344 exam
The stronger had already drawn themselves to the brink and plunged their faces into the flood. Three or four who lay without motion appeared to have no heads. At this the child's eyes expanded with wonder; even his hospitable understanding could not accept a phenomenon implying such vitality as that
bierce, chickamauga
"Cast down your bucket where you are."
booker t washington
He could not bear to have the other pupils think, for a moment, that he took these people seriously; he must convey to them that he considered it all trivial, and was there only by way of a jest, anyway.
cather, paul's case
He had no sooner entered the dining-room and caught the measure of the music than his remembrance was lightened by his old elastic power of claiming the moment, mounting with it, and finding it all-sufficient. The glare and glitter about him, the mere scenic accessories had again, and for the last time, their old potency. He would show himself that he was game, he would finish the thing splendidly
cather, paul's case
He remembered every feature of both his drivers, of the toothless old woman from whom he had bought the red flowers in his coat, the agent from whom he had got his ticket, and all of his fellow-passengers on the ferry. His mind, unable to cope with vital matters near at hand, worked feverishly and deftly at sorting and grouping these images.
cather, paul's case
His clothes were a trifle outgrown, and the tan velvet on the collar of his open overcoat was frayed and worn; but, for all that, there was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an opal pin in his neatly knotted black four-in-hand, and a red carnation in his buttonhole.
cather, paul's case
The carnations in his coat were drooping with the cold, he noticed, their red glory all over. It occurred to him that all the flowers he had seen in the glass cases that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass, and it was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run
cather, paul's case
The end had to come sometime; his father in his night-clothes at the top of the stairs, explanations that did not explain, hastily improvised fictions that were forever tripping him up, his upstairs room and its horrible yellow wall-paper, the creaking bureau with the greasy plush collar box and over his painted wooden bed the pictures of George Washington and John Calvin, and the framed motto, "Feed my Lambs," which had been worked in red worsted by his mother.
cather, paul's case
The insult was so involuntary and definitely personal as to be unforgettable. In one way and another he had made all his teachers, men and women alike, conscious of the same feeling of physical aversion.
cather, paul's case
The men on the steps—all in their shirt sleeves, their vests unbuttoned—sat with their legs well apart, their stomachs comfortably protruding, and talked of the prices of things, or told anecdotes of the sagacity of their various chiefs and overlords.
cather, paul's case
The only thing that at all surprised him was his own courage, for he realized well enough that he had always been tormented by fear, a sort of apprehensive dread that, of late years, as the meshes of the lies he had told closed about him, had been pulling the muscles of his body tighter and tighter.
cather, paul's case
The thing was winding itself up; he had thought of that on his first glorious day in New York, and had even provided a way to snap the thread. It lay on his dressing-table now; he had got it out last night when he came blindly up from dinner, but the shiny metal hurt his eyes, and he disliked the looks of the thing.
cather, paul's case
The young man was relating how his chief, now cruising in the Mediterranean, kept in touch with all the details of the business, arranging his office hours on his yacht just as though he were at home, and "knocking off work enough to keep two stenographers busy."
cather, paul's case
There was this to be said for him, that he wore his spoils with dignity and in no way made himself conspicuous. Even under the glow of his wine he was never boisterous, though he found the stuff like a magician's wand for wonder-building.
cather, paul's case
They were hard-working women, most of them supporting indigent husbands or brothers, and they laughed rather bitterly at having stirred the boy to such fervid and florid inventions.
cather, paul's case
This was what all the world was fighting for, he reflected; this was what all the struggle was about. He doubted the reality of his past.
cather, paul's case
Until now, he could not remember the time when he had not been dreading something. Even when he was a little boy, it was always there—behind him, or before, or on either side. There had always been the shadowed corner, the dark place into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him
cather, paul's case
When the weather was warm, and his father was in a particularly jovial frame of mind, the girls made lemonade, which was always brought out in a red glass pitcher, ornamented with forget-me-nots in blue enamel. This the girls thought very fine, and the neighbors always joked about the suspicious color of the pitcher.
cather, paul's case
When the whistle awoke him, he clutched quickly at his breast pocket, glancing about him with an uncertain smile. But the little, clay-bespattered Italians were still sleeping, the slatternly women across the aisle were in open-mouthed oblivion, and even the crumby, crying babies were for the nonce stilled.
cather, paul's case
a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty.
cather, paul's case
a morbid desire for cool things and soft lights and fresh flowers.
cather, paul's case
the first sigh of the instruments seemed to free some hilarious and potent spirit within him— something that struggled there like the Genius in the bottle found by the Arab fisherman. He felt a sudden zest of life; the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor.
cather, paul's case
while his sisters, in their rockers, were talking to the minister's daughters next door about how many shirt-waists they had made in the last week, and how many waffles some one had eaten at the last church supper
cather, paul's case
"It's a most remarkable thing," replied Dick fervently, "that your views correspond exactly with my profoundest convictions. It proves beyond question that we were made for one another."
chestnutt, passing of grandison
"Let's go back ober de ribber, Mars Dick. I's feared I'll lose you ovuh heah, an' den I won' hab no marster, an' won't nebber be able to git back home no mo'.
chestnutt, passing of grandison
Several times the hunters were close upon their heels, but the magnitude of the escaping party begot unusual vigilance on the part of those who sympathized with the fugitives, and strangely enough, the underground railroad seemed to have had its tracks cleared and signals set for this particular train. Once, twice, the colonel thought he had them, but they slipped through his fingers
chestnutt, passing of grandison
When it is said that it was done to please a woman, there ought perhapsto be enough said to explain anything; for what a man will not do toplease a woman is yet to be discovered.
chestnutt, passing of grandison
'This is the age of crowds,' he tells him, "and we must have the crowd with us.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
If an outraged people, justly infuriated, and impatient of the slow processes of the courts, should assert their inherent sovereignty, which the law after all was merely intended to embody, and should choose, in obedience to the higher law, to set aside, temporarily, the ordinary judicial procedure, it would serve as a warning and an example to the vicious elements of the community, of the swift and terrible punishment which would fall, like the judgment of God, upon any one who laid sacrilegious hands upon white womanhood.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
It was only another significant example of the results which might have been foreseen from the application of a false and pernicious political theory, by which ignorance, clothed in a little brief authority, was sought to be exalted over knowledge, vice over virtue, an inferior and degraded race above the heaven-crowned Anglo-Saxon.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
Rise, madam,' he said, with a sudden inspiration, lifting her gently. 'I will listen to you on one condition. My child lies dead in the adjoining room, his mother by his side. Go in there, and make your request of her. I will abide by her decision.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
When this conference ended, Carteret immediately put into press an extra edition of the Morning Chronicle, which was soon upon the streets, giving details of the crime, which was characterized as an atrocious assault upon a defenseless old lady, whose age and sex would have protected her from harm at the hands of any one but a brute in the lowest human form.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
A man with keen eyes, who sat opposite to her, seemed to like the study of her small, pale face. It puzzled him to decipher what he saw there. In truth, he saw nothing—unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever.
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
For a day or two she walked about apparently in a dreamy state, but really absorbed in speculation and calculation
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
"Did you note the expression of her eyes? There was something in them about pumpkin pie and virtue. That is a peculiar way the left corner of her mouth has of twitching, isn't it?
crane, maggie
"From a window of an apartment house that upreared its form from amid squat, ignorant stables, there leaned a curious woman. Some laborers, unloading a scow at a dock at the river, paused for a moment and regarded the fight. The engineer of a passive tugboat hung lazily to a railing and watched. Over on the Island, a worm building and crawled slowly along the river's bank."
crane, maggie
"I kin remember when she weared worsted boots an' her two feets was no bigger dan yer t'umb an' she weared worsted boots
crane, maggie
A belated man in business clothes, and in haste to catch a car, bounced against her shoulder. "Hi, there, Mary, I beg your pardon! Brace up, old girl." He grasped her arm to steady her, and then was away running down the middle of the street.
crane, maggie
Across from the bar a smaller counter held a collection of plates upon which swarmed frayed fragments of crackers, slices of boiled ham, dishevelled bits of cheese, and pickles swimming in vinegar. An odor of grasping, begrimed hands and munching mouths pervaded.
crane, maggie
From her eyes had been plucked all look of self-reliance. She leaned with a dependent air toward her companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure. She seemed to beseech tenderness of him.
crane, maggie
He walked to and fro in the small room, which seemed then to grow even smaller and unfit to hold his dignity, the attribute of a supreme warrior.
crane, maggie
He walked to and fro in the small room, which seemed then to grow even smaller and unfit to hold his dignity, the attribute of a supreme warrior. That swing of the shoulders that had frozen the timid when he was but a lad had increased with his growth and education at the ratio of ten to one. It, combined with the sneer upon his mouth, told mankind that there was nothing in space which could appall him.
crane, maggie
Here was a formidable man who disdained the strength of a world full of fists.
crane, maggie
High on the wall it burst like a bomb, shivering fragments flying in all directions. Then missiles came to every man's hand. The place had heretofore appeared free of things to throw, but suddenly glass and bottles went singing through the air.
crane, maggie
In the balcony, and here and there below, shone the impassive faces of women. The nationalities of the Bowery beamed upon the stage from all directions.
crane, maggie
She began to see the bloom upon her cheeks as valuable.
crane, maggie
She did not feel like a bad woman. To her knowledge she had never seen any better
crane, maggie
She rejoiced at the way in which the poor and virtuous eventually surmounted the wealthy and wicked. The theatre made her think.
crane, maggie
She vaguely tried to calculate the altitude of the pinnacle from which he must have looked down upon her
crane, maggie
She wore no jewelry and was painted with no apparent paint. She looked clear-eyed through the stares of the men.
crane, maggie
The babe, Tommie, died. He went away in a white, insignificant coffin, his small waxen hand clutching a flower that the girl, Maggie, had stolen from an Italian. She and Jimmie lived
crane, maggie
The three frothing creatures on the floor buried themselves in a frenzy for blood. There followed in the wake of missiles and fists some unknown prayers, perhaps for death.
crane, maggie
They bristled like three roosters. They moved their heads pugnaciously and kept their shoulders braced. The nervous muscles about each mouth twitched with a forced smile of mockery.
crane, maggie
When almost to the river the girl saw a great figure. On going forward she perceived it to be a huge fat man in torn and greasy garments. His grey hair straggled down over his forehead. His small, bleared eyes, sparkling from amidst great rolls of red fat, swept eagerly over the girl's upturned face. He laughed, his brown, disordered teeth gleaming under a grey, grizzled moustache from which beer-drops dripped. His whole body gently quivered and shook like that of a dead jelly fish. Chuckling and leering, he followed the girl of the crimson legions.
crane, maggie
"It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt on the boat, and each men felt it warm him."
crane, open boat
As darkness fell, the shine of the light, lifting from the sea in the south, changed to full gold. In the north, a new light appeared—a small blue glow on the edge of the waters. These two lights were the furniture of the world. Otherwise there was nothing but waves.
crane, open boat
But it was certainly not justice to kill a man who had worked so hard, so hard. The man felt it would be a crime.
crane, open boat
If I am going to be drowned-- if I am going to be drowned-- if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?
crane, open boat
Then he saw the man who had been running and undressing, and undressing and running, come bounding into the water. He dragged ashore the cook, and then waded toward the captain, but the captain waved him away, and sent him to the correspondent. He was naked, naked as a tree in winter, but a halo was about his head, and he shone like a saint.
crane, open boat
When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she should not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.
crane, open boat
When night came, the white waves rolled back and forth in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea's voice to the men on the shore. And they felt that they could then understand
crane, open boat
He tried to force his mind into thinking of it, but the mind was slave now to the muscles. And the muscles said they did not care. He merely thought that if he should die it would be a shame.
crane, open boat.
It is, perhaps, plausible that a man in this situation, impressed with the unconcern of the universe, should see the innumerable flaws of his life and have them taste wickedly in his mind and wish for another chance. A distinction between right and wrong seems absurdly clear to him, then, in this new ignorance of the grave-edge, and he understands that if he were given another opportunity he would mend his conduct and his words, and be better and brighter during an introduction, or at a tea.
crane, open boat.
Myriads of his school-fellows had informed him of the soldier's plight, but the dinning had naturally ended by making him perfectly indifferent. He had never considered it his affair that a soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers, nor had it appeared to him as a matter for sorrow. It was less to him than breaking of a pencil's point.
crane, open boat.
The coldness of the water was sad; it was tragic. This fact was somehow mixed and confused with his opinion of his own situation that it seemed almost a proper reason for tears. The water was cold.
crane, open boat.
But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency!
dickinson
But why compare? I'm "Wife"! Stop there!
dickinson
I like a look of Agony, Because I know it's true— Men do not sham Convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe—
dickinson
I never lost as much but twice And that was in the sod.
dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant- Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise
dickinson
There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons - That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes -
dickinson
She had not learned yet how to veil her eyes and mask her face under a cool assumption of superiority. She would give him her hand when they met with a girlish impulsiveness, and her color came and went under his gaze.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
The low hum of the city came to him like the droning of some sleepy insect, and ever and anon, the quick flash and fire of the gas houses like a huge winking fiery eye lit up the south of the city
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
There was a banquet that night. It was in his honor, and he was to speak, and the thought was distasteful to him beyond measure. He knew how it all would be. He would be hailed with shouts and acclamations, as the finest flower of civilization. He would be listened to deferentially, and younger men would go away holding him in their hearts as a truly worthy model.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
"You're too green t' eat, young feller. Your improvements! The law will sing another tune."
garland, under the lion's paw
Butler shrank and quivered, expecting the blow; stood, held hypnotized by the eyes of the man he had a moment before despised a man transformed into an avenging demon. But in the deadly hush between the lift of the weapon and its fall there came a gush of faint, childish laughter and then across the range of his vision, far away and dim, he saw the sun-bright head of his baby girl, as, with the pretty, tottering run of a two-year-old, she moved across the grass of the dooryard. His hands relaxed: the fork fell to the ground; his head lowered.
garland, under the lion's paw
It was an unmeasured pleasure to sit there in the warm, homely kitchen. the jovial chatter of the housewife driving out and holding at bay the growl of the impotent, cheated wind.
garland, under the lion's paw
No slave in the Roman galleys could have toiled so frightfully and lived, for this man thought himself a free man, and that he was working for his wife and babes.
garland, under the lion's paw
There is no despair so deep as the despair of a homeless man or woman. To roam the roads of the country or the streets of the city, to feel there is no rood of ground on which the feet can rest, to halt weary and hungry outside lighted windows and hear laughter and song within, these are the hungers and rebellions that drive men to crime and women to shame.
garland, under the lion's paw
"Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time."
gilman, the yellow wall-paper
Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good
gilman, the yellow wall-paper
The front pattern does move - and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern - it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads. They get through, and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!
gilman, the yellow wall-paper
He was some sevenand-twenty years of age; when his friends spoke of him, they usually said that he was at Geneva "studying." When his enemies spoke of him, they said— but, after all, he had no enemies; he was an extremely amiable fellow, and universally liked
james, daisy miller
It might have been said of this unknown young lady, who had come and sat down beside him upon a bench, that she chattered. She was very quiet; she sat in a charming, tranquil attitude; but her lips and her eyes were constantly moving
james, daisy miller
She came tripping downstairs, buttoning her long gloves, squeezing her folded parasol against her pretty figure, dressed in the perfection of a soberly elegant travelling-costume.
james, daisy miller
"I never wanted for pa'tridges or gray squer'ls while he was to home. He's been a great wand'rer, I expect, and he's no hand to write letters. There, I don't blame him, I'd ha' seen the world myself if it had been so I could."
jewett, a white heron
Alas, if the great wave of human interest which flooded for the first time this dull little life should sweep away the satisfactions of an existence heart to heart with nature and the dumb life of the forest!
jewett, a white heron
Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!
jewett, a white heron
Half a mile from home, at the farther edge of the woods, where the land was highest, a great pine-tree stood, the last of its generation. Whether it was left for a boundary mark, or for what reason, no one could say; the woodchoppers who had felled its mates were dead and gone long ago, and a whole forest of sturdy trees, pines and oaks and maples, had grown again. But the stately head of this old pine towered above them all and made a landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away.
jewett, a white heron
No, she must keep silence! What is it that suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? Has she been nine years growing and now, when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird's sake?
jewett, a white heron
She grieved because the longed-for white heron was elusive, but she did not lead the guest, she only followed, and there was no such thing as speaking first.
jewett, a white heron
She waded on through the brook as the cow moved away, and listened to the thrushes with a heart that beat fast with pleasure. There was a stirring in the great boughs overhead. They were full of little birds and beasts that seemed to be wide awake, and going about their world, or else saying good-night to each other in sleepy twitters.
jewett, a white heron
There was an open place where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot, where tall, nodding rushes grew, and her grandmother had warned her that she might sink in the soft black mud underneath and never be heard of more.
jewett, a white heron
What a spirit of adventure, what wild ambition! What fancied triumph and delight and glory for the later morning when she could make known the secret! It was almost too real and too great for the childish heart to bear.
jewett, a white heron
"I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
lazarus, the new colossus
Empty as the man's mind was of thoughts, he was keenly observant, and he noticed the changes in the creek, the curves and bends and timber-jams, and always he sharply noted where he placed his feet.
london, to build a fire
He was a newcomer to the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter. The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only the things, and not in the significance.
london, to build a fire
It was his last panic. When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up with and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity. However, the conception did not come to him in such terms. His idea of it was that he had been making a fool of himself, running around like a chicken with its head cut off-such was the simile that occurred to him.
london, to build a fire
The dog was sorry to leave and looked toward the fire. This man did not know cold. Possibly none of his ancestors had known cold, real cold. But the dog knew and all of its family knew
london, to build a fire
Then it turned and trotted up up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew, where were the other food-providers and fire-providers
london, to build a fire
To permit the ice to remain would mean sore feet. It did not know this. It merely obeyed the commands that arose from the deepest part of its being
london, to build a fire
Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?
paul Laurence dunbar, we wear the mask
We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes
paul laurence dunbar
A life of ignoble ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual.
roosevelt, a strenuous life
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past.
roosevelt, a strenuous life
No country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the material prosperity which comes from thrift, from business energy and enterprise, from hard, unsparing effort in the fields of industrial activity
roosevelt, a strenuous life
The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations
roosevelt, a strenuous life
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.
roosevelt, a strenuous life
Another wave rolls on. The men of capital and enterprise come. The settler is ready to sell out and take the advantage of the rise in property, push farther into the interior and become, himself, a man of capital and enterprise in turn.
turner, the frontier in american history
The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe.
turner, the frontier in american history
but the outcome is not the old Europe, not simply the development of Germanic germs, any more than the first phenomenon was a case of reversion to the Germanic mark. The fact is, that here is a new product that is American
turner, the frontier in american history
The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book--a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day
twain, life on the mississippi
Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I should have looked upon it without rapture, and should have commented upon it, inwardly, after this fashion: This sun means that we are going to have wind to-morrow; that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it
twain, life on the mississippi
doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?
twain, life on the mississippi
Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands, Say, old top-knot, what do you want?
whitman, song of myself
Far-swooping elbow'd earth—rich apple-blossom'd earth! Smile, for your lover comes.
whitman, song of myself
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
whitman, song of myself
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
whitman, song of myself
I am not to be denied, I compel, I have stores plenty and to spare, And any thing I have I bestow.
whitman, song of myself
I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,
whitman, song of myself
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
whitman, song of myself
I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have said that the body is not more than the soul, And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is, And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud,
whitman, song of myself
I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
whitman, song of myself
I mind how once we lay such a transparent summer morning, How you settled your head athwart my hips and gently turn'd over upon me, And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue to my bare-stript heart, And reach'd till you felt my beard, and reach'd till you held my feet.
whitman, song of myself
I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the polish'd breasts of melons.
whitman, song of myself
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death.
whitman, song of myself
In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky, In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,
whitman, song of myself
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the pass- ing of blood and air through my lungs, The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
whitman, song of myself
She had long eyelashes, her head was bare, her coarse straight locks descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reach'd to her feet.
whitman, song of myself
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank, She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window.
whitman, song of myself
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems, You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)
whitman, song of myself
The beards of the young men glisten'd with wet, it ran from their long hair, Little streams pass'd all over their bodies. An unseen hand also pass'd over their bodies, It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.
whitman, song of myself
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.
whitman, song of myself
The young fellow drives the express-wagon, (I love him, though I do not know him;)
whitman, song of myself
The young men float on their backs, their white bellies bulge to the sun
whitman, song of myself
There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
whitman, song of myself
Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded, I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no, And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away.
whitman, song of myself
Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean, Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.
whitman, song of myself
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
whitman, song of myself
The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa.
Dubois
the trunks and branches of the trees making a black lacework against it
bierce, chickamauga
"I don't really believe that smile of his comes altogether from insolence; there's something sort of haunted about it. The boy is not strong, for one thing. I happen to know that he was born in Colorado, only a few months before his mother died out there of a long illness. There is something wrong about the fellow."
cather, paul's case
He was not in the least abashed or lonely. He had no especial desire to meet or to know any of these people; all he demanded was the right to look on and conjecture, to watch the pageant.
cather, paul's case
It was a highly respectable street, where all the houses were exactly alike, and where business men of moderate means begot and reared large families of children, all of whom went to Sabbath-school and learned the shorter catechism, and were interested in arithmetic
cather, paul's case
It was very like the old stories that used to float about London of fabulously rich Jews, who had subterranean halls there; with palms, and fountains, and soft lamps, and richly appareled women who never saw the disenchanting light of London day.
cather, paul's case
Was he not, after all, one of those fortunate beings born to the purple, was he not still himself and in his own place? He drummed a nervous accompaniment to the Pagliacci music and looked about him, telling himself over and over that it had paid.
cather, paul's case
Standing, like most young people of her race, on the border line between two irreconcilable states of life, she had neither the picturesqueness of the slave, nor the unconscious dignity of those of whom freedom has been the immemorial birthright
chestnutt, marrow of tradition
"I confess," he admitted, "that while my principles were against the prisoner, my sympathies were on his side. It appeared that he was of good family, and that he had an old father and mother, respectable people, dependent upon him for support and comfort in their declining years. He had been led into the matter by pity for a negro whose master ought to have been run out of the county long ago for abusing his slaves.
chestnutt, passing of grandison
"It 's astounding, the depths of depravity the human heart is capable of!
chestnutt, passing of grandison
So much valuable property could not be lost without an effort to recover it
chestnutt, passing of grandison
The colonel's face wore an expression compounded of joy and indignation,--joy at the restoration of a valuable piece of property; indignation for reasons he proceeded to state.
chestnutt, passing of grandison
No one could tell at what moment the thin veneer of civilization might peel off and reveal the underlying savage.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
The man who would govern a nation by writing its songs was a blethering idiot beside the fellow who can edit its news dispatches.
chestnutt, the marrow of tradition
Her foot and ankle looked very pretty
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
She had never entered its doors; from the outside she had sometimes caught glimpses of spotless damask and shining crystal, and soft-stepping waiters serving people of fashion.
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
She smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it.
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself, nor was she striving to explain to her satisfaction the motive of her action. She was not thinking at all. She seemed for the time to be taking a rest from that laborious and fatiguing function and to have abandoned herself to some mechanical impulse that directed her actions and freed her of responsibility.
chopin, a pair of silk stockings
Besides, in his world, souls did not insist upon being able to smile.
crane, maggie
He spent a few moments in flourishing his clothes and then vanished, without having glanced at the lambrequin
crane, maggie
He was trying to formulate a theory that he had always unconsciously held, that all sisters, excepting his own, could advisedly be ruined.
crane, maggie
He wheeled about hastily and turned his stare into the air, like a sailor with a search-light.
crane, maggie
"Slowly the land rose from the sea. From a black line it became a line of black and white—trees and sand."
crane, open boat
Slowly and beautifully the land came out of the sea.
crane, open boat
The earlier lightheartedness had completely disappeared. To their sharpened minds it was easy to imagine all kinds of idleness and blindness, and indeed, lack of courage.
crane, open boat
The wind had a voice as it came over the waves, and it was sadder than death.
crane, open boat
Their eyes glanced level, and remained upon the waves that swept toward them. These waves were gray, except for the tops, which were white, and all the men knew the colors of the sea.
crane, open boat
They curled down and slept once more the dead sleep.
crane, open boat
with their scarce clothing and tired faces, they were the babies of the sea—a strange picture of two old babies.
crane, open boat
It was very near to him then, but he was impressed as one who in a gallery looks at a scene from Brittany or Algiers.
crane, open boat.
A Bird came down the Walk - He did not know I saw - He bit an Angleworm in halves And ate the fellow, raw,
dickinson
And They can put it with my Dolls, My childhood, and the string of spools, I've finished threading—too—
dickinson
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow - First - Chill - then Stupor - then the letting go -
dickinson
None may teach it - Any - 'Tis the seal Despair - An imperial affliction
dickinson
To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.
dickinson
"How strange. Why it seems to me if I did not have a half a hundred cousins and uncles and aunts that I should feel somehow out of touch with the world."
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
Ah, that in itself, was a reward. To have founded a dynasty; to bequeath to others that which he had never possessed himself, and the lack of which had made his life a misery.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
But he was awake, and his mind was like a shifting kaleidoscope of miserable incidents and heartaches. He had lived fourteen years, and he could remember most of them as years of misery.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
He writhed on his cot that night and lived over all the anguish of his years until hot tears scalded their way down a burning face, and he fell into a troubled sleep wherein he sobbed over some dreamland miseries
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
In his way he was happy, and if he was lonely, he had ceased to care about it, for his world was peopled with images of his own fancying.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
Money meant little to him. He never needed it, never used it.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
Thus he would deceive himself for as much as a month at a time.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
He broke down at this point. He was not a strong man mentally.
garland, under the lion's paw
In the Western fashion Council told as much of his own life as he drew from his guest. He asked but few questions, but by and by the story of Haskins' struggles and defeat came out. The story was a terrible one, but he told it quietly, seated with his elbows on his knees, gazing most of the time at the hearth.
garland, under the lion's paw
It dwells in my mind so !
gilman, the yellow wall-paper
You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.
gilman, the yellow wall-paper
She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.
jewett, a white heron
50 degrees below zero was to him nothing more than 50 degrees below zero. That it should be more important than that was a thought that never entered his head.
london, to build a fire
He climbed the high earth-bank where a little-traveled trail led east through the pine forest. It was a high bank, and he paused to breathe at the top. He excused the act to himself by looking at his watch
london, to build a fire
He laughed at his own foolishness. As he laughed, he noted the numbness in his bare fingers
london, to build a fire
He thought it curious that it was necessary to use his eyes to discover where his hands were.
london, to build a fire
It told him that it was too many miles away, that the freezing had too great a start and that he would soon be dead. He pushed this thought to the back of his mind and refused to consider it.
london, to build a fire
Once, coming around a bend, he moved suddenly to the side, like a frightened horse
london, to build a fire
There was no real bond between the dog and the man. The one was the slave of the other
london, to build a fire
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
paul Laurence dunbar, we wear the mask
They do not think whom they souse with spray.
whitman, song of myself
He felt no necessity to do any of these things; what he wanted was to see, to be in the atmosphere, float on the wave of it, to be carried out, blue league after blue league, away from everything.
cather, paul's case
A man likes to take a bath in a bigger area than this boat could provide
crane, open boat
It was despair that comes, for a time at least, to even the bravest and most enduring when the business fails, the army loses, the ship goes down.
crane, open boat
She did not seem cruel to him, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent.
crane, open boat.
Nay, he had taken for his wife the best woman among them all, and she had borne him a son. Ha, ha! What a joke on them all!
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
So often had he gone home in the same spirit, however, that it had grown nearly second nature to himthis dull, sullen resentment, flaming out now and then into almost murderous vindictiveness. Behind him there floated derisive laughs and shouts, the taunts of little brutes, boys of his own age.
dunbar-nelson, the stones of the village
"Hold on, now; don't make such a fuss over a little thing. When I see a man down, an' things all on top of 'm, I jest like t' kick 'em off an' help 'm up. That's the kind of religion I got, an' it's about the only kind."
garland, under the lion's paw
"There are people in this world who are good enough t' be angels, an' only haff t' die to be angels."
garland, under the lion's paw
Well, he looks at us as one of the old lions or tigers may have looked at the Christian martyrs!
james, daisy miller
All day long he did not once make her troubled or afraid except when he brought down some unsuspecting singing creature from its bough. Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun
jewett, a white heron
Westward, the woodlands and farms reached miles and miles into the distance; here and there were church steeples, and white villages, truly it was a vast and awesome world
jewett, a white heron
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
lazarus, the new colossus
The trouble with him was that he was without imagination.
london, to build a fire
Thus the advance of the frontier has meant a steady movement away from the influence of Europe, a steady growth of independence on American lines.
turner, the frontier in american history
The one-year wife is recovering and happy having a week ago borne her first child,
whitman, song of myself
"They were men. They crept upon their hands and knees. They used their hands only, dragging their legs. They used their knees only, their arms hanging idle at their sides. They strove to rise to their feet, but fell prone in the attempt. They did nothing naturally, and nothing alike, save only to advance foot by foot in the same direction."
bierce, chickamauga
From the cradle of its race it had conquered its way through two continents and passing a great sea had penetrated a third, there to be born to war and dominion as a heritage.
bierce, chickamauga
He had seen his father's negroes creep upon their hands and knees for his amusement - had ridden them so, "making believe" they were his horses. He now approached one of these crawling figures from behind and with an agile movement mounted it astride. The man sank upon his breast, recovered, flung the small boy fiercely to the ground as an unbroken colt might have done, then turned upon him a face that lacked a lower jaw - from the upper teeth to the throat was a great red gap fringed with hanging shreds of flesh and sprinters of bone.
bierce, chickamauga
He had slept through it all, grasping his little wooden sword with perhaps a tighter clutch in unconscious sympathy with his martial environment, but as heedless of the grandeur of the struggle as the dead who had died to make the glory.
bierce, chickamauga
Shifting his position, his eyes fell upon some outbuildings which had an oddly familiar appearance, as if he had dreamed of them. He stood considering them with wonder, when suddenly the entire plantation, with its inclosing forest, seemed to turn as if upon a pivot. His little world swung half around; the points of the compass were reversed. He recognized the blazing building as his own home!
bierce, chickamauga
Surely such a leader never before had such a following
bierce, chickamauga
The married and unmarried children ride home to their Thanks- giving dinner, The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm, The mate stands braced in the whale-boat, lance and harpoon are ready,
whitman, song of myself
Mrs. Slade gave an unquiet laugh. 'Yes, I was beaten there. But I oughtn't to begrudge it to you, I suppose. At the end of all these years. After all, I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter that he didn't write.
wharton, roman fever
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
whitman, song of myself
And such as it is to be of these more or less I am, And of these one and all I weave the song of myself.
whitman, song of myself
And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers,
whitman, song of myself
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
whitman, song of myself
Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders, I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait.
whitman, song of myself
Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.
whitman, song of myself
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself,
whitman, song of myself
