"Improve" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... edge of a chair seat, his old hat in his hands. His hair was painfully smooth, and he wore a bright striped shirt, an old red tie, and while his suit could hardly be called "dressy," it certainly showed that the boy had brushed it, and that he had tried to improve ...
— Princess Polly's Gay Winter • Amy Brooks
... creature, or a raving beast. And "s'io dico il vero, l'effeto nol nasconde"—if I speak the truth, the facts will also reveal it—for criminality increases and expands, honest people remain unprotected, and those who are struck by the law do not improve, but become ever more antisocial through the repeated relapses. And so we have that contrast which I mentioned in the beginning of my lecture, that the theoretical side of criminal science is so perfected, while ...
— The Positive School of Criminology - Three Lectures Given at the University of Naples, Italy on April 22, 23 and 24, 1901 • Enrico Ferri
... with one estimate putting the rate at 240% in Kabul in 1996. International aid can deal with only a fraction of the humanitarian problem, let alone promote economic development. Government efforts to encourage foreign investment have not worked. The economic situation did not improve in 1998. Numerical data are likely to be either unavailable ...
— The 1999 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... whine. She was smudgy-looking, but undoubtedly clean; only life in underground kitchens, and the ingraining of London blacks with the baking process of cookery, had given her skin an unwholesome tinge, which her reddened eyes did not improve. ...
— The Bag of Diamonds • George Manville Fenn
... system,—not, indeed, as panacea, but as one excellent stimulant to exertion and independence; and his chosen rewards for good conduct were in such comforts as served to awaken amongst those hitherto passive, dogged, and hopeless a desire to better and improve their condition. Somehow or other, without direct alms, the goodwife found that the little savings in the cracked teapot or the old stocking had greatly increased since the squire's return, while her husband came home from his ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book IV • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... principal roles, with lesser known ones in smaller parts. With these I worked personally, teaching them how to act, thus preparing them for further career in the field of opera. I like to work with the younger and less experienced ones, for it gives me real pleasure to watch how they improve, when ...
— Vocal Mastery - Talks with Master Singers and Teachers • Harriette Brower
... Report of the Railway Commission recommended on other than commercial lines, the 25 per cent. reduction in rates and fares suggested by Nationalist witnesses would involve a loss of more than half a million a year. We see, therefore, immediately, that if anything is to be done at all to improve Irish transport it must be done by a Government that has the confidence of the money market. The railway director who contributes the principal article on this subject in the book calculates that a public grant of two millions, and a guaranteed loan of eight ...
— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various
... American Coasts soever they arrived, exercised the same Cruelties, Slaughters, Tyrannies and detestable Oppressions on the most innocent Indian Nation, and diverting themselves with delights in new sorts of Torment, did in time improve in Barbarism and Cruelty; wherewith the Omnipotent being incensed suffered them to fail by a more desperate and dangerous lapse ...
— A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies • Bartolome de las Casas
... Governor of Sarawak, 24th September 1841, he set himself actively to work to reform abuses, to improve the cultivation of the country, and to secure peace and happiness to the people. Having arranged the internal affairs of his government, he went back to Singapore for the purpose of asking the aid of some ship-of-war to put down piracy. The Dido, the Honourable Captain Keppel, was ...
— Our Sailors - Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign • W.H.G. Kingston
... to stay at home and endeavour to improve the tone of the rest of the household," answered the general. "Those who know what human nature is should see that with whatever good intentions these sisterhoods are begun, they must in the end lead to much that is objectionable. If Miss Maynard has joined one of them, I must ...
— Clara Maynard - The True and the False - A Tale of the Times • W.H.G. Kingston
... to four pounds of sugar. Then set it over the fire; put the lemon-peel into the syrup, and let it boil in it till quite soft. Put the citrons cold into a glass jar, and pour the hot syrup over them. Let the lemon remain with the citrons, as it will improve ...
— Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches • Eliza Leslie
... however, 'much occupied otherwise, and that preaching is in reality but a small part of a minister's duty.' We have some times felt inclined to assure these latter personages in reply, that they might a little improve the matter just by making preaching no part of their duty at all. But where, we ask, is it taught, either by God in His word or by the Church in her standards, that preaching is merely one of the minor duties of the minister, or indeed other ...
— Leading Articles on Various Subjects • Hugh Miller
... refined and delicate, is a mystery to me. If I once know that my wife or my friend will tell me only what they think will be agreeable to me, then I am at once lost, my way is a pathless quicksand. But all this being premised, I still say that we Anglo-Saxons might improve our domestic life, if we would graft upon the strong stock of its homely sincerity the courteous ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various
... oil, now badly cracked and stained. Everything gave the impression of an era long since departed, and the two men felt vaguely out of place. Their host led them to a pair of dilapidated chairs, which they accepted gratefully. The ride to Keegan after a hard day's work had not tended to improve their spirits. ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930 • Various
... moreover, was done in different ways. Father did it with love and tenderness, that is, he spoilt them; Mother with tenderness and love, that is, she felt them part of herself and did not like to hurt herself; Aunt Emily with affectionate and worthy desire to see them improve, that is, she trained them. Therefore they adored their father, loved their mother, and thought highly—from a distance ...
— The Extra Day • Algernon Blackwood
... these, my friends? what rash words are these, which men thrust into Scripture out of their own carnal conceits, as if they could improve upon the speech of the Son of Man Himself? He says, not that to know God is the way to eternal life: but rather that eternal life is the way to know God. He does not say, This is to know God and Jesus Christ, in order that they may have eternal ...
— Sermons for the Times • Charles Kingsley
... morning, and immediately sent one of his aids to the jail. That officer could not believe his eyes that he saw Capt. Lee. His uniform, worn-out when he assumed it, was now hanging in rags about him; and he had not been shaved for a fortnight. He wished, very naturally, to improve his appearance before presenting himself before the secretary of war; but the orders were peremptory to bring him as he was. The general loved a joke full well: his laughter was hardly exceeded by the report of his own cannon; and long and loud did he ...
— The Yankee Tea-party - Or, Boston in 1773 • Henry C. Watson
... and very loudly. I don't wonder at your not liking that man: I don't. Perhaps he'll improve though. We will not judge him yet. So you're coming all ...
— Mother Carey's Chicken - Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle • George Manville Fenn
... labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. However, ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... advance, but to retreat was impossible. Balder was at bay; had he loved Gnulemah less, he would have regretted Charon's ferry-boat. But his love was greater for the danger and difficulty wherewith it was fraught. He could not summon the millennium; well, he might improve himself. ...
— Idolatry - A Romance • Julian Hawthorne
... pretended to have been before the war broke out of having to attack in order to maintain what she held; and if she began, it would not be for the purpose of breaking and enveloping the Allied armies, but to preclude their offensive and improve and strengthen her own position. She was, in fact, beleaguered, her attacks were really sallies, and her hope was to keep the besiegers at such a distance that they could make no impression upon the heart of her economic ...
— A Short History of the Great War • A.F. Pollard
... kidney inflammation the same protection against cold and similar general treatment are demanded. Tonics, however, are important to improve the general health (phosphate of iron, 2 drams; powdered nux vomica, 20 grains; powdered gentian root, 4 drams, daily). In some instances the mineral acids (nitric acid, 60 drops, or nitrohydrochloric ...
— Special Report on Diseases of Cattle • U.S. Department of Agriculture
... Let me improve upon the thought, and imagine that, turned hermits, we have opened the two old caves at Hornsey, or dug new ones; and in each of our cells set up a death's head, and an hour-glass, for objects of contemplation—I have seen such a picture: but then, Jack, had not the old penitent fornicator ...
— Clarissa, Volume 7 • Samuel Richardson
... Child's; [7] and, while I seem attentive to nothing but the Post-Man, [8] over-hear the Conversation of every Table in the Room. I appear on Sunday nights at St. James's Coffee House, [9] and sometimes join the little Committee of Politicks in the Inner-Room, as one who comes there to hear and improve. My Face is likewise very well known at the Grecian, [10] the Cocoa-Tree, [11] and in the Theaters both of Drury Lane and the Hay-Market. [12] I have been taken for a Merchant upon the Exchange for above these ten Years, and sometimes pass for a Jew in the Assembly of Stock-jobbers ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... (on April 20th, 1877) a resolution, which put on record my opinions, and stated that the House regretted the failure of the policy of the Government either to improve the position of Christian subjects of the Porte or to avert war. It also regretted their unwillingness to co-operate with any ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn
... of investment is one of the safest, most sagacious in the world. Practically all of his profits were invested by John Jacob Astor in real estate outside the compact portion of the city of New York. As the city grew out to his holdings, he would improve them, rent or sell them, and reinvest further out. In this way the growth of the city marked also the growth of his fortune, and this plan of investment has been followed by his descendants to the present day, until they have become by far the most important ...
— American Men of Mind • Burton E. Stevenson
... that a level bed of live coals makes an excellent cooking fire, though I will show you a better. Yesterday you cooked the worst meal I ever saw in the woods. Today you get up a really good, plain dinner; you have learned that much in one day. Oh, you improve some. And I think you have taken a lesson in ...
— Woodcraft • George W. Sears
... deserted at Port Said, and as we were in consequence short-handed, it was suggested that any volunteers would be given a try. Finch Hatton and I felt that our years in the tropics should qualify us, and that the exercise would improve our dispositions. We got the exercise. Never have I felt anything as hot, and I have spent August in Yuma, Arizona, and been in Italian Somaliland and the Amazon Valley. The shovels and the handles of the wheelbarrows blistered ...
— War in the Garden of Eden • Kermit Roosevelt
... will find interest in things like these; and to learn more about these, and many other great and good men who have lived and died in the church of the Brethren, will not only interest the mind, but improve the heart. ...
— Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary - Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk • John Kline
... staggering... The 7th of June cost us dear, and, owing to the success of the enemy attack, the price we paid was very heavy. Here, too, it was many days before the front was again secure. The British army did not press its advantage; apparently it only intended to improve its position for the launching of the great Flanders offensive. It thereupon resumed operations between the old Arras battlefield and also between La Bassee and Lens. The object of the enemy was to wear us down and ...
— Now It Can Be Told • Philip Gibbs
... threatened the existence of this Union save this very institution of slavery? What is it that we hold most dear amongst us? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity except this institution of slavery? If this be true, how do you propose to improve the condition of things by enlarging it? You may have a cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death, but surely it is no way to cure it to graft it and spread it over your body. That is no proper way of treating ...
— Standard Selections • Various
... depart and stood shivering and forlorn until the train was called. They listened sullenly while Professor Harkness told them that if they wished to be fit to associate with their friend when he came out of college they must begin at once to improve all their opportunities. First of all they must go to school, and study hard, and then their friend in college would be proud to call them friends. They did not think it worth while to tell the kindly but ignorant ...
— Lo, Michael! • Grace Livingston Hill
... personal element of that vivacious piece of polemic. In this recurrence of Mr. Strachey to a pellucid stream of prose we see an argument against his own theory of revolt. The procedure of the arts, the mechanical tricks of the trade, do they really improve or decline from age to age? Are they not, in fact, much more the result of individual taste than of fashion? There seems to be no radical change in the methods of style. The extravagant romanticism of rebellion against the leaders of the Victorian Age finds at length ...
— Some Diversions of a Man of Letters • Edmund William Gosse
... chiefs of the Whig party, among whom Somers was fast rising to ascendency, proposed a middle course. The House had, they said, two objects in view, which ought to be kept distinct. One object was to secure the old polity of the realm against illegal attacks: the other was to improve that polity by legal reforms. The former object might be attained by solemnly putting on record, in the resolution which called the new sovereigns to the throne, the claim of the English nation to its ancient franchises, ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... together with a view to the coif disappearing. I can only think that they have gone and taken what was their own. Think what you like of what has become of the head-dress, but I cannot say I dislike it though it should be bestowed in such a way as that Hrefna should have little chance to improve her apparel with it henceforth." After that they parted heavy of heart, and the Herdholtings rode home. That was the end of the feasts, yet everything was to all appearances quiet. [Sidenote: The end of the coif] Nothing ...
