He saw her again, as she once stood before him, a laughing, spirited child; many loving words, which she had spoken to him out of the fulness of her love, came like a ray of sunshine into his heart, and soon it was all sunshine as he thought of Babette.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

And now to Priam's stately courts he came, Rais'd on arch'd columns of stupendous frame; O'er these a range of marble structure runs, The rich pavilions of his fifty sons, In fifty chambers lodged: and rooms of state, 173 Opposed to those, where Priam's daughters sate.
— from The Iliad by Homer

On the side walls they fix'd certain stones, like those of a mill, with a hole quite through the middle, just as big as the ball, and he that could strike it through won the game; and in token of its being an extraordinary success, which rarely hapn'd, he had a right to the cloaks of all the lookers-on, by antient custom, and law amongst gamesters; and it was very pleasant to see, that as soon as ever the ball was in the hole, the standers-by took to their heels, running away with all their might to save their cloaks, laughing and rejoicing, others scouring after them to secure their cloaks for the winner, who was oblig'd to offer some sacrifice to the idol of the Tennis Court, and the stone through whose hole the ball had pass'd.
— from The American Egypt: A Record of Travel in Yucatan by Frederick J. Tabor Frost

To Oxley himself, the first glimpse of the Macquarie came like a ray of sunshine on his harassed feelings.
— from The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work by Ernest Favenc

Then marvel not, great Torismond, if, seeing my friend distressed, I find myself perplexed with a thousand sorrows; for her virtuous and honorable thoughts, which are the glories that maketh women excellent, they be such as may challenge love, and rase out suspicion.
— from Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacy by Thomas Lodge

Branches were growing down from them like the stem of another tree, or clustering like a ring of small trees around the trunk, and swelling it to enormous dimensions.
— from Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water The Journal of a Tour Through the British Empire and America by Ethel Gwendoline Vincent

"Though He slay me I will trust Him," came like a ray of sunlight into the rector's mind, and ere the day was over he could say with a full heart, "Thy will be done."
— from The Rector of St. Mark's by Mary Jane Holmes

A DISCOVERY CHAPTER L A RAY OF SUNSHINE CHAPTER LI FREDDY COLEMAN
— from Frank Fairlegh: Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil by Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

A cage, like a room of shining metal bars, had materialized in her garden.
— from Astounding Stories, May, 1931 by Various