It matters not where we look, under what climate we observe him, in what stage of society, in what depth of ignorance, burthened with what erroneous morality; by camp-fires in Assiniboia, the snow powdering his shoulders, the wind plucking his blanket, as he sits, passing the ceremonial calumet and uttering his grave opinions like a Roman senator; in ships at sea, a man inured to hardship and vile pleasures, his brightest hope a fiddle in a tavern and a bedizened trull who sells herself to rob him, and he for all that simple, innocent, cheerful, kindly like a child, constant to toil, brave to drown, for others; in the slums of cities, moving among indifferent millions to mechanical employments, without hope of change in the future, with scarce a pleasure in the present, and yet true to his virtues, honest up to his lights, kind to his neighbours, tempted perhaps in vain by the bright gin-palace, perhaps long-suffering with the drunken wife that ruins him; in India (a woman this time) kneeling with broken cries and streaming tears, as she drowns her child in the sacred river; in the brothel, the discard of society, living mainly on strong drink, fed with affronts, a fool, a thief, the comrade of thieves, and even here keeping the point of honour and the touch of pity, often repaying the world’s scorn with service, often standing firm upon a scruple, and at a certain cost, rejecting riches:—everywhere some virtue cherished or affected, everywhere some decency of thought and carriage, everywhere the ensign of man’s ineffectual goodness:—ah!
— from Across the Plains, with Other Memories and Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson

I am on the summit of Ben More; below lies a ridge smothered in snow and ice.
— from Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges by Norman Collie

Like a rifle shot, I should say."
— from Green Fancy by George Barr McCutcheon

The French re-embarked, bade farewell to Hochelaga, retraced their lonely course down the St. Lawrence, and reached Stadacone in safety.
— from France and England in North America, Part I: Pioneers of France in the New World by Francis Parkman

When he was done the circles were like a red sea in storm.
— from The Wanderers by Mary Johnston

For this line A reads ] Suppose I stand upon Sea, breach now. l. 39.
— from The Maids Tragedy by John Fletcher

The hair was worn long and rather squared in shape at the back till the end of the 15th century.
— from Dress Design: An Account of Costume for Artists & Dressmakers by Talbot Hughes

We are showing our humanities now, and the soul must wait a little, and remain speechless in some dull corner of the universe.
— from Adventures in the Arts Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets by Marsden Hartley

If I was you, miss," said Mrs. Cushion, suddenly beaming upon me like a rosy sun in spectacles, "I shouldn't give up hope.
— from Children of the Dear Cotswolds by L. Allen (Lizzie Allen) Harker