"Ma'am" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... jus' 's long as you like, ma'am," he yelled, in the voice of a train dispatcher. "I'll send your friends in ...
— The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary • Anne Warner
... last, ma'am. Don't be hard on us. 'Tis only a night of our lives, an' we'll be all ...
— Duty, and other Irish Comedies • Seumas O'Brien
... "Yes, ma'am, that's it. You know, papa, that means giving just so much of your money and giving it at a certain time and never forgetting to give it. That's the reason I wanted my ten cents now, so that I can put some of it in the box to-morrow morning. ...
— A Missionary Twig • Emma L. Burnett
... if as how you can pay your rent, because as how we hear Captain Montable is gone away, and it's fifty to one if he b'ant killed afore he comes back again; an then, Miss, or Ma'am, or whatever you may be, as I was saying to my husband, where are we to look ...
— Charlotte Temple • Susanna Rowson
... not to interlard conversation with "sir," or "ma'am." In Europe these terms are relegated to the use of ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke
... "Thank you, ma'am," said Billy, tugging at his ragged cap with the same hand in which he had received the money, for he had his brush in the other, and he was anxious to show his gratitude. It was his ...
— The Thirteen Little Black Pigs - and Other Stories • Mrs. (Mary Louisa) Molesworth
... sayings. Walking in the street one day, slippery from frost, she fairly fell down. A young officer with much politeness came forward and picked her up, earnestly asking her at the same time, "I hope ma'am, you are no worse?" to which she very drily answered, looking at him very steadily, "'Deed, sir, I'm just as little the better." A few days after, she met her military supporter in a shop. He was a fine tall youth, upwards of six feet high, and by way of ...
— Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character • Edward Bannerman Ramsay
... the other. "Wait till ye hear the rest, then ye'll think it strange. By-and-by Robert pushed away his cup, 'I think I'll step out for a bit of a pipe, Mary,' says he to I. 'I wish ye good day, ma'am,' says he, noddin' his head at Mrs. Maidment. The door had no sooner shut behind en," she continued, leaning forward and speaking slowly and with great unction, "than Sarah she looks me full in the face, and says she, 'Mrs. Domeny,' she says, 'I do admire your husband. I think,' ...
— North, South and Over the Sea • M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)
... to be wondered at, ma'am; all that is the natural consequence of teaching girls to read. On my way hither, Mrs. Malaprop, I observed your niece's maid coming forth from a circulating library: from that moment, I guessed how full of duty I ...
— Standard Selections • Various
... The poor cook was so bewildered, that she did not know what to do: it was time for the dinner to be served, and she, therefore, for the look's sake, thought it best to send the soup in as it was, even if it were sent out again immediately, "because you know ma'am," said she, "that would prove you had ordered it. I always thought the monkey would do the kitten a mischief, he was so jealous of it, and hated it so because it scratched him, so ...
— Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals • R. Lee
... "Need anything, ma'am?" He was pleasant enough. Janet Bagley appreciated that; life had not been entirely pleasant for her for ...
— The Fourth R • George Oliver Smith
... throw me into a great and sudden heat; his supernatural appearance was enough for that. Then I was seized with a great fear lest, in his friendliness, he should expect me to shake hands. That was as if I should have thrust my fingers into this tap-room grate. Well, ma'am (your good health, Mrs. Pittis), the strange thing came up to me quite pleasant, with a beaming face, and said, in something of a voice like a hoarse blast pipe, 'Glad to see you, Mr. Spruce. How did you come here?' 'O,' said I, 'Sir,' not liking to be behind-hand in civility, 'I only just dropped ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various
... Kerber reely knows about me, ma'am," said Stump gallantly, beaming on her over the rail of the ...
— The Wheel O' Fortune • Louis Tracy
... said, to the soldier who responded, "conduct this young woman to Dr. Denslow. Inform him that she is to be with us as a nurse, and ask him to be kind enough to assign her suitable quarters. Good afternoon, ma'am." ...
— The Red Acorn • John McElroy
... this poor boy began to search for God. He came to his lady and told her that she was "bad Ma'am," and had told what was not true; for he said he had been everywhere to look for God, he had even got up in the night to try to find Him; but nowhere, in the streets or in the fields, had he seen anyone tall enough to reach the ...
— Twilight And Dawn • Caroline Pridham
... most of them were five days old, But one, whose age was six— "Please, ma'am," said he, "I think we're ducks; I ...
— Christmas Roses • Lizzie Lawson
... "'Entirely welcome, ma'am,' I replied, as my mother had taught me to do upon like occasions, 'and the more welcome, as I perceive you speak English so fluently, that you must be either an English ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various
... day the tutor went abroad, And simple Katie sadly missed him; When he returned, behind her lord She slyly stole, and fondly kissed him. The husband's anger rose, and red And white his face alternate grew: "Less freedom, ma'am!" Kate sighed and said "O, dear, I ...
— The Canadian Elocutionist • Anna Kelsey Howard
... saying, "Miss Charlotte asked for a large piece of plum cake, ma'am," and Aunt Lavvy added a large piece of plum cake to the plate ...
— Mary Olivier: A Life • May Sinclair
... I'll carry you," said Roger Trew, lifting up the hen hornbill; but the bird fought so desperately that he was glad to put her down again. "We must tie your legs and put your nose in a bag, ma'am," said Roger, "or you will be doing some one ...
— In the Eastern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston
... CONSTABLE. Shall not, ma'am! If you valooed your child, you'd be right glad to have her go. She's got bad notions enough. We'll edicate ...
— The Magician's Show Box and Other Stories • Lydia Maria Child
... reported also that, on the transit, Mrs Barrabell was heard to say, "Go forward, Theophilus! Th' Old Doctor knows all about me, if he don't about you. You can trust en to the ends of the world." "That's right enough, ma'am," said the Doctor in his great way; "but you appear to have gone a bit further." A variant of the story has it that Mrs Barrabell was found beneath the bed, and her spouse alone between the bed-clothes, into which he had plunged with an exhortation, "Look after yourself, darling!" "And what do you ...
— Nicky-Nan, Reservist • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... sat there looking so wise and so friendly that the Boy began to talk to her at his ease. And after a while the Boy said, "Ma'am, do you think I could ever learn what the ...
— The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said • Padraic Colum
... "Yes, ma'am," said the child meekly, raising a pair of large soft eyes of the darkest hazel for an instant to her teacher's face, and then dropping them again upon ...
— Elsie Dinsmore • Martha Finley
... "Please, ma'am, I'm hungry," Billy said. "Nothing has passed my lips for a whole week." He thought "a week" sounded far ...
— The Tale of Billy Woodchuck • Arthur Scott Bailey
... "I should think, ma'am, I did, when I was brought up in a dairy all my life, till I went to live with Mrs. Willoughby, and mother's been sick two months at a time, and I made all the butter and ...
— A Book For The Young • Sarah French
... to you, ma'am,' I stammered, 'that my intentions would be strictly honourable if I happened to have any. . . . I may be more intoxicated than I felt up to a moment ago. . . . But let us, at all events, keep our heads. It seems the only ...
— Foe-Farrell • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... Upon my honour you mustn't,' Mr Sampson remonstrated, shaking his head seriously, 'With the highest respect for you, ma'am, upon my life you mustn't. No really, you know. When a man with the feelings of a gentleman finds himself engaged to a young lady, and it comes (even on the part of a member of the family) to vipers, you know!—I ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... from Dr. Wedgecroft, ma'am. His thanks; they stopped the express for him at Hitchin and he has reached ...
— Waste - A Tragedy, In Four Acts • Granville Barker
... foolish, while if she called back, "I am Huldah Bate," her hearer would not know who Huldah Bate was. However, she had to say something, so she called back pleadingly, "I am a little girl, Huldah Bate, and please, ma'am, I'm starving, and—and please open the door. I can't hurt you, ...
