Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:24:52

Excerpt #1, from Don Juan, by Baron George Gordon Byron Byron

…Foes, friends, men, women, now are nought to me But dreams of what has been, no more to be. Return we to Don Juan. He begun To hear new words, and to repeat them; but Some feelings, universal as the sun, Were such as could not in his breast be shut More than within the bosom of a nun: He was in love,—as you would be, no doubt, With a young benefactress,—so was she, Just in the way we very often see. And every day by daybreak—rather early For Juan, who was somewhat fond of rest— She came into the cave, but it was merely To see her bird reposing in his nest; And she would softly stir his locks so curly, Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest, Breathing all gently o’er his cheek and mouth, As o’er a bed of roses the sweet south. And every morn his colour freshlier came, And every day help’d on his convalescence; ’Twas well, because health in the human frame…

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Excerpt #2, from The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties, by Richard Runciman Terry

…This was the most popular shanty for ‘sweating-up.’ There are many variants of it. The present version I learnt from Capt. John Runciman. In this shanty no attempt was ever made to sing the last word. It was always shouted. 30. PADDY DOYLE’S BOOTS This shanty differs from all others, as (a) it was sung tutti throughout; (b) it had only one verse, which was sung over and over again; and (c) it was used for one operation and one operation only, viz. bunting up the foresail or mainsail in furling. In this operation the canvas of the sail was folded intensively until it formed a smooth conical bundle. This was called a bunt, and a strong collective effort (at the word ‘boots’) was required to get it on to the yard. Although the same verse was sung over and over again, very occasionally a different text would be substituted, which was treated in the same manner. Capt. Whall gives two alternatives, which were sometimes used: ‘We’ll all drink brandy and gin,’ and– ‘We’ll all shave under the chin.’ Mr. Morley Roberts also told me that a variant in his ship was– ‘We’ll all throw dirt at the cook.’…

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Excerpt #3, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare

…But with thy brawls thou hast disturb’d our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck’d up from the sea Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land, Hath every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents. The ox hath therefore stretch’d his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain’d a beard. The fold stands empty in the drownèd field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine-men’s-morris is fill’d up with mud, And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undistinguishable. The human mortals want their winter here. No night is now with hymn or carol blest. Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, Pale in her anger, washes all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound. And thorough this distemperature we see The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts…

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Excerpt #4, from You no longer count, by René Boylesve

…like you." “But they tell me that everything is changed.” “They are right, and you see it clearly because you are outside of Eden, which you had never left before. It is only that some of them accept the change quickly because they were prepared for it, and others because they are less sensitive than you.” “Then, if such a change exists, does that mean that I should cease to mourn my husband?” “No; but the day will come when you will mourn him more. Remember what I say: you will mourn him more. That is the way in which you will take your part in the change.” “More!” ejaculated Odette. “Is it possible? I do not understand you.” “I mean by ‘more’ another manner of mourning, which you will doubtless find more endurable. Let us not talk more about it now, but keep in mind what I have said.” She shrank more and more from society, till she could endure neither news nor the face of a friend. She caused herself to be denied at the door–forbade her maid to speak to her of the war, even to bring in the newspapers. She wished to hear nothing. Then Paris became odious to her because she could not keep herself sufficiently in retirement. Since she was not permitted to go and…

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Excerpt #5, from The Moon: considered as a planet, a world, and a satellite., by James Carpenter et al.

…miles on all sides, until they become such delicate objects as to approach invisibility. Several vast open chasms or cracks may be observed around the exterior of the rampart. They appear to be due to some action subsequent to the formation of the great crater—probably the result of contraction on the cooling of the crust, or of a deep-seated upheaval long subsequent to that which resulted in the formation of Copernicus itself, as they intersect objects of evidently prior formation. Under circumstances specially favourable for “fine vision,” for upwards of 70 miles on all sides around Copernicus, myriads of comparatively minute but perfectly-formed craters may be observed. The district on the south-east side is specially rich in these wonderfully thickly-scattered craters, which we have reason to suppose stand over or upon the reticulated bright streaks; but, as the circumstances of illumination which are requisite to enable us to detect the minute craters are widely adverse to those which render the bright streaks visible, namely, nearly full moon for the one and gibbous for the other, it is next to impossible to establish the fact of coincidence of the sites of the two by actual simultaneous observation. At the east side of the rampart, multitudes of these comparatively minute craters may also be detected, although not so closely crowded…

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Excerpt #6, from The Republic, by Plato

…own. Then, I said, our guardians must lay the foundations of their fortress in music? Yes, he said; the lawlessness of which you speak too easily steals in. Yes, I replied, in the form of amusement; and at first sight it appears harmless. Why, yes, he said, and there is no harm; were it not that little by little this spirit of licence, finding a home, imperceptibly penetrates into manners and customs; whence, issuing with greater force, it invades contracts between man and man, and from contracts goes on to laws and constitutions, in utter recklessness, ending at last, Socrates, by an overthrow of all rights, private as well as public. Is that true? I said. That is my belief, he replied. Then, as I was saying, our youth should be trained from the first in a stricter system, for if amusements become lawless, and the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into well-conducted and virtuous citizens. Very true, he said. And when they have made a good beginning in play, and by the help of music have gained the habit of good order, then this habit of order, in…

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Excerpt #7, from The Swedish Fairy Book, by Klara Stroebe, George Hood, and Frederick Herman Martens

…one of the greatest nobles to seat himself in the bridal chair in the prince’s place, which he did. But the very moment the priest began to pray, the two wings of the church portal quickly flew open, and a tall, strong, handsome man with flashing eyes, royally clad, came in, stepped up to the bridal chair, thrust his proxy out so hastily that he nearly fell, and cried: “This is my place! Now, priest, speak the blessing!” While the blessing was spoken the prince became quiet again, and then greeted his parents and the whole court with joy, and before all embraced his wife, who now for the first time ventured to take a good look at him. Thenceforward the prince was like any other human being, and in the end he inherited his father’s kingdom, and became a great and world-renowned ruler, beloved by his subjects, and adored by his wife. They lived long and happily, and their descendants are still the rulers of the land over which he reigned. NOTE “First Born, First Wed” is a purely Swedish, and decidedly characteristic treatment of a similar motive of redemption. (From the mss. collection of Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, communicated by Dr. v. Sydow-Lund). XIII THE LAME DOG…

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Excerpt #8, from In the Sargasso Sea, by Thomas A. Janvier

…you–you scum of rottenness? I’d have you to know that cuttin’ hearts out is a game two can play at. Take that, damn you! An’ that! An’ that! Them’s fur your starin’–you damn fat-faced blinkin’ owl. And I mean now t’ keep on till I stop you. No more of your owl-starin’ fur me! Take it agen, you stinkin’ starin’ owl. So! An’ so! An’ so!" He fairly raised himself up in the berth as he rushed out his words, and at the same time thrust savagely with his right hand as though he had a knife in it. For a minute or more he kept his position, cursing with a strong voice and thrusting all the time. Suddenly he gave a yell of pain and fell on his back again, crying brokenly: “Hell! It’s you who’ve finished me!” And then he gave two or three short sharp gasps, and after that there was a little gurgling in his throat, and then he was still–lying there as dead as any man could be. This quick ending of him came so suddenly that it staggered me; but I must say that my first feeling, when I fairly realized what had happened, was thankfulness that his life was gone–for I had had enough of him to know that having much more of him would drive me mad. In the telling of it, of course, most of what made all this horrible slips away from me, and it don’t seem much to strain a man, after all. But it really was pretty bad: what with the shadowy light in the state-room, for even with the port uncovered it still was dusky; and…

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Excerpt #9, from A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

