Letters, manuscripts, books, and bundles can be passed in there; and, as each nation has a key, it will be uncommonly nice, I fancy.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

29 The first and greatest evidence is afforded by the winds, which blow hot from these regions; the second is that the land is rainless always and without frost, whereas after snow has fallen rain must necessarily come within five days, so that if it snowed in those parts rain would fall there; the third evidence is afforded by the people dwelling there, who are of a black colour by reason of the burning heat.
— from The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 by Herodotus

At our best and stateliest we are not suns, as we pretended, and teach, and believe, but only candles; and any bummer can blow us out.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

“It would not cure you,” answered Bellino, courageously, but with a sweetness of tone which surprised me; “no, you would not be cured, whether you found me to be man or woman, for you are in love with me independently of my sex, and the certainty you would acquire would make you furious.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

And now he had no more cause for anxiety, but could buy bread for his wife and children with his gold, and wine into the bargain.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

Although actual beauty cannot be imparted by spells, yet the feeling of being beautiful through magic may give assurance, and influence people in their behaviour and deportment, and as in the transaction it is the manner of the soliciting party which matters, this magic, no doubt, achieves its aim by psychological means.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

It shelved so deeply, that, while the hemlock-tassels were swinging on the trees around its border, all would be still at its springy bottom, save that perhaps a single fern would wave slowly backward and forward like a sabre with a twist as of a feathered oar,—and this when not a breath could be felt, and every other stem and blade were motionless.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Now I had not been so very long waiting in our mow-yard, with my best gun ready, and a big club by me, before a heaviness of sleep began to creep upon me.
— from Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

The name of Egremont seems to be derived from its ancient possessors, the Normans, and being changed by a trifling corruption of their language, carries the same meaning, and signifies the Mount of Sorrow.
— from Lays and Legends of the English Lake Country With Copious Notes by John Pagen White

The whole object of Spain and the Emperor, acting through the Archduke, was to force the States to abandon their positions in the duchies simultaneously with the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, and to be satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and Archduke Albert that there should be no renewed occupation by either party.
— from Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland : with a view of the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' War, 1613-15 by John Lothrop Motley

We were together, however, when Gambetta took his departure on October 7, ascending from the Place Saint Pierre in a balloon constructed by Nadar.
— from My Days of Adventure The Fall of France, 1870-71 by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

To the superficial observer, who interests himself only in characters strongly marked and broadly colored, both the lovers may seem of too slight and commonplace a mould: in the delineation of characters purposely subdued, the reader sometimes imagines that there is a want of character; perhaps, indeed, I wrong the real nature of these two lovers by not painting more impressively their stronger individualities.
— from The Last Days of Pompeii by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

[Pg 52] Charlotte meanwhile said no word, but saw the curate enact various tragic follies of love for her sake with a sort of awe and wonder, astonished to find herself thus possessed still of the charm which none are so sure as women that only youth and beauty can be expected to possess.
— from Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign: A Book of Appreciations by Katharine S. (Katharine Sarah) Macquoid

In F 2 the expected 75 per cent dominant is approached in the case of the Silkies (62 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively), but inhibition is very imperfect in the Cochin and Brahma crosses, being reduced to between 25 and 2 per cent.
— from Inheritance of Characteristics in Domestic Fowl by Charles Benedict Davenport

Others are the Bibroci of south-east Britain, probably a beaver clan ( bebros ), and the Eburones, a yew-tree clan ( eburos ).
— from The Religion of the Ancient Celts by J. A. (John Arnott) MacCulloch

By way of excusing himself for associating with coquettes on the footing of a general lover, he appealed to his motive,–that of merely wishing to become acquainted with their ways,–and to the excellent Forster, who in Antwerp knelt down , as well as any born Catholic, before Rubens's altar-piece of the Virgin Mary ascending to heaven, merely to examine her more nearly.
— from Hesperus; or, Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days: A Biography. Vol. I. by Jean Paul