"Unusual" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... significance of which is only realized when the story is done. His stories are of two main classes: what have been called stories of "impressionistic terror," that is, stories of great fear induced in a character by a mass of rather vague and unusual incidents, such as The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1843); and stories of "ratiocination," that is, of the ingenious thinking out of a problem, as The Mystery of Marie Roget (1843). ...
— The Short-story • William Patterson Atkinson
... sarcastic wit was an object of dread to his opponents in burgh politics. His appearance was striking. Rather mal-formed, he was under the middle size; his head seemed large for his person, and his shoulders were of unusual breadth. His complexion was dark, and his eyes hazel; and when his countenance was lit upon the recitation of some witty tale, he looked the impersonation of mirthfulness. Eccentric as were some of his habits and modes of action, ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volumes I-VI. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... birthplace of the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress," has gained a world-wide celebrity, is a quiet little village, which, though not much more than a mile from the populous and busy town of Bedford, yet, lying aside from the main stream of modern life, preserves its old-world look to an unusual degree. Its name in its original form of "Helen-stow," or "Ellen-stow," the stow or stockaded place of St. Helena, is derived from a Benedictine nunnery founded in 1078 by Judith, niece of William the ...
— The Life of John Bunyan • Edmund Venables
... lady is a Signorina Cicogna,—at Paris, exchanging (except among particular friends), as is not unusual, the outlandish designation of Signorina for the more conventional one of Mademoiselle. Her father was a member of the noble Milanese family of the same name, therefore the young lady is well born. Her father has been long dead; his widow married again an English gentleman settled in Italy, a scholar ...
— The Parisians, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... was working with unusual celerity. "They got what was coming to them from my fists this time. Next time they'll need a doctor—or an undertaker. Besides, it's not your business to fire. That's ...
— The Return of Blue Pete • Luke Allan
... skin. Even kings don't wear the dalmaticum except at a coronation. Independence you desire; good. But are you dependent now? Your mother has given you an excellent education, and you have already put it to profit. My dear boy," added Vance, with unusual warmth, "I honour you; at your age, on leaving school, to have shut yourself up, translated Greek and Latin per sheet for a bookseller, at less than a valet's wages, and all for the purpose of buying comforts for your mother; and having a few pounds in your own pockets, ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... Turnbull, his voice coming through the hole with a slight note of trepidation very unusual with him, "I have a suggestion to make, if that can be called a suggestion, which has probably occurred to you as readily as to me. Until the actual event comes off we are practically in the position if not of comrades, at least of business ...
— The Ball and The Cross • G.K. Chesterton
... of the most enthusiastic advocates of the Liberian scheme is the colored Bishop H.M. Turner, of Atlanta. Turner is a man of unusual ability, has been over to Africa personally several times, and has made himself conspicuous by denouncing laws which he claimed discriminated against the blacks. Charles was one of the bishop's disciples and evidence has ...
— Mob Rule in New Orleans • Ida B. Wells-Barnett
... say this to my face, sir!" retorted the marquis with a vehemence very unusual in him. "You should know, sir, that your aunt is one who is utterly incapable of such conduct towards any person, and your ingratitude to one who has ever been most indulgent and affectionate to you makes your ...
— The King's Warrant - A Story of Old and New France • Alfred H. Engelbach
... at Isle aux Coudres. In 1832 he was succeeded by M. Zepherin Leveque who, in 1840, was followed by M. Alexis Bourret. This cure was something of a scholar. He read the Greek fathers in the original which is, I fancy, very unusual among the priests of Canada. In 1847 M. Beaudry became cure and in 1862 he was followed by M. Narcisse Doucet. It was under M. Doucet that the great influx of summer visitors began. Naturally they desired to have their own Protestant service ...
— A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs - The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 • George M. Wrong
... asleep beside him. In the rich mellow light of the room her loveliness glowed under his eyes like a jewel held in the sun. He hardly drew his breath, looking down upon her. Her heavy hair, full of deep purplish shades, and with the wave in it not unusual in the Asiatic, was pushed off the pale, pure bronze of the forehead, on which were drawn so perfectly the long-sweeping Oriental brows. The nose, delicately straight, with its proud high-arched nostrils, ...
— Six Women • Victoria Cross
... moments there was perfect silence, while Romola looked at the faces before her, and held out the basket of bread. Her own pale face had the slightly pinched look and the deepening of the eye-socket which indicate unusual fasting in the habitually temperate, and the large direct gaze of her hazel eyes was ...
— Romola • George Eliot
... suddenly attacked, after having taken some food or drink, with violent pain, cramp in the stomach, feeling of sickness or nausea, vomiting, convulsive twitchings, and a sense of suffocation; or if he be seized, under the same circumstances, with giddiness, delirium, or unusual sleepiness, then it may be supposed ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous
... being very low on account of the unusual dryness of the summer, dwellers on the shore of the lake found, in the mud, wooden piles which had been much eaten away, also some rude utensils. These were the remains of an ancient village built over the water. Since this time more than 200 similar villages have been found in the lakes ...
— History Of Ancient Civilization • Charles Seignobos
... what use is it to meet them? Do you really know them any better for meeting them got up in unusual dresses, and sitting down together when the only thing exchanged is the remark that it is hot or cold, or it rains, or it is dry, or any other patent surface-fact that answers the purpose ...
— Household Papers and Stories • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... The hackneyed compliment, unusual from the lips of a brother, was not far-fetched. If a dainty little figure, an exquisitely pretty dimpled face, a shell-pink complexion, violet eyes with long, thick lashes, and naturally wavy golden hair be the hallmarks of the fairies, ...
— The Elephant God • Gordon Casserly
... long. She walked there a whole hour, astonished that nothing unusual had happened. The road finally ended in a forest meadow. It was a lovely spot, covered with fresh green grass and many wild flowers. On one side rose a steep mountain; the other sides were covered ...
— Jerusalem • Selma Lagerlof
... the blocks did not seem to have anything unusual about it, but at the sight of the other Tom could not repress a cry. It was the one that seemed to have had a hole bored in it and then plugged up again. He remembered his father noticing it on the occasion of overhauling ...
— Tom Swift and his Motor-boat - or, The Rivals of Lake Carlopa • Victor Appleton
... But, unusual as it was, he made the bold venture of jumping to the conviction of Reginald's innocence; and that theory once started, ...
— Reginald Cruden - A Tale of City Life • Talbot Baines Reed
... She'll slide into the sand like a baby nestling down into a crib. There isn't a pebble in that sand for miles. Half of this bunch of passengers will be abed and asleep. They won't wake up. The rest will never know anything special except that the engines have stopped. And that ain't anything unusual in a fog. It's a quiet night—not a ripple. Nothing to hurt us. The wireless will bring the revenue cutter out from Wood's Hole, and she'll stand by till ...
— Blow The Man Down - A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 • Holman Day
... I got up and found my father in that room which adjoined his bedchamber. He perceived, I am sure, by my looks, that something unusual had happened. I shut the door, and came close ...
— Uncle Silas - A Tale of Bartram-Haugh • J.S. Le Fanu
... write his biography, "The Book of Jack London," I unearthed the issue, and the tale appears intact in my English edition, published in 1921. And now, gathering material for what will be the final Jack London collections, I cannot but think that his first printed story will have unusual interest for his readers of ...
— Dutch Courage and Other Stories • Jack London
... unusual, the villagers cherished it long against him and treated the man who was not like them with unaccountable apprehension. It was as if they feared he would throw something into their life which would disturb its straight, dismal course. Sad and difficult, ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky
... things which those gifted with any degree of imagination recollect with a sense of more anxious and mysterious delight than the first dramatic representation which they have witnessed. The unusual form of the house, filled with such groups {p.073} of crowded spectators, themselves forming an extraordinary spectacle to the eye which has never witnessed it before, yet all intent upon that wide and mystic curtain, whose dusky undulations permit us now ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart
... Australia. And it is because Honolulu—the principal town in the island of Oahu, and the capital of the Sandwich Islands—possesses by far the best, most accessible, and convenient harbour, that it is a place likely to become of so much importance in the future. It has not been unusual to see as many as from a hundred to a hundred and fifty sail ...
— A Boy's Voyage Round the World • The Son of Samuel Smiles
... scene. A litter of correspondence, propaganda, telegrams, and contributions from Constant Reader lay stuffed into the corners and pigeonholes of his desk. He sat for a moment thinking of his wife. Call her up ... spend the evening downtown ... some unusual evidence of affection ... the vaudeville wouldn't ...
— Erik Dorn • Ben Hecht
... will be the last fight. You can tell by the way they thrust us in here, and hurried out with their guns, that something unusual is taking place. I believe our rescuers ...
— The Boy Ranchers Among the Indians - or, Trailing the Yaquis • Willard F. Baker
... shepherd's staff. We can discern the hallowedness of a priest's vocation, but we see no sanctity in the calling of the grocer, or of the scavenger in the street. We can see the nimbus on the few, but not on the crowd; on the unusual, but not upon the commonplace. But the very birth-hour of Christianity irradiated the humble doings of humble people. When the angels went to the shepherds, common work was encircled with an ...
— My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year • John Henry Jowett
... But however, we fail'd not to send out a hundred People several Ways, to search for him. A Party of about forty went that Way he took, among whom was Tuscan, who was perfectly reconciled to Byam: They had not gone very far into the Wood, but they smelt an unusual Smell, as of a dead Body; for Stinks must be very noisom, that can be distinguish'd among such a Quantity of natural Sweets, as every Inch of that Land produces: so that they concluded they should find him dead, or some body that was so; they ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn - Volume V • Aphra Behn
... a very violent gale, with an unusual heavy sea:—The ship worked greatly, and took in much water through her seams:—the pumps were kept frequently going. At mid-day, while the crew were at dinner, a tremendous sea struck the ship right ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous
... proprietaries might stand on the same footing with their poor and laboring subjects. They lived comfortably in England upon revenues estimated to amount to the then enormous sum of L20,000 sterling; while the colonists were struggling under unusual losses, as well as enormous expenses, growing out of the war and Indian ravages. At such a time their parsimony, their "incredible meanness," as Franklin called it, was cruel as well as stupid. At last the Assembly flatly refused to raise ...
— Benjamin Franklin • John Torrey Morse, Jr.
... that Edison has owed his special immunity from "occupational diseases" not only to luck but to unusual powers of endurance, and a strong physique, inherited, no doubt, from his father. Mr. Mallory mentions a little fact that bears on this exceptional quality of bodily powers. "I have often been surprised at Edison's wonderful capacity for the instant visual perception of differences ...
— Edison, His Life and Inventions • Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
... why is not this qualification spoken out with the tongue? Sometimes it safely may be, and then it should be so added. But, as the addition is unusual, our taking the trouble to express it would often certify to the inquirer that his suspicions were correct, though we ought not to tell him so. Our aim then must be to give such an oral answer as we should return, were the suspicion quite ...
— Moral Philosophy • Joseph Rickaby, S. J.
... attempt to impress Golding with the fact that his knowledge of fruit growing, if not of floriculture, was certainly on a level with his own. It was mere chance that brought the fact to light,—the question of a somewhat unusual blight that had appeared on a fruit tree. Antony happened to be in the vicinity of the peach tree when Golding was remarking on it to another gardener. Five minutes later, the second gardener having departed, Antony approached Golding. He respectfully mentioned the ...
— Antony Gray,—Gardener • Leslie Moore
... He was a young savage, naked to the waist, and curiously tattooed on the forehead with the device of what seemed to be a rising or setting sun. I observed that Shalah looked closely at this, and that his face wore an unusual excitement. He said something in his own tongue, and, when the trench was dug, laid the dead man in it so ...
— Salute to Adventurers • John Buchan
... foreign, it is above all things help from without; and when the gods send prodigies and portents, when their statues weep and sweat blood, when cattle speak, and meteors fall from the sky, something strange and unusual must be done to counteract these things. Among the foreign acts thus ordered the sacred procession occurs frequently. It started from the temple of Apollo in the Campus Martius and passed into the city through the Porta ...
— The Religion of Numa - And Other Essays on the Religion of Ancient Rome • Jesse Benedict Carter
... other can possibly be; and, when they are discovered, acknowledged, and applauded, instead of being denied or overlooked as is more generally the case, the pleasure he receives is as great as it is unusual. ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft
... this lavish superfluity of clothing, he managed to perform the surprising gymnastic feats it has been my privilege to witness, I have never been able to tell. His "turning the crab," and other minor dislocations, were always attended with success. It was not an unusual sight at any hour of the day to find Melons suspended on a line, or to see his venerable head appearing above the roofs of the outhouses. Melons knew the exact height of every fence in the vicinity, its facilities for scaling, and the possibility of seizure on the other side. His more ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume I. (of X.) • Various
... combine to afford to the various individuals, inviting possibilities for acquiring wealth and influence. Along with this tremendous brain activity, a very large proportion of our people are carrying on an unusual amount of muscular activity. That is, our active brains multiply things to be done faster than they supply us with mechanical contrivances and organization in ...
— The Education of American Girls • Anna Callender Brackett
... the outmost point of a bow in the second hairpin curve, she heard a dull rumble behind her. Looking back, she saw nothing unusual, for in this place the road wound about U's and S's in the mountainside, and one could not see far along it, either ahead or behind. Deciding that a tree had fallen, she dismissed the matter from her thoughts, ...
— The She Boss - A Western Story • Arthur Preston Hankins
... has stilled the usual hurry, Checking the eager tread of rapid feet? Why does the business face look sad and sorry Within the place where merchants choose to meet? A something not unusual or strange, One face is ...
— Verses and Rhymes by the way • Nora Pembroke
... The Fisher picture of the Chambers love-maker, thought she, might almost be a photograph of Sam. She was glad she had obeyed the mysterious impulse to make a toilette of unusual elegance that morning. How get rid of Susan? "I'll take the sample, Susie," said she. "Then you won't have to ...
— Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise • David Graham Phillips
... unusual about this particular place, I should say, for you to settle on it ahead of time this way," remarked wise Josh in his ...
— The Boy Scouts of Lenox - Or The Hike Over Big Bear Mountain • Frank V. Webster
... of you," he was instantly told, for Fred never liked to be given sole credit for anything unusual, when he had chums along. "All the same, I guess the old farmer will be tickled half to death to know the sheep-killing pack has been broken ...
