During the whole period he dwelt alone he was his own cook, and seldom suffered anyone to enter the house.
— from Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

Armed with their massive clubs and sharp spears, at the end of which was inserted a fish-bone, dipped in the poisonous juice of the lianas or the manchineel, the Caribs were no mean foes.
— from Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume 1 (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Mrs. Lanaghan

He lighted a cigarette and sat staring at the end of it, blowing out a slow stream of smoke.
— from Victory by Lester Del Rey

The rationale of this process is, in the first place, the heat applied dries off any adhering acid, and effects more perfect union between the copper and silver, so as to enable it to bear the subsequent processes.
— from American Hand Book of the Daguerreotype by S. D. (Samuel Dwight) Humphrey

The ground was lowered so as to give the cradle a slight slant, and thus enable the water to run off more quickly.
— from A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53 by Clacy, Charles, Mrs.

Her glance flashed uneasily to the clock, and she seemed about to excuse herself, but suddenly yielded, and, drawing up a chair before the fire, motioned me towards it.
— from The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green

To such of the fellows of the society as subscribed twenty guineas, a gold medal was appropriated: silver medals were assigned to those who contributed a smaller sum; and to each of the other members one in bronze was given.
— from Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook With an Account of His Life During the Previous and Intervening Periods by Andrew Kippis

The bearings of the feed cylinder, whereby the chain of cards to be cut is moved, are constructed and supported so as to enable them to be readily adjusted to suit slight variations in the tightness with which the cards are laced, or in a greater degree to suit large or small cards, and the mechanism whereby the cylinder is operated is capable of ready adjustment for the same purpose.
— from The Jacquard Machine Analyzed and Explained With an appendix on the preparation of jacquard cards, and practical hints to learners of jacquard designing by E. A. (Emanuel Anthony) Posselt

Politically, she was adrift without pilot or compass, and she set about to erect a temple on whose altars her people might worship, and, without law or precedent, she built, better than she knew, a theory of government the astonishment, the pride, and the admiration of a hopeful world.
— from Mr. Oseba's Last Discovery by George W. (George William) Bell