"Short letter" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... passed, and at length came a letter from Lord Earle, saying that he hoped to reach England before Christmas, and in any case would be with them by Christmas day. It was a short letter, written in the hurry of traveling; the words that touched his children most, were "I am glad you have the girls at Earlescourt; I am anxious to see what they are like. Make them happy, mother; let hem have all they want; and, if it be possible, after my ...
— Dora Thorne • Charlotte M. Braeme
... A short letter from M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, published in the 'Comptes Rendus' of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, for July 2nd, 1838, speaks of a visit (and apparently a very hasty one) paid to the collection of Professor 'Schermidt' ...
— On Some Fossil Remains of Man • Thomas H. Huxley
... corpus vile on which England makes her legislative experiments. In this direction there is a great deal of useful information in the study of our politics to an outsider; but to go into the question at large would take up a three-volume publication instead of a short letter, and my present purpose is merely to give an outline of the existing situation in each colony, only touching upon so much of their past history as is necessary for the understanding of ...
— Town Life in Australia - 1883 • R. E. N. (Richard) Twopeny
... this in his newly tuned romantic frame of mind, Mr. Somers sat down and wrote a long letter to Mr. Prendergast, enclosing the short letter from Owen, and saying all that he, as a man of business with a new dash of romance, could say on such a subject. This letter, not having slept on the road as Herbert did in Dublin, and having been conveyed with that lightning rapidity for which the British Post-office ...
— Castle Richmond • Anthony Trollope
... suffice. IRENAEUS [44:6] in his extant work on heresies quotes the Acts again and again, and directly ascribes it to St Luke. He likewise cites twelve out of the thirteen Epistles of St Paul, the exception being the short letter to Philemon. These twelve he directly ascribes to the Apostle in one place or another, and with the exception of 1 Timothy and Titus he gives the names of the persons addressed; so that the identification is complete. The list of references to St Paul's Epistles alone occupies ...
— Essays on "Supernatural Religion" • Joseph B. Lightfoot
... I never got farther than one short letter and a picture post card, though. I do so loathe writing," sighed Gertrude. "Ulyth's the only one ...
— For the Sake of the School • Angela Brazil
... or anything else of a suitable character that might suggest itself to you—together, if possible (and this would delight us all), with your presence, or in the absence of this, if you can't be here, a short letter for me to read, as on the opening of ...
— Philip Gilbert Hamerton • Philip Gilbert Hamerton et al
... the necessity of explaining the change in all his plans to Florence Mountjoy, and with this view he wrote the short letter given at the beginning of the chapter, following it down in person to Cheltenham. "Mamma, Harry is here," said Florence to ...
— Mr. Scarborough's Family • Anthony Trollope
... the facts of the case. She had, no doubt, condoned whatever Mr Rubb had done. Mr Rubb undoubtedly had her sanction for keeping her money without security. Therefore, by return of post, she wrote the following short letter, which rather astonished Mr ...
— Miss Mackenzie • Anthony Trollope
... announced, "that some boy threw a ball through the front window and she's had it fixed. And Ruth and Nelson Baker send their love to you, Sunny. This is a very short letter because Aunt Bessie wants us to try to match the sample of silk she encloses and she hurried the letter to catch ...
— Sunny Boy in the Big City • Ramy Allison White
... when he wanted money for his extravagances, and it was a sure way to obtain it; but one day I discovered that he had quitted the port without saying farewell, and that he had sailed in a vessel bound to the coast of Africa. A short letter and a heavy bill was received from Portsmouth, and I did not hear of him for two years. I was heartbroken, but not weaned from him; I counted the days for his return. At last he came—browned by the climate, full of oaths, savage in his bearing, and occasionally referring to scenes which ...
— Poor Jack • Frederick Marryat
... temptation.[22] A maxim which he frequently repeats is, that the knowledge of ourselves is the necessary and only step by which we call ascend to the knowledge and love of God. The Bollandists[23] give us a short letter of St. Antony to St. Theodorus, abbot of Tabenna, in which he says that God had assured him in a revelation, that he showed mercy to all true adorers of Jesus Christ, though they should have fallen, if they sincerely repented of their sin. No ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler
... Kensington, with Addison, Steele, etc., came home, and writ a short letter to the Archbishop of Dublin, to let him know the Queen has granted the thing, etc. I writ in the Coffee-house, for I stayed at Kensington till nine, and am plaguy weary; for Colonel Proud(13) was very ill company, and I will never be of a party with ...
— The Journal to Stella • Jonathan Swift
... only right that the doctor should be made acquainted with my proceeding and my reason for taking it, so I indited a short letter, which I tried to reproduce from memory ten years later ...
— The Reminiscences of an Astronomer • Simon Newcomb
... making away with herself, after they had murdered their little infant. This wretched pair were, in the month of April, found hanging in their bed-chamber, at about a yard's distance from each other; and in a separate apartment the child lay dead in a cradle. They left two papers enclosed in a short letter to their landlord, whose kindness they implored in favour of their dog and cat. They even left money to pay the porter who should carry the enclosed papers to the person for whom they were addressed. In one of these the husband thanked that person for the marks of friendship ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... he will be careful," Grannie answered, nine-tenths of her mind being fixed on her new pattern and only one-tenth upon her grandchild's peculiar fancy for Victorian photographs. So Mollie wrote a short letter to her brother, enclosing the group which had worked the magic charm for herself that afternoon. She put it into the evening post-bag with a sigh. "If that doesn't do it I can't think of anything else," ...
— The Happy Adventurers • Lydia Miller Middleton
... not if the short letter which I addressed to 4 Everton Place, Leamington (as I read it in your former Letter), reached you. Whatever the place be called, I expect you are still there; and there will be for some time longer. As there ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) • Edward FitzGerald
... more I read of your two last volumes, the more I feel it necessary to make my acknowledgm'ts for them in more than one short letter. The Night Piece to which you refer me I meant fully to have noticed, but the fact is I come so fluttering and languid from business, tired with thoughts of it, frightened with fears of it, that when I get a few minutes to sit ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas
... more I read of your two last volumes, the more I feel it necessary to make my acknowledgments for them in more than one short letter. The "Night Piece," to which you refer me, I meant fully to have noticed; but the fact is, I come so fluttering and languid from business, tired with thoughts of it, frightened with fears of it, ...
— The Best Letters of Charles Lamb • Charles Lamb
... for a short letter to say that the cold weather is over and that I continue to improve, not very ...
— Letters from Egypt • Lucie Duff Gordon
... one exception, succeeded this bright spot of sunshine in Mary Pratt's solicitude in behalf of the absent Roswell. She knew there was but little chance of hearing from him again until he returned north. The exception was a short letter that the deacon received, dated two weeks later than that written from Rio, in latitude forty-one, or just as far south of the equator as Oyster Pond was north of it, and nearly fourteen hundred miles to the southward of Rio. This letter ...
— The Sea Lions - The Lost Sealers • James Fenimore Cooper
... mind writing to us—only a very short letter, to tell us how you get on with the clearing, and whether you have made it much bigger, and built a great house upon it, as I have heard father say you intended to do. I shall always like to hear that you are in good health, and that ...
— The Wild Huntress - Love in the Wilderness • Mayne Reid
... I have heard tell, Master Geoffrey. Your father read out from the pulpit a letter the earl had received from Captain Francis telling about the fighting, and it mentioned that you were both alive and well and had done good service; but it was only a short letter sent off in haste the day after he and the others had got out of the town. I was right glad when I heard it, I can tell you, for there had been nought talked of here but the siege; and though your lady mother has not said much to me, I always held myself ready to slip round the ...
— By England's Aid or The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604) • G.A. Henty
... they want letters from here—who'll run from morning till night collecting material cheaper? I'll write a short letter twice a week, for the present, for the "Age," for $5 per week. Now it has been a long time since I couldn't make my own living, and it shall be a long time before I loaf ...
— The Boys' Life of Mark Twain • Albert Bigelow Paine
... went carefully through Staines's two letters, and wherever he found a word that suited his purpose, he traced it by the usual process, and so, in the course of a few hours, he concocted a short letter, all the words in which, except three, were facsimiles, only here and there a little shaky; the three odd words he had to imitate by observation of the letters. The signature he got to perfection ...
— A Simpleton • Charles Reade
... happiest retirement. Your visit, and that of your mother, of whom we all became very fond, was a great delight to us, though a short one. Fanny and I have a plan to greet her at Christmas by a short letter. Now write me word how it ...
— Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. • F. Max Mueller
... are now together, and were talking so loud in the next room to me, that I was obliged to retire, lest I should overhear secrets. Mr. L—— this moment sends for me. If I should not have time to add more, this short letter ...
— Tales And Novels, Vol. 8 • Maria Edgeworth
... short letter, but, ah, the blessed relief of knowing he was well and happy! And prospering—prospering famously—for he told her he was sending her the first copy off the press of his book of poems! It was a very little book, he said, but ...
— The Dreamer - A Romantic Rendering of the Life-Story of Edgar Allan Poe • Mary Newton Stanard
... encomium upon the campaign of Vicksburg is so flattering to General Grant, that you may offer to let him keep the letter, if he values such a testimonial. I have never written a word to General Halleck since my report of last December, after the affair at Chickasaw, except a short letter a few days ago, thanking him for the kind manner of his transmitting to me the appointment of brigadier-general. I know that in Washington I am incomprehensible, because at the outset of the war I would not go it blind and rush headlong into a war unprepared and with an utter ignorance of its ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman
... found a fragment of paper; and he contrived, with the nail of his little finger, dipped in mulberry juice, to write on it a list of his library—and returned the volume, asking for a second. The second came, and in it a short letter in Latin. The correspondence between the prisoners ...
— The True Story Book • Andrew Lang
... and two are coming to dinner. Will you look in the papers every day at the "Gazette" and tell me when I become a First Lieutenant; my name went in a month ago. I never see the papers. Again this week, I have not received "Punch" or the "Tatler." I am afraid this will be a short letter, as I have little news, and I don't want to write just for the sake of filling pages; when I have news it is easy to write, and to you is, I know, interesting reading. But, as you know, the happy and the righteous are generally uninteresting, and we are very contented at present. ...
— Letters from France • Isaac Alexander Mack
... that he had put himself thoroughly into Mr. Peck's power, signed bills, in his own name, to some fabulous amount, and was actually now in the Fleet, whence his penitential and despairing confession was dated, arriving simultaneously with a short letter from Mr. Peck, wherein that respectable printer apprised my father that he had continued, at his own risk, the publication of "The Capitalist" as far as a prudent care for his family would permit; that he need not say that a new daily journal ...
— The Caxtons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... proud man wrote. Not one word was there for Katy, whose eyes, which had not wept since she knew she was deserted, moved slowly over the short letter, weighing every word, and then were lifted sadly to her father's face as she said: "I will write and tell him all the truth, and on his answer will depend ...
— Family Pride - Or, Purified by Suffering • Mary J. Holmes
... make an agreement, Isabelle. Thee is to write a short letter to thy father every Sunday, and the rest of the letter hour can be devoted to thy 'regular parents.' This letter thee will post to me, and—since I have no 'regular daughter'—every Sunday afternoon I will post a letter to thee. ...
— The Cricket • Marjorie Cooke
... came into Portsmouth on Sunday and I have sent Charles a short letter by this day's post. My adventures since I wrote you three days ago have been such as the time would easily contain. I walked yesterday morning with Mrs. Chamberlayne to Lyncombe and Widcombe, and in the evening I drank tea with the Holders. Mrs. Chamberlayne's pace ...
— Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters - A Family Record • William Austen-Leigh and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh
... I could feel happy about Henry and Alice; I had hoped that the birth of their child would have made him more domestic, and drawn them more closely together; but, except a few hurried lines in which he announced the fact to me, and another short letter since, I have heard nothing from him; and I have received a strange one from her grandmother. She insists upon seeing me immediately on my return to England, and speaks of communicating some dreadful secret to me. If I did not think her ...
— Ellen Middleton—A Tale • Georgiana Fullerton
... Edinburgh, to which this short letter alludes, was undertaken, it is needless to say, in consequence of a warm and generous commendation of the genius of Burns written by Dr. Blacklock, to the Rev. Mr. Lawrie, and communicated by Gavin Hamilton to the poet, when he was on the wing ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham
... now begin to leave off, particularly as I have but half an hour to conclude; else my pretty little short letter will lose its passage, which I should not like, after being ten days, at different times, writing it, beating up with the convoy to the northward, which is a reason that this epistle will never read well; as I never set down with a proper ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous
... from publisher to publisher, and at length, on a day in January—date ever memorable in Goldthorpe's life—there arrived a short letter in which a certain firm dryly intimated their approval of the story offered them, and their willingness to purchase the copyright for a sum of fifty pounds. The next morning the triumphant author travelled to London. For two or three days a violent gale had been blowing, with ...
— The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories • George Gissing
... Gladys Fleming agreed. "After all, he's responsible for selling the collection." She crossed to the desk and sat down in Rand's chair while she wrote out the check and a short letter of authorization, then she ...
— Murder in the Gunroom • Henry Beam Piper
... these narratives, however, solved the mystery of his identity or of his occupation. All our good landlady knew was that he had driven up in a hack one afternoon, bearing a short letter of introduction from a former lodger—a man who had lived abroad for the previous ten years—introducing Mr. Norvic Bing; that after its perusal she had given him the second-story front room, at that moment empty—a ...
— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith
... passage to the Duc d'Havre and his suite: he is a nobleman of distinction, who has resided some time in Spain, but has been expelled from that country with other emigres. I had an opportunity of sending you, by a cutter for Lagos, a short letter, with the above pleasing accounts, which I am persuaded will yield no less happiness to you than ...
— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I • Sir John Ross
... not, owing to the above circumstance, time to write what he wished, he concludes, with the most perfect good-humour—"Pray excuse this short letter, and abuse of ...
— The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) • James Harrison
... what passed between us a few days ago you will perhaps be surprised at hearing from me, but, if you have the patience to read this short letter, its contents will not, I fear, be altogether displeasing to you. They are very simple. I write to say that I accept your verdict, and that you need fear no further advances from me. Whether I quite deserved all the bitter words you poured out upon me I leave ...
— Dawn • H. Rider Haggard
... dozen copies of his poems, if he had them to spare, and begging he would do her the pleasure of calling at Dunlop House as soon as convenient. This was the beginning of a correspondence which ended only with the poet's life. Nearly the last use he made with his pen was writing a short letter to this lady a few days ...
— Robert Burns • Principal Shairp
... admitted. "But then it was only a short letter, anyhow. Al ain't much for ritin', anyhow. But come out and see my new cheese. I tell yeh, I don't believe I ever had hetter luck in my life. If Ed should come, I want you should take him up a ...
— Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland
... accompanied them outside, though, a few moments later, he excused himself, saying that he had to go to the nearest drugstore to write a short letter and ...
— The Submarine Boys' Lightning Cruise - The Young Kings of the Deep • Victor G. Durham
... ferns. We go to the woods regularly every morning and stay the whole forenoon. In the afternoon we rest, read, write, etc.; sometimes we drive and always after tea George walks with me about two miles. I hope the war is not impeding your movements. I suppose you will call this a short letter, but I think it is as long as is good for you. All my dear nine pounds gained at Newburgh have gone by the board. August 20th.—I am sorry you had such hot weather in Paris, but hope it passed off as our heat did. Dr. Hamlin's two youngest daughters have ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss
... from the picturesque haunts of Heidelberg students, he wandered with them over Italy, Switzerland, and France. Engrossed by these companions, he no longer found time to commune with her, and when occasionally he penned a short letter it was hurried, constrained, and unsatisfactory. One topic had become stereotyped; he never failed to discourage the idea of teaching; urged most earnestly the folly of such a step, and dwelt upon the numerous advantages of social position arising from a residence under ...
— Beulah • Augusta J. Evans
... was left alone he placed himself at the table where Gonzague had been sitting so short a time before, and, taking pen and paper, wrote rapidly a short letter. When he had folded and sealed this, he rose, and, crossing the room, went to the door which opened on the antechamber to the princess's apartments. Here he found a servant waiting, wearing the mourning livery of Nevers, ...
— The Duke's Motto - A Melodrama • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... compress the details of any subject into small compass. Essences are more difficult to prepare, and therefore more valuable, than weak solutions. Pliny wrote to one of his friends, 'I have not time to write you a short letter, therefore I have written you a long one.' Apparent elaborateness is always distasteful and weak. Vividness and strength are the product of an easy command of those small trenchant Saxon monosyllables which abound in the English ...
— The Verbalist • Thomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres)
... with a short Letter I writ the other Day to a very witty Man, over-run with the Fault I am ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... coming Ultimatum the next day and, judging that the hint meant the resumption of ruthless submarine war, I telegraphed a warning to the American Ambassadors and Ministers as well as to the State Department. On January thirty-first at about four o'clock in the afternoon I received from Zimmermann a short letter of which the ...
— My Four Years in Germany • James W. Gerard
... over, Clark went back to his hotel, and wrote a short letter to a woman saying that he had interesting business on hand and hoped to see her soon. The letter ...
— The Rapids • Alan Sullivan
... >>> I wrote a short letter to you in my first agitations. It contained not above twenty lines, all full of fright, alarm, and execration. But being afraid that my vehemence would too much affect you, I thought it better to wait a little, as well ...
— Clarissa, Volume 5 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson
... A short letter of compliments to the Emperor, and earnest desire for the preservation of peace. Peter and 'ille vir venerabilis' ...
— The Letters of Cassiodorus - Being A Condensed Translation Of The Variae Epistolae Of - Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator • Cassiodorus (AKA Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator)
... boar on one of his estates, and kills three of them. How, think you, does he pass the time while the beaters are driving the animals towards the net? He is thinking up a subject and making notes, and actually finds the silence and solitude helpful. He concludes his short letter on the subject by advising his friend "when you go hunting, take my advice and carry your writing-tablets as well as your luncheon-basket and flask: you will find that Minerva roams the hills no less than Diana." Pliny the Younger is writing, it is true, a generation after Nero, but there ...
— Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul • T. G. Tucker
... installed himself at Finkenstein, in a pretty castle belonging to a Prussian crown official, and there he was very comfortably quartered with his staff and military household. It was from thence that he wrote, April 2, the following short letter to Josephine: "My dear, I send you a line. I have just moved my headquarters to a very pretty castle, like that of Bessieres, where I have a number of open fireplaces, which is very pleasant for me, as I get up often in the night; I like to see the fire. My health is perfect, the weather is ...
— The Court of the Empress Josephine • Imbert de Saint-Amand
... fur nigh about a year, hearin' nowt, an' seein' nowt, an' hopin' nowt, till one toime when th' daisies were blowin' on th' little grave here, theer come to me a letter fro' Manchester fro' one o' th' medical chaps i' th' hospital. It wur a short letter wi' prent on it, an' the moment I seed it I knowed summat wur up, an' I opened it tremblin'. Mester, theer wur a woman lyin' i' one o' th' wards dyin' o' some long-named heart-disease, an' she'd prayed 'em to send fur me, an' one o' th' young softhearted ones had writ ...
— "Surly Tim" - A Lancashire Story • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... inkophobia. And what can you righteously complain of, when I not only never fail scrupulously to answer your letters, but, be they long or short, invariably answer them abundantly, having as great an objection to writing a short letter almost as I have to writing any? Basta! never doubt any more about the matter, my dear Harriet. I never (I think) shall write to you, but I also (I think) shall never fail to answer you. If you are not satisfied with that, I can't help it.... We have a lull in our engagements ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble
... his pen, and scrawled a short letter in a crabbed hand, in which he insisted on the right of transit free of search, and denounced vengeance on any custom-house officer who should lay his unhallowed hand on any convoy protected by ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 • Charles H. Sylvester
... what is it that Ralph has said? And when did he say it?" Then the son told the father of the short letter which the parson had received from his brother, and almost repeated the words of it. And he told the date of the letter, only a day or two before the Squire's return. "Why the mischief could he not be honest enough to tell me the same thing, if he had made ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope
... GENERAL,—I will for this time write a very short letter to you and cannot be more particular either on public or private business, until some few days stay in this city have enabled me ...
— Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette • Lafayette
... the formation of a brigade, (which Mr. Hobhouse hints at in his short letter of this day's receipt, enclosing the one to which I have the honour to reply,) I would presume to suggest—but merely as an opinion, resulting rather from the melancholy experience of the brigades embarked in the Columbian service than from any experiment yet fairly ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) - With his Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore
... de Volaski sat up in bed and asked for stationery, and wrote with his own weak and trembling hand a short letter to his youthful bride—telling her that he had been very ill, but was now convalescent, and that as soon as he should be able to travel he would hasten to Paris and claim his wife in the face of all the fathers, priests and judges in Paris, or in the ...
— The Lost Lady of Lone • E.D.E.N. Southworth
... Quincy went at once to the post office; there he found a short letter from Leopold Ernst. ...
— Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason's Corner Folks - A Picture of New England Home Life • Charles Felton Pidgin
... was an international concern, and, indeed, would probably have forgot the circumstance altogether, if Bailie Macwheeble had thought of comforting his cholic by intercepting the subsidy. A yearly intercourse took place, of a short letter and a hamper or a cask or two, between Waverley-Honour and Tully-Veolan, the English exports consisting of mighty cheeses and mightier ale, pheasants, and venison, and the Scottish returns being vested in grouse, white hares, pickled salmon, and usquebaugh; all which were meant, sent, ...
— Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete • Sir Walter Scott
... It was a short letter, as many fateful letters are, and Commines read it in a glance, then a second time. "My God!" they heard him say twice over, drawing in his breath as if an old wound had hurt him suddenly. Half unconsciously his hands crumpled up the paper, then as unconsciously smoothed it out again. ...
— The Justice of the King • Hamilton Drummond
... it be favourable—that is to say, come directly. Holden has been ordained, and drove the Coach out on the Monday. I do not think he is looking very well. Chapman wants you and myself to pay him a visit when you come up, and begs to be remembered to you. You must excuse this short letter, as I have no end more to send off by this day's post. I long to see you again, ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin
... had not yet come to the end of his luck. He sat down and wrote a short letter and ...
— Clementina • A.E.W. Mason
... came on, he suffered much from the transition. Writing on the 4th of November to Sir C. Wood, he says: 'At the commencement of the cool season, on which we are now entering, we suffer from all manner of minor ailments; so I hope you will excuse a short letter.' And again on the 9th: 'I am half blind and rather shaky from fever still, so that again I shall be brief in my epistle to you.' Soon, however, these ailments disappeared, and in the cooler temperature he regained to a great extent his ...
— Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin • James, Eighth Earl of Elgin
... at any rate—I'd rather undertake to write a Greek poem. Tell 'em the mail and express leave three times a week, and it costs from 25 to 50 cents to send letters by the blasted express. If they want letters from here, who'll run from morning till night collecting materials cheaper. I'll write a short letter twice a week, for the present, for the "Age," for $5 per week. Now it has been a long time since I couldn't make my own living, and it shall be a long time before I loaf ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... case before it goes to trial. They don't tell their clients more than a bare outline, and I believe it is true, for surely I've found myself more fanciful than I ever was before. The day before Mrs. Bell was found dead in her room she wrote to Alice; it was a very short letter, and she excused herself by saying that she was very tired, having written me a long letter. Naturally, Alice showed me the letter, and I remarked at the time that it was strange mine hadn't come by the same mail. Then after the tragedy it slipped my mind for a day or so, and ...
— An American Suffragette • Isaac N. Stevens
... of some days, he received a short letter from Miss Mannering, in which she upbraided him for his thoughtless conduct, and bade him good-bye, telling him on no account to come back ...
— The Junior Classics, V5 • Edited by William Patten
... send another short letter before leaving for the volcano. I cannot convey to you any idea of the greenness and lavish luxuriance of this place, where everything flourishes, and glorious trailers and parasitic ferns hide all unsightly objects out of sight. It presents ...
— The Hawaiian Archipelago • Isabella L. Bird
... promise, he wrote a short letter to Harvey, and on the following morning received, ...
— Messenger No. 48 • James Otis
... to write to Ida and show her his whole soul; to dare and end once for all his ache of suspense. He went back to his room, and seized pen and paper. Everything he wrote seemed too formal or too presumptuous. At last he finished a short letter— ...
— A Spoil of Office - A Story of the Modern West • Hamlin Garland
... DEPARTURE. If the visit has been more than two days, the guest should write a short letter to the hostess, telling of the pleasure the visit gave them ...
— The Book of Good Manners • W. C. Green
... of view this short letter is pregnant with interest and suggestion. The writer's sad face, eloquent of the charge and burden of one of the most awful destinies of human-kind, rises before us as we read the expression of his modest self-distrust ...
— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I. • John T. Morse
... to the car's far end and wrote a short letter to his mother, who had exacted the pledge of one a day, which she did ...
— John March, Southerner • George W. Cable
... have taken a turn—the turn, we shall hope. Please let us know how you get on, and what has been the matter with you; Braemar I believe—the vile hole. You know what a lazy rascal I am, so you won't be surprised at a short letter, I know; indeed, you will be much more surprised at my having had the decency to write at all. We have got rid of our young, pretty, and incompetent maid; and now we have a fine, canny, twinkling, shrewd, auld-farrant peasant body, who gives us good ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... the day of a battle. Then she would have me relate to her the dangers you had incurred, spoke of her grief at hearing you had been wounded, and seemed never to tire of your praises. Then she sat down and begged me to wait until she wrote you a short letter. ...
— Prince Eugene and His Times • L. Muhlbach
... ult. I had the honor to address you a packet under cover to Dr Franklin at Paris, with a short letter, in which I had the satisfaction to commence the honor of my official correspondence with you, in congratulating the United States on the acquisition of two illustrious sisters, whose example will be followed by five others, as you will ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX • Various
... detected a stitch dropped in grandmother's work and that must be attended to first. The old lady gave up her work willingly and laid her head back to rest while Marjorie knit once around. And then the short letter was twice read ...
— Miss Prudence - A Story of Two Girls' Lives. • Jennie Maria (Drinkwater) Conklin
... sympathize with your Excellency in the wish to preserve the peace of my own native State, Kentucky. It is with regret I search for, and can not find, in your not very short letter, any declaration or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservation of the ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis
... he went to bed, he took out a sheet of paper and an envelope—he never bought but one package of envelopes a year, when he sent his New Year's card to the other doctors of the University—and wrote a short letter to Messrs. Screw and Scratch of Pine Street, New York. He acknowledged the receipt of their communication, deplored the death of his only relation, and requested that they would look after his money for him, as he had no use whatever for it at present. He objected, he said, to signing a power ...
— Doctor Claudius, A True Story • F. Marion Crawford
... finishing the letter, as if to let the news sink in—then suddenly pounds his fist on the table with happy excitement.] Py yiminy! Yust tank, Anna say she's comin' here right avay! She gat sick on yob in St. Paul, she say. It's short letter, don't tal me much more'n dat. [Beaming.] Py golly, dat's good news all at one time for ole fallar! [Then turning to MARTHY, rather shamefacedly.] You know, Marthy, Ay've tole you Ay don't see my Anna since she vas little gel in Sveden five ...
— Anna Christie • Eugene O'Neill
... and organize a new company. These things flashed through his mind as he unfolded the letter. His eye fell immediately on the signature at the end. It was not the name of the Governor, who had been a close friend of his father, but of the Lieutenant-Governor. It was a short letter, but plain; and it left no hope. His ...
— The Last Spike - And Other Railroad Stories • Cy Warman
... part of this period very few seem to have reached their destination. A short letter to Dr. Moffat, bearing date "Near Lake Moero, March, 1868," dwells dolefully on his inability to reach Lake Bemba in consequence of the flooded state of the country, and then his detention through the strifes of the Arabs and the natives. The letter, however, is more ...
— The Personal Life Of David Livingstone • William Garden Blaikie
... are authorized to declare that Mr. Anderson's conduct in obtaining that disavowal was open and decided, highly honourable to him as a public minister. He acted in conformity to the orders of Government even before he received them. He founded his remonstrances on a short letter which he had received from the Governor-General, and upon circumstances which passed in the presence of Sindhia, at Shah Alam's Darbar, as Major Brown was taking ...
— The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan • H. G. Keene
... 'He wrote one short letter, telling your mother he would come home as soon as he had made his fortune; and he resolved in his own mind not to do so until he had accomplished this, for only in this way he thought he could atone for the past and prove that he was worthy of her confidence ...
— That Scholarship Boy • Emma Leslie
... from his father a short letter saying that urgent business had suddenly called him to New York, where he had been most unexpectedly detained so that he might not be able to return home under a day or two, but that he should come to the hospital just as soon as he arrived in Fair Harbor. A number of beautiful post-cards ...
— Polly of Lady Gay Cottage • Emma C. Dowd
... written the following short letter to Mrs Grantly when he had made up his mind to pull ...
— The Last Chronicle of Barset • Anthony Trollope
... had been thinking over his fate, and wondering what had become of those he loved. Vague rumours had reached him that his mother was not well, but he had no definite knowledge of anything concerning her. A short letter from Mary had also reached him. It was only a few words, but it had been his great source of solace and comfort. But that, too, had lost much of its meaning. It was written before his sentence had been pronounced. It had told him to hope, and it had expressed the undying faith and ...
— The Day of Judgment • Joseph Hocking
... my friend, Madame Belloc. I also sent one to Edinburgh, to Dr. Abercrombie. Dr. Milne Edwards soon after wrote a book, in which he made it a point to show that animals could live several minutes without breathing; and Dr. Frederic Edwards wrote me a short letter of objections to my theory, and adherence to that of Harvey. This letter was copied and answered in my ...
— Theory of Circulation by Respiration - Synopsis of its Principles and History • Emma Willard
... and brought the Prussian treaty, duly executed in English and French. We may send it to Congress by the Mr. Fitzhughs going from hence. Will you draw and sign a short letter for that purpose? I send you a copy of a letter received from the Marquis Fayette. In the present unsettled state of American commerce, I had as lieve avoid all further treaties, except with American powers. If ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... close to the little town, and therefore did not give him the quiet he liked to have for literary work. It would seem that the bore existed elsewhere than at Rome; for in a short letter written from Formiae in April 59, he tells Atticus of his troubles of this kind: "As to literary work, it is impossible! My house is a basilica rather than a villa, owing to the crowds of visitors from Formiae ... C. Arrius is my next door neighbour, or rather he almost lives in my house, and ...
— Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero • W. Warde Fowler
... for him when he comes and I will be ready to pack up and blow out of here at a minute's notice and I can't help from wondring what some of these smart alex officers will say when they see what's comeing off. So this won't be only a short letter Al because I have got a lot to do to get ready and what I am going to do is write down some of my idears so as I can read them off to him when he comes and if I didn't have them wrote down I might maybe get nervous when I seen him and maybe forget what I got to ...
— The Real Dope • Ring Lardner
... You will laugh when you open your little friend's letter and see all the queer mistakes she has made in French, but I think you will be pleased to know that I can write even a short letter in French. It makes me very happy to please you and my dear teacher. I wish I could see your little niece Amelia. I am sure we should love each other. I hope you will bring some of Virginia Evanghelides' poems home with you, and translate ...
— Story of My Life • Helen Keller
... had brought her a short letter from Ronnie, written immediately on his arrival at Leipzig, evidently before receiving hers. It was a disappointment to have nothing more. As Aubrey had got a letter through after hearing the news, Ronnie ...
— The Upas Tree - A Christmas Story for all the Year • Florence L. Barclay
... compromise, as is right. Fitz wrote a very short letter to granny, and drew a very long picture of crossing the Delaware, with Nathan Hale being hanged from a gallows on the bank; and Mrs. Williams sent Benton for clothes, and wrote out a cable to her husband, a daily cable ...
— The Spread Eagle and Other Stories • Gouverneur Morris
... friend all the particulars of her mother's history; and he wrote down the names she gave him. Tommy promised to hunt all over Liverpool till he found her grandfather; and to insure him a good reception, Katy wrote a short letter to him, in which she stated the principal facts in ...
— Poor and Proud - or The Fortunes of Katy Redburn • Oliver Optic
... am in no temper and have no purpose to embitter the feelings of the South, but whether I am inclined to such a course as would in fact embitter their feelings you can better judge by my published speeches than by anything I would say in a short letter if I were inclined now, as I am not, ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln
... fall of 1861, he received a letter from his mother containing a ten-dollar bill. It was a short letter. "Your father can't live more than a week. Come ...
— Benefits Forgot - A Story of Lincoln and Mother Love • Honore Willsie
... highest degree,—that cemetery where thou wert among the Christians, they, their treatment of thee, the subsequent flight of Lygia; finally, that peculiar sadness and disquiet which breathes from thy short letter. Explain, for there are many points which I cannot understand; and if thou wish the truth, I will tell thee plainly, that I understand neither the Christians nor thee nor Lygia. Wonder not that I, who care for few things on earth except my own person, inquire of thee so eagerly. I have contributed ...
— Quo Vadis - A Narrative of the Time of Nero • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... "P.S.—I wrote a short letter to the President, and not of congratulation. May he find many friends as disinterested ...
— Hortense, Makers of History Series • John S. C. Abbott
... Diary next week, though this will be but a short letter: you may allow me to make excuses too sometimes; but, seriously, my father is now so continuously ill, that I have hardly time for anything. 'Tis but an ague that he has, but yet I am much afraid that ...
— The Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54 • Edward Abbott Parry
... In one short letter of Polycarp's, there are near forty clear allusions to books of the New Testament: which is strong evidence of the respect which Christians of that age hear for these books, and positive evidence that the gospel had been written ...
— A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation • Hosea Ballou
... fact that I would have you notice, and that is that more than twenty times in this short letter that great name is applied to Jesus, 'the Lord.' Now mark that that is something more than a mere title of human authority. It is in reality the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament Jehovah, and is the transference to Him of that ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren
... England, and mailed from Liverpool. Still three days later a letter dated Aberdeen, and informing me of her journey to Scotland. A whole week later—for it appeared this last letter was much delayed on its route—I got a short letter from her dated Banff, and telling me that she had arrived that far on her journey, and expected to be at Castle Cragg the same evening. Now these letters were all dated within one or two days of ...
— Self-Raised • Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
... once supposed to entitle Virgil to some place among the inspired heralds of Christianity. Pope sent another letter or two to Steele, which look very much like intended contributions to the Spectator, and a short letter about Hadrian's verses to his soul, which appeared in November, 1712. When, in 1713, the Guardian succeeded the Spectator, Pope was one of Steele's contributors, and a paper by him upon dedications appeared as the fourth number. He soon gave ...
— Alexander Pope - English Men of Letters Series • Leslie Stephen
... Beaumarchais at once replied: "Sir, I have to thank you for having forwarded to me the letter from Count d'Estaing. It is very noble in him at the moment of his triumph to have thought how very agreeable it would be to me to have a word in his handwriting. I take the liberty of sending you a copy of his short letter, by which I feel honored as the good Frenchman I am, and at which I rejoice as a devoted adherent of my country against that proud England. The brave Montault appears to have thought that he could not better prove to me how worthy ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume VI. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... whether to curse or bless you," said the Mariner. But I gave him no time to do either. I was off, and out of the way before I could be noticed and recognized by the occupants of the cab. Then, back to the Club I came to write a short letter to Robert, and to jot down a few happenings for my ...
— The Chauffeur and the Chaperon • C. N. Williamson
... fevered. Richard stood looking silently at him for a few minutes, and then returned with Margery to the oaken chamber. She offered him refreshments, but he declined them. He had supped, he said, already; and ere breakfast-time, he looked to be on his way back to the North. Margery wrote a short letter to Dame Lovell, and intrusted it to him; and then she sat by the table, wearily resting ...
— Mistress Margery • Emily Sarah Holt
... time, produced her writing materials and wrote a short letter, which she folded up, sealed, ...
— A Hungarian Nabob • Maurus Jokai
... to the holy man, was its having prevented him putting in force the intentions he had in view for the salvation of souls. But charity, which is ever active, suggested to him to exhort the faithful in writing, as he could not do so in person; he therefore addressed them a short letter, couched in the ...
— The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi • Father Candide Chalippe
... Feria's visit, therefore, Pole sent the Dean of Worcester to Elizabeth with a message, the import of which is unknown; and a short letter, as the dean's credentials, saying only that the legate desired, before he should depart, to leave all persons satisfied of ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude
... bedroom the following morning, Ephie wrote on her scented pink paper a short letter, which began: "Dear Mr. Schilsky," and ended with: "Your sincere friend, Euphemia Stokes Cayhill." In this letter, she "failed to understand" his conduct of the previous evening, and asked him for an explanation. Not until ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson
... tavern, at the lower end of Tower-hill, shut up, and more than that, the alehouse at the Tower-stairs, and more than that, the person was then dying of the plague when I was last there, a little while ago, at night, to write a short letter there, and I overheard the mistresse of the house sadly saying to her husband somebody was very ill, but did not think it was of the plague. To hear that poor Payne, my waiter, hath buried a child, and is dying himself. To hear that a labourer I sent but the other day to Dagenhams, to know ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... I shall send this short letter [I am obliged to make it a short one] by young Rogers, as we call him; the fellow I sent to you to Hampstead; an innocent, though pragmatical rustic. Admit him, I pray you, into you presence, that he may report to me how you ...
— Clarissa, Volume 7 • Samuel Richardson
... re-entered the house, Dora had gone to her own sitting-room. It was not quite ten o'clock. Taking one set of the proofs of his 'Reardon' article, he put it into a large envelope; then he wrote a short letter, which began 'Dear Mrs Reardon,' and ended 'Very sincerely yours,' the ...
— New Grub Street • George Gissing
... composition accurately, and may have sent it to the press. The prevailing opinion, however, was that some person about the King had been indiscreet or treacherous. [366] Scarcely less sensation was produced by a short letter which was written with great power of argument and language, printed secretly, and largely circulated on the same day by the post and by the common carriers. A copy was sent to every clergyman in the kingdom. The writer did not attempt to disguise the danger which those who disobeyed the royal ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... a short letter. Courtney took it in as a whole; the dancing, jumbled web of words that raced before his glazed eyes. Parts of sentences, a word here and there, his own name, filtered through the veil,—and were lost in the ...
— Quill's Window • George Barr McCutcheon
... enclose for the inspection of Congress a short letter from Mr Jay, which contains important information, and explains some passages in Dr Franklin's letters. Unless the commission given to Mr Fitzherbert on the 24th of July is revoked, it will be difficult to account for ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI • Various
... gone, Caleb, who, it would seem, also had things which needed attention and felt that time pressed, took pen and wrote a short letter. Next he summoned a clerk and gave orders that it was to be delivered two ...
— Pearl-Maiden • H. Rider Haggard
... essence of Lizzie's devotion that it sought instinctively the larger freedom of its object; she could not conceive of love under any form of exaction or compulsion. To make this clear to Deering became an overwhelming need, and in a last short letter she explicitly freed him from whatever sentimental obligation its predecessors might have seemed to impose. In thisstudied communication she playfully accused herself of having unwittingly sentimentalized their relation, affirming, ...
— Tales Of Men And Ghosts • Edith Wharton
... forward and took Lucile's hand. "Please," he urged. "Just a little short letter—anything, as long as you ...
— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield
... writes that an American friend of hers has come to stay a day or two only, and she'd like very much to have her meet us and see the villa," Marie announced, glancing through the short letter. "She wants to know if we'd mind asking them to lunch to-day. I suppose we don't mind, do we?" She held the gray sheet out to Angelo, but he did ...
— The Guests Of Hercules • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... all the arrangements were made, when la Dame de Nantes turned short round on her heel, and made sail for America. Of course our captain sent in his official report by her, and I seized a moment to write a short letter to Grace, which was so worded as to be addressed to the whole family. I knew how much happiness a line from me would bestow, and I had the pleasure to inform them, also, that I was promoted to be second-mate—the second-mate of the American brig ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... and made no progress whatsoever toward the understanding of anything. It was the day on which, in due course, he would write to Florence; and he did write to her. But Florence did not show this letter to Fanny, claiming for it any need of godlike perfection. It was a stupid, short letter, in which he declared that he was very busy and that his head ached. In a postscript he told her that he was going to see Lady Ongar that evening. This he communicated to her under an idea that by doing so he made everything right. And I think that the ...
— The Claverings • Anthony Trollope
... spoken. It is not in the early Syriac version; Eusebius and Origen question it, and Chrysostom does not mention it; we may fairly doubt whether it came from the hand of any apostolic witness. One feature of this short letter deserves mention; the writer quotes from one of the old apocryphal books, the Book of Enoch, treating it as Scripture. If a New Testament citation authenticates an ancient writing, Enoch must be regarded as an inspired book. We must either reject Jude or accept Enoch, ...
— Who Wrote the Bible? • Washington Gladden
... the girl said. "There was a letter waiting for me in my bedroom. It was a short letter, but long enough to wreck my happiness ...
— The Mystery of the Four Fingers • Fred M. White
... spoke so dogmatically. It wasn't altogether good manners. Suppose I write him a short letter, just expressing my regret for having been ...
— Born in Exile • George Gissing
... feelings overwhelmed Edith even as she held the letter in her hand for a new perusal, and she read it over and over without attaching any meaning to the words. At length her attention was arrested by one statement in that short letter which had hitherto escaped her notice. This was the name of the place where her father's ...
— The Living Link • James De Mille
... He went to his own room and wrote, in a large rapid hand that wandered in all directions, a short letter to Dr. Maerz. ...
— The German Classics, v. 20 - Masterpieces of German Literature • Various
... other changes, has not sanctioned this one. But what can be more elegant than this, which is not caused by nature, but by some regular usage?—we say inclytus, with the first letter short; insanus, with the first letter long; inkumanus, with a short letter; infelix, with a long one: and, not to detain you with many examples, in those words in which the first letters are those which occur in sapiente and felice, it is used long; in all others it is short. And so, too, we have composuit, consuevit, concrvpuit, ...
— The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 • Cicero
... Wales in possession of the Regency, till the first or second week in January. I think as soon as you receive the notification that this measure has passed in England, it would be right for you to write a very short letter to the Secretary of State, mentioning in a very few words the opinions of lawyers there, that your patent can be vacated only by a Regent appointed by the Irish Parliament, suggesting the expedient of Lords Justices; and then desiring to know His Royal Highness's pleasure, whether he chooses that ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham
... been unwilling to go at once to bed, tired as they were. The mail had come in by the same route, and it had been by the smouldering campfire of the early morning that Waldron had read his letter from Dorothy. "Such a very short letter!" he said ...
— The Brown Study • Grace S. Richmond
... of papers (bearing various dates in 1591) relating to the collection of tributes in the islands. The first is a memorandum of the resources and needs of the hospital at Manila; the former are so small, and the latter so great, that the institution is badly crippled. A short letter by Bishop Salazar (dated January 12) classifies the encomiendas according to the amount of religious instruction given therein, and lays down the conditions which ought to govern the collection ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591 • Emma Helen Blair
... his turn wrote a short letter, in which he begged George's father not to take offence at an old friend's advice, recalled to his memory the long and faithful friendship between them, pointed out that outsiders could often see things which members of a family could not, and wound up by begging George's father to give George a ...
— On Something • H. Belloc
... contents of this letter; more that is said in Congress transpires and crosses the Atlantic, than you conceive of; more than I can account for, without having uncharitable thoughts of individuals, still without fixing them on any one. I have written a short letter to Mr Jay on common affairs, and have enclosed one to Mons. Longueville, which I pray may be forwarded; the letter is from his friends here, who have heard of his being a prisoner somewhere in America. M. Dubourg has continued to render me every assistance in his power; ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I • Various
... to thrust three or four poems into one number. My pluralities go to you simply to 'bide your time,' and be used one by one as the opportunity is presented. In the meanwhile you have received, I hope, a short letter written to explain my unwillingness to apply, as you desired me at first, to Wiley and Putnam—an unwillingness justified by what you told me afterwards. I did not apply, nor have I applied, and I would rather not apply at all. Perhaps I shall hear from them presently. ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) • Frederic G. Kenyon
... a short letter to me as to shipping wine from Spain, and when it was sanded, read ...
— The Virgin of the Sun • H. R. Haggard
... Honor read the short letter through twice, then, with less of elasticity in her step, sought refreshment of mind and body in the hot water awaiting ...
— Captain Desmond, V.C. • Maud Diver
... and see you on my way North; for you know, dear Lizzie, no one can take your place in my heart. I expect to spend the Christmas holidays in Lynchburg. It will be very gay there, and I will be glad enough to take a good dance. This is a short letter to send you after such a long silence, but 'tis too cold to write. Let me ...
— Behind the Scenes - or, Thirty years a slave, and Four Years in the White House • Elizabeth Keckley
... A short letter to-day, Beloved, because what goes with it is so long. This is the first time I have come before your eyes as anything but a letter-writer, and I am doubtful whether you will care to have so much ...
— An Englishwoman's Love-Letters • Anonymous
... knows what: it is 2405 Greek, not Latin, and looks as if it meant something between a bishop and a short letter e) ...
— Proserpina, Volume 2 - Studies Of Wayside Flowers • John Ruskin |
