmed Joe. “Her skirts are too narrow; she can’t keep step, or jump ditches, or anything.” Betty laughed. “Are you anxious to jump ditches, Mr. Standish? Because, if not, I think I might be able to keep up with you both.”…

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Excerpt #2, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…want to frighten a chap for?” He sank his face onto his arms and began to sob in a high treble key. “I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!” “So I am. But you’ve got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here a few hours, three pipes, four pipes—I forget how many. But I’ll go home with you. I wouldn’t frighten Kate—poor little Kate. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?” “Yes, I have one waiting.” “Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself.” I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice whispered, “Walk past me, and then look back at me.” The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all…

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Excerpt #3, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…is the closest conjoined, and imbued, and identified, so to speak, with the spirit whereof it is the instrument.” “Then I need ask no further,” said the clergyman, somewhat hastily rising from his chair. “You deal not, I take it, in medicine for the soul!” “Thus, a sickness,” continued Roger Chillingworth, going on, in an unaltered tone, without heeding the interruption,—but standing up, and confronting the emaciated and white-cheeked minister, with his low, dark, and misshapen figure,—“a sickness, a sore place, if we may so call it, in your spirit, hath immediately its appropriate manifestation in your bodily frame. Would you, therefore, that your physician heal the bodily evil? How may this be, unless you first lay open to him the wound or trouble in your soul?” “No!—not to thee!—not to an earthly physician!” cried Mr. Dimmesdale, passionately, and turning his eyes, full and bright, and with a kind of fierceness, on old Roger Chillingworth. “Not to thee! But if it be the soul’s disease, then do I commit myself to the one Physician of the soul! He, if it stand with his good pleasure, can cure; or he can kill! Let him do with me as, in his justice and wisdom, he shall see good. But who art thou, that meddlest in this matter?—that dares thrust himself between the sufferer and his God?”…

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Excerpt #4, from Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia, by G. A. Henty

…of tea and tobacco. When all was ready the three reindeer were harnessed to the large sledge, one to each of the three small sledges, and soon after daybreak on the 5th of November they started, the Ostjaks being anxious to be off, for the weather again showed signs of breaking, and it might be another month before the river was permanently frozen for the winter. Six Ostjaks, including the chief, formed with Godfrey and Luka the hunting party; the others remained behind to look after the rest of the reindeer, as it was necessary to keep a space clear from snow, to enable them to get at the grass. They would, too, continue the fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by torch-light. The men walked with the sledges, which only went at a walking pace. Across the river the route was easy, the surface of the snow being crisp and hard, but it was hard work mounting the opposite bank, which was exceedingly steep. The reindeer pulled well, and at difficult points the men aided them. A short distance from the bank they crossed the post-road, and in another half-hour were in the forest. Godfrey had already been told that they would travel for several days before they began to hunt, as the villagers with their guns scared the wild animals from the forests in their neighbourhoods. There was no difficulty in travelling through the forest, for the pine-trees stood…

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Excerpt #5, from Gulliver’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Jonathan Swift

…soon as they got into order they divided into two parties, performed mock skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired, and in short discovered the best military discipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling over the stage; and the emperor was so much delighted, that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and once was pleased to be lifted up and give the word of command; and with great difficulty persuaded even the empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair within two yards of the stage, when she was able to take a full view of the whole performance. It was my good fortune, that no ill accident happened in these entertainments; only once a fiery horse, that belonged to one of the captains, pawing with his hoof, struck a hole in my handkerchief, and his foot slipping, he overthrew his rider and himself; but I immediately relieved them both, and covering the hole with one hand, I set down the troop with the other, in the same manner as I took them up. The horse that fell was strained in the left shoulder, but the rider got no hurt; and I repaired my handkerchief as well as I could: however, I would not trust to the strength of it any more, in such dangerous enterprises. About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I was entertaining the court with this kind of feat, there arrived an express…

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Excerpt #6, from Much Ado about Nothing, by William Shakespeare

…SECOND WATCH. Call up the right Master Constable. We have here recovered the most dangerous piece of lechery that ever was known in the commonwealth. FIRST WATCH. And one Deformed is one of them: I know him, a’ wears a lock. CONRADE. Masters, masters! …SECOND WATCH. You’ll be made bring Deformed forth, I warrant you. CONRADE. Masters,— FIRST WATCH. Never speak: we charge you let us obey you to go with us. BORACHIO. We are like to prove a goodly commodity, being taken up of these men’s bills. CONRADE. A commodity in question, I warrant you. Come, we’ll obey you. [Exeunt.] Scene IV. A Room in Leonato’s House….

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Excerpt #7, from Guide to Fortune Telling, by Dreams, by Anonymous

…post-paid upon receipt of only =Ten Cents=. KEYSTONE BOOK CO., Philadelphia, Pa. * * * * * Parlor Magic. [Illustration] This valuable textbook contains complete and exhaustive directions for performing over one hundred amusing and mysterious tricks in magic and legerdemain, including sleights with dice, dominoes, cards, ribbons, rings, fruit, coin, balls, handkerchiefs, etc., etc., the whole illustrated and clearly explained with 121 engravings. The directions for performing these tricks are made so very clear by the aid of the many illustrations given that any one may readily perform them, and thus become a veritable wizard in his own circle of acquaintances. Tricks which you have seen performed by professional magicians, and which have seemed to you almost miraculous, are so clearly and fully explained in this book that you may perform them with ease. Among the tricks explained in the book are: “The Magic Coin,” “The Magic Handkerchief,” “The Dancing Egg,” “The Domino Oracle,” “The Magic Bond,” “To Swallow a Barber’s Pole,” “The Restored Ribbon,” “The Magnetized Cane,” “To Eat a Peck of Shavings, and Convert them into a Ribbon,” “The Wonderful Hat,” “The Pepper-Box Trick,” “The Bag of…

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Excerpt #8, from Crimes of Preachers in the United States and Canada, by M. E. Billings

…1908. Hutchins, Rev. Ed., Topeka, Kan. Whipped by boy whose mother he insulted. 1910. Hutchinson, Rev. A. P., Butler, Pa. Libel; indicted. 1908. Hutchinson, Rev. John, St. Louis, Mo. Evangelist. Bastardy. 1900. Hutson, Rev. I. S., Jacksonville, Fla. Receiving stolen goods; two years’ hard labor. 1900. Hutton, Rev. Chas. E., Saddle Rock, N. J. Lutheran. Too wide interpretation of pastoral relations with women. Pursued by husband with gun; resigned pulpit and departed. 1899. Hyler, Rev. John, Asheville, N. C. Free Will Baptist. Bigamy; three wives; all living. 1903. Hylock, Rev. John, Mitchell Co., N. C. Jailed for bigamy; six living wives. 1913. Iden, Rev. W. A., Visalia, Cal. Fraudulent sales. Sent to penitentiary for five years. 1905. Iliff, Rev. T. C., Presiding elder and superintendent Utah missions. Methodist. Plagiarism. Stole a sermon, which he delivered as his own. 1901. Iliff, Rev. W. H., Hamilton, Ill. Methodist. Malicious mischief. Inman, Rev. Mr., Goldfield, Nev. Methodist. Contempt of court….

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Excerpt #9, from Emma, by Jane Austen

…“No, no,” said she, “you are quite unreasonable. It would be dreadful to be standing so close! Nothing can be farther from pleasure than to be dancing in a crowd—and a crowd in a little room!” “There is no denying it,” he replied. “I agree with you exactly. A crowd in a little room—Miss Woodhouse, you have the art of giving pictures in a few words. Exquisite, quite exquisite!—Still, however, having proceeded so far, one is unwilling to give the matter up. It would be a disappointment to my father—and altogether—I do not know that—I am rather of opinion that ten couple might stand here very well.” Emma perceived that the nature of his gallantry was a little self-willed, and that he would rather oppose than lose the pleasure of dancing with her; but she took the compliment, and forgave the rest. Had she intended ever to marry him, it might have been worth while to pause and consider, and try to understand the value of his preference, and the character of his temper; but for all the purposes of their acquaintance, he was quite amiable enough. Before the middle of the next day, he was at Hartfield; and he entered the room with such an agreeable smile as certified the continuance of the scheme. It soon appeared that he came to announce an improvement. “Well, Miss Woodhouse,” he almost immediately began, “your inclination…

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Excerpt #10, from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…services so valuable? or is it possible that—” He began biting his nails and staring blankly out of the window, and we hardly drew another word from him until we were in New Street. At seven o’clock that evening we were walking, the three of us, down Corporation Street to the company’s offices. “It is no use our being at all before our time,” said our client. “He only comes there to see me, apparently, for the place is deserted up to the very hour he names.” “That is suggestive,” remarked Holmes. “By Jove, I told you so!” cried the clerk. “That’s he walking ahead of us there.” He pointed to a smallish, dark, well-dressed man who was bustling along the other side of the road. As we watched him he looked across at a boy who was bawling out the latest edition of the evening paper, and running over among the cabs and busses, he bought one from him. Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished through a doorway. “There he goes!” cried Hall Pycroft. “These are the company’s offices into which he has gone. Come with me, and I’ll fix it up as easily as possible.” Following his lead, we ascended five stories, until we found…

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Excerpt #11, from The Intrusion of Jimmy, by P. G. Wodehouse

…Lord Dreever’s position was one of some embarrassment. At no point in their history had the Dreevers been what one might call a parsimonious family. If a chance presented itself of losing money in a particularly wild and futile manner, the Dreever of the period had invariably sprung at it with the vim of an energetic blood-hound. The South Sea Bubble absorbed two hundred thousand pounds of good Dreever money, and the remainder of the family fortune was squandered to the ultimate penny by the sportive gentleman who held the title in the days of the Regency, when Watier’s and the Cocoa Tree were in their prime, and fortunes had a habit of disappearing in a single evening. When Spennie became Earl of Dreever, there was about one dollar and thirty cents in the family coffers. This is the point at which Sir Thomas Blunt breaks into Dreever history. Sir Thomas was a small, pink, fussy, obstinate man with a genius for trade and the ambition of an Alexander the Great; probably one of the finest and most complete specimens of the came-over-Waterloo-Bridge-with-half-a crown-in-my-pocket-and-now-look-at-me class of millionaires in existence. He had started almost literally with nothing. By carefully excluding from his mind every thought except that of making money, he had risen in the world with a gruesome persistence which nothing could check. At the age of…

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Excerpt #12, from Recollections and impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, by Arthur Jerome Eddy

…audience; a man need not own a vineyard to know good wine. The critic stands, or, rather, should stand, between the public and the work he criticises, whether it be poem, painting, statue, or drama; the mistake he commonly makes is in forcing himself between the worker and his work, and in trying to teach him something only another and better worker in the same art is competent to do. Critics make most of their blunders in judging works according to preconceived notions as to how they should be done,–in condemning, for instance, a picture because not painted after prevailing modes and methods, because it is a departure, whereas with these considerations the lay-critic has nothing to do; they fall entirely within the province of the painter-critic, the one man who is competent, in the long run, to pass upon the methods employed. Every work is an appeal to the public,–its completion and exhibition make it such; therefore, every work challenges the critical faculties, great or small, of those who see it. It is inevitable that some more interested should spring up to interpret, rightly or wrongly, the work to the public; the artist seldom takes the trouble,–in fact, has neither the time nor the temperament; his message is complete in the picture, others must understand it as best they can. The playwright cannot address the audience save through the play, the…

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