Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:57

Excerpt #1, from A Week at Waterloo in 1815, by Lady Magdalene De Lancey

…I said no more, but quietly went to the parlour and remained waiting–such an immediate effect had his steady good sense on my fevered mind. I overheard him say, “No, do not at present; she is not fit for it.” I was alarmed, and ran out; but I saw a lady retreating, and I was grateful to him. We left Antwerp between eight and nine, and had the same difficulties to encounter; but the road was not quite so much blocked up. General M’Kenzie said he would ride after us in an hour, in case we should be detained; he also sent a dragoon before, to order horses. When we were near Vilvorde, the driver attempted to pass a waggon, but the soldier who rode beside it would not move one inch to let us pass. The waggons kept possession of the chaussée the whole way, and we had to drive on the heavy road at the side. My servant got off the seat to endeavour to lead the horses past. This provoked the soldier, and a dispute began. I was alarmed, and desired the servant to get upon the carriage again, which he did. A Prussian officer, enraged at our attempting to pass the waggon he was guarding, drew his sword, and made several cuts at the servant’s legs, but did not reach him. He was preparing to get down again, but I looked from the opposite window and commanded him to sit still, and not to answer a word; or else to quit the carriage altogether. The driver now made a dash past the waggon,…

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Excerpt #2, from Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853

…of schooners which ran irregularly and only when there was cargo. They plied between San Francisco and San Pedro, and by agreement put in at Santa Bárbara and other Coast places such as Port San Luis, when the shipments warranted such stops. N. Pierce & Company were the owners. One of these vessels in 1855 was the clipper schooner Laura Bevan, captained by F. Morton and later wrecked at sea when Frank Lecouvreur just escaped taking passage on her; and another was the Sea Serpent, whose Captain bore the name of Fish. I have said that in 1849 the old side-wheeler Gold Hunter had commenced paddling the waters around here; but so far as I can remember, she was not operating in 1853. The Goliah, on the other hand, was making two round trips a month, carrying passengers, mail and freight from San Francisco to San Diego, and stopping at various Coast points including San Pedro. In a vague way, I also remember the mail steamer Ohio under one of the Haleys, the Sea Bird, at one time commanded by Salisbury Haley, and the Southerner; and if I am uncertain about others, the difficulty may be due to the fact that, because of unseaworthiness and miserable service, owners changed the names of ships from time to time in order to allay the popular prejudice and distrust, so that during some years, several names were successively applied to the same vessel. It must have been about 1855…

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Excerpt #3, from The Book of Hallowe’en, by Ruth Edna Kelley

…HALLOWE’EN IN AMERICA In Colonial days Hallowe’en was not celebrated much in America. Some English still kept the customs of the old world, such as apple-ducking and snapping, and girls tried the apple-paring charm to reveal their lovers’ initials, and the comb-and-mirror test to see their faces. Ballads were sung and ghost-stories told, for the dead were thought to return on Hallowe’en. “There was a young officer in Phips’s company at the time of the finding of the Spanish treasure-ship, who had gone mad at the sight of the bursting sacks that the divers had brought up from the sea, as the gold coins covered the deck. This man had once lived in the old stone house on the ‘faire greene lane,’ and a report had gone out that his spirit still visited it, and caused discordant noises. Once … on a gusty November evening, when the clouds were scudding over the moon, a hall-door had blown open with a shrieking draft and a force that caused the floor to tremble.” BUTTERWORTH: Hallowe’en Reformation. Elves, goblins, and fairies are native on American soil. The Indians believed in evil manitous, some of whom were water-gods who exacted tribute from all who passed over their lakes. Henry…

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Excerpt #4, from A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, by William Smith

…majority decided. If the matter was one of difficulty, the hearing might be adjourned as often as was necessary (ampliatio); and if the judex could not come to a satisfactory conclusion, he might declare this upon oath, and so release himself from the difficulty. This was done by the form of words non liquere (N. L.). The sentence was pronounced orally, and was sometimes first written on a tablet. If the defendant did not make his appearance after being duly summoned, judgment might be given against him.–According to Cicero, all judicia had for their object, either the settlement of disputes between individuals (controversiae), or the punishment of crimes (maleficia). This refers to a division of judicia, which appears in the jurists, into judicia publica and judicia privata. The former, the judicia publica, succeeded to the judicia populi of the early republican period: the latter were so called because in them the populus acted as judices. Originally the kings presided in all criminal cases, and the consuls succeeded to their authority. But after the passing of the Lex Valeria (B.C. 507), which gave an appeal to the populus (that is, the comitia curiata) from the magistratus, the consul could not sit in judgment on the caput of a Roman citizen, but such cases were tried in the comitia, or persons were appointed to preside at such inquiries, who were accordingly called…

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Excerpt #5, from The Radio Boys Rescue the Lost Alaska Expedition, by Gerald Breckenridge

…which the reindeer had entered their valley. The hill sloped abruptly down to the water, and Frank had marked from camp how trees clothed it entirely, even dipping into the stream. When he had passed, as he believed, beyond a point at which there was any possibility of his being seen, he seized a branch of a willow tree and pulled himself ashore. Then, after climbing a short distance up the hill, he began working his way around it through the trees. Presently he was on the hillside facing the valley where were his friends in the distant clump of trees, and the enemy hidden in the long grass. The reindeer had not moved far. They were only a short distance from him, and Frank hurried forward at the best pace he could command. CHAPTER XVIII.—THE STAMPEDE. For the first time since starting on his wild project, a doubt as to its success entered Frank’s mind. But he put it resolutely aside as he sped forward, crouching, sliding under the low branches, determined to make the best speed possible. His companions were in a ticklish situation. He wanted to do what he could to relieve them as soon as possible. As to his own danger, he gave it not a thought. What worried Frank was the possibility that he would be unable to stampede the reindeer herd. This was the thought which he put aside. But it kept recurring. And when he had come into position behind the herd,…

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Excerpt #6, from Remarks, by Bill Nye

…I have said a good deal about the dog, pro and con, and I am not a rabid dog abolitionist, for no one loves to have his clear-cut features licked by the warm, wet tongue of a noble dog any more than I do, but rather than see hydrophobia become a national characteristic or a leading industry here, I would forego the dog. Perhaps all men are that way, however. When they get a little forehanded they forget that they were once poor, and owned dogs. If so, I do not wish to be unfair. I want to be just, and I believe I am. Let us yield up our dogs and take the affection that we would otherwise bestow on them on some human being. I have tried it and it works well. There are thousands of people in the world, of both sexes, who are pining and starving for the love and money that we daily shower on the dog. If the dog would be kind enough to refrain from introducing his justly celebrated virus into the person of those only who kiss him on the cold, moist nose, it would be all right; but when a dog goes mad he is very impulsive, and he may bestow himself on an obscure man. So I feel a little nervous myself. Christopher Columbus. Probably few people have been more successful in the discovering line than Christopher Columbus. Living as he did in a day when a great many things were still in an undiscovered state, the horizon was filled with golden…

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Excerpt #7, from An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, by William Falconer

…descent, or sloping passage called the ways, which are for this purpose daubed with soap and tallow. This frame is exhibited by fig. 23, plate II. CRAFT, a general name for all sorts of vessels employed to load or discharge merchant-ships, or to carry along-side, or return the stores of men of war: such are lighters, hoys, barges, prames, &c. See those articles. CRANK, coté-foible, the quality of a ship, which for want of a sufficient quantity of ballast or cargo, is rendered incapable of carrying sail without being exposed to the danger of overturning. See the articles BALLAST and TRIM. CRANK, is also an iron brace which supports the lanthorns on the poop-quarters, &c. CRAWL, bouchot, a sort of pen, or place of confinement, formed by a barrier of stakes and hurdles on the sea-coast, to contain any sort of fish within it. CREEPER, an instrument of iron resembling a grappling, having a shank and four hooks or claws, fig. 24, plate II. It is used to throw into the bottom of any river or harbour, with a rope fastened to it, to hook and draw up any thing from the bottom which may have been lost. CRINGLE, ancet, a small hole made in the bolt-rope of a sail, by…

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Excerpt #8, from The Open Boat and Other Stories, by Stephen Crane

…a voice as it came over the waves, and it was sadder than the end. There was a long, loud swishing astern of the boat, and a gleaming trail of phosphorescence, like blue flame, was furrowed on the black waters. It might have been made by a monstrous knife. Then there came a stillness, while the correspondent breathed with the open mouth and looked at the sea. Suddenly there was another swish and another long flash of bluish light, and this time it was alongside the boat, and might almost have been reached with an oar. The correspondent saw an enormous fin speed like a shadow through the water, hurling the crystalline spray and leaving the long glowing trail. The correspondent looked over his shoulder at the captain. His face was hidden, and he seemed to be asleep. He looked at the babes of the sea. They certainly were asleep. So, being bereft of sympathy, he leaned a little way to one side and swore softly into the sea. But the thing did not then leave the vicinity of the boat. Ahead or astern, on one side or the other, at intervals long or short, fled the long sparkling streak, and there was to be heard the whiroo of the dark fin. The speed and power of the thing was greatly to be admired. It cut the water like a gigantic and keen projectile. The presence of this biding thing did not affect the man with the same…

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Excerpt #9, from The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells

…description. “Way!” my brother heard voices crying. “Make way!” It was like riding into the smoke of a fire to approach the meeting point of the lane and road; the crowd roared like a fire, and the dust was hot and pungent. And, indeed, a little way up the road a villa was burning and sending rolling masses of black smoke across the road to add to the confusion. Two men came past them. Then a dirty woman, carrying a heavy bundle and weeping. A lost retriever dog, with hanging tongue, circled dubiously round them, scared and wretched, and fled at my brother’s threat. So much as they could see of the road Londonward between the houses to the right was a tumultuous stream of dirty, hurrying people, pent in between the villas on either side; the black heads, the crowded forms, grew into distinctness as they rushed towards the corner, hurried past, and merged their individuality again in a receding multitude that was swallowed up at last in a cloud of dust. “Go on! Go on!” cried the voices. “Way! Way!” One man’s hands pressed on the back of another. My brother stood at the pony’s head. Irresistibly attracted, he advanced slowly, pace by pace, down the lane. Edgware had been a scene of confusion, Chalk Farm a riotous tumult, but…

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Excerpt #10, from Familiar Quotations, by John Bartlett

…Don Juan. Canto i. Stanza 212. So for a good old-gentlemanly vice I think I must take up with avarice.[556-1] Don Juan. Canto i. Stanza 216. What is the end of fame? ’T is but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper. Don Juan. Canto i. Stanza 218. At leaving even the most unpleasant people And places, one keeps looking at the steeple. Don Juan. Canto ii. Stanza 14. There ’s nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms As rum and true religion. Don Juan. Canto ii. Stanza 34. A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry Of some strong swimmer in his agony. Don Juan. Canto ii. Stanza 53. All who joy would win Must share it, happiness was born a twin. Don Juan. Canto ii. Stanza 172. Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, Sermons and soda-water the day after….

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Excerpt #11, from Ox Team Days on the Oregon Trail, by Howard R. Driggs and Ezra Meeker

…left for cattle. In fact, the run on provisions for the gold rush was so great that at one time we were almost threatened with famine. Finally our cattle, mostly cows, were loaded in an open scow and taken in tow alongside the steamer, the Sea Bird, I think it was. [Illustration: A “shaker” used to wash out gold.] All went well enough until we arrived off the head of Whidby Island. Here a choppy sea from a light wind began slopping over the scow and evidently would sink us despite our utmost efforts at bailing. When the captain would slow down the speed of his steamer, all was well; but the moment greater power was applied, over the gunwales would come the water. The dialogue that ensued between the captain and me was more emphatic than elegant. He dared not risk letting go of us, however, or of running us under, for fear of incurring the risk of heavy damages. I would not consent to be landed. So about the twentieth of June we were set adrift in Bellingham Bay and, tired and sleepy, landed on the beach. Our cows must have feed, they must be milked, the milk must be marketed. There was no rest for us during another thirty-six hours. In fact, there was but little sleep for anybody on that beach at the time. Several ocean steamers had just dumped three thousand people on the beach, and there was still a scramble to find a place to build a house or stretch…

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Excerpt #12, from The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu

…distressed and disquieted her by his wild behaviour, and feeling thoroughly ashamed of himself he answered: ‘I am afraid I know very little about these questions of rank and precedence. Such things are too confusing to carry in one’s head. And whatever you may have heard of me I want to tell you for some reason or other I have till this day cared nothing for gallantry nor ever practised it, and that even you cannot be more astonished at what I have done to-night than I myself am.’ With this and a score of other speeches he sought to win her confidence. But she, knowing that if once their talk became a jot less formal, she would be hard put to it to withstand his singular charm, was determined, even at the risk of seeming stiff and awkward, to show him that in trying so hard to put her at her ease he was only wasting his time, with the result that she behaved very boorishly indeed. She was by nature singularly gentle and yielding, so that the effort of steeling her heart and despite her feelings, playing all the while the part of the young bamboo-shoot which though so green and tender cannot be broken, was very painful to her; and finding that she could not longer think of arguments with which to withstand his importunity, she burst into tears; and though he was very sorry for her, it occurred to him that he would not gladly have missed that sight. He longed however to console her, but could not think of a way…

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