…whenever you have been off duty one of the older women of Tars Tarkas’ retinue has always arranged to trump up some excuse to get Sola and me out of sight. They have had me down in the pits below the buildings helping them mix their awful radium powder, and make their terrible projectiles. You know that these have to be manufactured by artificial light, as exposure to sunlight always results in an explosion. You have noticed that their bullets explode when they strike an object? Well, the opaque, outer coating is broken by the impact, exposing a glass cylinder, almost solid, in the forward end of which is a minute particle of radium powder. The moment the sunlight, even though diffused, strikes this powder it explodes with a violence which nothing can withstand. If you ever witness a night battle you will note the absence of these explosions, while the morning following the battle will be filled at sunrise with the sharp detonations of exploding missiles fired the preceding night. As a rule, however, non-exploding projectiles are used at night.”[1] [1] I have used the word radium in describing this powder because in the light of recent discoveries on Earth I believe it to be a mixture of which radium is the base. In Captain Carter’s manuscript it is mentioned always by the name used in the written language of Helium and is spelled in hieroglyphics which it would be difficult and…

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Excerpt #10, from Mazes and Labyrinths: A General Account of Their History and Development

…labyrinths. In the first place we must limit ourselves to works of artifice, i.e., we must exclude the “labyrinths” of nature, such as forests, caverns, and so forth, and agree that any application of our terms to such objects is to be regarded as strictly metaphorical. Secondly, we must require, as a practical corollary to our first condition, that there shall be an element of purposefulness in the design. The purpose may be the portrayal of the imagined course of the sun through the heavens, the symbolisation of the folds of sin or of the Christian’s toilsome journey through life, the construction of a puzzle, or the mere pleasure to be derived from packing the maximum of path into the minimum of space, but there must be an object of some sort. The aimless scribblings of an infant, like the trail of an ink-dipped fly, may in this connection be considered as the fortuitous meanderings of nature rather than the conscious design of man. By imposing this condition we exclude the Indian pictograph shown in Fig. 132, which, in the absence of any indication as to its significance, can only by a loose extension of the term be called a labyrinth. (Our use of the words “aim,” “design,” and “purpose” will be quite clear to everybody but the sciolist dabbling in metaphysics.) Thirdly, there must be a certain degree of complexity in the design,…

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Excerpt #11, from The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

…=MATRIMONY= A game for women, in which the unmarried half are trying to find a husband and the married half trying not to be found out by one. Both halves are eminently successful. * * * * =MEAL= According to the Liquor Law, a minute bunch of crumbs entirely surrounded by booze. * * * =MEDIUM= A party with one ear in the grave but both hands on your wallet. “Hello, Central! Give me Heaven!” * * * =MELODEON= An alleged musical instrument, popular at home, but unpopular next door. From Eng. melody, and Latin, un, without. Warranted without melody. * * * =MENAGERIE= From Fr. melange, mixture, and Ger. riechen, to smell. A mixture of smells. * * * =MESSENGER BOY= From Eng. miss, to fail, and Lat. engeo, to arrive. One who fails to arrive. * * * * =METER= The gas man’s trysting place. “Meet her in the cellar!”…

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Excerpt #12, from Postal Riders and Raiders, by W. H. Gantz

…bankers? With them, in one year, the public has deposited $352,590,814 and their transactions in money orders, travelers’ checks, letters of credit and bills of exchange rival those of the most powerful banks. This business, unlike any other form of banking is under no governmental jurisdiction and goes untaxed. It is made possible only by using the machinery of the regular banks, although to these the express companies pay no revenue. In the money-order line, express companies compete with the postoffice and do about one-third as much business as the government. The American Express alone has handled nearly 17,000,000 money orders in one year. That the public has confidence in the safety of the express companies as banks admits of no doubt, and it has been credibly reported that in the panic of 1907 money was withdrawn from banks, which the people did not trust, and invested in express money orders. Transportation in a multitude of forms and branch banking do not comprise the sum total of express activities. The surplus funds of these huge institutions have grown large enough to require constant investment, and the express companies form a close second to the savings banks and insurance companies as the most dependable, regular and important class of investors in railroad…

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