Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:24:32

Excerpt #1, from Einstein and the universe: A popular exposition of the famous theory, by Nordmann

…observe in full daylight a ray of light that comes to us from a star and passes close to the sun? It cannot be done. Even if we use the most powerful glasses the stars on the farther side of the sun are completely drowned in its blaze—to speak more correctly, in the light which is diffused by our atmosphere. To say the truth—if we may venture upon a parenthetic remark at this juncture—night has taught us much more than day about the mysteries of the universe. In literary symbolism, in politics, the light of day is the very symbol of progress and knowledge: night is the symbol of ignorance. What folly! It is a blasphemy against night, the sweetness of which we ought rather to venerate. I do not refer to its romantic charm, but to the mighty progress in knowledge which it has enabled us to make. Midnight is not merely the hour of crime. It is also the hour of prodigious flight toward remote worlds. During the day we see only one sun: by night we see millions of suns. The blinding veil which the sunlight draws across the heavens may be woven of the most brilliant rays, but it is none the less a veil, for it makes us as blind as the moths which, in a strong light, can see no further than the tips of their wings. In order to solve our problem, therefore, we have to observe in…

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Excerpt #2, from Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana

…inhabited by numerous tribes of Indians, and to be in many parts extremely fertile; to which, of course, was added rumors of gold mines, pearl fishery, etc. No sooner was the importance of the country known, than the Jesuits obtained leave to establish themselves in it, to Christianize and enlighten the Indians. They established missions in various parts of the country toward the close of the seventeenth century, and collected the natives about them, baptizing them into the church, and teaching them the arts of civilized life. To protect the Jesuits in their missions, and at the same time to support the power of the crown over the civilized Indians, two forts were erected and garrisoned, one at San Diego, and the other at Monterey. These were called Presidios, and divided the command of the whole country between them. Presidios have since been established at Santa Barbara and San Francisco; thus dividing the country into four large districts, each with its presidio, and governed by the commandant. The soldiers, for the most part, married civilized Indians; and thus, in the vicinity of each presidio, sprung up, gradually, small towns. In the course of time, vessels began to come into the ports to trade with the missions, and received hides in return; and thus began the great trade of California. Nearly all the cattle in the country belonged to the missions, and they employed their Indians, who became, in fact, their…

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Excerpt #3, from Popular Tales from the Norse, by Asbjørnsen, Moe, and Dasent

…work, and got it on the spot. So one day the king came out into the palace-yard, and when he had walked about a bit, he wanted to drink out of his pump; for you must know the day was hot, and the king very thirsty; but when they poured him out a glass, it was so muddy, and nasty, and foul, that the king got quite vexed. “I don’t think there’s ever a man in my whole kingdom who has such bad water in his yard as I, and yet I bring it in pipes from far, over hill and dale”, cried out the king. “Like enough, your Majesty”, said True; “but if you would let me have some men to help me to dig up this great stone which lies here in the middle of your yard, you would soon see good water, and plenty of it.” Well! the king was willing enough; and they had scarcely got the stone well out, and dug under it a while, before a jet of water sprang out high up into the air, as clear and full as if it came out of a conduit, and clearer water was not to be found in all England. A little while after the king was out in his palace-yard again, and there came a great hawk flying after his chicken, and all the king’s men began to clap their hands and bawl out, “There he flies!” “There he flies!” The king caught up his gun and tried to shoot the hawk, but he couldn’t see so far, so he fell into great grief. “Would to Heaven”, he said, “there was any one who could tell me a cure…

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Excerpt #4, from The Story of King Arthur and his Knights, by Howard Pyle

…stood as fast as the iron in which it was planted. And after that first assay he tried three times more, but still he was altogether unable to move the blade in the iron. Then, after that he had thus four times made assay, he ceased his endeavor and came down from that place. And he was filled with great anger and indignation that he had not succeeded in his endeavor. [Sidenote: Sundry others make assay and fail.] And after King Lot there came his brother-in-law, King Urien of Gore, and he also made assay in the same wise as King Lot had done. But neither did he succeed any better than that other king. And after King Urien there came King Fion of Scotland, and after King Fion there came King Mark of Cornwall, and after King Mark there came King Ryence of North Wales, and after King Ryence there came King Leodegrance of Cameliard, and after him came all those other kings and dukes before numerated, and not one of all these was able to move the blade. And some of these high and mighty lords were filled with anger and indignation that they had not succeeded, and others were ashamed that they had failed in that undertaking before the eyes of all those who looked upon them. But whether they were angry or whether they were ashamed it in no wise helped their case. Now when all the kings and dukes had thus failed in that adventure, the…

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Excerpt #5, from The Coral Island, by R. M. Ballantyne

…The missionary immediately took him by the hand, and as he led him away I heard him saying, "me most glad to find you trader; we t’ought you be pirate. You very like one ‘bout the masts." What conversation the captain had with this man I never heard; but he came on deck again in a quarter of an hour, and shaking hands cordially with the missionary, ordered us into our boat and returned to the schooner, which was immediately put before the wind. In a few minutes the Olive Branch was left far behind us. That afternoon, as I was down below at dinner, I heard the men talking about this curious ship. “I wonder,” said one, “why our captain looked so sweet on yon swallow-tailed supercargo o’ pigs and Gospels? If it had been an ordinary trader, now, he would have taken as many o’ the pigs as he required and sent the ship with all on board to the bottom.” “Why, Dick, you must be new to these seas if you don’t know that!” cried another. "The captain cares as much for the Gospel as you do (an’ that’s precious little); but he knows, and everybody knows, that the only place among the southern islands where a ship can put in and get what she wants in comfort is where the Gospel has been sent to. There are hundreds o’ islands, at this blessed moment, where you might as well jump straight into a shark’s maw as land without a band o’ thirty…

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Excerpt #6, from Rilla of Ingleside, by L. M. Montgomery

…have written them anything half so wonderful and exquisite. Kenneth was not the son of a famous novelist for nothing. He “had a way” of expressing things in a few poignant, significant words that seemed to suggest far more than they uttered, and never grew stale or flat or foolish with ever so many scores of readings. Rilla went home from Rainbow Valley as if she flew rather than walked. But such moments of uplift were rare that autumn. To be sure, there was one day in September when great news came of a big Allied victory in the west and Susan ran out to hoist the flag–the first time she had hoisted it since the Russian line broke and the last time she was to hoist it for many dismal moons. “Likely the Big Push has begun at last, Mrs. Dr. dear,” she exclaimed, “and we will soon see the finish of the Huns. Our boys will be home by Christmas now. Hurrah!” Susan was ashamed of herself for hurrahing the minute she had done it, and apologized meekly for such an outburst of juvenility. “But indeed, Mrs. Dr. dear, this good news has gone to my head after this awful summer of Russian slumps and Gallipoli setbacks.” “Good news!” said Miss Oliver bitterly. "I wonder if the women whose men have been killed for it will call it good news. Just because our own men are not on that part of the front we are rejoicing as if the…

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Excerpt #7, from The Boy Inventors’ Radio Telephone, by Richard Bonner

…"Wa’al, Smith was a curious feller, frum all accounts, and it was not till ‘49 when ther big gold rush came that he thought much more about those three buttes with the gold lying round loose as dirt on ’em. Then he got ther gold fever. He went to ’Frisco and gets up an expedition to find them three buttes. "They got down inter ther desert country all right and locates Smith Mountain. But the dern Indians they had with ’em as guides cleaned out the camp one fine night, and they had a hard time getting back to civilization alive. Well, that’s where Peg-leg Smith goes out of the story." “Wasn’t he ever heard of again?” asked Jack. “No, siree, not hide nor hair on him. Nobody never knows what became of him arter they got back to San Bernardino. Some says that he went back alone lookin’ fer the three buttes and was lost in the desert and that his bones is out thar some’eres to-day, an’ others says that he got so plum disgusted he went back home to St. Louis. But nobody rightly knows.”The next heard of ther three buttes was many years later when an Indian, who worked on Governor Downey’s ranch, not far from Smith Mountain, developed a habit of goin’ away fer a few days and then comin’ back with bits of black rock chock full of gold which he traded…

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Excerpt #8, from Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, by Thomas Preston

…and little. 1461. SMOKE. Where there is smoke there is fire. 1462. SNAKE. Put a snake in your bosom, and when it is warm it will sting you. 1463. SNOW. A snow year, a rich year. 1464. SOFTLY. He that goes softly goes surely. 1465. SOFT WORDS. Soft words butter no parsnips. 1466. SOLDIERS. Soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer. 1467. SON. My son’s my son till he hath got him a wife, But my daughter’s my daughter all the days of her life. 1468. SOON HOT. Soon hot, soon cold. 1469. SOONER SAID. ’Tis sooner said than done. 1470. SORROW. Sorrow and bad weather come unsent for. 1471. SORROW. Sorrow will pay no debt. 1472. SORROW. A fat sorrow is better than a lean one. 1473. SORROW. Sorrow is good for nothing but sin. 1474. SORROW. Sorrow will wear away in time. 1475. SORROW. When sorrow is asleep, wake it not. 1476. SORROW. Sorrow comes unsent for, and, like the unbidden guest, brings his own stool….

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Excerpt #9, from Life And Letters Of John Gay (1685

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Excerpt #10, from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale, by Herman Melville

…Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and firmly held by a hand on deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the company, to whom he vivaciously cries—he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this cautious search is over, a stout iron-bound bucket, precisely like a well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert hands. These last now hoist the bucket within grasp of the Indian, to whom another person has reached up a very long pole. Inserting this pole into the bucket, Tashtego downward guides the…

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Excerpt #11, from The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

…“Curious,” said Miss Halcombe; “I suppose it must be a begging-letter. There,” she added, handing the letter back to the lad, “take it to the house, and give it to one of the servants. And now, Mr. Hartright, if you have no objection, let us walk this way.” She led me across the lawn, along the same path by which I had followed her on the day after my arrival at Limmeridge. At the little summer-house, in which Laura Fairlie and I had first seen each other, she stopped, and broke the silence which she had steadily maintained while we were walking together. “What I have to say to you I can say here.” With those words she entered the summer-house, took one of the chairs at the little round table inside, and signed to me to take the other. I suspected what was coming when she spoke to me in the breakfast-room; I felt certain of it now. “Mr. Hartright,” she said, "I am going to begin by making a frank avowal to you. I am going to say–without phrase-making, which I detest, or paying compliments, which I heartily despise–that I have come, in the course of your residence with us, to feel a strong friendly regard for you. I was predisposed in your favour when you first told me of your conduct towards that unhappy woman whom you met under such remarkable circumstances. Your management of the affair…

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Excerpt #12, from Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

…thirty?’ Mrs. Sparsit laughed outright. ‘A chit,’ said she. ‘Not twenty when she was married.’ ‘I give you my honour, Mrs. Powler,’ returned the stranger, detaching himself from the table, ‘that I never was so astonished in my life!’ It really did seem to impress him, to the utmost extent of his capacity of being impressed. He looked at his informant for full a quarter of a minute, and appeared to have the surprise in his mind all the time. ‘I assure you, Mrs. Powler,’ he then said, much exhausted, ‘that the father’s manner prepared me for a grim and stony maturity. I am obliged to you, of all things, for correcting so absurd a mistake. Pray excuse my intrusion. Many thanks. Good day!’ He bowed himself out; and Mrs. Sparsit, hiding in the window curtain, saw him languishing down the street on the shady side of the way, observed of all the town. ‘What do you think of the gentleman, Bitzer?’ she asked the light porter, when he came to take away. ‘Spends a deal of money on his dress, ma’am.’ ‘It must be admitted,’ said Mrs. Sparsit, ‘that it’s very tasteful.’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ returned Bitzer, ‘if that’s worth the money.’ ‘Besides which, ma’am,’ resumed Bitzer, while he was polishing the table,…

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