— Laxdaela Saga - Translated from the Icelandic • Anonymous
... present be said on this branch of the question is that the evils of the recruiting system which has been so far adopted are abundantly clear, that the Portuguese Government is endeavouring to improve that system, but that it would as yet be premature to pronounce any opinion on the results which ...
— Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 • Evelyn Baring
... improve that last compliment, Bab was fully satisfied, and let him leave the prize upon her breast, conscious that she ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. V, August, 1878, No 10. - Scribner's Illustrated • Various
... did much to swell the tide of ill-repute in which many of the clergy of all ranks were held (for the laity, says the song-writer, are apt to pay less attention to the doctrine than to the life of their teachers), we ought not to leave out of sight that he did much to improve the fabric of the Cathedral, and bequeathed liberal gifts to its foundation in money, books, ornaments, and land, and also a handsome legacy to the poor of ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford, A Description - Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See • A. Hugh Fisher
... all these city folks coming out here just to get a deed and then leaving the country," added another. "If they ain't going to improve the land they oughtn't to ...
— Land of the Burnt Thigh • Edith Eudora Kohl
... the decoration: some others have been removed to the entrance, and in 1865 the close pews were taken away and replaced by open seats; the organ has been enlarged and its position changed, which does not improve the appearance of the church; some of the windows have been re-glazed and other improvements effected. The present Incumbent is ...
— Ely Cathedral • Anonymous
... in search of Mr. Fraser's office in the settlement; I say SEARCH, for there are no names on the streets; where there are numbers they have no sequence, and I met no Europeans on foot to help me in my difficulty. Yokohama does not improve on further acquaintance. It has a dead-alive look. It has irregularity without picturesqueness, and the grey sky, grey sea, grey houses, and grey roofs, look harmoniously dull. No foreign money except the Mexican dollar passes in Japan, ...
— Unbeaten Tracks in Japan • Isabella L. Bird
... do. He tells Norman to say to me that if he puts the fellow in prison there'll be a riot, for they'll make a martyr of him. If he fines him it won't improve matters. So he asks me to name a punishment which'll suit our case. He promises to give it 'his most ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... neat houses on both sides, adorned with trees in front and gardens behind. The German colonists consist principally of Mennonites and Lutherans. The former are the most numerous and thriving; they were invited to settle there by Catherine the Great, in order to improve the state of agriculture; but their example has not had the desired influence on the surrounding districts. Although his German neighbor is in an infinitely better condition than himself, the Russian peasant will not imitate ...
— Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel • John Yeardley
... taught by scientists the extreme slowness with which races have improved. But do we know how fast races or families can improve if brought in contact with the most helpful influences of other races or families? Has that experiment ever been fairly tried? Do not results with hardened convicts, with Indian and negro pupils, suggest that there may be an immense acceleration of ...
— The Chief End of Man • George S. Merriam
... Tom had striven assiduously both to learn his business and to improve himself; and, having considerable abilities, already brightened and sharpened by Louis, his progress had been surprising. He had no low tastes, and was perfectly to be relied on for all essential points; but Mr. Dobbs owned that he should be relieved by parting ...
— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. I) - or, The Clue of Life • Charlotte M. Yonge
... discipline, were put in force. Notwithstanding these vigorous efforts to increase the strength and efficiency of the sea service, it was not till after the first action of the new campaign that an attempt was made to improve the fleet tactics. The action off Portland on February 18, 1653, and the ensuing chase of Tromp, marked the first real success of the war; but though the generals succeeded in delivering a severe blow to the ...
— Fighting Instructions, 1530-1816 - Publications Of The Navy Records Society Vol. XXIX. • Julian S. Corbett
... to improve his opportunity. Facing the top of the ridge, he started off with a single desire of getting over the rough ...
— The Young Ranchers - or Fighting the Sioux • Edward S. Ellis
... this really fine feat of his, for they made the officer commanding the two hundred moral supports a C.B. But Grey, it is needless to say, by thus trumping the trick of his opponent the General, did not improve his own relations with the Home authorities. He did, however, furnish another strong reason for a self-reliant policy. Ultimately, though gradually, the Imperial troops were withdrawn, and the colonists carried on the war with their own men, as ...
— The Long White Cloud • William Pember Reeves
... Azalea. "When I knew him first he'd never thought of singing. I only discovered his voice by accident. It needs much more work with it, of course, but it's powerful, and it has a quality that will improve with cultivation." ...
— A Court of Inquiry • Grace S. Richmond
... an hour or so in conversation with Asako. She thought that this was a sign of friendliness and sympathy. As a matter of fact, his object at first was to improve his English. Later on more ambitious projects developed in ...
— Kimono • John Paris
... finger upon his lip, and pointed to the cabinet. "Sire," said he in a whisper, "I have anticipated you. Prussia has received an important check, and the treaty will not be renewed. It rests with your majesty now, to improve the opportunity and supplant the King of Prussia. Be sympathetic and genial with the czarina—ABOVE ALL THINGS flatter her ambition, and the game is yours. Depend upon ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach
... Trinity has become confused with that of the Golden Vanity (Golden Victorie, Golden Trinitie, Gold Pinnatree are variants), which is probably a corrupted form of it; indeed the weak ending of the broadside challenges any singer to improve upon it. But again there are two distinct variations of the Golden Vanity ballad. In the first class, the boy, having sunk the French galley, calls to the Golden Vanity to throw him a rope, and ...
— Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Fourth Series • Frank Sidgwick
... use these forests for the benefit of the people. We're going to cut the ripe trees and sell them to the lumber manufacturer; we're going to develop the water power; we're going to improve the grazing; we're going to study what we have here, so that by and by from our forests we will be getting the income the lumberman now gets, and will not be injuring the estate. Each Forest is going to be a big and complicated business, like railroading or wholesaling. Anybody can run Martin's ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White
... there are any handbooks in existence, other than cookery books, to teach the duties of servants I know not; but, even if there are, servants will never read them of their own free will. Not one in a hundred has a sufficiently strong desire to improve herself for that. They must be taught like children, and when they are children, if any good ...
