it rained but little on us today tho
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

As the stone which has been kicked by generations of clowns may come by curious little links of effect under the eyes of a scholar, through whose labors it may at last fix the date of invasions and unlock religions, so a bit of ink and paper which has long been an innocent wrapping or stop-gap may at last be laid open under the one pair of eyes which have knowledge enough to turn it into the opening of a catastrophe.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

Let us not then pursue, By force impossible, by leave obtained Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek Our own good from ourselves, and from our own Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, Free and to none accountable, preferring Hard liberty before the easy yoke Of servile pomp.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

He continued gazing from the window while I spoke, and did not answer, but, stung by the recollections my words awakened, stamped his foot upon the floor, ground his teeth, and corrugated his brow, like one under the influence of acute physical pain.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

He added, that as this was in some measure to confound virtue and vice, it might be worth Mr Thwackum's consideration, whether a larger castigation might not be laid on upon the account.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

2 [AN; c] pasture an animal by lengthening or untying the tether.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

In imitation the activity tends to reproduce the copy; in suggestion the response may be like or unlike the copy.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

The beautiful palace nestles among the grand old groves of the park, the park sits in the lap of the picturesque crags and hills, and both look out upon the breezy ocean.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

When, rousing at its glimmer red, The warriors left their lowly bed, Looked out upon the dappled sky, Muttered their soldier matins try, And then awaked their fire, to steal, As short and rude, their soldier meal.
— from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott

Whether the capture be lawful or unlawful, the insurer is rendered liable to the loss.
— from The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by W. H. (William Henry) Smyth

His book lay open upon the board: His elbow rested on his good sword: His knightly sires and many a dame Look'd on him from panel and dusky frame.
— from Lays and Legends of the English Lake Country With Copious Notes by John Pagen White

Then there were Leger, the bibulous carpenter; ' Liza, his black wife; a white policeman named Thady O'Brien, and a loafing scoundrel of a Samoan named Mataiasi, called "Matty" for brevity, who was the public flogger, and milked Mrs. MacLaggan's herd of seven imported Australian cows; and lastly the goat, and about thirty or forty of Bully Hayes's crew, and as many Samoans, who came to look at the dancing and see what they could steal, Leger and his wife and the policeman and the town flogger had charge of the refreshment tables, which for the sake of coolness had been laid out upon the wide, back verandah, Page 73
— from By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories by Louis Becke

The lesson should never be lost on us, that the devil was depicted as a sneerer!
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851 by Various

By day he was a very willing prisoner, scarcely moving at all, even when approached and touched with the hand, but looking out upon the world with half-closed, sleepy eyes.
— from Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers by John Burroughs

Say boy, little old unsuspectin' Timber City is goin' to stage an orgy.
— from Prairie Flowers by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx

Then Joe continued his interrupted work, and Plums assisted him by looking on, until the task was completed after which it became necessary to ask for further instructions.
— from The Princess and Joe Potter by James Otis

I sat in my window pondering while the bright afternoon went by, looking out upon the distant depths of the blue spring atmosphere, just touched by haze, as the air, however bright, always is in London, seeing the people go by in an endless stream without noticing them, without thinking of them.
— from Neighbours on the Green by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

The paste should be left on until the skin is uniformly red.
— from The Eugenic Marriage, Volume 4 (of 4) A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies by W. Grant (William Grant) Hague

The angle at which different human beings look out upon the ideal will continually diminish; and as the angle diminishes, the power of vision will increase, and this unexpected result will follow: that metaphysical hypotheses concerning the world, and its destiny will never be less numerous nor less varied, in spite of the increasing convergence.
— from The Non-religion of the Future: A Sociological Study by Jean-Marie Guyau