"Blank" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... and the dark's a glare Of flickering horror in the sectors where We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled, Or crawling on their bellies through the wire. "What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?" Five minutes ago I heard a sniper fire: Why did he do it?... Starlight overhead— Blank stars. I'm wide-awake; ...
— The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon • Siegfried Sassoon
... into the library, Bivens, who was awaiting him alone, sprang to his feet with a look of blank amazement, and then a smile began to play about his hard mouth. He thrust his delicate hands into his pockets and deliberately looked the doctor's big figure over from head to foot ...
— The Root of Evil • Thomas Dixon
... resolved to go up point-blank to my brother (husband), and to tell him who I was; but not knowing what temper I might find him in, or how much out of temper rather, I might make him by such a rash visit, I resolved to write a letter ...
— The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders &c. • Daniel Defoe
... was going to, I quick opened the Bible to the first blank page and what I saw was, "To my dear son, Sam Black, from your Mother." And right below it were printed, very carefully, ...
— Shenanigans at Sugar Creek • Paul Hutchens
... me what Monk had done in the City, how he had pulled down the most part of the gates and chains that they could break down, and that he was now gone back to White Hall. The City look mighty blank, and cannot tell what in the world to do; the Parliament having this day ordered that the Common- council sit no more, but that new ones be chosen according to what qualifications they shall ...
— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys
... strength of character to bear her burthen without outward signs of suffering, without any inward suffering that would have disturbed the current of her life. But now everything was over with her. She had no thought of dying, but her future life was a blank ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope
... and it was some time before he could comprehend the plan of salvation, while he exhibited a woeful ignorance of what was right and wrong. Had he been older, the task of instructing him would have been more difficult, but as it was, his mind in most respects was a perfect blank. He was ready enough, however, to receive the impression his kind instructress endeavoured to make. As he gained knowledge himself, he felt very anxious to impart it to Mangaleesu, who had built a hut on the nearest piece of wild land he could ...
— Hendricks the Hunter - The Border Farm, a Tale of Zululand • W.H.G. Kingston
... blank!" she exclaimed. "Quick! I will not see Maurice again. Oh, how I have suffered! This shall end it. See, I have written 'Good-by!' He will understand. If he comes, I will not see him. Ring the bell quickly. There—it ...
— The Pawns Count • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... for any reason the attendance upon the sewing classes was poor, Miss Toland bought herself a new blank book, dated it fiercely, and proceeded to ransack the neighbourhood for children in a house-to-house canvass. Julia and she would take a car into Mission Street, eat their dinner at the Colonial dining-room, where all ...
— The Story Of Julia Page - Works of Kathleen Norris, Volume V. • Kathleen Norris
... and more free, by sunlight. But as the day declined, the life seemed to go down too. I don't know how it was; it seldom looked well by candle-light. I wanted somebody to talk to, then. I missed Agnes. I found a tremendous blank, in the place of that smiling repository of my confidence. Mrs. Crupp appeared to be a long way off. I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been so good as to live, and not bother me with ...
— David Copperfield • Charles Dickens
... point by placing on the paper a little landscape. [Draw Fig. 78 complete leaving the right half of the paper blank.] We have before us a great, wide river, a stream which forms an important channel of commerce. Each year, traffic is carried over its waters which amount to many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cities have grown up along its banks; in many ways it has been a ...
— Crayon and Character: Truth Made Clear Through Eye and Ear - Or, Ten-Minute Talks with Colored Chalks • B.J. Griswold
... ragged, inflamed, circular hole in the centre of its blank face; a hole that resembled more closely nothing that I could think of other than a fresh bullet wound which has ...
— The Gods of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... forcing a laugh, but looking rather blank afterwards; "and how did she threaten me, Jennet, eh?—But no matter. Let that pass for the moment. As I was saying, you must have seen mysterious proceedings both at Malkin Tower and your own house. A black gentleman with a club foot must visit you occasionally, ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... have their antipathies. James I. could not look upon a glittering sword; Roger Bacon fainted at the sight of an apple; and blank paper fills ...
— The Cross of Berny • Emile de Girardin
... Napoleon charging Godoy with a design to seize the throne, and mentioning his mother's shame in covert terms; a memorial from Escoiquiz asking from the Emperor the hand of a French princess; and an order under the seal of Ferdinand VII, with blank date, to the Duke del Infantado, appointing him to the command of New Castile on the King's death. Two days later Godoy's connection with the seizure was proved; for, ill as he feigned to be, he was observed entering the Escorial after nightfall. ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. III. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane
... present little novelty of theme, but the treatment illustrates the natural tendency of English pastoral writers towards narrative and the influence of the romantic ballad motives. The same volume contains another work of Sabie's, namely, the Fishermaris Tale, a blank-verse rendering of ...
— Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama - A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration - Stage in England • Walter W. Greg
... has stored within her little copper-covered head enough brains to furnish a brigade, say, of the Women's Emergency Corps? She had perceived that Rust was an English officer masquerading as a Frenchman, yet she could not have thought that he was a German spy. Why did she not ask him point blank what he was doing in that galley. She has never supplied me with a credible explanation, She pleads, with obvious insincerity, the instructions of Dawson, which in the most reprehensible way granted to her the vaguest of roving commissions. She parades her duty before ...
— The Lost Naval Papers • Bennet Copplestone
... an hour his brain skirmished for an opening, until, spreading the blank sheets of paper before him, he wrote: 'THE ISLAND OF DARKNESS.' Tilting his chair back, ...
— The Parts Men Play • Arthur Beverley Baxter
... maps, and letters, and figures, in an endeavor to produce a sketch that would pass as a prospector's hastily prepared field map. At last she produced several that compared favorably with her father's and taking a blank leaf from an old notebook she found in the pack sack, drew a ...
— The Gold Girl • James B. Hendryx
... I have the preliminaries down all right. [Reading] 'Memorandum of Agreement made this day of blank blank between blank blank of blank blank in the County of blank, Esquire, hereinafter called the Gentleman, of the one part, and blank blank of blank in the County of blank, hereinafter called the Lady, of the other part, whereby it is ...
— Getting Married • George Bernard Shaw
... told the King they would protect him, but would not advance again to Paris. General [blank] seems to have had 6,000 men at Versailles, but the people would not admit him. At Rouen there was great ferment, and forty pieces of cannon were sent by the people to the assistance of Paris. The troops seem to have been ordered upon Paris from all quarters. The ...
— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)
... her—she might dream of Millicent, and that would be worse than wakefulness and remembrance. To trust herself to the lordship of dreams was to seek refuge in the unknown, and that was dangerous. It was total unconsciousness which she desired, the restful unconsciousness of a blank mind. She remained perfectly still for a little time, asking for rest, asking for the power not to think. She concentrated her thoughts on this one desire; she opened her being for the reception ...
— There was a King in Egypt • Norma Lorimer
... present unable to contemplate calmly even a pair of fish-net curtains, is willing to admit that there are more ways of cooking fish than appear here. The blank pages appended are ...
— How to Cook Fish • Olive Green
... atrocities that she shocked the Borgia pope.[2263] The artists of the late Renaissance were absorbed in admiration of carnal beauty. There was vulgarity and coarseness on their finest work. Cellini's work is marked by "blank animalism."[2264] There was a great lack of all sentiment. "Parents and children made a virtue of repressing their emotions." "No period ever exhibited a more marked aversion from the emotional or the pathetic."[2265] There was no shame at perfidy or inconsistency, ...
— Folkways - A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals • William Graham Sumner
... most of the houses are shut up; the shop-windows are all bare; the snow is two feet deep in the streets; the mountains on every side are white; the icicles hang upon the leafless boughs, and the rivulets are enchained. All is one drear blank; and except the two-horse diligence which heaves slowly in sight three or four hours past its time, and the post, (which is now delivered at nine o'clock instead of noon); there is no such thing as an arrival: the boys slide upon their little sledges down the hills; the cattle are ...
— Olla Podrida • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)
... Poole.—"No: it was a blank. Look, they are hauling down the flag. Oh, it's all right. A regular walk-over. ...
— Fitz the Filibuster • George Manville Fenn
... when it reached Ford was apparently in a very rough state. In addition to many mistakes in spelling and grammar, a number of words were left blank. In a vast number of instances short sentences were run together. Mrs Borrow does not appear to have been a very successful amanuensis at this period. Perhaps the most interesting indication of how much the manuscript, as first ...
— The Life of George Borrow • Herbert Jenkins
... "horribly ugly" inscribed on sky and water. Her soul seemed to leap forward and view nearer the myriad motes that floated in the haze of the future. She leaned over the vast whirring lottery wheel of life, and saw a blank come up, with her name stamped upon it. But the grim smile faded from her lips, and brave endurance looked out from the large, sad eyes, ...
