"Task" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... am setting about a task which, however free and happy the state of my mind, I could not have performed well at this distance of time; but now, I do not know that I shall be able to go on with it at all. I will strive, however, to do the best I can, setting before myself a different object from that hitherto ...
— Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803 • Dorothy Wordsworth
... child, and caused it to smile. Attracted by the charms thus created, young West felt his instinctive passion aroused; and seeing paper, pen and some red and black ink on a table, he eagerly seized them and made his first attempt at portrait painting. Just as he had finished his maiden task, his mother and sister entered. He tried to conceal what he had done, but his confusion arrested his mother's attention, and she asked him what he had been doing. With reluctance and timidity, he handed her the paper, begging, at the same time, ...
— The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes - Historical, Literary, and Humorous—A New Selection • Various
... when I am gone, continue my affection for you under a younger and more tender form!' 'Your affection suffices me,' I would answer; 'I feel no pain; I desire nothing; I am happy!' 'Yes,' he would rejoin, 'you are happy, but you are growing old at twenty! Oh, remember that it is your task to close my eyes! Live and love! oh, do but live, that ...
— Raphael - Pages Of The Book Of Life At Twenty • Alphonse de Lamartine
... seneschal's lady was alone, she thought to herself that this page would be rather a long time at his task if he amused himself with the singing of the Magnificat at matins. Then she determined on the morrow to raise her foot a little, and then to bring to light those hidden beauties that are called perfect in Touraine, because ...
— Droll Stories, Complete - Collected From The Abbeys Of Touraine • Honore de Balzac
... of public sentiment inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of reform, which will require particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course ...
— United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches - From Washington to George W. Bush • Various
... to her table and sat beside it, taking her pen to write, and Anne knew that she dare say no more, and turning, went slowly from the room, seeing for her last sight as she passed through the doorway, the erect and splendid figure at its task, the light from the candelabras shining upon the rubies round the snow-white neck and wreathed about the tower of raven ...
— A Lady of Quality • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... humanity. Their mission was to drain and to cultivate this most unhealthy part of the Double, and to improve the condition of the peasants who eked out a miserable existence there. With what success the monks have applied themselves to their task of changing the climate by drainage, and assisting the peasants in their struggle, is proved by the sentiments of the people towards them. When, under the Third Republic, the unauthorized religious orders ...
— Two Summers in Guyenne • Edward Harrison Barker
... this work may be perceived becomes not me to judge; I only know and feel that on me has devolved the endearing task of publishing the writings of my lamented child—that I am fulfilling ...
— The Days of Bruce Vol 1 - A Story from Scottish History • Grace Aguilar
... task of minuting down the roll of time for one unlucky month, turn we to another personage with whom it is high time the reader should be acquainted. At Turton Tower, a few miles distant, dwelt a cavalier of high birth, whose pedigree was somewhat longer than ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2 (of 2) • John Roby
... He found that the task of separating the wounded from the dead and the disposal of the former as comfortably as might be on board the ships to which they respectively belonged, was upon the eve of completion, whereupon, after giving Dyer certain further orders, George ...
— The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer • Harry Collingwood
... said she. "The task you propose is not so easy as you suppose, but I will make the attempt, and perhaps ...
— The Tin Woodman of Oz • L. Frank Baum
... my evening to the perusal of Mrs. Rebecca Haygarth's letters. The pale ink, the quaint cramped hand, the old-fashioned abbreviations, and very doubtful orthography rendered the task laborious; but I stuck to my work bravely, and the old clock in the market-place struck two as I began the last letter. As I get deeper into this business I find my interest in it growing day by day—an interest sui generis, apart from all ...
— Birds of Prey • M. E. Braddon
... of a giant resides in an old box-tree which grows in his castle garden; and to kill him it is necessary to sever the tap-root of the tree at a single blow of an axe without injuring any of the lesser roots. This task the hero, as usual, successfully accomplishes, and at the same ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer
... seeing her again, but he suffered, day and night, for he was a prey to his paternal love. He would gladly have died, if he could only have kissed his son, he would have committed murder, performed any task, braved any danger, ventured anything. He wrote to her, but she did not reply, and after writing her some twenty letters he saw that there was no hope of altering her determination, and then he formed the desperate resolution of writing to her husband, being quite prepared to receive a ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume II (of 8) • Guy de Maupassant
... little confidence in her son's schemes, but she did not discourage them; and Lawry racked his brain for expedients to accomplish the task he had imposed upon himself. He had no money, and he was too proud to ask Mr. Sherwood for the assistance which that gentleman would so gladly have rendered. Ethan French came down to see him every day, and the prairie ...
— Haste and Waste • Oliver Optic
... physician's energetic treatment, Germinie continued to make mademoiselle's bed, accepting her assistance to turn the mattresses. She also continued to prepare her food, and that was an especially distasteful task to her. ...
— Germinie Lacerteux • Edmond and Jules de Goncourt
... ordinary appearance of calm water—to lay on canvas as much evidence of surface and reflection as may make us understand that water is meant—is, perhaps, the easiest task of art; and even ordinary running or falling water may be sufficiently rendered, by observing careful curves of projection with a dark ground, and breaking a little white over it, as we see done with judgment and truth ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin
... must breathe easily and adequately, but not so as to waste his energies. Prior to the execution of his task, he should consider what respiratory efficiency calls for in the case of any particular phrase, and meet this without waste—i.e., fully, but with something to spare. For the best art, as well as the ...
— Voice Production in Singing and Speaking - Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged) • Wesley Mills
... each other in multiplying churches, chapels, and pictures, in honour of their patroness, and expressive of her several attributes. The devout painter, kneeling before his easel, addressed himself to the task of portraying those heavenly lineaments which had visited him perhaps in dreams. Many of the professed monks and ...
— Legends of the Madonna • Mrs. Jameson
... gangs at this place employed in different public works were seldom to be seen in the afternoon. On inquiry, it appeared that, notwithstanding the orders which had been given for the regulation of the public labour, the superintendants had taken it upon themselves to task the working people in such manner as they thought proper, and upon no other authority than their own will. By this abuse the work of government was almost wholly neglected, and the time of the labourers applied to the use ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins
... the matter were not too serious—throw the laugh upon the other fellow. The purpose of our schools has never been to produce soldiers at the drop of the hat, and so they have never been blighted by military training. (May it never come!) Their task has been to produce men and women of character and purpose and ideals—men and women of initiative who could become anything called for by an emergency. And nobly have they succeeded, as evidenced by the ...
— On the Firing Line in Education • Adoniram Judson Ladd
... dead saint, Instead of dirges this complaint; And for sweet flowers to crown thy herse Receive a strew of weeping verse From thy grieved friend, whom thou might'st see Quite melted into tears for thee. Dear loss! since thy untimely fate, My task hath been to meditate On thee, on thee! Thou art the book, The library whereon I look, Tho' almost blind. For thee, loved clay, I languish out, not live, the day.... Thou hast benighted me; thy set ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy
... And now his task was nearly finished. Within another minute he sat back with face aglow, uttered a hushed exclamation of satisfaction, studied his memoranda for a space, then swiftly and with assured movements threw the knob and dial into the several positions of the combination, grasped the lever-handle, ...
— The Lone Wolf - A Melodrama • Louis Joseph Vance
... search, and I know not when it will be ended or when I shall return. Westover lay in my path, and there was that which needed to be said to you, sir, and to your daughter. When it has been said I will take my leave." He paused; then, with a quickened breath, again took up his task: "Some months ago, sir, I sought and obtained your permission to make my suit to your daughter for her hand. The lady, worthy of a better mate, hath done well in saying no to my importunity. I accept her decision, withdraw my ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston
... always. During these frightful years since your mother's death I have suffered, do you see? suffered horribly, and I have never, never been consoled. If I have lived—if I have had the strength to live, in spite of all, it was only for you and in remembrance of her. I think I have nearly finished my task. You are a young man, intelligent and honest, and you have now an employment which will give you your bread. However, I often ask myself—oh, very often—whether I have fulfilled my duty toward you. Ah! do not protest," added the unhappy man, whom Amedee had clasped in his ...
— A Romance of Youth, Complete • Francois Coppee
... been drawn accidentally; it is the pencil thrown luckily full upon the horse's mouth, and expressing the foam which the painter, with all his skill, could not represent without it. Let the reader observe how difficult Le Sage has found the task of connecting the anecdotes taken from Marcos de Obregon, and put into the mouth of Diego, with the main story. How awkward is this transition? "Le seigneur Diego de La Fuente me raconta d'autres aventures encore, qui lui etoient arrivees depuis; mais elles me semblent si peu dignes ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 • Various
... however, as an excuse, and an authentication of the attempt, that I was called to the task by some of the most influential organs of public opinion, in that great country. They relied upon my impartiality (for I had proved it, at the expense of proscription abroad, and persecution at home); and, desiring only to be represented as they are, ...
— The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 • Various
... rose-tinted crystal, grew as familiar to the eye as paving-blocks to the dwellers in cities. The shadows of the ice were also of a violet purple, so ethereal that it required a painter's eye at once to see it, though it was unmistakably there; and to represent it will task the finest painter's hand. Then the spaces of water between the floes, if not too large, appeared uniformly in deep wine-color,—an effect for which one must have more science than I to account. It is attributed to contrast; but if thus ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865 • Various
... It is scattered about in biography, criticism and anecdote, not unfrequently of great interest, but occupying so much "valuable" time, that to condense it, or to pick the wheat from the chaff, is no trifling task. So much for the amusement which our "Companion" may yield to the Londoner: his utility as a cicerone or guide will be more obvious to our country friends, who flock in thousands to see and hear comedy and tragedy at this play-going season. A young girl comes to town to see "the ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 360 - Vol. XIII. No. 360, Saturday, March 14, 1829 • Various
... mediocre Latin. It names but a few of the kings recorded by Saxo, and tells little that Saxo does not. Yet there is a certain link between the two writers. Sweyn speaks of Saxo with respect; he not obscurely leaves him the task of filling up his omissions. Both writers, servants of the brilliant Bishop Absalon, and probably set by him upon their task, proceed, like Geoffrey of Monmouth, by gathering and editing mythical matter. This they more or less embroider, and arrive in ...
— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")
... lies Shall bring us to our goal, But iron sacrifice Of body, will, and soul There is but one task for all— For each one life to give. Who stands if freedom fall? Who dies if ...
— A Treasury of War Poetry - British and American Poems of the World War 1914-1917 • Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George Herbert Clarke
... seen George Sand put into her work her sufferings, her protests as a woman, and her dreams as an artist. But the nineteenth-century writer did not confine his ambitions to this modest task. He belonged to a corporation which counted among its members Voltaire and Rousseau. The eighteenth-century philosophers had changed the object of literature. Instead of an instrument of analysis, they had made of it a weapon for combat, an incomparable weapon for attacking institutions and ...
— George Sand, Some Aspects of Her Life and Writings • Rene Doumic
... me to approach with some confidence even the aboriginal religions of America, so often stigmatized as incoherent fetichisms, so barren, it has been said, in grand or beautiful creations. The task bristles with difficulties. Carelessness, prepossessions, and ignorance have disfigured them with false colors and foreign additions without number. The first maxim, therefore, must be to sift and ...
— The Myths of the New World - A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America • Daniel G. Brinton
... most delicate task to continue sketches of my life during the latter time that I have been in Turkey, because such anecdotes strike nearer home, that is to say, become more what may be called personal as regards my public and private doings. However, I will endeavour, somewhat briefly perhaps, to do ...
— Sketches From My Life - By The Late Admiral Hobart Pasha • Hobart Pasha
... but whether I can sketch out such a faint outline of this excellence as shall be perceptible to others may be reasonably doubted. Aided, however, by a few survivors {3} who knew her, I will not refuse to make the attempt. I am the more inclined to undertake the task from a conviction that, however little I may have to tell, no one else is left who could tell ...
— Memoir of Jane Austen • James Edward Austen-Leigh
... reached the verge of the romance of the life of William Phips. He had before him a difficult task, but he possessed the qualities which enable men to meet and overcome difficulty. The silver-ship was said to have been sunk somewhere near the Bahamas; the exact spot it was not easy to learn, for half a century had passed since its demise. Sailing thither in the "Algier Rose," Phips ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris
... disagreeable it was to both of them. The Duke was bound to explain that the magnificent present which was being made to his cousin was a gift, not from him, but from Madame Goesler; and, though he was intent on making this as plain as possible, he did not like the task. "The truth is, Mr. Maule, that Madame Goesler is unwilling, for reasons with which I need not trouble you, to take the legacy which was left to her by my uncle. I think her reasons to be insufficient, but it is a matter in which she must, of course, judge for herself. ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope
... impressions and mild adventures I have undertaken the task of editing, has asked me to narrow his personal introduction to such limits as is consistent with the courtesy due to my readers, if haply I find any. He prefers, as his pseudonym implies, to remain an unknown quantity. ...
— From Jungle to Java - The Trivial Impressions of a Short Excursion to Netherlands India • Arthur Keyser
... looked at his task objectively. He saw the power of the United States. He saw how easy it was to exert that power diplomatically. He saw the simple and immediate concerns of the United States. Foch says that he won the war, "by smoking his pipe," ...
— The Mirrors of Washington • Anonymous
... Enclos'd, and in a golden urn encas'd; Then in the tent they laid them, overspread With veil of linen fair; then meting out Th' allotted space, the deep foundations laid Around the pyre, and o'er them heap'd the earth. Their task accomplished, all had now withdrawn; But Peleus' son the vast assembly stay'd, And bade them sit; then, prizes of the games, Tripods and caldrons from the tents he brought, And noble steeds, and mules, and sturdy steers, And women fair of ...
— The Iliad • Homer
... European politics the principles of 1789, are therefore inconsistent with the early world; they are fitted only to the new world in which society has gone through its early task; when the inherited organisation is already confirmed and fixed; when the soft minds and strong passions of youthful nations are fixed and guided by hard transmitted instincts. Till then not equality before the law is necessary but inequality, ...
— Physics and Politics, or, Thoughts on the application of the principles of "natural selection" and "inheritance" to political society • Walter Bagehot
... warriors, Spinello communicated something of this fiery spirit even to his saints. The monks of Samminiato near Florence employed him in 1388 to paint their newly-finished sacristy with the legend of S. Benedict. In the execution of this task Spinello displayed his usual grandeur and vigour, treating the grey-robed brethren of Monte Cassino like veritable champions of a militant Church. When he died in 1410, it might have been truly said that the flame of the torch kindled by Giotto was ...
— Renaissance in Italy Vol. 3 - The Fine Arts • John Addington Symonds
... I have left of the past, all I have left of that woman. I have determined not to see her, nor anything that reminds me of her, until my task here is concluded, and concluded satisfactorily,—I need all my intelligence, you understand. You will pay the Chebes' allowance. If she herself should ask for anything, you will give her what she needs. But you will never mention my name. And you will ...
— Fromont and Risler, Complete • Alphonse Daudet
... Lyautey began his great task of civilian administration. His aim was to support and strengthen the existing government, to reassure and pacify the distrustful and antagonistic elements, and to assert French authority without ...
— In Morocco • Edith Wharton
... Accademia. In 1507 he helped Giorgione with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi frescoes. In 1511 he went to Padua. In 1512 he obtained a sinecure in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and was appointed a State artist, his first task being the completion of certain pictures left unfinished by his predecessor Giovanni Bellini, and in 1516 he was put in possession of a patent granting him a painting monopoly, with a salary of 120 crowns and 80 crowns in addition for the portrait of each successive ...
— A Wanderer in Venice • E.V. Lucas
... set in barbarous conflict against others of like training with his own,—a man who, but for the curse that it is laid on our generation to expiate, would have been a fellow-worker with them in the beneficent task of shaping the intelligence and lifting the moral standard of a peaceful ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 62, December, 1862 • Various
... endeavoured to drive out the men whom they could only consider as robbers. The invaders, when they could not conquer, stooped to acts of treachery. Essex soon found that the conquest of Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had anticipated. Many of the adventurers who had assumed his livery, and joined his followers, deserted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, and Turlough O'Neill rose up against him. Essex then invited Conn O'Donnell to his camp; but, as soon as he secured him, he seized ...
— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack
... irreversibly true:—"Day after day, looking at the high destinies which yet await literature, which literature will ere long address herself with more decisiveness than ever to fulfill, it grows clearer to us that the proper task of literature lies in the domain of BELIEF, within which, poetic fiction, as it is charitably named, will have to take a quite new figure, if allowed a settlement there. Whereby were it not reasonable to prophesy that this exceeding great multitude ...
— Lectures on Architecture and Painting - Delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853 • John Ruskin
... Proclamations, Broadsides, Ballads; under the second, Church Service Books of all kinds, succeeded after a while by certain of the Classics. The impressions long remained limited; and continual use and subsequent neglect accomplished between them the task of creating the modern bibliographical and ...
— The Book-Collector • William Carew Hazlitt
... your best guide, daughter, and it would be an ill task for me to stand between sire and child. Enter then, for I am sure that the Saints and your own innocence will protect you from all harm. At the worst you can come or ...
— Red Eve • H. Rider Haggard
... first campaign was under the count of Brissac in the Piedmontese wars. On his return to France in 1554 he joined Admiral Coligny. Charged with the defence of Rouen, in 1562, he resigned in favour of Montgomery, to whom the prince of Conde had entrusted the task, and went over to England, where he concluded the treaty of Hampton Court on the 20th of September. He then returned to France, and took Dieppe from the Catholics before the conclusion of peace. If his ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 - "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" • Various
... since it belongs to the love of God that a man undertake the pastoral care of Christ's sheep. Hence Augustine, commenting on John 21:17, "Feed My sheep," says (Tract. cxxiii in Joan.): "Be it the task of love to feed the Lord's flock, even as it was the mark of ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas
... do them 'all day long.' My own feeling is, if one reaches the results one is struggling for, and does one's work as well as it lies in one to do it, that keeping boarders is as good service as any other bit of the world's work. One is not always permitted to choose the beautiful or glorious task. Sometimes all one can do is to make the humble action fine by doing it 'as it is done in heaven.' Remember, 'they also serve who ...
— Polly Oliver's Problem • Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
... went on, after another long pause, sipping his coffee pensively, "I feel I must be aided in this superhuman task by a professional unraveller of cunning disguises. I shall go to Marvillier's to-morrow—fortunate man, Marvillier—and ask him to supply me with a really good 'tec, who will stop in the house and keep an ...
— An African Millionaire - Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay • Grant Allen
... twice as hard a task!" said West. "Here have we been two days without a sign of a Boer! We must be ...
— A Dash from Diamond City • George Manville Fenn
... an acquaintance with the characteristics of the refined life of the German people. It is no unprofitable labour to unveil these ancient and forgotten times; much in man's history, great and good, is hidden in the pages of old chronicles, and it is a worthy task to call back forgotten glories that may induce modern emulation, or at least vindicate the true position of ...
— Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places • Frederick William Fairholt
... Peg and her father faced the future. They argued out all it might mean. They would fight it together. It was a pathetic, wistful little Peg that came back to him, and O'Connell set himself the task of lifting something of the load that lay on ...
— Peg O' My Heart • J. Hartley Manners
... painted things? What sweet thought is there but I had the same? And one gave place still as another came. Yet notwithstanding, like one dead it lay, Drooping more than a rose pulled yesterday. Now, when he should not jet, he bolts upright, And craves his task, and seeks to be at fight. Lie down with shame, and see thou stir no more. Seeing thou[397] would'st deceive me as before. 70 Thou cozenest me: by thee surprised am I, And bide sore loss[398] with endless infamy. Nay more, the wench did not disdain a whit To take it in her ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe
... kind-hearted Portuguese, would smuggle in a bottle of whiskey hidden in his tail-coat pocket or amid a basket of fruit. A very energetic and clever young officer of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Grimshaw, undertook the task of managing the mess, and when he was assisted by another subaltern—Lieutenant Southey, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers—this became an exceedingly well-conducted concern. In spite of the high prices prevailing in Pretoria—prices which were certainly not lowered for our benefit—the ...
— London to Ladysmith via Pretoria • Winston Spencer Churchill
... a chance of defending themselves. Why should she not go and give the warning? This idea at first seemed foolish. How could she find the way? Would she dare to traverse the forest alone? But the more she thought of it, the more she felt that she was the one who should undertake the task. If she did not do something she could never forgive herself. And what would her father say if he knew that she had hesitated in the path of duty? It was a hard battle she fought as she crouched there in ...
— The King's Arrow - A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists • H. A. Cody
... love and sympathy of man, persevere in this exile? You will return and again seek their kindness, and you will meet with their detestation; your evil passions will be renewed, and you will then have a companion to aid you in the task of destruction. This may not be; cease to argue the point, for I ...
— Frankenstein - or The Modern Prometheus • Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
... genius, this chieftain of a wild Frankish tribe carried out his ambitious project of establishing a great Christian empire. That he only partially succeeded in his more noble purpose of civilizing the barbarous tribes he ruled, was due solely to the magnitude of the task. The zealous and splendid effort he made, the measure of success he attained, in battling against the darkness and ignorance of his time, entitle Charlemagne to a place among the truly great men of the world. His greatness has stamped his name on the time, and the "Age of Charlemagne" stands ...
— With Spurs of Gold - Heroes of Chivalry and their Deeds • Frances Nimmo Greene
... . He thought the accomplishment of this task (Valcartier) was a tribute to the spirit of the people. He claimed no special credit for his Government; inferentially it was a high compliment to the organizing ability of the Minister of Militia, but Sir ...
— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino
... Honest all through, he did not affect the virtue of impartiality; this was no case for refinement; there was a man to be hanged, he would have said, and he was hanging him. Nor was it possible to see his lordship, and acquit him of gusto in the task. It was plain he gloried in the exercise of his trained faculties, in the clear sight which pierced at once into the joint of fact, in the rude, unvarnished gibes with which he demolished every figment of defence. He took his ease and jested, unbending in that solemn place with ...
— Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson
... them, for she allowed them to talk. She disliked pretension, too, and never overlooked that defect, even in the king himself. It was more than a weakness of Monsieur, and the princess had undertaken the amazing task of curing him of it. As for the rest, poets, wits, beautiful women, all were received by her with the air of a mistress superior to her slaves. Sufficiently meditative in her liveliest humors to make even poets meditate; sufficiently pretty to dazzle by her attractions, even among ...
— Ten Years Later • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... task to make the affair at Kew appear innocent," he observed. "But you're really a wonderful woman, Mary. The way you've acted your part in this affair is simply marvellous. You've deceived everyone—even that old ...
— The Seven Secrets • William Le Queux
... task is my Senior Warden—and it looks as if he would not make friends, do what I will to "qualify" according to his own expressed notions of what a country parson should be. But I rather suspect that he likes to keep the scepter in his own hands, ...
— Hepsey Burke • Frank Noyes Westcott
... haunted the smoking-room, hoping that by dint of patient listening he might catch an informative word dropped carelessly by one of the players. No such luck. The players were out-of-season tourists, bound for South China or India, or salesmen, patiently immersed in the long and strenuous task of killing time. ...
— Peter the Brazen - A Mystery Story of Modern China • George F. Worts
... to thank those relations and friends of Miss Macnaughtan who have allowed me to read and publish the letters incorporated in this book, and I gratefully acknowledge the help and advice I have received in my task from my mother, from my husband, and from Miss Hilda Powell, Mr. Stenning, and Mr. R. Sommerville. I desire also to express my gratitude to Mr. John Murray for many valuable hints and suggestions about the book, and for the trouble he has so kindly taken to help me to prepare ...
— My War Experiences in Two Continents • Sarah Macnaughtan
... in ripen'd youth and steadily pursued, Wandering, peering, dallying with all—war, peace, day and night absorbing, Never even for one brief hour abandoning my task, I end it here in sickness, poverty, and ...
— Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman
... far as possible from the point-of-view of the artist is, indeed, the first principle of fair and intelligent criticism. To foster the individuality and personal initiative of a pupil by bringing authority to bear upon him in a way of correction at the end of his task, and guidance and suggestion at the beginning, rather than control during the course of the work, is the first principle of intelligent teaching. Moreover, the results, so far as we have gone, have justified the method. We ...
— The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 11, November, 1895 - The Country Houses of Normandy • Various
... Mr. Steele ever entered save by his invitation, not even his wife. I could not hope to cross that threshold, nor did I greatly desire to invade the kitchen, especially while Nixon was there. Should I have to wait till the mayor's return for the cooperation my task certainly demanded? It looked that way. But before yielding to the discouragement following this thought, I glanced about me again and suddenly remembered, first the creaking board, which had once answered to the so-called ...
— The Mayor's Wife • Anna Katharine Green
... indeed, has no special value; and its author's own defence of it is far from clear. More important, especially, for future history, was his emphasis of the distinction between legislature and executive. The making of laws is for Locke a relatively simple and rapid task; the legislature may do its work and be gone. But those who attend to their execution must be ceaseless in their vigilance. It is better, therefore, to separate the two both as to powers and persons. Otherwise ...
— Political Thought in England from Locke to Bentham • Harold J. Laski
... can be no doubt of that. We also have a great stock of scientific knowledge unknown to our grandfathers with which to operate. So novel are the conditions, so copious the knowledge, that we must undertake the arduous task of reconsidering a great part of the opinions about man and his relations to his fellow-men which have been handed down to us by previous generations who lived in far other conditions and possessed far less ...
— The Mind in the Making - The Relation of Intelligence to Social Reform • James Harvey Robinson
... boundary. The results which the American proposition promised to secure were fully and frankly explained in previous notes from the Department of State, and had its advantages not been clearly understood this Government would not have devolved upon that of Her Majesty the task of illustrating them. Mr. Fox will therefore see that although the proposal to appoint a commission had its origin with this Government the modification of the American proposition was, as understood by the undersigned, so fundamentally important that it entirely changed its nature, ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 3: Martin Van Buren • James D. Richardson
... array of talent positively engaged, while other writers of eminence were to be sought for the various departments of science. Goldsmith was to edit the whole. An undertaking of this kind, while it did not incessantly task and exhaust his inventive powers by original composition, would give agreeable and profitable exercise to his taste and judgment in selecting, compiling, and arranging, and he calculated to diffuse over the whole the ...
— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving
... with the subject, and particularly with the method of working which my experience has found most successful. In according to their request, I feel I have imposed upon myself a somewhat difficult task. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887 • Various
... material placed at my disposal for publication by Father Egedi and in having had further material added to it by Dr. Seligmann and Mr. Sidney H. Ray. I have thought it better to deal with it in five appendices, and I am greatly indebted to Mr. Ray for having undertaken the laborious task of their compilation. I give the following explanation concerning ...
— The Mafulu - Mountain People of British New Guinea • Robert W. Williamson
... pen and paper for Carl, and set about instructing him in penmanship. The little cripple was so much pleased with his kind treatment that his gratitude was plainly expressed in his face, and he commenced his task with all a boy's enthusiasm. As he carefully copied the letters before him, his mind doubtless looked forward to the time when he would rise above his present position in life and approach nearer to the goal of ...
— Under Fire - A Tale of New England Village Life • Frank A. Munsey
... the petty kingdoms of Norway were all conquered and knit into one compact realm; the story goes that he undertook this work to win the hand of his lady-love, and that he swore an oath neither to cut nor comb his hair till his task ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood
... got my garden all hoed the first time! I feel as if I had put down the rebellion. Only there are guerrillas left here and there, about the borders and in corners, unsubdued,—Forrest docks, and Quantrell grass, and Beauregard pig-weeds. This first hoeing is a gigantic task: it is your first trial of strength with the never-sleeping forces of Nature. Several times, in its progress, I was tempted to do as Adam did, who abandoned his garden on account of the weeds. (How much my mind seems to run upon Adam, as if there had been only two really ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner
... The task was so perilous that at the end of a few minutes the governor ordered the men to halt, while ropes were fetched, and in due time these were brought and secured to the climbers' waists, the ropes being paid out by the warders on the shelf, the light of the lanterns being ...
— Witness to the Deed • George Manville Fenn
... note that the once spellbound Kundry is devoted utterly to her task of winning Parsifal. Into this she throws all the intensity of her wild and desperate nature; but in turn she is strangely affected by the spiritual atmosphere of the "guileless one"—a feeling comes over her, in the midst of her witchcraft passion, that he is in some way to be her savior ...
— Parsifal - Story and Analysis of Wagner's Great Opera • H. R. Haweis
... home over a carpet of archives and title-deeds, swallowed a sort of breakfast, and began the hard task of choosing the little we could take from the much we must leave, in a dear home that ...
— The Flower of the Chapdelaines • George W. Cable
... crush out," he begged of the station-master. The latter carried out this difficult task with ultimate success. When he came back the immaculate one had recovered his senses. He was still suffering from shock, but he found enough strength to wedge a monocle into his eye and to survey ...
— Colorado Jim • George Goodchild
... incidentally mentioned the fact that where rapidly varying currents are employed, the strength of the electric current that a given battery can yield is determined not so much by the resistance of the electric circuit as by its electric inertia. It is not a very easy task to explain precisely what happens to an electric circuit when the current is turned on suddenly. The current does not suddenly rise to its full value, being retarded by inertia. The ordinary law of Ohm in its simple form no longer applies; ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 787, January 31, 1891 • Various
... When her task was finished Catherine came forward to the infinitesimal dressing-table, and stood a moment before the common cottage looking-glass upon it. The candle behind her showed her the outlines of her head and face in shadow ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... suddenly (perhaps designedly), stop short, and direct her attendant to bring the golden salver, telling us at the same time that her hand (and she had exquisite hands) was a little soiled. She would moisten them with the perfumed water, and then resume her task of amusing us; our attention having, in the meantime, been kept ...
— Another World - Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah • Benjamin Lumley (AKA Hermes)
... excommunication in all dangerous diseases, too certainly seal the fate of the patient. It will be vain to tell them that hireling attendance has been provided,—the life of the Choleraic depends upon the instant aid—the able bodied willing aid of affectionate friends, who will devote themselves to the task, and persevere indefatigably to the last. If these be driven from his bed, his last stay is gone, for without their active co-operation the best prescription of the physician is only so much waste paper. What, let me ask, must ...
— Letters on the Cholera Morbus. • James Gillkrest
... when he works for love's sake only, with no thought of name, or gain, or earthly reward. No deed of ours, I suppose, on this side the grave, is really unselfish: yet if one can put forth all one's powers in a task where nothing of reward is hoped for but a little child's whispered thanks, and the airy touch of a little child's pure lips, one seems to come ...
— Alice's Adventures Under Ground • Lewis Carroll
... which he was so fond, it is possible that the present editor, whatever may be his other shortcomings, may undertake the labor with as much of sympathy as any one who is in a position to perform it. With this thought in mind, two definite rules were laid down at the beginning of the task: (1) That no alteration in the text should be made, save in slightly modernizing spelling and punctuation and in the case of manifest typographical errors; (2) That whenever a note appeared it should show at once its authorship, to the end ...
— A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II) • Augustus De Morgan
... Cloves by fire and sword, was powerless against the dissolute morals of his own monks, who were chiefly engaged in the corruption of women. Indeed, the Swiss clergy in 1230, frankly stated that they "were flesh and blood, unequal to the task of living like angels." The Council of Cologne, in 1307, tried in vain to give the nuns a chance to live virtuous lives; to protect them from priestly seduction. Conrad, Bishop of Wurzburg, in 1521, ...
— The Necessity of Atheism • Dr. D.M. Brooks
... years the Messenger worked, sowing seed and gathering the fruit of his labor; and at last his body was laid at rest close to his first church at Saul. Thus one of the great men of the world accomplished his task. ...
— Ireland, Historic and Picturesque • Charles Johnston
... called at the offices of the Bible Society in Earl Street, and was kindly received by Andrew Brandram and Joseph Jowett, the two secretaries. He was asked if he would care to learn Manchu, and go to St. Petersburg. He was given six months for the task, and doubtless also some money on account. He returned to Norwich more luxuriously—by mail coach. In June 1833 we find a letter from Borrow to Jowett, dated from Willow Lane, Norwich, and commencing, 'I have ...
— George Borrow and His Circle - Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of - Borrow And His Friends • Clement King Shorter
... more such glances. She still relegated to Mrs. MacGregor the full task of talking to him; a task that lady performed nobly. Just as she walked every morning with Mrs. MacGregor, she took her place in the car every afternoon, apparently obeying orders. Sometimes, twisting his head around, he could glimpse her profile turned toward the moving panorama ...
— The Purple Heights • Marie Conway Oemler
... you, Sir, with what pleasure I enter upon that task, when (by the direction of Congress) I enclose an account of the signal success obtained by the united arms of America and France. The cement it so happily affords to their connexion may justly be numbered among the important ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI • Various
... carrying out this salutary reformation like all other reformers, they have a strong opposition to contend with; old fashioned nurses do much harm in opposing all nursery reformations, consequently young mothers will have a hard task to execute. ...
— Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers • Elizabeth E. Lea
... to this Richard Parsons' skill that two hundred years after he made his clock it is still accurately performing its task. If anything I made was in existence at the end of a like stretch of time and was continuing to be useful, I should feel I had a right ...
— Christopher and the Clockmakers • Sara Ware Bassett
... resulted that the struggle on the lakes was to be a work as much of creating as of using a navy. On the seaboard success came to those who made best use of the ships that had already been built; on the lakes the real contest lay in the building. And building an inland navy was no easy task. The country around the lakes, especially on the south side, was still very sparsely settled, and all the American naval supplies had to be brought from the seaboard cities through the valley of the Mohawk. There was no canal or other ...
— The Naval War of 1812 • Theodore Roosevelt
... he might have enjoyed the felicity of domestic life, the affections of a beautiful bride; but the change was too sudden for his restless spirit. He was not made to enjoy the quiet of life, the task stood before him like a mountain without a pass, he could not wean himself from the vices of a marauder. He had abused the free offerings of a free country, had set law at defiance; he had dealt in human flesh, and the task of resistance was more than the moral ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams
... thirst? If I say that he would not, he would then determine his own action, and would consequently possess the faculty of going and doing whatever he liked. Other objections might also be raised, but, as I am not bound to put in evidence everything that anyone may dream, I will only set myself to the task of refuting those I have mentioned, and that as briefly ...
— Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata - Part I: Concerning God • Benedict de Spinoza
... checked through to New York from Atlantic City on Monday last, 9.40 train, and has not since been found. Whether or not it has been stolen, or has gone astray in some wholly innocent manner, is not as yet clear. I know of no one better equipped for the task of finding it for me than yourself, who, I am given to understand, are the son of the famous Sherlock Holmes of England. The check represents the ten per cent. commission on the value of the lost articles, which I believe is the ...
— R. Holmes & Co. • John Kendrick Bangs
... said she with a smile, "and hold thy peace. Here comes one Solomon the goldbeater, thy Uncle Simon's friend. The load of grapes was brought here at his order, and it is my task to-day to see that he offers a ...
— Christmas Light • Ethel Calvert Phillips
... were on the quay in the afternoon at high tide when "The Last Hope" was warped on to the slip-way. All Farlingford was there too, and Captain Clubbe carried out the difficult task with hardly any words at all from a corner of the jetty, with Loo Barebone on board as ...
— The Last Hope • Henry Seton Merriman
... Empire. We then went back from this country, and we went all through Ireland. I myself, within the space of about a month after that, made speeches at great public meetings in every one of the four provinces of Ireland. We set ourselves to the task of creating in Ireland—creating, mind you—an atmosphere favourable to recruiting, and of creating a sentiment in Ireland favourable to recruiting. I say most solemnly, that in that task we were absolutely entitled to the sympathy and the assistance of the ...
— John Redmond's Last Years • Stephen Gwynn
... domesticated rabbits the length of the skull relatively to its breadth has greatly increased in comparison with that of the wild rabbits. If we had possessed a large number of domesticated rabbits of nearly the same size with the wild rabbits, it would have been a simple task to have measured and compared the capacities of their skulls. But this is not the case: almost all the domestic breeds have larger bodies than wild rabbits, and the lop-eared kinds are more than double their weight. As a small animal has to exert its senses, intellect, and instincts equally ...
— The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication - Volume I • Charles Darwin
... hoped that this task would not be laid on me. Indeed, I thought it well to change the subject for the edification of Bickley who had recovered and was drawn back by his eager curiosity. Just then, too, Bastin joined us, ...
— When the World Shook - Being an Account of the Great Adventure of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot • H. Rider Haggard
... to go down and drive him off?" asked Bobby, quite as if driving bulls off his aunt's lawn was a nightly task with him. "Or I'll go alone—I'm the ...
— Four Little Blossoms at Brookside Farm • Mabel C. Hawley
... task to force these men into training habits, to hold them to the grind, to discipline them into self-control in temper and in desire. It was of vast assistance to him that three of his seven were overseas ...
— To Him That Hath - A Novel Of The West Of Today • Ralph Connor
... aware of the inconsistency of arousing Arjuna to the mighty activities of the battle-field, and at the same time indoctrinating him in the spirit of a dead and nerveless asceticism, struggles hard with the awkward task of bridging the illogical chasm ...
— Oriental Religions and Christianity • Frank F. Ellinwood
... kind, giving the necessary biographical information, explaining the chronology, the origin, the background of the poems, and showing how the poet revised his earlier work; the last paragraph ought to serve as an example to those who may be entrusted with a task of similar delicacy in the future. "My only object in writing this necessarily rather disjointed Introduction is to give some information that may interest the reader and be useful to the critic; and if a few personal opinions have slipped in they may conveniently be ignored. A vehement ...
— The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century • William Lyon Phelps
... difficult task," Miss Carter agreed calmly, "but Tom is with her, and it would be very hard to lose Tom ...
— Phyllis - A Twin • Dorothy Whitehill
... He took her to task. With unusual effort she summoned the courage to tell him that she was going to marry Doederlein. "You are a shameless prostitute," he said, though he did not dare to show Andreas Doederlein the door. ...
— The Goose Man • Jacob Wassermann
... give her confidence and to make her believe that our present misfortunes were but momentary. This was no easy task, as she would constantly compare the diminutive aspect of the town of Zurich with the more noble majesty of Dresden, and seemed to feel bitterly humiliated. The friends whom I introduced to her found no favour in her eyes. She ...
— My Life, Volume I • Richard Wagner
... thee known And others bow, I shall not worship thee. But, as I pray thee now, then let me pray Some greater god, — like thee to be conceived Within my soul, — for strength to turn away From his new altar, when, that task achieved, He, too, stands manifest. Yea, let me yearn From dream to grander dream! Let me not rest Content at any goal! Still bid me spurn Each transient triumph on the Eternal Quest, Abjuring godlings whom my hand hath made For Deity, revealed, ...
— The Second Book of Modern Verse • Jessie B. Rittenhouse
... utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared the meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task to be by no means an ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls - Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 • Various
... Marshal would already have reasoned with him, according to the report brought by that messenger, permission was given [to the Governor] that he should send one of his lieutenants with sufficient powers for the task in hand. And when his letters to the city of San Miguel and to the Marshal, in which he told them what was to be done, were written, he sent off with them three Christians, in order that the letters ...
— An Account of the Conquest of Peru • Pedro Sancho
... little book we set out with the intention of rambling hither and thither, among things that relate to the sea, without regard to order. We have carried out our intention; and now, at the close of our task, find that the more we listen to the Ocean's Voice, the more we find its tale to be interminable, though the ...
— The Ocean and its Wonders • R.M. Ballantyne
... remarkable demonstration of the energy and patriotism of the young men of this country. We propose to organize this splendid material into four new armies, and, although it takes time to train an army, the zeal and good-will displayed will greatly simplify our task. If some of those who have so readily come forward have suffered inconvenience, they will not, I am sure, allow their ardor to be damped. They will reflect that the War Office has had in a day to ...
— New York Times Current History: The European War from the Beginning to March 1915, Vol 1, No. 2 - Who Began the War, and Why? • Various
... feet wide; the snow being so compact that the job occupied three hours. The sledges and tent-poles were placed across the hole, the good tent being laid on top and weighted down with snow and blocks of ice. All this sounds very easy, but it was a slow and difficult task. Many of the gusts must have exceeded one hundred miles per hour, since one of them lifted Harrisson who was standing beside me, clean over my head and threw him nearly twenty feet. Everything movable ...
— The Home of the Blizzard • Douglas Mawson
... stultifying itself hopelessly before the legal profession and the public. In striving to reach this position, however, I apprehend that the Chief Justice, unreservedly, crossed the chasm on whose brink American jurists had been shuddering for ninety years. The task the Chief Justice assumed was difficult almost beyond precedent. He proposed to surrender to the vested interests the principle of reasonableness which they demanded, and which the tribunal he represented, together with Congress, had refused to surrender for fifteen years. To pacify ...
— The Theory of Social Revolutions • Brooks Adams
... is Francis this morning?" she inquired briskly with the determined manner of one dutifully performing an unpleasant task. ...
— Old Mr. Wiley • Fanny Greye La Spina
... not enjoy his task. Shortly after we started, the moon rose and, from its shining full on the light sand, it was almost as bright as day. We were in single file, our guide, Herman, and I. At sight of every bush or indistinct object, ...
— In Indian Mexico (1908) • Frederick Starr
... Go back and put up the bars!" he yelled. Then he heaved his hoe-handle far from him and stretched his arms high over his head like one released from an onerous task. "I'll walk out and let Pat have my job," he said. "Herding goats is dog's work anyhow, and I told you so the first day, Helen Blazes. Hadn't herded 'em five minutes before I knew I wasn't cut ...
— Starr, of the Desert • B. M Bower
... TASK. (with a stick, urging on the workmen). Up, up! You've rested long enough. To work! The stones here! Now the mortar, and the lime! And let his lordship see the work advanced, When next he comes. These ...
— Wilhelm Tell - Title: William Tell • Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
... Mavriky Mavrikyevitch, too, got into the cart, sat down heavily, and, as though without noticing it, squeezed Mitya into the corner. It is true that he was out of humor and greatly disliked the task that had ...
— The Brothers Karamazov • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... letters apologising for her selfishness—he had better remain with Mount Rorke until his consent had been obtained; resolutions and irresolutions, ardours, lassitudes, forgetfulness followed fast in strange and incomprehensible contradiction. And Frank was asked daily to perform some small task. There was always something; and Frank undertook all he was asked to do, for he loved to be as much as possible in that circle of life in which his sweetheart lived, and to feel her ...
— Spring Days • George Moore
... humbly suggest that each of us endeavour by knowledge to find what our Fate may be, and like loyal workmen accept whatever the task should prove, and so carry it out to the utmost of our ability, willing to leave the final result to the Master that thought fit to employ us in the ...
— Palmistry for All • Cheiro
... nurse. She sat in horror and apprehension, her eyebrows raised, starting and looking at James in terror whenever he made a noise. She hurried to him and did what she could. But one would have said she was repulsed, she found her task ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence
... of the men, when, without a cry or a moan, his companion fell back on the ground, shot clean through the chest. Helmar was terribly shocked, but continued his work, the man's place being at once filled by one of the others, and so the task was completed. ...
— Under the Rebel's Reign • Charles Neufeld
... first night of his performance at the Boston theatre, Richard was the part he had adopted; and so strongly had he fortified himself for the kingly task, that he deemed himself the very monarch he was destined to enact. The theatre was crowded in every part: expectation was on tiptoe: anticipation as to his person, voice, and manner, was announced by the sibilating ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, - Issue 268, August 11, 1827 • Various
... the priesthood in former times found it necessary to cultivate a long memory, as no formula was repeated more than once for his benefit. It was considered that one who failed to remember after the first hearing was not worthy to be accounted a shaman. This task, however, was not so difficult as might appear on first thought, when once the learner understood the theory involved, as the formulas are all constructed on regular principles, with constant repetition of the same set of words. The obvious effect ...
— The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees • James Mooney
... she had completed her tender task, with what ardour did I not enter upon mine! I took off my clothes and stretched them under her, to render more endurable the hard and rugged ground on which she lay. I protected her delicate hands from the cold by my burning ...
— Manon Lescaut • Abbe Prevost
... Harvey, Spenser's friend, a curious coxcomb who endeavoured to dissuade Spenser from continuing The Faerie Queene, devoted much time himself and strove to devote other people to the thankless task of composing English hexameters and trimeters, engaged (very much to his discomfiture) in a furious pamphlet war with Thomas Nash, and altogether presents one of the most characteristic though least favourable specimens of the Elizabethan ...
— A History of English Literature - Elizabethan Literature • George Saintsbury
... pale with astonishment and vexation on seeing this elegant and striking addition to her album. Titmouse, on the contrary, looked at it with no little pride; for having had a capital pen, and his heart being in his task, he had produced what he conceived to be a very superior specimen of penmanship: in fact, the signature was by far the best he had ever written. When he had gone, Miss Quirk was twenty times on the point of tearing out the leaf which had been ...
— Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. • Samuel Warren |
