And men ask this to-day all the more eagerly because of sinister signs in recent educational movements.
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

Four years later I became a “cub” on a Mississippi steamboat in the St. Louis and New Orleans trade, and after a year and a half of hard study and hard work the U. S. inspectors rigorously examined me through a couple of long sittings and decided that I knew every inch of the Mississippi—thirteen hundred miles—in the dark and in the day—as well as a baby knows the way to its mother’s paps day or night.
— from Is Shakespeare Dead? From My Autobiography by Mark Twain

'Sir,' I replied, enclosing my left ear with my hand in the manner of a natural ear-trumpet, 'did you speak?'
— from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 307 New Series, Saturday, November 17, 1849 by Various

The penguins retain their great breast muscles, and so did the Great Auk, because their wings are used in swimming, since it requires even more strength to move a small wing in water than it does to move a large wing in the thinner air.
— from Animals of the Past by Frederic A. (Frederic Augustus) Lucas

They are always red with weeping, and yet she is ready every minute with a full battery of execution for any man that she sees."
— from Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

Chapter V The return of spring in some measure alleviated my sufferings, for, as the weather grew warmer, my hands and feet got better; but, to counterbalance this comfort, my quantity of work was increased; and, as the days lengthened, I was obliged to rise earlier, for during the three months in the middle of summer I rose every morning at four o'clock.
— from Forgotten Tales of Long Ago by E. V. (Edward Verrall) Lucas

Exchange rates: lei (RON) per US dollar - 2.5 (2008 est.), 2.43 (2007), 2.809 (2006), 3 (2005), 3 (2004) Communications ::Romania Telephones - main lines in use: 5.036 million (2007) country comparison to the world: 31 Telephones - mobile cellular: 24.467 million (2008) country comparison to the world: 34 Telephone system: general assessment: the telecommunications sector is being expanded and modernized; domestic and international service improving rapidly, especially mobile-cellular services domestic: more than 90 percent of telephone network is automatic; fixed-line teledensity exceeds 20 telephones per 100 persons; mobile-cellular teledensity, expanding rapidly, roughly 110 telephones per 100 persons international: country code - 40; the Black Sea Fiber Optic System provides connectivity to Bulgaria and Turkey; satellite earth stations - 10; digital, international, direct-dial exchanges operate in Bucharest (2008) Radio broadcast stations: 698 (station frequency type NA) (2006) Television broadcast stations: 623 (plus 200 repeaters) (2006)
— from The 2009 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

But while these were the Scottish seas ideally regarded, English members of the 227 association were to be permitted to fish in them, except in the waters which were reserved to the Scottish people in the Draft Treaty of Union of 1604—namely, bays, firths, and lochs within land, and a belt of fourteen miles along the coast.
— from The Sovereignty of the Sea An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the Territorial Waters by Thomas Wemyss Fulton

The first of these—the extraordinary tithe—has already come into prominent notice; the second is really even more important—it is the deficiency of transit.
— from Field and Hedgerow: Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies by Richard Jefferies

Romania general assessment: the telecommunications sector is being expanded and modernized; domestic and international service improving rapidly, especially mobile-cellular services domestic: more than 90 percent of telephone network is automatic; fixed-line teledensity exceeds 20 telephones per 100 persons; mobile-cellular teledensity, expanding rapidly, roughly 110 telephones per 100 persons international: country code - 40; the Black Sea Fiber Optic System provides connectivity to Bulgaria and Turkey; satellite earth stations - 10; digital, international, direct-dial exchanges operate in Bucharest (2008) Russia general assessment: the telephone system is experiencing significant changes; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy; the estimated number of mobile subscribers jumped from fewer than 1 million in 1998 to nearly 188 million in 2008; a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density international: country code - 7; Russia is connected internationally by undersea fiber optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems (2008)
— from The 2009 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency