I looked at Mr. Blakely, and said there was only one excuse that I would admit, to wit: his being under twenty-five years of age.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 3 (of 16) by United States. Congress

On the ninth of April the Red Cross retired, arriving at Port Tampa on the “Olivette” three days later, and Miss Barton and staff took up temporary quarters at Tampa, awaiting the time when the work in Cuba might be again taken up.
— from The Red Cross in Peace and War by Clara Barton

For what could have been more heinous than for “a young person in her station in life,” as Miss Beatrice afterwards said, to presume to take the squire’s arm, an arm that Beatrice looked upon as sacred, and thought quite polluted by the touch of one who was only a schoolmistress, and consequently not likely to possess feelings similar to her own?
— from The New Mistress: A Tale by George Manville Fenn

His Italy is not merely the fatherland of lazzaroni and maccaroni but a solid turf-clad soil, daily illumined by a genial sun and nightly gleaming in the still moonshine,—to say nothing of the frequent showers which are so faithfully recorded.
— from Journal 01, 1837-1846 The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 07 (of 20) by Henry David Thoreau

Johnny looked at Mr. Blacksnake and saw that Mr. Blacksnake didn't look half as big as Johnny had always thought he did.
— from The Adventures of Johnny Chuck by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess

I had hardly got outside when he came rushing out like a man balmy, and said to me, “You must come back with me.”
— from Argot and Slang A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms and Flash Phrases Used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris by Albert Barrère

A little later another Moscow broadcast announced solemnly that the whole story was wrong—Buddha hadn't been there at all!
— from The Image and the Likeness by John Scott Campbell

“What have I to be thankful for? Look at my bones almost sticking through my skin, my knees strained and my eyes almost blinded by pulling too 164 heavy loads, my wind broken by hard driving, my skin scarred by cruel blows.
— from Birds and Nature, Vol. 10 No. 4 [November 1901] by Various

The sighing of the wind [132] among the tree tops, and the indescribable murmur which proceeds from a deep forest, even when the winds are at peace, grew more full and loud, as the wild breeze increased, waving aside the lofty and matted branches, and startling the sombre retreats of the dark woods with rare glimpses of sunshine.
— from The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1837 by Various