And how these complacent baldheads would swell, and brag, and lie, and date back—ten, fifteen, twenty years,—and how they did enjoy the effect produced upon the marveling and envying youngsters!
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Originally then it is probable that the condition of life among men was this,—herding together like animals and following the strongest and bravest as leaders.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

They had early decided that trees were the best food plants, requiring far less labor in tilling the soil, and bearing a larger amount of food for the same ground space; also doing much to preserve and enrich the soil.
— from Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Having imagined that his brother had hid some apples behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his father's shop, he climbed up to search for them.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

Upon arousing, I found by my side, as before, a loaf and a pitcher of water.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

——Therefore I answer thus: Pray, Sir, in all the reading which you have ever read, did you ever read such a book as Locke ’s Essay upon the Human Understanding?——Don’t answer me rashly—because many, I know,
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

In the preceding chapter … there are mentioned two white chouries instead of one, and all kinds of seeds, perfumes and jewels, a scimitar, a bow, a litter, a golden vase, and a blazing fire, and amongst the living implements of the pageant, instead of the bards, gaudy courtesans, and besides the eight damsels, professors of divinity, Bráhmaṇas, cows and pure kinds of wild beasts and birds, the chiefs of town and country-people and the citizens with their train.”
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Much had been sold and bought, and left to make its own bargain in the market-place; but the inspired wisdom of a Heroic Soul never till then, in that naked manner.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

Both knights were sturdy and brave, and long they fought without advantage gained.
— from The Faery Queen and Her Knights: Stories Retold from Edmund Spenser by Alfred John Church

Captain O’Blunderbuss turned himself round in his bed and took a nap—in which luxurious state of light and dreamy repose he remained for upwards of an hour, when he was suddenly awakened by a low, sneaking, suspicious kind of double knock at the street-door.
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 4/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

To those which are harmless and graceful we shall give a cursory glance, and to those which are doubtful and perhaps harmful we shall also briefly allude, leaving it to the common-sense of the reader as to whether he will hereafter observe in his own manners these so-called optional civilities.
— from Manners and Social Usages by M. E. W. (Mary Elizabeth Wilson) Sherwood

The sportsman, in consequence of the law, which opens the shooting season for antelope September 1st, is put to two disagreeable alternatives: either to shoot a buck and let the meat rot, saving horns and skin as a trophy of the sport (?), or to kill a doe or fawn, to feast on excellent venison, and incidentally hasten the extermination of the most beautiful creature of the plains.
— from Tracks and Tracking by Josef Brunner

Not less illustrious than the greatest of these will be the name of Clay—a name pronounced with pride by Americans in every quarter of the globe; a name to be remembered while history shall record the struggles of modern Greece for freedom, or the spirit of liberty burn in the South American bosom; a living and immortal name—a name that would descend to posterity without the aid of letters, borne by tradition from generation to generation.
— from Kentucky in American Letters, 1784-1912. Vol. 1 of 2 by John Wilson Townsend

The station agent blew a little tin horn, green meadows and wattled fences began to glide past the car windows, and the interrupted discourse was resumed.
— from Spanish Highways and Byways by Katharine Lee Bates

The Shawanoe glanced at George and Victor Shelton, and by a look indicated that they were to follow him.
— from Deerfoot in The Mountains by Edward Sylvester Ellis

There was silence for a moment in the room, broken only by Fenway’s sobs and by a low moan of anguish from the father.
— from Lola by Owen Davis