Marya Konstantinovna sat on the sofa for a minute in silence, grave and mournful, gazing fixedly into space; then she got up and said coldly: “Good-bye, my dear!
— from The Duel and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Remembering, however, that Eratosthenes of Cyrene, employing mathematical theories and geometrical methods, discovered from the course of the sun, the shadows cast by an equinoctial gnomon, and the inclination of the heaven that the circumference of the earth is two hundred and fifty-two thousand stadia, that is, thirty-one [28] one million five hundred thousand paces, and observing that an eighth part of this, occupied by a wind, is three million nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred paces, they should not be surprised to find that a single wind, ranging over so wide a field, is subject to shifts this way and that, leading to a variety of breezes.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

Some rain in the night which frosed up it fell at Day light it began to Snow and Continud all the fore part of the Day passed just above our Camp (1) a Small river on the L. S. Called by the Indians Chiss-Cho-tar this river is about 38 yards wide Containing a good Deel of water Some Distance up this River is Situated a Stone which the Indians have great fath in & Say they See painted on the Stone, "all the Calemites & good fortune to hapin the nation & partes who visit it"—a tree (an oak) which Stands alone near this place about 2 miles off in the open prarie which has with Stood the fire they pay Great respect to, make Holes and tie Strings thro the Skins of their necks and around this tree to make them brave (all this is the information of Too ne is a whipper will) the Chief of the Ricares who accompanied us to the Mandins, at 2 miles (2) passed the 2nd Villages of the Manden, which was in existance at the Same time with the 1st this village is at the foot of a hill on the S. S. on a butifull &extensive plain—at this time Covered with Buffalow—a Cloudy afternoon, I killed a fine Buffalow, we Camped on the L. S. verry Cold ground Covered with Snow.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

What he admired at different times in these so different figures, is strictly the same; and though his knowledge is improved, his taste is not altered.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

24 In the Cuddapah district, many of the inhabitants are said 25 to believe that there is much treasure hidden from the troublous days of the eighteenth century, but they have a superstitious dread against looking for it, since the successful finder would be smitten by the guardian demon with a sudden and painful death.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston

“He has been bought by a very fine family, I should think,” said Mrs. Shelby,—“is kindly treated, and has not much to do.”
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

'And have you grown so fickle that you don't like your own taste, Pa dear?' 'Well, my love,' he returned, swallowing a bit of the cottage loaf with considerable effort, for it seemed to stick by the way: 'I should have thought it was hardly sufficiently splendid for existing circumstances.'
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

“We'd best put it back on the rug where we found it,” said the sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Therefore I bring these rhymes to you Who brought the cross to me, Since on you flaming without flaw I saw the sign that Guthrum saw When he let break his ships of awe, And laid peace on the sea.
— from The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

But, that this is the exception rather than the rule, the following is sufficient to show: “The destitute mechanics,” said the Master of the Wandsworth and Clapham Union to me, “are entirely a different class from the regular vagrants; they have different habits, and indeed different features.
— from London Labour and the London Poor (Vol. 1 of 4) by Henry Mayhew

The rout of Bull Run, while it was a severe rebuke to the politicians who had forced it, secured the support of every loyal man in the Northern States for the Union cause, whatever his previous political convictions might have been.
— from Perley's Reminiscences, v. 1-2 of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis by Benjamin Perley Poore

This is no time for industrial schools to stand on their dignity and claim that they can do all that is necessary in their day schools without coöperation with those who employ.
— from Our Schools in War Time—and After by Arthur D. (Arthur Davis) Dean

It forces the disease to the surface—merciful force, for it shews the sick man his danger, and it gives point to his Physician's words of warning and of hope.
— from The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle of St Paul to the Romans by H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn) Moule

In fact, it seems the sportsman must have had some misgivings, and was accordingly not very careful in his aim, for the bird was not harmed by the shot.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. V, No. XXIX., October, 1852 by Various

As it is, I have chosen, for interest sake, to shuffle my cards a little; and two knaves happen to have turned up together just at this time and place.
— from The Crock of Gold: A Rural Novel by Martin Farquhar Tupper

{564} This enterprise will take more means for its support than St. James's parish can possibly furnish, and it deserves and should have the sympathy and pecuniary assistance of all Catholics.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868 by Various

In the foreground is shown the singular double wall and gateway of the enclosure, called by Schliemann the Agora, within which he found the treasures of Mycenæan art now in the Central Museum in Athens.
— from Greece Painted by John Fulleylove; described by J.A. McClymont by J. A. (James Alexander) M'Clymont

"The garden is ours—mine and the rest of the flowers," it seemed to say.
— from Tom, Dot and Talking Mouse and Other Bedtime Stories by C. Kernahan