It was no consolation, that with the first winds of March the lanes were filled with violets, the fruit trees covered with blossoms, that the corn sprung up, and the leaves came out, forced by the unseasonable heat.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Capt. Lewis with a guard Still on Shore, the man who Steered not being much acustomed to Steer, passed the bow of the boat & peroge Came broad Side against the Cable & broke it which obliged me to order in a loud voice all hands all hands up & at their ores, my preempty order to the men and the bustle of their getting to their ores allarmd the Cheifs, togethr with the appearance of the men on Shore, as the boat turnd.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

The roof of groined arches, lighted by ventilating domes at the height of eighteen feet, was supported by hollow cast-iron columns, through which the drainage of the roof was effected.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

Who can tell what the consequences would have been had Lincoln been born in New York and educated at Harvard?
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

He examined his enemy to see that he was securely tied, and then went to bed, content to wait till morning before enjoying the luxury of killing him.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain

These are they who control by soft words and deceitful promises, who know how to shake hands in such a manner as to win hearts, how to say “My dear friend” in a certain tactful way to people he knows the least, to change his mind without suspecting it, to be carried away by each new idea, to be sincere in their weathercock convictions, to let themselves be deceived as they deceive others, to forget the next morning what he affirmed the day before.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Therefore, as I was just now saying, we must enquire who are the best guardians of their own conviction that what they think the interest of the State is to be the rule of their lives.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

And when Uriah undertook the work he was set upon with alacrity, he gave private orders to those who were to be his companions, that when they saw the enemy make a sally, they should leave him.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The wizards who wrought their spells with them contented themselves with the lasting efficacy of these simple means; and the apprentice-wizards and journeyman-wizards who have succeeded them practise the same arts at the old stand; but the ethical intention which gave dignity to Dickens's Christmas stories of still earlier date has almost wholly disappeared.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg William Dean Howells Literature Essays by William Dean Howells

So much is certain, a State [Pg 612] that at present enters upon a commercial treaty with the United States comprising the clause in its general form cannot complain [959] of the American interpretation, which, whatever may be its merits, is now a matter of common knowledge.
— from International Law. A Treatise. Volume 1 (of 2) Peace. Second Edition by L. (Lassa) Oppenheim

“Well, ma'am, she's very young, and these very young ladies they get a bit excited, you know, at such times; I should say she've never been—” With obvious difficulty he checked the words, “to an 'orse before!”
— from Beyond by John Galsworthy

They have large meshes, and, like the deer nets, are bordered both at top and bottom with a strong cord, to which the net-work is attached.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2: Assyria The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

Perchance farther out from the shore, under the influence of a brighter sky, they may be blue, but certainly the waves that broke on the beach were muddy and the river flowing into the lake at Milwaukee, which is visible from the train, is exceedingly filthy.
— from Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 1 (of 2) A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881 by Russell, William Howard, Sir

We have got copperas breeches enough to carry this war through.
— from The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape by Albert D. (Albert Deane) Richardson

I will confess that when the chief told me what you had said over the phone I didn't place much faith in it.
— from On Secret Service Detective-Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved by Government Agents by William Nelson Taft

Let us see if they can confine themselves within the line of our procession.
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne