In place of the simple spontaneous modes of behavior which enable the lower animals to live without education and without anxiety, men are compelled to supplement original nature with special training and with more and more elaborate machinery, until life, losing its spontaneity, seems in danger of losing all its joy.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

I must not forget a most unusually lively letter I saw from Key West at the time that our four regiments of regulars (United States) were lying there in readiness to sail over to Cuba.
— from Historical Romance of the American Negro by Charles Henry Fowler

A more unhappy little lass is seldom to be found than Bab was, as she pattered after him, splashing recklessly through the puddles, and getting as wet and muddy as possible, as a sort of penance for her sins.
— from Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott