He talked through his nose and, being unaccustomed to talk much and rapidly, stuttered; and, conscious of his defects, he tried to adorn his speech with gesticulations of the hands and head and thin shoulders, and at every movement his hempen shirt crumpled into folds, slipped upwards and displayed his back, black with age and sunburn.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

He had fallen into a deep cynicism over what had crossed his path, plotted the imperfectability of man and read Shaw and Chesterton enough to keep his mind from the edges of decadence—now suddenly all his mental processes of the last year and a half seemed stale and futile—a petty consummation of himself... and like a sombre background lay that incident of the spring before, that filled half his nights with a dreary terror and made him unable to pray.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

The third man was not over an eighth of a mile behind the first man, and riding slowly and carefully.
— from The Two-Gun Man by Charles Alden Seltzer

His cane ceased its aimless configurations and rested for a moment upon a name about half-way down the list, the name of Mr. Aaron Rodd, Solicitor and Commissioner for Oaths.
— from Aaron Rodd, Diviner by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

Men are rendered selfish, and corrupt, by the baneful influence of the systems under which they live: but it is well worthy the attention of those who believe mankind to be generally capable of great happiness, and who are desirous to promote it, that, however the wants of the wretched may tempt them to accept the immediate relief that is within their reach, they never collectively fail to bestow the most unbounded applause, on those principles by which their own proceedings are condemned.
— from The Adventures of Hugh Trevor by Thomas Holcroft

Was not this just the right moment, after receiving such a conspicuous proof of Falkenhein's esteem and goodwill?
— from 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? by Franz Adam Beyerlein

A tin plate and spoon were provided in the cells, and a curious piece of tin, oblong in shape, doubled over up one side to make a rounded surface and corrugated on the other to make an uneven saw-like edge, was handed in with the meal to serve as knife.
— from Prisons & Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences by Lytton, Constance, Lady

Mr. Hedges says of this stream: “About the mouth of the little stream that we had just crossed were numerous shallows and bars, which were covered by the acre with ducks, geese, huge white-breasted cranes, and long-beaked pelicans, while the solitary albatross, or sea-gull, circled above our heads with a saucy look that drew many a random shot, and cost one, at least, its life.”
— from The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and Descriptive by Hiram Martin Chittenden