As the natives came to the beach on that day, village after village, they brought their contribution, and before settling down on their particular spot on the shore, they paid a visit to the chief and offered him their tributes.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

After a brief silence during which nothing could be heard but the ticking of the clocks and the scratching of the pen on the paper, Tchalikov heaved a sigh and said ironically, with indignation: “It’s a true saying: gentle birth and a grade in the service won’t put a coat on your back.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

But if they passed this stage, and the disease descended further into the bowels, inducing a violent ulceration there accompanied by severe diarrhoea, this brought on a weakness which was generally fatal.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

When the old witch got up next morning, she called her daughter, and wanted to give her the apron, but she did not come.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

“Don't, my chiel,” whispered a buxom staylace dealer in voluminous petticoats, who sat near the woman; “yer good man don't know what he's saying.”
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

I roused myself—I cast off my waking dreams; and I, who just now could almost hear the shouts of the Roman throng, and was hustled by countless multitudes, now beheld the desart ruins of Rome sleeping under its own blue sky; the shadows lay tranquilly on the ground; sheep were grazing untended on the Palatine, and a buffalo stalked down the Sacred Way that led to the Capitol.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

He on one occasion escaped, but was recaptured in the forest; and he afterwards became so docile as to perform a variety of tricks.
— from The Wild Elephant and the Method of Capturing and Taming it in Ceylon by Tennent, James Emerson, Sir

Bertha's concern for her creed was hardly more poignant than Haney's, and they never argued; but she did begin to give puzzled thought to the social complications which opened out day by day before her.
— from Money Magic: A Novel by Hamlin Garland

"Meantime, there's a few shillings for you, Grace, just to keep the pot boiling till custom comes.—Now, bairns, stand up in a row and say your catechism, while your mother goes and buys some dinner; for you've not had much to-day, I'll be bound.—You begin, Ben.
— from Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

Painted white, they looked like great ghosts of ships through the fog; all was gray except where the beautiful red, white and blue showed dimly through, or where the red, yellow and blue signal flags on the flagship made spots of color in the general dulness.
— from A Year in a Yawl A True Tale of the Adventures of Four Boys in a Thirty-foot Yawl by Russell Doubleday

“I’m a beast,” said Dick.
— from Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia: Being the Adventures of Prince Prigio's Son by Andrew Lang

Now Lucy had thought a great deal about the nice supper, and the good things which she expected to see on the table, but she had cried till her stomach was sick, and her appetite quite gone; she could not taste any of the delicacies on which she had depended so much, and besides, she did not wish to show herself before her aunt and Mrs. Russel in such a condition, so she crept into the carriage which had been drawn up to the door, and waited there till her aunt and cousin were ready.
— from The Little Girl Who Was Taught by Experience by Anonymous

It was a beautiful summer day when she saw me for the first time.
— from A Mortal Antipathy by Oliver Wendell Holmes