— Fred Fenton Marathon Runner - The Great Race at Riverport School • Allen Chapman
... approximately 20 large nigra trees of named horticultural varieties have been topworked to seedlings of natural first-generation hybrids between J. regia and J. nigra for the purpose of forcing the seedling scions into early fruiting. Of these 20 trees, 3 have shown such unusual behavior as to merit a description of each in the form of ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Forty-Second Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association
... Tourism, the primary economic activity, has steadily increased over the years and has brought a level of prosperity unusual among inhabitants of the Pacific islands. The agricultural sector has become self-sufficient in the production ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
... prisoners all over with thorns, wrapped in oily cotton, whereto they then set fire. "These cruelties many Christians have seen while they lived among these barbarians." Mr. Esquemeling was to see, and inflict, plenty of this kind of torment, which was not out of the way nor unusual. One planter alone had killed over a hundred of his servants—"the English did ...
— Essays in Little • Andrew Lang
... not be left in place more than a week, so that the amount of lumber thus tied up is small. At the end of three weeks remove the uprights under the beam and girder molds and strip the bottom plank. In this schedule it is assumed that the floor is free from any great load and that no unusual loading is put upon it; if a load of any consequence is to come on the floor the shores and uprights should be left in place longer. No schedule of removal can be blindly followed, and that given above is certain only when the conditions ...
— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette
... north so that we are sure there will be no trouble. I guess you had better go on the late trick to-night. That is the most important. We'll send your friend Chunky out early in the evening. His habit of going to sleep at unusual times is too serious to trust him with the late and dangerous watch. If they strike it will be close ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in Montana • Frank Gee Patchin
... the disappointed tone so unusual in the buoyant Percy, and revolved various devices for finding employment for him; but was obliged to own that a man of his age, whatever his powers, when once set aside from the active world, finds it difficult to make ...
— Heartsease - or Brother's Wife • Charlotte M. Yonge
... front door conversing. Will Wallace was contemplating Jean Black with no little admiration, as she moved about the house. There was something peculiarly attractive about Jean. A winsome air and native grace, with refinement of manner unusual in one of her station, would have stamped her with a powerful species of beauty even if she had not possessed in addition a modest look ...
— Hunted and Harried • R.M. Ballantyne
... was suspended while the machine passed them. The two men who were in it craned their necks most industriously at the sight of a pair of lovers out so early and seated in such an unusual ...
— The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories • Charles Weathers Bump
... just as the guard was about to lock us in, and flung herself down, quite breathless from her unusual exertion. ...
— Penelope's Progress - Being Such Extracts from the Commonplace Book of Penelope Hamilton As Relate to Her Experiences in Scotland • Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
... my fellow-men," said Thoreau, "is not being increased these days. I have noticed the cold-blooded way in which men speak of this event, as if an ordinary malefactor, though one of unusual pluck, 'the gamest man I ever saw,' the Governor of Virginia said, had been caught and was about to be hung. He was not thinking of his foes when the Governor of Virginia thought he looked ...
— The Story of the Innumerable Company, and Other Sketches • David Starr Jordan
... an unusual ebullition that Jewel looked up at him. "Why, grandpa, I never heard you whistle before," ...
— Jewel - A Chapter In Her Life • Clara Louise Burnham
... Harry, being out one evening, saw a party of soldiers coming along the road from the direction of Scindia's camp. This was unusual for, in order to prevent plundering, the orders were stringent that none of Scindia's troops should enter Poona. He hurried back to the house, and acquainted the two leaders with what he had seen. ...
— At the Point of the Bayonet - A Tale of the Mahratta War • G. A. Henty
... consort of Hydaspes, King of Ethiopia, had given birth, in consequence of one of those accidents which will sometimes happen in the best regulated families, to a white or fair-complexioned daughter;[58] and dreading lest the hue of her offspring, unusual in that country, might draw on herself suspicions which might expose her to certain pains and penalties, she secretly committed the infant to the care of Sisimithres, an officer of the court, placing at the same time in his hands, as tokens ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine—Vol. 54, No. 333, July 1843 • Various
... put the money?" said Aunt Ellen, her thought processes, under the unusual stimulus of a conversation on bandits, stirred ...
— Treasure and Trouble Therewith - A Tale of California • Geraldine Bonner
... comprehending the magnates' unusual conduct as due to oxygen-intoxication in its initial stage, made no comment, but walked to the door, spun the combination and ...
— The Air Trust • George Allan England
... of no more than the middle height. His complexion was pale. The lower part of his face, without beard or whiskers, was in no way remarkable. An average observer would have passed him by without notice but for his eyes. These alone made a marked man of him. The unusual size of the orbits in which they were set was enough of itself to attract attention; it gave a grandeur to his head, which the head, broad and firm as it was, did not possess. As to the eyes themselves, the soft, lustrous brightness of them defied analysis No two people could agree about their ...
— The New Magdalen • Wilkie Collins
... dressed but well-groomed. The druggist is positive she had dark hair; the clerk is inclined to think her hair was a deep reddish-brown. Neither of them saw her face; neither of them remarked anything unusual about her. To them she was merely a woman who came in to keep a telephone engagement, and having kept it went away again. So, having run into a blind alley at that end of the case, I started in at the other end of it to find the one lady to whom naturally the chief conspirator ...
— From Place to Place • Irvin S. Cobb
... the hills. Tom-toms were beating. She became aware that the Indians were swarming about her and acclaiming her a guest of unusual honor. They stopped her horse at the entrance to Red Snake's teepee. The great chief stepped forth himself, with Big Smoke, the ...
— The Perils of Pauline • Charles Goddard
... Italy, at the commencement of the 18th century (and probably much later), it was not unusual to introduce "the Doctor," "Harlequin," "Pantalone," and "Coviello," into deep tragedies. "I have seen," says Addison, "a translation of THE CID acted at Bolonia, which would never have taken, had they not found a place in it for ...
— Tamburlaine the Great, Part I. • Christopher Marlowe
... Netherlands there is constant mention of such sales. Nuremberg was very much behind Antwerp or Venice in the price paid for works of art; and the possibilities of such a market as Rome had very likely tempted Duerer to trust his prentice with an unusual quantity of prints. His worldly affairs were neither brilliant nor secure; yet we shall find him tempted on receiving an important commission to spend so much in time and material as to make it impossible for him to realise a profit. ...
— Albert Durer • T. Sturge Moore
... long recovered before Number Nine made his appearance at Kencroft, and thus his mother had unusual facilities for inquiries of Dr. Leslie respecting the ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge
... moon; occasionally, however, the globe would have to be brought in to a distance of only 103 feet, or occasionally it might have to be moved out to so much as 118 feet, if the moon is to be exactly hidden. It is unusual for the moon to approach either of its extreme limits of position, so that the distance from the eye at which the globe must be situated so as to exactly cover the moon is usually more than 105 feet, and less than 117 ...
— The Story of the Heavens • Robert Stawell Ball
... pursue this line of speculation, the scoutmaster repeatedly mentioned the unusual odor near the UFO. He described it as being "sharp" or "pungent." Ozone gas is "sharp" or "pungent." To quote from a chemistry book, "Ozone is prepared by passing air between two plates which are charged at a high electrical potential." Electrical equipment ...
— The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects • Edward Ruppelt
... far as the metropolis is concerned, may be thus stated: First, the hours of work, speaking generally, now rarely exceed twelve, whereas formerly sixteen, seventeen, and even eighteen hours were not unusual. ...
— Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... in the treasure!" cried Bet, fired with enthusiasm at the prospect of finding something unusual. "Why, I could easily believe in a buried treasure. ...
— The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure • Lizette M. Edholm
... and of a dark blue color, shaded by thick black brows a little raised, as if looking on a vast expanse of distant prospect. A manner firm, manly, dignified, and free. Vox permanens verum subrauca; its tremulous and occasionally interrupted accents give unusual tenderness to its tones. But it is neither the Ciceronian person, nor the Chatham face, nor the voice of Antony, that we are to admire in Mr. Tazewell. It is the great and clear comprehension; the freshness and rapidity with which every ...
— Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell • Hugh Blair Grigsby
... encouraged. Numerous clubs were organized, among them the Good Time Club, also the Penny Provident and the Helping Hand. Nursing was taken up; sewing and cooking classes, model flats and cottage meetings started. Magazine and newspaper articles commented on unusual sermons, such as the one on the balloons. Addresses at Northfield, Silver Bay and other places called attention to the church's work in ever-widening circles, Hamilton House came into being, but without organic connection with ...
— The Kirk on Rutgers Farm • Frederick Bruckbauer
... sounds mad? I will make the dawn before your very eyes! And the wish to please you adding its ardour to the ordinary forces of my soul, I shall rise in singing, as I feel, to unusual heights, and the dawn will rise more fair to-day than ever ...
— Chantecler - Play in Four Acts • Edmond Rostand
... dominions had experienced severe persecution on that account. "I desire," he says in this letter, "to make a request of you, a request of no ordinary character, but as earnest as you could possibly receive from me—that, just as for the love of me you have treated your subjects in this matter with unusual rigor, so you would be pleased, for my sake, and by reason of my prayer and special recommendation, to receive them into your benign grace, and reinstate them in the possessions which have for this cause been confiscated." He added that ...
— History of the Rise of the Huguenots - Volume 2 • Henry Baird
... so very unusual a request that Elspie was somewhat alarmed by it, as well as surprised—all the more so that the old man left the room without finishing either his pipe or glass. Still, she did not suppose that anything serious would come of it. A night's rest, she ...
— The Buffalo Runners - A Tale of the Red River Plains • R.M. Ballantyne
... "rang up" the higher centres of the brain and put the intelligence on the qui vive, ready to interpose when needed. So the twofold caution is this: (1) We must not depreciate the creature too much if, in unusual circumstances, it acts in an ineffective way along lines of behaviour which are normally handed over to instinct; and (2) we must leave open the possibility that even routine instinctive behaviour may be suffused with ...
— The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) - A Plain Story Simply Told • J. Arthur Thomson
... have been in favor of going upstairs and leaving her to her own devices. I could see that Fred was afire with curiosity, but guessed that Will would agree with me. However, the point was settled for us by the arrival of her maid, who smiled with unusual condescension and produced from a basket an assortment of drinks, nuts, cigarettes and sandwiches. She spread them on the table ...
— The Ivory Trail • Talbot Mundy
... then again there would be nothing comical. In a world without ideas, the comic could not exist. The comic depends upon our apperceiving an object in terms of some idea and finding it incongruous. The most elementary illustrations demonstrate this. The unusual is the original comic; to the child all strange things are comical—the Chinaman with his pigtail, the negro with his black skin, the new fashion in dress, the clown with his paint and his antics. As we get used to things, and that means as we come to form ideas of them into which they will ...
— The Principles Of Aesthetics • Dewitt H. Parker
... embroidered with gold, and a crucifix, to place upon the bier. When night fell, the elder men lighted torches, while the younger crowded together, vying one with another for the privilege of carrying the coffin. Meantime the Florentines, suspecting that something unusual was going forward at S. Pietro, gathered round, and soon the news spread through the city that Michelangelo was being borne to S. Croce. A vast concourse of people in this way came unexpectedly together, following the artists ...
— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds
... the mates of the MAY-FLOWER would thus volunteer, or thrust themselves forward in such a matter, and it seems doubtful if they would have been permitted (even if both ashore at one time, which, though unusual, did occur), to assume such duty. Whoever they were, they ...
— The Mayflower and Her Log, Complete • Azel Ames
... twilight they heard the slow, soft padding of a man's feet laboriously climbing the hill, and listened intently at the unusual sound. ...
— The Plunderer • Roy Norton
... which had been in progress for some days past had made us expect some unusual event, but this news left us thunderstruck, Woloda turned red, and, with a shaking voice, delivered Mamma's ...
— Childhood • Leo Tolstoy
... to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a satisfactory view of the operations of the Department under his charge during the past year. It is gratifying to perceive that while the war with Mexico has rendered it necessary to employ an unusual number of our armed vessels on her coasts, the protection due to our commerce in other quarters of the world has not proved insufficient. No means will be spared to give efficiency to the naval service in the prosecution of the war; and I am ...
— State of the Union Addresses of James Polk • James Polk
... subject just as much as if it were written? Would it not be said that explanation was the result, of that conversation; and that the result of that explanation, in the case before the house, was the acceptation of office by the right honourable gentleman? In alluding to the unusual circumstance of a military man being at the head of the government, Mr. Brougham used very emphatic language. He remarked:—"No man values more highly than I do the services and genius of the noble ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... emphatic parts of the melody survive clearly to the end, while the detail, which if perceived might now clash, is largely lost, and out of the preceding parts perhaps nothing but a certain swing and potency is present at the close. The mind has been raked and set vibrating in an unusual fashion, so that the finale comes like a fulfilment after much premonition and desire, whereas the same event, unprepared for, might hardly have been observed. The whole technique of music is but an immense elaboration of this principle. It deploys a sensuous harmony by a sort ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana
... stern of face, And Peleus' son, unrivalled in the race, AEneas, founder of the Roman line, And William, glorious on the banks of Boyne? Who has not learned to weep at Pompey's woes, And over Blackmore's epic page to doze? 'Tis I, who dare attempt unusual strains, Of hosts unsung, and unfrequented plains; The small shrill trump, and chiefs of little size, And armies rushing down the darkened skies. Where India reddens to the early dawn, Winds a deep vale from vulgar eyes withdrawn: Bosomed in groves the lowly region ...
— The Minstrel; or the Progress of Genius - with some other poems • James Beattie
... I have met you, Gabriella," said he, in a tone so gentle, I lifted my eyes in amazement. His beamed with unusual kindness beneath his shading brows. Gone was the mocking gleam,—gone the deriding smile. He looked serious, earnest, almost sad, but not severe. Looking at his watch, and then at the golden vane, as if that too were a chronometer, he ...
— Ernest Linwood - or, The Inner Life of the Author • Caroline Lee Hentz
... is evident that; the author has imagination in an unusual degree, much strength of expression, and skill in ...
— A War-Time Wooing - A Story • Charles King
... three P. M., with a fine breeze from the east-south-east, we crossed the equator. In twenty-four hours after crossing the line, which was very unusual, we took the regular south-east trades. These winds come a little from the eastward of south-east, and, with us, they blew directly from the east-south-east, which was fortunate for us, for our course was ...
— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana
... an unusual one, and my safe was one of Marvin's best. I counted the money, which footed up into the thousands, placed it in the official envelope, affixed the seals, and deposited it in the safe. As I turned away from the lock, a voice at ...
— Idle Hour Stories • Eugenia Dunlap Potts
... Giant Tur-il-i-ra arrived at his castle gate. He had walked all the way home, and he felt in such a good humor that the road never seemed so short to him before. But, for some reason, he could not open the gate. There seemed to be an unusual number of locks and bolts, and the big key he carried did not seem to fit any of the numerous key-holes. He could easily reach over and undo the bolts, but the locks were too much for him; and, I ...
— Ting-a-ling • Frank Richard Stockton
... east end of the Cathedral, is next in order. Its three apertures on each side are said to be emblematic of the six sources of the river Stour, which rises at Storrhead, the ancient family seat, from whence the name is derived. The whole shape of the tomb is so unusual that in spite of the theory that it represents the six sources of the Stour, the curious arched openings appear as if pierced to exhibit something behind them. Yet this could not have been an effigy, for the interior is divided ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury - A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the See of Sarum • Gleeson White
... approaches them with a modest grace in her beautiful eyes; and by the reception Octavio gave her, she found that reverend person was his uncle, or at least somebody of authority; and therefore assuming a gravity unusual, she received them with all the ceremony due to their quality: and first, she addressed herself to the old gentleman, who stood gazing at her, without motion; at which she was a little out of countenance. When Octavio perceiving it, approached his uncle and cried, 'Sir, ...
— Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister • Aphra Behn
... a beautiful and silent day That overspread the countenance of earth, Then fading with unusual quietness,— A day as beautiful as e'er was given To soothe regret, though deepening what it soothed, 5 When by the gliding Loire I paused, and cast Upon his rich domains, vineyard and tilth, Green meadow-ground, and many-coloured woods, Again, and yet again, a farewell look; Then from ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. III • William Wordsworth
... estate. In the Homeric stories ships of the Sidonians, though not unknown, make rare appearances, and other early legends of the Greeks, which make mention of Phoenician visits to Hellenic coasts, imply that they were unusual phenomena, which aroused much local curiosity and were long remembered. The strangeness of the Phoenician mariners, the unfamiliar charm of their cargoes—such were the impressions left on Greek story by the ...
— The Ancient East • D. G. Hogarth
... grow a little duskish, Candlemas lustily bawled out for lights, which was opposed by all the Days, who protested against burning daylight. Then fair water was handed round in silver ewers, and the same lady was observed to take an unusual time in ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2 • Charles Lamb
... the other deck openings and deck fittings—such as bilge pumps, companionways, skylights, binnacles, wheels and wheel-rope trunks, cable trunks, steampipe casings, and stack fiddleys—have been located in an effort to meet the imagined requirements of the working of a ship of this unusual form. ...
— Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran • Howard I. Chapelle
... surrounded by a circle in red ink, and was evidently of great moment to the writer. The letter was addressed to "Philip Ogilvie, Esq.," in a square, firm, childish hand, and the great blot stood a little away from the final Esquire. It gave the envelope an altogether striking and unusual appearance. The flap was sealed with violet wax, and had an impression on it which spelt Sibyl. Ogilvie, when he received this letter, took it up tenderly, looked at the blot on the cover of the envelope, glanced behind ...
— Daddy's Girl • L. T. Meade
... the poems of Mosant de Brieux, in which, among much curious information relative to Caen, he describes the literary meetings that led to the foundation of the first academy. The town at that time could boast an unusual proportion of men of talents. Bochart, author of Sacred Geography; Graindorge, who had published De Principiis Generationis; Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet learned being ...
— Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) • Dawson Turner
... with this admission, in presuming that a Life of the Poet might be written almost as interesting as the one alluded to, and without the writer assuming to himself any unusual sagacity. As Mr. Southey's narrative is prefixed to a collection of all Kirke White's remains, in prose as well as in verse, his letters are inserted as part of his works, instead of extracts from them being introduced ...
— The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White - With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas • Henry Kirke White
... aid a Better Homes Demonstration, for such an exhibition presents unusual opportunities for selling advertising space to local merchants. In some of the cities where Demonstrations have been held, the newspapers have brought out large special editions carrying a great amount of local advertising, and filled with interesting ...
— Better Homes in America • Mrs W.B. Meloney
... old. I suppose I oughtn't to mind, but oh, damn everything! Damn everything, I say!" He scattered the papers with a blow of his hand, and whirling, stood once more before the mirror, which seemed to have some unusual interest for him. He did not at first hear the step of the visitor who now entered the door and came gently ...
— The Law of the Land • Emerson Hough
... difficult to tell, Kate. I should judge, however, from your excited manner and your unusual enthusiasm, that ...
— The Palace Beautiful - A Story for Girls • L. T. Meade
... when the Crown commanded unusual resources, the De Quinceys met with the fate ascribed, perhaps fabulously, to some small heavenly bodies (asteroids or what, I do not precisely know): on some dark day, by mistake perhaps, they exploded, and scattered their ruins all over the ...
— The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1 (2 vols) • Thomas De Quincey
... went on without anything unusual happening until the time of consecration came. Then the organ sounded. At the same time came a scream from ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish • Various
... neglected. The most influential minister was Cardinal Dubois, likewise a man of unprincipled character. The state was really bankrupt, when a Scottish adventurer and gambler, John Law, possessed of unusual financial talents, but infected with the economical errors of the time, offered to rescue the national finances by means of a bank, which he was allowed to found, the notes of which were to serve as currency. Almost all the ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher
... more than three inches long, dark red, of light weight perhaps because of the large core, ripening late in autumn to midwinter. It seems to be specially prized by children, perhaps in part because of its unusual shape and in part by its aromatic fragrance; but it is not a high-class apple, and is now little seen. With the Rambo, Vandevere, some of the russets, Early Harvest, Jersey Sweet and other old worthies, it probably ...
— The Apple-Tree - The Open Country Books—No. 1 • L. H. Bailey
... hastened upstairs to the picture gallery. Even while mounting the steps they raised their eyes to the canvases displayed on the walls of the staircase, where they hang the special category of decorative painters who have sent canvases of unusual proportions or works that ...
— Strong as Death • Guy de Maupassant
... institutions under which we live, should be emphasised by you, who represent the different races of which our nationality is composed, when we meet to-day under roofs which shelter the products of the industrial and agricultural industry of a wide territory, now enjoying marked and unusual prosperity. It is not only a personal sentiment of reverence toward the august occupant of the throne, the faithful interpreter of our constitutional law, but it is to the perfected fabric of the experience of many centuries,—to the freest form of government on earth, that ...
— Memories of Canada and Scotland - Speeches and Verses • John Douglas Sutherland Campbell
... there is any cause for alarm," his wife said quietly. "The child has got a headache and is a little feverish, but there is no occasion whatever for thinking that it is anything more. There is nothing unusual in a girl having a headache, but Nellie has had such good health that if she had a prick in the finger you ...
— When London Burned • G. A. Henty
... an unusual joy surprise The islands of the sea; Ye mountains, sink, ye vallies, rise, Prepare ...
— The Psalms of David - Imitated in the Language of The New Testament - And Applied to The Christian State and Worship • Isaac Watts
... details at a glance. What puzzled him was that these men did not appear to be cattlemen or followers of any calling, unless possibly it was the profession of the six-gun. All were heavily armed, and although that fact in itself was by no means unusual, The Kid did not like the looks of several of the men he saw there. Some were half-breeds of his ...
— Kid Wolf of Texas - A Western Story • Ward M. Stevens
... with all my heart he will! I tell you, Mrs. Hubers, you want to help him! I'm not sorry you saw that little thing just now. It will show you the other side of it—the human side. And there wasn't anything unusual in it. All over the world, physicians are doing this same thing every day—telling people it's hopeless, admitting there's nothing to be done. Then think of the tremendousness of this work Karl Hubers is doing!—where ...
— The Glory Of The Conquered • Susan Glaspell
... road whence the sound seemed to come, but saw nothing excepting a robin, who, perched on the highest post of a fence, was looking and listening with great apparent interest, but without making a sound himself,—a very unusual proceeding on the part of this bird, who always has a great ...
— Upon The Tree-Tops • Olive Thorne Miller
... subject of intellectual gifts: the very various proportions in which they were distributed, and the measure of consciousness of superiority which was inevitable, and therefore allowable, in the possessor of an unusual amount of such endowments.... ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble
... stood forth in sharp contradiction, every limitation appeared more striking, every discord more violent, and every achievement more astonishing. This State could apparently produce everything that was strange and unusual, but could not endure one thing—peaceful mediocrity, which elsewhere may be ...
— The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 • Various
... writer; we hear some strange philosophical doctrine, and we recognize it as an old friend. Many people have had this experience in the matter of Occultism—in the very matter of the doctrine of Reincarnation itself—when they first heard it, although it struck them as strange and unusual, yet they felt an inner conviction that it was an old story to them—that they "had heard it all before." These experiences are by far too common to be dismissed as mere fancy or coincidence. Nearly every living person has had some ...
— Reincarnation and the Law of Karma - A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect • William Walker Atkinson
... and occasionally I find an old kind sent out with a new name. When visiting fruit farms in New Jersey last summer, I was urged to visit a small place on which was growing a wonderful new berry. The moment I saw the fruit and foliage, I recognized the Col. Cheney, forced into unusual luxuriance by very favorable conditions. Other experienced growers, whose attention I called to the distinguishing marks of this variety, agreed with me at once; but the proprietor, who probably had never seen the Cheney before and did not know where the plants ...
— Success With Small Fruits • E. P. Roe |