— Some Private Views • James Payn
... the night, but it paid dearly for its lodging—he roasted it for his supper! These poor birds had fled from the rigours of a European winter, to find cold as severe in the heart of Africa. Alas! how many of us felt that, like the swallows, we had exiled ourselves to improve our fortunes, and were now in danger of perishing. How gladly would we have resigned all our hopes of glory and advantage for the fireside of the ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 452 - Volume 18, New Series, August 28, 1852 • Various
... cultivation of the soil. Two schools are conducted for their benefit at the agency, having an attendance of thirty-five scholars. Of the Cheyennes confederated with the Arapahoes, the reports are less favorable as to progress made in industry, or disposition to improve their condition. Until 1867 both these tribes, in common with the Kiowas and Comanches, were engaged in hostilities against the white settlers in Western Kansas; but since the treaty made with them in that year they have, with the exception of one small band of the ...
— The Indian Question (1874) • Francis A. Walker
... advance. The people of Bombay are not boastful, but they are confident of the growth of their city and its commerce. Attached to the docks is a story of integrity and fidelity worth telling. In 1735 the municipal authorities of the young city, anticipating commercial prosperity, decided to improve their harbor and build piers for the accommodation of vessels, but nobody around the place had experience in such matters and a commission was sent off to other cities of India to find a man to take charge. The commission ...
— Modern India • William Eleroy Curtis
... must be "a diamond in the rough," as the well-known saying has it. I felt, indeed, that I would be very pleased to accompany him on one of his instructive strolls through this gallery, for I have always been of a studious habit and anxious to improve ...
— Ruggles of Red Gap • Harry Leon Wilson
... guiltless of being English,—thirdly, that, if our author, desiring to describe the feelings of a lover holding his mistress's hand, was inspired by Tennyson's phrase of "dear wonder," he failed, in our opinion, to improve on his original, when he substituted "the ...
— Atlantic Monthly Vol. 6, No. 33, July, 1860 • Various
... want to see student life par excellence, you can scarcely improve upon the shop I'm in myself—the Hotel du Saint-Esprit, ...
— Grey Roses • Henry Harland
... carried experiments in France on the deep submersion of submarines before their general abandonment when they were prohibited by international agreement in war. I was myself perhaps the leader in those investigations, and in the construction of the Jules Verne I took pains to improve on all that had hitherto ...
— The Second Deluge • Garrett P. Serviss
... cannot hope that these conditions will be remedied in a day or a month nor can the colored man expect that the millennium will come to him through the action of white people alone. He can improve his chances of securing greater rights and opportunities in the United States, if he will make the most of the limited opportunities now afforded him. He who does the best he can with the tools he has at hand is bound in time to demand by his good work better tools for the performance of ...
— History of the American Negro in the Great World War • W. Allison Sweeney
... sympathy and respect. She did not see indications of anarchy in the Pullman and Homestead strikes or in the Haymarket riot, but regarded them as an unfortunate phase of an industrial revolution which in time would improve the relations of ...
— Susan B. Anthony - Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian • Alma Lutz
... celebrity, he read with attention. The knowledge which he thus picked up during his leisure hours gave him a great advantage over the other clerks, and caused his employers to respect him far more than any other in their establishment. So eager was he to improve the time that he determined to see how much he could read during the unemployed time of night and morning, and his success ...
— Clotelle - The Colored Heroine • William Wells Brown
... than all the world could else bestow, All pleasures that from fame or fortune flow, To fix secure in bliss thy future life, Heaven crowned thy blessings with a lovely wife— Wise, gentle, good, with every grace combined That charms the sense or captivates the mind; Skilled every soft emotion to improve, The joy of friendship, and the wish of love; To soothe the heart which pale Misfortune's train Invades with grief or agonizing pain; To point through devious paths the narrow road That leads the soul to virtue or ...
— The Coquette - The History of Eliza Wharton • Hannah Webster Foster
... Money," he says, in the quiet third person of a self-respecting Norfolk gentleman, "does not mean to assign any other reason for serving the armies of France than that he loves his profession and went there merely to improve himself ...
— On Something • H. Belloc
... subject to a sort of ague, to which he paid far too little heed. When Dorothy was not immediately looking after him, he would slip out in any weather to see how things were going on in the Pottery. It was no wonder, therefore, that his health did not improve. But he could not be induced to regard his condition as ...
— Paul Faber, Surgeon • George MacDonald
... labor should set before itself is not a transitory improvement in its wage, because a wage war never truly or permanently improves the position of labor. This section or that may, relatively to its own past or the position of other workers, improve itself; but capital is like a ship which, however the tide rises or falls, floats upon it, and is not sunken more deeply in the water at high tide than at low tide. Whenever any burden is placed upon capital it immediately ...
— National Being - Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity • (A.E.)George William Russell
... can, really improve them; but if this is not possible, let us imagine them to be better than they are, and more willing to answer in accordance with the rules of argument, and then their opinion will be more worth having; for that which better men acknowledge has more weight than that which is acknowledged ...
— Sophist • Plato
... doubt of it. Men who lived one or two thousand years had time to invent and improve everything; and a play could have had its natural length then. It would not have been necessary to crowd the whole history of Macbeth, from his youth to his old age, into an absurd epitome of three hours. One cannot trace a touch of real human nature ...
— Kenelm Chillingly, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... fetched from the cupboard his concertina, and after the usual apology for what he called his 'imperfect mastery of the instrument,' sat down to play 'Home, Sweet Home.' He had played it for years, and evidently would never improve in his execution. After 'Home, Sweet Home' came 'The Bluebells of Scotland,' after that 'Annie Laurie'; and Mr. Spicer's repertory was at an end. He talked of learning new pieces, but there was not the ...
— The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories • George Gissing
... or who wish to alter, improve, extend, or add to existing buildings, whether wings, porches, bay windows, or attic rooms, are invited to communicate with the undersigned. Our work extends to all parts of the country. Estimates, plans, and drawings promptly prepared. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 647, May 26, 1888 • Various
... scout. It was not enough that by merely living the life around him he was being educated for it. He daily practised and rehearsed those things which some day might mean to himself and others the difference between life and death. To improve his sense of smell he gave up smoking, of which he was extremely fond, nor, for the same reason, does he to this day use tobacco. He accustomed himself also to go with little sleep, and to subsist on the least possible quantity ...
— Real Soldiers of Fortune • Richard Harding Davis
... of a brigade of all arms at Graz. In 1844 he married Trincess Hildegarde of Bavaria. He had been made a lieutenant field-marshal in the previous year, and was now placed in command of the forces in Upper and Lower Austria. In this position he did much to maintain and improve the efficiency of the troops under his command, at a time when nearly all armies in Europe, with the exception of Radetzky's in Italy, had sunk to the lowest level. The influence of Radetzky over the young archduke was indeed remarkable. At this time the Austrian generals and staff ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia
... First-Lieutenant, that even his best friends declared that it would be a pity to have him promoted. The Admiralty, however, sent him to look after a young lord in delicate health and indolent disposition, who required a cruise to improve the first, and a man who would do all his work for him, in order that he might ...
— Ben Burton - Born and Bred at Sea • W. H. G. Kingston
... appearance. John was a plain, somewhat rustic-looking personage; and an injury which he had received from gunpowder in a quarry, that had destroyed the sight of one of his eyes, and considerably dimmed that of the other, had, of course, not served to improve his looks; but he always wore a cheerful, contented air; and, with all his homeliness, was a person pleasant to the sight. His companion was a really handsome man—grey-haired, silvery-whiskered, with an aristocratic ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller
... next year, with orders to extend their discoveries 150 miles farther to the south, and even more if they found it proper; and promised to enrich all who should embark in this navigation. They went again; and, although they obeyed the instructions of the prince, they could not improve the discoveries. Yet, firmly persuaded by the strength of his own judgment, that people and habitations would certainly be found at length, Don Henry continued to send out his caravels from time to time, and they came at length to certain coasts ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr
... challenge, they published the secret memorandum which had till then been handed on privately from minister to minister, they knew what they were about, and would never have put it into the power of the Emperor to retort that that was not what he referred to, but to a paper which would not improve the cordiality of the Anglo-French alliance. Again, is it likely that, if the Emperor had entered into such an agreement, he would take the trouble to write another long memorandum, containing the 'substance' of his discussions with the English ministers? ...
— Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. - In Two Volumes. VOL. II. • John Knox Laughton
... criticisms were visibly right, while even those with which I could not concur showed me the weak spot in my work that had occasioned them. They have helped me to improve the book—I think I may ...
— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward
... to have a little different form of exercise to-morrow," announced the coach, at the conclusion of a short game one afternoon. "I want you all to take part in a cross-country run. It will improve your wind, and work some of the fat off you fellows that can stand losing it. It will be ...
— Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck • Allen Chapman
... to the poop. In fact, he so completely monopolised my attention up to tiffin time that I was scarcely able to find time to go forward and enquire into the condition of the wounded, and had no opportunity at all to improve my ...
— A Middy in Command - A Tale of the Slave Squadron • Harry Collingwood
... It was reserved, however, for the glory of the present reign to carry the spirit of discovery to its height, and to conduct it on the noblest principles; not for the purposes of covetuousness or ambition; not to plunder or destroy the inhabitants of newly-explored countries; but to improve their condition, to instruct them in the arts of life, and to extend the ...
— Narrative of the Voyages Round The World, • A. Kippis
... and in vain for a Conservative in public life who would not admit that reforms are desirable or even urgent, though few might be prepared with precise statements about particulars.... But their (the Liberals') confidence in reform, in their ability to improve the body politic by certain definite measures, is gone. The old Liberal spirit animating a whole party is dead. It may seem an odd remark to make just after the late election, but the evidence is abundant, and the explanation ...
— Socialism: Positive and Negative • Robert Rives La Monte
... make this clear. Whilst China has been from the first fully prepared to co-operate with friendly Powers in the taking of war- measures which would ultimately improve her world-position, she has not been prepared to surrender the initiative in these matters into foreign hands. The argument that the mobilization of her resources could only be effectively dealt with by specially designated foreigners, ...
— The Fight For The Republic In China • B.L. Putnam Weale
... attended to at once. Something's got to be done. I've attempted to improve the social and spiritual conditions of these girls in the mill, and if I've only worked harm by bringing them ...
— The Power and the Glory • Grace MacGowan Cooke
... of which we all are thinking in these days is war between civilized men. One civilized man cannot improve another civilized man by killing him, although it is not inconceivable that a civilized man may do humanity a service by destroying human savages, for with the savages ...
— The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915 - What Americans Say to Europe • Various
... children, warm and tepid bathing is of great value. In such cases, a course of warm sea bathing, with active friction over the whole surface after each bath, will at once relieve that abdominal fulness which is generally present, improve the functions of the skin, and give tone and vigour to the whole system. Towards the termination of such a course of baths, their temperature must be gradually reduced till they become tepid (85 ...
— The Maternal Management of Children, in Health and Disease. • Thomas Bull, M.D.
... with you, Vane," returned Sir James at once. "But that doesn't alter the principle of the thing. . . . By all means improve their conditions . . . give them better houses . . . stop sweated labour. That is our privilege and our duty. But if they continue on their present line, they'll soon find the difference. Things we did for 'em before, they'll have to whistle for in ...
— Mufti • H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile
... unhealthiness; but eight Spanish and Swedish workmen, being brought hither for the purpose of instructing the natives in the art of smelting iron, soon fell victims to disease and "irregularities". The effort of the marquis to improve the mode of manufacturing iron was thus rendered abortive. Labor and subsistence are, however, so very cheap that almost any amount of work can be executed, at a cost ...
— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone
... very inadequate; about 4 telephones per 100 families, most of which are in Asmara; government is seeking international tenders to improve ...
— The 1999 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... the specific problem you are experiencing and the assistive software and/or hardware that you are using so that we can work with our technical support staff to find and implement a solution. We welcome visitors' suggestions to improve accessibility of The World Factbook ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... are intended for ladies above the age of fifteen years, who may be engaged through the day in various occupations, and for such as suffer from neglected education, and who wish conveniently and economically to improve themselves, without being necessitated to mix with their juniors in day-schools. These classes prepare ladies to meet the qualifications necessary to enter clerkships and other official departments; to bring them also ...
— Mystic London: - or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis • Charles Maurice Davies
... from the light of Christian truth, charity consists merely in supplying the natural wants of the neighbor by making him more comfortable in his external condition; and this is well, for there is little, if any, use in trying to improve the inner man while the outer is bowed down with want or squalid with impurity. This is the basis of the higher planes of charity, the first in time, though lowest in degree. There are those who think lightly of this form of charity, because it is lowest ...
— The Elements of Character • Mary G. Chandler
... was spent chiefly in endeavours to improve his naval and military forces, and in fruitless struggles to replenish the exhausted treasury of the state. His own, meanwhile, was full to overflowing, having received immense accessions from the confiscated property of his unsuccessful ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 433 - Volume 17, New Series, April 17, 1852 • Various
... suppose, according to the ideas of some people, I ought to ask you to pardon it, for I observe that that is a common plan upon such occasions. But I do nothing of the kind. If I thought it needed pardon I should not have made it; and you ought to be glad to improve your mind with a little bit of useful information. But you knew it all before? Well, how could I tell that, I should like ...
— For Fortune and Glory - A Story of the Soudan War • Lewis Hough
... troublesome a possession, but now he longed to get out of that hovel and to have a decent place to which he could invite this 'angel woman.' The Adjutant smiled upon him, told him he had only to follow God and things would soon improve. She fostered the desire to make home again with his family and his own bits of furniture about him, and helped him to get rooms. During Wellman's years of sinning, whenever he had seen the word God in print, he had dropped the ...
— The Angel Adjutant of "Twice Born Men" • Minnie L. Carpenter
... The glory of his past exploits still invested his character with a sort of halo, which made him an object of general regard, and he still had great and powerful friends. He was elevated to high office, and exerted himself to regulate and improve the internal affairs of the state. In these efforts he was not, however, very successful. The historians say that the objects which he aimed to accomplish were good, and that the measures for effecting ...
— Hannibal - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... party was not likely to improve the good feeling of the crew toward the Spanish ship which was two miles to leeward of them, and which must be fought with, or fled from, before a quarter of an hour was past. So, kneeling down upon the deck, as many a brave crew in those days did in like case, they "gave God thanks devoutly for ...
— The Junior Classics • Various
... bay-leaves—two medium carrots cut in slices. Put the shoulder of mutton in this mixture and keep it there for four days, turning it every now and then and pouring the mixture on it. On the fifth day take it out, and, if you care to take the trouble, you will improve it by larding the meat here and there. Put it to roast in front of a good fire, with your liquor, which serves to baste it with, in a pan beneath. If you cannot arrange to hang the mutton by a string to turn like a roasting jack, then bake it, and continually baste it. ...
— The Belgian Cookbook • various various
... getting rid of troublesome people. Instead of having their heads cut off in the usual way, their faces were bathed with the water, and they instantly fell asleep and never woke up any more. So, when the King, thinking to improve his beauty, took the flask and sprinkled the water upon his face, he fell asleep, and ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various
... unobjectionable, or, in other words, useless for practical purposes; and, with this commission, Knight returned to England, rejoicing in the confidence of complete success. But, as soon as Wolsey had seen it, he pronounced the commission "as good as none at all".[597] The discovery did not improve his or Henry's opinion of the Pope's good faith; but, dissembling their resentment, they despatched, in February, 1528, Stephen Gardiner and Edward Foxe to obtain fresh and more effective powers. Eventually, on 8th June a commission ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard
... Butter" is the heading of one of a contemporary's "Household Hints." They will never improve on the old-fashioned custom of slapping ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 156, April 9, 1919 • Various
... scholars to Normandy, he became a monk under Lanfranc, and on his teacher's removal to higher duties succeeded him in the direction of the Abbey of Bec. No teacher has ever thrown a greater spirit of love into his toil. "Force your scholars to improve!" he burst out to another teacher who relied on blows and compulsion. "Did you ever see a craftsman fashion a fair image out of a golden plate by blows alone? Does he not now gently press it and strike it with his tools, now with wise art yet more gently raise and shape it? What do your scholars ...
— History of the English People, Volume I (of 8) - Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 • John Richard Green
... house; in fact a twin experience. Gwendolen was ashamed of herself for allowing her disappointment to so depress her spirits and make her so strangely and profoundly miserable; but feeling ashamed of herself didn't improve the matter any; it only seemed to aggravate the suffering. She explained that she was not feeling very well, and everybody could see that this was true; so she got sincere sympathy and commiseration; but that didn't help the case. Nothing helps that kind of a case. It is best to ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... think the American genius is quicker, more wide-awake, more fertile than the British; I think that if our manufactures were as extensive and firmly established as the British, we should invent and improve machinery much faster than they do; but I do not wish to deny that this ...
— Glances at Europe - In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, - Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. • Horace Greeley
... to be peremptory with an archduchess. Their favorable reports to the Empress-queen were indeed neutralized by the frankness with which their pupil herself confessed her idleness and failure to improve. But Maria Teresa was too much absorbed in politics to give much heed to the confession, or to insist on greater diligence; though at a later day Marie Antoinette herself repented of her neglect, ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge
... the best that the market could supply, yet he was able, from his knowledge of optics and chemistry, to improve them for his own uses far beyond the ability of the makers. His studio was filled with examples of his work, and his mind was stocked with information and opinions on all subjects ranging from international policies to the ...
— The Grain Ship • Morgan Robertson
... Envied in the present volume) being omitted and hiatuses, varying in extent from a few lines to several pages, being of frequent occurrence, whilst in addition to these defects, the editor, a learned Egyptian, has played havoc with the style of his original, in an ill-judged attempt to improve it, producing a medley, more curious than edifying, of classical and semi-modern diction and now and then, in his unlucky zeal, completely disguising the pristine meaning of certain passages. The ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I • Anonymous
... "you have three hundred francs in hand; you can live comfortably for three months; very well, then, work hard and write another romance. D'Arthez and Fulgence will help you with the plot; you will improve, you will be a novelist. And I, meanwhile, will enter one of those lupanars of thought; for three months I will be a journalist. I will sell your books to some bookseller or other by attacking his publications; I will write the articles myself; I will get others for you. We will ...
— A Distinguished Provincial at Paris • Honore de Balzac
... towards its Creator. Yesterday, Agricola made me read an article in a newspaper, in which violent blame and bitter irony are by turns employed, to attack what they call the baneful tendencies of some of the lower orders, to improve themselves, to write, to read the poets, and sometimes to make verses. Material enjoyments are forbidden us by poverty. Is it humane to reproach us for seeking the enjoyments of the mind? What harm can it do any one if every evening, after a day's toil, remote from all pleasure, ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue
... I can make the way down much easier. The steps are a simple matter, and I have often thought a charge of gunpowder would improve that bit where the rock hangs over. If I hadn't wanted to keep the place to myself I should have done it long ago. It certainly is dangerous now to anyone ...
— The Obstacle Race • Ethel M. Dell
... the Studebaker was a rotten old car. Its steering-gear was pretty dicky, and the bad surface and continual hairpin bends of the road didn't improve it. Soon we came into snow lying fairly deep, frozen hard and rutted by the big transport-wagons. We bumped and bounced horribly, and were shaken about like peas in a bladder. I began to be acutely anxious about the old boneshaker, the more as we seemed ...
— Greenmantle • John Buchan
... box away until closin' time, and then waits around the upper corridor for Tessie to show up. Izzy, he spots me and proceeds to improve the time by givin' me an earache about what an important party he is, how he expects to be jumped a notch soon, and about how much he makes nights on the outside, followin' up some checkroom snap ...
— Torchy • Sewell Ford
... know, ungrateful Quiteria, that according to the holy law we acknowledge, so long as live thou canst take no husband; nor art thou ignorant either that, in my hopes that time and my own exertions would improve my fortunes, I have never failed to observe the respect due to thy honour; but thou, casting behind thee all thou owest to my true love, wouldst surrender what is mine to another whose wealth serves to bring him not ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... Further, by taking note of the past we can provide for the future. Now unless human laws had been changed when it was found possible to improve them, considerable inconvenience would have ensued; because the laws of old were crude in many points. Therefore it seems that laws should be changed, whenever anything better ...
— Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) - From the Complete American Edition • Saint Thomas Aquinas
... little exercise might improve his health, so I drove him out one day, and he proceeded in such a peculiar manner that I was afraid he might suddenly come apart and fall to pieces. When we reached the top of White House hill, which ...
— Elbow-Room - A Novel Without a Plot • Charles Heber Clark (AKA Max Adeler)
... the Duke provides her; Where all the Sallies of my flattering Youth Shall be no more remember'd, but as past. Since 'tis a Race that must by Man be run, I'm happy in my Youth it was begun; It serves my future Manhood to improve, Which shall be sacrific'd ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn - Volume IV. • Aphra Behn
... directly over the hot coals. A coating of coagulated albumen is formed upon the outer surface. This coating prevents the evaporation of the juices, which with the extractive materials are retained and improve the flavor. Meat cooked in this way has a decided advantage, in both flavor and nutritive value, over that which has been boiled or stewed. There are, however, only certain kinds of meat that are ...
— Public School Domestic Science • Mrs. J. Hoodless
... do a few years later that which Countess Catherine had done at the proper moment. He, too, had hoped for an increase in the value of property. Only he had bought the land at seventy francs a metre, and in '90 it was not worth more than twenty-five. He, too, had calculated that Rome would improve, and on the high-priced land he had begun to build entire streets, imagining he could become like the Dukes of Bedford and of Westminster in London, the owner of whole districts. His houses finished, they did not rent, however. To complete the rest he had to borrow. ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... fence in Morfield Canyon 130 occupied burrows were counted. More than one hole, if judged to be part of the same burrow system, were counted as one. The vegetation within the colony had continued to improve in spite of the large ...
— Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado • Sydney Anderson
... cannot pluck it from us, age cannot weaken it, death cannot set limits to it. And now, with the fulness of this one experience as a test, just consider our whole mortal experience as filled up with such revelations of truth. Suppose we improve all our opportunities; into what boundless life does education admit us, and the discoveries of every day, and the ordinary lessons of the world! Tell me, is this life to be called merely a brief and worthless fact, when ...
— The Crown of Thorns - A Token for the Sorrowing • E. H. Chapin
... 'You don't improve as you proceed. I tell you this, you'll not have me for a friend. You have your troops of satellites; but take it as equal to a prophecy, you won't have London with you; and you'll hear of Lord Fleetwood and his Whitechapel ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... country. It is a link in the great system, and one kept very bright and well polished by its managers. Their course has been to pay only a moderate dividend, and use the rest of the earnings to improve the road and its belongings, and to foster the interests of the people who use it. Such wise policy must build it strongly into the affections and interests of those who live along it, and ensure its being each year a better ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII, No. 28. July, 1873. • Various
... removed from any state of affairs we can really think of or plan for, that it cannot enter into our reckoning, ideal or practical? Every ideal takes certain facts of human life for granted whilst it tries to improve others. All ideal states, Plato's as well as others, assume certain facts about human nature and human society. These facts may and do vary. The Greek city state assumed that a state must be small, ...
— Recent Developments in European Thought • Various
... This didn't improve Bumper's temper any; but right away he thought of the little girl with the red hair. "Do you think she has plenty of money?" he asked. "She was beautifully dressed, and had a rose in ...
— Bumper, The White Rabbit • George Ethelbert Walsh
... does is to stop eating out of one bowl, and he sets up crockery, and fits himself out with a kitchen and servants. And he feeds his servants high, too, so that their mouths may not water over his dainty viands; and he eats alone; and as eating in solitude is wearisome, he plans how he may improve his food and deck his table; and the very manner of taking his food (dinner) becomes a matter for pride and vain glory with him, and his manner of taking his food becomes for him a means of sequestering himself from other men. A rich man cannot think of such a thing as inviting a poor ...
— What To Do? - thoughts evoked by the census of Moscow • Count Lyof N. Tolstoi
... them, to your young people, I must own, it does not appear to me to be expedient; it may be productive of bad consequences, and the good arising from it is, at most, uncertain. It is, no doubt, very desirable to enlarge young people's minds and improve their taste as well as their persons; but such is the state of things in this world, that to attain this to the degree wished for by every person of refined taste, some things must be sacrificed of much greater value: for example, a girl cannot acquire the smart, polished ...
