Then they set me upon a horse with my wounded child in my lap, and there being no furniture upon the horse's back, as we were going down a steep hill we both fell over the horse's head, at which they, like inhumane creatures, laughed, and rejoiced to see it, though I thought we should there have ended our days, as overcome with so many difficulties.
— from Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson

Such records as remain to us make certainly less amusing reading than some later biographies and autobiographies afford, but, on the other hand, it has a unique interest of its own, to come upon authentic traces of such susceptible beings as authors, all living in the same set and with a limited range both of subjects and of readers, who yet live together in harmony, and interchange sonnets and epigrams curiously free from every suggestion of envy, hatred, or uncharitableness.
— from Jewish Portraits by Magnus, Katie, Lady

Wash celery leaves and remove the stems.
— from School and Home Cooking by Carlotta C. (Carlotta Cherryholmes) Greer

" "That is a wrong policy, W. ought to have sold the cotton long ago, replaced the same by a lower priced purchase, this would have saved him charges and loss of interest, and would have cheapened his original purchase.
— from Bremen Cotton Exchange, 1872/1922 by Andreas Wilhelm Cramer

If therefore we want to pass from the continuous to the discrete, by ascertaining the actual number of errors between two consecutive divisions of our scale, when, as usual in measurements, all within certain limits are referred to some one precise point, we must modify our formula.
— from The Logic of Chance, 3rd edition An Essay on the Foundations and Province of the Theory of Probability, With Especial Reference to Its Logical Bearings and Its Application to Moral and Social Science and to Statistics by John Venn

Jewish Runner Soliciting Immigrants for the Steamship Company Like all races that survive the sepsis of civilization, the Hebrews show great tenacity of purpose .
— from The Old World in the New The Significance of Past and Present Immigration to the American People by Edward Alsworth Ross

abstinence and cleanliness, labor and rest, these simple laws, observed in just proportions, laws that may be engrossed upon a finger nail, are sufficient, on the whole, to maintain the equilibrium of pleasurable existence.
— from Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 1 by Thomas De Quincey

Now, let us see the little possibility there was for constitutional liberties and rights to survive, when intrusted to such unscrupulous hands.
— from The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 2 by Jefferson Davis

They complained loudly, and refused to sleep there, so I had the cabin to myself.
— from The Puppet Show of Memory by Maurice Baring

When the sturdiest characters gave way, when the finest geniuses passed one after another under the yoke of slavery, Garrison stood firm to his convictions, like a rock that stands stirless amid the conflicting agitation of the waves.
— from Three Years in Europe: Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met by William Wells Brown

While it is a commonplace that peas do not look like daisies, nor a carnation like a rose, this simple observation does not begin to tell us of the wonderfully different flower shapes and colors that are to be found along any roadside.
— from Botany: The Science of Plant Life by Norman Taylor