Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:12

Excerpt #1, from Uncle Wiggily’s Travels, by Howard Roger Garis

…water on himself, and they went on, feeling much better. But still they were warm again in a short time, and then the elephant said: “I know what I am going to do. I am going to get some more ice cream cones. They will cool us off better than anything else. I’ll go for them and bring back some big ones. You stay here in the shade, Uncle Wiggily, but don’t walk on ahead, or you may tumble into the water again.” “I’ll not,” promised the rabbit. “I’ll wait right here for you.” Off the elephant started to get the ice cream cones and pretty soon he came to the store where the man sold them. [Illustration] “I want two of your very coldest cones,” said the elephant to the man, for sometimes, in stories, you know, elephants can talk to people. “I want a big strawberry cone for myself,” the elephant went on, “and a smaller one for my friend, Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit.” “Very well,” said the man, “but you will have to wait until I make a large cone for you.” So that man took seventeen thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven little cones and made them into one big one for the elephant. Then he took eighteen thousand, two hundred and ninety-one quarts of strawberry ice cream, and an extra pint, and put it into the big cone. Then he made a…

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Excerpt #2, from The Republic of Plato, by Plato

…the first cause of his decline of States. The lesser or square ‘harmony,’ of 400, might be a symbol of the guardians,–the larger or oblong ‘harmony,’ of the people, and the numbers 3, 4, 5 might refer respectively to the three orders in the State or parts of the soul, the four virtues, the five forms of government. The harmony of the musical scale, which is elsewhere used as a symbol of the harmony of the state (Rep. iv. 443 D), is also indicated. For the numbers 3, 4, 5, which represent the sides of the Pythagorean triangle, also denote the intervals of the scale. The terms used in the statement of the problem may be {cxxxii} explained as follows. A perfect number ([Greek: te/leios a)rithmo/s]), as already stated, is one which is equal to the sum of its divisors. Thus 6, which is the first perfect or cyclical number, = 1 + 2 + 3. The words [Greek: o)/roi], ‘terms’ or ‘notes,’ and [Greek: a)posta/seis], ‘intervals,’ are applicable to music as well as to number and figure. [Greek: Prô/tô|] is the ‘base’ on which the whole calculation depends, or the ‘lowest term’ from which it can be worked out. The words [Greek: duna/menai/ te kai
dunasteuo/menoi] have been variously translated–‘squared and cubed’ (Donaldson), ‘equalling and equalled in power’ (Weber), ‘by involution and evolution,’ i.e. by raising the power and extracting the root (as in the translation). Numbers are called ‘like and unlike’ ([Greek: o(moiou=nte/s te kai a)nomoiou=ntes]) when the factors or the sides of the planes and…

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Excerpt #3, from The Swedish Fairy Book, by Klara Stroebe, George Hood, and Frederick Herman Martens

…from his blunderbuss. And when he met the king, he threw the crow to the ground and cried: “There is my whole bag!” On the third day all went as before. Sheep-Peter hit everything at which he aimed; but the others scored no hits. Then Sheep-Peter promised them all he had bagged, if they would let him write what he chose on their necks. They agreed to the bargain, and he wrote on the neck of each: “A thief and a rascal.” Then all three went home, and again Peter had no more than a crow to show. At night all three of them slept together in one room. When they woke in the morning, the king came in to them, said good-morning, and asked how they were. But he was much surprised to see that Sheep-Peter was keeping them company. Then the youth said: “I was in the war, and slew all of the enemy!” “Ah!” said the king, “you did not do that, it was an angel from heaven; for you were sitting in the swamp.” Then Sheep-Peter drew out the king’s handkerchief, and then the king recognized him. Then the herdsman said: “I also delivered the princesses!” But the king would not believe that, and laughed at him. And then the youngest princess came along and told how it all had happened. And the youth took out the ribands of the other princesses, and the king had to believe that this, too, was true. Then, Peter continued:…

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Excerpt #4, from An Introduction to the History of Science, by Walter Libby

…subjective impression, but must devise apparatus to record by a measurable movement the amount of the pressure or the degree of temperature. “God ordered all things by measure, number, and weight.” The scientific mind does not rest satisfied till it is able to see phenomena in their number relationships. Scientific thought is in this sense Pythagorean, that it inquires in reference to quantity and proportion. As implied in a previous chapter, number relations are not clearly grasped by primitive races. Many primitive languages have no words for numerals higher than five. That fact does not imply that these races do not know the difference between large and small numbers, but precision grows with civilization, with commercial pursuits, and other activities, such as the practice of medicine, to which the use of weights and measures is essential. Scientific accuracy is dependent on words and other means of numerical expression. From the use of fingers and toes, a rude score or tally, knots on a string, or a simple abacus, the race advances to greater refinement of numerical expression and the employment of more and more accurate apparatus. One of the greatest contributors to this advance was the celebrated Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe (1546-1601). Before 1597 he had completed his great mural quadrant at the observatory of Uraniborg. He called it…

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Excerpt #5, from King’s Cutters and Smugglers 1700

…[4] A half-anker held 3-1/4 gallons. CHAPTER III THE GROWTH OF SMUGGLING About the middle of the eighteenth century the smuggling of tea into the country had reached such extensive limits that the revenue which ought to have been expected from this source was sinking instead of rising. In fact it came to this, that of all the tea that was consumed in this country not one half had paid duty and the rest was smuggled. The bands of smugglers were well financed, were themselves hardy sailors and skilful pilots. They had some of the best designed and best built cutters and luggers of that time. They were able to purchase from an almost inexhaustible market, and to make a quick passage to the English shores. Arrived there they could rely on both moral and physical support; for their friends were well mounted, well armed, and exceedingly numerous, so that ordinarily the cargo could be rapidly unshipped, and either hidden or run into the country with despatch. Not once, but times without number the smuggling cutters had evaded the Revenue cruisers at sea, showing them a clean pair of heels. With equal frequency had the Preventive men on land been outwitted, bribed, or overpowered. And inasmuch as the duties on the smuggled articles were high, had they passed through the Customs, so,…

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Excerpt #6, from Nonsense Novels, by Stephen Leacock

…Sally_, lying in dock at Gravesend, to fill the berth of second mate. Let me first say a word about myself. I was a tall, handsome young fellow, squarely and powerfully built, bronzed by the sun and the moon (and even copper-coloured in spots from the effect of the stars), and with a face in which honesty, intelligence, and exceptional brain power were combined with Christianity, simplicity, and modesty. As I stepped on the deck I could not help a slight feeling of triumph, as I caught sight of my sailor-like features reflected in a tar-barrel that stood beside the mast, while a little later I could scarcely repress a sense of gratification as I noticed them reflected again in a bucket of bilge water. “Welcome on board, Mr. Blowhard,” called out Captain Bilge, stepping out of the binnacle and shaking hands across the taffrail. Illustration: “Welcome on board, Mr. Blowhard” I saw before me a fine sailor-like man of from thirty to sixty, clean-shaven, except for an enormous pair of whiskers, a heavy beard, and a thick moustache, powerful in build, and carrying his beam well aft, in a pair of broad duck trousers across the back of which there would have been room to write a history of the British Navy. Beside him were the first and third mates, both of them being quiet men…

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Excerpt #7, from Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries

…drifted to 57° 23′ south. On the 11th of January, 1833, by carrying a press of sail, we fetched within a few miles of the great rugged mountain of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook, and the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian), when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and stand out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully on the coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff estimated at 200 feet in height. On the 12th the gale was very heavy, and we did not know exactly where we were: it was a most unpleasant sound to hear constantly repeated, “Keep a good lookout to leeward.” On the 13th the storm raged with its full fury: our horizon was narrowly limited by the sheets of spray borne by the wind. The sea looked ominous, like a dreary waving plain with patches of drifted snow: whilst the ship laboured heavily, the albatross glided with its expanded wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea broke over us, and filled one of the whale-boats, which was obliged to be instantly cut away. The poor Beagle trembled at the shock, and for a few minutes would not obey her helm; but soon, like a good ship that she was, she righted and came up to the wind again. Had another sea followed the first, our fate would have been decided soon, and for ever. We had now been twenty-four days trying in vain to get westward; the men were worn out with fatigue, and they had not had for many…

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Excerpt #8, from The Iliad of Homer (1873), by Homer

…valour and strength of hands. There standing, the goddess shouted both loudly and terribly, in Orthian strain, 360 to the Greeks, and implanted mighty strength in the heart of each, to war and fight incessantly. And immediately war became more sweet to them, than to return in the hollow ships to their dear fatherland. Then the son of Atreus shouted aloud, and ordered the Greeks to be girded; and arrayed himself, putting on his shining armour. First he put upon his legs his beautiful greaves, fitted with silver clasps; next he placed around his breast a corslet which Cinyras once gave him, to be a pledge of hospitality. For a great rumour was heard at Cyprus, that the Greeks were about to sail to Troy in ships: wherefore he gave him this, gratifying the king. Ten bars indeed [of the corslet] were of dark cyanus 361, twelve of gold, and twenty of tin; and three serpents of cyanus stretched towards the neck on each side, like unto rainbows, which the son of Saturn hath fixed in a cloud 362, a sign to articulate-speaking men. Then around his shoulders he hung his sword, on which glittered golden studs; and a silver scabbard enclosed it, fitted with golden rings. Next he took up his shield, mortal-covering 363, variously wrought, strong, beautiful, around which were ten brazen orbs. Upon it were twenty white bosses of tin, and in the midst was [one] of dark cyanus. On it a grim-visaged Gorgon was placed as an…

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Excerpt #9, from The Terror: A Mystery, by Arthur Machen

…are not places that were once magnificent. The Celts have never had the art of building, and so far as I can see, such towns as Towy and Merthyr Tegveth and Meiros must have been always much as they are now, clusters of poorish, meanly-built houses, ill-kept and down at heel. And these few towns are thinly scattered over a wild country where north is divided from south by a wilder mountain range. One of these places is sixteen miles from any station; the others are doubtfully and deviously connected by single-line railways served by rare trains that pause and stagger and hesitate on their slow journey up mountain passes, or stop for half an hour or more at lonely sheds called stations, situated in the midst of desolate marshes. A few years ago I traveled with an Irishman on one of these queer lines, and he looked to right and saw the bog with its yellow and blue grasses and stagnant pools, and he looked to left and saw a ragged hillside, set with gray stone walls. “I can hardly believe,” he said, “that I’m not still in the wilds of Ireland.” Here, then, one sees a wild and divided and scattered region a land of outland hills and secret and hidden valleys. I know white farms on this coast which must be separate by two hours of hard, rough walking from any other habitation, which are invisible from any other house. And inland, again, the farms are often ringed about by thick groves of ash, planted by men of old days to shelter their roof-trees from rude winds…

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Excerpt #10, from Around the World on a Bicycle Volume I, by Thomas Stevens

…about them, seemingly only too delighted at the chance of making the dust fly from the shoulders of such unfortunate wights as the pressure of the throng forces anywhere near the magic cause of the commotion. The time and place of starting have been proclaimed by the Vali and have become generally noised abroad, and near three thousand people are already assembled when we arrive; among them is seen the genial face of Suleiman Effendi, who, in his capacity of mayor, is early on the ground with a force of zaptiehs to maintain order; and with a little knot of friends, behold, is also our humble friend the Armenian pastor, the irresistible attractions of the wicked bicycle having temporarily overcome his contempt of the pomps and vanities of secular displays. “Englishmen are always punctual!” says Suleiman Effendi, looking at his watch; and, upon consulting our own, sure enough we have happened to arrive precisely to the minute. An individual named Mustapha, a blacksmith who has acquired an enviable reputation for skill on account of the beautiful horseshoes he turns out, now presents himself and begs leave to examine the mechanism of the bicycle, and the question arises among the officers standing by as to whether Mustapha would be able to make one; Mustapha himself thinks he could, providing he had mine always at hand to copy from. “Yes,” suggests the practical-minded Suleiman Effendi, "yes, Mustapha,…

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Excerpt #11, from Santa Fé’s Partner, by Thomas A. Janvier

…about desperate, he told Cherry afterwards; and what he wanted most was a chance to mash Hill’s fool head for putting him in such a lot of holes. “Of course he did, William,” said Hart’s aunt; “and I’m surprised you have to ask–seeing what an interest you take in the Society, and how you’ve helped it along. It was just lovely of you to give them all those goods out of your store to make up into clothes.” “That–that wasn’t anything to do,” Hart said. “What’s in the store comes with a big discount–same as melodeons. Sometimes I feel as if I was saving money giving things away.” “You can talk about your generosity just as you please, William,” she went on. "I think it’s noble of you. And Mr. Hill said that Mrs. Major Rogers–who keeps the Forest Queen Hotel, he said, and lets the Society have a room to meet in for nothing–said it was noble of you, too. I want to get to know Mrs. Major Rogers right off. She must be a very fine woman. She’s an officer’s widow, Mr. Hill says, and a real lady, for all she makes her living keeping a hotel out here on the frontier. If she’s a bit like that sweet-looking Mrs. Charles I know we’ll get along. I’m surprised, William, you’ve never told me what pleasant ladies live here. It must make all the difference in the world. Don’t you think it would do for me not to be formal, but just…

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Excerpt #12, from Let’s Get Together, by Isaac Asimov

…since." Lynn was disturbed. He wondered if his incredulity concerning the whole business were really the result of wounded pride and fear for his job and reputation. He was embarrassed by the possibility that this might be so, and yet he was forced into defense. He said, “Look, young man, the stalemate between Them and Us was never perfect in every detail, you know. They have always been ahead in one facet or another and We in some other facet or another. If They’re ahead of us right now in robotics, it’s because They’ve placed a greater proportion of Their effort into robotics than We have. And that means that some other branch of endeavor has received a greater share of Our efforts than it has of Theirs. It would mean We’re ahead in force-field research or in hyper-atomics, perhaps.” Lynn felt distressed at his own statement that the stalemate wasn’t perfect. It was true enough, but that was the one great danger threatening the world. The world depended on the stalemate being as perfect as possible. If the small unevennesses that always existed over-balanced too far in one direction or the other– Almost at the beginning of what had been the Cold War, both sides had developed thermonuclear weapons, and war became unthinkable. Competition switched from the military to the economic and…

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