At that moment the steel and cement town which composed the factory of the Pullmore Tractor Company of Zenith was running on night shift to fill an order of tractors for the Polish army.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

"The rulers of Tangut," says Dr. Bushell, "were scions of the Toba race, who reigned over North China as the Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386- 557), as well as in some of the minor dynasties which succeeded.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

Ole Nattestad’s purchase was recorded on November 25, 1842, while in September of that year Ole Newhouse (Nyhus) had bought three forties in sections 15 and 22, and Christoffer Newhouse one in section 30; others were now rapidly moving in and becoming owners of their choice of land on the “Prairie.”
— from A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848 by George T. (George Tobias) Flom

A few days ago, my uncle and I, going to visit a relation, met with lord Oxmington at his house, who asked us to dine with him, next day, and we accepted the invitation.—Accordingly, leaving our women under the care of captain Lismahago, at the inn where we had lodged the preceding night, in a little town, about a mile from his lordship’s dwelling, we went at the hour appointed, and had a fashionable meal served up with much ostentation to a company of about a dozen persons, none of whom he had ever seen before.—His lordship is much more remarkable for his pride and caprice, than for his hospitality and understanding; and, indeed, it appeared, that he considered his guests merely as objects to shine upon, so as to reflect the lustre of his own magnificence—There was much state, but no courtesy; and a great deal of compliment without any conversation.—Before the desert was removed, our noble entertainer proposed three general toasts; then calling for a glass of wine, and bowing all round, wished us a good afternoon.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Why, what should they say; but as of a discreet gentleman; quick, wary, respectful of nature's fair lineaments?
— from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson

“I felt so furious with him at this moment that I longed to rush at him; but as I had sworn that he should speak first, I continued to lie still—and the more willingly, as I was still by no means satisfied as to whether it really was Rogojin or not.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“You are perfectly at liberty to treat me with respect or not,” protested Balashëv, “but permit me to observe that I have the honor to be adjutant general to His Majesty....” Davout glanced at him silently and plainly derived pleasure from the signs of agitation and confusion which appeared on Balashëv’s face.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

—Three phantoms of royalty flitted across the scene in a few months, till Roshan-Akhtar, the eldest son of Bahadur Shah, was [408] enthroned with the title of Muhammad Shah ( A.D. 1720), during whose reign of nearly thirty years the empire was completely dismembered, [4] and Mahrattas from the south disputed its spoils with the Afghan mountaineers.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

I was Rosalind one night, and Portia the other.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Original The air was ‘Away with melancholy’—a composition, which, when it is played very slowly on the flute, in bed, with the further disadvantage of being performed by a gentleman but imperfectly acquainted with the instrument, who repeats one note a great many times before he can find the next, has not a lively effect.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

In these vineyards also are three large circular ruins, adorned on the interior with rows of niches for statues.
— from Walks in Rome by Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert) Hare

Suddenly, on the barrow, there mingled with all this wild rhetoric of night a sound which modulated so naturally into the rest that its beginning and ending were hardly to be distinguished.
— from The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

“Can’t help it,” said Jasper, showing signs of [407] rushing off again in reminiscence; so Polly hastened to say, “We really ought not to talk any more about it, but get on with the story.
— from The Stories Polly Pepper Told to the Five Little Peppers in the Little Brown House by Margaret Sidney

Protective resemblances of just the same sort as that thus exhibited by this extraordinary little creature are common throughout the whole range of nature; instances are to be found in abundance, not only among beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes, but even among caterpillars, butterflies, and spiders, of species which preserve the strictest incognito.
— from Falling in Love; With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Grant Allen

There is a whole roll of newspapers from London; they are directed to you, and I know the writing—it is Mr. Leslie's.
— from A Fair Mystery: The Story of a Coquette by Charlotte M. Brame

Their lives were harsh and narrow; they gained their bread by their blood and sweat, in the unending struggle with the wild ruggedness of nature.
— from The Winning of the West, Volume 1 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 by Theodore Roosevelt

Another man, also a little in liquor, was returning one night from a berrin .
— from The Fairy Mythology Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley

And for somuch (saie they) as we read of none other of anie name thereabouts, it is to be thought that he planted the same in Chester, where his successors did afterwards vse to harbour their legions for the winter season, and in time of rest from iournies which they haue to make against their common enimies.
— from Holinshed Chronicles: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volume 1, Complete by William Harrison

We received one new convert, and others are seeking the way of life.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 32, No. 03, March, 1878 by Various