As the path ultimately led, it sacrificed much more than this; but at the time, he thought the price he named a high one, and he could not foresee that science and society would desert him in paying it.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

[ 13] When therefore there have been those that pickt up little incoherent scraps and bits of my Discourses in this fruitful discharge of my Ministry, and so traversted 'em in their abusive Pamphlets , as to perswade the Town that I was their common 48 Enemy in those very points, wherein, if in any one thing whatsoever I have sensibly approved myself as true a Servant unto 'em as possibly I could, tho my Life and Soul had been at Stake for it.
— from The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination (Vol. 2 of 3) by Robert Calef

But when his trumpeter blew from the gate, And all the people upward looked in silence While he declared them subjects but of Heaven, No wonder that each eye turned fount and flowed.
— from Lords and Lovers, and Other Dramas by Olive Tilford Dargan

[ The new operas were: January 10—Gassmann, "Die Unruhige Nacht" (La Notte Critica), performed three times; February 9—Gallus, "Rose," or "Pflicht und Liebe im Streit," performed twice; February 23—J. Weigl, "Die betrogne Arglist," performed three times.
— from Life of Mozart, Vol. 3 (of 3) by Otto Jahn

If, therefore, this route is impracticable or that through Touaqdjuaq is too difficult on account of the absence of snow, the journey is postponed until late in spring, when the hummocks begin to be leveled off and the snow becomes harder as it settles; then the rough ice can be passed, and after reaching Ituatukan, a fjord near Cape Walsingham, the Eskimo ascend it, so as to avoid the cape, which is always washed by water.
— from The Central Eskimo Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 399-670 by Franz Boas

All were silent, empty, and cold, with shutters partly unclosed, letting in slanting gleams of grey light.
— from Mitchelhurst Place: A Novel. Vol. 2 (of 2) by Margaret Veley

The average number of children to a family among the poorest unskilled laborers is still about seven, while it is only 3.91 for medical practitioners, 4.33 for the clergy, and 3.76 for army officers.
— from The Case for Birth Control: A Supplementary Brief and Statement of Facts by Margaret Sanger

Sometimes, also, volcanic eruptions, repeated through a long lapse of ages and constantly accumulating lavas and cinders, have at length piled up large islands, such as Iceland or Madeira, which now raise their summits thousands of feet above the ocean.
— from The Subterranean World by G. (Georg) Hartwig

They pried up logs in search of snakes.
— from Ole Mammy's Torment by Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston