A few minutes later the front door opened; a blast of cold and snow rushed in, and behind it little Kotrina, breathless from running, and blue with the cold.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

All of a sudden he bust in lookin' kinder wild, and settin' down the lantern, he sez, sez he: 'You're ruthern an unfortinate woman to-night, Mis Wilkins.'
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

Thomas did not get Stoneman off in time, but, on the contrary, when I had supposed he was on his march in support of Sherman I heard of his being in Louisville, Kentucky.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

I know very well that most men keep themselves in this lower form from not conceiving things otherwise than by this outward bark; but I likewise know that the greatest masters, and Xenophon and Plato are often seen to stoop to this low and popular manner of speaking and treating of things, but supporting it with graces which never fail them.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Almost bursting into laughter, Katiousha quickly changed places with Nekhludoff, and pressing with her strong, rough little hand his large hand she ran to the left, rustling her starched skirt.
— from The Awakening (The Resurrection) by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Besides, if, life kept up its pretty illusions, if it insisted upon being as charming as it used to be, how could we ever bear to die?
— from Their Silver Wedding Journey — Complete by William Dean Howells

And when your friend presents his bills, In language kind and manners suave, Give him a dose of his own pills, Remember that advice he gave, “Just think of something else.”
— from Poems by Crocket McElroy