"Obstruct" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... the personification of an evil thing that must be destroyed or of a good thing that must be protected. It is a result of such reasoning that men ignorant of underlying social, political, or industrial forces seek to obstruct the processes of evolution by removing the individual. On this ground the anarchists have been led to remove hundreds of police officials, capitalists, royalties, and others. They have been poisoned, shot, and dynamited, in the belief ...
— Violence and the Labor Movement • Robert Hunter
... perhaps not in the world. Water is an element essential to the highest productiveness, even of fertile soil, and the vapors rising on the Gulf of Mexico have not a hillock three hundred feet high to obstruct their flow up the Mississippi eastward and northward, until they reach the State of Illinois. And the men that do business in the cities of this prosperous State, or till its fertile and alluvial soil, ...
— Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler • Pardee Butler
... Horses reared and plunged in terror at sight of the swift-running stream, the wheel of a caisson ran over the guard-rail; immediately a hundred strong arms seized the encumbrance and hurled the heavy vehicle to the bottom of the river that it might not obstruct the passage. And as the young man watched the slow, toilsome retreat along the opposite bank, a movement that had commenced the day before and certainly would not be ended by the coming dawn, he could not help thinking of that other artillery that had ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola
... devious track, To thee will Memory lead the wanderer back. Whether in Arno's polish'd vales I stray, Or where "Oswego's" swamps obstruct the day; Or wander lone, where, wildering and wide, The tumbling torrent laves St. Gothard's side; Or by old Tejo's classic margent muse, Or stand entranced with Pyrenean views; Still, still to thee, where'er my ...
— The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White - With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas • Henry Kirke White
... party of French officers on board the Ibis at Sangatte, near Calais, spoke to Wimereux by means of a Marconi apparatus, with Cape Grisnez, a lofty promontory, intervening. In ascertaining how much the earth and the sea may obstruct the waves of Hertz there is a broad and fruitful field for investigation. "It may be," says Professor John Trowbridge, "that such long electrical waves roll around the surface of such obstructions very much as waves of sound ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various
... a companion who did not obstruct thought, but encouraged it; and as Agatha sat resting on the stone with Danny close by, in that quiet yard full of the noiseless ghosts of the past, her thoughts went back to James. His unnatural eyes ...
— The Stolen Singer • Martha Idell Fletcher Bellinger
... assures us that "there would not be four friends in the world." This I hope and think is too strong, but at any rate try to be one of the four. And when you have made a friend, keep him. Hast thou a friend, says an Eastern proverb, "visit him often, for thorns and brushwood obstruct the road which no one treads." The affections should not be mere "tents of ...
— The Pleasures of Life • Sir John Lubbock
... He had always been so sorry for Lindau, and admired his courage and generosity so much, that he had never fairly considered this question. "Why, yes," he answered; "he died in the cause of disorder; he was trying to obstruct the law. No doubt there was a wrong there, an inconsistency and an injustice that he felt keenly; but it could not be reached in ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... "After taking Fort Duquesne,"[97] says he, "I am to proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac,[98] if the season will allow time; and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolv'd in my mind the long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them thro' the woods and bushes, and also what I had read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred ...
— Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Benjamin Franklin
... his Deity. Twice in twenty-four hours he repaired hither, unaccompanied by any human being. Nothing but physical inability to move was allowed to obstruct or postpone this visit. He did not exact from his family compliance with his example. Few men, equally sincere in their faith, were as sparing in their censures and restrictions, with respect to the conduct of others, as my father. The character of my mother was no less devout; ...
— Wieland; or The Transformation - An American Tale • Charles Brockden Brown
... valley N. of the Costebelle road, ascending by the N. shoulder. The whole way the path is good, only in some places it is nearly concealed by brushwood, especially by the Quercus coccifera. The trees on the summit, 982 ft., obstruct the view, but on the way up charming landscapes now and then unfold themselves of Hyres on one side and of Carqueyranne ...
— The South of France—East Half • Charles Bertram Black
... especially directed also against our chief enemy, the devil. For all his thought and desire is to deprive us of all that we have from God, or to hinder it; and he is not satisfied to obstruct and destroy spiritual government in leading souls astray by his lies and bringing them under his power, but he also prevents and hinders the stability of all government and honorable, peaceable relations on earth. There he ...
— The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther
... ship canal, of about seven miles in length, from opposite Liverpool to near Helbre Isle, in the estuary of the Dee; its object being to enable the shipping of the port to avoid the variable shoals and sand-banks which obstruct the entrance to the Mersey. Mr. Telford entered on the project with great zeal, and his name was widely quoted in its support. It appeared, however, that one of its principal promoters, who had secured the right of pre-emption of the land on ...
— The Life of Thomas Telford by Smiles • Samuel Smiles
... spectator placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and the sounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke and the noise of the cannonading. There were, however, no such causes in this case to obstruct the observations which Xerxes was making from his throne on the shore. The air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth, and the atmosphere was as transparent and clear at the end of the battle as at the beginning. Xerxes could discern every ship, and ...
— Xerxes - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... editor and managing editor—until, when I was nearly thirty years of age, I hit the Kentucky trail and set up for a journalist. I did this, however, with a big "J," nursing for a while some faint ambitions of statesmanship—even office—but in the end discarding everything that might obstruct my entire freedom, for I came into the world an insurgent, or, as I have sometimes described myself in the Kentucky vernacular, "a free nigger ...
— Marse Henry, Complete - An Autobiography • Henry Watterson
... down, sufficient to render the navigation of it slow and perilous, if not impracticable. The hunters who had acted as guides knew nothing of the character of the river below; what rocks, and shoals, and rapids might obstruct it, or through what mountains and deserts it might pass. Should they then abandon their horses, cast themselves loose in fragile barks upon this wild, doubtful, and unknown river; or should they continue their ...
— Astoria - Or, Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains • Washington Irving
... friend, Lucy Grafton cares very little about the babble of the million, provided it do not obstruct him in his objects. Would to Heaven I could proceed in the summary and effectual mode you point out; but that I much doubt. There is about Afy, in spite of all her softness and humility, a strange spirit, a cursed courage ...
— The Young Duke • Benjamin Disraeli
... literature of Greece, Egypt or the Orient, any reference to this wonderful insect who embodies in his frail physique so much of the truest philosophy of life, and who, despite the obstacles that seem so persistently to obstruct his path, buzzes blithely ever onward, singing his lovely song and ...
— The Autobiography of Methuselah • John Kendrick Bangs
... members of the community (the hosts) will be living in that village. View platforms, from which the dancing can be watched, are built by all the people of the community. These are built between the houses where possible, or at all events so as to obstruct the view from the houses as little as possible. They are built on upright poles, and are generally between 12 and 20 feet high, each platform having a roof, which will probably be somewhat similar to the roofs of the houses. Sometimes there are ...
— The Mafulu - Mountain People of British New Guinea • Robert W. Williamson
... containing black fluid. In the substance of the upper lobe of both lungs, the bronchial glands were of a bright black colour; they were particularly large, and so numerous as to press considerably upon and obstruct several of the bronchial tubes. In fact the upper lobe of both lungs exhibited the plum-pudding structure. At the bifurcation and back part of the trachea, the bronchial glands were numerous, and of a deep black colour. A considerable mass of the ...
— An Investigation into the Nature of Black Phthisis • Archibald Makellar
... expedition; merchants, rich tradesmen, magistrates and gownmen of the Reformed Church and the law. Next to this, another of the contribution of pious ladies; all which sums being named, amounted to a considerable supply; so that they assured him hell itself could not with these aids obstruct his glory, but on the contrary, should be compelled to render him assistance, by the help of charms, to make him invincible; so that wholly overcome by them, he has given order that all preparations be forthwith made ...
— Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister • Aphra Behn
... the nave and transept within, it is difficult now to obtain a correct idea, the floor intervening to obstruct a general view.—High arches, encircled with the embattled moulding below; above these, a wide billeted string-course, forming a basis for a row of smaller arches, without side-pillars or decoration of any kind; then another string-course of different and richer patterns; and ...
— Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) • Dawson Turner
... obstipation^; blind alley, blind corner; keddah^; cul-de-sac, caecum; imperforation^, imperviousness &c adj.; impermeability; stopper &c 263. V. close, occlude, plug; block up, stop up, fill up, bung up, cork up, button up, stuff up, shut up, dam up; blockade, obstruct &c (hinder) 706; bar, bolt, stop, seal, plumb; choke, throttle; ram down, dam, cram; trap, clinch; put to the door, shut the door. Adj. closed &c v.; shut, operculated^; unopened. unpierced^, imporous^, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... and beautiful shapes. The most common kind is the hooked umbrella. Most people have hooked umbrellas—or, if this statement be offensive to any one, we will say that most people have had umbrellas hooked. The chance resemblance of this expression to one signifying to obstruct illegally that which properly belongs to another, reminds us to speak of the singular fact that the umbrella is not property. This is important. It rests on judicial decision, and becomes more important when ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 9, 1870 • Various
... instead of censuring beliefs. Theology, however, consistently clings to its old habits. "Infidels" must not be argued with but threatened, not convinced but libelled; and when these weapons are futile there ensues the persecution of silence. That serves for a time, but only for a time; it may obstruct, but it cannot prevent, the spread of unbelief. It is like a veil against the light. It may obscure the dawn to the dull-eyed and the uninquisitive, but presently the blindest sluggards in the penfolds of faith will see ...
— Flowers of Freethought - (First Series) • George W. Foote
... its root in the body, and which is continued into the mind in imagination and the passions. It is therefore necessary for man so to alter, and adjust this mechanism, that it will always follow, and not obstruct, the good will. ...
— Pascal's Pensees • Blaise Pascal
... therefore, presents a dangerous side wholly wanting in carbohydrates and fats. The latter are simply burned up to carbonic acid and water, or are transformed into glycogen and fat, but alcohol, though more easily oxidizable, is at all times liable to obstruct, in some measure at least, the oxidative processes of the liver, and probably of other tissues also, thereby throwing into the circulation bodies such as uric acid, which are inimical to health; a fact which at once tends to draw a distinct line of demarcation between alcohol ...
— Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why - What Medical Writers Say • Martha M. Allen
... enemy are withdrawn within the fort, sir. The whole ground between the fort and the shore is clear. There is nothing to obstruct your landing." ...
— In Clive's Command - A Story of the Fight for India • Herbert Strang
... "very well. What we have to look to is, that we introduce no alien element, nothing which shall cross or obstruct us. Remember, our plans, even those which only concern our amusements, depend mainly on our being together. You were to read to me, in consecutive order, the journal which you made when you were abroad. You were to take the opportunity of arranging it, putting all the loose matter connected with ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... roads" is almost incredible. They generally keep along the backbone of a chain of hills, avoiding steep gradients: and one curious observation was not lost upon the government surveyors, that in crossing the valleys from ridge to ridge, through forests so dense as altogether to obstruct a distant view, the elephants invariably select the line of march which communicates most judiciously with the opposite point, by means of the safest ford.[1] So sure-footed are they, that there are few places ...
— Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon • J. Emerson Tennent
... 1542, an incident occurred which caused the relations between parliament and the City to be somewhat strained. The sheriffs of that year—Rowland Hill,(1222) an ancestor of the founder of the Penny Post, and Henry Suckley—had thought fit to obstruct the sergeant-at-mace in the execution of his duty, whilst attempting to remove a prisoner, who was a member of parliament, from one of the compters. The arrest of a member of parliament has always been a hazardous operation, and the sheriffs after a time thought better ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe
... traffic of the Pennsylvania and of other railroads reaching the west shore of the North River is conducted by car-floats and ferry-boats which deliver their loads at piers on the Manhattan waterfront and elsewhere in the harbor. These boats obstruct and endanger the free navigation of the channels and occupy space along the waterfront greatly needed for the accommodation of the long-distance water-borne commerce, especially on the ...
— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 • Charles W. Raymond
... reason of the voice of the ass, which was that of a man, the angel plainly appeared to him, and blamed him for the stripes he had given his ass; and informed him that the brute creature was not in fault, but that he was himself come to obstruct his journey, as being contrary to the will of God. Upon which Balaam was afraid, and was preparing to return back again: yet did God excite him to go on his intended journey, but added this injunction, ...
— The Antiquities of the Jews • Flavius Josephus
... the exertions made by President Forbes to obstruct the designs of the disaffected, a plan was formed to seize him by some of the Frasers, a party of whom, amounting to about 200, attacked Culloden House during the night of the 15th of October, but the President being on his guard they were ...
— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie
... directed to unveiling to them the cheering splendour of the lamp of the Gospel; and it is the sincere prayer of the humble individual who now addresses you that the difficulties which at present much obstruct their efforts may be speedily removed, and that from the boundless champains of Russia may soon resound the Jubilee hymn of millions, who having long groped their way in the darkness of the shadow of death, are at once blessed with ...
— Letters of George Borrow - to the British and Foreign Bible Society • George Borrow
... oval, green as an emerald, level as a billiard table and had no fences or stands to obstruct the open view of the surrounding wooded country. On each side of the diamond were rows of wooden benches, and at one end of the field stood ...
— The Redheaded Outfield and Other Baseball Stories • Zane Grey
... conduct. It is no contempt to tear up the writ or subpoena in the presence of the officer of the court, because, the service once lawfully effected, the court is indifferent to the treatment of its stationery; but such behaviour, though lawful, is childish. To obstruct a witness on his way to give evidence, or to threaten him if he does give evidence, or to tamper with the jury, are all serious contempts. In short, there is a divinity which hedges a court of justice, and anybody ...
— In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays • Augustine Birrell
... those employed to break the negotiation were strong and formidable. As soon as the first suspicion of a treaty's being on foot crept abroad in the world the whole alliance united with a powerful party in the nation to obstruct it. From that hour to the moment the Congress of Utrecht finished, no one measure possible to be taken was omitted to traverse every advance that was made in this work, to intimidate, to allure, to embarrass ...
— Letters to Sir William Windham and Mr. Pope • Lord Bolingbroke
... that of going back to the Bath, which I could not think of for many reasons; that however parting from him was a wound to me that I could never recover, yet that I was fully satisfied his reflections were just, and would be very far from desiring to obstruct his ...
— The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders &c. • Daniel Defoe
... their military character and become individuals. The answer was that, rather than separate, and destroy their military character, they would prefer going to Brazil. The reply to this was, that we did not wish them to go to Brazil, but we would not obstruct them; and in order to protect them from Portuguese cruisers, a British convoy was offered and declined. The right hon. gentleman said that application was made for permission for a body of unarmed men to go to Terceira. But it was necessary that the House should know certain ...
— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones
... feet is a satisfactory compromise distance when a greater distance cannot be obtained at reasonable cost. To secure suitable sight distance, the curves must be of long radii, and where possible the right-of-way on the inside of the curve should be cleared of trees or brush that will obstruct the view. Where the topography will not permit a long radius curve and the view is obstructed by an embankment or by growing crops or other growth, it is desirable to separate the tracks around the ...
— American Rural Highways • T. R. Agg
... captain now," Florry interrupted, in delicious terror hastening to obstruct any further discussion of what a seventy-five dollar man might have to say were he but in position to say it. "Why should you go to ...
— Cappy Ricks • Peter B. Kyne
... ourselves may with advantage be retired from service. Nor is it particularly important what men and measures the women will vote for. By one means or another Tyrant Man will have his way; the Opposing Sex can merely obstruct him in his way of having it. And should that obstruction ever be too pronounced, the party line and the sex line coinciding, woman suffrage will then and ...
— The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays - 1909 • Ambrose Bierce
... 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid; or shall rescue, or attempt ...
— The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States • Martin R. Delany
... arisen by selection through many generations relapse precipitously into the wild type in a generation or two when selection ceases; and in the same way a civilization in which lusty pugnacity and greed have ceased to act as selective agents and have begun to obstruct and destroy, rushes downwards and backwards with a suddenness that enables an observer to see with consternation the upward steps of many centuries retraced in a single lifetime. This has often occurred even within the period covered by history; and in every instance the ...
— Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion • George Bernard Shaw
... said he, does Caesar desire?—why come into his [Ariovistus's] domains?—that this was his province of Gaul, just as that is ours. As it ought not to be pardoned in him if he were to make an attack upon our territories, so likewise that we were unjust to obstruct him in his prerogative. As for Caesar's saying that the AEdui had been styled 'brethren' by the Senate, he was not so uncivilized nor so ignorant of affairs as not to know that the AEdui in the very last war with the Allobroges had neither rendered assistance ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various
... a general law of Congress prohibiting the construction of bridges over navigable waters in such manner as to obstruct navigation, with provisions for preventing the same. It seems that under existing statutes the Government can not intervene to prevent such a construction when entered upon without its consent, though when such consent is asked and granted upon condition the ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland
... or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various
... to unite in our endeavours to deliver our distressed neighbors from the horrible annoyances and molestations wherewith a dreadful witchcraft is now persecuting of them. To have an hand in any thing that may stifle or obstruct a regular detection of that witchcraft, is what we may well with an holy fear avoid. Their Majesties good subjects must not every day be torn to pieces by horrid witches, and those bloody felons be left wholly unprosecuted. The witchcraft is a business that will not be shammed, without plunging ...
— Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather - A Reply • Charles W. Upham
... applied to the Lords, who supported his rights, and Charles sent him his writ accompanied by a letter from Lord Keeper Coventry desiring him not to use it. Bristol, however, took his seat and demanded justice against Buckingham (Thomason Tracts, E. 126 (20)). The king endeavoured to obstruct his attack by causing Bristol on the 1st of May to be himself brought to the bar, on an accusation of high treason by the attorney-general. The Lords, however, ordered that both charges should be investigated ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 - "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" • Various
... branches and convert this latter tree into a log did not take long. Neither did it take much time or exertion to fashion a sort of support, or trigger, in the shape of a figure 4, immediately under the log, so as to obstruct the hole before mentioned. But to lower the log gently from the boulder on to this trigger without setting it off was a matter of extreme difficulty, requiring great care and much time, for the weight of the log was great, and if it should once slip to the ground, ten ...
— The Red Man's Revenge - A Tale of The Red River Flood • R.M. Ballantyne
... been the lets and impediments, that have been cast in the way, to retard and obstruct the Lord's work, by Prelacy, supremacy, indulgences, toleration, and absolute tyranny and compliance therewith, enacted by law, and all the mischiefs established by a throne of iniquity since the unhappy restoration of Charles II. to ...
— The Auchensaugh Renovation of the National Covenant and • The Reformed Presbytery
... in Peking as in Washington, a policy of his own, never disguised, and as little in harmony with his chief as with Hay; he made his opposition on fixed lines for notorious objects; but Senators could seldom give a reason for obstruction. In every hundred men, a certain number obstruct by instinct, and try to invent reasons to explain it afterwards. The Senate was no worse than the board of a university; but incorporators as a rule have not made this class of men dictators on purpose to prevent action. In the Senate, a ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams
... my soul, to glorious deeds, The Captain of salvation leads; March on, nor fear to win the day, Though death and hell obstruct ...
— The Power of Faith - Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham. • Isabella Graham
... served among the warriors committed to Hermanric's command. By many acts of frank generosity and encouragement, the young chieftain had won their rough attachment. They mourned his fate, but dared not obstruct the sentence, or oppose the act that determined it. At their own risk they had secretly quitted the advancing ranks of their comrades, to use the last privilege and obey the last dictate of human kindness; and they thought not of the lonely ...
— Antonina • Wilkie Collins
... sense-organs forms like themselves, these copies, which would evidently be corporeal, must, by their departure, diminish the mass of the body from which they came away, and also, because of their impenetrability, obstruct and interfere with one another, thus destroying the possibility of clear impressions. A further point against the image theory is furnished by the increase in the size of an object, when approached. And, above all, it can never be made conceivable how motion can be transformed into ...
— History Of Modern Philosophy - From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time • Richard Falckenberg
... for him, in what Number he pleas'd, together with Carriages necessary for Artillery, Baggage, and Ammunition; in few Days he could have forc'd King Philip out of Madrid, where he had so little Force to oppose him. And as there was nothing in his Way to prevent or obstruct his marching thither, it is hard to conceive any other Part King Philip could have acted in such an Extremity, than to retire either towards Portugal or Catalonia. In either of which Cases he must have left all the middle Part of Spain open to the Pleasure of the Enemy; who in the mean ...
— Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton • Daniel Defoe
... has given me more trouble than any work I ever wrote; and, my labour having been so far crowned with success, I trust that I shall have "done the State some service." [See Note 1.] The review in the Edinburgh will neither defeat nor obstruct my purpose, as that publication circulates chiefly among those classes who have already formed their opinions; and I have this advantage over it, that, as for one that reads the Edinburgh Review, fifty will read my work, so will fifty read my reply ...
— Diary in America, Series Two • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)
... obstructing the issue, and communication with the outer world is established. It is only a very narrow hole, and one has to stoop to go through it. The exterior orifice is lost among the crannies of the rocky coast, and it would be easy to obstruct it, if such a ...
— Facing the Flag • Jules Verne
... appear satisfactorily to me, by information received from the governor of the Territory of Arizona and from the General of the Army of the United States and other reliable sources, that in consequence of unlawful combinations of evil-disposed persons who are banded together to oppose and obstruct the execution of the laws it has become impracticable to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the laws of the United States within that Territory, and that the laws of the United States ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 8: Chester A. Arthur • James D. Richardson
... has of late been, I know not how, propagated among us, that libraries are filled only with useless lumber; that men of parts stand in need of no assistance; and that to spend life in poring upon books, is only to imbibe prejudices, to obstruct and embarrass the powers of nature, to cultivate memory at the expense of judgment, and to bury reason under ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume IV: The Adventurer; The Idler • Samuel Johnson
... caution locked the door of the room in which the child was hid, and covered each crevice, and every aperture through which sound might more easily proceed; though she had surrounded the infant's head with pillows, to obstruct all noise from his crying; yet one unlucky night, the strength of his voice increasing with his age, he was heard by the maid, who slept the nearest to that ...
— Nature and Art • Mrs. Inchbald
... them. He, therefore, undertakes the affair, and prevails upon the Sequani to allow the Helvetii to march through their territories, and arranges that they should give hostages to each other—the Sequani not to obstruct the Helvetii in their march—the Helvetii, to pass without ...
— "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries • Caius Julius Caesar
... else to-morrow this head of yours shall be off. This cavalier manner of Henry's succeeded; for next day the bill passed. Another instance of arbitrary power is worth relating. In Strype's life of Stow we find, a garden house belonging to an honest citizen of London, (which chanced to obstruct the improvement of a powerful favourite. Thomas Cromwell,) "loosed from the foundation, borne on rollers, and replaced two and twenty feet within the garden," without the owner's leave being required; nay without his knowledge. The persons employed, being asked their authority for this ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, - Issue 269, August 18, 1827 • Various
... reign to extend our trade, by which we made it necessary to ourselves to watch the commercial progress of our neighbours; and if not to incommode and obstruct their traffick, to hinder them ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 6 - Reviews, Political Tracts, and Lives of Eminent Persons • Samuel Johnson
... speak to you of these labours. Pardon me, if I pass from the toil to the reward. You have uttered dim prophecies of my future, if I wed one who, in the judgment of the sober world, would only darken its prospects and obstruct its ambition. Do you speak from the wisdom which is experience, or that which aspires ...
— Zanoni • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... Sungei-Lamo and the rest of the shore northward of Marlborough Point, where, on the contrary, you perceive the effects of continual depredations by the ocean. The old forest trees are there yearly undermined and, falling, obstruct the traveller; whilst about Pulo the arau-trees are continually springing up faster than they can be cut down or otherwise destroyed. Nature will not readily be forced from her course. The last time I visited that part there was a beautiful rising grove of these trees, establishing ...
— The History of Sumatra - Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And - Manners Of The Native Inhabitants • William Marsden
... mind misgives me. ... Alas, Hilarion! how limited is our knowledge! ... even with all the spiritual aids of spiritual life how little can be accomplished! We learn one thing, and another presents itself—we conquer one difficulty, and another instantly springs up to obstruct our path. Now if I had only had the innate perception required to foresee the possible flight of this released Immortal. creature, might I not have saved it from ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli
... he, whose birth, maturity, and age, Scarce fill the circle of one summer-day, Shall the poor gnat, with discontent and rage, Exclaim that Nature hastens to decay, If but a cloud obstruct the solar ray, If but a momentary shower descend! Or shall frail man Heaven's dread decree gainsay, Which bade the series of events extend Wide through unnumbered worlds, ...
— The Minstrel; or the Progress of Genius - with some other poems • James Beattie
... respectively, with a sort of crow's nest or observatory at the top; the floors to be lattice- work, like those in the engine-room of a steamer, so that when the carpets were rolled up they should not greatly obstruct the view. The wide, flat base and the low centre of gravity would, he saw, be of use in withstanding the high winds that he knew often prevailed on Jupiter. As soon as possible he awarded the contract, and then entering his smart electric trap, steered for Vassar University along what was ...
— A Journey in Other Worlds • J. J. Astor
... writings, he was greatest in his conversation. In him was disproved that old maxim, that we should allow every one his share of talk. He would talk from morn to dewy eve, nor cease till far midnight; yet who ever would interrupt him,—who would obstruct that continuous flow of converse, fetched from Helicon or Zion? He had the tact of making the unintelligible seem plain. Many who read the abstruser parts of his "Friend" would complain that his works did not answer to his spoken wisdom. ...
— Charles Lamb • Barry Cornwall
... the record of a game of chess—anything—and it is there. This is the immortal mind—nothing is beyond its reach. Nothing can obstruct my vision; the rocks are transparent to me, and darkness is daylight. I do not need to open a book; I take the whole of its contents into my mind at a single glance, through the cover; and in a million years I could not forget a single word of ...
— The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories • Mark Twain
... them! The trio moves at a snail's pace compared with her ordinary speed, but the young ones show no inclination to dive out of harm's way. Their clinging, crowding tendency serves but to incommode and obstruct her. And where is the male protector? Alas for the romance of chivalry! When the boat comes near, he deliberately dives, and, after the usual protracted wait, reappears in another part of the lake, away from the danger that alarms and threatens the defenceless ...
— The Ontario Readers: Fourth Book • Various
... gathering the spoils of their evening work. Wagon after wagon was overtaken, captured, and destroyed, while hundreds of prisoners were easily captured. This daring exploit placed Kilpatrick in advance of the Rebel army, giving him a fine opportunity to obstruct their pathway of retreat, and to destroy whatever could be of any use to them. Had he not been cumbered with so many prisoners, it is not in the power of any one to estimate the damage he would have done. ...
— Three Years in the Federal Cavalry • Willard Glazier
... been accomplished during this reign, the time seems not far distant when there will be little more for Liberals to urge, or for Conservatives and the House of Lords to obstruct. Monarchy is absolutely shorn of its dangers. The House of Commons, which is the actual ruling power of the Kingdom, is only the expression of the ...
— The Evolution of an Empire • Mary Parmele
... method used is that of grinding. The machine is run at about one-third speed and the step-water shut off for 15 or 20 seconds. This causes grooves and ridges on the faces of the step-bearing blocks, due to their grinding on each other, which obstruct the flow of water between the faces and thus raises the pressure. It seems a brutal way of getting a scientific result, if the result desired can be called scientific. The grooving and cutting of the step-blocks will not do any harm, and in fact they will aid in keeping the revolving parts of the ...
— Steam Turbines - A Book of Instruction for the Adjustment and Operation of - the Principal Types of this Class of Prime Movers • Hubert E. Collins
... supposed to serve a good purpose by uprooting and destroying large water-plants that might otherwise obstruct the current of the stream and hinder the ...
— The Giraffe Hunters • Mayne Reid
... have with a rope. He did not miss often, but then he missed sometimes, and here he must be swift and sure. It annoyed him that his hands perspired and trembled and that something weighty seemed to obstruct his breathing. He muttered that he was pretty much worn out, not in the best of condition for a hard fight with a wild horse. Still he would capture Wildfire; his mind was unalterably set there. He anticipated that the stallion would make a final and ...
— The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories • Various
... crossed the pontoon bridge to Virginia, the bands playing "O carry me back." As usual, while the corps was crossing a bridge or passing a difficult place, General Sedgwick stood at the farther end of the bridge preventing confusion and hurrying up teams which might obstruct the way. We climbed the rocky defile, and, at four o'clock, found ourselves well on the Virginia side of the Potomac. On our march we passed through the little village of Lovettsville, and, much to the surprise of all, the doors and windows of the dwellings were filled with ladies, whose ...
— Three Years in the Sixth Corps • George T. Stevens
... among the coal-waggons and Thames watermen—for there were Thames watermen at that time—in some unknown rat-hole by the river, down lanes and alleys on the other side of the Strand. As to any other person to meet him or obstruct him, Lyons Inn was dreaming, drunk, maudlin, moody, betting, brooding over bill-discounting or renewing—asleep or awake, minding its own affairs. Mr. Testator took his coal-scuttle in one hand, his candle and key in the other, and descended to the dismallest underground ...
— The Uncommercial Traveller • Charles Dickens
... had not known. It was like a river which glides along smoothly; its banks carpeted with fragrant flowers, its bed formed by fine sand, the wind scarcely rippling its surface, so quiet and peaceful that you would say that its waters were dead; until suddenly its channel is pent up, ragged rocks obstruct its course, and the entangled trunks of trees form a dike. Then the river roars; it rises up; its waves boil; it is lashed into foam, beats against the rocks and rushes ...
— Friars and Filipinos - An Abridged Translation of Dr. Jose Rizal's Tagalog Novel, - 'Noli Me Tangere.' • Jose Rizal
... with the vent-gauges and searchers, to see that they are clear from any substance which may obstruct the use ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN
... brother, Kent, cannot carry out his plan of studying at the Beaux Arts, but maybe something will turn up and he can come after all. I might have known Aunt Clay would obstruct, all she had in her power, but thank goodness, her power is limited and your mother will finally get the full amount of money for her oil lands that Papa thought she should have. As for being in Paris without much money, it really is a grand place to be poor ...
— Molly Brown's Orchard Home • Nell Speed
... those lawless acts did not seem to result from any general organization. But they gradually developed into the formidable character of a wide-spread conspiracy and combination, with recognized general leaders, to obstruct and prevent the due execution of the laws of the United States respecting transportation and interstate commerce. The principal center of this conspiracy, and by far the most formidable combination, was in Chicago, where the greatest material interests, both public ...
— Forty-Six Years in the Army • John M. Schofield
... immediately march towards the enemy's lines, is designed to answer the following purposes; namely, to be a security to this camp, and a cover to the country, between the Delaware and the Schuylkill, to interrupt the communication with Philadelphia, to obstruct the incursions of the enemy's parties, and to obtain intelligence of their motions and designs. This last is a matter of very interesting moment, and ought to claim your particular attention. You will ...
— Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette • Lafayette
... and listened to with evident relish; and truly it ought and must deeply pain and grieve us, as pious, honest, faithful Confederates, that such strange, foreign, slanderous and wicked people, who, beyond doubt, wish not only to lessen and obstruct the profit, honor, piety and welfare of our glorious Confederacy, but according to their race and nation, under a false show of good, to obliterate and utterly destroy it, should receive almost more respect, confidence and esteem than we. And yet, God knows, we have ...
— The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli • Johann Hottinger
... "It has been demonstrated that alcoholic drinks prevent the natural changes in the blood, and obstruct the nutritive and reparative functions." He adds, "Chemical experiments have demonstrated that the action of alcohol on the digestive fluid is to destroy its active principle, the pepsin, thus confirming the observations ...
— The American Woman's Home • Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe
... for the purpose of revenue, curtailed our trade relations and impeded our entrance to the markets of the world, has been superseded by a tariff policy which in principle is based upon a denial of the right of the Government to obstruct the avenues to our people's cheap living or lessen their comfort and contentment for the sake of according especial advantages to favorites, and which, while encouraging our intercourse and trade with other nations, recognizes the fact that American self-reliance, ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland
... how could she without a heart? It is very shocking of course that she committed all sorts of dirty tricks, and jockeyed her neighbours, and never cared what she trampled under foot if it happened to obstruct her step; but how could she be expected to do otherwise without a conscience? The poor little woman was most tryingly placed; she came into the world without the customary letters of credit upon those two great bankers of humanity, "Heart and Conscience," and it was no fault of hers if they dishonoured ...
— Famous Reviews • Editor: R. Brimley Johnson
... that the English nation is incapable of appreciating the highest degree of eminence in the fine arts, or that we are never destined to rise to excellence in any but the mechanical. It is the multitude of subordinate writers of moderate merit who obstruct all the avenues to great distinction, which really occasions the phenomenon. Strange as it may appear, it is a fact abundantly proved by literary history, and which may be verified by every day's experience, that men are in general insensible to the ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 349, November, 1844 • Various
... and makes me mighty doubtfull that when we have one, it will be prejudiced against poor Yeabsly and to my great disadvantage thereby, my Lord Peterborough making it his business, I perceive (whether in spite to me, whom he cannot but smell to be a friend to it, or to my Lord Ashly, I know not), to obstruct it, and seems to take delight in disappointing of us; but I shall be revenged of him. Here I staid a very great while, almost till noon, and then meeting Balty I took him with me, and to Westminster to the Exchequer about ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... have been trying to find Mr. Ormsby, the committee on judiciary has been reporting the long-lost House Bill Twenty-nine. If you hurry you may be in time to see it passed—it will doubtless go through without any tiresome debate. But you will hardly have time to obstruct it by arousing ...
— The Grafters • Francis Lynde
... embarked at Cronstadt in the "Vladimer," a Russian steamer, very beautifully fitted up, with two cabins on deck, one for the captain and the other for the use of the passengers; the bulwarks, rather too high, and so obstruct the view, but at the same time protective in foul weather. The accommodation was very good, and the supply of provisions most ample, but not all ...
— A Journey in Russia in 1858 • Robert Heywood
... leaping, and romping in their innocent glee. Happy himself, he fastens upon whatever in nature around him seems to sympathise with him, and dwelling fondly upon it, casts away from his thoughts every thing that can obstruct the full, free flow of ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, January 1844 - Volume 23, Number 1 • Various
... sayings and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn treaties; the Ossa upon Pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws—all this contains but little solid food for grown human beings. The condition of the brave and quickwitted Spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century gives more ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... slaughter was already announced by Chalier to the Jacobin club. "Three hundred heads," he said, "are marked for slaughter. Let us lose no time in seizing the members of the departmental office-bearers, the presidents and secretaries of the sections, all the local authorities who obstruct our revolutionary measures. Let us make one fagot of the whole, and deliver them at once to ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox
... Mrs. Josephine Daskam Bacon, among others has lent her able pen to ridicule and obstruct the gradual awakening of human intelligence in mothers, the recognition that babies are no exception to the rest of us in being better off for competent care and service. It seems delightfully absurd to these reactionaries that ages of human progress should be of any benefit ...
