When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then under the tapes.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

We say that as a rule it hails only in the daytime; by way of exception, in the night also; the rule for the appearance of whales indicates that they live in the Arctic Ocean; a general rule indicates that bodies that are especially soluble in water should dissolve more easily in warm than in cold water, but salt dissolves equally well in both.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

The military labors, and anxious reflections, of Count Boniface, were alleviated by the edifying conversation of his friend St. Augustin; till that bishop, the light and pillar of the Catholic church, was gently released, in the third month of the siege, and in the seventy-sixth year of his age, from the actual and the impending calamities of his country.
— 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

The sage-brush is a singularly hardy plant, and grows right in the midst of deep sand, and among barren rocks, where nothing else in the vegetable world would try to grow, except “bunch-grass.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain

Young Stubble's eyes brightened up at this, for Dobbin was greatly respected in the regiment, as the best officer and the cleverest man in it.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

For example, would you have him find a mean proportional between two lines, contrive that he should require to find a square equal to a given rectangle; if two mean proportionals are required, you must first contrive to interest him in the doubling of the cube.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

And, in truth, I often wonder that he who has produced, and, by his authority, given reputation in the world to so many deities, was not deified himself.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Later writers say that the god responded in the rustling of leaves in the oaks for which the place was famous.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod

“But, no!” said Donald Farfrae, gazing round into their faces with earnest concern; “the best of ye hardly honest—not that surely?
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

I was kindly and graciously received in the house of the old doctor, and a room was allotted to me, which overlooked the garden and the country beyond.
— from Raphael; Or, Pages of the Book of Life at Twenty by Alphonse de Lamartine

He ran across an old maid art student from Mobile who was up for the summer and was dyin' to get right into the arty atmosphere.
— from Torchy As A Pa by Sewell Ford

The motor started away, and the girl rushed into the shop.
— from Rose O'Paradise by Grace Miller White

A choice band of music struck up in an enlivening strain, and in a few moments, scarcely a guest remained in the first saloon, in which, the numerous domestics began to lay a costly supper.
— from Ada, the Betrayed; Or, The Murder at the Old Smithy. A Romance of Passion by James Malcolm Rymer

The way to get ready is to begin at once.
— from How to Succeed in the Christian Life by R. A. (Reuben Archer) Torrey

And again, if you and the corresponding form of the verb are literally of the second person singular , (as Wells contends, with an array of more than sixty names of English grammarians to prove it,) then, by their own rule of concord, since thou and its verb are still generally retained in the same place by these grammarians, a verb that agrees with one of these nominatives, must also agree with the other; so that you hast and thou have, you seest and thou see , may be, so far as appears from their instructions, as good a concord as can be made of these words!
— from The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

[Pg 53] THE CZAR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS The contrasted outlook in Russia and Japan is shown in "Peace and After"—gloom and storm in the one country, general rejoicing in the other.
— from Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 4 (of 4).—1892-1914 by Charles L. (Charles Larcom) Graves

As the smoke spread away the lads could see a great rent in the side through which water was rushing.
— from Boy Scouts in the North Sea; Or, The Mystery of a Sub by G. Harvey (George Harvey) Ralphson

All trace of the recent interment had been removed, and its sober grey gloomed reposefully in the sunshine.
— from To Let by John Galsworthy

But there was no German relic in the lot —you may be sure of that.
— from Paths of Glory: Impressions of War Written at and Near the Front by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb