Humanity stands and flies and walks and rolls about—the poor, the priceless, the world-known and the forgotten; child and grandfather, king and leman—the pageant of the world goes by, set in a frame of stone and jewels, clothed in scarlet and rags.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

Sitting by the side of these wells, and peering down into the shafted darkness, I could see no gleam of water, nor could I start any reflection with a lighted match.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Then they seized their weapons and were after him through the woods, but he had had a good start and was running for his life, so that he outran the chase and finally reached the Cherokee camp in safety and rejoined his seven companions.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

Indeed, they made shift to describe some of the circumstances in such a ridiculous light, that our adventurer himself, smarting as he was with the disgrace, could not help laughing in secret at the account.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. (Tobias) Smollett

The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, And sport and flutter in the fields of Air.
— from The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems by Alexander Pope

And a feeble voice came quavering from within the house, " Courtoisie " I stripped, and rubbed myself from head to foot in the huge earthen basin of icy water which stood upon the stone floor at the foot of my bed.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

In a certain important sense all racial problems are distinctly problems of racial distribution.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

Dropping the extra special on to the counter, he plunged his hand again into his pocket, and pulling out the piece of cloth fate had presented him with out of a heap of things that seemed to have been collected in shambles and rag shops, he offered it to Mrs Verloc for inspection.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad

“No, don’t worry, I’ve enjoyed it very much; a walk on an agreeable errand, and in pleasant company, is such a rare treat nowadays.
— from Signing the Contract, and What It Cost by Martha Finley

We propose to treat it as a psychological process historically displayed; tracing at the same time the advance from qualitative to quantitative prevision; the progress from concrete facts to abstract facts, and the application of such abstract facts to the analysis of new orders of concrete facts; the simultaneous advance in generalization and specialization; the continually increasing subdivision and reunion of the sciences; and their constantly improving consensus .
— from Illustrations of Universal Progress: A Series of Discussions by Herbert Spencer

Messrs Dease and Simpson found those of Point Barrow 'well clothed in seal and reindeer skins.' Lond.
— from The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 1 by Hubert Howe Bancroft

Oh, and that seems all right to you, that a working man, who hasn’t any vice and does his duty, which is to work and—we’re told, too—have plenty of children, it seems all right to you that that should simply lead to beggary.
— from Three Plays by Brieux With a Preface by Bernard Shaw by Eugène Brieux

The skin was whipped off in a trice; and the venison, cut into steaks and ribs, was soon spitted and sputtering cheerily in the blaze of the pine-knots.
— from The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North by Mayne Reid

A girl! swaddled in petticoats and fallals; tethered to an apron, and a besom, and a harpsichord, and a needle,—yet can I snap a rapier, fire a pistol, jump a ditch, land a 22 fish, for my brother taught me.
— from My Lady Peggy Goes to Town by Frances Aymar Mathews

Ay, go to looking-glass and make you fine, While he may die ere touch one least loose hair You drag at with the comb in such a rage!"
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning Cambridge Edition by Robert Browning