— Beulah • Augusta J. Evans
... general, that few first-class writers have appeared who did not require as a condition of success varied and profound learning. Kant, indeed, won immortality by the efforts of blank power. It is said that he never read a book; so wonderful was his synthetical and logical power, that if he could once discover the starting point, the initial principles of a writer, there was no ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... was a school-boy, I used to gaze at the map of Alaska for hours. I'd lose myself in it. It wasn't anything but a big, blank corner in the North then, with a name, and mountains, and mystery. The word 'Yukon' suggested to me everything unknown and weird— hairy mastodons, golden river bars, savage Indians with bone arrow-heads and seal-skin trousers. When I left college I came as fast as ever I could—the ...
— The Spoilers • Rex Beach
... seat at the table and picked up a blank sheet of paper. "As mutual friends," said he, "let me draw up, from seller to buyer, an iron-clad bill of sale. Its first clause will be a vendor's lien for the cost of the cattle, horses, etc. Its second ...
— Wells Brothers • Andy Adams
... to analyze this (so-called) dream, I was amazed to find with how many past longings and emotionally-colored experiences it was associated. I first took up the letters on the sidewalk, and as I repeated them, letting my mind be as blank as possible in order that the associations might be free, I gained an immediate response. "W. H."—"Which House"—came out as in answer to a question. With these words there was a definite visual image of a young country farm youth standing ...
— The Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Volume 10
... a quick glance at Ketchim. The latter sat blank, wondering if there were any portions of the earth to which Ames's long arms did ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking
... woman who wants to keep a live, cheerful account of a happy and pleasant life. Sometimes you will have a picnic or excursion to write about, and will want to fill more space than the printed page allows. Buy a substantially bound blank-book, made of good paper; write your name and address plainly on the fly-leaf, and, if you choose, paste a calendar inside the cover. Set down the date at the head of the first page, thus: "Tuesday, October ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12 • Various
... new colony are incompatible with the lofty ideas of granting the soil and all its inhabitants from sea to sea. They demonstrate the truth, that these grants asserted a title against Europeans only, and were considered as blank paper so far as the rights of the natives were concerned. The power of war is given only ...
— Opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, at January Term, 1832, Delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of Samuel A. Worcester, Plaintiff in Error, versus the State of Georgia • John Marshall
... turn to smile, but somehow I did not. A vision had risen in my mind of that blank and staring face in the attic window next door, and I felt—well, I don't know how I felt, but ...
— The Mayor's Wife • Anna Katharine Green
... seem altogether right to leave the interior blank; that would have been insulting. D——, at Vienna once, did me an evil turn, which I told him, quite good-humouredly, that I should remember. So, as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the person who had outwitted him, I thought ...
— Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes - Detective Stories • Various
... had a few contracts in England at one time; they had been in "better circumstances"—that was the time she looked back to in England; the last two years of bitter, black struggle at "home" seemed a blank in her mind—but that's how women jump over facts when they ...
— Children of the Bush • Henry Lawson
... he was always ready; he was open-handed with his money whenever he had any; and indeed, he possessed most of the qualities which make a man a favourite among boon companions. His going out left a blank which was more felt than seen; a vacant seat in a public-house is soon filled; so if Abe was not there to occupy his own place someone else was; but no matter who of his old associates were present, everyone felt Abe was absent, ...
— Little Abe - Or, The Bishop of Berry Brow • F. Jewell
... no parson! I don't go much on parsons, but when I calls for one I don't want no bantam chicken. No, sirree, horse! I don't want no blankety-blank, pink-and-white complected nursery kid foolin' round my graveyard. If you're goin' to bring along a parson, why bring him with his eye-teeth cut and ...
— The Sky Pilot • Ralph Connor
... Although such a chart in any one locality is out of proportion compared with some distant part of the earth's surface, it is nevertheless in proportion for the distance you can travel in a day or possibly a week—and that is all you desire. The Hydrographic Office publishes blank Mercator charts for all latitudes in which they can be used for plotting your position. It makes no difference what longitude you are in for, on a Mercator chart, meridians of longitude are all marked parallel. It makes a great ...
— Lectures in Navigation • Ernest Gallaudet Draper
... sovereign on me, no visiting cards or any other means of identification, and no idea as to who I am. I can only hazily recollect that I have a title; I am Lady Somebody—beyond that my mind is a blank." ...
— Beasts and Super-Beasts • Saki
... met Mr. Ellis on the street, and asked him point blank, and he didn't deny it. He's a member of the club, ...
— The Marrow of Tradition • Charles W. Chesnutt
... he shouted to the 4th to follow him. No one paid him the smallest attention, and presently he was alone in the darkness, rolling like a drunkard, shaken by his sobs, but still shouting and brandishing his sidearm. He clattered against a high blank wall. ...
— The Laird's Luck • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... Viola. A blank, my lord. She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek; she pined in thought, And with a green and yellow melancholy She sat like Patience on a monument Smiling at grief. Was not ...
— On the Art of Writing - Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914 • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... the wheels are droning, turning, Their wind comes in our faces, Till our hearts turn, and our heads with pulses burning; And the walls turn in their places! Turns the sky in the high window, blank and reeling; Turns the long light that droopeth down the wall; Turn the black flies that crawl along the ceiling— All are turning all the day, and we with all. All day long the iron wheels are droning, And sometimes we could pray, 'Oh, ye wheels,' (breaking off in a mad ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848 • Various
... or next day," he replied. "Just as soon as we can get our teams organized. Just scribble me a temporary permit, will you?" He offered a fountain pen and a blank leaf ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White
... qualities usually attributed to the peaceful Quaker, Johnny had not an atom of those about him. Never was there a more pig-headed, arbitrary, positive, pugnacious fellow. He would argue anybody out of their opinions by the hour; he would "threep them down," as he called it, that is, point blank and with a loud voice insist on his own possession of the right, and of the sound common-sense of the matter; and if he could not convince them, would at least confound them with his obstreperous din and violence of ...
— Stories of Comedy • Various
... Italian Renaissance. And as the chief business of the Hahnemannian school of medicine was to dilute the dose of the Allopaths, and the Christian Scientists confirmed the homeopaths in a belief concerning the beauties of the blank tablet, so did Luther, Calvin and Knox neutralize the arrogance of Rome, and dilute ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 9 - Subtitle: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers • Elbert Hubbard
... primitive tendency of man towards the organised excitement of religious ritual, visible in all nations and civilisations, had been appealed to with more energy and more results than usual. But in general, blank failure, or rather obvious want of success—as the devoted men now beating the void there were themselves the first to admit, with pain and patient submission to ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... people don't worship long. They have too much to think of. They'll put up some arches, and a few statues and build tribute houses in a lot of towns, and then they'll go on about their business, and we who have fought will feel a bit blank." ...
— The Trumpeter Swan • Temple Bailey
... pointedly said nothing. Coburn caught his meaning. The fleet, firing point-blank, had not destroyed its target. The ship last night had seemed to fall into a cloud bank and explode. But nobody had seen it ...
— The Invaders • William Fitzgerald Jenkins
... blank are yer comin' to?" roared the voice of another bargeman, as, tooting loudly on a fog-horn, one of the "Medway flyers," ...
— Golden Stories - A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers • Various
... is, that, to be so conceived, Mind must be divested of all attributes by which it is distinguished; and that, when thus divested of its distinguishing attributes the conception disappears—the word Mind stands for a blank.' ...
— Thoughts on Religion • George John Romanes
... London stage in possession of chronicle plays, and at once seized the opportunity of using and adapting their material in the histories of King John and the rest; that he learned the organ music of his blank verse from Kit Marlowe; that his tragedies are in the manner of Kyd or some other forgotten failure; that his comedies are but adaptations from Greene or Boccaccio; that "Cymbeline" is but an imitation of "Philaster"; in short that, finding some style of drama made popular ...
— The Critics Versus Shakspere - A Brief for the Defendant • Francis A. Smith
... ourselves as an independent one, if we do not take effectual measures to support, at every risk, our authority in our own harbors. I shall write to Mr. Wagner directly (that a post may not be lost by passing through you) to send us blank commissions for Orleans and Louisiana, ready sealed, to be filled up, signed, and forwarded by us. Affectionate salutations and ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... being placed a certain height above the water, depending on the class of vessel and the deck on which it is mounted, it is evident that, when the axis of the bore is horizontal, the shot will have a range proportionate to this height. This range or distance is commonly called point-blank, or point-blank range, and is the number noted in the column marked P.B., or 0 deg., ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN
... (if practicable) establish a party for that purpose on King Island, and you are to cause the above particulars of the Tides there to be unintermittently and minutely observed, and registered in the blank forms which will be supplied to you by our Hydrographer. If, however, circumstances should render this measure unadvisable at that island, you will either choose some less objectionable station, where the average tide ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. • J Lort Stokes
... the compartment. It was propped up against red velvet that yielded with a hard, clenched resistance, something uncomfortable, had the body minded. The eyes of the body were the high blank windows of a deserted house. Behind them were rooms and passages, but lately so gaily crowded, so eager, with their lights and fires, for hustling life—now suddenly empty—swept of all its recent company, waiting for ...
— Fortitude • Hugh Walpole
... spring; winter rushed upon the settlers with heavier blasts and fiercer storms than we now have to endure. And, above all, they felt with sadder force "the dreary monotony of a New England winter, which leaves so large a blank, so melancholy a death-spot, in lives so brief that they ought to be all summer-time." Even John Adams in his day so dreaded the tedious bitter New England winter that he longed to hibernate like a dormouse from autumn ...
— Customs and Fashions in Old New England • Alice Morse Earle
... a little like some of those tales of detectives and plots marvelously unraveled, but the trouble was that no sleuth was at work and the mystery was as deep as ever. He inquired carefully in regard to the enemies Hugo might have made, but struck an absolute blank. Yes, there was one fellow Hugo had licked, but a couple of weeks later the young man had obliged him with a small loan, which had been cheerfully repaid, and the individual in question had moved a couple of hundred miles east. Oh, that was way back ...
— The Peace of Roaring River • George van Schaick
... down even to Stumps and his fraternity all was blank dismay! As for our hero Robin Wright, he retired to his cabin, flung himself on his bed, and sobbed as though his ...
— The Battery and the Boiler - Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables • R.M. Ballantyne
... had charmed her into a marble statue, her hands thrown above her head, her eyes peering into the blank darkness below. ...
— Gypsy's Cousin Joy • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
... of comfort, Colonel Joe McKibben brought an order from the General for me to get fresh beef for the headquarters mess. I was not caterer for this mess, nor did I belong to it even, so I refused point-blank. McKibben, disliking to report my disobedience, undertook persuasion, and brought Colonel Thom to see me to aid in his negotiations, but I would not give in, so McKibben in the kindness of his heart rode several ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan
... the manuscript, he read the entire history of the Imperial Dynasty of America. Then in a kind and soothing murmur he ran over the important points with Vance, who stood like one stunned. His eyes were so blank and vacant that I imagined he had become half-witted, and remarked it to Mr. Wilde who replied that it was of no consequence anyway. Very patiently we pointed out to Vance what his share in the affair would be, and he seemed to understand after a while. Mr. Wilde explained the ...
— The King In Yellow • Robert W. Chambers
... there are none of the usual incentives to hate and revenge. They have so hard a struggle merely to live, that they cannot fall into the indulgences of sense; so that if there is nothing recorded in their favour, there is also nothing against them, and they commence the next life with blank books." ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor
... trying to break some strange news he had walked up a blind alley and been met by my blank wall of density. So he ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond
... the conflict between Athens and Sparta. It was a great time for reading and re-reading classical literature generally, for the South was blockaded against new books as effectively, almost, as Megara was blockaded against garlic and salt. The current literature of those three or four years was a blank to most Confederates. Few books got across the line. A vigorous effort was made to supply our soldiers with Bibles and parts of the Bible, and large consignments ran the blockade. Else little came from abroad, and few books were reprinted in ...
— The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 • Basil L. Gildersleeve
... wrinkled hand. On the table before him was a pile of rough copy paper, and at the top of the first sheet was written, in capitals, the one word: "Hell." It was underlined, and around it he had drawn sundry fantastic flourishes and shadings, but the rest of the sheet was blank. ...
— A Spinner in the Sun • Myrtle Reed
... paltry sinful unit, Fall fighting, crushed into the nether pit, If my dead corpse may bridge the path to Heaven, And damn itself, to save the souls of others. A noble ruin: yet small comfort in it; In it, or in aught else—— A blank dim cloud before mine inward sense Dulls all the past: she spoke of such a cloud— I struck her for't, and said it was a fiend— She's happy now, before the throne of God— I should be merry; yet my heart's floor sinks As on a fast day; sure some ...
— The Saint's Tragedy • Charles Kingsley
... Bradshaw. Less than half of these judges were present throughout the trial. Of those who signed the death warrant Oliver Cromwell was one. Prince Charles, the King's son, then a refugee in France, made every effort to save his father. He sent a blank paper, bearing his signature and seal, to the judges, offering to bind himself to any conditions they might insert, provided they would spare his father's life; but no answer ...
— The Leading Facts of English History • D.H. Montgomery
... of the Ganges helped to increase the attractions of John Kemble and Mrs. Siddons. But we ourselves are evidently in a parlous state at the present day, when actors vainly endeavor to struggle through twenty lines of blank verse—when we are told mechanical effects and vast armies of supers make up the production of historical plays—when pathological details, we are told, are always well received—when the "psychonosological" (whatever that may be)—[laughter], ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol II, After-Dinner Speeches E-O • Various
... front rank man and the corresponding man in the rear rank. The front rank man is the file leader. A file which has no rear rank man is a blank file. ...
— The Plattsburg Manual - A Handbook for Military Training • O.O. Ellis and E.B. Garey
... value of the grammar-school teaching is echoed in Darwin's own words when describing his school days at precisely the same age at Shrewsbury Grammar School, where, he says, "the school as a means of education to me was simply a blank." It is therefore interesting to notice, side by side, as it were, the occupation which each boy found for himself out of school hours, and which in both instances proved of immense value in their ...
— Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Marchant
... everything that was terrible. Her idol, to whom her whole soul was devoted, was passing from her, and no one pitied her; while the latent consciousness of disobedience debarred her from gaining solace from the only true source. All was blank desolation—a wild agony, untempered by resignation, uncheered by prayer; for though she did pray, it was without trust, without hope, while her wretchedness was rendered more overwhelming by her efforts to conceal it. These were so far ineffectual that no one could help perceiving that she was ...
— The Heir of Redclyffe • Charlotte M. Yonge
... pleasure in his eyes, The place of executioner supplies: See how he gloats, enjoys the sacred feast, And proves himself by cruelty a priest! 340 Whilst the weak artist, to thy whims a slave, Would bury all those powers which Nature gave; Would suffer blank concealment to obscure Those rays thy jealousy could not endure; To feed thy vanity would rust unknown, And to secure thy credit, blast his own, In Hogarth he was sure to find a friend; He could not fear, and therefore might commend. But when his spirit, roused by ...
— Poetical Works • Charles Churchill
... point where the road rounds a jutting corner on the extreme right, the projecting cliffs ahead appear as a blank wall of rock that forbids further progress. But, as the men moved forward,—the road swinging more toward the center of the gorge,—the cliffs seemed to draw apart, and, through the way thus opened, they saw the great canyon and the mountains beyond. It was ...
— The Eyes of the World • Harold Bell Wright
... took our steeds away with them?" Tubby suggested, with his usual blank look, and that woebegone ...
— The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields • Lieut. Howard Payson
... he said, when he could not dissuade her. "To-night the wheel of fortune will revolve for us all, and it remains to be seen who will draw a prize and who a blank." ...
— The Point of View • Elinor Glyn
... that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle of Heliopolis in Phoenicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in which nothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter should also be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were much surprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the same emperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he should return safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oracle commanded that ...
— The Phantom World - or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. • Augustin Calmet
... Zeebrugge Raid, who parked his train every night on the switch track next to the British Headquarters car, the Blue Car with the Union Jack flying over it and the whole Allied force. Secretly, he itched to get his armored train into point-blank engagement with ...
— The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki - Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 • Joel R. Moore
... waist, and therefore only obtained at that moment a comparatively distant glimpse of the saloon party on the poop, but even that sufficed to confirm the testimony of the second engineer as to Miss Anthea's physical charms. But I did not altogether like her expression, which was a blank, save for a hint of hauteur mingled with dissatisfaction ...
— The First Mate - The Story of a Strange Cruise • Harry Collingwood
... the cumbersome preservers and prepared themselves for the end they could never have told. Everything seemed a blank, the whole world whirled, all the noises in the universe rolled in their ears. Then they were stumbling, rolling, tearing toward the upper deck, hardly knowing whither they went or how they progressed. ...
— Nedra • George Barr McCutcheon
... Robert Beaufort returned from his country mansion to Berkeley Square. He found his wife very uneasy and nervous about the non-appearance of their only son. Arthur had sent home his groom and horses about seven o'clock, with a hurried scroll, written in pencil on a blank page torn from his pocket-book, and containing only ...
— Night and Morning, Volume 1 • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... this for a long time. Loving so much, she imagined all the rest, and, where she felt a blank, always hoped that further communion would fill it up. When she found this could never be; that there was absolutely a whole province of her being to which nothing in his answered, she was too deeply ...
— Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 • S.M. Fuller
... the 'great Rothschild' has been sentenced to be beheaded; but that he has been allowed to procure a substitute, if he can, by lottery! For this purpose, a sum of many millions is devoted, all the tickets to be prizes of 3000 thalers each, except one; that fatal number is a blank; and whoever draws it, is to be decapitated instead of the celebrated banker! Notwithstanding the risk, the applicants for shares have been numerous. [There is nothing surprising in the number of applications for these shares. Every man who ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 439 - Volume 17, New Series, May 29, 1852 • Various
... the bed and was standing on the floor, shaking her head at him. Her face seemed blank. Dorn sat up and blinked ludicrously. She had jumped out of his arms. He laughed. Coquetting. But her ...
— Erik Dorn • Ben Hecht
... craftsmen, with the clumsy handiwork of the decline and fall. Proof thereof was furnished by the inscriptions and emblems on the marble slabs. They reminded one of the childish drawings which street urchins scrawl upon blank walls. ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola
... knew Mr. Trollop, "and was aware that he had a Blank-Blank;"—[**Her private figure of speech for Brother—or Son-in-law]—but Mr. Buckstone said that he was not able to conceive what so curious a phrase as Blank-Blank might mean, and had no wish to pry into the matter, since it was probably private, he "would nevertheless venture the ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
... Cocked- I then Spoke in verry positive terms to them all, principaly addressing myself to the 1st Chief, who let the roape go and walked to the Indian, party about, 100 I again offered my hand to the 1st Chief who refused it- (all this time the Indians were pointing their arrows blank-) I proceeded to the perogue and pushed off and had not proceeded far before the 1st & 3r Chief & 2 principal men walked into the water and requested to go on board, I took them in and we proceeded on abot a Mile, and anchored near a Small Island, ...
— The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Meriwether Lewis et al
... hath never known in himself, nor marked in another, such strange crisis in human fate, cannot judge of the strength and the weakness it bestows. But till he can so judge, the spiritual part of all history is to him a blank scroll, a sealed volume. He cannot comprehend what drove the fierce Heathen, cowering and humbled, into the fold of the Church; what peopled Egypt with eremites; what lined the roads of Europe and Asia with pilgrim homicides; what, in the elder world, while Jove yet reigned ...
— Harold, Complete - The Last Of The Saxon Kings • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... speak, the sea of faces before her seemed blurred. She was talking into blank darkness. She could not even hear her own voice. But as she went on, and the needs of the soldiers crowded upon her mind, she forgot all fear, and for two hours held the audience spell-bound. Men and women wept, and patriotism filled every heart. At eleven o'clock eight thousand dollars were ...
— Lives of Girls Who Became Famous • Sarah Knowles Bolton
... cruising about fifty miles off Havana when the Frasquito, a two-master, came bowling along toward the Cuban capital. When the yellow flag of the enemy was sighted the helm was swung in her direction, and a blank shot was put across her bow. The Spaniard hove to and the customary prize-crew was put on board. It was found that the Frasquito was bound from Montevideo to Havana with a cargo of jerked beef. She was of about 140 tons register and hailed from Barcelona. The prize-crew took her to Havana ...
— The Boys of '98 • James Otis
... it fatigue, but it was rather blank dread, and the sense that she had put herself and others in the way ...
— Heartsease - or Brother's Wife • Charlotte M. Yonge
... Not only is his knowledge of English— extending to the most subtle idiom, or the most recondite cant phrase—more extensive than that of many of us who have English for our mother-tongue, but his delivery of Shakespeare's blank verse is remarkably facile, musical, and intelligent. To be in a sort of pain for him, as one sometimes is for a foreigner speaking English, or to be in any doubt of his having twenty synonymes at his tongue's end if he should want one, is out of the question after having been ...
— Miscellaneous Papers • Charles Dickens
... no one to approach her save Griswold, who, being at that time a physician in the Lunatic Asylum at Worcester, hastened to her side, acquiring over her a singular power. It is strange that in her fits of violence she never speaks of me, nor yet of Charlie Hudson. Indeed, the past seems all a blank to her, save as she refers to it incidentally as ...
— Darkness and Daylight • Mary J. Holmes
... ventured to say more than once before, it seems that if you accept this principle you had much better carry it through, have no middle or beginning, and even no title, but issue, in as many copies as you please, a nice quire or ream of blank paper with your name on it. The purchasers could cut the name out, and use it for original composition in a hundred forms, from washing bills ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury
... beneath the cross of Strasburg Cathedral, its use, and why it was placed there, having passed away from the memory of man. If it were not to open the gates of heaven for those who built this ladder of light and those who worship in its shadow, it remains a riddle and a blank. Let us accept the interpretation, and, made mild-eyed by the lens of tender memories, we shall behold in every spire a means of grace and ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860 • Various
... was one by the village clock, When he rode into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they ...
— Poems of American Patriotism • Brander Matthews (Editor)
... and one by one, with a sudden, swift collapse, each shop in Botany Road extinguished its lights, leaving a blank gap in the shining row of glass windows. Mrs Yabsley turned into Cardigan Street and, taking a firmer grip of her parcels, mounted the hill slowly on account of her breath. She still continued to shop at the last minute, in a panic, as her mother had done before her, proud ...
— Jonah • Louis Stone
... of my rifle barrels. My eye was all the time on the huge and infuriated brute which was, I believed, about to destroy me. He was not to be awed by powder, or I might have hoped to have frightened him by firing my blank charges in his face. I felt as if all the colour had left my cheeks, and I own that I could have cried out most lustily for help, had I fancied anybody ...
— My First Voyage to Southern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston
... to the Superintendent and walked to the place where our carriage was waiting for us. On our way, an exceedingly decrepit old man moved slowly towards us, with a perfectly blank look on his face, but still appearing as if ...
— Atlantic Monthly Volume 7, No. 39, January, 1861 • Various
... message, or a sign," she said, as she swiftly turned the pages. Then, with her eyes still closed, she offered him the book. "Here—read this. Is it a blank page?" ...
— Master of the Vineyard • Myrtle Reed
... almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually applicable to state trials. The case had been settled in Madrid long before the arrest of the prisoners in Brussels. The sentence, signed by Philip in blank, had been brought in Alva's portfolio from Spain. The proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion was concerned, might as well have been omitted. If the gentlemen ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... hand as if to push her back, and closed the door, and she heard the bolt pushed. She stood a moment staring at the blank of the locked door. What could it mean? Alfaretta's misery and morals were forgotten; something troubled John,—she had no thought for anything else. She turned away as though in a dream, and began absently to take off her garden hat. John was in some distress. ...
— John Ward, Preacher • Margaret Deland
... empty as the room. Finally, Peppino unlocked the door of a large cupboard that stood in the corner, and with a clinking and crashing of glass there poured out a cataract of empty brandy bottles. Emptiness: that was the key-note of the whole scene, and blank ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson
... an English victory; their talk of verse proceeds to plays, with particular attention to a question that had been specially argued before the public between Dryden and his brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. The question touched the use of blank verse in the drama. Dryden had decided against it as a worthless measure, and the chief feature of the Essay, which was written in dialogue, was its support of Dryden's argument. But in that year (1667) "Paradise Lost" was published, ...
— Discourses on Satire and Epic Poetry • John Dryden
... course the young people are all agog to know what is in it. One day he accidentally leaves his desk open, and realises that someone has been at his desk, and has read the will. He calls all the young people to his bed, and asks them point-blank who it was. Of course he gets various kinds of answer, from the offended, to the frightened and cowed. But by chance he finds out exactly who had peeked into his desk and read the will. We won't spoil the story for you, but would say this: that it is as good a Horne Vaizey ...
— The Fortunes of the Farrells • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... in a litle chamber in Balichtarach the devill came to her in the lyknes of a man and deseired hir to goe with him, and that she refusing he said I will not [blank] and she gave him [blank] she never saw afterward and that she knew it was the devill and after he went that he came bak and asked hir to give him hir hand quhich she refusing to doe he took hir by the ...
— The Witch-cult in Western Europe - A Study in Anthropology • Margaret Alice Murray
... a measure from the astonishment produced by this discovery I inquired whether other shamans had such books. "Yes," said Swimmer, "we all have them." Here then was a clew to follow up. A bargain was made by which he was to have another blank book into which to copy the formulas, after which the original was bought. It is now deposited in the library of the Bureau of Ethnology. The remainder of the time until the return was occupied in getting an understanding of the ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various
... indiscriminately over everything that comes in your way. I know what a deucedly superior state of mind you've gotten into. I know too about Miss B's school, and Miss L's school, and the Seminary at Mount Blank, and ...
— Cape Cod Folks • Sarah P. McLean Greene
... gong sounded, Nan looked guiltily at the blank sheet of paper; but it was too late to begin letters now—she must go downstairs, and trust to good fortune that the girls would not discover how she had wasted the time! Lunch was a scramble meal to-day, ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... Hilyer, Vicar of Siddermouth, who brought down an angel with a shot-gun, is tenderly imagined; a man of gentle mind, for all the limitations of his training. The mortalised angel, on the other hand, is rather a tentative and simple creature. He may represent, perhaps, the rather blank mind of one who sees country society without having had the inestimable privilege of learning how it came about. His temperament was something too childlike—without the child's brutality—to investigate the enormous complexities of adjustment ...
— H. G. Wells • J. D. Beresford
... in the volume but a few bearings of places noted in the blank leaves towards the end and a table for reducing French, English, and Spanish ...
— Treasure Island • Robert Louis Stevenson
... opinion, unjustifiable; and the crime was aggravated by making the son the instrument of robbing his mother, and by refusing to revise his proceedings, in obedience to the orders of the directors. Pitt's explicit declarations made conviction certain, and though some members of administration looked blank and disappointed, upon a division Sheridan's proposition was carried by one hundred and seventy-five ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... blank face, but it must have looked troubled now, for Tosh was about to say, "Hendry, you're keeping something back," when the precentor said ...
— The Little Minister • J.M. Barrie |
