Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:34

Excerpt #1, from Poirot Investigates, by Agatha Christie

…not so! The true clues are within—here!” He tapped his forehead. “See you, I need not have left London. It would have been sufficient for me to sit quietly in my rooms there. All that matters is the little grey cells within. Secretly and silently they do their part, until suddenly I call for a map, and I lay my finger on a spot—so—and I say: the Prime Minister is there! And it is so! With method and logic one can accomplish anything! This frantic rushing to France was a mistake—it is playing a child’s game of hide-and-seek. But now, though it may be too late, I will set to work the right way, from within. Silence, my friends, I beg of you.” And for five long hours the little man sat motionless, blinking his eyelids like a cat, his green eyes flickering and becoming steadily greener and greener. The Scotland Yard man was obviously contemptuous, Major Norman was bored and impatient, and I myself found the time pass with wearisome slowness. Finally, I got up, and strolled as noiselessly as I could to the window. The matter was becoming a farce. I was secretly concerned for my friend. If he failed, I would have preferred him to fail in a less ridiculous manner. Out of the window I idly watched the daily leave boat, belching forth columns of smoke, as she lay…

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Excerpt #2, from The Topaz Story Book: Stories and Legends of Autumn, Hallowe’en, and

…Featherhead, who was as different from all the other children of the Nutcracker family as if he had been dropped out of the moon into their nest. He was handsome enough, and had a lively disposition, but he was sulky and contrary and unreasonable. He found fault with everything his respectable papa and mama did. Instead of helping with up nuts and learning other lessons proper to a young squirrel,–he sneered at all the good old ways and customs of the Nutcracker Lodge, and said they were behind the times. To be sure he was always on hand at meal times, and played a very lively tooth on the nuts which his mother had collected, always selecting the best for himself. But he seasoned his nibbling with much grumbling and discontent. Papa Nutcracker would often lose his patience, and say something sharp to Featherhead, but Mamma Nutcracker would shed tears, and beg her darling boy to be a little more reasonable. While his parents, brothers, and sisters were cheerfully racing up and down the branches laying up stores for the winter, Featherhead sat apart, sulking and scolding. “Nobody understands me,” he grumbled. “Nobody treats me as I deserve to be treated. Surely I was born to be something of more importance than gathering a few chestnuts and hickory-nuts for the winter. I am an unusual squirrel.”…

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Excerpt #3, from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete, by Ulysses S. Grant

…thousand men. One division of these, Blair’s, only arrived in time to take part in the battle of Champion’s Hill, but was not engaged there; and one brigade, Ransom’s of McPherson’s corps, reached the field after the battle. The enemy had at Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Jackson, and on the roads between these places, over sixty thousand men. They were in their own country, where no rear guards were necessary. The country is admirable for defence, but difficult for the conduct of an offensive campaign. All their troops had to be met. We were fortunate, to say the least, in meeting them in detail: at Port Gibson seven or eight thousand; at Raymond, five thousand; at Jackson, from eight to eleven thousand; at Champion’s Hill, twenty-five thousand; at the Big Black, four thousand. A part of those met at Jackson were all that was left of those encountered at Raymond. They were beaten in detail by a force smaller than their own, upon their own ground. Our loss up to this time was: KILLED WOUNDED MISSING Port Gibson….. 131 719 25 South Fork Bayou Pierre….. .. 1 .. Skirmishes, May 3 ….. 1 9 .. Fourteen Mile Creek….. 6 24 .. Raymond…………… 66 339 39…

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Excerpt #4, from The Swedish Fairy Book, by Klara Stroebe, George Hood, and Frederick Herman Martens

…must rule the kingdom now in my stead, and I leave land and people in your care. But there is one thing you must promise me you will do: that you will guard the wild man securely so that he does not escape while I am away." The queen promised to do her best in all respects, and the king gave her the key to the cage. Thereupon he had his long galleys, his “sea-wolves,” push out from the shore, hoisted sail, and took his course far, far away to the other country. The king and queen had only one child, a prince who was still small; yet great in promise. Now when the king had gone, it chanced one day that the little fellow was wandering about the royal courtyard, and came to the wild man’s cage. And he began to play with an apple of gold he had. And while he was playing with it, it happened that suddenly the apple fell through the window in the wall of the cage. The wild man at once appeared and threw back the apple. This seemed a merry game to the little fellow: he threw the apple in again, and the wild man threw it out again, and thus they played for a long time. Yet for all the game had been so pleasant, it turned to sorrow in the end: for the wild man kept the apple of gold, and would not give it back again. And when all was of no avail, neither threats nor prayers, the little fellow at last began to weep. Then the wild man said: "Your father did ill to capture me, and you will never get your apple of…

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Excerpt #5, from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated, by Alexandre Dumas

…“Pray, Signor Pastrini,” asked Franz, “is not some execution appointed to take place today?” “Yes, your excellency; but if your reason for inquiry is that you may procure a window to view it from, you are much too late.” “Oh, no,” answered Franz, “I had no such intention; and even if I had felt a wish to witness the spectacle, I might have done so from Monte Pincio; could I not?” “Ah!” exclaimed mine host, “I did not think it likely your excellency would have chosen to mingle with such a rabble as are always collected on that hill, which, indeed, they consider as exclusively belonging to themselves.” “Very possibly I may not go,” answered Franz; “but in case I feel disposed, give me some particulars of today’s executions.” “What particulars would your excellency like to hear?” “Why, the number of persons condemned to suffer, their names, and description of the death they are to die.” “That happens just lucky, your excellency! Only a few minutes ago they brought me the tavolettas.” “What are they?” “Sort of wooden tablets hung up at the corners of streets the evening before an execution, on which is pasted up a paper containing the names…

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Excerpt #6, from The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing, by Joseph Triemens

…Main Landing Wheels–In an alighting gear, the wheels that take the chief shock in landing. Ornithopter–A dynamic flying machine of the heavier-than-air type, in which sustension is provided by the effect of reciprocating wing surfaces. Pylon–A tower to mark the course in aerial racing contests. Ribs–Supports for the fabric, made of ash or spruce and bent to the correct curves. Rudder–One or more steering planes are invariably fitted to practical machines to control the direction of flight. Superposed Planes–Arrangement of one plane over the other, as in the Wright, Voisin and Farman machines. Supplementary Planes (or surfaces)–Additional surfaces which are used for stabilization. Stabilizer–Any surface for automatically maintaining lateral or longitudinal balance. Struts–Fixtures used in biplane construction to maintain an equal distance between two planes. Skids–Long skates on which the machine can land in safety. Span–The distance from tip to tip of the main planes in a transverse direction to that of flight….

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Excerpt #7, from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin

…not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the general in fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the hussar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately enter the province for the purpose, which I shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sincerely and truly your friend and well-wisher, “B. Franklin.” I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be disbursed in advance-money to the waggon owners, etc.; but that sum being insufficient, I advanc’d upward of two hundred pounds more, and in two weeks the one hundred and fifty waggons, with two hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, were on their march for the camp. The advertisement promised payment according to the valuation, in case any waggon or horse should be lost. The owners, however, alleging they did not know General Braddock, or what dependence might be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the performance, which I accordingly gave them. While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the officers of Colonel Dunbar’s regiment, he represented to me his concern for the subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and could ill afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that might be necessary in so long a march, thro’ a wilderness, where nothing was to…

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Excerpt #8, from History of biology, by L. C. Miall

…form of a hollow sphere (the gastræa of modern embryology). There are, he says, no new formations in nature; all is conversion. When he comes to speak of the pharyngeal clefts of mammals and birds, recently discovered by Rathke, he remarks that their correspondence with the gill-clefts of fishes is obvious. We wonder what is coming next, but our curiosity is not gratified by any memorable deduction. Neither here nor in his miscellanies (Reden), published nearly fifty years later, does he admit that mammals and birds can have descended from gill-breathing vertebrates. If we are inclined to hint that Baer, having gone so far, might well have gone a little farther, it is only fair to recollect that every leader in science is more or less open to the same reproach. The Cell Theory. Any one of the higher animals or plants admits of analysis into organs, each adapted to one or more functions. Bichât (1801) showed that the body of one of the higher animals is not only a collection of organs, but also a collection of tissues, and the same is true of the higher plants. Analysis of the organism was carried a step further when in 1838-9 Schleiden and Schwann announced that all the higher animals and plants are made up of cells, which were at first supposed to consist in every case of a cell-wall, fluid contents, and…

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Excerpt #9, from The Iliad, by Homer

…Accords their vow, succeeds their enterprise. Now, like two lions panting for the prey, With dreadful thoughts they trace the dreary way, Through the black horrors of the ensanguined plain, Through dust, through blood, o’er arms, and hills of slain. Nor less bold Hector, and the sons of Troy, On high designs the wakeful hours employ; The assembled peers their lofty chief enclosed; Who thus the counsels of his breast proposed: “What glorious man, for high attempts prepared, Dares greatly venture for a rich reward? Of yonder fleet a bold discovery make, What watch they keep, and what resolves they take? If now subdued they meditate their flight, And, spent with toil, neglect the watch of night? His be the chariot that shall please him most, Of all the plunder of the vanquish’d host; His the fair steeds that all the rest excel, And his the glory to have served so well.” A youth there was among the tribes of Troy, Dolon his name, Eumedes’ only boy,…

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Excerpt #10, from The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers

…was moving toward me, and called out your name. Have you been trying the old spinet? You must have played very softly." I would tell a thousand more lies worse than that one to see the look of relief that came into her face. She smiled adorably, and said in her natural voice: “Alec, I tripped on that wolf’s head, and I think my ankle is sprained. Please call Marie, and then go home.” I did as she bade me, and left her there when the maid came in. III At noon next day when I called, I found Boris walking restlessly about his studio. “Geneviève is asleep just now,” he told me, “the sprain is nothing, but why should she have such a high fever? The doctor can’t account for it; or else he will not,” he muttered. “Geneviève has a fever?” I asked. “I should say so, and has actually been a little light-headed at intervals all night. The idea! gay little Geneviève, without a care in the world,–and she keeps saying her heart’s broken, and she wants to die!” My own heart stood still. Boris leaned against the door of his studio, looking down, his hands in his pockets, his kind, keen eyes clouded, a new line of trouble drawn…

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Excerpt #11, from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; the Art of Controversy, by Arthur Schopenhauer

…If you had a dog and wanted to make him fond of you, and fancied that of your hundred rare and excellent characteristics the mongrel would be sure to perceive one, and that that would be sufficient to make him devoted to you body and soul–if, I say, you fancied that, you would be a fool. Pat him, give him something to eat; and for the rest, be what you please: he will not in the least care, but will be your faithful and devoted dog. Now, believe me, it is just the same with men–exactly the same. As Goethe says, man or dog, it is a miserable wretch: Denn ein erbärmlicher Schuft, so wie der Mensch, ist der hund. If you ask why these contemptible fellows are so lucky, it is just because, in themselves and for themselves and to themselves, they are nothing at all. The value which they possess is merely comparative; they exist only for others; they are never more than means; they are never an end and object in themselves; they are mere bait, set to catch others.[1] I do not admit that this rule is susceptible of any exception, that is to say, complete exceptions. There are, it is true, men–though they are sufficiently rare–who enjoy some subjective moments; nay, there are perhaps some who for every hundred subjective moments enjoy a few that are objective; but a higher state of perfection scarcely ever occurs. But do not take yourself for an…

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Excerpt #12, from On War, by Carl von Clausewitz

…what troops, hardened by long practice in the field of danger, can do, when by a career of victory they have reached the noble principle of demanding from themselves their utmost efforts. In pure conception no one would believe it. On the other hand, it is well known that there are troops in the service of European Powers at the present moment who would easily be dispersed by a few cannon shots. But no empirical science, consequently also no theory of the Art of War, can always corroborate its truths by historical proof; it would also be, in some measure, difficult to support experience by single facts. If any means is once found efficacious in War, it is repeated; one nation copies another, the thing becomes the fashion, and in this manner it comes into use, supported by experience, and takes its place in theory, which contents itself with appealing to experience in general in order to show its origin, but not as a verification of its truth. But it is quite otherwise if experience is to be used in order to overthrow some means in use, to confirm what is doubtful, or introduce something new; then particular examples from history must be quoted as proofs. Now, if we consider closely the use of historical proofs, four points of view readily present themselves for the purpose….

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