Graham, I learned from incidental rumours, had adopted a profession; both he and his mother were gone from Bretton, and were understood to be now in London.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Under my eyes there perhaps lay the warlike town of Makhimos or the pious village of Eusebes, whose gigantic inhabitants lived for whole centuries and had the strength to raise blocks of stone that still withstood the action of the waters.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

As it grew darker, I was startled by the honking of geese flying low over the woods, like weary travellers getting in late from Southern lakes, and indulging at last in unrestrained complaint and mutual consolation.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

my people came dancing about me,—riotous in color, gay in laughter, full of sympathy, need, and pleading; darkly delicious girls—"colored" girls—sat beside me and actually talked to me while I gazed in tongue-tied silence or babbled in boastful dreams.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

As in many ancient houses, the staircase got its light from without and had a view on the street.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

It had suddenly occurred to Cassy to make use of the superstitious excitability, which was so great in Legree, for the purpose of her liberation, and that of her fellow-sufferer.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

At night news is brought me that Field the rogue hath this day cast me at Guildhall in L30 for his imprisonment, to which I signed his commitment with the rest of the officers; but they having been parliament-men, that he hath begun the law with me; and threatens more, but I hope the Duke of York will bear me out.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

And lo, I was now in my thirtieth year, sticking in the same mire, greedy of enjoying things present, which passed away and wasted my soul; while I said to myself, "Tomorrow I shall find it; it will appear manifestly and I shall grasp it; lo, Faustus the Manichee will come, and clear every thing!
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

"In this Treatise," says Rev. Thomas Whittemore, "Mr. Ballou took the ground that God was never unreconciled to man; that man was the party who needed reconciliation, for God is love from eternity to eternity, and that God's love to sinners was the cause of Christ's [Pg 86] being sent by the Father to redeem them.
— from Biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou by Maturin Murray Ballou

One man has to be asked to remind our benefactor of his purpose; another, to bring it into effect; and thus a single present is worn away in passing through many hands, until hardly any gratitude is left for the original promiser, since whoever we are forced to solicit after the giving of the promise receives some of the gratitude which we owe to the giver.
— from L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The Christmas gift I long for You need not toil to buy; O, give me back one thing I lack: The love-light in your eye.
— from Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes by J. M. Judy

There is old Twig, and young Twig—the whining dissenter, Says one to the other, this night we will venture; And says little Gibble-Gabble, I long for to go.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 3 (of 3) Everlasting Calerdar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

Seymour St., Portman Sq., deposed that, on the afternoon of the 18th instant, his kitchen chimney, by some accident, caught fire; and, in consequence of information thereof being communicated to the defendant Riddle, he, soon afterwards, came to the house, bringing with him the boy Arnold, whom he, at once, desired to ascend, notwithstanding that the lighted soot was, at the time, coming down into the grate in large flakes.
— from Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by John Ashton

There is no doubt now what God is like, for God is like Jesus Christ.
— from Sermons for the Times by Charles Kingsley

"Surely," he argued, "if Mrs. Dawson can forgive me for all I have done, I ought to pardon the girl I love for what she did before she knew me.
— from Westerfelt by Will N. (Will Nathaniel) Harben

Read, moreover, the exposition of the central dogma, that of the resurrection of Jesus, in E. Le Roy's excellent work, Dogme et Critique , and tell me if any solid ground is left for our hope to build on.
— from Tragic Sense Of Life by Miguel de Unamuno