— The Power of Faith - Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham. • Isabella Graham
... allows every man, or single woman of mature age, widow or unmarried, to go upon a plot of land, not more than one hundred and sixty acres nor less than forty acres, and to improve it, and live upon it. If he stays there, or 'maintains a continuous residence,' as the lawyers say, for a certain length of time, the Government gives him a title-deed at the end of that time, and ...
— The Boy Settlers - A Story of Early Times in Kansas • Noah Brooks
... secluded from the world, regardless of its feelings, impregnable to disease, insensible to contempt.' He painted his heads, figures, and draperies over and over again, feeling that to obliterate was the only way to improve. His studio soon filled with fashionable folk, who came to see the 'extraordinary picture painted by a young man who had never had the advantages of foreign travel.' Haydon believed, with the simplicity of a child, in all these flattering prophecies of glory and fame, and imagined ...
— Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century • George Paston
... Adams interrupted. "As a matter of fact, I don't believe he'll ever think about it at all, and if he did he wouldn't have any real right to feel offended at me: the process I'm going to use is one I expect to change and improve a lot different from the one Campbell and I worked on ...
— Alice Adams • Booth Tarkington
... the G. S. M. & T., are we indebted for enabling us to acquire an honest, well-paying profession, which is aiding so many young women to improve their condition in life, and give substantial assistance to those dependent upon them. To our Instructor are we especially grateful for his thoughtfulness and zeal in imparting instruction, and the affectionate solicitude which he has shown for our welfare; nor would we forget the care bestowed ...
— Silver Links • Various
... or of constantly seeking to improve, is to be deeply impressed. It alone will bring us everything. It is never time to say, 'Let ...
— The Young Seigneur - Or, Nation-Making • Wilfrid Chateauclair
... he felt something of the old confidence that was his when astride the mustang and coursing over the prairie at a speed which no horse could equal. When first charged upon by the monster he had fired with such haste that he had no time to make any aim; now fortified by his camp fire, he meant to improve upon that. Everything being ready, he looked off into the gloom, but nothing was to be seen of the creature, nor did the ...
— Through Apache Lands • R. H. Jayne
... you have to say, my lady, and confide it to me. She shall have it to-night, if she's where you suppose. I 'll go, with your permission, and take a look at the mare. Sussex roads are heavy in this damp weather, and the frost coming on won't improve them for a tired beast. We haven't our rails ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... public feeling did not improve when, at the end of September, Bonner commenced an inquisition into the conduct and opinions of the clergy of his diocese. In every parish he appointed a person or persons to examine whether the minister ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude
... Follies are too often unknown to us; nay, they are so far from being known to us, that they pass for Demonstrations of our Worth. This makes us easy in the midst of them, fond to shew them, fond to improve in them, and to be esteemed for them. Then it is that a thousand unaccountable Conceits, gay Inventions, and extravagant Actions must afford us Pleasures, and display us to others in the Colours which we ourselves take a Fancy to glory in: And indeed there is ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... to abate and lessen the credit of evil and hurtful poems by setting in opposition to them the famous speeches and sentences of such worthy men as have managed public affairs, so will it be useful to us, where we find any things in them of civil and profitable import, to improve and strengthen them by testimonies and proofs taken from philosophers, withal giving these the credit of being the first inventors of them. For this is both just and profitable to be done, seeing by this means such sayings receive ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch
... more of the dreadful Madame Nourrisson, seeing his father-in-law married, having brought back his brother-in-law to the family fold, suffering from no importunity on the part of his new stepmother, and seeing his mother's health improve daily, gave himself up to his political and judicial duties, swept along by the tide of Paris life, in which the hours ...
— Poor Relations • Honore de Balzac
... composition, let alone other studies, had it not been for the fact that I played half-back on the team, and so the professors marked me away up above where I ought to have ranked. That was twelve years ago, but my life since I received my parchment has hardly been of a kind to improve me in either style or grammar. It is true that one woman tells me I write well, and my directors never find fault with my compositions; but I know that she likes my letters because, whatever else they ...
— Master Tales of Mystery, Volume 3 • Collected and Arranged by Francis J. Reynolds
... over the convicts at Norfolk Island in the days of transportation of criminals. He was permitted to try as an experiment a "system of marks," whereby a prisoner, by his good conduct and industry, could materially lessen the duration of his punishment, and, to a certain extent improve his dietary. The experiment, though only tried with prisoners under sixteen, proved very successful, and at one time hopes were entertained that the system would become general in all the gaols of the kingdom. So far as our gaol was concerned, however, it proved ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
... fine weather, yet Micheline's health did not improve. She did not suffer, but a sort of languor had come over her. For days she never quitted her reclining-chair. She was very affectionate toward her mother, and seemed to be making up for the lack of affection shown during the ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... other forms of religious life, rather than in tracing the movements of the soul. Probably this was inseparable from the position Hugh had taken up, and there was not the slightest pose, or desire to improve the situation about his mind. The descriptions, the lightly-touched details, the naturalness and ease of the talk are wholly admirable. He must have been a very swift observer, both of nature and people, because he never gave the least impression of observing anything. I never saw him stop to ...
— Hugh - Memoirs of a Brother • Arthur Christopher Benson
... for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to ...
— Games For All Occasions • Mary E. Blain
... benefit. One gains no strength by swimming in any waters heated or boiled by fires that men build. To grow strong and wise one must swim in the natural rivers, the mountain torrents, the sea, just as the Sagalie Tyee made them. Their virtues die when human beings try to improve them by heating or distilling, or placing even tea in them, and so—what makes Homolsom Rock so full of 'good medicine' is that the waters that wash up about it are straight from the sea, made by the hand of the Great Tyee, and unspoiled by the ...
— Legends of Vancouver • E. Pauline Johnson
... the paper published in the Proceedings of the American Association, as above cited. The author states that "numerous additions and corrections, as well as personal observations of much before taken at second hand, have placed it in my power to enlarge and improve my ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various
... post of mentor, tells Shelley that he is much too young to reform the world, urges him to acquire a vicarious maturity by reading history, and refers him to Political Justice passim for the arguments which demonstrate the error of any attempt to improve mankind by forming ...
— Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle • H. N. Brailsford |
