She nodded and looked at him boldly, not with soft and gentle eyes like Ruth’s, but with eyes that were handsome and hard, and that swept on past him to Ruth and itemized her face and dress and station.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London

Each lunar mansion be benign, With happier light the planets shine; All gods, each light in heaven that glows, Protect my child where'er he goes.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

And put all those clothes on dress-makers' forms in somebody's parlor—" "And charge admission!" says I. "Instead of a bazaar or a supper or a baking sale—" "And get each lady that's got them to put up her best dress too," says Mis' Holcomb.
— from Peace in Friendship Village by Zona Gale

The Professor jumped at the explosion as if he had sat down on one of those small calthrops our grandfathers used to sow round in the grass when there were Indians about,—iron stars, each ray a rusty thorn an inch and a half long,—stick through moccasins into feet,—cripple ’em on the spot, and give ’em lockjaw in a day or two.
— from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The camera may be carried on a rough equatorial mounting, consisting of an axis pointing to the pole, and pulled round with the sun by attaching a string to an equatorial telescope, moved by clockwork; or a heliostat can be used with more advantage, thereby allowing the camera to be stationary; a good enlarging lens is a very desirable thing, for most lenses seem to distort the image considerably.
— from Stargazing: Past and Present by Lockyer, Norman, Sir

Some curious mounds, round, smooth, and green, extended like a chain from east to 66 west, and looked as if they were artificial formations, lying as they do on the bosom of the prairie; perhaps the burial-place of a departed race.
— from What Norman Saw in the West by Anonymous

It is a curious coincidence that one of her best friends in Paris was the same American girl, Emily List, who had once been Ernestine's rival for Robert's heart.
— from The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 2 by Rupert Hughes

Both manufacture, and have an exclusive taste for, spirit distilled from corn; both live almost entirely on potatoes; both have the bagpipe; both are passionate lovers of singing and dancing, and yet their national airs are of a melancholy character; both are oppressed by a foreign nation, and speak a gradually expiring language, which is rich and poetical, though possessed of no literature; both honour the descendants of their ancient princes, and cherish the principle that what is not renounced is not utterly lost; both are superstitious, cunning, and greatly given to exaggeration; rebellious where they can, but somewhat cringing to decided and established power; both like to go ragged, even when they have the means of dressing better; and lastly, spite of their miserable living, both are capable of great exertion, though they prefer indolence and loitering; and both alike enjoy a fertile soil, which the Wendish phrase calls “the roast meat of poor people.”
— from Tour in England, Ireland, and France, in the years 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1829. with remarks on the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and anecdotes of distiguished public characters. In a series of letters by a German Prince. by Pückler-Muskau, Hermann, Fürst von

“Have you seen a ghost, Edna?” laughing rather nervously, for Edna had changed color in a singular manner.
— from Our Bessie by Rosa Nouchette Carey