He got up hastily and went to the bookshelves, where he found, to his surprise, a large collection of novels and light literature.
— from The Wizard's Son, Vol. 1 (of 3) by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

“Or on the strength of the wonder,” said I, “he may make wonders of his own, turn charlatan of the first magnitude, profess to cure the incurable, and get solid gold for empty pretension; sell health to the epicure, gaiety to the old, and charms to the repulsive; defy the course of nature, and live like a prince upon the exhaustless revenue of human absurdity.”
— from Tarry thou till I come; or, Salathiel, the wandering Jew. by George Croly

The piles of heaped-up stones, so common in this country of nomad Arabs, looked like monstrous gargoyles in the half-light of the moon.
— from Eastern Nights - and Flights: A Record of Oriental Adventure. by Alan Bott

Then there was an immediate craning of necks; and loud laughs from the members of the Mississippi sheriff's posse attested to the fact that they had discovered what strange fruit that live oak bore.
— from The House Boat Boys; Or, Drifting Down to the Sunny South by St. George Rathborne

Such was the character of native American labor, less than forty years ago, and such, almost, it still remains in those, now few, centers of industry where it has been little diluted with a foreign element.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 481, March 21, 1885 by Various

A gentleman of Gloucestershire had one son, whom he sent abroad to make the grand tour of the Continent, where he paid more attention to the cookery of nations, and luxurious living, than anything else.
— from Eccentricities of the Animal Creation. by John Timbs