"Index finger" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... staircase. Up, up, we went, the cold, grey dawn greeting us on our way. Entering the garret to which I have already alluded, the phantasm noiselessly approached the hearth, and, pointing downward with a violent motion of the index finger of its right hand, suddenly vanished. A great feeling of relief now came over me, and, yielding to a reaction which was the inevitable consequence of such a severe nervous strain, I reeled against the window-sill and shook ...
— Scottish Ghost Stories • Elliott O'Donnell
... is whistling through our nostrils, like the muffled exhaust of a gasoline engine, and our hearts are thumping two-steps on our ribs from the exertion, when we reach the end of the rock-bestrewn point which, like a long index finger, is thrust out into the bosom of the lake. The wind, still dead north, and laden with tiny drops of moisture, like spray from a giant atomizer, buffets us steadily; but thereof ...
— A Breath of Prairie and other stories • Will Lillibridge
... Trevor's, he is shown into the library, where Muriel and her father are sitting in earnest conversation. They rise to greet him, the professor shaking his hand warmly. When Muriel goes to him, Delafield takes her left hand in his (close-up), and with his right index finger touches the engagement ring on her finger and then points to himself, thus indicating that he already looks upon her as his property, albeit he plainly shows his genuine regard for her. She presently picks up the book to which she and her ...
— Writing the Photoplay • J. Berg Esenwein and Arthur Leeds
... But the face of the mysterious Rajput remained as calm and as dispassionate as ever. He was looking at the river before this scene took place, and slowly moved his eyes to the Akali, who lay prostrated before him. Then he touched the head of the Sikh with his index finger, and rose with the remark that we also had better start at once, because it was ...
— From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan • Helena Pretrovna Blavatsky
... course," said Marion ironically. "Yes, you; with color of eyes, hair, length of index finger of the right hand, curvature of thumb, disposition—whether peaceable or otherwise, and ...
— Whispering Smith • Frank H. Spearman
... mean?" asked the presiding judge, who had pronounced the sentence in a deep, bass voice. Every one smiled; some tried to hide their smiles behind their mustaches and their papers. Yanson pointed his index finger at the presiding judge and answered angrily, ...
— The Seven who were Hanged • Leonid Andreyev
... lady must, unhesitatingly, touch the fourth finger of her left hand with the index finger of the right; by which emphatic signal she means to say—"No ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, August 14, 1841 • Various
... open scrap-book on his knees, and ran an index finger along underlined passages in the manner of counsel consulting ...
— The Stowmarket Mystery - Or, A Legacy of Hate • Louis Tracy
... leaned into the canopy and with an over-stiffened index finger pointed forcefully at each gauge. For more than a quarter-hour this went on, with Bridget pitching questions—most of ...
— A Fine Fix • R. C. Noll
... at the water, and I saw in his face the peculiarly wistful expression that so often accompanies thoughts which are both elusive and far away. The index finger of his right hand was slightly raised, indicating a subconscious impulse to point upward. Slowly turning back to us, he said in a tone of solemnity that lingers with me even now, a year later, ...
— Wings of the Wind • Credo Harris
... as in a. Use the index finger of the right hand as a match, scratching it on the palm of the left hand and lighting the tips of each finger as if ...
— Christmas Entertainments • Alice Maude Kellogg
... burning depths of liquid fire below, and the rejoicing hosts in the inferno coming up to meet them with the shouts of the devils echoing through the vaulted arches. He suddenly halted, and, pointing his index finger at the ...
— Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
... her feet were on the floor, and, hand in hand, she and Arthurs stole to the window. At first her eyes could distinguish nothing in the darkness, but by following Arthurs' index finger she at last located two gaunt, shaggy creatures a little way up the hillside beyond the corral, and a couple of hundred ...
— The Homesteaders - A Novel of the Canadian West • Robert J. C. Stead
... fingers of the right, he places the end of it at right angles to, and in contact with, the center, or thereabouts, of the string. The part of the arrow in front of the feathering rests upon the thumb and middle finger and under the index finger of the left hand. Raising up the bow and holding it inclined at an angle of about 20 from the vertical, the top being toward the right, the string, with the arrow butt always pressed against it, ...
— The Manbos of Mindano - Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir • John M. Garvan
... of constructing scales of the platform kind, and it consists in attaching a spiral spring to a spindle, to the top end of which spindle the platform is secured, and to the bottom end of which a rod and index finger is attached so that when an article, to be weighed, is placed on the platform, the weight of the article will act upon the spring and be ...
— Scientific American, Vol. 17, No. 26 December 28, 1867 • Various
... through, and at last a secondary operation for repair became possible. We took chances on bone-grafting to form a hand; and he was left with a flipper like a seal's, able, however, to oppose one long index finger and "nip a line" when he fished. But there was no skin for it. So Dr. Beattie and I shared the honours of supplying some. Pat—for that was his name—has been a veritable apostle of the hospital ever since, and has undoubtedly been the means of enabling ...
