Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1889. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIV. Hairbreadth Escapes. So vast is the field of destruction that to get an adequate idea from any point level with the town is simply impossible. It must be viewed from a height. From the top of Kernville Mountain just at the east of the town the whole strange panorama can be seen. Looking down from that height many strange things about the flood that appear inexplicable from below are perfectly plain. How so many houses happened to be so queerly twisted, for instance, as if the water had a whirling instead of a straight motion, was made perfectly clear. The town was built in an almost equilateral triangle, with one angle pointed squarely up the Conemaugh Valley to the east, from which the flood came. At the northerly angle was the junction of the Conemaugh and Stony creeks. The Southern angle pointed up the Stony Creek Valley. Now about one-half of the triangle, formerly densely covered with buildings, is swept as clean as a platter, except for three or four big brick buildings that stand near the angle which points up the Conemaugh. Course of the Flood. The course of the flood from the exact point where it issued from the Conemaugh Valley to were it disappeared below in a turn in the river and above by spreading itself over the flat district of five or six miles, is clearly defined. The whole body of water issued straight from the valley in a solid wave and tore across the village of Woodvale and so on to the business part of Johnstown at the lower part of the triangle. Here a cluster of solid brick blocks, aided by the conformation of the land, evidently divided the stream. The greater part turned to the north, swept up the brick block and then mixed with the ruins of the villages above down to the stone arch bridge. The other stream shot across the triangle, was turned...

This book is the powerful story of an amazing woman, Ruth Pakaluk, who converted to Catholicism at Harvard, married her college sweetheart and joyfully welcomed seven children. She became a renowned pro-life leader and brilliant debater, who was struck with breast cancer and died at the young age of forty-one.

Ruth's inspiring story is told primarily through her humorous, sparkling and insightful letters in which her realistic cheerfulness shines. A biographical overview by her husband fills in important details about her life, and a collection of her talks on abortion, faith and being a Catholic wife and mother conclude the volume.

Ruth Pakaluk exemplified the powerful integrity of someone who lived what she believed. She was steadfastly committed to Christ and to the culture of life, and this commitment was manifested in her consistent affirmation of life in her family, in society and even in the face of her own death. Peter Kreeft, well known Professor of Philosophy and author, described Ruth as the best, most effective and inspiring pro-life speaker he had ever heard. She was such a compelling, articulate pro-life debater that eventually Planned Parenthood spokeswomen refused to spar with her in public.

All Ruth's virtues revealed in this book - her love as a devoted wife and mother, her zeal for the truth, and her faith & hope while battling a terminal illness - offer inspiration and encouragement to anyone striving to put Christian faith into action.

St. Trinian's, the gloriously anarchic boarding school for young ladies, became synonymous with outrageous behavior when Ronald Searle's drawings first appeared in Britain's Lilliput magazine in the 1940s. Searle said about his creations: "A St. Trinian's girl would be sadistic, cunning, dissolute, crooked, sordid, lacking morals of any sort and capable of any excess. She would also be well-spoken, even well-mannered and polite. Sardonic, witty and very amusing. She would be good company. In short: typically human and, despite everything, endearing."

St. Trinian's girls are experts in the maidenly arts of torture, witchcraft, and mayhem of all description; their antics take the reader back to those authoritarian school days that begged for serious rebellion and all-embracing non-conformity. Poisonous mushrooms, medieval racks, and field hockey sticks as weapons of choice figure prominently. Gin-swigging and cigar-smoking are popular pastimes.

Now, black humor and black stockings intact, the St. Trinian's girls reach American shores in this gleefully wicked collection of cartoons, published to coincide with the major film, St. Trinian's, starring Rupert Everett, Mischa Barton, and Colin Firth.

This is Bulgakov's surreal tale of a Moscow doctor who befriends a stray dog and performs on it a human transplant - with disastrous consequences.

Deep-sea fishing, trawling through a cyclone, man-handling some of the world most deadly sharks and a strange yellow van! 'Travelling, Trawling and The Utterly Appalling' is a first hand account of a travellers fast-paced and unpredictable lifestyle over three incredible, action-packed years. The author details the life threatening dangers he faced hanging from a tree-vine 150m above a rock face, single handed, in Thailand to the more humorous account of his adventures around Asia and Australia. The people the author meets on his travels are almost as obscure as some of the situations he finds himself in. From sharing a cabin with a self-confessed gang member to living with a 'cougar' from Australia , the heiress to a electronic company's fortune! The book reveals the true extent of the hard work on-board a Gulf of Carpentaria prawn trawler. Renowned as one of the hardest fishing seasons in the world, the author describes the physical and mental torment of 52 hour shifts, deadly sea snakes, sting rays and crazy crew members. In-between his long stints at sea incident and intrigue are still very much at large... The book shows the complete polarization of emotions in three years on the road and the water. The ecstasy and joy of travelling some of the world's most beautiful places contrasts starkly to the vigorous, relentless work at sea in minus 40 degree freezers and a plus 40 degree deck! All in all, this is a light hearted and inspiring story of the opportunities that arise while completely out the so-called comfort-zone.

Robbie was born in Jersey fifty six years ago. When he was five his mother placed him and his three siblings in care. They were collected from their home by the police. It was the same day that the children had witnessed their father's suicide attempt by hanging. The children were separated; Robbie and his younger brother were taken to The Sacre Coeur, an orphanage for children under twelve, while their elder brother was placed in Haut de la Garenne. Their baby sister disappeared. The boys never saw her again. Robbie and his three year old brother were bewildered and frightened by their surroundings. Their world as they had known it had disintegrated in just a matter of a few hours. They had sobbed as their eldest brother was taken away from them; they had never been apart before. Sacre Coeur, run by nuns, was a place where unimaginable abuse was committed against defenceless small children. The nuns gave them no explanation. Just gave them their scratchy uniforms and showed them their dormitory. They had joined the tribe of lost boys; the ones who no one cared about. The two boys were eventually transferred to Haut de la Garenne, a place where sick twisted minds had devised even more tortuous methods of sexually abusing the helpless. There were suicides there. One boy blew himself up by creeping into a bunker with a supply of butane gas. And of course there were the children who simply disappeared. Gone somewhere better Robbie was told. After all in a children's home there was a lot of coming and going. Today Robbie holds down a full time job and looks after his brother who he has loved and cared for since they were those little frightened boys. He wonders what happened to his friends who disappeared.

Renowned as a passionate Canadian, bestselling author Mel Hurtig has combed through world statistics to see how Canada really measures up — and the results are astonishing, and often shocking.

This book is about how Canada has changed, very much for the worse, in the last twenty years. As a result of these profound (often hidden) changes, we are no longer the people we think we are. To take one example, the Canadian media usually leaves us with the impression that Canadians are really heavily taxed. Yes, compared to the U.S.A., the usual point of comparison. No, compared to other countries with our standard of living, other OECD countries, for example; there we come in 23rd on the high-tax scale.

The shocks in this book build up, chapter by chapter. How do we rank in the world in voter turnout? Try 109th. Number of physicians per 100,000 population? Try 54th. Our rank in reducing pollution? 126th out of 146 countries.

Some of the statistics are internal, comparing Canada then and now. They back up two of the book’s most powerful themes: the failure of Canadian big business to turn record profits into ongoing investment in our country, and (no coincidence) the sellout of our assets at a rate that no other country would allow.

This statistics-based book ranges across all areas of our lives — including health, wages, productivity, culture, the media (“the most concentrated in the world”), and much else. Mel Hurtig’s message is that we can’t do anything to fix the direction we’re drifting in unless we recognize it — and recognize The Truth About Canada.


From the Hardcover edition.