Sometimes, at the water's edge and embedded in trees, we would come upon a house of the kind called 'pleasure houses,' isolated and lost, seeing nothing of the world, save the river which bathed its feet.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

The more comfortable among them kept cows and perhaps a pig, housed in a little shed at the rear of the garden.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson

The eulogy of the President here is at least singular, when it is considered that every dispatch of the Secretary of State is by order of the President; but it is evident that the writer of this dispatch had made up his mind to set all rule at defiance.
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 19 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

On every “second feast day” after the first month he was to get four-fifths of his pay, the rest to remain in the hands of the “Linton South American Company” until the tour was finished, when the balance was to be paid him in a lump sum, together with his fare back to Rio.
— from Working North from Patagonia Being the Narrative of a Journey, Earned on the Way, Through Southern and Eastern South America by Harry Alverson Franck

The Russian came with eagerness and some impatience, for he feared a delay might plunge him into a lively skirmish.
— from Mistress Penwick by Dutton Payne

When he pressed his inquiries about Lucy she answered with a half-stifled sigh that Lucy had decided to remain abroad for a year longer; adding that it had been a great relief to her, and that at first she had thought of remaining with her, but that their affairs, as he knew, had become so involved at home that she feared their means of living might be jeopardized if she did not return at once.
— from The Tides of Barnegat by Francis Hopkinson Smith

Those who enter the priesthood wear a yellow dress; but if a priest at any time feels disposed to quit his profession, he is at liberty so to do.
— from Olla Podrida by Frederick Marryat

My whole life long A hateful old man Has blocked my pathway; Him I at last swept aside.
— from Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods The Ring of the Niblung, part 2 by Richard Wagner