Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:46

Excerpt #1, from The Terror: A Mystery, by Arthur Machen

…together to make a whole. Merritt, as the doctor guessed, had a kind of uneasy feeling–it scarcely amounted to a suspicion–as to the business of the marsh; chiefly because he thought the official talk about the railway embankment and the course of the river rank nonsense. But finding that nothing more happened, he let the matter drop from his mind, and settled himself down to enjoy his holiday. He found to his delight that there were no sentries or watchers to hinder him from the approach to Larnac Bay, a delicious cove, a place where the ashgrove and the green meadow and the glistening bracken sloped gently down to red rocks and firm yellow sands. Merritt remembered a rock that formed a comfortable seat, and here he established himself of a golden afternoon, and gazed at the blue of the sea and the crimson bastions and bays of the coast as it bent inward to Sarnau and swept out again southward to the odd-shaped promontory called the Dragon’s Head. Merritt gazed on, amused by the antics of the porpoises who were tumbling and splashing and gamboling a little way out at sea, charmed by the pure and radiant air that was so different from the oily smoke that often stood for heaven at Midlingham, and charmed, too, by the white farmhouses dotted here and there on the heights of the curving coast….

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Excerpt #2, from From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, by H. P. Blavatsky

…carvings. Before it stands the “lion column,” so-called from the four lions carved as large as nature, and seated back to back, at its base. Over the principal entrance, its sides covered with colossal male and female figures, is a huge arch, in front of which three gigantic elephants are sculptured in relief, with heads and trunks that project from the wall. The shape of the temple is oval. It is 128 feet long and forty-six feet wide. The central space is separated on each side from the aisles by forty-two pillars, which sustain the cupola-shaped ceiling. Further on is an altar, which divides the first dome from a second one which rises over a small chamber, formerly used by the ancient Aryan priests for an inner, secret altar. Two side passages leading towards it come to a sudden end, which suggests that, once upon a time, either doors or wall were there which exist no longer. Each of the forty-two pillars has a pedestal, an octagonal shaft, and a capital, described by Fergusson as “of the most exquisite workmanship, representing two kneeling elephants surmounted by a god and a goddess.” Fergusson further says that this temple, or chaitya, is older and better preserved than any other in India, and may be assigned to a period about 200 years B.C., because Prinsep, who has read the inscription on the Silastamba pillar, asserts that the lion pillar was the gift of Ajmitra Ukasa, son of Saha Ravisobhoti, and another inscription shows that…

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Excerpt #3, from Right Ho, Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

…the red and expecting Civilisation to take a toss at any moment had caused Uncle Tom, who always looked a bit like a pterodactyl with a secret sorrow, to take on a deeper melancholy. The Bassett was a silent bread crumbler. Angela might have been hewn from the living rock. Tuppy had the air of a condemned murderer refusing to make the usual hearty breakfast before tooling off to the execution shed. And as for Gussie Fink-Nottle, many an experienced undertaker would have been deceived by his appearance and started embalming him on sight. This was the first glimpse I had had of Gussie since we parted at my flat, and I must say his demeanour disappointed me. I had been expecting something a great deal more sparkling. At my flat, on the occasion alluded to, he had, if you recall, practically given me a signed guarantee that all he needed to touch him off was a rural setting. Yet in this aspect now I could detect no indication whatsoever that he was about to round into mid-season form. He still looked like a cat in an adage, and it did not take me long to realise that my very first act on escaping from this morgue must be to draw him aside and give him a pep talk. If ever a chap wanted the clarion note, it looked as if it was this Fink-Nottle. In the general exodus of mourners, however, I lost sight of him, and,…

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Excerpt #4, from The Student’s Elements of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell

…Thomson, Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, and others, have shown that on the same white mud there sometimes flourish Mollusca, Crustacea, and Echinoderms, besides abundance of siliceous sponges, forming, on the whole, a marine fauna bearing a striking resemblance in its general character to that of the ancient chalk. Popular Error as to the Geological Continuity of the Cretaceous Period.—We must be careful, however, not to overrate the points of resemblance which the deep-sea investigations have placed in a strong light. They have been supposed by some naturalists to warrant a conclusion expressed in these words: “We are still living in the Cretaceous epoch;” a doctrine which has led to much popular delusion as to the bearing of the new facts on geological reasoning and classification. The reader should be reminded that in geology we have been in the habit of founding our great chronological divisions, not on foraminifera and sponges, nor even on echinoderms and corals, but on the remains of the most highly organised beings available to us, such as the mollusca; these being met with, as explained (p. 142), in stratified rocks of almost every age. In dealing with the mollusca, it is those of the highest or most specialised organisation, which afford us the best characters in proportion as their vertical range is the most limited. Thus the Cephalopoda are the most valuable, as having a…

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Excerpt #5, from Anthem, by Ayn Rand

…We shall need the days and the years ahead, to look, to learn, and to understand the things of this house. Today, we could only look and try to believe the sight of our eyes. We pulled the heavy curtains from the windows and we saw that the rooms were small, and we thought that not more than twelve men could have lived here. We thought it strange that men had been permitted to build a house for only twelve. Never had we seen rooms so full of light. The sunrays danced upon colors, colors, more colors than we thought possible, we who had seen no houses save the white ones, the brown ones and the grey. There were great pieces of glass on the walls, but it was not glass, for when we looked upon it we saw our own bodies and all the things behind us, as on the face of a lake. There were strange things which we had never seen and the use of which we do not know. And there were globes of glass everywhere, in each room, the globes with the metal cobwebs inside, such as we had seen in our tunnel. We found the sleeping hall and we stood in awe upon its threshold. For it was a small room and there were only two beds in it. We found no other beds in the house, and then we knew that only two had lived here, and this passes understanding. What kind…

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Excerpt #6, from Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, by Thomas Preston

…“He that wolde not when he might, He shall not when he wold-a.” 1859. WOUNDS. Wounds may heal, but not those made by ill words. 1860. WRANGLERS. Wranglers never want words. 1861. WRATH. A soft answer turneth away wrath. 1862. WRESTLE. He that is thrown would ever wrestle. 1863. WRETCH. He who maketh others wretched is himself a wretch, whether prince or peasant. 1864. WRONGS. Two wrongs will not make a right. 1865. WRONG SOW. To take the wrong sow by the ear. Y 1866. YEAR. Say no ill of the year till it is passed. 1867. YEARS. Years know more than books. 1868. YES AND NO. Between a woman’s yes and no, There is not room for a pin to go. 1869. YORKSHIRE. Yorkshire fashion–every man pay his share. 1870. YOUNG. Old young, and old long. 1871. YOURSELF. Help yourself and your friends will like you. 1872. YOURSELF. If you want a thing done, do it yourself. 1873. YOUTH. A growing youth hath a wolf in his stomach….

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Excerpt #7, from Something New, by P. G. Wodehouse

…Peters. Years of indigestion had made Mr. Peters’ temper, even when in a normal mood, perfectly impossible; in a crisis like this it ran amuck. He vented it on Aline because he had always vented his irritabilities on Aline; because the fact of her sweet, gentle disposition, combined with the fact of their relationship, made her the ideal person to receive the overflow of his black moods. While his wife had lived he had bullied her. On her death Aline had stepped into the vacant position. Aline did not cry, because she was not a girl who was given to tears; but, for all her placid good temper, she was wounded. She was a girl who liked everything in the world to run smoothly and easily, and these scenes with her father always depressed her. She took advantage of a lull in Mr. Peters’ flow of words and slipped from the room. Her cheerfulness had received a shock. She wanted sympathy. She wanted comforting. For a moment she considered George Emerson in the role of comforter; but there were objections to George in this character. Aline was accustomed to tease and chat with George, but at heart she was a little afraid of him; and instinct told her that, as comforter, he would be too volcanic and…

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Excerpt #8, from A Parody Outline of History, by Donald Ogden Stewart

…money for such a speculative project–oh, extremely difficult. And then you must consider the present depression–tell me now, Colombo“, said King Ferdinand,”how long do you think this depression will last, for I seek, above all things, a return to healthy normalcy." “Well, truly”, replied Colombo, “that would be most difficult to say. I note that on Rodigruez Babsyn’s last chart–” “I wish this Babsyn and his charts were in hell”, said King Ferdinand, “for it was he who advised me to sell Queen Isabel’s silver holdings. But it occurs to me, Colombo, that in connection with this land-of-gold scheme of yours, you mentioned something about sailing to the westward. Now Colombo, that would be a distinct disadvantage when it came to marketing the bonds, for as you must already know, one cannot sail to the west without encountering fierce and enormous monsters who swallow, I am told, whole ships at a gulp.” “Now as to that”, said Colombo, somewhat embarrassed at the turn of the conversation for WEST had merely happened to better suit the rhymes of his poem, “you may be right, and I should not go so far as to say you are wrong, but still at the same time”, said Colombo, “is there any gentleman in the audience who can lend me an egg and a silk hat?” And when an unmentionable egg and a doubtful silk hat had been produced in a manner which it is not convenient to mention Colombo rolled up both…

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Excerpt #9, from Mr. Punch’s Golf Stories, by J. A. Hammerton

…Ethel. “I think uncle must be–I heard him offer to carry auntie’s clubs.”] * * * * * THE HOLE CONCERN SCENE–Any golf-club where an alteration of the course is in prospect. TIME–Any time, from dawn to dusk. CHARACTERS–Any number of Members, plus (on this occasion) an Inoffensive Stranger. First Member. (catching sight of Inoffensive Stranger). Look here, Nobbs, you’re an impartial judge, we’ll have your opinion. What I say is this. If you take the present 4th hole and make it the 13th, putting the tee back ten yards behind the 12th, and carry the lower green fifteen yards to the right, and play the 2nd, 5th and 16th holes in reverse order, keeping clear of the ditch outside the 4th green, you’ll bring—- Second Member. Oh, that’s rubbish. Anybody with a grain of sense would see that you’d utterly ruin the course that way. My plan is to take the first three, the 11th, and the 14th–you understand, Nobbs?–(slowly and emphatically) the first three, the 11th, and the 14th. Inoffensive Stranger. Yes? Second M. (quickly). And leave ’em as they are. Leave ’em just…

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Excerpt #10, from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), by Jerome K. Jerome

…And they feel so angry with one another that they would like to hang each other with the thing. Ten minutes go by, and the first man gives a yell and goes mad, and dances on the rope, and tries to pull it straight by seizing hold of the first piece that comes to his hand and hauling at it. Of course, this only gets it into a tighter tangle than ever. Then the second man climbs out of the boat and comes to help him, and they get in each other’s way, and hinder one another. They both get hold of the same bit of line, and pull at it in opposite directions, and wonder where it is caught. In the end, they do get it clear, and then turn round and find that the boat has drifted off, and is making straight for the weir. This really happened once to my own knowledge. It was up by Boveney, one rather windy morning. We were pulling down stream, and, as we came round the bend, we noticed a couple of men on the bank. They were looking at each other with as bewildered and helplessly miserable expression as I have ever witnessed on any human countenance before or since, and they held a long tow-line between them. It was clear that something had happened, so we eased up and asked them what was the matter. “Why, our boat’s gone off!” they replied in an indignant tone. “We just got out to disentangle the tow-line, and when we looked round, it was…

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Excerpt #11, from The Writing of the Short Story, by Lewis Worthington Smith

…THE STORY IN PARTICULAR =16. The Art of the Story.=–However abstract the thinking of civilized man may become, “all our intelligence,” to quote Ladd’s “Outlines of Physiological Psychology,” “is intelligence about something or other, … resting on a basis of sensations and volitions.” Difficult as it is and difficult as are the problems involved in its construction, the story is from some points of view the most elementary of literary forms. It is concerned directly with matters of sensation and volition. If it is to play upon our emotions, it must revive sensations and volitions, make us in some degree part of the action. Experience is at once its warp and woof, but while it gives us new experiences, it must, in connection with them, revive old ones and so become tangible and real for us. Of the memories that have come to us through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, those that are visual are probably the most clearly defined and persistent for most people. The sensation of hearing doubtless comes next, and then those of touch, smell, and taste. A name will suffice to make us see the face of an absent friend; a few words, or the sight of a music roll, is enough to make us hear a favorite melody; a line or two on a printed page brings back to us the scent of the hayfield or the heavy odor of hyacinths in a conservatory….

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Excerpt #12, from A Humorous History of England, by Charles Harrison

…1621 For twenty years ‘twas going strong Then the first Censor came along. This journal cribbing from the Dutch Lacked the smart journalistic touch; And also photographic views, ’Sporting pars’ and ‘Stop-press News.’ [Illustration: The Great Struggle in Charles’ Time. King Trying to get Money from Taxpayer. Creditor Trying to get Money from King] [Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic THAT QUIET MAN, KNOWN AS THE EARLY PURITAN.] Cotton Cotton first came from India’s shore 1630 In sixteen-thirty, less or more; Where for three thousand years it grew, Also in Egypt and Peru. Grim reading is the note confessing Gangs went out for Navy pressing, Forcing many a timid knave To spend his life on ocean wave. Ship Money Charles raises the ship money tax; 1636 He thought he only had to ‘ax’;…

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