Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:28

Excerpt #1, from Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, by Thomas Rainey

…and if there is no rule by which those who do good service on a line are to have, in renewing contracts, the preference of new and untried parties, then it is reasonable to infer that they can not themselves incur the expense of so large an establishment of new and useless vessels, and that their service is either to be inefficient and unreliable, or that the department must pay a larger price than necessary under a judicious and fixed system. The want of a reliable system operates injuriously both on the department and on the contractors. It subjects us to expedients, and to all of the evils of constant lobbying and legislation on the subject. And one of the first wants of this system is an extension of the term of contracts. The period hitherto assigned has not been long enough for the proper development of the service. The short term is a constant premium for building an inferior class of vessels, which shall have become worthless by the time that the contract expires, so as not to entail loss upon the company. Such vessels are ever unfit for the mails or passengers. Short terms also keep the subject continually before Congress and the Executive Government, and foster that extensive and depraved lobbying which has wrought so injuriously on our legislation. Moreover, there is no reason why the term of service should not be extended, when it will certainly simplify and cheapen it, if, as I…

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Excerpt #2, from The Art of War, by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

…strength. 19. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. [As Ho Shih remarks: “War is not a thing to be trifled with.” Sun Tzŭ here reiterates the main lesson which this chapter is intended to enforce."] 20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people’s fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril. Chapter III. ATTACK BY STRATAGEM 1. Sun Tzŭ said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. [The equivalent to an army corps, according to Ssu-ma Fa, consisted nominally of 12500 men; according to Ts’ao Kung, the equivalent of a regiment contained 500 men, the equivalent to a detachment consists from any number between 100 and 500, and the equivalent of a company contains from 5 to 100 men. For the last two, however, Chang Yu gives the exact figures of 100 and 5 respectively.]…

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Excerpt #3, from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne

…“Well, sir,” I remarked, as I noticed my uncle hesitated to conclude. “To the genus Pterychtis–yes, I am certain of it. Still, though I am confident of the correctness of my surmise, this fish offers to our notice a remarkable peculiarity, never known to exist in any other fish but those which are the natives of subterranean waters, wells, lakes, in caverns, and suchlike hidden pools.” “And what may that be?” “It is blind.” “Blind!” I cried, much surprised. “Not only blind,” continued the Professor, “but absolutely without organs of sight.” I now examined our discovery for myself. It was singular, to be sure, but it was really a fact. This, however, might be a solitary instance, I suggested. The hook was baited again and once more thrown into the water. This subterranean ocean must have been tolerably well supplied with fish, for in two hours we took a large number of Pterychtis, as well as other fish belonging to another supposed extinct family–the Dipterides (a genus of fish, furnished with two fins only, whence the name), though my uncle could not class it exactly. All, without exception, however, were blind. This unexpected capture enabled us to renew our stock of provisions in a very satisfactory way….

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Excerpt #4, from An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, by William Falconer

…sailing. GROMMET, daillot, a sort of small wreath, formed of a strand of rope, and used to fasten the upper edge of a stay-sail to its respective stay, in different places. By means of the grommets, the sail is accordingly hoisted or lowered, i. e. drawn up or down upon its stay, in the same manner as a curtain is extended or drawn along upon its rod, by the assistance of rings. See also the article HANK. GROUNDING, the act of laying a ship ashore, in order to bream or repair her. It is also applied to running aground accidentally when under sail, or driving in a tempest. GROUND-TACKLE, amarrages, a general name given to all sorts of ropes and furniture which belong to the anchors, or which are employed in mooring, or otherwise securing a ship in a road or harbour; as cables, hausers, tow-lines, warps, and buoy-ropes. GROWING, implies the direction of the cable from the ship towards the anchors; as, the cable grows on the starboard-bow, i. e. stretches out forwards on the starboard, or right side. GUARD-BOAT, a boat appointed to row the rounds amongst the ships of war which are laid up in any harbour, &c. to observe that their officers keep a good look-out, calling to the guard-boat as she passes, and not suffering her crew to come aboard, without having previously…

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Excerpt #5, from Around the World on a Bicycle Volume II, by Thomas Stevens

…serviceableness, swords, daggers, ornamental goat’s-paunch powder-pouches, peculiar pendent brass rings containing spring nippers for carrying and affixing caps, leathern water-bottles, together with various odds and ends of warlike accoutrements distributed about their persons or their saddles. “Inshallah, Ghalakua, Gh-al-a-kua!” exclaims the khan, as he swings himself into the saddle. “Inshallah, Al-lah,” is the response of the mirza and the mudbake, as they carelessly follow his example, and the march across the Dasht-i-na-oomid begins. The ryot leads the way afoot, following along the partially empty beds of mountain torrents, through patches of rank camel-thorn, over bowlder-strewn areas and drifts of sand, sometimes following along the merest suggestion of a trail, but quite as frequently following no trail at all. At certain intervals occurs a piece of good ridable ground; our villager-guide then looks back over his shoulder and bounds ahead with a swinging trot, eager to enjoy the spectacle of the bicycle spinning along at his heels; the escort bring up the rear in a leisurely manner, absorbed in the discussion of “pool.” Several miles are covered in this manner, when we emerge upon a more open country, and after consulting at some length with the villager, the khan declares himself capable of finding the way without further assistance….

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Excerpt #6, from The Myths and Fables of To Day, by Samuel Adams Drake

…An old woman, skilled in such matters, declares that when vagrant cats begin to collect around the back-yards, “it’s a sure sign the winter’s broken.” Whistling to keep one’s courage up, or for a wind, are rather in the nature of an invocation to some occult power than a sign. Sailors, it is well known, have a superstitious fear of whistling at sea, believing it will bring on a storm. Yawning is said to be catching. Well, if it is not catching, it comes so near to being so, that most persons accept it as a fact; and laugh as we may, daily experience goes to confirm it as such, and must continue to do so until some more satisfactory explanation is found than we yet know of. [Illustration] V CHARMS TO GOOD LUCK “The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm.” Of the things closely associated in the popular mind with good or bad luck, what in short one may or may not do to obtain the favors or turn aside the frowns of fortune, the list is a long one. We say “God bless me!” when we sneeze, as an invocation to good luck. Then, for instance,…

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Excerpt #7, from Astounding Stories of Super

…have been located." For my part, I was too weary to think. I just staggered on. A crowd of slim, darting white shapes surrounded us. They swam before us, showing the way. The five patriarchs walked majestically before us; and between us, smiling at us through the thick lenses of our headpieces, walked Imee. Oh, it was a triumphal procession, and had I been less weary, I presume I would have felt quite the hero. * * * * * Imee pictured for us, as we went along, the happiness, the gratefulness of her people. Already, she informed us, great numbers of young men were clearing away the bodies of the dead Rorn. She was so happy she could hardly restrain herself. A dim skeleton shape bulked up at my left. I turned to look at it, and Imee, watching me through the lights of my head-piece, nodded and smiled. Yes, this was the very hulk by which she had been swimming when the shark had attacked her, the shark which had been the cause of the accident. She darted on to show me the very rib upon which her head had struck, stunning her so that she had drifted, unconscious and storm-tossed, to the shore of Mercer’s estate. I studied the wreck. It was battered and tilted on its beam ends, but…

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Excerpt #8, from Tales of the Air Mail Pilots, by Burt M. McConnell

…At the end of two hours snow covered the plateau to a depth of two feet. It now became more and more difficult to charge with his machine up and down the runway; but Bishop carried on. Perhaps the wind would cease, so that he could shovel a runway two hundred yards long and ten feet wide. Finally, however, after he had tried unsuccessfully for three hours to extricate his machine from the drifts; when snow had fallen to a depth of three feet and the powerful Liberty motor could not force the plane through the snow, Bishop climbed stiffly out of the cockpit, shook himself free of snow, drained off the water from the radiator, covered up the mail in the cockpit, and started walking in the general direction of the nearest settlement—Lyman, Wyoming. Bishop was familiar with the country, having flown over it dozens of times, yet, being a careful and methodical pilot, he took the compass from the machine. He had no emergency rations. He had neither snowshoes nor rifle. He saw no game. There was no shelter within twenty miles that he knew of. If worst came to worst, however, he could still return to his machine and start a fire with his batteries and some gasoline. The pilot was strongly tempted to lay aside his heavy fur-lined flying suit, but, as it seemed likely that he might have to use it for a blanket that night, he threw the legs of the suit over his shoulders,…

