The population was divided into small communities of men and women, who appear to have lived promiscuously, no woman being attached to any particular man, but all cohabiting according to inclination, the carnal instinct being the feeling which regulated sexual intercourse.
— from The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World by William W. Sanger

"For you know," said the doctor, "in such cases one must take advantage of an opportunity, as Nature does, when for example she separates soul and body by a stroke of apoplexy or paralysis of the heart while the patient sleeps, or when the band connecting both has been sufficiently loosened by long sickness, so that the parting is scarcely painful, and sometimes is even longed for.
— from Hammer and Anvil: A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen

Jan Steen knew well that with a dog, in such circumstances, one must be patient though the skies fall.
— from The Secret Trails by Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir

In number four occurs the advertisement: “Ran away on the 14th instant, a slave belonging to the widow Dufy Desaulnier, aged about thirty-five years, dressed in striped calico, of medium height and tolerable stoutness.
— from Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 2. Under British Rule, 1760-1914 by William H. (William Henry) Atherton

At the sharp instigation of Doltaire, instantly some companies of marines filed in upon the place where they had stood, leveled their muskets on us, and hid my beloved wife from my view.
— from The Seats of the Mighty, Complete by Gilbert Parker

In this dilemma I sought counsel of my good friend Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, who advised me to act according to my own judgment.
— from The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner by J. (John) Wilkinson

For some little time we met daily at lunch without the conversation getting much above the level of the small civilities incident to eating, when one day it suddenly came over me that I was not making the best of my opportunities.
— from Some Personal Recollections of Dr. Janeway by James Bayard Clark

The fact was, that hearing, shortly after the receipt of the offensive epistle, that Hogg was confined to his lodgings, in an obscure alley of Edinburgh, called Gabriel's Road, by a dangerous illness, Scott called on Mr. Grieve to make inquiries about him, and to offer to take on himself the expenses of the best medical attendance.
— from Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 5 (of 10) by J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart