Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:04

Excerpt #1, from Stage Coach and Tavern Days, by Alice Morse Earle

…Willard should attend the housewarming. When the hour of starting arrived, it was found that Willard had not for years owned a hat. Two streets away from the City Hall would have been to him a strange city, in which he could be lost. Jennings was purveyor and attended to all matters of the dining room, as well as relations with the external world. Both hosts had the perfect memory of faces, names, and details, which often is an accompaniment of the successful landlord. These two men were types of the old-fashioned Boniface. [Illustration: City Hotel.] In the early half of the eighteenth century the genteel New York tavern was that of Robert Todd, vintner. It was in Smith (now William) Street between Pine and Cedar, near the Old Dutch Church. The house was known by the sign of the Black Horse. Concerts, dinners, receptions, and balls took place within its elegant walls. On the evening of January 19, 1736, a ball was therein given in honor of the Prince of Wales’s birthday. The healths of the Royal Family, the Governor, and Council had been pledged loyally and often at the fort through the day, and “the very great appearance of ladies and gentlemen and an elegant entertainment” at the ball fitly ended the celebration. The ladies were said to be “magnificent.” The ball opened with French dances and then proceeded to country dances, "upon which Mrs. Morris led up to two new country dances made upon the occasion, the first…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Blue Raider: A Tale of Adventure in the Southern Seas, by Herbert Strang

…a few more, and we took ’em by surprise, d’ ye see? Things will be different if all them Germans come up together; the odds ain’t even, Ephraim.’ ’True. I can bear ye out in that, Mr. Grinson. I don’t hold with fighting–not with guns.’ ’No more do I, ’cos I never shot a gun in my life. But this ’ere truncheon of old ugly mug’s is as good as a gun, if it gets a chance; which I mean to say firing off guns ain’t fighting at all, to my way of thinking. Darbies or sticks–that ’s all right; the best man wins; but with guns–why, any little mean feller as would give you best if you looked at him may do you in from a distance, hiding behind a haystack, p’r’aps, or up a tree. No, Ephraim, that ain’t fighting, not by a long chalk.’ ’And have you made your own will, Mr. Grinson?’ ’No, I ain’t, and I ’m sorry for you, me lad, for I meant to leave you my old parrot as sits on his perch in Mother Perkins’s parlour. You remember Mother Perkins, what said she ’d be glad to mind the bird, ’cos his language was so beautiful and reminded her of me?’ ’Ah! I wish I could speak like you, Mr. Grinson, but there–I never could do it, not if I tried ever so. But you don’t think you ’re going to be killed?’…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from On the Anzac trail: Being extracts from the diary of a New Zealand sapper, by Anzac

…failed to get it. Notice posted that British warships have forced the Narrows and are in the Sea of Marmora. This should hasten the end. Hope so, as we are all fed up with sticking to the trenches here. Rumoured that the Russians are in the Bosphorus: don’t believe it. Heavy, distant cannonade last two days and nights. Fleet, I suppose. As I write hardly a shot being fired. Arm still queer. Got a short rifle to-day in place of the old long one I selected. (Prefer long rifle for good shooting, sniping, etc., but short one better for the trenches.) There is a history attached to the one I have now. It was picked up just outside a new sap by one of our chaps, and when found the bayonet was fixed and a single shot had been fired, the cartridge case still remaining in the breech. A dead Australian was lying beside it. Memorable event: had a shave to-day, the first since leaving the transport. The razor was a borrowed one; my beard was like a mop. Both suffered. Was detailed as one of party sent to supervise infantry digging trenches. Went out at 8 p.m. and came off at midnight. Did nothing but lie about and get miserably cold, as I had no greatcoat with me. Infantry made another attack on position they captured last Sunday and retired from. Carried it again—and again retired, owing, it is said, to lack of reinforcements at the critical moment. Truth is, it…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from History for ready reference, Volume 3 (of 6), Greece to Nibelungen, by J. N. Larned

…the citadels of Stenay and Jametz. … This treaty made little change in the condition of affairs. Charles continued to act in hostility to the Swedes, to assist Gaston [Duke of Orleans, the rebellious and troublesome brother of Louis XIII., who had married Margaret of Lorraine, the Duke’s sister], and in every way to violate the conditions of the treaty he had made. He seethed resolved to complete his own ruin, and he did not have to wait long for its accomplishment. In 1633 Louis a second time invaded Lorraine, and the Swedes, in return for the duke’s hostility to them, also entered the province. Charles’ forces were scattered and he was helpless, but he was as false as he was weak. He promised to surrender his sister Margaret, and he allowed her to escape. He sent his brother to make a treaty and then refused to ratify it. At last, he made the most disadvantageous treaty that was possible, and surrendered his capital, Nancy, the most strongly-fortified city of Lorraine, into Louis’ possession until all difficulties should be settled between the king and the duke, which, as Richelieu said, might take till eternity. In January, 1634, Charles pursued his eccentric career by granting all his rights in the duchy to his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine. The new duke…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from Astrology: How to Make and Read Your Own Horoscope, by Sepharial

…3 59 36| 2| 10| 12| 8 49| ♎| 27| 6 8 43| 2| 8| 8| 1 33| 26| 26 4 3 48| 3| 10| 13| 9 33| 1| 28| 6 13 5| 3| 9| 9| 2 19| 27| 27 4 8 0| 4| 11| 14|10 17| 2| 29| 6 17 26| 4| 10| 10| 3 5| 27| 28 ——–+—+—+—+——-+—+—|——–+—+—+—+——+—+— 4 12 13| 5| 12| 15|11 2| 2| ♏| 6 21 48| 5| 11| 10| 3 51| 28| 29 4 16 26| 6| 13| 16|11 46| 3| 1| 6 26 9| 6| 12| 11| 4 37| 29| ♐ 4 20 40| 7| 14| 17|12 30| 4| 2| 6 30 30| 7| 13| 12| 5 23| ♏| 1 4 24 55| 8| 15| 17|13 15| 5| 3| 6 34 51| 8| 14| 13| 6 9| 1| 2 4 29 10| 9| 16| 18|14 0| 6| 4| 6 39 11| 9| 15| 14| 6 55| 2| 3 ——–+—+—+—+——-+—+—|——–+—+—+—+——+—+— 4 33 26| 10| 17| 19|14 45| 7| 5| 6 43 31| 10| 16| 15| 7 40| 2| 4 4 37 42| 11| 18| 20|15 30| 8| 6| 6 47 51| 11| 16| 16| 8 26| 3| 4 4 41 59| 12| 19| 21|16 15| 8| 7| 6 52 11| 12| 17| 16| 9 12| 4| 5 4 46 16| 13| 20| 21|17 0| 9| 8| 6 56 31| 13| 18| 17| 9 58| 5| 6 4 50 34| 14| 21| 22|17 45| 10| 9| 7 0 50| 14| 19| 18|10 43| 6| 7 ——–+—+—+—+——-+—+—|——–+—+—+—+——+—+— 4 54 52| 15| 22| 23|18 30| 11| 10| 7 5 8| 15| 20| 19|11 28| 7| 8 4 59 10| 16| 23| 24|19 16| 12| 11| 7 9 26| 16| 21| 20|12 14| 8| 9 5 3 29| 17| 24| 25|20 3| 13| 12| 7 13 44| 17| 22| 21|12 59| 8| 10 5 7 49| 18| 25| 26|20 49| 14| 13| 7 18 1| 18| 23| 22|13 45| 9| 11 5 12 9| 19| 25| 27|21 35| 14| 14| 7 22 18| 19| 24| 23|14 30| 10| 12…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from Legends of the City of Mexico, by Thomas A. Janvier

…and the heavy carrying; all the quarries around the City he crammed full of stone-cutters; every mason was set to work at wall-laying; every carpenter to making the doors and the windows; every brick-yard to making the tiles for the roof and the floors; every blacksmith to making the locks and the hinges and the window-gratings and the balcony rails. And in the midst of his swarms of laborers Don Juan himself worked harder than all of them put together; and was everywhere at once among them urging them to hurry and to hurry; and to any one of them who showed even the slightest sign of lagging there came from Don Juan’s mouth a berating volleying of scorpions and snakes and toads! In very truth, Señor, such was Don Juan’s raging energy that he was as a frenzied person. But it was a frenzy that had no real madness in it: because everything that he did and that he made to be done was directed by a most sensible discretion–so that not a moment of time nor the turn of a hand was wasted, and in every single instant the building grew and grew. And the upshot of it all was that he accomplished just what he had made his whole soul up he would accomplish: within the six months that Doña Sara had given him to do his work in, he did do it–and even with a little time to spare. Three full days before the last of his six months was ended the Aduana was…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, 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…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, by Surendranath Dasgupta

…40. Always perfectly meditate on (turn your thoughts to) kindness, pity, joy and indifference; then if you do not obtain a higher degree you (certainly) will obtain the happiness of Brahman’s world (brahmavihâra). 41. By the four dhyânas completely abandoning desire (kâma), reflection (vicâra), joy (prîti), and happiness and pain (sukha, du@hkha_) you will obtain as fruit the lot of a Brahman. 49. If you say “I am not the form, you thereby will understand I am not endowed with form, I do not dwell in form, the form does not dwell in me; and in like manner you will understand the voidness of the other four aggregates.” 50. The aggregates do not arise from desire, nor from time, nor from __________________________________________________________________ [Footnote 1: See _Mâdhyamikav@rtti_ (B.T.S.), p. 160.] 145 nature (_prak@rti_), not from themselves (svabhâvât), nor from the Lord (îs’vara), nor yet are they without cause; know that they arise from ignorance (avidyâ) and desire (_t@r@s@nâ_). 51. Know that attachment to religious ceremonies (s’îlabrataparâmars’a), wrong views (_mithyâd@r@s@ti_) and doubt (vicikitsâ) are the three fetters. 53. Steadily instruct yourself (more and more) in the highest morality,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The Story of Sir Francis Drake, by Letitia MacColl Elton

…a thousand deaths.” After taking the Communion and listening to a sermon, they eased the ship by casting goods into the sea–“three ton of cloves, eight big guns, and certain meal and beans”; making, as an old writer says, a kind of gruel of the sea round about. After they had been in this state from eight o’clock at night till four o’clock next afternoon, all in a moment the wind changed, and “the happy gale drove them off the rocks again, and made of them glad men.” The rest of the homeward voyage was less adventurous, and on the 18th of June they passed the Cape of Good Hope, “a most stately thing, and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.” On the 26th of September they “safely, and with joyful minds and thankful hearts, arrived at Plymouth, having been away three years.” CHAPTER IX SIR FRANCIS It was in the autumn of 1580 that Drake returned from his three years’ voyage. Wynter had brought the news home that Drake had entered the Straits of Magellan, but since then only vague rumours of his death at the hands of the Spaniards had reached England. Had he met such a fate, Sir William Cecil (now Lord Burghley) and his party at Court would not have been sorry; for they disliked piracy, and wished to avoid a war…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Remarks, by Bill Nye

…hotel. Had I gone to New York City and hunted up the gentlemanly bunko man and the Wall street dealer in lamb’s pelts, as my better judgment prompted, I might have returned with funds. Now I am almost insolvent. I begin life again with great sorrow, and the same old Texas steer with which I went into the cattle industry five years ago.” But why should we, here in the West, take readily to all other institutions common to the cultured East and ignore the forefather industry? I now make this public announcement, and will stick to it, viz: I will be one of ten full-blooded American citizens to establish a branch forefather’s lodge in the West, with a separate fund set aside for the benefit of forefathers who are no longer young. Forefathers are just as apt to become old and helpless as anyone else. Young men who contemplate becoming forefathers should remember this. In Acknowledgement. To The Metropolitan Guide Publishing Co., New York. Gentlemen.–I received the copy of your justly celebrated “Guide to rapid Affluence, or How to Acquire Wealth Without Mental Exertion,” price twenty-five cents. It is a great boon. I have now had this book sixteen weeks, and, as I am wealthy enough, I return it. It is not much worn, and if you will allow me fifteen cents for it, I would be very grateful. It is not the intrinsic value of the fifteen…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

…flanked us on either side. Every one but myself—men, women, and children—were heavily armed, and at the tail of each chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own beast following closely behind ours; in fact, the faithful creature never left me voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent on Mars. Our way led out across the little valley before the city, through the hills, and down into the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on my journey from the incubator to the plaza. The incubator, as it proved, was the terminal point of our journey this day, and, as the entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we reached the level expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal. On reaching it the chariots were parked with military precision on the four sides of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed by the enormous chieftain, and including Tars Tarkas and several other lesser chiefs, dismounted and advanced toward it. I could see Tars Tarkas explaining something to the principal chieftain, whose name, by the way, was, as nearly as I can translate it into English, Lorquas Ptomel, Jed; jed being his title. I was soon appraised of the subject of their conversation, as, calling to Sola, Tars Tarkas signed for her to send me to him. I had by this time mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian conditions, and…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from With Lawrence in Arabia, by Lowell Thomas

…wild war-dance until the witching hour. The members of the Turkish garrison were so frightened by this bold demonstration that they locked themselves in their barracks! After the celebration, Lawrence and his companion left Kerak and returned to Akaba. The result of this unimportant little episode was that two thousand more Turkish troops were withdrawn from the forces opposing Allenby in Palestine and sent down to Kerak. Lawrence had attained the two objects that he had in mind in making this extended and adventurous tour of enemy territory: he had spread broadcast propaganda for the cause of Arabian nationalism among the tribes that were still under Turkish jurisdiction, and he had obtained information enough to fill a book regarding the plans of the German High Command. He went over the territory behind the Turkish lines so thoroughly that during the final drive of the campaign he knew that part of the country almost as intimately as the Turks themselves. CHAPTER XXII THE GREATEST HOAX SINCE THE TROJAN HORSE With the capture of the ancient seaport of Akaba, which transformed the Shereefian revolt into an invasion of Syria, and with the official recognition of the Hedjaz army as the right wing of Allenby’s forces, it became imperative that all Lawrence’s movements…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net