— A Labrador Doctor - The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
... of this, it is hardly necessary to say that Ossaroo did his best in the manufacture of that rope—every strand of it being twisted between his index finger and his thumb, as smoothly and evenly as if he had been spinning ...
— The Cliff Climbers - A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" • Captain Mayne Reid
... fruit-eating species, which are generally of large size, with the crowns of the cheek-teeth smooth and marked with a longitudinal groove. The bony palate is continued behind the last molar, narrowing slowly backwards; there are three phalanges in the index finger, the third phalange being terminated generally by a claw; the sides of the ear form a ring at the base; the tail, when present, is inferior to (not contained in) the interfemoral membrane; the pyloric extremity of the stomach is generally much elongated; and the spigelian lobe of the liver is ill-defined ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" • Various
... men walked toward each other and met. Oncle Jazon held up the scalp with one hand, pointing at it with the index finger ...
— Alice of Old Vincennes • Maurice Thompson
... circular saw, and the saw, as he admitted, had the best of the encounter—two fingers of his left hand being left in the pit. A man of character and originality, he insisted upon wearing the rings upon his maimed hand, both upon the index finger; and once, when Ajax suggested respectfully that the diamonds would shine to better advantage upon the right hand, he retorted reasonably enough that the mutilated member "kind of needed settin' off." He seized the opportunity to ask Ajax why we wore no jewellery, and upon my brother ...
— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell
... He had walked a few steps without noticing Phina, and unconsciously his index finger touched one of the keys of the piano. A loud C of the octave below the staff, a note dismal enough, answered ...
— Godfrey Morgan - A Californian Mystery • Jules Verne
... on painting, placidly. One by one, with meticulous nicety, he painted all his fingernails a bright and cheery yellow. Then he did the whole of his left thumb and was starting on the second joint of the index finger when Miss Kate came up behind him and took the brush gently ...
— One Basket • Edna Ferber
... his chin with thumb and index finger, and mumbling his tobacco. John, who had listened with more attention than interest—wondering the while as to what the narrative was leading up to—thought something might properly be expected of him to show that ...
— David Harum - A Story of American Life • Edward Noyes Westcott
... for a few minutes to gaze in wonder at the cryptic ring which had been the net result so far of his efforts to find the millions which Bennett, as the Clutching Hand, had hidden. He wore it, strangely enough, over his index finger, and as he examined it he shook his head ...
— The Romance of Elaine • Arthur B. Reeve
... sunshine was kindling life into activity through all nature. She asked me to let her see my hand and she would tell me my fortune. She pretended sagely to view every line, and here and there to press her index finger sharply down. At length she ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks
... priests, the preceptor and the assistant, lay their Mid[-e] sacks upon his back and after a few moments a m[-i]gis shell drops from his mouth—where he had been instructed to retain it. The chief Mid[-e] picks up the m[-i]gis and, holding it between the thumb and index finger of the right hand, extending his arm toward the candidate's mouth says "w! w! h[)e] h[)e] h[)e] h[)e]," the last syllable being uttered in a high key and rapidly dropped to a low note; then the same ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various
... the primary can probably be shown best by illustrations. For example, assume that there is a whorl in the right index finger only. The value of a whorl in this finger is 16. When 1 over 1 is added the resulting primary is 17 over 1. If a whorl appears in the right thumb and right index finger, the value is 16 over 16 plus 1 over 1 giving a primary of 17 over 17. If whorls appear in both index fingers, the value ...
— The Science of Fingerprints - Classification and Uses • Federal Bureau of Investigation
... Phelim, squaring himself, and placing the index finger of his right hand in his left hand, after the manner of the didactic, "the great thing is the discard, and your discard should be governed by two considerations—first, to better your own hand, and second, to cripple your opponent's. Your moderate player never thinks of this latter consideration. ...
— The Turquoise Cup, and, The Desert • Arthur Cosslett Smith
... upon the idea of having the patient hold his breath as long as is possible. The remedy is best applied by the sufferer holding his breath and leaning as far backward as is possible, and in the meanwhile distracting the attention by pointing the index finger of one hand towards the nose, and bringing the former toward the latter as slowly as is possible. Sticking the tongue out and holding the breath at the same time will often relieve hiccough, or if the victim can be induced to ...
— Health on the Farm - A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene • H. F. Harris
... come to earth, their birth Rupturing the memory of previous being? Answer! The field of unexplored intuition is yours. But in any case why not plant willows for them, As well as for us? Marie Bateson You observe the carven hand With the index finger pointing heavenward. That is the direction, no doubt. But how shall one follow it? It is well to abstain from murder and lust, To forgive, do good to others, worship God Without graven images. But these are external means after all By which you chiefly ...
— Spoon River Anthology • Edgar Lee Masters
... index finger still in the place in his brief where he had been interrupted, rose to his feet again and ...
— The Hampstead Mystery • John R. Watson
... all," she retorted, carelessly; "it is an arrangement for mutual convenience. But remember," she added, lifting her index finger in playful threat, "that we are ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 10 • Various
... exclamations Cousin Benedict uttered when he had brought this insect, which he held between his index finger and his thumb, as near as possible to his short-sighted eyes, which neither glasses ...
— Dick Sand - A Captain at Fifteen • Jules Verne
... with an index finger pointing Dorothy down. "I saw you. I heard you. You started ...
— The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross - Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause • Gertrude W. Morrison
... little girl." The doctor patted her hand and looked at her index finger. "The nail's coming all right, isn't it? But I think that man makes you practice too much. You have it on your mind all the time." He had noticed that when she talked to him she was always opening and shutting her ...
— Song of the Lark • Willa Cather
... up in his chair and laid the tip of his right index finger in the centre of the palm of his left hand. "Here was the situation, Bryce: The centre of my palm represents Sequoia; the end of my fingers represents the San Hedrin timber twenty miles south. Now, if the railroad built in from the south, ...
— The Valley of the Giants • Peter B. Kyne
... you a condensed rule of procedure in all normal cases of obstetrics. With index finger, examine os uteri; if closed and only backache, have patient turn on right side, and press hand on abdomen above pelvis, and gently press or lift belly up just enough to allow blood to pass down and up pelvis and limbs. Relax all nerves of ...
— Philosophy of Osteopathy • Andrew T. Still
... spoke to the innkeeper, who raised his index finger and leveled it at Victor and the vicomte. On seeing them, D'Herouville came ...
— The Grey Cloak • Harold MacGrath
... the method varies. Sometimes the second 5 also is told off on the left hand, the same order being observed as in the first 5; but oftener the fingers of the right hand are used, with a reversal of the order previously employed; i.e. the thumb denotes 6, the index finger 7, and so on to the little finger, which ...
— The Number Concept - Its Origin and Development • Levi Leonard Conant
... hand, and another needle in the right hand—observe the position of the hands (No. 289). Hold the left-hand needle between the thumb and third finger, leaving the first finger free to move the points of the needles. (The wonderful sense of touch in the first or index finger is so delicate, that an experienced knitter can work without ever looking at her fingers, by the help of this touch only—in fact, knitting becomes a purely mechanical labour, and as such is most useful.) Insert the point of the right-hand needle ...
— Beeton's Book of Needlework • Isabella Beeton
... may be entirely at the blackboard, where the teacher's copy may be reproduced. For the slower ones who have difficulty with the form, a good practice is to "write it in the air," the pupil pointing with index finger and following the teacher as she writes, also tracing the teacher's copy with pointer, using free, rapid movement. (Tracing with crayon or pencil tends to slow, cramped writing, and should not be encouraged.) Thus ...
— How to Teach Phonics • Lida M. Williams
... his left knee his left hand rested with two fingers held up. By some rapid mental alchemy these fingers had now become Home Rule and Tariff Reform. His right hand which had hitherto taken no part in the controversy, had raised its index finger by imperceptible degrees. It had been raised almost subconsciously. And by still obscurer processes this finger had become Mrs. Skelmersdale. He recognized her sudden reappearance above the threshold ...
— The Research Magnificent • H. G. Wells
... knows his operatic public; "they've just warmed up for LEONCAVALLO'S Pagliacci. LEONCAVALLO," he continues, "is the composer for my money; and my advice is, LAY-ON-CAVALLO'S Pagliacci." So saying, the Musical Manager lightly touches his nasal organ with the index finger of his right hand, and, at the same time "winking the other eye," he marches in a procession of one down the ...
— Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, May 27, 1893 • Various
... long nail of his right index finger rested upon the opened page of the book, to which he seemed constantly to refer, dividing his attention between the volume, the contents of the test-tube, and the progress of a second experiment, or possibly a part of the same, which was taking place upon another ...
— The Devil Doctor • Sax Rohmer
... you naughty little boy! Oh mischief, mischief!" and she scrapes one index finger over the other at him in a try for errant childishness. Then she and her perfume come closer and this time she looks around before she speaks and there is some little ...
— Young People's Pride • Stephen Vincent Benet
... well-meaning citizen and ask him on his conscience: What is the difficulty under which the existing property relations labour? And the worthy man will place his index finger at the tip of his nose, draw two deep breaths of thought, and then give it out as his opinion, that it is a shame for many to possess "nothing," not even the most absolute necessities, while others roll in shameless millions, not only to the detriment of the propertyless ...
— Selected Essays • Karl Marx
... just the fellow I'm looking for. I want you to take notes about the slickens that are filling up this river and go for the miners, good and strong, who make them." With that she dropped her skirts and pointing her index finger impressively at Paul, concluded: "Now don't forget that, young fellow," and turned ...
— The Story of Paul Boyton - Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World • Paul Boyton
... day. In only their petticoats and white shifts, with bare arms, sometimes barefooted, the women aimlessly ramble from room to room, all of them unwashed, uncombed; lazily strike the keys of the old pianoforte with the index finger, lazily lay out cards to tell their fortune, lazily exchange curses, and with a languishing irritation ...
— Yama (The Pit) • Alexandra Kuprin
... I couldn't help saying as I pried up the Pilot's index finger and started on the next. "Then ...
— The Night of the Long Knives • Fritz Reuter Leiber
... her spiritual teaching, at first silently—a mere pointing of the index finger to nature; then in whispered songs, bird-like, at morning and evening. To her and to the child the birds are real people, who live very close to the "Great Mystery"; the murmuring trees breathe His presence; the falling waters chant ...
— The Soul of the Indian - An Interpretation • [AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman
... such a look on the battlefield of Trenton. The Honourable Jacob Botcher, pressing forward as fast as his bulk would permit and with the newspaper in his hand, was met by a calm and distant manner which discomposed that statesman, and froze his stout index finger to the editorial which "perhaps Mr. Crewe had ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... Rip's left index finger snapped across his thumb to form a circle. Ali's rod did not even leave his belt, it tilted up and the invisible deadening stream from it centered upon the seated tech. At the same instant Dane shot at the agent who had guided them there. The latter had time for a surprised grunt ...
— Plague Ship • Andre Norton
... no worship, no adoration, no idolatrous homage from man, but continually sends up her eternal chant and choral anthem of praise to the great Giver of life. Every flower of the field, every blade of grass, every stream that mirrors the heavens above her, every mountain top from which she points an index finger, every breeze in which she whispers, and every cataract in which she speaks, all proclaim the power, the wisdom, the goodness of God—the source of all life in the universe, from the minutest spore to all-inventive, ...
— Life: Its True Genesis • R. W. Wright
... one which alarmed him by that mysterious index finger which we all perceive whenever we fix our eyes on ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo
... traveler passing along the roads to the northeast leading to Lorraine may see at every cross-road a great index finger pointing to the single word VERDUN. To many thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of men passing over these roads in the five fateful months of critical battle, these six letters spelled mutilation and death, yet the word was an inspiration to heroism ...
— Defenders of Democracy • Militia of Mercy
... thumb, the longest toe, and the nose should all be of the same length. The index finger should measure the breadth of the hand and foot, and twice the breadth should give the length. The hand, the foot, and the face should all be the same length. The nose should be one-third of the face; and, of course, the thumbs should be one-third the length of the hand. ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer
... and beflagged by politicians on election day. There were rebels against it but no national movement opposed it. It was even rooted in the home where husband ruled wife, and father ruled children with complete authority, and a man could point to his frau or his kind with his index finger, and say "To-morrow you will do that. Now you shall ...
— Europe—Whither Bound? - Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921 • Stephen Graham
... Mallery, the Ute Indians indicate "mother" by placing the index finger in the mouth (497a. 479). Clark describes the common Indian sign as follows: "Bring partially curved and compressed right hand, and strike with two or three gentle taps right or left breast, and make sign for female; though in conversation the ...
— The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought • Alexander F. Chamberlain
... Judge Morse as he passed, then bore down upon the women who were vigorously discussing the all-absorbing topic. The old man walked out to the edge of the sidewalk, squinted his eyes and came slowly up to where the women stood, comically pointing his index finger at them: "Look yer," said he, "yuna ta'k too much!" raising his voice. "Yuna mouts g'wine ter git yuna inter trouble; hear me? Did yuna see Jedge Morse when he go by? Did yuna see 'im stop ter listen at you? Le' me tell ...
— Hanover; Or The Persecution of the Lowly - A Story of the Wilmington Massacre. • David Bryant Fulton
... Babu and the bhadra-lok (gentle-folk) took their seats there too, while the underlings formed a respectful half-circle in front. Adjuring all to keep perfect silence, he asked the lad to gaze into the nail on his own right index finger and tell the people what he saw there. After staring at it for a minute or so, the boy began to tremble violently and whispered: "I see a mango-tope (orchard); a little girl is playing with her kitten under the trees. Now I see her slipping a jasam ...
— Tales of Bengal • S. B. Banerjea
... it, but your index finger is not straight. It curves in toward your middle finger so that you can hold all the tips together if you want to. And when Pheola laid her two index fingers together, they curved away from each other at their tips. I got a flash and went ...
— The Right Time • Walter Bupp
... Graham saw his index finger, black and colossal, above the mirrored Council House. For a moment he did not understand. And then he perceived that the flagstaff that had carried ...
— The Sleeper Awakes - A Revised Edition of When the Sleeper Wakes • H.G. Wells
... Calendar had started to alight, his foot was leaving the step when Stryker's glance singled out their quarry. Instantly he turned and spoke to his confederate. Calendar wheeled like a flash, peering eagerly in the direction indicated by the captain's index finger, then, snapping instructions to his driver, threw himself heavily back on the seat. Stryker, awkward on his land-legs, stumbled and fell in an ill-calculated attempt to hoist himself hastily back into ...
— The Black Bag • Louis Joseph Vance
... water is nicely balanced against a small weight at the opposite end. The sponge becomes heavier or lighter according to the presence or absence of moisture, and any variation in this respect may be noted on the gauge above, to which the index finger on a dial points. ...
— Harper's Young People, August 17, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... the ring-finger of my left hand, I become invisible to all eyes, while I myself can see everything that passes around me. If I put the ring on the middle finger of my left hand, I become invulnerable to all weapons, and neither water nor fire can hurt me. If I place it on the index finger of my left hand, I can create all things which I desire with its aid; I can build houses in a moment, or produce other objects. As long as I wear it on the thumb of my left hand, my hand remains strong enough to break down rocks and walls. Moreover, ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby
... A period of silence in which they indicate their concentration by frowns, cautious moves, head scratching. GOOD BLACK is pointing his index finger over the board indicating moves. He wig-wags, starts to move, scratches his head thoroughly, changes his mind and fools ...
— Three Plays - Lawing and Jawing; Forty Yards; Woofing • Zora Neale Hurston
... Micromegas hand, and followed after. The geometers took their quadrants, their sextants, two Lappland girls[1], and descended onto the Sirian's fingers. They made so much fuss that he finally felt something move, tickling his fingers. It was a steel-tipped baton being pressed into his index finger. He judged, by this tickling, that it had been ejected from some small animal that he was holding; but he did not suspect anything else at first. The microscope, which could barely distinguish a whale from a boat, could not capture anything as elusive as a man. I do not claim to outrage ...
— Romans — Volume 3: Micromegas • Voltaire
... were placed on short allowance of food from the start, and each day this allowance was cut shorter and shorter, until we received each for our evening and morning meal two small pieces of jerked beef, about the size of the index finger of the hand. Finally, the last ration was issued in the evening. This was intended for that evening and the next morning, but I was so famished I could not resist the temptation to eat all I had—the two meals at one time. Next morning, ...
— History of the Donner Party • C.F. McGlashan
... than ever, and the blackness was so uniform that his entire profile became strongly pronounced, thus rendering every motion distinct, and the varied pouting of his huge lips remarkably obvious. The extended left hand, too, with the frequent thrusting of the index finger of the other into the palm, was suggestive of argument, and of much reasoning ...
— Blown to Bits - or, The Lonely Man of Rakata • Robert Michael Ballantyne
... between his index finger and bent thumb, as a boy plays at marbles, he projected it against one of the little sand-heaps. It scattered, and ...
— Facing the Flag • Jules Verne
... fifty verses now. I saw a bushman at a country dance start to sing that song; he'd get up to ten or fifteen verses, break down, and start afresh. At last he sat down on his heel to it, in the centre of the clear floor, resting his wrist on his knee, and keeping time with an index finger. It was very funny, but the thing was taken seriously ...
— On the Track • Henry Lawson
... attention and rapt admiration—was determined to play with the subject a little longer. The letter was not directed even to the Commoner. It was directed to a "Peer;" and as he uttered this sacred word, with a delicious affectation of reverence, he raised the index finger of his hand to high heaven, as though only a reference to a region so exalted could sufficiently manifest the elevation of the personage who had been the recipient of the letter. The House saw the point, and laughed in great delight. It is on occasions like these that one sees the immense artistic ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor
... and bankers would be protected by the thumb-print system. A merchant could place the print of his right index finger to the left of his signature on a check. The bank would have a print, together with the merchant's signature on file. Only a few seconds would be necessary to convince the paying teller as to its genuineness. The merchant, ...
— Disputed Handwriting • Jerome B. Lavay
... is shot from the hollow of the crooked index finger, and projected by the thumb. Good shooting is often done in this way, but the most expert shots place the marble on the point of the index finger, and project it with a firmer grip of the thumb. This method is more difficult to acquire, but it pays as does everything that requires practice and effort. ...
— Healthful Sports for Boys • Alfred Rochefort
... the church-yard, where a monument, set up by Kean and restored by his son Charles, by Sothern, and by Edwin Booth, still marks their place of sepulture. That was the occasion when, as Dr. Francis records, in his book on old New York, Kean took the index finger of Cooke's right hand, and he, the doctor, took his skull, as relics. "I have got Cooke's style in acting," Kean once said, "but the public will never know it, I am so much smaller." It was not the imitation ...
— Shadows of the Stage • William Winter
... multiplication were carried on by means of numbers, given out with so much vivacity and judgment that every eye was fastened on the teacher and every mind alert. Most of the right hands were raised for answer to every question, with the index finger extended; and the pupil selected was chosen now here, now there, to give it audibly. Rank was observed from left to right, the lower changing places with the higher whenever a failure above and a correct answer below paved ...
— In and Around Berlin • Minerva Brace Norton
... Brant brain to work and figure out something." Scotty unrolled his sling, slipped the loop over his index finger, and gave Rick a tight grin. "Keep the boy ...
— The Scarlet Lake Mystery • Harold Leland Goodwin
... picked up his lantern and went forward; and in a minute or two later the index finger of the speed-recorder began to mount slowly toward the fifties. At fifty-two miles to the hour, Ford, sitting in the observation end of the car where he could see the ghostly lines of the rails reeling backward into the night, ...
— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde
... some groups of four were much more readily recognized than others, and that some of them were either judged correctly or underestimated while others were either judged correctly or overestimated. For convenience the fingers were indicated by the letters A B C D, A being the index finger. The thumb was not used. Two weights were over each finger. The one near the base was called 1, the one toward the end 2. Thus A12 B1 C2 means two contacts on the index finger, one near the base of the second finger, and one near the end of the third finger. ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various
... insisting that men look at Jesus. Looking, he said "look." His lips said it, and life said it. John's presence was always spelling out that word "look," with his whole life an index finger pointing to Jesus. If we might be like that. Every man of us may be in his life, in the great unconscious influence of his presence, a clearly lettered signpost pointing men to the Master. All true service begins in personal contact with Jesus. One cannot ...
— Quiet Talks on Service • S. D. Gordon
... lighted up for Rick. He saw four men on the trawler's deck, looking up at him. He saw the cargo net suspended almost over their heads, and he saw men on the deck of the freighter. His right index finger pressed and ...
— Smugglers' Reef • John Blaine
... revolver, spinning it about his index finger by the trigger-guard with incredible swiftness, the twirling weapon a mere blur of blue steel in his hand. Suddenly and without any apparent cessation of the movement, he fired, and a little splinter of wood flipped into the ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris
... whispered, sitting down and touching the palm of his open hand with the index finger of the other, "a youth held in his hand a cup, rare an' costly, an' it was full o' happiness, an' he was tempted to drink. 'Ho, there, me youth,' said one who saw him, 'that is the happiness of another.' But he tasted the cup, an' it was bitter, an' he let it fall, an' the other ...
— Darrel of the Blessed Isles • Irving Bacheller
... the big man. "But I don't know whether to hope he does or hope he doesn't." He used his right thumbnail to pick a bit of microscopic dust from beneath his left index finger, studying the operation without actually seeing it. "Meanwhile, we've got to decide what to do about the rest of those screwballs. Wendell was the only sane one, and therefore the most dangerous—but the rest of them aren't what you'd ...
— Suite Mentale • Gordon Randall Garrett
... see it from where I am sitting now, rough grey stone. Upon it, there is what I thought at first was a sun-dial, and I wondered what it was doing there. Then I saw it had not a dial plate; only a strong cross-bar of wood, and the index finger, so to speak, was longer than one would expect, a sharp wooden spike. As I was wondering what it was a passer-by explained it. It is not a sun-dial, it is an impaling instrument. On that spike they used to impale alive goats and kids ...
— Things as They Are - Mission Work in Southern India • Amy Wilson-Carmichael
... Harford had closed her eyes and was leaning back in her chair, apparently asleep, the book she had been reading open in her lap. Impelled by surely I cannot say what motive, I glanced at the top of the page; it was a copy of that rare and curious work, "Denneker's Meditations," and the lady's index finger rested on ...
— Can Such Things Be? • Ambrose Bierce
... dress were still preserved; where the proverbs of Sancho Panza were still spoken in the language of Cervantes, and the high-flown illusions of the La Manchian knight still a part of the Spanish Californian hidalgo's dream. I recall the more modern "Greaser," or Mexican—his index finger steeped in cigarette stains; his velvet jacket and his crimson sash; the many-flounced skirt and lace manta of his women, and their caressing intonations—the one musical utterance of the whole hard-voiced city. I suppose I had a boy's digestion and bluntness of taste in those days, ...
— Under the Redwoods • Bret Harte
... way." He laid his stick carefully down, and spreading open the yellowish palm of one hand, laid the index finger of the other on it, as if it had been a map. "When I waked up nex' mornin' an' called P'laski, he did not rappear. He had departured; an' so had my shut! Ef 't hadn' been for de garment, I wouldn' 'a' keered so much, for I knowed I'd git my han's on him some time: hawgs mos'ly comes up when ...
— P'laski's Tunament - 1891 • Thomas Nelson Page
... pierced my hand by the metacarpus under the index finger, and had broken the first phalanges. Its force had been arrested by a metal button on my waistcoat, and it had only inflicted a slight wound on my stomach close to the navel. However, there it was and it had to be extracted, for it pained me ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
... President of the Council, the Director of the Medical Department, and the Public Prosecutor. Even a certain Semen Ivanovitch, who, for some reason or another, was never alluded to by his family name, but who wore on his index finger a ring with which he was accustomed to dazzle his lady friends, had diminished in bulk. Yet, as always happens at such junctures, there were also present a score of brazen individuals who had succeeded in NOT losing their presence of mind, even though they constituted a mere sprinkling. Of them ...
— Dead Souls • Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
... Choir, the young man who kneels to the girl is seen bounding up a spiral staircase. His left hand is on the iron railing; he stoops over it, looking down at others who follow him. His right hand, the index finger protruded, points upward, and, by chance or design, points straight at Jasper in the vignette above. Beneath this man (clearly Landless) follows a tall man in a "bowler" hat, a "cut-away" coat, and trousers which show an inch of white stocking above the low shoes. His profile is hid by the ...
— The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot • Andrew Lang
... one hundred and fifty feet. Forty persons can find standing room within the mighty head, which is fifteen feet in diameter. A six-foot man, standing upon the lower lip, can hardly reach the eyes of the colossal head. The index finger is eight feet long, and the nose is over three feet long. Yet the proportion of all the parts of the figure is so well preserved that the whole statue is ...
— Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader • John L. Huelshof
... Topsy, inserting an index finger into her mouth. "Ah was shure growin' fas'; but Massa Booker Washin'ton he says that ah and the likes of me was charged with th' future of the negro race. An' that skyeered me so ah made up mah mind ah ...
— The Patient Observer - And His Friends • Simeon Strunsky
... thumped his right index finger twice on the table. "The bacterium of hate—a new strain—has found the human race unprotected from its disease. We had thought our vaccines ...
— Gun for Hire • Dallas McCord Reynolds
... he went on, raising a shaking index finger. "Are they ships at all? They're run by companies on the make, and worked by factory hands who curse their own house-flags. It's a dirty game, I call it. Things are all wrong. I can't make them out. You fellers ...
— Waiting for Daylight • Henry Major Tomlinson
... doctor, wincing, as the skipper unrolled the map on the dresser-like table, and catching up first one specimen bottle and then another used them as paper-weights to keep the chart flat, while he began to operate with his big rough, brown, index finger. ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn
... rise and stand in couples in small groups all around stage. On the first two lines of the third verse each one faces his partner slightly, nods at him and shakes index finger of right hand at partner. On "dear, old U.S.A." all make a deep bow to audience. After third verse is completed, all form a circle and skip around in time to the music, repeating the third verse. On "clap, clap, clap together," they stand still and clap hands as before. When the song is ...
— The White Christmas and other Merry Christmas Plays • Walter Ben Hare
... his gaze travelled to the body. And then Romain could not repress an involuntary start, albeit he saw what he had half expected to see. The fleshy right hand of Hartley Parrish grasped convulsively an automatic pistol. His clutching index finger was crooked about the trigger and the barrel was pressed into the yielding pile of the carpet. His other hand with clawing fingers was flung out away from the body on the other side. One leg was stretched ...
— The Yellow Streak • Williams, Valentine
... sensory areas of the brain. You will recall that every movement of a muscle produces nervous currents which go back to the brain and register there in the form of kinaesthetic sensations. To demonstrate kinaesthetic sensations, close your eyes and move your index finger up and down. You can feel the muscles contracting and the tendons moving back and forth, even into the back of the hand. These sensations ordinarily escape our attention, but they occupy a prominent place in the control of our actions. ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson
... our compartment would talk, however, and he would keep the topic down to red trousers, and to the red trousers of a French Territorial opposite, with an index finger when his gesticulatory knowledge of the French language, which was excellent, came to the rescue of his verbal knowledge, which was poor. The Frenchman agreed that red trousers were a mistake, but pointed to the blue covering which he had for his cap—which made it all ...
— My Year of the War • Frederick Palmer
... and how quickly, is: "Can I do any business here?" The merchant will have no trouble getting rid of the drummer if he will only be frank. All he must do is to give a fair reason why he does not wish to do business. He can say: "I have bought"—that is the best one, if it is true; it is the index finger pointing out a short route for the salesman straight to the front door. Or, he can say: "I have all in that line I can use for some time." "I have an old personal friend to whom I give my trade for these ...
— Tales of the Road • Charles N. Crewdson
... index finger upon the second line of the column. "'Yellow booming—slump in Grey.' Those who are responsible for that message, whatever it may mean, are ...
— The Hound From The North • Ridgwell Cullum
... has done, Mary?" repeated my angry uncle, finally pulling out his pocketknife and cutting the cord. "Look at Paul's face! What have I told you about that boy?" and he pointed a bony and accusing index finger at me. ...
— Swept Out to Sea - Clint Webb Among the Whalers • W. Bertram Foster
... his hands and made three rapid strokes with his index finger, like a motion-picture actor writing a twelve-line letter; then the words came in ...
— Cappy Ricks Retires • Peter B. Kyne
... left. Twenty feet away, almost entirely concealed among the tumbled masses of boulders, was a small cabin. About it there were no signs of life with the exception of a thin wreath of smoke rising like a ghostly spiral up the side of the chasm wall; from it there came no sound. Rod's index finger quivered on the trigger of his rifle. Should he wait—until the outlaw came forth? Half a minute he stood there, a minute, two minutes, and still he heard nothing, saw nothing. He advanced a step, ...
— The Gold Hunters - A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds • James Oliver Curwood
... I told you, son," he said. "Hold up yo' spear here to some one of these gals jes' like the other fellows are doin'," and as he sat down he tried surreptitiously to indicate the Blight with his index finger, but the knight failed to see and the Blight's face was so indignant and she rebuked him with such a knife-like whisper that, humbled, the Hon. Sam collapsed ...
— A Knight of the Cumberland • John Fox Jr.
... is half filled with old rubbish. I found rooms where an amateur minstrel entertainment had been given. Rude lettering upon the walls recorded the fact in lampblack, and a monster hand pointed with index finger to its temporary bar. Burnt-cork debris was scattered about, and there were "old soldiers" enough on the premises to have quite staggered a moralist. The Muscovite reign is over. The Princess is in her grave on the hill yonder,—a grave that ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska • Charles Warren Stoddard
... (Here he pointed impressively at the wicked ones, whereupon Brownie, who resented this, barked fiercely and was promptly smothered by the Court.) "Rounding a corner we encountered this man" (another indication with that powerful index finger), "who immediately fell upon me with great fe-roc-i-ty. First he struck me mightily here—then he gave me a terrific blow here—then one ...
— The Gentle Art of Cooking Wives • Elizabeth Strong Worthington
... moment, lifting the index finger of his left hand, he made with his right out of a corner of his gown a red cap for this finger. Then holding it up ...
— The Well of Saint Clare • Anatole France
... index finger and his friend came in. Looking him in the eye, the President asked in a stage ...
— The Last Spike - And Other Railroad Stories • Cy Warman
... and with the fingers spread, clean off the top edge quickly, then shape the joint with the one cloth. With a little practice you will gain this knack. The joint can then be wiped. The left hand can steady the pipe. Spread the index finger and third finger to opposite sides of the cloth and ...
— Elements of Plumbing • Samuel Dibble
... slim index finger unerringly through Gora's bristling armor and tickled her weakest spot. The fledgling author smiled into the dazzling eyes opposite and a deep flush rose to ...
— The Sisters-In-Law • Gertrude Atherton
... wound the string of her vanity bag so tightly round and round her index finger that her pink, polished nail turned purple. She next unwound the string and rubbed the nail solicitously. "Just because we're down there at Toll-Gate doesn't mean you aren't safe up here. Why, you're safer, really. Because if any one got track of you, we'd hear of it right away—Kate ...
— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower
... hand under head, right leg extended in a straight line and resting on left leg, flexed, in the attitude of Gea-Tellus, fulfilled, recumbent, big with seed. Narrator: reclined laterally, left, with right and left legs flexed, the index finger and thumb of the right hand resting on the bridge of the nose, in the attitude depicted in a snapshot photograph made by Percy Apjohn, the childman weary, the manchild ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... befoh de wah an' since de wah an' in de wah hez allus hed a pertectur in old Uncle Silas, an' yer knows it!" said he, pointing his index finger at his wife. "Wal, I'm comin' ter de p'int. Bud's done kilt er 'oman. He ain't no blood uv min'. You ain't been er true wife ter me. He's sumbody else's boy. He aint mine. My blood don't run ...
— The Hindered Hand - or, The Reign of the Repressionist • Sutton E. Griggs
... in low tones, yet there was a strange force in them. The speaker bent forward and the index finger he pointed at his hearers seemed to have been thrust suddenly from between his eyes. When the sleeve of his mantle fell back it disclosed upon his arm a fish, having a lion's head with a circle in ...
— The Coming of the King • Bernie Babcock
... his victim collapsed, Palus would leap back from him, sheath his sword, and saw the air with his empty left hand, fingers extended and pressed together, thumb flat against the crack between the roots of the index finger and big finger, twisting his hand about and varying the angle at which he sawed the air, so that all might see that he wished his fallen adversary spared and was suggesting that the spectators nearest him imitate his gesture and give the signal for mercy by extending ...
— Andivius Hedulio • Edward Lucas White |
