Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:46

Excerpt #1, from Postal Riders and Raiders, by W. H. Gantz

…to establish is, that no “Interest” periodical will, for a time at any rate, advertise its own interests, save as news matter, and that each “Interest” can and will advertise the others–the mutual interests–and do it, too, at the cent-a-pound rate and without violating any postal law now existent. I will now return to Mr. Hitchcock’s activity and arguments for this “rider” to that postoffice appropriation bill. I call it “his,” as, from the evidence, I am forced to the conclusion that it originated with him. Most certainly he nursed it and pushed it forward with the urgent solicitude which a fond father would display in advancing his first-born or favorite scion. The excerpts which I have taken from Mr. Blythe clearly evidence that fact. Mr. Hitchcock is on record as stating that it costs “9.23 cents a pound to transport and handle second-class mail matter.” I am quoting from memory. Maybe he did not include “handling,” and put 9.23 cents per pound as the cost of transportation only. At all events I remember that one writer, with keen perception and a robust sense of the humor of things, as well as the justice involved, pointed out the fact that any of the competing railroads between New York city and Chicago (easily proven to be twice the “average mail haul”), would carry Mr. Taft, our 300-pound “good fellow” President, the “run” at less than 9 cents a…

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Excerpt #2, from The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

…SIR PETER. Indeed! LADY TEAZLE. Aye–and when my cousin Sophy has called you a stiff peevish old batchelor and laugh’d at me for thinking of marrying one who might be my Father–I have always defended you–and said I didn’t think you so ugly by any means, and that you’d make a very good sort of a husband– SIR PETER. And you prophesied right–and we shall certainly now be the happiest couple—- LADY TEAZLE. And never differ again. SIR PETER. No never–tho’ at the same time indeed–my dear Lady Teazle–you must watch your Temper very narrowly–for in all our little Quarrels–my dear–if you recollect my Love you always began first– LADY TEAZLE. I beg your Pardon–my dear Sir Peter–indeed–you always gave the provocation. SIR PETER. Now–see, my Love take care–contradicting isn’t the way to keep Friends. LADY TEAZLE. Then don’t you begin it my Love! SIR PETER. There now–you are going on–you don’t perceive[,] my Life, that you are just doing the very thing my Love which you know always makes me angry. LADY TEAZLE. Nay–you know if you will be angry without any reason–my…

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Excerpt #3, from The 1992 CIA World Factbook, by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

…80,387,283 (July 1992), growth rate 0.5%!((MISSING)1992) Birth rate: 11 births/1,000 population (1992) Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1992) Net migration rate: 5 migrants/1,000 population (1992) Infant mortality rate: 7 deaths/1,000 live births (1992) Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 79 years female (1992) Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (1992) Nationality: noun - German(s); adjective - German Ethnic divisions: primarily German; small Danish and Slavic minorities Religions: Protestant 45%!,(MISSING) Roman Catholic 37%!,(MISSING) unaffiliated or other 18%!(NOVERB) Languages: German…

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Excerpt #4, from The Communist Manifesto, by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx

…3. CRITICAL-UTOPIAN SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM We do not here refer to that literature which, in every great modern revolution, has always given voice to the demands of the proletariat, such as the writings of Babeuf and others. The first direct attempts of the proletariat to attain its own ends, made in times of universal excitement, when feudal society was being overthrown, these attempts necessarily failed, owing to the then undeveloped state of the proletariat, as well as to the absence of the economic conditions for its emancipation, conditions that had yet to be produced, and could be produced by the impending bourgeois epoch alone. The revolutionary literature that accompanied these first movements of the proletariat had necessarily a reactionary character. It inculcated universal asceticism and social levelling in its crudest form. The Socialist and Communist systems properly so called, those of Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen and others, spring into existence in the early undeveloped period, described above, of the struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie (see Section 1. Bourgeois and Proletarians). The founders of these systems see, indeed, the class antagonisms, as well as the action of the decomposing elements, in the prevailing form of society. But the proletariat, as yet in its infancy, offers to them…

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Excerpt #5, from Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

…post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me. Let young Hawkins go at once to see his mother, with Redruth for a guard; and then both come full speed to Bristol. John Trelawney Postscript–I did not tell you that Blandly, who, by the way, is to send a consort after us if we don’t turn up by the end of August, had found an admirable fellow for sailing master–a stiff man, which I regret, but in all other respects a treasure. Long John Silver unearthed a very competent man for a mate, a man named Arrow. I have a boatswain who pipes, Livesey; so things shall go man-o’-war fashion on board the good ship HISPANIOLA. I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker’s account, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn; and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for…

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Excerpt #6, from The Art of Conversation: Twelve Golden Rules, by Josephine Turck Baker

…story-telling. It seems to me that if one would entertain one’s friends now and then with a good story, it would enliven what would otherwise be a very dull occasion. She.–Story-tellers–good story-tellers–are probably born, not made; and yet, the person who is not especially gifted in this art, may succeed in entertaining his listeners, provided that he has wit enough to remember the “point,” and to couch his language so that the dénouement is not surmised, for surprise is an important element in the telling of a story. He.–Occasionally, I hear a good story, and one that I wish to remember, but I can never trust myself to repeat it for fear that I shall commit the flagrant sin of missing the “point”; and that omission would, of course, be unpardonable. She.–I think you might become a very successful reconteur, if you would give some attention to the art in question. Of course, the important thing to remember is, what are the essentials, to omit all unnecessary details, to keep the listener in suspense and, above all, not to omit the point. We can not all be Charles Lambs nor Sydney Smiths, but we can each have our little store of “funnycisms” from which to draw when the occasion is opportune, or the story relevant. He.–Well, I suppose we must decide that one must be a good listener…

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Excerpt #7, from A Short History of the World, by H. G. Wells

…treatment, because there is no measure to his bounty. From all moreover, as the parable of the buried talent witnesses, and as the incident of the widow’s mite enforces, he demands the utmost. There are no privileges, no rebates and no excuses in the Kingdom of Heaven. EARLY IDEAL PORTRAIT, IN GILDED GLASS, OF JESUS CHRIST IN WHICH THE TRADITIONAL BEARD IS NOT SHOWN EARLY IDEAL PORTRAIT, IN GILDED GLASS, OF JESUS CHRIST IN WHICH THE TRADITIONAL BEARD IS NOT SHOWN But it is not only the intense tribal patriotism of the Jews that Jesus outraged. They were a people of intense family loyalty, and he would have swept away all the narrow and restrictive family affections in the great flood of the love of God. The whole kingdom of Heaven was to be the family of his followers. We are told that, “While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.? [1]…

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Excerpt #8, from The Radio Boys Rescue the Lost Alaska Expedition, by Gerald Breckenridge

…together the aerial series condenser, the blocking condenser, the grid condenser, the telegraph key, the chopper, the choke coil in the key circuit, the filament volt-meter, the protective condenser in the power circuit, the storage battery and the motor generator. Farnum and MacDonald asked questions, although Dick and Art were content to sit silent and watch, keen-eyed, as the construction work progressed. Several times, too, Dick arose and went to the water’s edge to keep watch against surprise. That any would be attempted for the time being, nobody believed, as they figured the enemy would consider them on guard. As they worked, Jack explained for the benefit of the others. His description of how the low voltage current from the storage battery flowed into one of the windings of the generator and drives it as a motor thus generating higher voltage in the other winding both puzzled and interested them. By the time, the set was ready for use, Farnum, who was something of a mechanic by inclination, had a fair understanding of the set, but MacDonald, though interested, was bewildered. “I’m fair beat,” he confessed. “Anyhow, just so you boys can make it work!” “Oh, we’ll make it work, all right,” Frank assured him. “Well, now, to try to call the Post. What’s its call, Mr. MacDonald?” “I happen to remember,” said MacDonald. “We were all so interested when…

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Excerpt #9, from Under the German shells, by Emmanuel Bourcier

…repeated along the line. We crept, we crawled like slugs, profiting by the smallest tuft of grass, the shallowest recess in the ground that might serve as a shield, but with little hope of escape. Some furious discharges of seventy-fives cracked with such rapidity and precision that they comforted us. We felt sustained and protected and steadied ourselves. We were annoyingly hampered by our heavy equipment, our inconvenient cartridge-boxes and all our cumbersome accoutrement. Suddenly a man was wounded. He cried out, and, losing all prudence, arose, ran, crossed the embankment and fled to the shelter. Instinctively we followed his example. On the way another man was wounded and fell. Two of his companions seized him and, dragging him between them, struggled to safety, in the shelter of the railroad-bank. It was finished. We reassembled. We were muddy, bruised, and wounded; eyes red from loss of sleep, and mouths drawn, but, just the same, we were content. Thenceforth we were soldiers. We had faced danger. True, we had not fought, but we were ready. Our rôle had just commenced. We had occupied this sector to fit it up as this novel thing, this underground war, demanded. This task achieved, we were to be its defenders. It was necessary to dig trenches that we might no longer watch from the scanty shelter of trees; to improve on these primitive holes that had been dug, to serve…

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Excerpt #10, from Curiosities of Human Nature, by Samuel G. Goodrich

…Jedediah had accurately solved this intricate problem, though in the midst of business, and surrounded by more than a hundred laborers. Next to figures, the only objects of Jedediah’s curiosity were the king and royal family. So strong was his desire to see them, that in the beginning of the spring of 1754, he walked up to London for that purpose, but returned disappointed, as his majesty had removed to Kensington just as he arrived in town. He was, however, introduced to the Royal Society, whom he called the Folk of the Siety Court. The gentlemen present asked him several questions in arithmetic to try his abilities, and dismissed him with a handsome present. During his residence in the metropolis, he was taken to see the tragedy of King Richard the Third, performed at Drury Lane, Garrick being one of the actors. It was expected that the novelty of everything in that place, together with the splendor of the surrounding objects, would have filled him with astonishment; or that his passions would have been roused in some degree, by the action of the performers, even though he might not fully comprehend the dialogue. This, certainly, was a rational idea; but his thoughts were far otherwise employed. During the dances, his attention was engaged in reckoning the number of steps; after a fine piece of music, he declared that the innumerable sounds produced by the instruments perplexed him beyond measure, but he counted the words…

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Excerpt #11, from Modern Essays, by Harry Morgan Ayres et al.

…at its best (I never drank better than Younger’s) excellent: but its tendency, I think, is to be too sweet. I once invested in some–not Younger’s–which I kept for nearly sixteen years, and which was still treacle at the end. Bass’s No. 1 requires no praises. Once when living in the Cambridgeshire village mentioned earlier I had some, bottled in Cambridge itself, of great age and excellence. Indeed, two guests, though both of them were Cambridge men, and should have had what Mr. Lang once called the “robust” habits of that University, fell into one ditch after partaking of it. (I own that the lanes thereabouts are very dark.) In former days, though probably not at present, you could often find rather choice specimens of strong beer produced at small breweries in the country. I remember such even in the Channel Islands. And I suspect the Universities themselves have been subject to “declensions and fallings off.” I know that in my undergraduate days at Merton we always had proper beer-glasses, like the old “flute” champagnes, served regularly at cheese-time with a most noble beer called “Archdeacon,” which was then actually brewed in the sacristy of the College chapel. I have since–a slight sorrow to season the joy of reinstatement there–been told that it is now obtained from outside.[F] And All Souls is the only other college in which, from actual recent experience, I can imagine the possibility of the exorcism,…

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Excerpt #12, from Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell

…month after month, and no doubt year after year, I must stand up in a stable night and day except when I am wanted, and then I must be just as steady and quiet as any old horse who has worked twenty years. Straps here and straps there, a bit in my mouth, and blinkers over my eyes. Now, I am not complaining, for I know it must be so. I only mean to say that for a young horse full of strength and spirits, who has been used to some large field or plain where he can fling up his head and toss up his tail and gallop away at full speed, then round and back again with a snort to his companions–I say it is hard never to have a bit more liberty to do as you like. Sometimes, when I have had less exercise than usual, I have felt so full of life and spring that when John has taken me out to exercise I really could not keep quiet; do what I would, it seemed as if I must jump, or dance, or prance, and many a good shake I know I must have given him, especially at the first; but he was always good and patient. “Steady, steady, my boy,” he would say; “wait a bit, and we will have a good swing, and soon get the tickle out of your feet.” Then as soon as we were out of the village, he would give me a few miles at a spanking trot, and then bring me back as fresh as before, only clear of the fidgets, as he called them. Spirited horses, when not enough exercised, are often called skittish, when it is only play; and some grooms will…

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