— The Forerunner, Volume 1 (1909-1910) • Charlotte Perkins Gilman
... West are vastly different from those in the East. Nevada is a sparsely populated country, and it is not considered to the interest of the State to hedge about too closely the road which leads to citizenship. Anything which may have a tendency to obstruct immigration or turn it in another direction, is conceded, in this neck of the woods, to be unwise statesmanship. The State has a vital interest in securing and holding as large a population as is consistent with her rapidly increasing resources; always keeping ...
— Reno - A Book of Short Stories and Information • Lilyan Stratton
... attack from the northern side of the Potomac. The precious stores and supplies captured at Harper's Ferry must be got to a place of safety, and this was likely to delay Jackson a day or two. Lee therefore ordered McLaws to obstruct Franklin's movement as much as he could, whilst he himself concentrated the rest of Longstreet's corps at Sharpsburg, behind the Antietam. If McClellan's force should prove overwhelming, the past experience of the Confederate ...
— Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V1 • Jacob Dolson Cox
... guardians, and other superiors of these our kingdoms and of those of Nueva Espana not to prevent or obstruct the voyage of the religious who, after receiving our permission, undertake to go, together with their commissaries, to engage in the conversion and instruction of the natives of the Filipinas Islands. Rather shall they ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol 28 of 55) • Various
... following the windings of streams, and conducting to fords near their head waters. Sometimes they came to swampy regions, sometimes to deep gulleys, sometimes to desert plains. But throughout all this wide expanse there were no mountain ranges to obstruct their path. ...
— Christopher Carson • John S. C. Abbott
... by extreme advocacy and by his indulgence in needlessly vindictive writing. Yet it must be remembered, in common justice to him, that he was playing a very difficult part The Japanese were making his life as uncomfortable as they possibly could, and were doing everything to obstruct his work. His mails were constantly tampered with; his servants were threatened or arrested on various excuses, and his household was subjected to the closest espionage. He displayed surprising tenacity, and held on ...
— Korea's Fight for Freedom • F.A. McKenzie
... equally with those of the English labouring classes, since they cannot get it from their parents, provided with means of decent Christian education, that Mr. George Smith has brought this subject under public notice. The Gipsies, so long as they refrain from picking and stealing, and do not obstruct the highways, should not be persecuted; for they are a less active nuisance than the Italian organ-grinders in our city streets, whose tormenting presence we are content to suffer, to the sore interruption both of our daily work and ...
— Gipsy Life - being an account of our Gipsies and their children • George Smith
... 831.) "push'd by the horned flood," he seems rather to mean, as Newton explains him, that "rivers, when they meet with anything to obstruct their passage, divide themselves and become horned as it were, and hence the ancients have compared them ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 26. Saturday, April 27, 1850 • Various
... determine to bring them to heaven against their hearts and wills, and the love that they had to their sins, yet that God was far from infusing any thing into their souls, that should in the least hinder, weaken, obstruct, or let them in seeking the welfare of their souls. Now, men will tattle and prattle at a mad rate about election and reprobation, and conclude that because all are not elected, therefore God is to ...
— The Riches of Bunyan • Jeremiah Rev. Chaplin
... were intended to facilitate the rapid dispatch of troops, supplies, and official messages into every corner of Italy. Hence the roads ran, as much as possible, in straight lines and on easy grades. Nothing was allowed to obstruct their course. Engineers cut through or tunneled the hills, bridged rivers and gorges, and spanned low, swampy lands with viaducts of stone. So carefully were these roads constructed that some stretches of them are still in good condition. ...
— EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY • HUTTON WEBSTER
... the following writ. In substance this was reduced to saying that they ought to determine first the manner of locating the islands and to choose the meridian for the three hundred and seventy leagues. But this matter being easy and one of pure reason, it ought not obstruct the investigation of the other two, and therefore they would summon the attorneys within three days, to give their decision as to the first question. And they would treat immediately of the other two, since the time limit was short, ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 • Emma Helen Blair
... the prize: The prince, in doubt, conducted him away; But in his heart a hundred arrows lay; Each magick charm directed pointed darts; To flee were useless: LOVE such pain imparts, That nothing can at times obstruct its course; So quick the flight: ...
— The Tales and Novels, Complete • Jean de La Fontaine
... the constable answered as before, with an incredulous smile. "Don't you go trying to obstruct the police in the exercise of their duty. If I can't take you up on the warrant as it stands, well, anyhow, I can arrest you on suspicion all the same, for looking so precious like the photograph of the man as is wanted. Twin brothers ain't got any call, don't you know, to sit, turn about, for ...
— What's Bred In the Bone • Grant Allen
... reason of the thinness of the senate. Then indeed the people began to think their demand was eluded, and the redress of their grievances delayed; that such of the senators as had absented themselves did so not through chance or fear, but on purpose to obstruct the business. That the consuls themselves trifled with them, that their miseries were now a mere subject of mockery. By this time the sedition was come to such a height, that the majesty of the consuls could hardly restrain the violence of the people. Wherefore, uncertain whether ...
— The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 • Titus Livius
... set down the beginnings of the practical experiments made by the two brothers very clearly. 'The difficulties,' he says, 'which obstruct the pathway to success in flying machine construction are of three general classes: (1) Those which relate to the construction of the sustaining wings; (2) those which relate to the generation and application of the power required to drive the machine through the air; (3) those relating ...
— A History of Aeronautics • E. Charles Vivian
... the males. These comport themselves in the hive as did Penelope's suitors in the house of Ulysses. Indelicate and wasteful, sleek and corpulent, fully content with their idle existence as honorary lovers, they feast and carouse, throng the alleys, obstruct the passages, and hinder the work; jostling and jostled, fatuously pompous, swelled with foolish, good-natured contempt; harbouring never a suspicion of the deep and calculating scorn wherewith the workers regard them, of the ...
— The Life of the Bee • Maurice Maeterlinck
... no Obstruction!"—Why, then, all this ruction? "When we obstruct, who dares to call't Obstruction?" To dam a deluge, stop a bolting horse,— That is obstruction, of a sort, of course; Our sort, in fact! But theirs on t'other side? That's quite another matter. They can't hide The cloven foot of malice, the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, March 25, 1893 • Various
... affected by this knowledge. A woman's past belongs only to herself and her God, she says, unless she wishes to make a confidant. But I cannot agree with her or the rector. I would want the truth from my parents, however much it hurt. Many sins which men regard as serious only obstruct the bridge between our souls and truth. A lie burns ...
— An Ambitious Man • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... use is a petition to Dalton? Is he not now in gaol, on a charge of murder? You would not have me attempt to obstruct the course of justice, would you? The man will get a fair trial, ...
— The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine • William Carleton
... humanity compels me to declare to you my duty, however painful, to take all measures within my power to dismantle whatever transports may attempt to sail from Bahia under convoy of the ships of war. That I have the means of performing this duty, in defiance of the ships of war which may endeavour to obstruct my operations, is a fact which no naval officer will doubt—but which to you as a military man may not be so apparent. If, after this warning, I am compelled to have recourse to the measures alluded to, and if numerous lives ...
— Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, - from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 2 • Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald
... felt no impulse to strike back. I had reached such an elevation on my mountain of Self-discovery, as Esther would have put it, that I commanded vision at last. Tom and his ideas did not obstruct my progress, like the huge blow-down that he had once been in my way, against which I had blindly beaten my fists raw. I had found my way around Tom. I could look down now and see him in correct proportion to other objects in the world about me. I saw from my height that such ...
— The Fifth Wheel - A Novel • Olive Higgins Prouty
... princes dispute, and soldiers reciprocally support their quarrels; but let the wealthy traders of every nation unite to pour the oil of commerce over the too agitated ocean of human life, and smooth down those asperities which obstruct fraternal concord. ...
— Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. I • Hester Lynch Piozzi
... protecting Babylon from Cyrus. They consisted in part of defences within the city, designed apparently to secure it against an enemy who should enter by the river, in part of hydraulic works intended to obstruct the advances of an army by the usual route. The river had hitherto flowed in its natural bed through the middle of the town. Nabonadius confined the stream by a brick embankment carried the whole way along both banks, ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon • George Rawlinson
... At the end of half an hour they came to a little hill, at the foot of which the tributary stream discharged itself into the Cumberland. The staff-officer directed his glass to the other shore, and there was nothing to obstruct his vision. ...
— A Lieutenant at Eighteen • Oliver Optic
... anxiety; as they cannot see that this is taken as a matter of general course and in earnest, and the fortifications are being continued—which is, I believe, the chief reason why Japon is moved to try to obstruct it Your Majesty will ordain what is most to your service. May our Lord preserve your Majesty many long years, as Christendom requires. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593 • Emma Helen Blair
... the little Japanese shook his head firmly. 'But no,' he said, bowing even more deeply than before, 'the train must not be allowed to obstruct the honorable artistic traveler's honorable aesthetic enjoyment'—or words to that effect. 'I will cause it ...
— Best Short Stories • Various
... winding gently down towards the valley. On the side of the Green that led towards the church, the broken line of thatched cottages was continued nearly to the churchyard gate; but on the opposite northwestern side, there was nothing to obstruct the view of gently swelling meadow, and wooded valley, and dark masses of distant hill. That rich undulating district of Loamshire to which Hayslope belonged lies close to a grim outskirt of Stonyshire, overlooked by its barren hills as a pretty blooming sister may sometimes be seen linked ...
— Adam Bede • George Eliot
... which might prevent the appearance of the menses, such as disease of the uterus, general debility, or taking cold, and all of these should be taken into account. In the absence of all apparent influences calculated to obstruct the menses, the presumption ordinarily is that pregnancy is the cause of their non-appearance. The evidence is still more conclusive when the mammae and abdomen enlarge after experiencing morning sickness. Notwithstanding all these symptoms, the audible sound of the heart, ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce
... talk about. For the rest, old Karl Philip has frankly adopted the Pragmatic Sanction; but then he has, likewise, privately made league with France to secure him in that Julich-and-Berg matter, should the Kaiser break promise;—league which may much obstruct said Sanction. Nay privately he is casting glances on his Bavarian Cousin, elegant ambitious Karl Albert. Kurfurst of Baiern,—are not we all from the same Wittelsbach stock, Cousins from of old?—and will undertake, for the same Julich-and-Bergobject, to secure Bavaria ...
— History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7 • Thomas Carlyle
... has ever possessed a lively sense of its prerogatives. The Opposition, consisting chiefly of the independence party led by Francis Kossuth (eldest son of Louis Kossuth), made capital out of the grievance and decided to obstruct ministerial measures until the supernumeraries should be discharged. The estimates could not be sanctioned, and though Kossuth granted the Szell cabinet a vote on account for the first four months of 1903, the Government found itself ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 - "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" • Various
... none will stir a hand to the advantage of any one but the king, unless it be secretly to his own, etc. And, though he will say nothing against Simon, save (by way of hint) that all men must be counted honest till they are proved guilty, yet he do apprehend he will do all in his power to obstruct the granting of this seal, which it is only reasonable to suppose he will. So, to close this discussion, I agree he shall spend as much as one thousand pounds in bribery, and he thinks we may certainly look to have it in a month at that price. Home ...
— A Set of Rogues • Frank Barrett
... wide, and on the opposite bank is another fort, not yet completed. All around Fort Henry you see rifle-pits and breastworks, enclosing twenty or thirty acres. Above and below the fort are creeks. The tall trees are cut down to obstruct the way, or to form an abatis, as it is called. It will not be an easy matter to take the fort from the land side. Inside these intrenchments is the Rebel camp,—log-huts and tents, with accommodations for ...
— My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field • Charles Carleton Coffin
... excellent eating. Their beef is not loose and flabby like that at Saldhana, but firm and good, little differing from that of England. Their mutton also is excellent, their sheep having tails weighing 28 pounds each, which therefore are mostly cut off from the ewes, not to obstruct propagation. In the woods near the river there are great numbers of monkeys of an ash-colour with a small head, having a long tail like a fox, ringed or barred with black and white, the fur being very fine.[212] We shot some of these, not being able to take any of them ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr
... itself into any great number of branches or canals, and which runs into another territory before it reaches the sea, can never be very considerable, because it is always in the power of the nations who possess that other territory to obstruct the communication between the upper country and the sea. The navigation of the Danube is of very little use to the different states of Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary, in comparison of what it would be, if any of them possessed the whole ...
— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Adam Smith
... be the ones to furnish the facts that go to make history. The extent of a battlefield seen by the common soldier is that only which comes within the range of the raised sights of his musket. And what little he does see is as "through a glass, darkly." The dense banks of powder smoke obstruct his gaze; he catches but fitful glimpses of his adversaries as the smoke ...
— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell
... it 'The Guild of The Globe Trotters'," Miss Campbell was saying, when Mary gave a low exclamation of surprise. In order not to obstruct the beautiful view across the valley, the rustic porch had not been enclosed with screens, but the openings into the living room were screened, and, standing just outside the broad door, Mary saw a man peering ...
— The Motor Maids at Sunrise Camp • Katherine Stokes
... moving in the distance which, resembled the ostrich of his old picture-books. There was no sign of man, no house, flock, herd, or water, while his tongue was beginning to feel swollen and dry, and a peculiar thickness as of a mist began to obstruct ...
— First in the Field - A Story of New South Wales • George Manville Fenn
... skiagraph the thicker portions of the body, for example, the shoulder, the thigh, or the trunk, even the parts consisting only of flesh obstruct the rays to such an extent, by reason of their thickness, that the shadows of the still more dense tissues, like the thigh bone, the arm bone, or the bones of the trunk, cannot be distinguished from the shadows of the thicker soft parts. Tesla ("Electrical Review," March 11, 1896) ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various
... Commons. Whenever public opinion, which this party never attempts to form, to educate, or to lead, falls into some violent perplexity, passion, or caprice, this party yields without a struggle to the impulse, and, when the storm has passed, attempts to obstruct and obviate the logical and, ultimately, the inevitable results of the very measures they have themselves originated, or to which they have consented. This is the ...
— Coningsby • Benjamin Disraeli
... demonstrate to any dispassionate person that upon questions of expediency, of the general welfare, or even of justice, the judges rarely if ever oppose their opinion to that of the legislators. The courts do not obstruct the current of progress; they only keep it from overflowing its banks to the devastation of the constitutional rights ...
— Concerning Justice • Lucilius A. Emery
... the small farmers are concerned. Socialists agree in wanting to aid those small farmers who are neither capitalists nor employers on a sufficient scale to classify them with those elements, but they neither wish to perpetuate the system of small farms nor to obstruct the development of the more productive large-scale farming and the normal increase of an agricultural working class ready for cooeperative or governmental employment. They point to the universal law that large-scale production ...
— Socialism As It Is - A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement • William English Walling
... progress: and the same quickness of parts and vigour of imagination which united with prudence, or accompanied by judgment, might have raised him to the head of his profession, being unhappily associated with fickleness and caprice, served only to impede his improvement, and obstruct his preferment. And now, with little business, and that little neglected, a small fortune, and that fortune daily becoming less, the admiration of the world, but that admiration ending simply in civility, he lived an unsettled and unprofitable ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney
... village pond, on another the white expanse would be broken by ripples, solid wavelets stirred up by a light breeze, while after a storm, billows and rollers in the shape of great drifts and hillocks would obstruct our progress. As we neared the frozen ocean many storms were encountered, and approaching Sredni-Kolymsk these occurred almost daily as furious blizzards. On such occasions we always lay to, for it was impossible to travel ...
— From Paris to New York by Land • Harry de Windt
... there. Very soon they were examined separately, and the tale of each of them was almost identical with that of the other; only Olive was able to tell more about the two gentlemen in the barouche, for she had been at her uncle's side, and there was nothing to obstruct her vision. ...
— The Captain's Toll-Gate • Frank R. Stockton
... knife his guide had given him, and this would be of little use to him. Belbeis seemed in no way disturbed, and kept his horse going steadily on, while his ever alert eye glanced from side to side of the route, watching for the slightest sign of anything that could obstruct their flight. ...
— Under the Rebel's Reign • Charles Neufeld
... form themselves into any picturesque acclivity. Hardly is there on the whole course of the river one bold bluff or headland to obstruct the sight; and the scenery might even be thought tame and uninteresting, but for a home-born feeling that comes over the kind heart as it approaches so close to the mowers on the meadow-field as to scent the fragrance ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, April 1844 - Volume 23, Number 4 • Various
... the mountains much cooler than that of the interior plains. There was much Callitris in the woods passed through this day; and the soil, although well covered with grass, was sandy. I ascended Mount Pluto by the N. W. side, where the loose fragments of trap, on a very steep slope, obstruct the growth of a thorny scrub, covering other parts of the mountain sides. The view from the summit was very favourable for my purpose, and I passed an hour and a half in taking angles on all distant points. Mount ...
— Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia • Thomas Mitchell
... Whether it be not vain to object that our fellow-subjects of Great Britain would malign or obstruct our industry when it is exerted in a way which cannot interfere ...
— The Querist • George Berkeley
... believe in the universality of God's eternal purposes, in the certainty of their execution, and that they are so executed as not to obstruct or impair the free agency of man. But respecting the manner of God's executing his purposes,—whether by the instrumentality of motives, or by a direct efficiency,—persons having equal claims to the appellation of Orthodox, have not ...
— The Book of Religions • John Hayward
... with us would shelter a mouse would there oonceal an elephant, and a creeping plant which in England would delay a man only while he kicked its tendrils aside grows in Jamaica to such a strength and tanglement that it would obstruct the passage of a ...
— Humphrey Bold - A Story of the Times of Benbow • Herbert Strang
... of the four elements and the alleged composition of all things out of them is a pure assumption. Take the idea of the world of fire, the upper fire as they call it, which is colorless, so as not to obstruct the color of the heavens and the stars. Whoever saw such a fire? The only fire we know is an extremely hot object in the shape of coal, or as a flame in the air, or as boiling water. And whoever saw a fiery or ary body enter the matter of plant and animal so as to warrant us in saying ...
— A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy • Isaac Husik
... to obstruct the commander in chief's undivided control of the army, and hoping that more decisive action would then be taken, but the command of the armies became still more confused and enfeebled. Bennigsen, the Tsarevich, and a swarm of adjutants general ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... the most rambling will now want some pruning, more especially where they obstruct the light in any material degree. The Combretums, Echites, Ipomsas, Mandevillas, late-blooming Passifloras, Pergularias, Stephanotises, Thunbergias, &c., which are still growing, to be regulated with a more gentle hand, cutting out but little more than ...
— In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year • William Keane
... brave! Ready to adventure all things, yet he was the flower of courtesy! He was my example. I wished, like him, to achieve renown, and so when the news came that the Armada was about to embark from Spain, I asked her leave to go with Drake, who was to set sail for Cadiz to obstruct the Spanish fleet's progress. She refused to let me go, and so I ran away to Plymouth, where was my Lord Howard in charge of our ships there awaiting the coming of the enemy. But the queen held me in so much favor that she feared for ...
— In Doublet and Hose - A Story for Girls • Lucy Foster Madison
... and tied her to a tree, proceeding to carry out my plan on foot. I was so far successful as to arrive at the further edge of the wood, which was thick enough to conceal my presence without being too dense to obstruct my vision, just as Mr. Blake passed on his way to this solitary dwelling. He was looking very anxious, but determined. Turning my eyes from him, I took another glance at the house, which by this movement I had brought directly before me. It was even more deserted-looking than I had thought; its ...
— A Strange Disappearance • Anna Katharine Green
... where the years conduct. At first 't was something our two souls Should mix as mists do; each is sucked Into each now, on the new stream rolls, Whatever rocks obstruct. ...
— Home Life of Great Authors • Hattie Tyng Griswold
... expected at Mrs. Wharton's every hour. I fear that her inquisitorial eye will soon detect our intrigue and obstruct its continuation. Now, there's a girl, Charles, I should never attempt to seduce; yet she is a most alluring object, I assure you. But the dignity of her manners forbids all assaults upon her virtue. Why, the very expression of her eye blasts in the bud every ...
— The Coquette - The History of Eliza Wharton • Hannah Webster Foster
... present conditions in Russia, it is possible still to feel the inspiration of the essential spirit of Communism, the spirit of creative hope, seeking to sweep away the incumbrances of injustice and tyranny and rapacity which obstruct the growth of the human spirit, to replace individual competition by collective action, the relation of master and slave by free co-operation. This hope has helped the best of the Communists to bear the harsh years through which Russia has been passing, and has become an inspiration to the ...
— The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism • Bertrand Russell
... these disquieted the reign of the young prince with perpetual troubles. In these troubles he was formed early in life to vigilance, activity, secrecy, and a conquest over all those passions, whether bad or good, which obstruct the way to greatness. He had to contend with all the neighboring princes, with the seditions of a turbulent and unfaithful nobility, and the treacherous protection of his feudal lord, the King of France. All of these in their turns, sometimes all of these together, distressed him. But with ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VII. (of 12) • Edmund Burke |
