December 14th, he wired Washington for instructions as to what action he should take on this petition, saying, among other things, “Spanish authorities are still holding out, but will receive American troops”; and adding one of his inevitable notes of optimism as to the tameness of Filipino aspirations (at Iloilo) for independence: “Insurgents reported favorable to American annexation.”
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

When Makar Semyonich heard this, he looked at Aksionov, slapped his own knee, and exclaimed, “Well, this is wonderful!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

There was a sudden crash and the car came to a halt, and the ingot toppled out upon a moving platform, where steel fingers and arms seized hold of it, punching it and prodding it into place, and hurrying it into the grip of huge rollers.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

A second choice hot dish of some sort, squab, chicken and peas (if supper is served at a special hour) or croquettes and peas if continuous.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

There was, then, in Genoa, a good while agone, a gentleman called Messer Ermino de' Grimaldi, who (according to general belief) far overpassed in wealth of lands and monies the riches of whatsoever other richest citizen was then known in Italy; and like as he excelled all other Italians in wealth, even so in avarice and sordidness he outwent beyond compare every other 41 miser and curmudgeon in the world; for not only did he keep a strait purse in the matter of hospitality, but, contrary to the general usance of the Genoese, who are wont to dress sumptuously, he suffered the greatest privations in things necessary to his own person, no less than in meat and in drink, rather than be at any expense; by reason whereof the surname de' Grimaldi had fallen away from him and he was deservedly called of all only Messer Ermino Avarizia.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

“Well!...” said the old count, spreading out his arms and sinking helplessly on the sofa.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The legal rights of an American woman—for instance, her right to her own property, as against a squandering husband; or her right to her own children as against a malicious father—have grown, year by year, into a more generous and just statement in American laws.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

He fetched an egg out of his nest, cut it into two parts, and shut the youth inside it; then made it whole again, and seated himself on it.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

She was forced to consent, to her intense vexation, with a smile and a stealthy hiss of anger.
— from White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

And in spite of the complete, as he supposed, contempt and indifference he now felt for his wife, at the bottom of his heart Alexey Alexandrovitch still had one feeling left in regard to her—a disinclination to see her free to throw in her lot with Vronsky, so that her crime would be to her advantage.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Being unable to pay for Pépé's board, she had taken him away, and slept him on an old couch lent by Bourras.
— from The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola

The Baron accepted the challenge; as 190 soon as they met he ran his opponent through the arm and stretched him on the ground; not liking to strike him when he was down, he told him to get up.
— from The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2 by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq

The venerable Mrs. Chopper—who is strictly entitled to the appellation, her daughter not being very young, otherwise than by courtesy, at the time of her marriage, which was some years ago—is a mysterious old lady who lurks behind a pair of spectacles, and is afflicted with a chronic disease, respecting which she has taken a vast deal of medical advice, and referred to a vast number of medical books, without meeting any definition of symptoms that at all suits her, or enables her to say, ‘That’s my complaint.’
— from Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People by Charles Dickens

He was energetic and resolute as a sleuth hound on the scent; so he soon made one or two discoveries.
— from Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter by Lawrence L. Lynch

Needless to say she was highly popular, and although she had only been a year at Aireyholme, she was already regarded as an indispensable feature of the establishment.
— from The Jolliest Term on Record: A Story of School Life by Angela Brazil

He was allowed to escape, and, in memory of his services as a soldier, his offences were forgiven.
— from School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time by John W. (John Wheeler) Moore

Bruno threw his pistol away, again seated himself on his powder barrel and fell into a deep reverie.
— from The Sicilian Bandit From the Volume "Captain Paul" by Alexandre Dumas

We passed Prairie du Chien, another of Father Marquette's camping-places; and after some hours of progress through varied and beautiful scenery, reached La Crosse.
— from Life on the Mississippi, Part 12. by Mark Twain