In two weeks, he had managed to gather together sixty-three volunteers, fathers of families, prudent farmers and town merchants, and every morning he would drill them in the square in front of the town-hall.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

I was probably one of the two dozen men in my class at college who got a decent education; still they'd let any well-tutored flathead play football and
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

I remember that once, in front of the Hercules Farnese, people formed a circle to admire him and marvel at him, he was so handsome, was that child!
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

225 -240 Disbelief that the War would lead to Woman Suffrage; letters from Tilton on Proclamation and Henry B. Stanton on condition of country; Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton issue appeal to women to form National Loyal League; organization in Church of the Puritans; Miss Anthony's speech; they prepare eloquent Address to President Lincoln; headquarters opened in Cooper Institute; petitions and letters sent out by Miss Anthony; description of draft riots; letters regarding her father and the sale of the home; lively note from Tilton; raising money for League; almost 400,000 names secured; Sumner presents petitions in Senate; letter from Sumner; merry letter from Phillips; first anniversary of the League; Amendment XIII submitted by Congress; closing of League headquarters; failure of the government to recognize its distinguished women.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

The dread of an engagement,—the dreadful situation (if a battle should ensue) we should be in, join'd to my anxiety for P. F. and family, who would be in the midst of the scene,—was the occasion; and yet I did not feel half so frighten'd as I expected to be.
— from American Historical and Literary Curiosities: Second Series, Complete by J. Jay (John Jay) Smith

Proudest of all was his waistcoat, saved for, begged for, plotted for; a real Fancy Vest of fawn with polka dots of a decayed red, the points astoundingly long.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

The play-house and [151] ‘Paul’s Walk,’ the nave of St. Paul’s Cathedral, were favorite places for accomplishing this.
— from The Devil is an Ass by Ben Jonson

And when the Doctor gave me the bread and wine, and leant over me praying, I prayed for poor Flashman, as if it had been you or Arthur.”
— from Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes

There is so much of good among the worst, so much of evil in the best, such seeming partialities in providence, so many things to lessen and expand, yea, and with all man's boast, so little real freedom of his will, that to look a little lower than the surface, garb, or dialect, or fashion, thou shalt feebly pronounce for a saint, and faintly condemn for a sinner.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

For I had thought that she had merely intended to frighten poor Felipe, and now— "Desiree!"
— from Under the Andes by Rex Stout

The final removal of this great burthen from our resources affords the means of further provision for all the objects of general welfare and public defense which the Constitution authorizes, and presents the occasion for such further reductions in the revenue as may not be required for them.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents

She had been wearing mourning for Pascal for almost ten months—a long and simple black gown, in which she looked divinely beautiful, with her tall, slender figure and her sad, youthful face surrounded by its aureole of fair hair.
— from Doctor Pascal by Émile Zola

I waited with clenched fists, prepared for an attack.
— from The Poisoned Pen by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve

If this magnificent enamel-work be by the hand of Légaré, and we may take Mariette's word for it that it is, [176] this clever craftsman must have worked for Petitot; for another very fine example of the same kind of work, a wreath of enamelled flowers finely modelled and painted, surrounds a miniature by Petitot in the possession of the Earl of Dartrey.
— from Jewellery by H. Clifford (Harold Clifford) Smith

Now first published from an MS.
— from The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Vol 1 and 2 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

There are many reliable firms which furnish patterns for all sorts of boats, from canoes and skiffs to schooner yachts and big power-cruisers.
— from The Book of the Sailboat: How to rig, sail and handle small boats by A. Hyatt (Alpheus Hyatt) Verrill

Let me no more be seen at the wrangling bar, a pale and anxious candidate for precarious fame; and let neither the tumult of visitors crowding to my levee, nor the eager haste of officious freedmen, disturb my morning rest.
— from A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, or the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence The Works of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With an Essay on His Life and Genius, Notes, Supplements by Cornelius Tacitus

[Pg 219] ing of Ava until it was finally abandoned, thirty kings had reigned there, for periods from a few months up to thirty-eight years, including temporary changes of the capital.
— from Among the Burmans: A Record of Fifteen Years of Work and its Fruitage by Henry Park Cochrane

He foresees The fatal issue to his health, fame, peace, Fortune, and dignity; the loss of all That can ennoble man, and make frail life, Short as it is, supportable.
— from The Task, and Other Poems by William Cowper