Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:33

Excerpt #1, from A Romance of Tompkins Square, by Thomas A. Janvier

…stronger love had clung. Yet the love that thus was re-established in Gottlieb’s breast was far from filling it, and so for ambition there was ample room. [Illustration: Sat beside the oven smoking his second pipe 204] Somewhat to his surprise, one night, as he sat beside the oven smoking his second pipe, he found himself thinking once more about his project for making such lebkuchen as never yet had been known outside of Nürnberg–lebkuchen that would make him at once the admiration and the despair of every German baker in New York. Nor was there, as he perceived as he turned the matter over in his mind, any reason now why he should not set about making this project a reality; for he had money enough, and more than enough, in store to buy the honey that he had so long desired. His eyes sparkled; he forgot to smoke; and when he turned again, half unconsciously, to his pipe, it had gone out. This roused him. The brightness faded from his eyes; he drew a long sigh. Then he lighted his pipe again, and until the baking was ended his thoughts no longer were busied with ambitious schemes for the making of lebkuchen, but went back with a sad tenderness to the happy time that had come so quickly to so cruel an end. But the spark was kindled, and presently the fire burned. When he told the good Hedwig that he had bought the honey at last, that excellent…

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Excerpt #2, from Recollections and impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, by Arthur Jerome Eddy

…long, slender wand, like a mahl-stick, for a cane, and was conspicuous wherever he went, not only on account of his diminutive size, but also by his stick and dress. An attendant at an exhibition once wished to relieve him of his cane, but he exclaimed: “Oh, no, my man! I keep this for the critics.” * * * * * The following, by a London correspondent, is a very good description, though of late years he had abandoned the cane and his hair was somewhat grayer: “They say Whistler is fifty-six. But years have nothing to do with him. He is as young in spirit, as lithe in body, as dapper in ‘get-up’ as he was twenty years ago. “Is there another man in London with such vitality as Whistler has,–I care not what his age,–another so dainty, another so sprightly in wit? Do you see that dapper gentleman coming along Cheyne Walk, silk hat with very tall crown and very straight brim; habit apparently broadcloth (frock coat), fitting to perfection a supple figure; feet small as a girl’s,–an American girl’s; hands delicately gloved in yellow; in the right hand a lithe, slim wand, twice as long as a walking stick; glass in eye; black moustache and…

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Excerpt #3, from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), by Jerome K. Jerome

…And they feel so angry with one another that they would like to hang each other with the thing. Ten minutes go by, and the first man gives a yell and goes mad, and dances on the rope, and tries to pull it straight by seizing hold of the first piece that comes to his hand and hauling at it. Of course, this only gets it into a tighter tangle than ever. Then the second man climbs out of the boat and comes to help him, and they get in each other’s way, and hinder one another. They both get hold of the same bit of line, and pull at it in opposite directions, and wonder where it is caught. In the end, they do get it clear, and then turn round and find that the boat has drifted off, and is making straight for the weir. This really happened once to my own knowledge. It was up by Boveney, one rather windy morning. We were pulling down stream, and, as we came round the bend, we noticed a couple of men on the bank. They were looking at each other with as bewildered and helplessly miserable expression as I have ever witnessed on any human countenance before or since, and they held a long tow-line between them. It was clear that something had happened, so we eased up and asked them what was the matter. “Why, our boat’s gone off!” they replied in an indignant tone. “We just got out to disentangle the tow-line, and when we looked round, it was…

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Excerpt #4, from Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

…Piglet to say “How?” or “Pooh, you couldn’t!” or something helpful of that sort, but Piglet said nothing. The fact was Piglet was wishing that he had thought about it first. “I shall do it,” said Pooh, after waiting a little longer, “by means of a trap. And it must be a Cunning Trap, so you will have to help me, Piglet.” “Pooh,” said Piglet, feeling quite happy again now, “I will.” And then he said, “How shall we do it?” and Pooh said, “That’s just it. How?” And then they sat down together to think it out. Pooh’s first idea was that they should dig a Very Deep Pit, and then the Heffalump would come along and fall into the Pit, and—- “Why?” said Piglet. “Why what?” said Pooh. “Why would he fall in?” Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at the sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he wouldn’t see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down, when it would be too late. Piglet said that this was a very good Trap, but supposing it were raining already? Pooh rubbed his nose again, and said that he hadn’t thought of that. And…

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Excerpt #5, from Tales of the Samurai, by Asataro Miyamori

…the strangers to proceed on foot. In great wrath Shigenari protested against such unwarranted discourtesy. “What mean you by such conduct?” he cried. “Judging from our reception I conclude it is the intention of Iyeyasu to disregard the Imperial mandate to make peace. Well, then, it is useless to go further. We will return at once to the castle and report to our lord the shameful treatment we have received!” So saying he turned his horse and was about to go back, when Lord Echigo’s men seeing, they had gone too far, apologised profusely and begged him to pass on to fulfil his mission. At length the envoys came to the entrance of the building where they were to meet the great Ex-Shogun. Here they dismounted and carrying their swords were about to enter when two ushers intercepted them, crying:— “Your weapons must be left without!” In no wise discomposed Shigenari said sternly:— “It is a rule with a samurai never to leave his sword behind when he goes into an enemy’s camp, on any pretext whatever.” This being an indisputable fact, the ushers could say no more, but led them armed as they were to the spacious apartment which had been prepared for the ceremony. A large number of daimios already occupied…

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Excerpt #6, from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

…of your greater desires; and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you. Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth. And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish. In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep. Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death. ***** And he answered, People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now…

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Excerpt #7, from Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, by John Wesley Powell

…traditions just mentioned, and second, to give a certain class of ambitious men and women sufficient influence through their acknowledged power of exorcism and necromancy to lead a comfortable life at the expense of the credulous. The persons admitted into the society are firmly believed to possess the power of communing with various supernatural beings–manidos–and in order that certain desires may be realized they are sought after and consulted. The purpose of the present paper is to give an account of this society and of the ceremony of initiation as studied and observed at White Earth, Minnesota, in 1889. Before proceeding to this, however, it may be of interest to consider a few statements made by early travelers respecting the “sorcerers or jugglers” and the methods of medication. In referring to the practices of the Algonkian tribes of the Northwest, La Hontan[3] says: When they are sick, they only drink Broth, and eat sparingly; and if they have the good luck to fall asleep, they think themselves cur’d: They have told me frequently, that sleeping and sweating would cure the most stubborn Diseases in the World. When they are so weak that they cannot get out of Bed, their Relations come and dance and make merry before ’em, in order to divert ’em. To conclude, when they are ill, they are always visited by a sort of Quacks, (Jongleurs); of…

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Excerpt #8, from Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata, by H. G. Wells

…(abducens) are distributed to exactly the same muscles of the eyeball as they are in the rabbit. The fifth nerve, has, in the dog-fish, as in the rabbit, three chief branches. V.2 and V.3 fork over the mouth just as they do in the mammal; V.1 passes out of the cranium by a separate and more dorsal opening, and runs along a groove along the dorsal internal wall of the orbit, immediately beneath a similar branch of VII., which is not distinct in the rabbit. The grooves are shown in the figure of the cranium, Sheet 18; the joint nerve thus compounded of V. and VII. is called the ophthalmic (oph.). It is distributed to the skin above the nose and orbit. When the student commences to dissect the head of a dog-fish he notices over the dorsal surface of the snout an exudation of a yellowish jelly-like substance, and on removing the tough skin over this region and over the centre of the skull he finds, lying beneath it, a quantity of coiling simple tubuli full of such yellowish matter. These tubuli open on the surface by small pores, and the nerves terminate in hair-like extremities in their lining. These sense tubes are peculiar to aquatic forms; allied structures are found over the head and along a lateral line (see below) in the tadpole, but when the frog emerges from the water they are lost. They, doubtless, indicate some unknown sense entirely beyond our experience, and either only…

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Excerpt #9, from Phrases for Public Speakers and Paragraphs for Study, by Grenville Kleiser

…see how much greater he has been than any of his competitors for fame and power. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. From “On Liberal Aims.” * * * * Let us never despair of our country. Actual evils can be mitigated; bad tendencies can be turned aside; the burdens of government can be diminished; productive industry will be renewed; and frugality will repair the waste of our resources. Then shall the golden days of the republic once more return, and the people become prosperous and happy, SAMUEL JONES TILDEN. From “Address on Administrative Reform.” * * * * Had Abraham Lincoln died from any of the numerous ills to which flesh is heir; had he reached that good old age to which his rigorous constitution and his temperate habits gave promise; had he been permitted to see the end of his great work; had the solemn curtain of death come down but gradually, we should still have been smitten with a heavy grief and treasured his name lovingly. But dying as he did die, by the red hand of violence; killed, assassinated, taken off without warning, not because of personal hate, but because of his fidelity to Union and liberty, he is doubly dear to us and will be precious forever….

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Excerpt #10, from Guide to Fortune Telling, by Dreams, by Anonymous

…For a married woman to dream of being dressed in a silk gown, shows her husband is fond of some one who will nearly ruin him. If a maiden dreams of it, she will speedily see her lover. Silver.–To dream of this valuable metal shows that false friends are about you, and will attempt your ruin; in love, it denotes falsehood in your sweetheart. To receive or pick up pieces of silver money, if they are small, denotes want and a prison; if they are quarters, they indicate the receipt of a small sum of money, and the acquisition of some new friends; but if they are half-dollars or dollars, they denote misery, a prison and failure in your undertakings, disappointment in your love, and loss of law-suits, attacks from thieves and bankruptcy in trade. If a woman with child dreams of silver, it shows she will have a girl, but the child will grow poor. Singing.–To dream you are singing shows that you will hear shortly some very melancholy news; to the lover, your sweetheart is bad tempered and unfaithful; to the tradesman, losses by sharpers. To dream that you only hear singing and merry making shows that you will have some agreeable news from a person long absent; if you are in a prison, it foretells you will speedily regain your liberty. Tombs.–To dream of being amongst the tombs denotes a speedy marriage, great success in business, and the gaining of a lawsuit; also the birth…

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Excerpt #11, from The Chemistry of Plant Life, by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher

…one molecule of glucose united to two molecules of rhamnose (methyl pentose, C_{6}H_{12}O_{5}). It is of interest only in connection with the properties of the glucoside in which it is present (see page 84). Three trisaccharides which are non-reducing sugars are found in plants; namely, raffinose, gentianose, and melizitose. =Raffinose= occurs normally in cotton seeds, in barley grains, and in manna; also, in small quantities in the beet root, associated with sucrose. It is more soluble in water than is sucrose and hence remains in solution in the molasses from beet-sugar manufacture, which constitutes the commercial source for this sugar. Raffinose crystallizes out of concentrated solutions, with five molecules of water of crystallization, in clusters of glistening prisms. It is strongly dextrorotatory, the anhydrous sugar having a specific rotatory power of +185°, and the crystalline form, C_{18}H_{32}O_{16}, showing a specific rotation of +104.5°. It does not reduce Fehling’s solution, nor form an osazone, and in its other properties it closely resembles sucrose. The hydrolysis of raffinose presents several interesting possibilities. If its structure is represented as follows: C_{6}H_{11}O_{5}-C_{6}H_{10}O_{4}-C_{6}H_{11}O_{5} Fructose Glucose Galactose ______ _____/ _______ ______/…

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Excerpt #12, from War and Peace, by graf Leo Tolstoy

…“I’ve spoken to him. He hopes we should be in time to get away tomorrow, but I think it would now be better to stay here,” said Mademoiselle Bourienne. “Because, you will agree, chère Marie, to fall into the hands of the soldiers or of riotous peasants would be terrible.” Mademoiselle Bourienne took from her reticule a proclamation (not printed on ordinary Russian paper) of General Rameau’s, telling people not to leave their homes and that the French authorities would afford them proper protection. She handed this to the princess. “I think it would be best to appeal to that general,” she continued, “and I am sure that all due respect would be shown you.” Princess Mary read the paper, and her face began to quiver with stifled sobs. “From whom did you get this?” she asked. “They probably recognized that I am French, by my name,” replied Mademoiselle Bourienne blushing. Princess Mary, with the paper in her hand, rose from the window and with a pale face went out of the room and into what had been Prince Andrew’s study. “Dunyásha, send Alpátych, or Drónushka, or somebody to me!” she said, “and tell Mademoiselle Bourienne not to come to me,” she added, hearing Mademoiselle Bourienne’s voice. “We must go at once, at once!” she said,…

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