This was done in right good earnest, by every man cramming his gun with powder, to excel his neighbour in a loud report, to show the superiority of his weapon; for such is the black man's notions of excellence in a fowling-piece.
— from What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile by John Hanning Speke

143 2. How would you stimulate the imagination of a child who does not seem to picture or make real the descriptions in reading, geography, etc.?
— from The Mind and Its Education by George Herbert Betts

In hot weather, this iron jail-cage must be a miniature tophet; but, no doubt, it remains generally empty.
— from Across America; Or, The Great West and the Pacific Coast by James Fowler Rusling

Sam in describing their feelings afterward said: “We could only yell, but that we did in right good earnest.”
— from Winter Adventures of Three Boys in the Great Lone Land by Egerton Ryerson Young

"Who knows if you would discover it," remarked George, "even though it did come once in a way quite near you?
— from The Road to the Open by Arthur Schnitzler

The argument sometimes used, that if property is destroyed its replacement gives employment to the laborer, and that, therefore, it is a benefit to him, is fallacious, for the reason that the capital necessary to pay for the reproduction of the property destroyed must be originally created by labor.
— from Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877 Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878 by 1877 Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July

Those who have killed or struck enemies or stolen many horses from their foes are entitled to sit in the council and are always invited, principally to hear and give their assent or dissent in responses, gestures, etc.
— from Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri Edited with Notes and Biographical Sketch by Edwin Thompson Denig

The dealers in rich goods, elegant trifles, costly nothings, all knew her well.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various