The tāli-kettu kalyānam, brought about by the Brāhmans, brought about no improvement, and indeed, in all probability, made matters much worse by giving a quasi-religious sanction to a fictitious marriage, which bears an [ 5 ] unpleasant resemblance to the sham marriage ceremonies performed among certain inferior castes elsewhere as a cloak for prostitution ( see Dēva-dāsi).
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

It was too late now to go to the fair and catch finches; Pashka stretched himself on his bed and began thinking.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Should college students who receive compensation for playing summer baseball be debarred from amateur standing?
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

Yes, of course,” faltered Pyotr Stepanovitch, seeming disconcerted.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Maries prerogative was to beare Christ, so 'Tis preachers to convey him, for they doe As Angels out of clouds, from Pulpits speake; And blesse the poore beneath, the lame, the weake.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

For the Vedic hymns contain several words of a phonetic type which can only be explained by borrowings on the part of their composers from popular speech.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

There is but one thing can make us fall out, and that is the inheritance of Lord Strutt's estate: I am content, for peace' sake, to waive my right, and submit to any expedient to prevent a lawsuit; I think an equal division* will be the fairest way."
— from The History of John Bull by John Arbuthnot

The thought of revenge rose in him unhampered even by care for personal safety; for was he not--as Birbal had taunted him with being--Tarkhân?
— from A Prince of Dreamers by Flora Annie Webster Steel

Ah! you will find many prejudices to combat, Monsieur Bovary, much obstinacy of routine, with which all the efforts of your science will daily come into collision; for people still have recourse to novenas, to relics, to the priest, rather than come straight to the doctor or the chemist.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

They repeat their character, from pure seed, only in part of the offspring.
— from Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation by Hugo de Vries

Fancy taking such a husband for eight thousand pounds!” “You scarcely put the case fairly, papa,” said she, smiling; “the eight thousand is the compensation for losing him.” “Are you in love with him, then?” asked he, with a sarcastic twinkle of the eye.
— from One Of Them by Charles James Lever

It soon appeared, however, that this was not the case; for Plutarch says, the bird had been all the while occupied in profound meditation, studying how to imitate the sound of the trumpets, which had made a deep impression on him; and at last, to the astonishment of all its friends, it broke its long silence by a very perfect imitation of the flourish of the trumpets it had heard; observing with great accuracy all the repetitions, stops, and changes.
— from Illustrative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom by Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold) Goodrich

For he repeated so often to himself how natural it was that a girl with a taste for art should care for pottery (particularly as her father owned the world-famous Yetholme collection), and caring for pottery should go for information to Messrs. Boyce's the decorators, and being referred by Boyce's to himself should come on, at once, and quite alone, to the studio of his unknown self; he identified Miss Flodden so completely with any one of the mature maidens who carried their peacock blue and sage green and amber beads, and interest in economics, archæology and so forth freely through his world, that he decided to give Miss Flodden the assistance which he would have proffered to one of the independent and studious spinsters of Bloomsbury and West Kensington.
— from Vanitas: Polite Stories by Vernon Lee

As the result of these contests was generally a quarrel, in which each man, charging foul play, seized his victim, they chose Lincoln umpire, relying not only on his fairness but his ability to enforce his decisions.
— from The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete by Abraham Lincoln