Watch the country you are going over, be always ready to help a friend who may “come to grief,” and with the rules and the quiet demeanor you will soon be a favorite in the field.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in All His Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley

below the snowey region pine succeeds and reaches down their sides in some parts to the plain but much the greater portion of their surfaces is uncovered with timber and expose either a barren sterile soil covered with dry parched grass or black and rugged rocks.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

They had been looking down upon the fearful storm going on below, and really believed that their proposed destruction of the world was proving a grand success.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

As soon as the lower part of a stem strikes against any object and is stopped, the upper part still goes on bending and revolving, and thus necessarily twines round and up the support.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

Note 159 ( return ) [ Giraldus Cambrensis confines this gift of bold and ready eloquence to the Romans, the French, and the Britons.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Not even a well found ship with a fair wind could venture on such a distant voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall make me go on board a raft unless you first solemnly swear that you mean me no mischief.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

He was an excellent field-engineer, in which capacity he was employed in the year 1758 at the siege of Louisbourg in the detachment of the army under General Wolfe, who after silencing the batteries that opposed our entrance into the harbour, and from his own setting fire to three ships of the line, and obliging the remainder in a disabled state to haul out of cannon shot, that great officer by a rapid and unexpected movement took post within four hundred yards of the town, from whence Major Holland, under his directions, carried on the approaches, destroyed the defences of the town, and making a practicable breach, obliged the enemy to capitulate.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

Each homogeneous group of sacred things, or even each sacred thing of some importance, constitutes a centre of organization about which gravitate a group of beliefs and rites, or a particular cult; there is no religion, howsoever unified it may be, which does not recognize a plurality of sacred things.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

“Well,” said Cross, looking at me, “you do look like the captain himself, and might almost go on board and read the articles of war; but, surely, Master Keene,” added he, looking at the captain as he lay senseless in bed, “this is no time for foolery of this sort.”
— from Percival Keene by Frederick Marryat

thou who hast The fatal gift of beauty." Art rivaled here.
— from Inez: A Tale of the Alamo by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

We wended our way as fast as possible through the mud, with our white and beautiful mocassins, and painted robes; and the reader must excuse me here, and imagine, if he can, how we three looked when we arrived at the door of the Egyptian Hall, with the gang of boys and ragamuffins assembled around us, which the cry of “Indians, Indians!” had collected as we passed through the streets.
— from Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection by George Catlin

He was aiming with boyish eagerness to win one more laurel by gaining the first place in his form, and whenever he was not taking exercise, either in some school game or by a ramble along his favourite cliffs and sands, he was generally to be found hard at work in Mr Percival’s rooms, learning the voluntary repetitions, or going over the trial subjects with Henderson, who had now quite passed the boundary line which separated the idle from the industrious boys.
— from St. Winifred's; or, The World of School by F. W. (Frederic William) Farrar

"Could not we get on board?" asked Rollo.
— from Rollo in Holland by Jacob Abbott

Later on in his book, Sir Hubert, in discussing the type of sonata movement which was fairly established by the time of Haydn and Mozart, gives a simpler 199 esthetic explanation, pointing out that the first part of the movement aims at definiteness of subject, definiteness of contrast of keys, definiteness of regular balancing groups of bars and rhythms, definiteness of progressions.
— from How to Appreciate Music by Gustav Kobbé

After debate, the princes united in choosing Godfrey of Bouillon as ruler of the city.
— from Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading by George Park Fisher

Fortunately, the press is a very wide corporation indeed, and if there are venal people employed upon it, there are at least as many scrupulously honourable; and if there are stupid people who can be carried by a cry, there are men of all grades of brilliant ability, ranging from genius to talent To put the matter in plain English will offend neither honesty nor ability, and to give offence to venality or incompetence is not an act of peculiar daring.
— from My Contemporaries In Fiction by David Christie Murray