— Dick and Brownie • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... as if he were half daft then, but he answered: "Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, certainly, ma'am, no danger at all, ma'am." Then he went on ordering the men: "A leetle more to the right, ...
— The Jamesons • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... echoes the rotund laundress; "why of course we've got to tetch 'em, or how'd we get 'em ironed and put in your baskets, ma'am?" ...
— The Humors of Falconbridge - A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes • Jonathan F. Kelley
... they're none o' them doin' jest so well as they might, there's none o' them been in pris'n yet, an' that's a comfort as long as it lasts. An' when folk tells me I'm a doin' o' nothink o' no good, an' my trade's o' no use to nobody, I says to them, says I, 'Beggin' your pardon, sir, or ma'am, but do you call it nothink to fill—leastways to nigh fill four hungry little bellies at home afore I wur fifteen?' An' after that, they ain't in general said nothink; an' one ...
— Weighed and Wanting • George MacDonald
... ma'am," replied the artist. "It is very good in you, but I scarcely feel in sufficient spirits for sherry. Just give Mr. Finsbury this note, and ask him to look round—to the door in the lane, you will please tell him; I shall be in the ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... Connolly, ma'am! Sure, 'tis yourself that's wanted! Come down, I tell ye! There's ginthry at the door, an' the rain peltin' on em like the divil. Come down, I'm tellin' ye! Or fegs they'll go on to Paddy Sheehan's, an' thin where'll ye be? Och, murdher! Where are ye, at all, ...
— April's Lady - A Novel • Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
... ma'am. A tight little bark is The Sieve, provided the dippers hold out. Most of the men is below now, baling out the water with their dippers, and the ship ain't leaking more than ordinary—yet. Of course you never can tell what may ...
— The Old Tobacco Shop - A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure • William Bowen
... ma'am, at the table behind you, and you will see is this a scarce house! That is what is set out for yourselves, ma'am, lobsters from Aughanish! A fat turkey from the barley gardens! A spiced and larded sucking pig! Cakes and sweets and all sorts! It is not the want of provision ...
— Three Wonder Plays • Lady I. A. Gregory
... "I never believes, ma'am, in nobody doing any good by getting a place," said Mr. Bunce. "Of course I don't mean judges and them like, which must be. But when a young man has ever so much a year for sitting in a big room down at Whitehall, and reading a newspaper with his feet up on a chair, ...
— Phineas Finn - The Irish Member • Anthony Trollope
... "Oh, yes, ma'am, yes ma'am, she can now. Something happened that she didn't expect, and she is as glad to have us come as we are to do so." She hesitated a moment, but her young heart was filled to the brim with joy, and when a child is happy, it is as natural to tell the cause as it is for a bird ...
— The King's Daughter and Other Stories for Girls • Various
... say anything in a simple and delicate way; his one object appears to be not to use the obvious word. He has a sort of jargon of his own—a dreadful jargon. He must write "crittur" or "craythur," when he means "creature"; he says "Yiss, ma'am, I'd be glad to jine the Book Club"; he uses the word "galore"; he talks of "the resipiscential process" when he means growing wiser—at least I think that is what he means. The following, taken quite at random, are specimens of the ...
— The Upton Letters • Arthur Christopher Benson
... or simply worked on in silence, the principal difficulties would straighten themselves out; and they had also a considerable experience of great questions. Tarrant spoke as if, as a family, they were prepared to take charge of them on moderate terms. He always said "ma'am" in speaking to Olive, to whom, moreover, the air had never been so filled with the sound of her own name. It was always in her ear, save when Mrs. Tarrant and Verena conversed in prolonged and ingenuous ...
— The Bostonians, Vol. I (of II) • Henry James
... ma'am?" The man had turned and was surveying her with the dogged impudence of his class. "I'd like to hear you say it, if you don't mind, ma'am. Perhaps, ...
— Dark Hollow • Anna Katharine Green
... squire. "From Rogate we came on to Trotton, where a Mr. Twyford is the squire, and where there is a very fine and ancient church close by the squire's house. I saw the squire looking at some poor devils who were making 'wauste improvements, ma'am,' on the road which passes by the squire's door. He looked uncommonly hard at me. It was a scrutinising sort of look, mixed, as I thought, with a little surprise, if not of jealousy, as much as to say, 'I wonder who the ...
— Highways & Byways in Sussex • E.V. Lucas
... of eating nothing but salt meat and biscuit, ma'am," said Ready, as they sat down to their meal; "but when we are all safe on the other side of the island we hope to feed you better. At present it is hard work and ...
— Masterman Ready • Captain Marryat
... two months ve traipse all ofer," volunteered the latter. "Ye-es, Miss Sophy, ma'am, ve vork youst like niggers. Und it's only ven ve gets back real handy here, by de pig Falls, dat ve strike someting vhat look mighty good. Hugo here he build a good log-shack. He got de claim all fix an' vork on it ...
— The Peace of Roaring River • George van Schaick
... it, said Buck Mulligan. Wonderful entirely. Fill us out some more tea, Kinch. Would you like a cup, ma'am? ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... house except myself. And yet I can't conceive what the wenches see in him, to be so foolishly fond as they are; in my eyes, he is as ugly a scarecrow as I ever upheld."—"Nay," said the lady, "the boy is well enough."—"La! ma'am," cries Slipslop, "I think him the ragmaticallest fellow in the family."—"Sure, Slipslop," says she, "you are mistaken: but which of the women do you most suspect?"—"Madam," says Slipslop, "there is Betty the chambermaid, I am almost convicted, is with child ...
— Joseph Andrews Vol. 1 • Henry Fielding
... old man on the Bend is missing. It looks like murder. His two girls are left, orphaned and heart-broken. They need a woman's comfort, ma'am. Will you not go to them, and will you find a woman to stay with them ...
— The Plow-Woman • Eleanor Gates
... "No, ma'am," answered Howard, with energy; "we want you and father both. I guess I want you to my party, whoever ...
— Tip Lewis and His Lamp • Pansy (aka Isabella Alden)
... "Not yet, Ma'am. And indeed he was hungry. He ate like a wolf. But when he heard about us all being beat by that furnace, down he went. There! He's shaking the grate now. You can hear him. He said the ashes had to be taken out from under the grate or the fire never ...
— Six Little Bunkers at Mammy June's • Laura Lee Hope
... "All kinds of mischief, ma'am. If I didn't like you, and the master, and Miss Minnie so well, I wouldn't be living in the same house with a monkey, ...
— Minnie's Pet Monkey • Madeline Leslie
... close to which the little "Scandal" was moored, after an early dive from her deck, when Tom was addressed by one of two ladies: "Pray, my man, can you tell me who owns that very pretty yacht?" "Mr Edward FitzGerald of Woodbridge, ma'am," said Tom, touching his cap. "And can you tell us her name?" "The 'Scandal,' ma'am." "Dear me! how came he to select such a very peculiar name?" "Well, ma'am, the fact is, all the other names were taken up, so that we were forced to have either that or ...
— Two Suffolk Friends • Francis Hindes Groome
... Larkin, in open scorn. "I don't do business that ways, knowin' well what kids—begging yer pardon, children are. I did hand it to the oldest of 'em, certainly, but I took the precaution, Miss Bibby, ma'am, to stay at the door till I seen her hand it to you. You was standin' by the fire and I seen ...
— In the Mist of the Mountains • Ethel Turner
... "No, ma'am! Why, don't you know? I'm captain of the Base Ball Star Club. Look at that, will you?" And, as if the fact were one of national importance, Jamie flung open his jacket to display upon his proudly swelling chest an heart-shaped red flannel ...
— Rose in Bloom - A Sequel to "Eight Cousins" • Louisa May Alcott
... should say "What, ma'am?" Melchisedek lifted his snubby little nose and gazed inquiringly at Theodora. Then he went back to his assaults on the corner of the rug. Melchisedek's mother had been a thrifty soul; in her young son's puppyhood, she had impressed upon him the fact that well-trained ...
— Phebe, Her Profession - A Sequel to Teddy: Her Book • Anna Chapin Ray
... uncle to the mother. "You divine the purpose of my visit, I dare say, ma'am. I understand there is a world of pure, disinterested, faithful love cooped up here. I am happy to bring it all it wants, to make it complete. I bring you your son-in-law, ma'am—and you, your husband, miss. The gentleman is a perfect ...
— Some Christmas Stories • Charles Dickens
... act her part, dressed in the morning and came down; but her looks were ghastly; she tasted no food, and as soon as possible left the breakfast-room. Her mother was going in quest of her when old nurse came with an anxious face to say,—'Ma'am, I am afraid Miss Edmonstone must be very ill, or something. Do you know, ma'am, her bed has not ...
— The Heir of Redclyffe • Charlotte M. Yonge
... burglar in the scullery, ma'am," she burst out, never looking at us. "It's a mercy we wasn't all murthered in our beds this night—the windy's broke, an' the shutter's pried loose, and a bag full av all the things off the sideboard is settin' ...
— Explorers of the Dawn • Mazo de la Roche
... "mother," or use the more babyish form of "papa" and "mama" is a matter of parental choice, but the preference in some circles is for the former. A blunt "yes" or "no" is not thought polite from a child; he should say "yes, father," "no, mama," "yes, Mrs. Smith." "Ma'am" as a form of address ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter
... sure I never stop for more than a minute together to talk to any journeymen people; and I never invite anybody to our party o' Christmases who are not in business for themselves. And I talk to several toppermost carriage people that come to my lord's without saying ma'am or sir to 'em, and they take it as ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy
... Mrs. Withers. Of course, if you had a steamy kettle handy, in about half a moment we could ... but no, perhaps, it's wiser not to risk it. And, come to that, I don't need to unstick the envelope to know what's inside here. It's the raspberry, ma'am, or I've lost all my power to read the human female countenance. Very cold and proud-looking she was! I don't know who this S. Marlowe is, but I do know one thing; in this hand I hold the instrument that's going to give it him in the neck, proper! Right in the neck, ...
— Three Men and a Maid • P. G. Wodehouse
... taken much pains with the decorations of twisted rings and little balls that were on the top. It really looked very nice as Bryant set it down on the table in front of me, with an air that the most dignified of butlers might have envied, and said, "Compliments of the cook, ma'am!" Of course I was, and am still, delighted with the attention from the cook, but for some reason I was suspicious of that pie, it was so very high up, so I continued to talk about it admiringly until after Bryant had gone from the cabin, and then ...
— Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888 • Frances M.A. Roe
... room to rights, ma'am," said Mary, her indignation only suffered to escape her in the wild proud flash of her eye. "I can't be in two places ...
— Mark Hurdlestone - Or, The Two Brothers • Susanna Moodie
... you have, ma'am?" asked the clerk, coming forward, more anxious to shut out the cold air from his comfortable ...
— May Brooke • Anna H. Dorsey
... axed for was face powder—aw, my glo-ree! De clerk ask her: 'Wot shade does yo' want, Ma'am? An' Pechunia giggles an' replies ...
— The Corner House Girls at School • Grace Brooks Hill
... that I stand here, my lady. There was sword and shot and smoke all round. I stood it all till Farmer Ewins was cut down a- one-side of me, ma'am, and Master Edmund, more's the pity, with his brains scattered here and there on ...
— The Pigeon Pie • Charlotte M. Yonge
... "Stop right there, ma'am!" he cried, putting up a warning hand. "'Most important business,' was what you said in your note, otherwise I shouldn't have consented to see you. If you have any business, state it, and I'll say yes or no, as it ...
— The Inner Shrine • Basil King
... a stranger to me, Ma'am.—I don't doubt you would like to know all I said to the schoolmistress.—I sha'n't do it;—I had rather get the publishers to return the money you have invested in this. Besides, I have forgotten a good deal of it. I shall tell only what I ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... spoon in her hand with which she is going to crack it. The Virgin's mother is frowning and motioning it away; she is quite as well as can be expected; still she does not feel equal to taking solid food, and the nurse is saying, "Do try, ma'am, just one little spoonful, the doctor said you was to have it, ma'am." In the smaller picture by Carpaccio at Bergamo she is again to have an egg; in the larger she is to have some broth now, but a servant can be seen ...
— Ex Voto • Samuel Butler
... "Yes, ma'am. Sending it would eat up all the profits." But, with ill-concealed eagerness, "If you will leave your address I can send as many as ...
— A Splendid Hazard • Harold MacGrath
... the man in a clear, grave voice, 'that a child of the name of Snowdon lives in your house, ma'am.' ...
— The Nether World • George Gissing
... "Yes, ma'am. To Benton. Let 'er roar. Cheyenne's the closest I can get, myself, and Cheyenne's a dead one—blowed up, busted worse'n a galvanized Yank with a pocket full o' Confed wall-paper." He yawned. "Guess I'll take forty winks. Was up all night, and a man can ...
— Desert Dust • Edwin L. Sabin
... "Why, ma'am, it's always done, where they're so like! And I'll never be able to tell which is which; for they sleep and wake and feed by the same clock. And you might mistake, after all, ...
— Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home • Bayard Taylor
... shoulders together and shivering at the touch of the icy rain. Coming down the street toward him was a lady, well dressed, and protected by an umbrella; and he turned and walked beside her. "Please, ma'am," he began, "could you lend me the price of a night's lodging? I'm ...
— The Jungle • Upton Sinclair
... ma'am," the little house-parlour-maid trumpeted, her face very pink from the exertion of attracting her mistress's attention and making herself heard. Mrs. Lovegrove bounced up from the sofa. Usually, it must be allowed, the ...
— The Far Horizon • Lucas Malet
... "Thank you, ma'am," answered Elizabeth, softly, and busied herself with walking baby up and down the room, hushing it on her shoulder. If in the dim light tears fell on its puny face, God help ...
— Mistress and Maid • Dinah Craik (aka: Miss Mulock)
... plum-tree, ma'am, quite close to the hives," said the gardener.—"I don't think the little ones will come to any harm if you will let them go," he added, when he ...
— Woodside - or, Look, Listen, and Learn. • Caroline Hadley
... very person I am looking for, ma'am," he cried, breathlessly. "There is something the matter with the range, and they are all in a stew over it, not knowing what to ...
— Pretty Madcap Dorothy - How She Won a Lover • Laura Jean Libbey
... "No, ma'am, God be praised! There's a young fool for you, miss, crazy for the women and his drinking. Brought up to spend money, but not ...
— The Strange Case of Cavendish • Randall Parrish
... by a furious wink, came nobly to the fore. "I'm afraid the train ain't goin' to do ye much good, ma'am. Not for some time, anyway. I never see such a ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various
... Never was better. But I can see, I hope, what's before my eyes; and the fact is, Mrs. Crowfield, things must not go on as they are going. There must be more care, more attention to details. There's Maggie,—that girl never does what she is told. You are too slack with her, Ma'am. She will light the fire with the last paper, and she won't put my slippers in the right place; and I can't have my study made the general catch-all and menagerie for Rover and Jennie, and her baskets and balls, and for all ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89, March, 1865 • Various
... "Congratulate him for me. I didn't know the little milksop had it in him. You ought to thank Sissy, ma'am, for proving that he is not really stuffed with sawdust. Where ...
— The Madigans • Miriam Michelson
... Mrs. Hussey, postponing further scolding for the present, ushered us into a little room, and seating us at a table spread with the relics of a recently concluded repast, turned round to us and said— Clam or Cod? What's that about Cods, ma'am? said I, with much politeness. Clam or Cod? she repeated. A clam for supper? a cold clam; is that what you mean, Mrs. Hussey? says I; but that's a rather cold and clammy reception in the winter time, ain't it, Mrs Hussey? ...
— Moby-Dick • Melville
... a reprehensible way of letting her servants talk to her, she soon heard of him. "He is such a respectable young man, ma'am," said Jane, "you don't know." Ignoring the slur cast on her acquaintance, my wife inquired further about ...
