Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:24

Excerpt #1, from Diego Collado’s Grammar of the Japanese Language, by Diego Collado

…(cadentia) of the sentence; e.g., Pedro va Nagasaqi de xutrai xita iqi iqi ni tçuite juan vo coroita ‘Peter killed John because of an argument that took place in Nagasaki.’ In certain sentences of serious import a substitute verb (verbum suppositum) is placed after the verb, but this is rare; e.g., tare mo canavanu futari no qimi ni tçucǒru coto va (84)[175] ‘no one can serve two masters.’ In this sentence the substitute verb is tçucǒru coto va. Core ni iote tanomi tatematçuru itçumo virgen [Core ni iotte …] (84) ‘therefore I pray to the ever virgin [Mary].’ Clauses (orationes) in the absolute or permissive subjunctive, infinitive, conditional, and causative are always placed before clauses that are in the indicative or imperative, even if it does not make sense {169} in Latin or any other European language; e.g., achi cara tomeraruru tomo; tomaru na ‘do not stay, even if they want you to remain,’ sore vo qiitareba, fara vo tatete modotta ‘when he heard that, he came back very angry,’ taxicani uqetamotta ni iotte coso, móxi ague maraxitare ‘I listened carefully, and then I spoke,’ faiǒ gozatta raba vo mexi vo xinjô mono vo ‘if you had come earlier, I would have offered you food.’ When there are two verbs in the same sentence, the first will (62 be in the gerund form and the other will be in the tense that is required by the sense of the sentence; e.g., core vo totte giqi ni mi ga comono ni vataxe ‘take this and give it to my servant at once.’…

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Excerpt #2, from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

…actions, and if we ever got the least show we would give them the cold shake and clear out and leave them behind. Well, early one morning we hid the raft in a good, safe place about two mile below a little bit of a shabby village named Pikesville, and the king he went ashore and told us all to stay hid whilst he went up to town and smelt around to see if anybody had got any wind of the Royal Nonesuch there yet. (“House to rob, you mean,” says I to myself; “and when you get through robbing it you’ll come back here and wonder what has become of me and Jim and the raft–and you’ll have to take it out in wondering.”) And he said if he warn’t back by midday the duke and me would know it was all right, and we was to come along. So we stayed where we was. The duke he fretted and sweated around, and was in a mighty sour way. He scolded us for everything, and we couldn’t seem to do nothing right; he found fault with every little thing. Something was a-brewing, sure. I was good and glad when midday come and no king; we could have a change, anyway–and maybe a chance for the change on top of it. So me and the duke went up to the village, and hunted around there for the king, and by and by we found him in the back room of a little low doggery, very tight, and a lot of loafers bullyragging him for sport, and he a-cussing and a-threatening with all his might, and so tight he couldn’t walk, and couldn’t do nothing to…

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Excerpt #3, from Adventures of Bindle, by Herbert George Jenkins

…it ’alf a dollar," he remarked. “Wot about me?” enquired Tippitt. “Wot about you, Tippy?” repeated Bindle. “Well, least said soonest mended. You can’t ’elp it.” “But I asked ’er,” persisted Tippitt. “Ah! Tippy,” remarked Bindle, “it ain’t ‘im wot asks; but ’im wot gets. ’Owever, you shall ’ave a stone-ginger at the next stoppin’ place. Your ole pal ain’t goin’ back on you, Tippy.” Without a word, Tippitt climbed up into the driver’s seat, whilst Bindle clambered on to the tail-board, where he proceeded to fill his pipe with the air of a man for whom time has no meaning. “Good job they ain’t all like me,” he muttered. “I likes a day in the country, now and then; but always! Not me.” He struck a match, lighted his pipe and, with a sigh of contentment, composed himself to bucolic meditation. One of the advantages of the moving-profession in Bindle’s eyes was that it gave him hours of leisured ease, whilst the goods were in transit. “You can slack it like a Cuthbert,” he would say. “All you ‘as to do is to sit on the tail of a van an’ watch the world go by–some life that.” Bindle was awakened from his contemplation of the hedges and the white…

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Excerpt #4, from Legends of the Gods, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

…there is no evidence that he had the slightest knowledge of the details of the original African Legend of these gods as it was known to the Egyptians, say, under the VIth Dynasty. Moreover, he never realized that the characteristics and attributes of both Isis and Osiris changed several times during the long history of Egypt, and that a thousand years before he lived the Egyptians themselves had forgotten what the original form of the legend was. They preserved a number of ceremonies, and performed very carefully all the details of an ancient ritual at the annual commemoration festival of Osiris which was held in November and December, but the evidence of the texts makes it quite clear that the meaning and symbolism of nearly all the details were unknown alike to priests and people. An important modification of the cult of Isis and Osiris took place in the third century before Christ, when the Ptolemies began to consolidate their rule in Egypt. A form of religion which would be acceptable both to Egyptians and Greeks had to be provided, and this was produced by modifying the characteristics of Osiris and calling him Sarapis, and identifying him with the Greek Pluto. To Isis were added many of the attributes of the great Greek goddesses, and into her worship were introduced “mysteries” derived from non-Egyptian cults, which made it acceptable to the people everywhere. Had a high priest…

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Excerpt #5, from A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, by Thomas Wilhelm

…=Paramount.= The highest in rank or order; the chief. =Parapets= (Ital. parapetto, “breastguard”). In fortifications, are breastworks, walls, or bulwarks of earth, brick, wood, iron, stone, or other material. The battlement around a flat roof, or the railing of a bridge is also called a parapet. The parapets of field-works are always made of earth, which is also largely used in permanent fortifications. Earth has great advantages for this purpose, being readily obtained, easily handled, and affords good cover on account of the absence of splinters and flying fragments when struck by a shot. The presence of rock or large gravel in the earth is objectionable for this reason. Of the different earths, sand, hard clay, tufa, etc., resist penetration better than rich soils. The profile of the parapet is determined by its location and purpose. The earth to form it is taken from the ditch, which is sometimes in front and sometimes in rear. In inclosed works, or works built at leisure, the ditch is always on the outside, leaving the natural surface for the parade. Works built hastily, or under fire, have the ditch on the inside. In this way cover is more rapidly obtained. This form of parapet is used in all the trenches in siege operations and the temporary lines thrown up on the field of battle. The command of a parapet is the height of the interior crest above the site. For isolated works the command should be at least 8 feet, as the chances of…

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Excerpt #6, from In the Sargasso Sea, by Thomas A. Janvier

…explanations (for I suppose that to him, with his rule-of-thumb knowledge of mathematics, the matter seemed complex), and still more surprised when he found, presently, that I really understood the underlying principle of this simple bit of seamanship far better than he did himself. He said that I knew more than most of the captains afloat and that I ought to be a sailor; which he meant, no doubt, to be the greatest compliment that he could pay me. After that I took the sights and worked them with him daily; and as I several times corrected his calculations–for even simple addition and subtraction were more than he could manage with certainty–he became so impressed by my knowledge as to treat me with an odd show of respect. But in practical matters–knowledge of men and things, and of the many places about the world which he had seen, and of the management of a ship in all weathers–he was one of the best-informed men that ever I came across: being naturally of a hard-headed make, with great acuteness of observation, and with quick and sound reasoning powers. I found his talk always worth listening to; and I liked nothing better than to sit beside him, or to walk the deck with him, while we smoked our pipes together and he told me in his shrewd way about one queer thing and another which he had come upon in various parts of the world–for he had followed the sea from the time that he was a boy,…

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Excerpt #7, from The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

…Weatherstaff admitted reluctantly. “Once or twice a year I’d go an’ work at ‘em a bit–prune ’em an’ dig about th’ roots. They run wild, but they was in rich soil, so some of ’em lived.” “When they have no leaves and look gray and brown and dry, how can you tell whether they are dead or alive?” inquired Mary. “Wait till th’ spring gets at ‘em–wait till th’ sun shines on th’ rain an’ th’ rain falls on th’ sunshine an’ then tha’ll find out.” “How–how?” cried Mary, forgetting to be careful. “Look along th’ twigs an’ branches an’ if tha’ sees a bit of a brown lump swelling here an’ there, watch it after th’ warm rain an’ see what happens.” He stopped suddenly and looked curiously at her eager face. “Why does tha’ care so much about roses an’ such, all of a sudden?” he demanded. Mistress Mary felt her face grow red. She was almost afraid to answer. “I–I want to play that–that I have a garden of my own,” she stammered. “I–there is nothing for me to do. I have nothing–and no one.” “Well,” said Ben Weatherstaff slowly, as he watched her, “that’s true. Tha’ hasn’t.” He said it in such an odd way that Mary wondered if he was actually a little sorry for her. She had never felt sorry for herself; she had only felt tired and cross, because she disliked people and things so much….

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Excerpt #8, from Around the World with Josiah Allen’s Wife, by Marietta Holley

…ambuscade." Sez I, “Frederic (I thought mebby it would sound more convincin’ and friendly if I called him Frederic, and I wanted to convince him; I wanted to like a dog), I don’t believe in war, but when your men died in battle they didn’t moulder out a livin’ death, chained to tender hearts, dragged along the putrid death path with ‘em. Their country honored ’em; they wuzn’t thrust into dishonored graves, some as paupers, some as criminals swingin’ from scaffolds. Their country mourns for ‘em and honors ’em. It wuzn’t glad to cover their faces away from the light, brutish faces to hant ’em with reproach, I should think, knowin’ how they died. Try to think of that, Frederic; try to take it to heart.” I hearn Arvilly behind me breathin’ hard and kinder chokin’ seemin’ly, and I knew she wuz holdin’ herself in as tight as if she had a rope round her emotions and indignations to keep her from breakin’ in and jinin’ our talk, but she wuz as true as steel to her word and didn’t say nothin’ and I resoomed: "You’ve got to take such things to hum to realize ‘em," sez I. "Owin’ to a sweet mother and a good father your boy mebby is safe. But spozein’ he wuzn’t, spozein’ you and his sweet ma had to look on as millions of other pas and mas have to and see his handsome, manly…

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Excerpt #9, from Scientific Sprague, by Francis Lynde

…“Instructed me to feel Judge Watson on the question of holding things up with an injunction. I did it, and it turned out as you intimated it would; nothing doing. Smith asked me to borrow Maxwell’s special officer, Arch Tarbell, suggesting that we ought to keep in touch with Jennings. Archer was going over to Angels on the afternoon train, but Jennings has saved him the trouble by coming to town.” “Well, what next?” Sprague inquired. “That is just what I’d like to ask you,” was the lawyer’s frank admission. “We’re all looking to you to set the pace. You’re the one man with the holy gift of initiative, Mr. Sprague. You haven’t admitted it in so many words, but I know as well as I know anything that you are the man who started this newspaper talk.” “Pshaw!” said the expert, in genial raillery; “I’m only a Government chemist, Mr. Stillings.” “That’s all right, too; but that isn’t why the railroad men call you ‘Scientific Sprague.’ Four times this summer you’ve dug Maxwell and his railroad out of a hole when the rest of us didn’t know there was any hole. What I’m most afraid of now is that Jennings will put up some sort of a scheme to get you out of the way. He knows well enough by this time that you are the key to his situation.” “I’m a tenderfoot,” said the big man, with naïve irony. “What would you…

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Excerpt #10, from Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, by John Wesley Powell

…and one also upon each succeeding day until four baths, as a ceremony of purification, have been indulged in. On the evening of the day before the meeting his preceptor visits him at his own wig´iwam when, with the assistance of friends, the presents are collected and carried to the Midē´-wigân and suspended from the transverse poles near the roof. The officiating priests may subsequently join him, when smoking and singing form the chief entertainment of the evening. By this time numerous visitors have gathered together and are encamped throughout the adjacent timber, and the sound of the drum, where dancing is going on, may be heard far into the night. Early on the morning of the day of the ceremonies the candidate goes to the sudatory where he first awaits the coming of his preceptor and later the arrival of the Midē´ priests by whom he is escorted to the Midē´wigân. With the assistance of the preceptor he arranges his gift of tobacco which he takes with him to the sacred inclosure, after which a smoke offering is made, and later Midē´ songs are chanted. These may be of his own composition as he has been a professor of magic a sufficient lapse of time to have composed them, but to give evidence of superior powers the chief, or some other of the officiating priests, will perhaps be sufficiently inspired to sing. The following was prepared and chanted by one of the Midē´ priests at the third-degree meeting at White Earth,…

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Excerpt #11, from Diary of Anna Green Winslow, a Boston School Girl of 1771, by Anna Green Winslow

…husband._ Through this journal we see “Nanny Green’s” simple and monotonous daily life; her little tea-drinkings; her spinning and reeling and knitting; her frequent catechisings, her country walks. We find her mother’s testimony to the “appearance of reason that is in my children and for the readiness with which they seem to learn what is taught them.” And though she repeatedly thanks God for living in a warm house, she notes that “my bason of water froze on the hearth with as good a fire as we could make in the chimney.” This rigor of climate and discomfort of residence, and Anna’s evident delicacy shown through the records of her fainting, account for her failing health. The last definite glimpse which we have of our gentle little Nanny is in the shape of a letter written to her by “Aunt Deming.” It is dated Boston, April 21, 1779, and is so characteristic of the day and so amusing also that I quote it in full. Dear Neice, _I receivd your favor of 6th instant by nephew Jack, who with the Col. his trav’ling companion, perform’d an easy journey from you to us, and arriv’d before sunset. I thank you for the beads, the wire, and the beugles, I fancy I shall never execute the plan of the head dress to which you allude–if I should, some of your largest corn…

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Excerpt #12, from Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly, March 1899, by Various

…like one fifth its former size when it is able only with extreme difficulty to yield a quota of 20,000 such animals. 4. The death rate among young fur seals, especially among the pups, is very great. While the loss among the pups prior to their departure from the islands has been found in the past two years to approach twenty per cent of the whole number born, and though the rate of subsequent mortality is unknown, we may gather from the number which return each year that from one half to two thirds have perished before the age of three years–that is to say, the killable age for the males and the breeding age for the females. The maximum and minimum figures here represent a division of opinion. The larger figure of two thirds would even seem to be a conservative estimate. The birth rate of 1897, as we know from close estimate, was approximately 130,000; it must have been greater in 1894, approaching 200,000. From this larger birth rate only about 20,000 males survived (the quota of 1897). There was doubtless a like number of females, the sexes being equal at birth and subject to like causes of natural loss. This gives a total of 40,000 in all, out of a birth rate of 200,000, which survived to the age of three years. This is one fifth, and it is evident that the mortality exceeds rather than falls below the maximum…

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