Pleazure iz just az natural az smelling; thare is az mutch joy in sliding down hill by moonlight, on a barrel stave, az there is 40 years afterwards, in bein principal stock-holder, and president ov a double track ralerode.
— from Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things by Josh Billings

Lots of them are just as nice about such things as Betty, for instance."
— from Why Joan? by Eleanor Mercein Kelly

The monkeys never failed to come and nestle down beside the boy, and examine his pockets and chatter confidentially in his ear; and John always nodded and seemed to understand, which Lena considered foolishness.
— from Nautilus by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Polynice disgusted at such conduct retired to Argos, where Adrastus, king of the place, gave him his daughter in marriage, and attempted to persuade Eteocles into some feeling of justice; but not only did the latter persist in his conduct, but sought to slay the famous Tydius, the ambassador of Adrastus, who however escaped this danger with increased renown; and on his return to his king was appointed by him to join a numerous army, selected to trench against the walls of Thebes; nor was this an ungrateful task to the warrior who had been so treacherously assaulted.
— from Heathen mythology, Illustrated by extracts from the most celebrated writers, both ancient and modern by Various

They came to Jefferson at noon, and sat themselves down in the solemn high court and council of the mountain kings.
— from A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life. by A. D. T. (Adeline Dutton Train) Whitney

"Personal remarks to the Judge are not allowed," shouted the Usher, and the Judge said solemnly: "A Judge must be respected, A Judge you mustn't knock,
— from The Magic Pudding Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff by Norman Lindsay

A shower passed over just at night and sprinkled the boat with warm water.
— from Diary of an Enlisted Man by Lawrence Van Alstyne

Cranks whirl and whirl and whirl incessantly, holding in moveless grip the long shafting turning the churning screws; pumps pulsate and throb with muffled beat; gauge-arms vibrate jerkingly about narrow arcs, setting their standards of performance; and everywhere, if your ear be trained to this mechanical music, to this symphony in steam and steel, you see the officers and greasers conducting harmoniously the smoothly moving parts, as soothed with oil and caressed with waste they work without jar or friction, and despite the gales tossing the ship like a jolly-boat, on the angry ocean.
— from Ocean Steamships A popular account of their construction, development, management and appliances by A. E. (Albert Edward) Seaton

They hunt the miserable wretch through the streets, and having caught him by the neck in a kind of fork, throw him on the ground and pin him there until a sufficient reinforcement arrives to enable them to tie him hand and foot, when he is brought before a court of justice and nearly always sentenced to death ( fig. 169 ).
— from The Human Race by Louis Figuier