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The FS Daily

Daily Excerpts: My humble attempt at offering fresh, daily, bookstore-style browsing…

Below you’ll find twelve book excerpts selected at random, each day, from over 400 different hand-selected Project Gutenberg titles. This includes many of my personal favorites.

Excerpts for Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:23:16

Excerpt #1, from The Last Stroke: A Detective Story, by Lawrence L. Lynch

…your enemies and a fortune." “Impossible!” “I knew you would say that. But wait.” Ferrars rose abruptly. “I shall not see you again before we leave for New York,” he said, taking up his hat. “Come with me across the way, I must say good-bye to the ladies; they—-” “Do they understand?” “Yes.” Mrs. Myers and her two charges were pleasantly bestowed just across the street, in one of the cosy and tree-encircled cottages of the aristocratic little suburb, in which the party had found a retreat. And all three were still upon the broad piazza when the two men appeared. No other occupants of the house were visible, and before long Robert Brierly found that, by accident or design, the detective, Mrs. Myers, and Hilda, had withdrawn to the further end of the long veranda, and that Ruth Glidden had crossed to his side, and now stood before him, leaning lightly against a square pillar, and so near that he could not well rise without disturbing her charming pose. Before he could open his lips she was speaking. "Robert, don’t get up. Please do not. There is something I must say to you. I have seen the trouble, the anxiety in your face to-night. I know…

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Excerpt #2, from A Doll’s House : a play, by Henrik Ibsen

…Just look at those! RANK. Silk stockings. NORA. Flesh-coloured. Aren’t they lovely? It is so dark here now, but tomorrow—. No, no, no! you must only look at the feet. Oh well, you may have leave to look at the legs too. RANK. Hm!— NORA. Why are you looking so critical? Don’t you think they will fit me? RANK. I have no means of forming an opinion about that. NORA. [looks at him for a moment]. For shame! [Hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings.] That’s to punish you. [Folds them up again.] RANK. And what other nice things am I to be allowed to see? NORA. Not a single thing more, for being so naughty. [She looks among the things, humming to herself.]

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Excerpt #3, from Symbolic Logic, by Lewis Carroll

…Representing these on a Triliteral Diagram, we get ·—————· |(O) | (O)| | ·—|—· | | |(O)|(I)| | |—|—|—|—| | |(O)| | | | ·—|—· | |(I) | | ·—————· And this information, transferred to a Biliteral Diagram, is ·——-· |(O)|(I)| |—|—| |(I)| | ·——-· Here we get two Conclusions, viz. “All x are y’; All y are x’.” pg063 And these, translated into concrete form, are…

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Excerpt #4, from The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

…him, Lizabetha Prokofievna. I can assure you Gorsky and Daniloff are exceptions—and that these are only… mistaken. However, I do not care about receiving them here, in public. Excuse me, Lizabetha Prokofievna. They are coming, and you can see them, and then I will take them away. Please come in, gentlemen!” Another thought tormented him: He wondered was this an arranged business—arranged to happen when he had guests in his house, and in anticipation of his humiliation rather than of his triumph? But he reproached himself bitterly for such a thought, and felt as if he should die of shame if it were discovered. When his new visitors appeared, he was quite ready to believe himself infinitely less to be respected than any of them. Four persons entered, led by General Ivolgin, in a state of great excitement, and talking eloquently. “He is for me, undoubtedly!” thought the prince, with a smile. Colia also had joined the party, and was talking with animation to Hippolyte, who listened with a jeering smile on his lips. The prince begged the visitors to sit down. They were all so young that it made the proceedings seem even more extraordinary. Ivan Fedorovitch, who really understood nothing of what was going on, felt indignant at the sight of these youths, and would have interfered in some way had it…

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Excerpt #5, from Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, by William Sleeman

…disgrace of this retreat was speedily avenged by the great victory of Dîg. 23. This old Norman-French formula. Oyez, Oyez, meaning ‘Hear!’ is still, or recently was, used at the Assizes in the High Court, Calcutta. The formula would not now be heard at Delhi, or elsewhere beyond the precincts of the High Court. CHAPTER 65 Marriage of a Jât Chief. ON the 19th[1] we came on to Balamgarh,[2] fifteen miles over a plain, better cultivated and more studded with trees than that which we had been coming over for many days before. The water was near the surface, more of the field were irrigated, and those which were not so looked better–[a] range of sandstone hills, ten miles off to the west, running north and south. Balamgarh is held in rent-free tenure by a young Jât chief, now about ten years of age. He resides in a mud fort in a handsome palace built in the European fashion. In an extensive orange garden, close outside the fort, he is building a very handsome tomb over the spot where his father’s elder brother was buried. The whole is formed of white and black marble, and the firm white sandstone of Rûpbâs, and so well conceived and executed as to make it evident that demand is the only thing wanted to cover India…

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Excerpt #6, from Selected Prose of Oscar Wilde, by Oscar Wilde

…sermon, ‘Is Licence Liberty?’ for on the top of the clock was a figure of a woman, with what papa said was the cap of Liberty on her head. I didn’t think it very becoming myself, but papa said it was historical, so I suppose it is all right. Parker unpacked it, and papa put it on the mantelpiece in the library, and we were all sitting there on Friday morning, when just as the clock struck twelve, we heard a whirring noise, a little puff of smoke came from the pedestal of the figure, and the goddess of Liberty fell off, and broke her nose on the fender! Maria was quite alarmed, but it looked so ridiculous, that James and I went off into fits of laughter, and even papa was amused. When we examined it, we found it was a sort of alarum clock, and that, if you set it to a particular hour, and put some gunpowder and a cap under a little hammer, it went off whenever you wanted. Papa said it must not remain in the library, as it made a noise, so Reggie carried it away to the schoolroom, and does nothing but have small explosions all day long. Do you think Arthur would like one for a wedding present? I suppose they are quite fashionable in London. Papa says they should do a great deal of good, as they show that Liberty can’t last, but must fall down. Papa says Liberty was invented at the time of the French Revolution. How awful it seems! I have now to go to the Dorcas, where I will read them your most instructive letter. How true, dear aunt, your idea is, that in their…

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Excerpt #7, from A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

…F.] Q. In a long straight STREET, WHY do the houses seem to be SMALLER and smaller the FURTHER they are OFF? A. Because the further any house is off, the more acute will be the angle made by its perpendicular height with our eye. Thus in the last figure– If A B be a house at the top of the street, its perpendicular height will be that of the line A B. If C D be a house at the bottom of the street, its perpendicular height will appear to be that of E F. Q. Why does a man on the TOP of a MOUNTAIN or church spire seem to be no BIGGER than a CROW? A. Because the angle made by the perpendicular height of the man (at that distance) with our eye, is no bigger than the perpendicular height of a crow close by. [Illustration: Let AB be a man on a distant mountain or spire, and CD a crow close by: The man will appear only as high as the line CD, which is the height of the crow.] Q. Why does the MOON appear to us so much BIGGER than the STARS, though in fact it is a great deal SMALLER?

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Excerpt #8, from Twenty Four Unusual Stories for Boys and Girls, by Anna Cogswell Tyler

…upon just such another, his great red robe fluttering out in the moonlight like huge red wings. “Great herring and little fishes!” roared the fisherman; “it is a billy-goat!” Instantly goats, old man, and all were gone like a flash. Down fell the fisherman through the empty sky, whirling over and over and around and around like a frog. He held tightly to his net, but away flew his fur cap, the golden money falling in a shower like sparks of yellow light. Down he fell and down he fell, until his head spun like a top. By good-luck his house was just below, with its thatch of soft rushes. Into the very middle of it he tumbled, and right through the thatch–bump!–into the room below. The good wife was in bed, snoring away for dear life; but such a noise as the fisherman made coming into the house was enough to wake the dead. Up she jumped, and there she sat, staring and winking with sleep, and with her brains as addled as a duck’s egg in a thunderstorm. “There!” said the fisherman, as he gathered himself up and rubbed his shoulder, “that is what comes of following a woman’s advice!” [Illustration: THE WINDS, THE BIRDS, AND THE TELEGRAPH WIRES] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 3: Reprinted by special permission from Twilight Land, by…

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Excerpt #9, from Twenty years at sea: Leaves from my old log

…depraved appetite, and that in the gratification of this taste nothing was sacred. And yet the captain had succeeded in inspiring a friendship in the breast of this old savage that had caused him to issue an edict making the captain strictly taboo, and no native dared to harm him, while the choicest canoe loads of bèche de mer were brought off to him for trade. Thakombau actually proposed to make Captain Archer a chief and to give him the island of Viti for his very own, but the captain declined the tempting offer. It must be confessed, however, that this gentle treatment had had its effect upon the captain, who did not seem to think the cannibal chief was nearly so much of a brute as he was generally considered by Europeans. I can scarcely realize that since that time such a marvelous change has taken place in the condition of the Fijians. The missionaries managed to gain a foothold in the islands soon after the time of which I am writing, and now there are Christian churches in every island of the group, several thousand professing Christians among the natives, absolute safety for white residents everywhere, and cannibalism is utterly unknown! While the loading of my ship was progressing, in company with Captain…

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Excerpt #10, from Gulliver’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Jonathan Swift

…management of our treasury; the valour and achievements of our forces, by sea and land. I computed the number of our people, by reckoning how many millions there might be of each religious sect, or political party among us. I did not omit even our sports and pastimes, or any other particular which I thought might redound to the honour of my country. And I finished all with a brief historical account of affairs and events in England for about a hundred years past. This conversation was not ended under five audiences, each of several hours; and the king heard the whole with great attention, frequently taking notes of what I spoke, as well as memorandums of what questions he intended to ask me. When I had put an end to these long discourses, his majesty, in a sixth audience, consulting his notes, proposed many doubts, queries, and objections, upon every article. He asked, “What methods were used to cultivate the minds and bodies of our young nobility, and in what kind of business they commonly spent the first and teachable parts of their lives? What course was taken to supply that assembly, when any noble family became extinct? What qualifications were necessary in those who are to be created new lords: whether the humour of the prince, a sum of money to a court lady, or a design of strengthening a party opposite to the public interest, ever happened to be the motive in those…

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Excerpt #11, from A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, by John Stuart Mill

…believing, that there is in one human individual, one sex, or one race of mankind over another, an inherent and inexplicable superiority in mental faculties, could only substantiate their proposition by subtracting from the differences of intellect which we in fact see, all that can be traced by known laws either to the ascertained differences of physical organization, or to the differences which have existed in the outward circumstances in which the subjects of the comparison have hitherto been placed. What these causes might fail to account for would constitute a residual phenomenon, which and which alone would be evidence of an ulterior original distinction, and the measure of its amount. But the asserters of such supposed differences have not provided themselves with these necessary logical conditions of the establishment of their doctrine. The spirit of the Method of Residues being, it is hoped, sufficiently intelligible from these examples, and the other three methods having already been so fully exemplified, we may here close our exposition of the four methods, considered as employed in the investigation of the simpler and more elementary order of the combinations of phenomena. § 6. Dr. Whewell has expressed a very unfavorable opinion of the utility of the Four Methods, as well as of the aptness of the examples by which I have attempted to illustrate them. His words are these:(145) “Upon these methods, the obvious thing to remark is, that they take for…

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Excerpt #12, from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne

…barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface. And time will one day justify Maury’s other opinion, that these substances thus accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines—a precious reserve prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have exhausted the mines of continents. In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue. All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea, where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant nourishment. The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect. From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to the 12th of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic, carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours. Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme, and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return to the Australian seas of the Pacific. Ned Land had cause for fear. In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave the boat. Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo’s will. Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by force nor…

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