Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:51

Excerpt #1, from Astrology: How to Make and Read Your Own Horoscope, by Sepharial

…Neptune, of Uranus, of Saturn and Jupiter and Mars follow in their order of frequency. Neptune has a revolution of about 165 years, Uranus 84 years, Saturn 30 years, Jupiter 12 years, and Mars 1-1/4 years. Major effects must not therefore be referred to inferior causes, and minor effects must not be referred to superior causes. In universal or even national cataclysms, individual fortunes are submerged. CHAPTER III HOW TO SUMMARISE A HOROSCOPE Before leaving the exposition of this subject, it may be of advantage to the reader if I give some idea of the method to be pursued in the complete handling of a horoscope. First, then, erect the figure of birth, taking care to use the Ephemeris of the year of birth, and also the correct Table of Houses for the latitude of the place of birth. Next proceed to attempt a description of the chief personal traits of the Subject, following in succession with a well-considered judgment on the constitution, hereditary tendencies, the health and pathological predispositions, the mental traits and disposition, considering these latter in relation to the state of health indicated. Then pass to a consideration of the environing conditions of life; the financial condition and outlook; the position in life; the occupation; prospects…

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Excerpt #2, from The Iliad of Homer (1873), by Homer

…and knew more. For this reason [Neptune] avoided aiding them openly, but always kept privately inciting them through the army, assimilated to a man. They indeed alternately stretched over both the cord of vehement contest and equally destructive war, irrefragable and indissoluble, which relaxed the knees of many. Then, although half-hoary Idomeneus, encouraging the Greeks, rushing upon the Trojans, created night; for he slew Othryoneus, who had come from Cabesus, staying within [Priam’s house]. 423 He had lately come after the rumour of the war, and demanded Cassandra, the most beautiful in form of the daughters of Priam, without a dowry; and he had promised a mighty deed, to repulse in spite of themselves the sons of the Greeks from Troy. But to him aged Priam had promised her, and pledged himself 424 to give her; therefore he fought, trusting in these promises. But Idomeneus took aim at him with his shining spear, and hurling it, struck him, strutting proudly; nor did the brazen corslet which he wore resist it, but he fixed it in the middle of his stomach. And falling, he gave a crash, and [the other] boasted and said: “Othryoneus! above all men indeed do I praise thee, if thou wilt now in truth accomplish all which thou hast undertaken for Dardanian Priam: but he also promised thee his daughter. We likewise, promising these things, will accomplish them to thee. We will give thee the most…

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Excerpt #3, from The power and the glory, by Henry Kuttner

…“We have atomic power now,” Miller said. “The beginnings of it. You’re merely beginning. It will be a long, long time before you stand where Atlantis once stood. First you must change the very structure of your world! Only then will you change, will the radiation-caused mutation alter you and give you the powers and senses you lost when a world went to war a millennium ago. “The fires of matter itself moved across the planet, and where it passed, structure altered and what was bright and shining and glorious became a dull, empty thing. Men lost their specialized, hard-won powers then. But the seeds remain latent in their bodies, recessive characteristics. Here, on the mountain, the recessive can become dominant for a little while. It is unstable, of course. . . .” “Then—I’m like you? Tsi told me but I couldn’t believe it. I’m a—a sort of superman?” “Every gift has its price,” she said oddly. “There is beauty here but there is terror too. You must have noticed that you see with clearer eyes—the eyes of the mind.” “Yes,” he said. “I’ve noticed that. Things are—shining, somehow.” “It would be well if you remembered your own world,” Orelle said, after a little pause. Her eyes were troubled. “Your own atomic structure has altered but that can take place only once.”…

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Excerpt #4, from Tanks in the Great War, 1914 to 1918, by J. F. C. Fuller

…and thence to the starting-points; any places on these tank routes where delays are likely to occur; rallying points; supply dumps; communication, etc., etc. So in turn must each move or preparatory measure be dealt with, reconnaissance playing an all-important part, not only before the battle, but during it, and immediately after it, and if the system of communication during the battle is not efficient the work of the reconnaissance officer will frequently be wasted, so we find one preparation depending for its worth on another until the whole forms a complete and somewhat intricate chain. Imagine now, when this chain is nearing completion what it means to it if some new plan be evolved, or a change be introduced or forced on to a scheme of operations–its effect will frequently have to be carried right down the chain, and this will not only mean new work being done, but old work being undone. Take the following as an example: a battalion of tanks is to detrain at A, a few days later it is ordered to detrain at B instead; this will probably entail shifting 20,000 gallons of petrol, 12,000 6-pounder shells, 300,000 rounds of S.A.A., and countless other stores. It is these changes in operations which a good Staff guards its troops against by foresight; this being so, the efficiency of a Staff may usually be gauged by the number of amendments…

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Excerpt #5, from Canadian Fairy Tales, by Cyrus MacMillan

…be a great man it is his own deeds and not your boasting that must prove it." As the boy grew up he became strangely beautiful and he had great strength. And his father said, “It is time he set out to seek his fortune. I was in the forest doing for myself when I was no older than he.” And his mother said, “Wait a little and be not so impatient. He is yet young and there is yet much time.” So the boy remained at home a while longer. Now it happened that far away in a distant village there lived a young girl of very great beauty and grace. Her father had been a great Chief, but he was now dead. Her mother too was dead, and she was all alone in the world. But her parents had left her vast lands and a great store of goods and many servants, and because of her treasures and her great beauty she had many suitors. But she was not easily pleased by men and on all who came to seek her hand she imposed severe feats of skill to test their sincerity and their worth. She was carefully guarded by an old woman and many servants who kept troublesome and meddlesome people away. Soon the fame of the girl’s wealth and beauty spread through all the land. It reached the sea coast village where the young man dwelt. His father thought to himself, “Here is a good chance for my son to prove his worth.” So he called his boy to him and said, "It is time you were…

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Excerpt #6, from Tales of the Air Mail Pilots, by Burt M. McConnell

…plainly heard by some wood cutters. Hurrying through the fog and mist, they found Huking, covered with blood, walking about the wreck. “I couldn’t keep her up with only one wing,” he was repeating. As they drew near, the pilot, who had had a very narrow escape from death, suddenly collapsed. They carried his unconscious form to the nearest doctor—three miles away—and Huking spent the next ten days in bed. But at the end of that time he was back on the job, carrying the mail between Reno and San Francisco, across the “hump” and the “hell hole” or Verdi, Nevada, which has been the scene of more than half a dozen near-tragedies. To return to Pilot Vance, who in December, 1923, was caught in a snowstorm between Reno and San Francisco: The flakes, large and fluffy like the breast feathers of a Canada goose, floated lazily to earth, entirely cutting off his view of the country below. Flying by compass and resorting to the tactics taught him by experience, Vance endeavored to climb above the storm. At 13,000 feet—two and a half miles—the tempest still was raging. Snow was falling thicker than ever. Vance realized that it would be pitch dark before he could reach Reno. With the chances ten to one that he would become lost in the snowstorm, and realizing that his gasoline supply was running low, Vance decided to come down….

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Excerpt #7, from Legends That Every Child Should Know; a Selection of the Great Legends of All Times

…Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? I have lived my life, and that which I have done May He within himself make pure! but thou, If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. But now farewell. I am going a long way With these thou seest-if indeed I go (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt) To the island-valley of Avilion; Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair with orchard lawns…

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Excerpt #8, from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

…of your greater desires; and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you. Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth. And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish. In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep. Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death. ***** And he answered, People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now…

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Excerpt #9, from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills, by Virgil M. Harris

…will; but all and only on the condition that he shall assume the sole name of Du Plessis Richelieu, and that neither he nor his descendants shall ever be known by any other, or quarter any other arms, under the following penalties…. To this nephew, the cardinal also leaves his library, but with the proviso that it is to be at the service of all members of the family, and also of the public; and he desires, therefore, that on his decease, a full and complete catalogue be made under the directions of his executors, who are to call to their assistance two Doctors of the Sorbonne, who shall be present during the making of the said inventory; which, being made in duplicate, one copy was to be deposited in his own library, signed by his executors and by the said Doctors of the Sorbonne; and the other copy, similarly signed, in the Sorbonne itself. There are further conditions attached to the ownership of the library, viz., that a librarian shall be appointed at a salary of one thousand livres per annum; three candidates having first been chosen by the Sorbonne and nominated by his successors. He desires further that a person shall be kept to sweep out the library every day, and to beat, dust, and wipe the books at stated and frequent intervals, at a yearly wage of four hundred livres. He also stipulates that one thousand livres shall be put by every year for the purchase of additional books….

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Excerpt #10, from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie

…Cinderella.” They talked of Cinderella, and Tootles was confident that his mother must have been very like her. It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by him as silly. “All I remember about my mother,” Nibs told them, “is that she often said to my father, ‘Oh, how I wish I had a cheque-book of my own!’ I don’t know what a cheque-book is, but I should just love to give my mother one.” While they talked they heard a distant sound. You or I, not being wild things of the woods, would have heard nothing, but they heard it, and it was the grim song: “Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life, The flag o’ skull and bones, A merry hour, a hempen rope, And hey for Davy Jones.” At once the lost boys—but where are they? They are no longer there. Rabbits could not have disappeared more quickly. I will tell you where they are. With the exception of Nibs, who has darted away to reconnoitre, they are already in their home under the ground, a very delightful residence of which we shall see a good deal…

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Excerpt #11, from Around the World on a Bicycle Volume I, by Thomas Stevens

…alternating wealth of green woods and greener cultivated areas, fully recompense for the extra toil. Prune-orchards, the trees weighed down with fruit yet green, clothe the hill-sides with their luxuriance; indeed, the whole broad, rich valley of the Danube seems nodding and smiling in the consciousness of overflowing plenty; for days we have traversed roads leading through vineyards and orchards, and broad areas with promising-looking grain-crops. It is but thirty kilometres from Indjia to Semlin, on the riverbank opposite Belgrade, and since leaving the Fruskagora Mountains the country has been a level plain, and the roads fairly smooth. But Igali has naturally become doubly cautious since his succession of misadventures this morning, and as, while waiting for him to overtake me, I recline beneath the mulberry-trees near the village of Batainitz and survey the blue mountains of Servia looming up to the southward through the evening haze, he rides up and proposes Batainitz as our halting-place for the night, adding persuasively, “There will be no ferry-boat across to Belgrade to-night, and we can easily catch the first boat in the morning.” I reluctantly agree, though advocating going on to Semlin this evening. While our supper is being prepared we are taken in hand by the leading merchant of the village and “turned loose” in an orchard of small fruits and early pears, and from thence conducted to a large gypsy…

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Excerpt #12, from The Grand Inquisitor, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

…our permission; that we take all these sins upon ourselves, for we so love the world, that we are even willing to sacrifice our souls for its satisfaction. And, appearing before them in the light of their scapegoats and redeemers, we shall be adored the more for it. They will have no secrets from us. It will rest with us to permit them to live with their wives and concubines, or to forbid them, to have children or remain childless, either way depending on the degree of their obedience to us; and they will submit most joyfully to us the most agonizing secrets of their souls–all, all will they lay down at our feet, and we will authorize and remit them all in Thy name, and they will believe us and accept our mediation with rapture, as it will deliver them from their greatest anxiety and torture–that of having to decide freely for themselves. And all will be happy, all except the one or two hundred thousands of their rulers. For it is but we, we the keepers of the great Mystery who will be miserable. There will be thousands of millions of happy infants, and one hundred thousand martyrs who have taken upon themselves the curse of knowledge of good and evil. Peaceable will be their end, and peacefully will they die, in Thy name, to find behind the portals of the grave–but death. But we will keep the secret inviolate,…

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