Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:36

Excerpt #1, from The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape, by Albert D. Richardson

…are thick and mosquitos thicker. We may never return. If we do not, old boy, remember us. We sat at your table; we stole from your ‘Dictionary of Latin Quotations;’ we wrote Union articles with your pen, your ink, on your paper. We printed them on your press. Our boys set ‘em up with your types, used your galleys, your ’shooting-sticks,’ your ‘chases,’ your ‘quads,’ your ‘spaces,’ your ‘rules,’ your every thing. We even drank some poor whisky out of your bottle. “And now, Johnson, after doing all this for you, you won’t forget us, will you? Keep us in mind. Remember us in your evening prayers, and your morning prayers, too, when you say them, if you do say them. If you put up a petition at mid-day, don’t forget us then; or if you awake in the solemn stillness of the night, to implore a benison upon the absent, remember us then!”Once more, Johnson–our heart pains us to say it–that sorrowful word!–but once more and forever, Johnson, GOOD-BY! If you come our way, Call! Johnson, adieu!" One of the privates in the regular army has just been punished with fifty lashes on the bare back, for taking from a private house a lady’s furs and a silk dress….

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Excerpt #2, from Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 2

…into a fraction meeting, and it was common knowledge. Mr. MOULDER. In other words, he had been brought into contact with the Communist Party leaders as a result of the work he was performing but not in the capacity of being a Communist himself? Is that what you are saying? Mr. DENNETT. That is true. Even the most ardent anti-Communist can be drawn into Communist activities. Mr. MOULDER. Do you mean drawn into contact with Communists? Mr. DENNETT. Yes. My counsel cautions me to be certain that you understand I at no time accused Mr. Harry Lundeberg of being a Communist. Mr. VELDE. I think that is a matter of record. In fact, you have said everything favorable to Mr. Lundeberg’s record. But I suppose it might be presumed that if you and another Communist Party leader had a conference with Mr. Lundeberg some time that that would be a meeting such as you mentioned in your testimony yesterday, or could be considered a fraction meeting; could it not? Mr. DENNETT. No; that would not be regarded as a top fraction meeting. A top fraction meeting would be only a meeting where the leaders of an organization who were members of the Communist Party met either with themselves or with some official of the Communist Party. And in Mr….

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Excerpt #3, from My Adventures During the Late War, by Donat Henchy O’Brien

…“English dogs,” and told us that we ought to be glad to get anything, and that the officers and public authorities were to blame for not placing us in a stable, or in some other place better appropriated to such brutes than an inn. If he had his will, he added, he would very soon treat us as such dogs deserved. In this strain he continued–a strain much less to our annoyance than his bad supper and extravagant charges. This specimen of the national feeling of France, at this period of excitement, shows that the French thought well of English bulldogs, at least with respect to their digesting a long bill of fare. The river Vilaine runs through Vitré, and the town seems supplied abundantly with fish. At daylight, on the 3rd of March, we quitted our polite and hospitable host, and were marched towards Laval, a tolerably large town on the Mayenne, renowned for its linen manufactories. We arrived about five in the evening, and were kept some time in the market-place, as a spectacle for the inhabitants, before we were shown to our respective places for the night. Some of the people who could speak English came to inform us that our gracious sovereign, George the Third, had been dead several days and that the result would be a general peace. We spurned at their intelligence, and, much to their annoyance, assured them that we did not give them the smallest credit….

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Excerpt #4, from Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3

…Mr. O’CONNELL. I think, isn’t that in connection with the civil-liberties trust? It is not in connection with the trade-union trust. Isn’t that right? Mr. TAVENNER. That was paid out from another fund in the same trust, not from the one in which—- Mr. O’CONNELL. No. The will established, I think I can explain it, the will established three trusts, one that was called the Robert Marshall Foundation, we were denoted always as the trade-union trust. The second trust was a civil-liberties trust and 5 trustees, not all of the 5 trustees on the trade-union trust, were trustees on the civil-liberties trust. There were 15. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you on both? Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I was only on the trade union trust. Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have any knowledge of the payment from this other trust–that is, the civil-liberties trust–of the grant of $20,000 for defense of Remington? Mr. O’CONNELL. I know nothing about it except, was that contained in Mr. Dies’ speech? Was that reported—- Mr. TAVENNER. No. Mr. O’CONNELL. I really personally have no–I am not a member of that civil-liberties trust and I don’t know. There is also a…

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Excerpt #5, from Phrases for Public Speakers and Paragraphs for Study, by Grenville Kleiser

…Nor, lastly, does this Not a few persons demand Not many words are required to show Not quite so. Not so here. Nothing is more certain than Nothing less. Now, after what I have said, Now apply this to Now do you observe what follows from Now for one moment let us Now I have done. Now, I proceed to examine Now I want to ask whether Now it is evident Now let us observe what Now, mark it. Now, on the other hand, let me Now perhaps you will ask me Now we come to the question Observe, if you please, that…

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Excerpt #6, from An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, by William Falconer

…less than ten. These are for the accommodation of the lieutenants, &c. Cutters of a ship, bateaux, are broader, deeper, and shorter than the barges and pinnaces; they are fitter for sailing, and are commonly employed in carrying stores, provisions, passengers, &c. to and from the ship. In the structure of this sort of boats, the lower-edge of every plank in the side over-lays the upper-edge of the plank below, which is called by shipwrights clinch-work. Yawls, canots, are something less than cutters, nearly of the same form, and used for similar services; they are generally rowed with six oars. The above boats more particularly belong to men of war; as merchant-ships seldom have more than two, viz. a long-boat and yawl: when they have a third, it is generally calculated for the countries to which they trade, and varies in its construction accordingly. Merchant-ships employed in the Mediterranean find it more convenient to use a lanch, which is longer, more flat-bottomed, and better adapted every way to the harbours of that sea than a long-boat. See LANCH. A wherry, diligence, is a light sharp boat, used in a river or harbour for carrying passengers from place to place. Punts, flette, are a sort of oblong flat-bottomed boats, nearly resembling floating stages; they are used by shipwrights and caulkers,…

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Excerpt #7, from Word Portraits of Famous Writers, by Mabel E. Wotton

…has an opportunity of observing them expanded in their natural proportions. The face is far from being in any respect a classical one. The forehead is chiefly remarkable for its prominence from the ear, and not so much for its height. This gives him a lowering sort of look forwards, expressive of great inquisitiveness into matters of fact and the consequences to be deduced from them. His eyes are singularly prominent, which, according to the Gallic system, would indicate an extraordinary development of the organ of language behind them. His nose is too low between the eyes, and not well or boldly formed in any other respect. The lips, although not handsome, have in their fleshy and massy outlines abundant marks of habitual reflection and intellectual occupation. The whole had a fine expression of intellectual dignity, candour, and serenity. The want of elevation, however, which I have already noticed, injures very much the effect even of the structure of the lower part of the head…. It is to be regretted that he wore powder, for this prevents us from having the advantage of seeing what was the natural style of his hair–or, indeed, of ascertaining the form of any part of his head beyond the forehead.” [Sidenote: David Hume’s Life.] “To conclude historically with my own character. I am, or rather was (for that is the style which I must now use in speaking of myself,…

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Excerpt #8, from The Art of War, by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

…V. ENERGY 1. Sun Tzŭ said: The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. 2. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals. 3. To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy’s attack and remain unshaken—this is effected by manœuvers direct and indirect. 4. That the impact of your army may be like a grindstone dashed against an egg—this is effected by the science of weak points and strong. 5. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. 6. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away but to return once more. 7. There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. 8. There are not more than five primary colours (blue, yellow, red,…

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Excerpt #9, from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; the Art of Controversy, by Arthur Schopenhauer

…privation. * * * * * Every happiness that a man enjoys, and almost every friendship that he cherishes, rest upon illusion; for, as a rule, with increase of knowledge they are bound to vanish. Nevertheless, here as elsewhere, a man should courageously pursue truth, and never weary of striving to settle accounts with himself and the world. No matter what happens to the right or to the left of him,–be it a chimaera or fancy that makes him happy, let him take heart and go on, with no fear of the desert which widens to his view. Of one thing only must he be quite certain: that under no circumstances will he discover any lack of worth in himself when the veil is raised; the sight of it would be the Gorgon that would kill him. Therefore, if he wants to remain undeceived, let him in his inmost being feel his own worth. For to feel the lack of it is not merely the greatest, but also the only true affliction; all other sufferings of the mind may not only be healed, but may be immediately relieved, by the secure consciousness of worth. The man who is assured of it can sit down quietly under sufferings that would otherwise bring him to despair; and though he has no pleasures, no joys and no friends, he can rest in and on himself; so powerful is the comfort to be derived from a vivid consciousness of this advantage; a…

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Excerpt #10, from The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley

…Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a cruel smile upon their lips; and slowly they crept down towards him, like leopards who creep upon their prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles as they stept across the bones of their victims to enjoy their cruel feast. But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest Idalian peak, and she pitied his youth and his beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne; and like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens, and snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted Butes as he lay sleeping, and wrapt him in golden mist; and she bore him to the peak of Lilybæum, and he slept there many a pleasant year. But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, they shrieked for envy and rage, and leapt from the beach into the sea, and were changed into rocks until this day. Then they came to the straits by Lilybæum, and saw Sicily, the three-cornered island, under which Enceladus the giant lies groaning day and night, and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts out in roaring flames from the highest cone of Ætna, above the chestnut woods. And there Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and rolled mast-high about them, and spun them round and round; and they could go neither back nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in….

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Excerpt #11, from The Book of Hallowe’en, by Ruth Edna Kelley

…Dinnsenchus of Mag Slecht (Meyer trans.). This was direct invocation, but the fire rites which were continued so long afterwards were really only worshipping the sun by proxy, in his nearest likeness, fire. Samhain was then a day sacred to the death of the sun, on which had been paid a sacrifice of death to evil powers. Though overcome at Moytura evil was ascendant at Samhain. Methods of finding out the will of spirits and the future naturally worked better then, charms and invocations had more power, for the spirits were near to help, if care was taken not to anger them, and due honors paid. CHAPTER IV POMONA Ops was the Latin goddess of plenty. Single parts of her province were taken over by various other divinities, among whom was Pomona (pomorum patrona, “she who cares for fruits”). She is represented as a maiden with fruit in her arms and a pruning-knife in her hand. “I am the ancient apple-queen. As once I was so am I now– For evermore a hope unseen Betwixt the blossom and the bough.”Ah, where’s the river’s hidden gold!…

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Excerpt #12, from Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, by Grenville Kleiser

…Delicious throng of sensations Despite her pretty insolence Dignity and sweet patience were in her look Dim opalescence of the moon Dimly foreshadowed on the horizon Dimmed by the cold touch of unjust suspicion Disfigured by passages of solemn and pompous monotony. Disguised itself as chill critical impartiality Dismal march of death Distinguished by hereditary rank or social position Distract and beguile the soul Distressing in their fatuous ugliness Diverted into alien channels Diverting her eyes, she pondered Dogs the footsteps Doled out in miserly measure Doubt tortured him Doubts beset her lonely and daring soul Down the steep of disenchantment Dreams and visions were surpassed Dreams that fade and die in the dim west…

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