"Why" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Race-Mixture,"[9] Professor Hempl has discussed the conditions under which language-rivalry takes place, and states the results that follow. His conclusions have an interesting bearing on the question which we are discussing here, how and why it was that Latin supplanted the other languages with which it ...
— The Common People of Ancient Rome - Studies of Roman Life and Literature • Frank Frost Abbott
... more, much more, about this proposition, which to his mind was of a very dubious wisdom.... 'Ah!' thought the secretary, 'I told the old boy he must tell them more'.... To whom, for instance, had the proposal first been made? To him!—the chairman said. Good! But why were Pillins selling, if freights were to go up, as ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... silence is greater than speech. This is why we honor the animals, who are more silent than man, and we reverence the trees and rocks, where the Great Mystery lives undisturbed, in a ...
— Wigwam Evenings - Sioux Folk Tales Retold • Charles Alexander Eastman and Elaine Goodale Eastman
... for the past and for the existing superiority of the Old World; and there are good reasons, also, why this superiority should not much longer continue. Europe is old,—America is young. Land has been cultivated for centuries in Europe, and often by the same family; its capacity tested, its fitness or unfitness for particular crops proved, ...
— Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions • George S. Boutwell
... it was thirty or forty years ago—its average and artistic quality—and it is getting higher day by day. The number of youths who can draw beautifully is quite appalling; one would think they had learned to draw before learning to read and write. Why shouldn't they? ...
— Social Pictorial Satire • George du Maurier
... you not say you would pay? Why, I thought you were gentlefolks! Now, by that I know that you are none, but of ...
— The Black Douglas • S. R. Crockett
... like a man. The colonel's place suits you, but cannot you do anything better? Your body is still in good condition, and your arms strong; do you not owe all your strength to your country, as your Vincennes uncle said? Why not leave some old soldier, more cut up than you are, to get his hospital at the colonel's? Come, trooper, you are still fit for another stout charge or two! You must not lay up ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... Why this fearful mortality? Men do not die by scores, hundreds, thousands, without some extraordinary cause. It was partly for want of clothing. They were thinly clad ...
— Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons - A Personal Experience, 1864-5 • Homer B. Sprague
... the caller's compliment to her son later on when the two were at the supper-table. "Yes, she paid you a great compliment," said she; "but, dear, why did you run out in that way? It was almost rude, and she the minister's ...
— The Debtor - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... make me laugh. Do you think that people are going to listen to your nonsense? Why! your peg would get clogged with earth and ...
— The Silver Lining - A Guernsey Story • John Roussel
... awards in public service and human rights as well as honorary degrees. He is the author of A Creative Tension—The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress (2002) and How Congress Works and Why You Should Care (2004), and the coauthor of Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the ...
— The Iraq Study Group Report • United States Institute for Peace
... 'Why not? There's nothing difficult in it if she only sees that he has his surplice and bands properly got up. He is not, on the whole, a bad-tempered man; and though the children are rough, they'll grow out of that. And she ought to make him take two, or perhaps three, glasses of port wine on Sundays. ...
— John Caldigate • Anthony Trollope
... their capricious insolence?" said the Templar to the Benedictine, "and why did you prevent ...
— Ivanhoe - A Romance • Walter Scott
... "Why should mortal men be placed O'er us animals? Though high You may lift your heads, yet low In those heads ...
— Atta Troll • Heinrich Heine
... extraordinary. Everywhere here in Cambridge, and the same in Oxford, I believe, they say grace and give thanks. A gilded ewer and flat basin were passed, with water in the basin to wash with, and we all took our turn at the bath! Next to this came the course with the finger-bowls!... Why two baths?" ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... Such a summary does injustice to a certain elevation of tone in the letter, but that elevation is itself slightly strained. McClellan, whatever his private opinions, had not meddled with politics before he left Washington. The question why in this military crisis he should have written what a Democratic politician might have composed as a party manifesto must later have caused Lincoln some thought, but it apparently did not enter into the decision he next took. He arrived himself at Harrison's Landing next day. McClellan handed ...
— Abraham Lincoln • Lord Charnwood
... something like a sunstroke, which gave me considerable trouble. It passed off, however, but after that I found I could not stand heat and had to be careful to keep out of the sun—a hot day wilting me completely. [That is the reason why the cool Highland air in summer has been to me a panacea for many years. My physician has insisted that I must avoid our hot ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie • Andrew Carnegie
... and lowered her eyes. She seemed to be trying to remember. "Why, yes," she said, after a moment's silence. "Yes, I felt rather dull this morning. You know ...
— Children of the Desert • Louis Dodge
... "Why, bless my soul, it's Tom McChesney!" he cried, ten paces away, while Tom grinned with pleasure at the recognition "But what have ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... thought it was a God-forsaken country, but, you see, I was wrong. There's more real practical Christianity among these people than I ever saw before, and it's hard work to be an ass here. The way of the ass is full of trouble, and I begin to understand why you wanted me to come out to Wyoming. The people are rough, but as kind as angels. Felt like turning back, but these women put new heart in me, ...
— 'Charge It' - Keeping Up With Harry • Irving Bacheller
... waiting for two years; and I will tell you why. My friend Leon did not name the year, but the more general events are described simultaneously with the events of my own life. Now the events which concern me privately and which were doubtful two years ago became certain in April or May last. ...
— The Wrack of the Storm • Maurice Maeterlinck
... under contract for the pipe of various sizes after it was laid in the ground at so much per foot. This was the general practice by the company as regards the piping. By reference to the letter of March 7, it will be observed that the answer to the tenth allegation explains why the company could only sell the piping "subject to whatever rights the city of St. Louis may be entitled to in certain underground pipes, sewers, and conduits in Forest Park." It can be stated that this complication of title to the piping applied to two-thirds if not three-fourths of all of ...
— Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission • Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
... Eve, obliged to speak, and, hanging on her foot, half turned away, a moment before flight; "why should I rob ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 84, October, 1864 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... and a large pond at its foot being very narrow. At this point I saw in front of me a soldier posted in ambush, with his matchlock ready to fire. The pony sank deep in the sand, and could not travel fast here, which I suppose was the reason why this spot had been selected. The man fired as I passed only a few paces from him; but, as luck would have it, this second attempt also left ...
— In the Forbidden Land • Arnold Henry Savage Landor
... Church is sure to sustain. Mr. Passavant's idea of a paper in opposition to the Observer I approve. There ought to be an antidote to the Observer somewhere." In the Observer of February 15, 1856, Krauth, Sr., published nine reasons why he opposed the Platform; the chief grievance, however, its Reformed theology, was hardly hinted at. Krauth's plea was for peace and mutual toleration. "I feel deeply solicitous that our prospering Church may not be divided," said he. "I shall do all that I can to hold it together. ...
— American Lutheranism - Volume 2: The United Lutheran Church (General Synod, General - Council, United Synod in the South) • Friedrich Bente
... me in four weeks." For the first time, Sri Yukteswar's voice was stern. "Now I have told my eternal affection, and have shown my happiness at finding you-that is why you disregard my request. The next time we meet, you will have to reawaken my interest: I won't accept you as a disciple easily. There must be complete surrender by obedience to my ...
— Autobiography of a YOGI • Paramhansa Yogananda
... better, cousin; I shall not feel humiliated this evening, since for the first time we shall be upon a footing of equality. But, might I ask you why you so despise my asters? I thought that you would probably keep them as ...
— Mauprat • George Sand
... "And why should he? His boyhood was doubtless the happiest period of his life, and he is just staying with it ...
— The Spoilers of the Valley • Robert Watson
... mustering the thunder and fire in which the tragic bard has made him disappear. "Pray, sir, what is that old man afraid of?" said some one to Fuseli, when the picture was exhibited. "Afraid, sir," exclaimed the painter, "why, afraid of ...
— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art, (Vol. 2 of 3) • Shearjashub Spooner
... work, she would bring men to kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I tied all the camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off. A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why I am crying." The wrestlers were much astonished at the boy's strength and at the kite's strength, and they all three set off in the direction in which the kite ...
— Indian Fairy Tales • Anonymous
... "Why, you must know that the other day old Doctor Dastick brought his New-York niece to call upon us. She began to talk to my brother, and when at last topics of conversation failed, turned to look at the picture of Saint ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XI., April, 1863, No. LXVI. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics. • Various
... "Why, he's getting through," he cried, mentally, with a suggestion of disappointment in his brain at his comrade's better success. "He's getting through, and he'll run out all the line quickly now and ...
— The Lost Middy - Being the Secret of the Smugglers' Gap • George Manville Fenn
... tithe of the phenomena, traceable to the same cause, which keeps our atmosphere in a perpetual state of change, and we shall only advert to one more peculiarity of the theory. It places meteorology on a mathematical basis, and explains why it is that a storm may be raging at one place, while in another, not very remote, the weather may be fine, and yet be dependent on the position of ...
— Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms - Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence • T. Bassnett
... become lately a German school amusement, but the results, as a rule, were that if there were five competitors, the four losers entered a protest against the winner. In any case, each of the four produced excellent excuses why he had lost, other than the fact that ...
— The Land of Deepening Shadow - Germany-at-War • D. Thomas Curtin
... companions of the reason why the name of Ned Holt had been changed to that of Parker in Arthur Pym's narrative, and of the circumstances under which the half-breed had apprised me of the fact. At the same time I urged every consideration that might exculpate him, dwelling in particular upon the point that if the lot had ...
— An Antarctic Mystery • Jules Verne
... wretched and unconscionable fool I am!" he thought. "Have I laughed at the follies of weak men all my life, and am I to be more foolish than the weakest of them at last? The beautiful brown-eyed creature! Why did I ever see her? Why did my relentless Nemesis ever point the way to that dreary house ...
— Lady Audley's Secret • Mary Elizabeth Braddon
... been perhaps sought out for that very purpose, and who may be in a great measure dependent on this as a last resource, it is nearly a certainty that there will be no will to be found; no trace, no sign to discover whether the person dying thus intestate ever had any intention of the sort, or why they relinquished it. This is to bespeak the thoughts and imaginations of others for victims after we are dead, as well as their persons and expectations for hangers-on while we are living. A celebrated beauty of the middle of the last century, towards its close, sought out a female relative, ...
— Table-Talk - Essays on Men and Manners • William Hazlitt
... assure you I had turned over the leaves. I was correct enough as to the dates; and, suppose I blundered, as my brother Buckhurst says, half the world never know what they are saying, and the other half never find it out.—Why, sir, you were telling me the other night such a blunder of ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth
... paper is among the Nairne MSS. in the Bodleian Library. A short, and not perfectly ingenuous abstract of it will be found in the Life of James, ii. 555. Why Macpherson, who has printed many less interesting documents did not choose to print this document, it is easy to guess. I will transcribe two or three important sentences. "It may reasonably be presumed ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 4 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... Robert Grant Burns grinned over his shoulder at his character-woman. "Wait till we start back; I'll know the road then, and we'll do some traveling!" he promised darkly, and laid his toe lightly on the brake. It pleased him to be considered a dare-devil driver; that is why he always drove whatever machine carried him. They went lurching down the curving grade into the hollow, and struck the patch of sand that had worn out the vocabularies of more eloquent men than he. Robert Grant Burns fed more gas, and the engine kicked ...
— Jean of the Lazy A • B. M. Bower
... an art also in the sharpening of a scythe, and it is worth describing carefully. Your blade must be dry, and that is why you will see men rubbing the scythe-blade with grass before they whet it. Then also your rubber must be quite dry, and on this account it is a good thing to lay it on your coat and keep it there during all your day's mowing. The scythe you ...
— Hills and the Sea • H. Belloc
... started for Alsace in a body. They were controlled with difficulty, mademoiselle. That is why St. Peter was given a key to lock them in, not to lock us ...
— The Maids of Paradise • Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
... "Why, the spark plugs are gone!" declared Ned. "And look here," he went on, "here are tracks showing some one has ...
— Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal - or Perils of the Black Bear Patrol • G. Harvey Ralphson
... this town? Why, the cub! We'll duck him, Choate and I." They were climbing the rise to her red brick house, large and beautiful and kindly. It really looked much like Miss Amabel herself, a little unkempt, but generous and belonging to an older time. They went in and Jeffrey, ...
— The Prisoner • Alice Brown
... "Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain you under what, for the time being, is ...
— Israel Potter • Herman Melville
... Mac the other night when I was talking about the crime of authority. "Look at Glasgow! What happened there during the war? Juvenile crime increased. And why? Because the fathers were in the army and the boys had no control over them; they broke loose. That proves that your theories ...
— A Dominie in Doubt • A. S. Neill
... strange," Giovanni said. "They say it has always happened, since the memory of man. No one has ever seen anything, but whenever there is a great ball, there is a crash of broken glass some time in the course of the evening. Nobody could ever explain why that window fell in, five years ago—five years ago this month,—this very day, I believe," he continued suddenly, in the act of recollection. "Yes—the nineteenth of January, I remember very well—it was my ...
— Saracinesca • F. Marion Crawford
... reason why the Lord cannot do so sooner is that He acts upon man's inmost and by that on all that follows even to outmosts where man himself is. While outmosts, therefore, are kept closed by man, no purification can take place, but only that activity of the Lord in interiors which is His activity in hell, ...
— Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence • Emanuel Swedenborg
... have accepted it," Mitya declared warmly. "Why, look here, he might have grabbed not two thousand, but four or six, for it. He would have put his lawyers, Poles and Jews, on to the job, and might have got, not three thousand, but the whole property out ...
— The Brothers Karamazov • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... void. Harry! if you only knew what Dorian Gray is to me! You remember that landscape of mine, for which Agnew offered me such a huge price, but which I would not part with? It is one of the best things I have ever done. And why is it so? Because, while I was painting it, Dorian Gray sat beside me. Some subtle influence passed from him to me, and for the first time in my life I saw in the plain woodland the wonder I had always ...
— The Picture of Dorian Gray • Oscar Wilde
... her. She seemed to have found a way to the Dowager's arid heart, as her own son had not. The Dowager seemed dimly aware that Nelly was suffering in some way, and was tender to her. She came to the General with a proposal. Why should they not all go abroad together and escape the east winds of spring? The General leaped at it. Once get Nelly abroad and she would know nothing of what was happening on the Indian frontier. He, and ...
— Mary Gray • Katharine Tynan
... do the heathen in a brutish rage, Themselves against the Lord of Hosts engage? Why do the frantic people entertain Their thoughts upon a thing that is so vain? Why do the kings themselves together set? And why do all the princes them abet? Why do the rulers to each other speak After this foolish manner, "Let us break Their bonds asunder; come, let us make haste, With ...
— The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself • Thomas Ellwood
... they would be to her, the king of England's palaces looked bare and deserted to the new queen, accustomed as she was to French elegance; she, however, appeared contented. "How can your Majesty reconcile yourself to a Huguenot for a husband?" asked one of her suite, indiscreetly. "Why not?" she replied, with spirit. "Was ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... laughed the negro. "Them little things would never bother a Louisiana nigger. Why we have them things with us all the time. We just call ...
— The Iron Puddler • James J. Davis
... the duke stood for non- intervention. Europe had no business to restore the Bourbon to the throne from which the nation had thrust him; on the same principle Greece must be allowed to fight out her own cause with the Turk; as for the Spanish-American colonies, why they were already lost to Spain, and England had recognized them as independent states. France undertook to do alone for the Spanish monarch what the Holy Alliance wished to do in the name of Europe. In ...
— Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century • James Richard Joy
... a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles from neighbors, and, at times, were quite destitute. One day, as little George observed his mother weeping over their destitution, he said, "Why, mother, don't cry any; we shall not starve; God will send us something to eat, I know He will. I've just been praying, and asked Him to." The little fellow just as much believed God would send them food, as if he had asked a reliable neighbor and obtained his promise to supply their wants. ...
— The Wonders of Prayer - A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer • Various
... Those who endure not with Jesus Christ, are not fit to reign with Him. "O soul in grace," says our Blessed Father, "thou art not yet the spouse of Jesus glorified, but of Jesus crucified. This is why the rings, necklaces, and other ornaments which He gives you, and with which He is pleased to adorn you, are crosses, nails, and thorns; and the marriage feast He sets before you gall, hyssop, and vinegar. It is in Heaven we shall possess the rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, ...
— The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales • Jean Pierre Camus
... longed to ask why Mr. Bergh does not try to prevent such crowds from piling into those cars; and now I beg you to do what you can to stop such an ...
— Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Vol. 5 - Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore, Etc. • Louisa M. Alcott
... the books that he was reading. But she had so many duties, and so many headaches; and when night came she was so tired! She would ask him to tell her about his vision; and was not the thing untellable? Why else did he have to labor day and night, like a man possessed? He would explain this to her, and she would bid him go on and do his work and not mind her. But when he would take her at her word, and there would follow a week or two of indifference ...
— Love's Pilgrimage • Upton Sinclair
... first into the farmer's face; then to his master's; and, lastly, to the postillion's; and, seeing that they were all evidently firm in their resolve, he plucked up spirit, and replied.—"Why, Mr Corporal, I have no inclination just at present to go to fight for the Republic. You see I have no quarrel yet with my master here, M. Debedin, and he cannot well spare me. I am afraid, Mr Corporal, I ...
— La Vendee • Anthony Trollope
... I know your owner to be conscientious and pious; that is why I always let you off so easy.' And the collector would look so credulously good-natured that I couldn't help drawing out a roll of cigars, telling him they were pure Havanas, when presenting them. It used ...
— The Adventures of My Cousin Smooth • Timothy Templeton
... on occasions of obtaining my benedictions, when, again, I am engaged in the performance of religious rites on thy behalf, on occasions also of the Homa and other rites of propitiation, why is it that thou laughest upon beholding me? Seeing thee laugh at me on all occasions, my mind shrinks with shame. I have caused thee to swear, O king, that thou wouldst answer me truly. It does not behove thee ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... was about to exhibit together his busts of the two poets, Scott wrote: "I am happy my effigy is to go with that of Wordsworth, for (differing from him in very many points of taste) I do not know a man more to be venerated for uprightness of heart and loftiness of genius. Why he will sometimes choose to crawl upon all fours, when God has given him so noble a countenance to lift to heaven, I am as little able to account for as for his quarrelling (as you tell me) with the wrinkles which time and meditation have stamped ...
— Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature • Margaret Ball
... out of your community, you have to give something back. That's why we created AmeriCorps, our national service program that gives today's generation a chance to serve their communities and ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various
... girl you have a wonderful quantity. Why, I believe you'd have faced that brute yourself, if I hadn't gone," he says, enthusiastically, the others being momentarily at the window to witness a procession pass the hotel, with the ...
— Miss Caprice • St. George Rathborne
... "Why, I thought some of the others ought to have a chance," she explained with winning sweetness. "But if it had been dancing!" and she ...
— A Little Girl in Old Salem • Amanda Minnie Douglas
... So this man had been studying me before I began to study him; and this discovery revived in me the desire that he had come on some more interesting business than that of selling tickets; a thing he did so badly as to make me wonder why he had undertaken it. ...
— Amos Kilbright; His Adscititious Experiences • Frank R. Stockton
... and care for one another,' but we were to flatter and fawn until Uncle was charmed by me or by you; that was our intention. But we meant to give nothing in return; neither love nor respect nor even gratitude. And why did you not come alone, why must I come too? You wished to show me to him; you wished ...
— Invisible Links • Selma Lagerlof
... her brother, and I was resolved that she should not go on. We offered (what we had never done before to any one) to adopt her, and treat her as our own child. People coming in and seeing the awkward country-body would wonder why we set such a sudden store by her, but in a little while they'd see as we did. I think her pure soul showed right through her homely face. Then she trusted people as free as a child; so everybody was kind to her. But I used to think there was but two ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various
... constitutional around and around his "pen," as he put it, several of the lesser wizards appeared and stood at a distance from the gate to stare at him. When addressed they made no reply. On the second occasion he began to be irritated, but he kept his temper and went to cover in his tent, muttering: "Why the devil don't they bring ...
— Witch-Doctors • Charles Beadle
... Ede, "why not? Here are eight that have got gold to lose, thanks to you, and your own lot—that makes ten. We could easy make up forty for any good lay; there is my hand for one. ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade
... August 1914 had been marked by the utmost caution and self-containment. Contemplated from a distance by certain of the Allies whose attention was absorbed by the political aspect of the matter, this method of cool calculation seemed to smack of hollow make-believe. Why, it was asked, should Italy hold back or weigh the certain losses against the probable gains, seeing that she would have as allies the two most puissant States of Europe, and the enormous advantage of sea power on ...
— England and Germany • Emile Joseph Dillon
... is it bear, wolf, or catamount that is on your trail?" cried Hector, almost amused by the speed with which his cousin hurried onward. "Why, Louis, whither away?" ...
— Canadian Crusoes - A Tale of The Rice Lake Plains • Catharine Parr Traill
... oats, have been proved by the most rigorous evidence, to be accidental variations of one common form, brought about no one knows how, but before our eyes, and rendered permanent by equally mysterious agency. Then says Reason, if they occur in orchidaceous plants, why should they not also occur in corn plants? for it is not likely that such vagaries will be confined to one little group in the vegetable kingdom; it is more rational to believe them to be a part of the general system of creation.... ...
— An Expository Outline of the "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" • Anonymous
... come to say, but finally blurted out: "Acton, would you lend me seven pounds? I'm in a hole, the deuce of a hole; in fact, I'm pretty well hopelessly stumped. I'll tell you why if you ask me, but I hope you won't. I've been an ass, but I've collared some awful luck, and I'm not quite the black sheep I seem. I don't want to ask Phil—in fact, I couldn't, simply couldn't ask him for this. I'll pay you back beginning of next term if I can raise as much, and ...
— Acton's Feud - A Public School Story • Frederick Swainson
... why the sight of mustard and cress made Nicky sick. Neither did Mr. Parsons, nor any schoolmaster who came after him understand why, when Nicky knew all the rest of the verb [Greek: erchomai] by heart he was unable ...
— The Tree of Heaven • May Sinclair
... "Why art thou so obstinate?" was asked of the sixth brother, when he, too, was brought before the tyrant and scorned the ...
— Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and - Kabbala • Various
... appearance that some people who were out shooting at first mistook her for a gin, and were passing by without taking further notice, when she called out to them in English: "I am a white woman, why do you leave me?" With the exception of a narrow fringe of leaves in front, she wore no clothing, and her skin was tanned and blistered with the sun, and showed the marks of several large burns which had been received from sleeping ...
— Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade • John MacGillivray
... in Spooney-ooney Island Is there any one cares for me? In Spooney-ooney Island Why surely there ought ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence
... sends you forty francs." I did not want to go away without saying good-bye to Colette and to Ismerie, whom I had often seen at the other side of the lawn; but Melanie assured me that they didn't care for me any more. Colette could not understand why I was not married yet, and Ismerie could not forgive me for being ...
— Marie Claire • Marguerite Audoux
... why I am here. I suppose I must have decided some case in favor of our honored chairman. But, then, if every one in whose favor I have decided a case should give me a dinner I should have some thousands to eat, if I could live ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol II, After-Dinner Speeches E-O • Various
... as this I, too, shall have a vintage. For the first time in my life I shall tread my own winepress, vat my own must, and (I hope) need no sugar for it. I don't know why it is, but I can conceive no more romantic rural adventure than that of growing and drinking your own wine. But there are yet many things to happen. The grapes must get ripe and the wasps be kept off; and then there are problems connected ...
— In a Green Shade - A Country Commentary • Maurice Hewlett
... why didn't God keep him from Blackie, if he loves him as ye say? Ye mind how ye read to us in the Bible about him saving the herd-laddie out o' the jaws o' the bear; oh, but, I think, he might have taken care of our Geordie;" and poor little Jean would ...
— Geordie's Tryst - A Tale of Scottish Life • Mrs. Milne Rae
... Auber's grand opera has had the highest admiration from the chief German musicians? But she had not been previously moved towards it; that is the great difference between perception and acquired knowledge, and why so frequently the art of literature is mistaken for perception. But Mary used her powers justly, and drew the line where she was conscious of knowledge; she had real imagination of her own, and used the precious gift justifiably, and thus kept honour and independence, ...
— Mrs. Shelley • Lucy M. Rossetti
... the essential fundamentals of all state religions, be they heathen, christian, or mohamedan. This plain avowal of them might have been the cause why the author was soon after made a bishop ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... "Why do you ask me?" said the other. "Oh, I see your shoulder is galled and your neck shows mark of the yoke." The old bullock answered "Whether my master treats me well or ill I owe him money and have to stay here until I have paid him ...
— Folklore of the Santal Parganas • Cecil Henry Bompas
... them all." She was looking at him now as if wondering why he did not make a start, but wild horses could not have dragged him away. Instead of picking up his ...
— The Ne'er-Do-Well • Rex Beach
... meant his own opinion. He's an old sailor now, but if he lives to be a hundred and fifty he'll never be a good one. I could beat his vessel if I was on a two-by-four with a pillow-case for a mains'l. I can't understand why he has turned ...
— The Harbor of Doubt • Frank Williams
... abuse this heavenly plant, The hope of health, the fuel of our life? Why do you waste it without fear of want, Since fine and true tobacco is not ryfe? Old Enclio won't foul water for to spair, And stop the bellows ...
— Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce • E. R. Billings
... was absolutely necessary to make her plans, for she could not be an indefinite burden on her father's friends. They had come home to enjoy a hard-earned rest, and as the holiday had begun so sadly there was all the more reason why the remainder should be passed under cheerful conditions. Mr and Mrs Nisbet had pressed the girl to spend the next few months travelling in their company, but Sylvia was resolute ...
— More about Pixie • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... Shakespeare printed before Congreve's death had a third volume beginning with the Merry Wives of Windsor, No. 546 is apparently the same as No. 408, aspecially bound duodecimo volume beginning with the Merry Wives. But it is still not clear why a single specially bound volume should ...
— The Library of William Congreve • John C. Hodges
... "Why, at your age, Ulrich—at your age," repeated the Herr Pastor, setting down his beer and wiping with the back of his hand his large uneven lips, "I was the father of a family—two boys and a girl. You never saw her, Ulrich; so sweet, so good. We called her Maria." The Herr Pfarrer ...
— The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl • Jerome K. Jerome
... is this?' said he. 'Why do you not like to come to me as usual? How did you like your walk this morning? But what is the matter? ...
— Forgotten Tales of Long Ago • E. V. Lucas
... her troublesome little follower crowded Nan's brain. She might run and leave the youngster behind. But then Ruth would cry, and Nan could not bear to inflict pain on a little child. She might take her up in her arms and carry her bodily back to her own door. Well, and what then? Why, simply, she would get the credit of abusing the little girl. There seemed no way out of it. She stalked on grimly, and when she came to Reid's lot she promptly and dexterously climbed its fence and continued ...
— The Governess • Julie M. Lippmann
... wore our green boughs. For a few steps I hurried towards him, so that I might overhear what he was saying; I made so sure that he was a spy. Mr. Blick, to whom I told my fears, bade me not to worry myself. "Why, boy," he said, "there are five hundred spies in Lyme; but they can't hurt us. Before they can get off to tell our enemies all about us there won't be any enemies left. We shall be marching at once. We shall drive everything before us." He spoke with such confidence that I believed him; yet the ...
— Martin Hyde, The Duke's Messenger • John Masefield
... as tranquilly as if about to ask him the most ordinary question in the world, "why did you climb into my house last night and try ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901 • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... this Mastermaid, and to-day it's the same story', said the Prince, who pretended to be silly and stupid. 'Bless you, master! why don't you show me the thing at once? I should so like to see it only once in ...
— Popular Tales from the Norse • Sir George Webbe Dasent
... 'I know not why any one but a school-boy in his declamation should whine over the Common-wealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell
... see what people think of you? Good! Good! Why don't you go out and get hold of them? why don't you throw them around?—Oh, you're safe in here, ...
— The Rich Little Poor Boy • Eleanor Gates
... again and again that I have expressed a decided wish, and you have seemed to assent, yet after that you have secretly disobeyed my wish. In that way I can never know what I have to trust to. There would be some hope for us if you would admit this. Am I such an unreasonable, furious brute? Why should you not be open with ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot
... one incarnation and immortalised by truthfullest art. With the Gaul, the Spaniard, and the German at her gates, and in her cities, and encamped upon her fields, Italy still laughed; and when the voice of conscience sounding through Savonarola asked her why, she ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece • John Addington Symonds
... quick, and told them they were free. So when the soldiers come, they asked him if he had told his slaves they were free, and he said yes. They asked the Negroes if they lived there, and they said yes. One said, 'He just told us we was free.' The soldiers asked him why he had just told them, and he said they wasn't all there and he was waiting for them ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Texas Narratives, Part 1 • Works Projects Administration
... are the bones of Weland the wise, that goldsmith so glorious of yore? Why name I the bones of Weland the wise, but to tell you the truth that none upon earth can e'er lose the craft that is lent him by Christ? Vain were it to try, e'en a vagabond man of his craft to bereave; as vain as to turn the sun in his course and the swift wheeling sky from his stated career— it ...
— Anglo-Saxon Literature • John Earle
... violent but only half-conscious effort to cause the head and body to unite with the tail, so that the two might function once more as a single organism, governed by a single will. Under our present form of capitalistic life there would seem to be no reason why this fluid capital should not fuse and by its energy furnish the motor which should govern the world. Rome, for centuries, was governed by an emperor, who represented the landed class of Italy, under the forms of a ...
— The Emancipation of Massachusetts • Brooks Adams
... ask. "Why, what about Warren, the man who found the mine, and Stevens, the man who ...
— Arizona's Yesterday - Being the Narrative of John H. Cady, Pioneer • John H. Cady
... his last patient,—a sick child whose mother brought him to the holy man's feet begging help. The child had swallowed a bone and was choking to death, poor little thing. But Saint Blaise touched the baby's throat and the trouble was gone. This is why in olden times people with sore throats always prayed to Saint ...
— The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts • Abbie Farwell Brown
... intended to shorten the war, hath proved the very cause of its long continuance; for those, to whom the profits of it have accrued, have been disposed not easily to forgo them. And your Majesty will from thence discern the true reason, why so many have delighted in a war, which brought in so rich an harvest yearly ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. X. • Jonathan Swift
... and loved the shepherd dearly that was so good to them—all except one foolish little lamb. And this lamb did not like to be shut up every night in the fold; and she came to her mother, who was a wise old sheep, and said to her, "I wonder why we are shut up so every night? the dogs are not shut up, and why should we be shut up? I think it is very hard, and I will get away if I can, I am resolved; for I like to run about where I please, and I think it is very pleasant in the woods ...
— Harry's Ladder to Learning - Horn-Book, Picture-Book, Nursery Songs, Nursery Tales, - Harry's Simple Stories, Country Walks • Anonymous
... "Why, it's a diary. Some days he didn't write anything and other days when he did write, the pages are torn and the writing is so blurred that no one can make out what ...
— The Go Ahead Boys and Simon's Mine • Ross Kay
... especially striking, combining to show how simple was the evolution of many Hebrew sacred legends and ideas out of those earlier civilizations. For an especially interesting presentation of the reasons why Egyptian ideas of immortality were not seized upon by the Jews, see the Rev. Barham Zincke's work upon Egypt. For the sacrificial vessels, temple rites, etc., see the bas-reliefs, figured by Lepsius, Prisse d'Avennes, Mariette, Maspero, et. al. For a striking summary ...
— History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom • Andrew Dickson White
... impression he came into the tent, seated himself on a flour-bag near me, and made his usual inquiries as to my wants and desires; then, glancing at recent events, proceeded to say: "Well, Sir, I'm sure if I were you, I shouldn't think nothing at all of having shot that there black fellow; why, Sir, they're very thick and plentiful up the country." I did not exactly see the consolation to be derived from this argument of Ruston's, but I could not forbear smiling at its quaintness, and feeling grateful for the kindness with which ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 1 (of 2) • George Grey
... asked herself why she still tried to hide her story from him since in the morning it must all come out. He would know all about her then. And what must he be thinking already ...
— The Innocent Adventuress • Mary Hastings Bradley
... is the reason why there are two tables of the Decalog, one having reference to God and the other to man. God works unceasingly that man may receive what is in His table, but if man does not do what he is bidden in his own table ...
— Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence • Emanuel Swedenborg
... Monsieur," said his Majesty. "Zounds! Why, that is remarkable! Maret should be well satisfied with you. What is your salary?"—"Sire, I have eight thousand francs a year, and besides am boarded and lodged in the palace."—"That is well, Monsieur, and you ought to ...
— The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Constant
... understand why she lingered and took so long. It was a sign that she wanted to surprise him, that her heart was kind. And her light breathing seemed even now to fill the ...
— The Great Hunger • Johan Bojer
... role of Senator which fits his character and temperament. His mind has always been busy dreaming of the imperial future of your widening Republic. His eye has seen the vision of its extension to the Arctic on the north and the jungles of Panama on the south. Why should such a man deliberately come into this chamber to-day before this assembled crowd ...
— The Victim - A romance of the Real Jefferson Davis • Thomas Dixon
... and catching her firmly by the left arm). You will do nothing of the sort. (Pulling DELIA back to centre.) You will take off that hat—(she lets go of the arm and begins to take out the pin) which is a perfect duck, and I don't know why I didn't say so before—(she puts the hat down on the table) and let me take a good look at you (she does so), and kiss you (she does so, then crosses DELIA below her and takes her towards the house), and then we'll go to your room and unpack and have a lovely ...
— Belinda • A. A. Milne
... fir, Pinus abies, found scattered over the ground in our woods. It is a known fact that among the living Proteaceae the cones are very firmly attached to the branches, so that the seeds drop out without the cone itself falling to the ground, and this may perhaps be the reason why, in some instances in which fossil seeds have been found, no traces of the cone ...
— The Student's Elements of Geology • Sir Charles Lyell
... complete success; this they flatly refuse. He said to me and to them too, that he thought you would make no difficulty in taking it upon yourself, but that your colleagues would probably oppose it. They replied, that, not seeing any reason why any opposition should be made to the joint adoption of the measure by the three belligerents, rather than leave it to the caprice of the Minister of a single power, they should consider any such opposition as owing to the influence of such Minister; that then it would be useless ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX • Various
... branches of the lower house, naturally kept them separate; but as their petitions had mostly the same object, namely, the redress of grievances, and the support of law and justice both against the crown and the barons, this cause as naturally united them, and was the reason why they at last joined in one house for the despatch of business. The barons had few petitions. Their privileges were of more ancient date. Grievances seldom affected them: they were themselves the chief oppressors. In 1333, the knights by themselves concurred ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part B. - From Henry III. to Richard III. • David Hume
... starv'd, in the streets We should wander about, sans culottes; Would Liberty find us in meats, Or Equality lengthen our coats? That knaves are for levelling, don't wonder, We may easily guess at their views; Pray, who'd gain the most by the plunder? Why, they that have ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... attendants, who had taken it into the river and were just in the act of pouring the sacred water down the throat preparatory to the final scene. One woman alone sat on the shore weeping, and two small children at her side seemed not to understand why. It was still early morning, and all was quiet. Our guide pointed out some who were evidently friends, in conversation with men on a parapet above. They were bargaining for the sacred fire to light the funeral pile. Government ...
— Round the World • Andrew Carnegie
... "I can't explain why I did it," Marjorie began when the commotion had subsided. "I thought of Miss Susanna when first we planned to hang May baskets. I felt as though she needed one. She will never know who hung it. I hope it ...
— Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore • Pauline Lester
... idea that a finely flavored dish must cost a great deal; that is a mistake; if you have untainted meat, or sound vegetables, or even Indian meal, to begin with, you can make it delicious with proper seasoning. One reason why French cooking is so much nicer than any other is that it is seasoned with a great variety of herbs and spices; these cost very little; if you would buy a few cents' worth at a time you would soon have a good assortment. The best kinds are Sage, Thyme, Sweet Marjoram, ...
— Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six • Juliet Corson
... "Why didn't he come straight back to tell us?" Jake asked angrily. "If these people are so fierce as you pretend, it is time we were ...
— The Search for the Silver City - A Tale of Adventure in Yucatan • James Otis
... we enjoy the sight very much; and when I say (for the other occupant of the buggy has a little taste for two horses, which I am so plebeian as not to share, having never been able to understand why one is not enough for anybody): "But would you be the span-owner—for the span?" we see the end of the ...
— McClure's Magazine, March, 1896, Vol. VI., No. 4. • Various
... to move all the organs of the body with a like authority; though we cannot assign any reason besides experience, for so remarkable a difference between one and the other. Why has the will an influence over the tongue and fingers, not over the heart or liver? This question would never embarrass us, were we conscious of a power in the former case, not in the latter. We ...
— An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding • David Hume et al
... known to us in seed cake, and in Caraway comfits. They are really the dried fruit, and possess, when rubbed in a mortar, a warm aromatic taste, with a fragrant spicy smell. Caraway comfits consist of these fruits encrusted with white sugar; but why the wife of a comfit maker should be given to swearing, as Shakespeare avers, it is not easy to see. The young roots of Caraway plants may be sent to table like parsnips; they warm and stimulate a cold languid stomach. These ...
— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie
... been marvellous had the Boers not designedly brought about the issue of war, and the frontier of the northern angle of Natal was threatened. Dundee is an important coal-mining centre situated some forty-eight miles north-east of Ladysmith. Why it was chosen as our advance post is hard to decide. Its communications with Ladysmith were open to attack from either flank, and, in the light of after events, we see that the position there of a detached force was highly precarious. General Sir George White in an official despatch ...
— South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 2 (of 6) - From the Commencement of the War to the Battle of Colenso, - 15th Dec. 1899 • Louis Creswicke
... easily at any game, and buy and sell him body and soul, and had actually bargained to give him five hundred guineas—the needy, swinish miscreant! and paid him earnest beside—the stupid cheat! Drink—dice—women! Why, five hundred guineas made him free of his filthy paradise for a twelvemonth, and the leprous oaf could not quit his impurities for an hour, and keep the appointment that was to have made him master ...
— The House by the Church-Yard • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... towards "making up" the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly. If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than three-eighths of the way, and if, in making friends, each was ready to go five-eighths of the way—why, there would be more reconciliations than quarrels! Which is like the Irishman's remonstrance to his gad-about daughter: "Shure, you're always goin' out! You go out three times for wanst ...
— The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll • Stuart Dodgson Collingwood
... "Why, yes, you can, Uncle Joe, if you have an enclosed shed with some heat in it. The bulletin tells all about how to do ...
— Hidden Treasure • John Thomas Simpson
... hesitated—said she had not time. "You said, Helen, that you would take the packet, and you know you must; but I will explain it all as fast as I can. You know I fainted, but you do not know why? I will tell you exactly how it all happened:—you recollect my coming into the library after I was dressed, before you went up-stairs, and giving you a sprig of ...
— Helen • Maria Edgeworth
... "Dear Dickey Downy, why are you afraid of me? Your own little Polly wouldn't hurt you for the world. I wanted to softly stroke your pretty plumage just out of pure love and, you dear little coward, you ...
— Dickey Downy - The Autobiography of a Bird • Virginia Sharpe Patterson
... printed data provided by the authorities,—not to make verbal inquiries of any of the college officials themselves. He was, after all, sufficiently in the academic tradition to prefer the consultation of records as against the employment of viva voce methods; and he saw no reason why his new interest should be widely communicated to other individuals. There was an annual register; there was an album of loose sheets kept up by the members of the faculty; and there was a card-catalogue, he remembered, in half a dozen little drawers. All this ...
— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller
... "Why, you turn the cock and let it on—in this way," said the clerk, letting a little Cochituate into a basin. "There, go along now, and go to the doctor's, as I have ...
— The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales • Francis A. Durivage
... She would be disturbed no more that night. Her shaking hands rattled the spoon which stirred the mixture in the glass. The familiar motion quieted her. Here, right in her hands, was peace, rest, a swift and magical release from the torment of appetite denied. To-morrow—but why think of to-morrow? She might be stronger then. Everything might be easier. All she really needed was ...
— Up the Hill and Over • Isabel Ecclestone Mackay |