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Excerpt #9, from Greenmantle, by John Buchan

…filled all the front carriages. An officer spoke to me gruffly and told me to stand aside behind a wooden rail. I obeyed, and suddenly found Stumm’s eyes looking down at me. “You know German?” he asked sharply. “A dozen words,” I said carelessly. “I’ve been to Windhuk and learned enough to ask for my dinner. Peter—my friend—speaks it a bit.” “So,” said Stumm. “Well, get into the carriage. Not that one! There, thickhead!” I did as I was bid, he followed, and the door was locked behind us. The precaution was needless, for the sight of Stumm’s profile at the platform end would have kept out the most brazen. I wondered if I had woken up his suspicions. I must be on my guard to show no signs of intelligence if he suddenly tried me in German, and that wouldn’t be easy, for I knew it as well as I knew Dutch. We moved into the country, but the windows were blurred with frost, and I saw nothing of the landscape. Stumm was busy with papers and let me alone. I read on a notice that one was forbidden to smoke, so to show my ignorance of German I pulled out my pipe. Stumm raised his head, saw what I was doing, and gruffly bade me put it away, as if he were an old lady that disliked the smell of tobacco. In half an hour I got very bored, for I had nothing to read and my pipe…

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Excerpt #10, from Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3

…in 1949 and Mr. Daschbach did not become a Smith Act defendant, if I remember correctly, until 1954. Mr. VELDE. I think that commotion was because they didn’t know how to spell his name. Mr. TAVENNER. The spelling is D-a-s-c-h-b-a-c-h. Mr. O’CONNELL. I thought maybe I had left something unexplained. Mr. TAVENNER. Ted Astley was slated to conduct course No. 245, psychology in the social science. He appeared as a witness before the committee and refused to testify, relying on the fifth amendment as to past and present Communist Party membership. He was identified as a member of the Communist Party by Barbara Hartle. Ruth Bitterman was slated to conduct a course in children’s workshop. She refused to testify as a witness before the committee but was identified by Barbara Hartle as a member of the Communist Party. Jean Danielson was shown by testimony in our hearings in Seattle to be the same person as Margaret Jean Schuddakoph, and was advertised to conduct course No. 300, as special workshop in reading and writing. She refused to testify before the committee and was identified as a Communist Party member by Barbara Hartle. Marjorie Daschbach was advertised to conduct course No. 304 and was…

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Excerpt #11, from Dracula, by Bram Stoker

…animal, perhaps a rat; but, for his own part, he was inclined to think that it was one of the bats which are so numerous on the northern heights of London. “Out of so many harmless ones,” he said, “there may be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species. Some sailor may have brought one home, and it managed to escape; or even from the Zoölogical Gardens a young one may have got loose, or one be bred there from a vampire. These things do occur, you know. Only ten days ago a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the Heath and in every alley in the place until this ‘bloofer lady’ scare came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them. Even this poor little mite, when he woke up to-day, asked the nurse if he might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted to play with the ‘bloofer lady.’” “I hope,” said Van Helsing, “that when you are sending the child home you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it. These fancies to stray are most dangerous; and if the child were to remain out another night, it would probably be fatal. But in any case I suppose you will not let it away for some days?” “Certainly not, not for a week at least; longer if the wound is not healed.”…

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Excerpt #12, from Robot nemesis, by E. E. Smith

…thoughtfully. “Much, however, can be done. We can probably tune our defensive screens to block most of the harmful radiations, and we may be able to muster other defenses. I will analyze the radiations and see what we can do about neutralizing them.” “You will go to bed,” directed Martin, crisply. “There will be lots of time for that work after you get rested up. The doctors have been reporting that the men who did not recover from the robots’ broadcast are dying under this acceleration. With those facts staring us in the face, however, I do not see how we can reduce our power.” “We can’t. As it is, many more of us will probably die before we get away from the sun,” and Stone staggered away, practically asleep on his feet. Day after day the frightful fall continued. The sun grew larger and larger, more and ever more menacingly intense. One by one at first, and then by scores, the mindless men of the Fleet died and were consigned to space–a man must be in full control of all his faculties to survive for long an acceleration of three gravities. * * * * * The generators of the defensive screens had early been tuned to neutralize as much as possible of Old Sol’s most fervently harmful frequencies, and but for their mighty shields every man of the Fleet…

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