Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

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Excerpt #1, from Astounding Stories of Super

…mid-air not twenty feet from where he stood. The jawlike pincers on it held the limp form of an officer in its sucking grip, while above, in a protuberance like a gnarled horn, a great eye glared into Thorpe’s with devilish hatred. The beak opened sharply to drop its unconscious burden upon the deck, and the watching man, petrified with horror, saw within the gaping maw great sucking discs and beyond them a brilliant glow. The whole cavernous pit was aflame with phosphorescent light. Dimly he knew that this light explained the ability of the beastly arms to grope so surely in the dark. The eye narrowed as the gaping, fleshy jaws distended, and Robert Thorpe, in a flash that galvanized him to action, was aware that his fight for life was on. He fired blindly from the hip, and the recoil of the heavy gun almost tore it from his hands. But he knew he had aimed true, and the toothless, seeking jaws whipped in agony back into the sea. There were other arms whose eyes were searching the stern of the yacht. Thorpe plunged frenziedly down a companionway for the cabin he knew was Ruth Allaire’s. Was he in time? Could he save her if he found her? His mind was in a turmoil of half-formed plans as he rushed madly down the corridor to find the body of the girl a limp huddle across…

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Excerpt #2, from The Iliad of Homer (1873), by Homer

…and brandishing his sharp spear, went in all directions through the army, exhorting the battle; and he stirred up a grievous conflict. The Trojans rallied and stood against the Greeks; but the Greeks stood in close array, withstood them, nor fled. And as the wind scatters the chaff about the threshing-floors, when men are winnowing [it], and yellow Ceres is separating both the grain and the chaff, the winds rush along; and the chaff-heaps 215 grow white beneath; thus then the Greeks became white with the chaff from above, which indeed through them, as they again mingled in the combat, the feet of the steeds struck up [the ground] to the brazen heaven; for the charioteers turning back. But they directed the strength of theirs straight forward; and fierce Mars spread a vapour over the battle, aiding the Trojans, going about everywhere, echoing the commands of golden-sworded Phœbus Apollo and ordered him to excite the courage of the Trojans, whenever he should see Pallas Minerva departing; for she was an ally of the Greeks. But he sent forth Æneas from his very rich shrine and infused strength into the breast of the shepherd of the people. Footnote 215: (return) But cf. Schol. οἱ τόποι εἰς οὓς τὰ ἄχυρα ἐκπίπτει. Then Æneas placed himself amidst his companions and they rejoiced when…

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Excerpt #3, from The Jest Book, by Mark Lemon

…son of Neptune replied that it was “because the rigging cost more than the hull.” MCCVII.–NO SACRIFICE. A LINEN-DRAPER having advertised his stock to be sold under prime cost, a neighbor observed that, “It was impossible, as he had never paid a farthing for it himself.” MCCVIII.–SHARP BOY. A MOTHER admonishing her son (a lad about seven years of age), told him he should never defer till to-morrow what he could do to-day. The little urchin replied, “Then, mother, let’s eat the remainder of the plum-pudding to-night.” MCCIX.–EARLY BIRDS OF PREY. A MERCHANT having been attacked by some thieves at five in the afternoon, said: “Gentlemen, you open shop early to-day.” MCCX.–JUDGMENT. JAMES THE SECOND, when Duke of York, made a visit to Milton the poet, and asked him, amongst other things, if he did not think the loss of his sight a judgment upon him for what he had written against his father, Charles the First. Milton answered, “If your Highness think my loss of sight a judgment upon me, what do you think of your father’s losing his head?”…

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Excerpt #4, from Wild Animals I Have Known, by Ernest Thompson Seton

…enormous Black Serpent. “Mammy,” he screamed in mortal terror as the monster darted at him. With all the strength of his tiny limbs he tried to run. But in a flash the Snake had him by one ear and whipped around him with his coils to gloat over the helpless little baby bunny he had secured for dinner. “Mam-my–Mam-my,” gasped poor little Raggylug as the cruel monster began slowly choking him to death. Very soon the little one’s cry would have ceased, but bounding through the woods straight as an arrow came Mammy. No longer a shy, helpless little Molly Cottontail, ready to fly from a shadow: the mother’s love was strong in her. The cry of her baby had filled her with the courage of a hero, and–hop, she went over that horrible reptile. Whack, she struck down at him with her sharp hind claws as she passed, giving him such a stinging blow that he squirmed with pain and hissed with anger. “M-a-m-my,” came feebly from the little one. And Mammy came leaping again and again and struck harder and fiercer until the loathsome reptile let go the little one’s ear and tried to bite the old one as she leaped over. But all he got was a mouthful of wool each time, and Molly’s fierce blows began to tell, as long bloody rips were torn in the Black Snake’s scaly armor. Things were now looking bad for the Snake; and bracing himself for the…

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Excerpt #5, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods.” “What will you say?” “Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: ‘Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.’ That is clear and concise.” “Very. But will he see it?” “Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to it. Here you are, Peterson, run…

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Excerpt #6, from The Bacchae of Euripides, by Euripides

…The God of the joy-cry; O Bacchanals, come! With pealing of pipes and with Phrygian clamour, On, where the vision of holiness thrills, And the music climbs and the maddening glamour, With the wild White Maids, to the hills, to the hills! Oh, then, like a colt as he runs by a river, A colt by his dam, when the heart of him sings, With the keen limbs drawn and the fleet foot a-quiver, Away the Bacchanal springs! Enter TEIRESIAS. He is an old man and blind, leaning upon a staff and moving with slow stateliness, though wearing the Ivy and the Bacchic fawn-skin. TEIRESIAS. Ho, there, who keeps the gate?–Go, summon me Cadmus, Agênor’s son, who crossed the sea From Sidon and upreared this Theban hold. Go, whosoe’er thou art. See he be told Teiresias seeketh him. Himself will gauge Mine errand, and the compact, age with age, I vowed with him, grey hair with snow-white hair, To deck the new God’s thyrsus, and to wear…

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Excerpt #7, from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete, by Ulysses S. Grant

…troops, and continued until night closed in upon the combat. The next day the battle was renewed. After a successful assault upon Hood’s men in their intrenchments the enemy fled in disorder, routed and broken, leaving their dead, their artillery and small arms in great numbers on the field, besides the wounded that were captured. Our cavalry had fought on foot as infantry, and had not their horses with them; so that they were not ready to join in the pursuit the moment the enemy retreated. They sent back, however, for their horses, and endeavored to get to Franklin ahead of Hood’s broken army by the Granny White Road, but too much time was consumed in getting started. They had got but a few miles beyond the scene of the battle when they found the enemy’s cavalry dismounted and behind intrenchments covering the road on which they were advancing. Here another battle ensued, our men dismounting and fighting on foot, in which the Confederates were again routed and driven in great disorder. Our cavalry then went into bivouac, and renewed the pursuit on the following morning. They were too late. The enemy already had possession of Franklin, and was beyond them. It now became a chase in which the Confederates had the lead. Our troops continued the pursuit to within a few miles of Columbia, where they found the rebels had destroyed the railroad bridge as well as all other bridges over Duck River. The heavy rains of a few days before…

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Excerpt #8, from The Third Officer: A Present

…cask with the head knocked off had been sunk in the sand to catch the trickle of water from the spring. Cautiously, so as not permanently to injure the cask, Captain Blair removed three of the hoops and “started” some of the closely-fitting staves. Then, wedging the openings with pebbles, he brought the “chine” back into position and replaced the chine-hoop. When the sand was replaced around the barrel, it appeared to be intact though utterly leaky. His next step was to go to the wicket-gate and report the lack of fresh water to Señor Fernando. The latter inspected the faulty cask, and by a smattering of English, aided by signs, told the skipper to get another cask from the cooperage. Delighted with the way in which his little “stunt” was panning out, Captain Blair ordered the steward and Twill to accompany him. Escorted by Fernando the three men passed through the wicket-gate without difficulty, and proceeded to the store where spare casks and barricoes were kept. The door of the cooperage was open, as was the case with most buildings containing articles of bulk and of no great value, although everything was carefully locked after working hours. Fernando was…

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Excerpt #9, from The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape, by Albert D. Richardson

…[7] This gentleman went to Charleston openly for The Times, and constantly insisted that a candid and truthful correspondent of any northern paper could travel through the South without serious difficulty. He was daily declaring that the devil was not so black as he is painted, denying charges brought against Charlestonians by the northern press, and sometimes evidently straining a point in his own convictions to say a kind word for them. But, during the storming of Sumter, he was suddenly arrested, robbed, and imprisoned in a filthy cell for several days. He was at last permitted to go; but the mob had become excited against him, and with difficulty he escaped with his life. No other correspondent was subjected to such gross indignities. “Jasper” reached Washington, having obtained a good deal of new and valuable information about South Carolina character. CHAPTER VIII. I reckon this always, that a man is never undone until he be hanged.–TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. I now began to entertain sentiments of profound gratitude toward the young officer, at Mobile, who kept me from going to Fort Pickens. Rejecting the tempting request of my Philadelphia companion to remain one day in Montgomery, that he might introduce me to Jefferson Davis, I continued my “Journey Due North.”…

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Excerpt #10, from History for ready reference, Volume 3 (of 6), Greece to Nibelungen, by J. N. Larned

…romance, ‘Amadis.’ Entirely unaffected by the Reformation, what he understood by this was a spiritual brotherhood in the true mediæval sense, which should convert the heathen in the newly-discovered countries of the world. With all the zeal of a Spaniard he decided to live to the Catholic Church alone; he chastised his body with penances and all kinds of privations, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and, in order to complete his defective education, he visited the university of Paris; it was among his comrades there that he formed the first associations out of which the order was afterwards formed. Among these was Jacob Lainez; he was Loyola’s fellow-countryman, the organizing head who was to stamp his impress upon the order. … Then came the spread of the new doctrines, the mighty progress of Protestantism. No one who was heartily attached to the old Church could doubt that there was work for such an association, for the object now in hand was not to make Christians of the aboriginal inhabitants of Central America, but to reconquer the apostate members of the Romish Church. About 1539 Loyola came with his fraternity to Rome. He did not find favour in all circles; the old orders regarded the new one with jealousy and mistrust; but Pope Paul…

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Excerpt #11, from Anthem, by Ayn Rand

…punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life Mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what their work is to be for the rest of their days. The Council of Vocations came on the first day of spring, and they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the Teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of Vocations sat on a high dais, and they had but two words to speak to each of the Students. They called the Students’ names, and when the Students stepped before them, one after another, the Council said: “Carpenter” or “Doctor” or “Cook” or “Leader.” Then each Student raised their right arm and said: “The will of our brothers be done.” Now if the Council has said “Carpenter” or “Cook,” the Students so assigned go to work and they do not study any further. But if the Council has said “Leader,” then those Students go into the Home of the Leaders, which is the greatest house in the City, for it has three stories. And there they study for many years, so that they may become candidates and be elected to the City Council and the State Council and the World Council—by a free and general vote of all men. But we wished not to be a Leader, even though it is a great honor. We wished to be a Scholar….

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Excerpt #12, from Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

…when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his shell with your paw.’ And so that was all right, Best Beloved. One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon, Painted Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go, because he was a Tortoise; and so that was all right, Best Beloved. Do you see? ‘Now attend to me,’ said Painted Jaguar, ‘because this is very important. My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise? because, to save my spots, I can’t tell.’ ‘Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?’ said Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog. ‘Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a Tortoise you must shell him out the water with a scoop, and when you paw a Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.’ ‘Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?’ said Slow-and-Solid Tortoise. ‘Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you water a…

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