"Why" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... "Why should any one wish to find her?" asked Julia. "She was bought in the slave-market for a great price by the lord Marcus, who, of his own will, has set her at liberty. Now, therefore, she is a free woman whom ...
— Pearl-Maiden • H. Rider Haggard
... by her sons, to say that Italy is the land to which we must look for great men; that it is not merely the country of singers, fiddlers, improvisatori, and linguists, but of men, of beings who may emphatically be called men. But who, three or four years ago, would have ventured to say as much? Why there was one and only one who ventured to say so, and that was George Borrow in his work entitled The Romany Rye. Many other things equally bold and true he has said in that work, and also in its ...
— A Bibliography of the writings in Prose and Verse of George Henry Borrow • Thomas J. Wise
... account of the pig-headedness of Agricultural Committees in this respect. The only thing that I was entirely unable to explain, and the reason for which I could by no means fathom, was the pertinent enquiry constantly occurring, "why should one cow be given a first prize and another none at all," when the only difference to the mind of a just and impartial observer consisted in the variety of their attitudes or colour. Being ...
— Canada for Gentlemen • James Seton Cockburn
... 1822, Mr. Tyler was appointed president of Dartmouth College. It was to him a mystery why he should be selected for that station. Located in a retired country parish, he had been devoted to the duties of the ministry, and had paid little attention to science or literature. He was strongly attached to his people and his home, ...
— The History of Dartmouth College • Baxter Perry Smith
... be quite ready to say that Cousin Jasper sent you to get it from him. The miniature and the pictures seem to be part of the trouble, though I don't understand why. So if that man comes here with such an accusation, it would be better for Cousin Jasper to be able to say he knew nothing ...
— The Windy Hill • Cornelia Meigs
... repast, ere Miss Fletcher, the favourite companion and confidante of Delia, entered the room. "My dearest creature," cried the visitor, "how do you do? Had not we not a most charming evening? I vow I was fatigued to death: and then, lord Martin, I think he never appeared to so much advantage. Why he was quite covered with diamonds, spangles, and frogs." "Ah!" cried Delia, "but the young stranger." "True," answered Miss Fletcher, "I liked him of all things; so tall, so genteel, and so sweetly perfumed.—I cannot think who he is. I called ...
— Damon and Delia - A Tale • William Godwin
... had ter git in de buggy en go 'long wid young Mars Dunkin ter his plantation, w'ich wuz mo' d'n twenty mile away; en dey want no chance er her seein' Sandy no mo' tel she come back home. De po' gal felt monst'us bad erbout de way things wuz gwine on, en she knowed Sandy mus' be a wond'rin' why she didn' come en ...
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue • Various
... of the Faubourg Montmartre and the Rue Drouot, whilst from the south—the Quartier Latin and its neighbourhood—contingents made their way across the Pont St. Michel and the Pont Notre Dame, and thence, past the Halles, along the Boulevard de Sebastopol and the Rue Montmartre. Why the Quartier Latin element did not advance direct on the Palais Bourbon from its own side of the river I cannot exactly say; but it was, I believe, thought desirable to join hands, in the first instance, with the Revolutionary ...
— My Days of Adventure - The Fall of France, 1870-71 • Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
... he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while ...
— The Four Million • O. Henry
... representatives, without which you cannot cause the laws to be executed. I know that, thanks to the constitution, there already exists in the directory a majority which enjoys the confidence of the people, and that of the national representation. Why do you hesitate to introduce unanimity of desires and principles between the two first authorities of the republic? You have not even the confidence of those vile flatterers, who have dug your political tomb. Finish ...
— History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 • F. A. M. Mignet
... curtain, and passes to the other side,—that is all! And why all these doubts and delays? Because we know not what is behind—because there is no returning—and because our mind infers that all is darkness and confusion, where we have nothing ...
— The Sorrows of Young Werther • J.W. von Goethe
... to her work in a meditative mood. She was beginning to wonder why she had not had any message from Sir Edwin all the week. Had he changed his mind, or had he possibly forgotten? If he rang her up presently what ...
— Winding Paths • Gertrude Page
... beating of the wings; but at the bottom of her heart she was dimly conscious that she did not want to resist. If he had given her that address, it was because he knew she would use it. She did not know why she wanted to go to him; she had nothing to say to him; she knew only that it was necessary to go. But a few days before she had seen the Phedre of Racine, and she felt on a sudden all the torments that wrung the heart of that unhappy ...
— The Magician • Somerset Maugham
... and steer, and box the compass, before you begin on the higher branches of seamanship. You will learn fast enough, however, if you keep your eyes and ears open and your wits about you, and try to get at the why and wherefore of everything. Many fail to be worth much at sea as well as on shore, because they are too proud to learn their A B C. Just think of that, ...
— The South Sea Whaler • W.H.G. Kingston
... reference to your safety and your honour, agreed for a short time to be your keeper, that office would have been usurped by the Caesar, whose object you know, and may partly guess the modes by which it would be pursued. Why then dost thou childishly weep at being held for a short space in an honourable restraint, which the renowned arms of your husband will probably put an end to long ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott
... so neither can cattle: for being endued with life, motion, and sensibility, they are evidently superiour to these." But this objection will receive its answer from those observations which have been already made; and will discover the true reason, why cattle are justly to be estimated as property. For first, the right to empire over brutes, is natural, and not adventitious, like the right to empire over men. There are, secondly, many and evident signs of the inferiority of their ...
— An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African • Thomas Clarkson
... applied at once, but I only thought of it this morning. You see one of my uncle's men had a little accident, and an Indian went out to gather the gum. I happened to see him pricking the blisters on the trees and gathering the gum in a dish and I inquired why he was doing it. He explained to me, and this morning when I saw the cut, it suddenly came to me that if I could find balsam in the neighbourhood it would be helpful. And here it is, and now with your permission ...
— A Mating in the Wilds • Ottwell Binns
... motive, Ibrahim Hadjib, did you keep silence, and send me no word of advice while the ministers of Sultan Mahomet, now here, sent many letters to show me how to capture the city? Why did you refrain from appearing before me at court to-day, at the same time with the ministers and grandees? Why, now that you are here, are you the only one to wear a sad and mournful appearance and a long face, while all the ...
— Malayan Literature • Various Authors
... One hundred and fifty persons a day visited this spot the first season, and carried off portions of the bones. They are now nearly all gone and the pit plowed over. Will any antiquarian inform us, if possible, why these bones were placed here? To what tribe do they belong? When ...
— Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians • Elias Johnson
... to Soulanges; everybody was in the habit of going to him,—Lupin and Gaubertin, Soudry and Gendrin,—so much were they afraid of him. But we shall presently understand why any educated man, such as the ex-Benedictine, would have done as Rigou did, and kept away from the little town, after reading the following sketch of the personages who composed what was called in those parts "the leading ...
— Sons of the Soil • Honore de Balzac
... I never heard before, that the dispensing of the word and sacraments is a part of church government; sure the word government is not, nor never was, so understood in the controversies concerning church government. But if it be, why did the brother in his sermon oppose doctrine and government? "Give us doctrine (said ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie
... said, "that this day would come. One grand hope was given to your countrymen; they cast it from them! Ages on ages shall pass before they learn the loftiness of that hope, or fulfill the punishment of that rejection. Yet, in the fullness of time, light shall break upon their darkness. They shall ask: Why are barbarians and civilised alike our oppressors? Why do contending faiths join in crushing us alone? Why do realms, distant as the ends of the earth, unite in ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books - Vol. II: Fiction • Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.
... so sorry! But what could I do? You don't know my brother, or you would not wonder. He seems to have a kind of hatred to your family!—I do not in the least know why. Could my father have said anything about you that he misunderstood?—But no, that could not be!—And yet my father did say he knew your ...
— Warlock o' Glenwarlock • George MacDonald
... Count de Noyon, Seigneur of Cattrina?" he said presently. "Why I think that a lord of those names had audience with his Holiness some while ago, just before the pest grew bad in Avignon and the gates of the palace were ordered to be shut. I know not what passed on the occasion, not having ...
— Red Eve • H. Rider Haggard
... saroon of indigo up on deck. This was, however, only part of the labour; the greatest difficulty was to lower them into the boats. The wind fortunately fell, and I was able to get up altogether during the day no less than 123 saroons of indigo, valued at sixteen thousand pounds. Why more assistance was not given me I cannot say. I do not like to dwell on the subject. In the evening the masters signalled to their boats to return, and my people and I were left alone once more on board the rotten ...
— Hurricane Hurry • W.H.G. Kingston
... said I gold?—ay then, why he, or she, Or whosoe'er it was, or half the world, Had ventured—had the thing I spake of been Mere gold—but this was all of that true steel Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur, And lightnings played about ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, No. 23, February, 1873, Vol. XI. • Various
... began, firing in the questions with the speed of a Maxim. "Something worth while, judging from that mysterious letter of yours. What is the scheme? Why this secret meeting in the forest instead of in town? Why"—but the man he called captain ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely
... snows against the blue—a wonderful fortnight. In London on the way back they had their first awkward encounter. Coming out of a theatre one evening, Gyp heard a woman's voice, close behind, say: "Why, it's Bryan! What ages!" And ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... Kitty? Here is the third time within three days you've told me I could n't see her. She saw Mr. Gridley yesterday, I know; why ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... begin to feel sorry for him. But what a baby he is! Why don't he break and run? He can make good time with those long legs when he's ...
— Harper's Young People, March 30, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... be no finer tonic for a fagged fellow with feeble lungs than this glorious Alaskan air. There is no danger of surfeit here; the over-sweet is not likely to be met with in this latitude; and, then, if one really feels the need of change, why, here is a fishing station. The forest is trimmed along the shore so that there is scant room for a few shanties between the water and the wilderness. A dock runs but a little way out into the sea, for the shores are precipitous and one finds a goodly number of fathoms only ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska • Charles Warren Stoddard
... into a dispute as to which of the two was the better born. They kept it up for some time, till they came to a place where the road passed through a cemetery full of monuments, when the Monkey stopped and looked about him and gave a great sigh. "Why do you sigh?" said the Fox. The Monkey pointed to the tombs and replied, "All the monuments that you see here were put up in honour of my forefathers, who in their day were eminent men." The Fox was speechless for a moment, but quickly recovering he said, "Oh! don't ...
— Aesop's Fables • Aesop
... adorned for the coming guests, reflecting that the gala air was worn for her who should, Fate willing, have made her first visit as mistress, and realising that Fate had not been willing and that she came but as a guest and Countess of Dunstanwolde. Oh, it was a bitter, relentless thing; and why should it have been—for what wise purpose or what cruel one? And with a maddening clutch about his heart he saw again the tragic searching in her eyes when she had said, "Then you have known me long, your Grace," and afterwards, so soft and strangely slow, "Then you might have been one of those ...
— His Grace of Osmonde • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... bear hard on the innocent children of traitors, it is no more than what constantly chances in time of domestic peace, in the pecuniary punishment of crimes far less heinous than treason; and loyal men see no good reason why the hardship should not fall in part on the children of traitors, rather than wholly (as in part ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 5, November, 1863 • Various
... beauty, bloom, and fragrance equalled those of the choicest culture in our English garden; and on looking at them and the other familiar flowers around, we might have been forgiven for fancying ourselves at home. Whence come our associates, and why is it that even the fragrance of a flower is capable of seizing hold on the mind, and transporting it to the utmost ...
— In Eastern Seas - The Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83 • J. J. Smith
... not to make the attempt and gave him a gold band to keep his hair in order, and an iron crutch to help his lame leg. On lifting his hand to his eyes, he found they were as large as buckles. That is why he was called Li K'ung-mu, 'Li Hollow Eyes.' Popularly he is known as Li T'ieh-kuai, 'Li with the Iron Crutch.' No precise period seems to be assigned to his career on earth, though one tradition places him in the Yuean dynasty. Another ...
— Myths and Legends of China • E. T. C. Werner
... supposed that the world would capture that midnight bird and hang it up in the golden cage of a "Collection of Best Poems." He was haunted by the "ghost" which "each separate dying ember wrought" upon the floor, and had never been able to explain satisfactorily to himself how and why, his head should have been "reclining on the cushion's velvet lining" when the topside would have been more convenient for any purpose except that of rhyme. But it cannot be demanded of a poet that he should explain himself to anybody, least of all to himself. To his view, ...
— Literary Hearthstones of Dixie • La Salle Corbell Pickett
... we made them sensible of their dependance on the will of our government for every species of merchandize as well for their defence & comfort; and apprized them of the strength of our government and it's friendly dispositions towards them. we also gave them as a reason why we wished to petrate the country as far as the ocean to the west of them was to examine and find out a more direct way to bring merchandize to them. that as no trade could be carryed on with them before our return to our homes that it was mutually advantageous to them as well as to ourselves ...
— The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Meriwether Lewis et al
... benevolent citizens a beautiful little white girl, four or five years of age, whose father was dead and whose mother was at Blackwell's Island;) another from which not long; since twenty persons, sick with fever were taken to the hospital, and every individual of them died. But why extend the catalogue? Or why attempt to convey to the imagination by words the hideous squalor and the deadly effluvia; the dim, undrained courts, oozing with pollution; the dark narrow stairways decayed with age, reeking with filth, and overrun with vermin; the rotten ...
— The trade, domestic and foreign • Henry Charles Carey
... "Why, it was not only uncomfortable, but it was rather conspicuous because of the constant espionage of your Mr. Blair and your Mr. Johnson and your Mr. Hastings," she explained, still laughing. "So I have moved ...
— Elusive Isabel • Jacques Futrelle
... counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland. An anecdote is related of a shepherd, who was found by a gentleman attending his flock, and reading a volume of Milton. "What are you reading?" asked the gentleman. "Why," replied the shepherd, "I am reading an odd sort of a poet; he would fain rhyme, but does not quite know how to set ...
— Anecdotes of Dogs • Edward Jesse
... "Why did you tell Sister Celeste that you came to Dearborn seeking Elsa Matherson?" she questioned, her clear ...
— When Wilderness Was King - A Tale of the Illinois Country • Randall Parrish
... color would rise as he leaned his elbow on the mantel and looked at her intently. She could not meet his eyes, for there was a heart-hunger in them that seemed to touch her very soul. "Oh," she thought, "why doesn't he—why can't he get over it?" and her tears began to flow so fast that ...
— Without a Home • E. P. Roe
... threw himself face-downward on the floor, and wrung in agony his hands, and moaned out pleas for forgiveness; but the poor, old, fragile form knitted on, and on, and the face was never raised. Alas! why must we all feel the full force of a mother's love and sacrifices only when too late? Why must it be that the deepest of all unselfish ...
— A Strange Discovery • Charles Romyn Dake
... consciousness that everything was over and done with; that I must go—that there was nothing for it but to go. That consciousness transformed me into an automaton, doing by routine everything that was necessary for my departure. I was even conscious of keeping up appearances. Why? I do not know, as this did not matter now to me any longer. Most likely it was an instinctive action of the brain, which for months had been trained in concealing the truth and keeping up appearances. I told Pani Celina ...
— Without Dogma • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... "Why, because I found a lot of these in the sand, all of them measuring up to sample." From under my coat I drew the shining yellow bars ...
— The Pirate of Panama - A Tale of the Fight for Buried Treasure • William MacLeod Raine
... minutest description of my odious and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own horrors and rendered mine indelible. I sickened as I read. 'Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and ...
— Frankenstein - or The Modern Prometheus • Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
... "H'm! And pray why should I tell you what I should do under the circumstances?" replied the little lawyer. "Upon my word, Miss Newcome, I think I should leave matters as they stand. Sir Barnes and I, you are aware, are not the very best of ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray
... then inquired if Mr. Snodgrass had heard from Mr. Andrew, and was answered in the affirmative; but the letter was not read. Why it was withheld our readers must guess for themselves; but we have been fortunate enough ...
— The Ayrshire Legatees • John Galt
... why it is they do not take a cold when exposed to cold winds and rain. The fact is, and ought to be more generally understood, that nearly every cold is contracted indoors, and is not directly due to the ...
— The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) - The Whole Comprising A Comprehensive Cyclopedia Of Information For - The Home • Mrs. F.L. Gillette
... the part of the Comptroller. It would have damaged him fatally with the citizens, who were disposed to deal lightly with him if he would aid them in getting at and punishing the villainies of his former confederates. There was no reason why he should seek to screen the Ring, for they made no secret of their intention to destroy him. In view, therefore, of the facts as at present known, it seems certain that the theft was brought about by the Ring ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... carriage, They all set off to the tinker's marriage. Two three-cornered hats, and one with a feather, They looked very fine in the sweet summer weather. But the carriage turned over, the poor goat shied, The little belle laughed, the silly beaux cried, And the tinker fumed, "Oh, why do they tarry? And why don't they come to see me marry? I shall throw my bride right into the sea, If they are not here by half-past three." But the belle was laughing, "Oh, what shall we do!" And ...
— Very Short Stories and Verses For Children • Mrs. W. K. Clifford
... outer room, and down the stair; found the back-door and a water-butt; then a garden consisting of two or three plots of flowers well cared for; and ended his discoveries with a seat surrounded and almost canopied with honeysuckle, where doubtless the cobbler sometimes smoked his pipe! "Why does he not work here rather than in the archway?" thought Donal. But, dearly as he loved flowers and light and the free air of the garden, the old cobbler loved the faces of his kind better. His prayer for forty years had been to be made like his master; and if that prayer was not answered, ...
— Donal Grant • George MacDonald
... Why don't you admit it, Grange, Larry thought as he staggered through the companionway toward his cabin. That's what you always wanted, ...
— A Place in the Sun • C.H. Thames
... Mr Pitskiver, like a "sweet seducer, blandly smiling," made polite enquiries whether he should not relieve her of the trouble.—"Oh no!—it degrades woman from the lofty sphere of equal usefulness with the rougher sex. Why shouldn't a lady help fish?—Why should she confess her inferiority? The post assigned to her by nature—though usurped by man—is to elevate by her example, to enlighten by her precepts, and to add to the great aggregate of human felicity by a ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844 • Various
... "but did you never try him on white daisies? It wouldn't do, of course, to feed common horses on them, but a blood steed like yours, why, it would make his coat shine ...
— In the Mist of the Mountains • Ethel Turner
... author assigns two reasons why he does not discuss the subject of the tides: 1. It does not suit the design of his work; 2. The subject has been treated by many others, e.g. Strab. 3, 5, 11; ...
— Germania and Agricola • Caius Cornelius Tacitus
... which he said was in November preceding. The fiscal said that could not be, for it was on new-year's-day. The prisoner urged, as before, that he had not been in Amboina since last November, till now that he was brought thither in custody. "Why, then," said the fiscal, "have you belied yourself?" To this he resolutely answered, that all he had confessed respecting a conspiracy was false, and merely feigned ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr
... attractive society than mine. Unless I set things straight, my good friend, you and my daughter—oh, with the best intentions!—will drift into a false position. You won't see Stella to-day. Quite impossible—and I will tell you why. I am the worldly old mother; I don't mind what I say. My innocent daughter would die before she would confess what I am going to tell you. Can I offer you ...
— The Black Robe • Wilkie Collins
... whose nater wuz more yieldin' and gentle, and I didn't altogether approve of their intimacy, but considered that it would be broke off pretty quick, as they would part for good and all when we got to China. You may wonder why I worried about Aronette; well, the reason wuz, I loved her, jest as everybody else did who knew her well. She wuz a darling girl, always sweet tempered, always trying to help somebody; Dorothy loved her just as much as though she wuz her sister and would have treated her exactly like ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley
... worship Jehovah. And Abul offered of the noblest of his sheep as a sacrifice to Jehovah, and Jehovah was well pleased with his offering. And then Cain offered of the finest of his fruit of his harvest. And Jehovah had no respect for his sacrifice, saying, "why bring of the things before me which I have defamed. Redemption shall be found alone in the blood of that which I have not cursed." Then Cain was very wroth, and Jehovah said unto him repent; ...
— The Secret of the Creation • Howard D. Pollyen
... can bear," she murmured. "After to-night, all will be over. It is better to drown myself in the Nile than to live alone, without father, mother, country, or friends." Thinking of her lost country, she leaned against the rock and half forgot why she had come. She recalled the warmth and beauty of her childhood's home, and then by contrast her term of slavery in Egypt. While she waited, thinking of these sad things, she saw a man's form coming toward her, ...
— Operas Every Child Should Know - Descriptions of the Text and Music of Some of the Most Famous Masterpieces • Mary Schell Hoke Bacon
... "I know why some of you hiss. You think I told Dimock of Harpour. As it happens I didn't; but I'm neither afraid nor ashamed to tell you all, as I told Harpour to his face, that I had fully intended to do it— or rather I meant to tell, not Dimock, but Somers. Will you ...
— St. Winifred's - The World of School • Frederic W. Farrar
... employed as the usual interlude and especially as afterpiece along with the other dramatic performances.(9) The plot was of course still more indifferent, loose, and absurd than in the harlequinade; if it was only sufficiently chequered, the public did not ask why it laughed, and did not remonstrate with the poet, who instead of untying the knot cut it to pieces. The subjects were chiefly of an amorous nature, mostly of the licentious sort; for example, poet and public without exception took part against the ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen
... who all dearly loved the lost little ones, sat back in the gloom and were still and quiet. A kind of stupor seemed to be over them all, with one exception, and, strange to say, that one was Mustagan. Sharp eyes were on him, and some wondered why he was so strangely agitated and ...
— Three Boys in the Wild North Land • Egerton Ryerson Young
... me, however, in the very strongest manner, to pledge myself to give him the exclusive right of publishing all my works, both present and future,—and indeed to sign a contract to that effect,—which I declined. This trait sufficiently proves to you why I often give the preference to other publishers both home and foreign. I love uprightness and integrity, and am of opinion that no one should drive a hard bargain with artists, for, alas! however brilliant the exterior of Fame may appear, an artist does not enjoy ...
— Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826 Vol. 2 • Lady Wallace
... want to give another tea-party, and could not get in all at dinner. They had had charades and a picnic. Elizabeth Eliza wished for something unusual, that should be remembered after they had left for Egypt. Why should it not be a fancy ball? There never had been ...
— The Last of the Peterkins - With Others of Their Kin • Lucretia P. Hale
... step," said Margaret, and she took him by the shoulder, and held him with all the energy of an excited woman. "You know the secret of that which is breaking my heart. Why does not my Gerard come, nor send a line this many months? Answer me, or all the town is like to hear me, let alone thy servants, My misery is too great to be ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... to supply the same allowances as before. With many irksome restraints, conditions, and responsibilities imposed on the master, it had no equivalent advantages. There appeared no reason, in short, why general emancipation would not do as well in 1834 as in 1840. Finally, a strong conviction existed that from peculiarity of climate and soil, the physical wants and necessities of the peasantry would compel them to labor for their subsistence, ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society
... upon our main scheme. You, of course, are the editor, and my suggestions are merely suggestions, subject to your approval. But, briefly, my idea is that Cosy Moments should become red-hot stuff. I could wish its tone to be such that the public will wonder why we do not print it on asbestos. We must chronicle all the live events of the day, murders, fires, and the like in a manner which will make our readers' spines thrill. Above all, we must be the guardians of the People's rights. We must be a search-light, showing ...
— Psmith, Journalist • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... before. This double action depends upon the halves of the spiral (divided by a line passing through its centre perpendicular to the direction of its motion) acting in opposite directions; and the reason why the needle went to the same side, whether the spiral passed by the poles in the one or the other direction, was the circumstance, that upon changing the motion, the direction of the wires in the approaching half of the spiral was changed also. The effects, curious as ...
— Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 • Michael Faraday
... bullet through him 'fore he could lift his sword," said Gedge to himself; "but what's the good o' that? Twenty or thirty would be upon us before we could get away, and a nice condition we're in for that! Why, I feel like a fat sheep at Christmas. Couldn't run if I wanted to, and I don't, 'less he runs fust, and he won't, I ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn
... didst thou create me with desires and ambitions above my sphere? Why didst thou cast me into this place, where I would meet him, only to suffer? Father, father, come ...
— The Witch of Salem - or Credulity Run Mad • John R. Musick
... "you are not wont to be so dull of comprehension. Can you not guess why I am so joyed by the ...
— The Cliff Climbers - A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" • Captain Mayne Reid
... ..." it said, in tones that made a ghastly essay at confidence and trembled despite his efforts. "I fear Silly Peter's done someone a hurt.... I saw en striking out.... Why ded'n 'ee all keep still same as I ded ... someone light a lantern...." Followed a sound of fumbling, and then a light wavered in Killigrew's fingers; he picked up and lit a lantern. By its light could be seen Archelaus holding a bewildered Silly Peter, whose mouth and eyes ...
— Secret Bread • F. Tennyson Jesse
... zones. Journey from Juigalpa to lake of Nicaragua. Voyage on lake. Fresh-water shells and insects. Similarity of fresh-water productions all over the world. Distribution of European land and fresh-water shells. Discussion of the reasons why fresh-water productions have varied less than those of the land ...
— The Naturalist in Nicaragua • Thomas Belt
... answer again, briefly as I might. About sundown le Bon Gualtier returned, sorely travel-worn himself, and with an utterly exhausted horse. He had ascertained that our companions had gone on, probably to our original destination of the previous night; though why they should have passed our present resting-place without calling there, remained a mystery; nor was that point ever satisfactorily explained. To proceed at once was impossible, for a fresh horse had to be found for our ...
— Border and Bastille • George A. Lawrence
... synonymous with apostasy or licentiousness, we can easily understand why the unsophisticated among the Russian Jews were so bitterly opposed to it from the time the sad truth dawned upon them, until, under Alexander II, their suspicions were somewhat dissipated. Previous to the latter part of the reign of Alexander I the "struggle groups" ...
— The Haskalah Movement in Russia • Jacob S. Raisin
... of spurning a worthless ordinary, cannot always appeal. The landlady had contrived to make her story vivid, and furtive glances were cast at the individual who occupied the seat she had indicated. There suddenly appeared to be something fatal in it and ample reason why a man might congratulate himself on being seated elsewhere. The occupant was the least concerned. He had taken the most comfortable place in the room; it seemed to be rightly his by virtue of his dress and bearing. He had the grand air as having mixed in high society, his superiority was tacitly ...
— The Brown Mask • Percy J. Brebner
... and the amount paid stamped on them, they are no more deserving of collection as postage stamps than the hand stamp or pen mark on an envelope would be if no stamp or portion of a stamp had been affixed. If it is asked "Why cut up and affix the stamps then?" the answer is the postmaster knew no better and wanted to make his cash account correspond with the total of stamps sold and on hand. He tried to simplify his book-keeping—nothing more—but went about it in an antiquated ...
— The Stamps of Canada • Bertram Poole
... which was, however, carried out. For instance, two long corridors, running north and south from the central edifice, which are figured in the paper, never developed into bricks and mortar. We are not told why the original scheme had to be contracted; but perhaps the reason may be not unconnected with a remark of Ussher's, that the College had already advanced from its own funds a sum considerably exceeding the original bequest. The picture of the building shows also the dome for the ...
— Great Astronomers • R. S. Ball
... his belt must have looked like an official come to read the riot act or a proclamation or, perchance, to demand a hostage. But they are a fearless race in Westwood and only smiled as the doughty hero passed through, and one inquisitive little girl asked her mother why he had his ...
— Roy Blakeley in the Haunted Camp • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... nativity—a devout Presbyterian who believed in the most rigid simplicity. Few who remembered the gaucheries of Captain Corington's daughter on her first presentation to his family's friends could recognize her in the cosmopolitan Mrs. Larrabbee. Why, with New York and London at her disposal, she elected to remain in the Middle West, puzzled them, though they found her answer, "that she belonged there," satisfying Grace Larrabbee's cosmopolitanism was of that apperception that knows the value of ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... no means, my dear sir. But one moment, please. Why not close with my proposal? Come, my dear sir, to be plain, I will take the place ...
— Sappers and Miners - The Flood beneath the Sea • George Manville Fenn
... "Why, a camel, to be sure; coming down to the beach to get a lick of salt, of which most beasts are very ...
— Saved from the Sea - The Loss of the Viper, and her Crew's Saharan Adventures • W.H.G. Kingston
... that I am innocent and pure in conscience of the accusations and slanders of which they wish to accuse me. For I am a free princess and born a queen, obedient to no one, save to God, to whom alone I must give an account of my actions. This is why I protest yet again that my appearance before you be not prejudicial either to me, or to the kings, princes and potentates, my allies, nor to my son, and I require that my protest be registered, and I demand ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - MARY STUART—1587 • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE
... why any vaccine matter will have its prophylactic effect, is this: He believes there is in the blood of any animal subject to a disease caused by bacilli some substance which is necessary to the sustenance ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6 of 8 • Various
... dress the young lady!' But it's something!" she panted. Then she thought out the rest. "If he won't have her, why she'll have YOU. ...
— What Maisie Knew • Henry James
... real fighting had taken place. The concrete gun positions, the permanent infantry protections with loopholes in concrete, and all the trenches and barbed wire, looked certainly as if the Russians had intended to stay in Lemberg. The full explanation of why they did not must be left for the present. What happened at one fortified position, a few miles southwest of Lemberg, was ...
— Antwerp to Gallipoli - A Year of the War on Many Fronts—and Behind Them • Arthur Ruhl
... "Why didn't he think to enclose the price of a ticket from here to New Orleans? He might have known money didn't grow on ...
— The House Boat Boys • St. George Rathborne
... 'Why, then, you've got a sort of a relation of mine here, ma'am,' said the traveller; 'a young man of the name of Tapley. What! Mark, my boy!' apostrophizing the premises, 'have I come upon you at last, ...
— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens
... it, man, why don't you sling those chickens the other side your saddle? The colonel will see them, ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... mother and child. It was when Jesus went to his first Passover. When the time came for returning home the child tarried behind. After a painful search the mother found him in one of the porches of the temple, sitting with the rabbis, an eager learner. There is a tone of reproach in her words, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." She was sorely perplexed. All the years before this her son had implicitly obeyed her. He had never resisted her will, never withdrawn from her guidance. Now he had done something without asking her about it—as ...
— Personal Friendships of Jesus • J. R. Miller
... should say, These are white crows. Crow, therefore, does not connote blackness; nor, from any of the attributes which it does connote, whether as a word in popular use or as a term of art, could blackness be inferred. Not only, therefore, can we conceive a white crow, but we know of no reason why such an animal should not exist. Since, however, none but black crows are known to exist, blackness, in the present state of our knowledge, ranks as an accident, but an inseparable accident, of the ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill
... stood feeble women in ill-fitting clothes, with tired children in their aching arms, a painful sag in their weakened loins. Bradley marvelled to think why such festivals had ever seemed mirthful and happy to him. He wondered if there used to be so many tired faces at the Grange picnics in Iowa. Were the farmers really less comfortable and happy, or had he simply ...
— A Spoil of Office - A Story of the Modern West • Hamlin Garland
... "Oh, why so grave" he cried to me, "Laugh, stern lips, laugh at last! Let wisdom come when wisdom may. The ...
— Poems of West & East • Vita Sackville-West
... I am writing, I glance at the table where I sit—a small brown table of oak, carved with the name of Felise, Baroness of Beaugard. She sat here; and some day, when you hear her story, you will know why I begged Madame Lotbiniere to give it to me in exchange for another, once the King's. Carved, too, beneath her name, are the words, "Oh, tarry thou ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... "where Muvver tan see us"; Ariadne soon learned the reason for staying in one place so constantly. She was very happy that day. Never in her life had she had so enchanting a playfellow. He showed her a game to play with clothespins and tin plates from the kitchen—why, it was so much fun that 'Stashie herself had to join in as she went past. And he told one story after another without a sign of the usual grown-up fatigue. They had their lunch there at the end of the hall, on the little sewing-table with two dolls ...
— The Squirrel-Cage • Dorothy Canfield
... they[74] are very naturally seek money or power; and power because it is as good as money,—the "spoils," so called, "of office." And why not? For they aspire to the highest, and this, in their sleep-walking, they dream is highest. Wake them and they shall quit the false good and leap to the true, and leave governments to clerks and desks. This revolution is to be wrought by the gradual domestication of the idea of Culture. The ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson
... sight!" he ejaculated again. "Why, Jess, where have you been? Captain Niel has gone out to look for ...
— Jess • H. Rider Haggard
... comparative well-being of rulers and subjects. They alone knew what incantations to use for each case that was brought before them, in what way the sacrifices were to be brought, when the deity should be approached, and why divine anger had manifested itself. The intellectual leadership thus acquired by the priests, in addition to their control of religious affairs, was an additional factor in maintaining orthodox standards of belief when once they had become ...
— The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria • Morris Jastrow
... "Why, good gracious!" he cried. "Here's another trail! Now, where on earth does this lead to? I don't see any spotted trees"—looking carefully about—"but it's a well-beaten track, a regular plain path, where people have been walking. It must lead to our camp. I'll follow it up, anyhow. ...
— Camp and Trail - A Story of the Maine Woods • Isabel Hornibrook
... within us; which in an instant affect the sensibilities of men with a something new and unforeseen; and which awaken, if only for a passing moment, the faculty and response of the diviner mind. Tacitus does all this, and Burke does it, and that is why men who care nothing for Roman despots or for Jacobin despots, will still perpetually turn to those writers almost as if they were on the level of great poets or very ...
— Critical Miscellanies, Volume I (of 3) - Essay 4: Macaulay • John Morley
... They greeted her casually, as was their habit. It was the way they kept up the bluff to themselves that they had no use for girls. Isabelle was satisfied with their manners. She knew in her own mind that she was the brains of the whole concern, so why cavil at their bluff, ...
— The Cricket • Marjorie Cooke
... was in the darkest corner of the room, and no one thought of looking there. The murderer has written it with his or her own blood. See this smear where it has trickled down the wall! That disposes of the idea of suicide anyhow. Why was that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you. See that candle on the mantelpiece. It was lit at the time, and if it was lit this corner would be the brightest instead of the darkest portion ...
— A Study In Scarlet • Arthur Conan Doyle
... risks, or was used for purposes apart from the war, but with reference to the supplies for the British army it would seem that a very free use was made of the ports and waters of the United States. One reason why the English Government was able to supply its armies in South Africa with horses and mules in such large numbers may have been the fact that a better market supply existed in this country, but it is more probable that the evasion of the strictest neutral requirements was easier here than elsewhere. ...
— Neutral Rights and Obligations in the Anglo-Boer War • Robert Granville Campbell
... very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory. Still, if it was a total rout of the enemy, I am puzzled to know why the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad was not seized again, as you say you have all the railroads but the Richmond and Fredericksburg. I am puzzled to see how, lacking that, you can have any, except the scrap from Richmond to West Point. ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln
... was," said Linda, wide eyed with astonish meet. "Why shouldn't I? I was proud to. And now, old dear, before I go, the biggest secret of all. I had a letter, Katy, from the editor of Everybody's Home, and people like our articles, Katy; they are something ...
— Her Father's Daughter • Gene Stratton-Porter
... 301. Why sounds, etc. "It has been already observed that fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious, and easily offended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly jealous of their rights of vert ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott
... another road. And now what's to become of me, a green American, with no French at my tongue's end but 'oui' and 'parlez-vous,' not a sign of a ticket, and with but six francs in my purse? Oh, Charlie, why did you send me out with this bag?" and Will paced nervously up and down the waiting-room, trying to think of a way out of his predicament. Suddenly a ...
— Harper's Young People, March 9, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... blindly to uphold Yuan's Government, to enter into a Defensive Alliance with China, hoping thus to secure a complete realization of our object by assisting him to suppress the revolutionists, it is obviously a wrong policy. Why? Because the majority of the Chinese people have lost all faith in the tottering Yuan Shih-kai who is discredited and attacked by the whole nation for having sold his country. If Japan gives Yuan the support, his Government, ...
— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale
... points from the cube and make them as small as possible, that he may the better understand their relation to line, plane, and solid. When once this relation is understood, however, and before it is suggested to his mind, why may he not use the larger materials, even though they do not illustrate the point as perfectly? Any lack in perfect representation would probably be more than compensated by the removal of the strain on the accessory muscles and ...
— Froebel's Gifts • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... person and his power in the clouds; but in vain. "All things remain as they were: where is the promise of his appearing?" As the lookers out hitherto have been disappointed, so they ever will be. Say not, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, he is within you. The reason why this carnal error, Jewish conceit, retains a hold, is that men accept it without any honest scrutiny of its foundations or any earnest thought of their own about it. They passively receive the tradition. They do not realize ...
— The Destiny of the Soul - A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life • William Rounseville Alger
... the Suffrage cause had been made manifest for three years. He might have been, but that he had other compeers, below and above his abilities and position; advocates like Lord Robert Brinsley, the famous son of the Marquis of Wiltshire. If Williams was to be disbarred, why they would have to take the same course with a Brinsley who also defended women law-breakers, fighting for their constitutional rights. And of course such a procedure as that was unthinkable. Yet where a Brinsley sailed unhampered, undangered over these ...
— Mrs. Warren's Daughter - A Story of the Woman's Movement • Sir Harry Johnston
... be made to introduce a formal provision for the sake of a very absurd conclusion; which is, that the States, WITH THE CONSENT of the national legislature, might tax imports and exports; and that they might tax every other article, UNLESS CONTROLLED by the same body. If this was the intention, why not leave it, in the first instance, to what is alleged to be the natural operation of the original clause, conferring a general power of taxation upon the Union? It is evident that this could not have been the intention, and that it will not bear a ...
— The Federalist Papers • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
... little Clover to herself afterward. "Neither of those boys quite liked our going on this expedition, I think,—though I'm sure I can't imagine why; but they behaved so differently. Mr. Templestowe thought of us and something which might give us pleasure; and Clarence only thought about himself. Poor Clarence! he never had half a chance till he came here. It isn't all ...
— Clover • Susan Coolidge
... scarcely had time to finish their first nap and turn themselves in their graves before their surviving friends have travelled away from the neighborhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except ...
— The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. • Washington Irving |
