Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:49

Excerpt #1, from The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English

…about sundown on a wild September day. The country, I have said, was mixed sand hill and links; links being a Scottish name for sand which has ceased drifting and become more or less solidly covered with turf. The pavilion stood on an even space: a little behind it, the wood began in a hedge of elders huddled together by the wind; in front, a few tumbled sand hills stood between it and the sea. An outcropping of rock had formed a bastion for the sand, so that there was here a promontory in the coast line between two shallow bays; and just beyond the tides, the rock again cropped out and formed an islet of small dimensions but strikingly designed. The quicksands were of great extent at low water, and had an infamous reputation in the country. Close in shore, between the islet and the promontory, it was said they would swallow a man in four minutes and a half; but there may have been little ground for this precision. The district was alive with rabbits, and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping about the pavilion. On summer days the outlook was bright and even gladsome; but at sundown in September, with a high wind, and a heavy surf rolling in close along the links, the place told of nothing but dead mariners and sea disaster. A ship beating to windward on the horizon, and a huge truncheon of wreck half buried in the sands at my feet, completed the innuendo of the scene. The pavilion–it had been built by the last proprietor, Northmour’s uncle,…

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Excerpt #2, 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 #3, from The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century, by Clarence Henry Haring

…side, were inconsistent and incompatible, and the colonists chose the better course of the two. In spite of the frequent trials and executions at Port Royal, the marauders seemed to be as numerous as ever, and even more troublesome. Private trade with the Spaniards was hindered; runaway servants, debtors and other men of unfortunate or desperate condition were still, by every new success of the buccaneers, drawn from the island to swell their ranks; and most of all, men who were now outlawed in Jamaica, driven to desperation turned pirate altogether, and began to wage war indiscriminately on the ships of all nationalities, including those of the English. Morgan repeatedly wrote home urging the dispatch of small frigates of light draught to coast round the island and surprise the freebooters, and he begged for orders for himself to go on board and command them, for “then I shall not much question,” he concludes, “to reduce them or in some time to leave them shipless.”[421] “The governor,” wrote the Council of Jamaica to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in May 1680, “can do little from want of ships to reduce the privateers, and of plain laws to punish them”; and they urged the ratification of the Act passed by the assembly two years before, making it felony for any British subject in the West Indies to serve under a foreign prince without leave from the governor.[422] This Act, and another for the more effectual punishment of pirates, had been under…

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Excerpt #4, from The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, by R. M. Ballantyne

…charming, pelucid, and inviting than ever, and Jack and I plunged into its depth, and gambolled among its radiant coral groves; while Peterkin wallowed at the surface, and tried occasionally to kick us as we passed below. Having dressed, I then hastened to the tank; but what was my surprise and grief to find nearly all the animals dead, and the water in a putrid condition! I was greatly distressed at this, and wondered what could be the cause of it. “Why, you precious humbug,” said Peterkin, coming up to me, “how could you expect it to be otherwise? When fishes are accustomed to live in the Pacific Ocean, how can you expect them to exist in a hole like that?” “Indeed, Peterkin,” I replied, “there seems to be truth in what you say. Nevertheless, now I think of it, there must be some error in your reasoning; for, if I put in but a few very small animals, they will bear the same proportion to this pond that the millions of fish bear to the ocean.” “I say, Jack,” cried Peterkin, waving his hand, “come here, like a good fellow. Ralph is actually talking philosophy. Do come to our assistance, for he’s out o’ sight beyond me already!” “What’s the matter?” inquired Jack, coming up, while he endeavoured to scrub his long hair dry with a towel of cocoa-nut cloth. I repeated my thoughts to Jack, who, I was happy to find, quite agreed…

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Excerpt #5, from The Chemistry of Plant Life, by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher

…of xanthone or flavone, known as oxyxanthones or oxyflavones. The sugars which are united to these nuclei vary greatly, so that there are a great variety of yellow, white, or colorless flavone or xanthone pigment compounds. These compounds are almost universally present in plants. For example, one typical set of examinations of the wood, bark, leaves, and flowers of over 240 different species of tropical plants showed that flavone derivatives were present in every sample which was tested, the pigments being usually located in the powdery coating of the epidermis of the tissues. The following typical examples will serve to illustrate the composition and properties of the glucosides of this type. =Quercitrin=, C_{21}H_{20}O_{11}, is found in oak bark, in the leaves of horse-chestnut, and in many other plants, often associated with other pigments. It is a brilliant yellow crystalline powder. Industrially, it ranks next to indigo and alizarin in importance as a natural dye stuff. It is a glucoside of rhamnose with 1,3,3’,4’, tetraoxyflavonol (i.e., the flavone nucleus with five OH groups replacing the hydrogens in the 1, 3, 5, 3’, and 4’ positions). =Quercetin=, C_{15}H_{10}O_{7}, which is the tetraoxyflavonol itself, without any sugar in combination with it, is found in the leaves of several species of tropical plants and in the bark of others. =Isoquercitrin=, C_{21}H_{20}O_{12}, is derived from the same…

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Excerpt #6, from Investigation of Communist Activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 1

…Mr. VELDE. It is not the purpose or intention of this committee, and I can very well speak for all of the members of the committee, to get you into a position where you are in contempt of Congress. I concur with Mr. Moulder in his statement a few moments ago. I think that you do have a problem. I think that you are confused about the situation. Nevertheless, you do have, in my opinion, some information which would be valuable to this committee. At the same time you could clear your own conscience, so to speak, if you would give us the benefit of the information you have regarding your Communist Party connections. So I am going to ask, Mr. Chairman, that the witness be excused and be given a chance to consult with his attorney and think the proposition over, and possibly he may decide to return and give us the information which we believe he has. Mr. MOULDER. I think that is a splendid suggestion Mr. Velde has made. You will be excused until tomorrow morning. You think this over, and in the meantime, if you wish to talk to any of the investigators or counsel or any member of the committee, we would be happy to talk to you. Give it serious thought. You will be excused until 9 o’clock in the morning….

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Excerpt #7, 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 #8, from The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells

…these things to him! And even of what he knew, how much could he make his untravelled friend either apprehend or believe? Then, think how narrow the gap between a negro and a white man of our own times, and how wide the interval between myself and these of the Golden Age! I was sensible of much which was unseen, and which contributed to my comfort; but save for a general impression of automatic organisation, I fear I can convey very little of the difference to your mind. “In the matter of sepulture, for instance, I could see no signs of crematoria nor anything suggestive of tombs. But it occurred to me that, possibly, there might be cemeteries (or crematoria) somewhere beyond the range of my explorings. This, again, was a question I deliberately put to myself, and my curiosity was at first entirely defeated upon the point. The thing puzzled me, and I was led to make a further remark, which puzzled me still more: that aged and infirm among this people there were none. “I must confess that my satisfaction with my first theories of an automatic civilisation and a decadent humanity did not long endure. Yet I could think of no other. Let me put my difficulties. The several big palaces I had explored were mere living places, great dining-halls and sleeping apartments. I could find no machinery, no appliances of any kind. Yet these people were clothed in pleasant fabrics that must at…

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Excerpt #9, from Tales of the Samurai, by Asataro Miyamori

…“Still in your lord’s service? I am glad of that; it removes a great weight from my mind. It is to see this same Nagai, the murderer of my father, that I have covered so many miles. You will oblige me by bringing him before me without delay.” “My lord, I venture to suggest that you send for him after your interview with Lord Tokugawa.” “That can wait. I desire to see this Nagai first. If you refuse, it only remains for me to leave Yedo at once without paying my respects to his lordship. I have spoken.” There was no doubting that Terumasa meant what he said. There was nothing for it but to apprise their master of what had happened in spite of their precautions, and to leave the matter to his judgment. Sakai Saemon bowed low as he said:— “My lord, deign to wait a few minutes. I will oblige you with all speed.” “No equivocation, mind. Beware how you play with me!” Sakai withdrew, his three friends having already disappeared. Terumasa smiled grimly to himself. Nothing was lost upon him. The four retainers hastened to their lord’s chamber. He looked up as they entered and asked pleasantly:— “Well, he has arrived?”…

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Excerpt #10, from The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

…breath. Then she crept across the room, and as she drew nearer the light attracted the boy’s attention and he turned his head on his pillow and stared at her, his gray eyes opening so wide that they seemed immense. [Illustration: “‘WHO ARE YOU?–ARE YOU A GHOST?’”–Page 157] “Who are you?” he said at last in a half-frightened whisper. “Are you a ghost?” “No, I am not,” Mary answered, her own whisper sounding half frightened. “Are you one?” He stared and stared and stared. Mary could not help noticing what strange eyes he had. They were agate gray and they looked too big for his face because they had black lashes all round them. “No,” he replied after waiting a moment or so. “I am Colin.” “Who is Colin?” she faltered. “I am Colin Craven. Who are you?” “I am Mary Lennox. Mr. Craven is my uncle.” “He is my father,” said the boy. “Your father!” gasped Mary. “No one ever told me he had a boy! Why didn’t they?” “Come here,” he said, still keeping his strange eyes fixed on her with an anxious expression….

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Excerpt #11, from The Republic of Plato, by Plato

…individuals who compose them; because there may be tendencies in individuals which react upon one another. A whole nation may be wiser than any one man in it; or may be animated by some common opinion or feeling which could not equally have affected the mind of a single person, or may have been inspired by a leader of genius to perform acts more than human. Plato does not appear to have analysed the complications which arise out of the collective action of mankind. Neither is he capable of seeing that analogies, though specious as arguments, may often have no foundation in fact, or of distinguishing between what is intelligible or vividly present to the mind, and what is true. In this respect he is far below Aristotle, who is comparatively seldom imposed upon by false analogies. He cannot disentangle the arts from the virtues–at least he is always arguing from one to the other. His notion of music is transferred from harmony of sounds to harmony of life: in this he is assisted by the ambiguities of language as well as by the prevalence of Pythagorean notions. And having once assimilated the state to the individual, he imagines that he will find the succession of states paralleled in the lives of individuals. Still, through this fallacious medium, a real enlargement of ideas is attained. When the virtues as yet presented no distinct conception to the mind, a great advance was made by the comparison of them with the arts; for virtue is partly art, and has an outward form as well as an inward…

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Excerpt #12, from Radio Active Substances, by Marie Curie

…similar circumstances. This fact may be explained by assuming that the radio-active energy is stored in liquids in exactly the same form as in gases (in the form of an emanation). A solution of a radium salt behaves in a somewhat similar manner. At first, it is a remarkable fact that the solution of a radium salt placed for some time in a confined space is no more active than pure water placed in a vessel in the same enclosure, when the equilibrium of activity is established. If the radium solution be removed from the enclosure and left standing in the air in a wide-necked vessel, the activity spreads itself into space, and the solution becomes nearly inactive, though still containing radium. If this solution be now enclosed in a stoppered flask, it gradually regains, in about a fortnight, a maximum of activity, which may be considerable. On the other hand, a liquid made active, but not containing radium, does not regain its activity in a closed flask after having been exposed to the atmosphere. Theory of Radio-activity. The following is, according to MM. Curie and Debierne, a very general theory which allows of the co-ordination of the results of the investigation of induced radio-activity, which results I have just stated, and which constitute facts apart from any hypothesis….

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