And the best that is in them is what they are interested in, the thing by which they make their living, the thing they’ve specialized on and sat up days and nights over, and even dreamed about.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London

"Citizens, The effects of a malignant fever, with which I was afflicted during a rigorous confinement in the Luxembourg, have thus long prevented me from attending at my post in the bosom of the Convention; and the magnitude of the subject under discussion, and no other consideration on earth, could induce me now to repair to my station.
— from The Life Of Thomas Paine, Vol. 2. (of 2) With A History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America France, and England by Moncure Daniel Conway

Who nursed ye when ye were lyin' seeck unto death, an' no one would come nigh on account of the smallpox scare?
— from Down the Mother Lode by Vivia Hemphill

There had been some unimportant deaths, a number of marriages, and many births.
— from A Little Girl in Old Washington by Amanda M. Douglas

On the motion of Lanthenas, "That permission be granted to Thomas Paine, to deliver his sentiments on the declaration of rights and the constitution," Thomas Paine ascended the Tribune; and no opposition being made to the motion, one of the Secretaries, who stood by Mr. Paine, read his speech, of which the following is a literal translation: Citizens: The effects of a malignant fever, with which I was afflicted during a rigorous confinement in the Luxembourg, have thus long prevented me from attending at my post in the bosom of the Convention, and the magnitude of the subject under discussion, and no other consideration on earth, could induce me now to repair to my station.
— from The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Volume III. 1791-1804 by Thomas Paine

“Yes,” said Uncle Dick, “and not only that; in these trades-unions the men are all bound together, as it were, and the one who betrayed the others’ secrets would be in peril of his life.”
— from Patience Wins: War in the Works by George Manville Fenn

"And you say," continued McKay, "that the Boche are sitting up day and night over that slide?"
— from In Secret by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

We had ridden so far that I knew our friends would be anxious about us, for they had not seen us disappear, and no one in the camp would know what had become of us.
— from Adventures in Africa By an African Trader by William Henry Giles Kingston