Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:12

Excerpt #1, from Legends of the Gods, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

…III. THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS. The original text of this very interesting legend is written in the hieratic character on a papyrus preserved at Turin, and was published by Pleyte and Rossi in their Corpus of Turin Papyri.[FN#16] French and German translations of it were published by Lefebure,[FN#17] and Wiedemann[FN#18] respectively, and summaries of its contents were given by Erman[FN#19] and Maspero.[FN#20] A transcript of the hieratic text into hieroglyphics, with transliteration and translation, was published by me in 1895.[FN#21] [FN#16] Papyrus de Turin, pll. 31, 77, 131-138. [FN#17] A. Z., 1883, p. 27 ff. [FN#18] Die Religion, p. 29. [FN#19] Aegypten, p. 359 ff. [FN#20] Les Origines, V. 162-4. [FN#21] First Steps in Egyptian, p. 241 ff. It has already been seen that the god Ra, when retiring from the government of this world, took steps through Thoth to supply mankind with words of power and spells with which to protect themselves against the bites of serpents and other noxious reptiles. The legend of the Destruction of Mankind affords no explanation of this remarkable fact,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Murder on the Links, by Agatha Christie

…“It is to me incredible that the servants heard nothing. The creaking of that staircase, with three__ people descending it, would awaken the dead!” “It was the middle of the night, remember. They were sound asleep by then.” But Poirot continued to shake his head as though not fully accepting the explanation. On the sweep of the drive, he paused, looking up at the house. “What moved them in the first place to try if the front door were open? It was a most unlikely thing that it should be. It was far more probable that they should at once try to force a window.” “But all the windows on the ground floor are barred with iron shutters,” objected the commissary. Poirot pointed to a window on the first floor. “That is the window of the bedroom we have just come from, is it not? And see—there is a tree by which it would be the easiest thing in the world to mount.” “Possibly,” admitted the other. “But they could not have done so without leaving footprints in the flower-bed.” I saw the justice of his words. There were two large oval flower-beds planted with scarlet geraniums, one each side of the steps leading up…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from The Reign of Greed, by José Rizal

…take the property away from him. But the local judges and those at the capital, warned by the experience of one of their number who had been summarily dismissed, dared not give him the decision, fearing their own dismissal. Yet they were not really bad men, those judges, they were upright and conscientious, good citizens, excellent fathers, dutiful sons–and they were able to appreciate poor Tales’ situation better than Tales himself could. Many of them were versed in the scientific and historical basis of property, they knew that the friars by their own statutes could not own property, but they also knew that to come from far across the sea with an appointment secured with great difficulty, to undertake the duties of the position with the best intentions, and now to lose it because an Indian fancied that justice had to be done on earth as in heaven–that surely was an idea! They had their families and greater needs surely than that Indian: one had a mother to provide for, and what duty is more sacred than that of caring for a mother? Another had sisters, all of marriageable age; that other there had many little children who expected their daily bread and who, like fledglings in a nest, would surely die of hunger the day he was out of a job; even the very least of them had there, far away, a wife who would be in distress if the monthly remittance…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from Why Men Fight: A method of abolishing the international duel, by Bertrand Russell

…And when the means of offense exist, even though their original purpose may have been defensive, the temptation to use them is likely, sooner or later, to prove overwhelming. In this way the very measures which promoted security within the borders of the State promote insecurity elsewhere. It is of the essence of the State to suppress violence within and to facilitate it without. The State makes an entirely artificial division of mankind and of our duties toward them: towards one group we are bound by the law, towards the other only by the prudence of highwaymen. The State is rendered evil by its exclusions, and by the fact that, whenever it embarks upon aggressive war, it becomes a combination of men for murder and robbery. The present system is irrational, since external and internal anarchy must be both right or both wrong. It is supported because, so long as others adopt it, it is thought the only road to safety, and because it secures the pleasures of triumph and dominion, which cannot be obtained in a good community. If these pleasures were no longer sought, or no longer possible to obtain, the problem of securing safety from invasion would not be difficult. Apart from war, the modern great State is harmful from its vastness and the resulting sense of individual helplessness. The citizen who is out of sympathy with the aims of the State, unless he is a man of very…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from The Open Boat and Other Stories, by Stephen Crane

…a voice as it came over the waves, and it was sadder than the end. There was a long, loud swishing astern of the boat, and a gleaming trail of phosphorescence, like blue flame, was furrowed on the black waters. It might have been made by a monstrous knife. Then there came a stillness, while the correspondent breathed with the open mouth and looked at the sea. Suddenly there was another swish and another long flash of bluish light, and this time it was alongside the boat, and might almost have been reached with an oar. The correspondent saw an enormous fin speed like a shadow through the water, hurling the crystalline spray and leaving the long glowing trail. The correspondent looked over his shoulder at the captain. His face was hidden, and he seemed to be asleep. He looked at the babes of the sea. They certainly were asleep. So, being bereft of sympathy, he leaned a little way to one side and swore softly into the sea. But the thing did not then leave the vicinity of the boat. Ahead or astern, on one side or the other, at intervals long or short, fled the long sparkling streak, and there was to be heard the whiroo of the dark fin. The speed and power of the thing was greatly to be admired. It cut the water like a gigantic and keen projectile. The presence of this biding thing did not affect the man with the same…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

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….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from Esperanto Self

…Have you your | Ĉu vi havas vian | choo vee ha’vahss passport? | pasporton? | veeahn pahsport’ohn? Will you examine | Ĉu vi vizitos tiun ĉi | choo vee veezee’tohs this trunk? | kofron? | tee’oon chee | | ko’frohn? Here are the keys | Jen la ŝlosiloj | yehn la shlo-see’loy Open it | Malfermu ĝin | mahl-fehr’moo jeen Unlock this box | Malfermu tiun ĉi | mahl-fehr’moo tee’oo | skatolon | chee skahtoh’lohn Can I remove it? | Ĉu mi povas nun | choo mee po’vahss noon | forporti ĝin? | forport’ee jeen? Have you anything | Ĉu vi havas ion | choo vee hah’vahss to declare? | deklarindan? | ee’ohn | | dehklarin’dahn? I have nothing | Mi havas nenion | mee hah’vahss liable to duty | deklarindan | nehnee’ohn | | dehklarin’dahn Have you any | Ĉu vi havas tabakon aŭ | choo vee ha’vahss tobacco or | cigarojn? | tahbah’kohn ahw cigars? | | tsee-gah’royn? I have a few | _Mi havas kelkajn | mee ha’vahss kehl’kahyn…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts, by Frank Richard Stockton

…fellow-citizens, every able-bodied man in the town would have enlisted in the expedition. But they had no vessels of war, and they were not even in a position to arm any of the merchantmen in the harbor. It seemed to the Governor and his council that there was nothing for them to do but to submit to the demands of Blackbeard, for they very well knew that he was a scoundrel who would keep his word, and also that whatever they did must be done quickly, for there were the three swaggering pirates in the town, strutting about the streets as if they owned the place. If this continued much longer, it would be impossible to keep the infuriated citizens from falling upon these blustering rascals and bringing their impertinence to a summary end. If this should happen, it would be a terrible thing, for not only would Mr. Wragg and his companions be put to death, but the pirates would undoubtedly attack the town, which was in a very poor position for defence. Consequently the drugs were collected with all possible haste, and Mr. Marks and the pirates were sent with them to Blackbeard. We do not know whether or not that bedizened cutthroat was satisfied with the way things turned out; for having had the idea of going to Charles Town and obliging the prisoners to help him confiscate the drugs and chemicals, he may have preferred this unusual proceeding to a more commonplace transaction; but as the medicine had arrived he accepted it, and having…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2, by William Patten

…suggestion that your daughter is already a woman and needs a father’s care, if she is ever to receive it. I beseech you to impress this subject upon the Judge. His estates can not be more precious to his heart, if he is a man of honor; nay, what is better than honor, his duty requires him to come to the side of these children, though he be ever so constrained by business or pleasure to attend to more worldly concerns." “The Judge,” exclaimed Mrs. Basil, much miffed, “is a man of hereditary ijees, Colonel Reybold. He is now in pursuit of the–ahem!–the Kinvas-back on his ancestral waters. If he should hear that you suggest a pacific life and the groveling associations of the capital for him, he might call you out, sir!” Reybold said no more; but one evening when Mrs. Basil was absent, called across the Potomac, as happened frequently, at the summons of the Judge–and on such occasions she generally requested a temporary loan or a slight advance of board–Reybold found Joyce Basil in the little parlor of the dwelling. She was alone and in tears, but the little boy Uriel slept before the chimney-fire on a rug, and his pale, thin face, catching the glow of the burning wood, looked beautified as Reybold addressed the young woman. “Miss Joyce,” he said, "our little brother works too hard. Is there…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from 13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison, by John Alan Lyde Caunter

…behind to be brought up by a miniature railway train especially constructed for the purpose of supplying the prison camps. The camp with several others, as we found out afterwards, was situated on the Lüneburg Heide, some eight miles east-north-east of the town of Schwarmstedt and five or six miles on the Berlin side of the river Aller. Crossing the river and leaving the valley through which it flowed, we quickly entered a wild tract of country, through which the only road was a rough cart track. The soil was peaty with a deep layer of sand and black dust on the top of it. For the first two or three miles we passed through several very fine pine forests interspersed with young plantations and rough scrub. This type of country gave way to a flat marshy-looking area covered with rank vegetation and stunted fir-trees. Streams and ditches cut up the land, and it struck one as being a very wet place even in the summer, in winter it would probably be a swamp. At last we reached the camp and found ourselves looking at a collection of wooden huts with tarred felt roofs, surrounded by a barbed wire fence, seemingly planted at random in the midst of the wildness. CHAPTER III…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, by Stephen Leacock

…over everybody. Some people sought it at the seaside, where nature had thrown out her broad plank walks and her long piers and her vaudeville shows. Others sought it in the heart of the country, where nature had spread her oiled motor roads and her wayside inns. Others, like the Newberrys, preferred to “rough it” in country residences of their own. Some of the people, as already said, went for business reasons, to avoid the suspicion of having to work all the year round. Others went to Europe to avoid the reproach of living always in America. Others, perhaps most people, went for medical reasons, being sent away by their doctors. Not that they were ill; but the doctors of Plutoria Avenue, such as Doctor Slyder, always preferred to send all their patients out of town during the summer months. No well-to-do doctor cares to be bothered with them. And of course patients, even when they are anxious to go anywhere on their own account, much prefer to be sent there by their doctor. “My dear madam,” Dr. Slyder would say to a lady who, as he knew, was most anxious to go to Virginia, “there’s really nothing I can do for you.” Here he spoke the truth. “It’s not a case of treatment. It’s simply a matter of dropping everything and going away. Now why don’t you go for a month or two to some quiet place, where you will simply do nothing?” (She never, as he knew, did anything, anyway.) "What do…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

…average life of sixty years. Any apparent insurrection of bodily or cerebral cells toward Emperor Soul, manifesting as disease or depression, is due to no disloyalty among the humble citizens, but to past or present misuse by man of his individuality or free will, given to him simultaneous with a soul, and revocable never. Identifying himself with a shallow ego, man takes for granted that it is he who thinks, wills, feels, digests meals, and keeps himself alive, never admitting through reflection (only a little would suffice!) that in his ordinary life he is naught but a puppet of past actions (karma) and of nature or environment. Each man’s intellectual reactions, feelings, moods, and habits are circumscribed by effects of past causes, whether of this or a prior life. Lofty above such influences, however, is his regal soul. Spurning the transitory truths and freedoms, the KRIYA YOGI passes beyond all disillusionment into his unfettered Being. All scriptures declare man to be not a corruptible body, but a living soul; by KRIYA he is given a method to prove the scriptural truth. “Outward ritual cannot destroy ignorance, because they are not mutually contradictory,” wrote Shankara in his famous CENTURY OF VERSES. "Realized knowledge alone destroys ignorance. . . . Knowledge cannot spring up by any other means than inquiry. ’Who am I? How…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net