Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:22

Excerpt #1, from Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, by S. Baring

…wrecked by the Huguenots, his disciples. But here it was, in this cavern, that he elaborated his system of reform, treating Christianity as a French peasant treats an oak tree, pollarding it, and lopping off every lateral, natural outgrowth. Assuredly, many a volatile superstition had lodged in its branches, and many a gross abuse couched under its shadow. But these might have been scared away without mutilating the tree till it was reduced to a stump. He desired, doubtless, to bring back the Church to the condition in which he supposed it had been when born. But one cannot reduce an adult to the simplicity and innocence of childhood by stripping off all his clothes, and denying him the conventional figleaf. [Illustration: LES ROCHES. Houses built into and against the rocks.] [Illustration: GUÉ DU LOIR. Remains of a cliff-fortress commanding the approach to Vendôme. But a small portion of this castle is visible in this plate.] Having shattered the Catholic faith by the crowbar of his logic, he sought to build up a grotto out of its fragments, and call it a church. His “Institute of the Christian Religion” was published the following year. It produced the desired effect at once. There were many reasons why it should. Earnest and devout souls were troubled at the sight of a Christianity that was so in name but had little Christianity in its…

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Excerpt #2, from The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, by Robert Louis Stevenson

…gorse, and crowned with a black tuft of firs. “I shall see from there,” he thought, and struck for it across a heathy clearing. He had gone but a few yards, when Matcham touched him on the arm, and pointed. To the eastward of the summit there was a dip, and, as it were, a valley passing to the other side; the heath was not yet out; all the ground was rusty, like an unscoured buckler, and dotted sparingly with yews; and there, one following another, Dick saw half a score green jerkins mounting the ascent, and marching at their head, conspicuous by his boar-spear, Ellis Duckworth in person. One after another gained the top, showed for a moment against the sky, and then dipped upon the further side, until the last was gone. Dick looked at Matcham with a kindlier eye. “So y’ are to be true to me, Jack?” he asked. “I thought ye were of the other party.” Matcham began to sob. “What cheer!” cried Dick. “Now the saints behold us! would ye snivel for a word?” “Ye hurt me,” sobbed Matcham. “Ye hurt me when ye threw me down. Y’ are a coward to abuse your strength.” “Nay, that is fool’s talk,” said Dick, roughly. "Y’ had no title to my…

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Excerpt #3, from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection, by Charles Darwin

…most naturalists would advance, namely, that specific characters are more variable than generic, because they are taken from parts of less physiological importance than those commonly used for classing genera. I believe this explanation is partly, yet only indirectly, true; I shall, however, have to return to this subject in our chapter on Classification. It would be almost superfluous to adduce evidence in support of the above statement, that specific characters are more variable than generic; but I have repeatedly noticed in works on natural history, that when an author has remarked with surprise that some important organ or part, which is generally very constant throughout large groups of species, has differed considerably in closely-allied species, that it has, also, been variable in the individuals of some of the species. And this fact shows that a character, which is generally of generic value, when it sinks in value and becomes only of specific value, often becomes variable, though its physiological importance may remain the same. Something of the same kind applies to monstrosities: at least Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire seems to entertain no doubt, that the more an organ normally differs in the different species of the same group, the more subject it is to individual anomalies. On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created,…

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Excerpt #4, from Scientific Sprague, by Francis Lynde

…“It sure does. It’s goin’ to hurt Mr. Maxwell good and plenty. He counts all the men in the home office as his fam’ly, and there’s never been one o’ them to go back on him till now.” “What is your evidence?” queried Sprague. “I reckon you’d call it circumstantial–and so will the judge. But it hobbles him all right. There’s a cut-in on the despatcher’s wires over yonder, ’way up under the roof where nobody’d find it, with four little fine lead wires goin’ down in the wall. I couldn’t find where they come out at, but I reckon that don’t make any difference: they’re there.” “Anything else?” “Yes. I’ve got a letter that I hooked out of his coat pocket not ten minutes ago; a letter from some gang boss o’ his’n in New York, givin’ him goss for not showin’ up results, and allowin’ to pull some sort of a gun on him if the papers don’t begin to print scare heads about a certain railroad management, pronto.” The chemistry expert smiled shrewdly. “You are not the young man I took you for, Tarbell, if you are not wringing your brain like a wet towel to make it tell you why anybody in New York should wish to see Nevada Short Line wreck bulletins in the newspapers.”…

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Excerpt #5, from The British Navy Book, by Cyril Field

…acquaintance" with Father Neptune could well be utilized afloat. This decision was a great blow to its members, who were very proud of their voluntary duties, and after a time the Admiralty was strongly pressed by those interested in the movement to resuscitate it. Hence the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was created.[76] The bluejacket of the present day is better termed a seaman than a sailor, since sails are non-existent in the navy except in boats.[77] Besides, his official rating is seaman–ordinary seaman, able seaman, &c. Some writers in journals dealing with naval matters have coined the, to me, objectionable-sounding name of “fleetman”. This may answer for a comprehensive term, including seamen, marines, and stokers, writers and other auxiliary branches of the service, but they might all be equally well classed together as seamen or mariners, since there is little if any difference nowadays between the time each branch spends afloat. There are big naval barracks now at our ports as well as marine barracks, and bluejackets often spend there as much time as, or more time than the marine does in his barracks. The outstanding difference between the ship’s company of to-day and of past centuries is that it is composed entirely of trained men. There are no “landsmen” and odds and ends of humanity pitchforked on board to complete the number of the company. Seamen, marines, and stokers all are…

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Excerpt #6, from The Book of Hallowe’en, by Ruth Edna Kelley

…All hailing Folly Queen; So join the swelling choral throng, Forget your sorrow and your wrong, In one glad hour of joyous song To honor Hallowe’en. J. K. BANGS in Harper’s Weekly, Nov. 5, 1910. HALLOWE’EN FAILURE Who’s dat peekin’ in de do’? Set mah heart a-beatin’! Thought I see’ a spook for sho On mah way to meetin’. Heerd a rustlin’ all aroun’, Trees all sort o’ jiggled; An’ along de frosty groun’ Funny shadders wriggled. Who’s dat by de winder-sill? Gittin’ sort o’ skeery; Feets is feelin’ kind o’ chill, Eyes is sort o’ teary. ‘Most as nervous as a coon When de dawgs is barkin’,…

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Excerpt #7, from Mental Radio, by Upton Sinclair

…1. Agent’s drawing, a script B; Percipient’s drawing, a figure very like a script 3, practically the B without its vertical line. 2. Agt., a script S; Per., a script J. As made, each has two balloon-like parts joined at the small ends, certain details of course different. 3. Agt., a hexagon; Per., two lines forming an acute angle, like two sides of the hexagon, also a capital E with a line drawn down at an acute angle to the left from the upper extremity of the vertical line. 4. Agt., script M made with a peculiar twist in its first line; Per., almost precisely that first line with its twist. 5. Agt., a thin, long, quadrilateral, like a shingle; Per., (1st drawing) what would be almost exactly the same quadrilateral, narrow and long, but its shorter sides are wanting, and (2nd drawing) a closely similar quadrilateral, with another and longer one attached to its side at a sharp angle. 6. Agt., an interrogation point; Per., a figure hard to describe, a round dot with curves springing from it like concentric 3’s, and two parallel lines shooting to the left. The points which attract notice are the dot, like that of the original, and the curves similar to that of the interrogation point. 7. Agt., script E; Per., same minus the “curls.”…

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Excerpt #8, from Mental Radio,, by Upton Sinclair

…close to little Pearl. The shadow of the curtain fell on Hester Prynne, and partially concealed her. “What have we here?” said Governor Bellingham, looking with surprise at the scarlet little figure before him. “I profess, I have never seen the like, since my days of vanity, in old King James’s time, when I was wont to esteem it a high favor to be admitted to a court mask! There used to be a swarm of these small apparitions, in holiday time; and we called them children of the Lord of Misrule. But how gat such a guest into my hall?” “Ay, indeed!” cried good old Mr. Wilson. “What little bird of scarlet plumage may this be? Methinks I have seen just such figures, when the sun has been shining through a richly painted window, and tracing out the golden and crimson images across the floor. But that was in the old land. Prithee, young one, who art thou, and what has ailed thy mother to bedizen thee in this strange fashion? Art thou a Christian child,—ha? Dost know thy catechism? Or art thou one of those naughty elfs or fairies, whom we thought to have left behind us, with other relics of Papistry, in merry old England?” “I am mother’s child,” answered the scarlet vision, “and my name is Pearl!” “Pearl?—Ruby, rather!—or Coral!—or Red Rose, at the very least,…

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

…“Look out for yourselves,” says the last horseman, “the Uhlans are at our heels.” “Thanks for the information. Tell that to the officer whom you will meet about a hundred metres from here.” “Good luck to you.” Ouf! Berthet and I both grow hot. The watching brings us together, we remain together. One feels stronger with company. * * * * * It begins to rain–only a mist at first, then a steady rain. The poor fugitives tramp along, miserable, driven ghosts, weird figures in the blackness of the night. Some of them give scraps of information in passing. “They are at the chapel.” “They are arriving at Saint Michel.” “There are twenty Uhlans at the mairie.” Our lieutenant makes his round. “Nothing new?” “Nothing, sir.” “Very well, I am going to look about, as far as the town. I will be back in about fifteen minutes.” “Very well, sir.” He disappears, swallowed up in the darkness. We wait. It rains harder and harder. The water runs in rivulets on our shoulders, trickles down our necks, soaks our shirts. From time to time we shake ourselves like wet spaniels. There is nothing to do but wait. It would not do to…

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Excerpt #10, from Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, by Grenville Kleiser

…verbose manner verdant hope verifiable facts veritable triumph vernacular expression vernal charm [vernal = resembling spring; fresh; youthful] versatile grace vexatious circumstances vicarious virtue vigilant sensibility vigorous invective [invective = abusive language] vile desecrater villainous inconsistency vindictive sentiment violent agitation virgin grace virile leadership virtual surrender virtuous disdain virulent prejudice visible embarrassment…

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Excerpt #11, from The Wyvern mystery, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

…begin with, and anything you can get together will be a lift to me. If you write under cover to J. Dylke at the old place in Westminster, it will be sure to reach me. I don’t know whether all this is intelligible. You may guess how distracted I am and miserable. But there is no use in describing. I ought to beg your pardon a thousand times for asking you to take all the trouble involved in this request. But, dear Harry, you will ask yourself who else on earth has the poor devil to look to in an emergency but his brother? I know my good Harry will remember how urgent the case is. Any advice you can spare me in my solitary trouble will be most welcome. I think I have said everything–at least all I can think of in this miserable hurry–I feel so helpless. But you are a clever fellow, and always were–so much cleverer than I, and know how to manage things. God bless you, dear Harry, I know you won’t forget how pressed I am. You were always prompt in my behalf, and I never so needed a friend like you–for delay here might lead to the worst annoyances. “Ever, dear Harry, your affectionate brother, “Charles Fairfield. “Carwell Grange.” It was a relief to his mind when these letters were off it, and something like the rude outline of a plan formed….

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Excerpt #12, from Tales of an Old Sea Port, by Wilfred Harold Munro

…pies of flesh and pies of fish, cakes of various kinds, preserved berries, and many other things; but what astounded me most was that a bottle of real ardent spirits found its way to the table on this extra occasion, an article which had disappeared from among our stores several months previous. The pope paid his respects to it with peculiar unction, and a glowing countenance, and the rest of us were not slow in following suit. This was one of the friendly gatherings to which I made it a point never to refuse an invitation; and I found the Russians very fond of celebrating birthdays, christenings, and as many holidays as they could make an excuse for. VII. Voyage to Ochotsk.–Journey from Ochotsk to Yakutsk. About the last of March the snow began to disappear rapidly, and by the middle of April the ground was so bare that our sledging parties were abandoned. The ice had left the bay, and all hands were at work, under the directions of Lieut. Schwostoff and Davidoff, sawing and breaking up the ice in the inner harbor, in order to extricate the Juno and Awos, which had been preparing to sail for some time. By the 25th the channel was cleared, and the two vessels put to sea, with the four Japanese who had passed the winter with us. Their destination was the northern Japanese Islands, where they intended to…

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