— The Country of the Blind, And Other Stories • H. G. Wells
... "Yes, ma'am. Here it is!" answered Frank, producing it. "But there is no news in it. The Army of the Potomac has not moved yet. I don't see what makes them wait so long. Why don't McClellan go to work and thrash ...
— Frank on a Gun-Boat • Harry Castlemon
... "No, ma'am. I don't see how he could." The patrolman scratched his red head. "The janitor's a Swede, anyhow. He jist guessed it. I came to make sure av it. I'll be sorry for ...
— The Big-Town Round-Up • William MacLeod Raine
... to meet him before the little trio knew he was there, and his hearty "Good morning, ma'am! I've come for news of that young scapegrace, my grandson, John Brown," ...
— An Australian Lassie • Lilian Turner
... "I do not, ma'am," ses Bill, "but I think you'd find 'im somewhere in Australia. He keeps changing 'is name and shifting about, but I dare say you'd 'ave as good a chance of finding ...
— Short Cruises • W.W. Jacobs
... ma'am," quoth the imperturbable Frank. "But as I was saying, this is a pitiable business, this about poor Archie; and you and I might do worse than put our heads together, like a couple of sensible people, and bring it ...
— Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson
... 'I am sure, ma'am, I am very sorry,' said the cook, insisting on carrying the kettle, 'but we are in such confusion; and the nurse-maid, whose place it is, has been up most of the night with Mr. Leonard, and must have just ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge
... hands to walk down the long path of life side by side, there was, as you may suppose, no small sensation. I confess I pitied our landlady. It took her all of a suddin,—she said. Had not known that we was keepin' company, and never mistrusted anything partic'lar. Ma'am was right to better herself. Didn't look very rugged to take care of a family, but could get hired haaelp, she calc'lated.—The great maternal instinct came crowding up in her soul just then, and her eyes wandered until they settled ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 12, October, 1858 • Various
... out to be about the plumpest, cheeriest, winningest little body that ever I see unclaimed! Nothin' standoffish about her, either. 'There!' says she. 'Look at you, going off with all that dandruff on your coat collar! Mamie, bring me that whisk broom.'—'Ma'am,' says I, when she'd finished the job and added a little pat to my necktie, 'my name is Hubbs. It's a homely name, and I'm a homely man; but if there's any chance of ever persuadin' you to be Mrs. Nelson Hubbs, ...
— Shorty McCabe on the Job • Sewell Ford
... dumfounded that for a moment words failed him. Then he said, meekly, "Does your mother object to tobacco smoke, ma'am?" ...
— An Encore • Margaret Deland
... a fine emotional time. She was mistress of a home—their home together. She shopped and was called "Ma'am" by respectful, good-looking shopmen; she designed meals and copied out papers of notes with a rich sense of helpfulness. And ever and again she would stop writing and sit dreaming. And for four bright week-days she went to and fro to accompany and meet Lewisham and listen greedily ...
— Love and Mr. Lewisham • H. G. Wells
... twelve at night comes back the Governor in a chaise, along with Mr. Walmers and a elderly lady. Mr. Walmers looks amused and very serious, both at once, and says to our Missis: "We are much indebted to you, ma'am; for your kind care of our little children, which we can never sufficiently acknowledge. Pray, ma'am, where is my boy?" Our Missis says: "Cobbs has the dear child in charge, sir. Cobbs, show Forty!" Then he says to Cobbs: ...
— The Great English Short-Story Writers, Vol. 1 • Various
... life, ma'am, I can't forget that Julius Webb fell at Brandy Station," put in the general hotly. "Your husband died for Virginia, and your boy shall not want while I have a penny in my pocket. I'll send him to college with Bernard, and feel ...
— The Voice of the People • Ellen Glasgow
... very sorry, Ma'am, you waited for me," said that gentleman. "I am a delinquent, I acknowledge. The day came to an end before I was ...
— Queechy, Volume I • Elizabeth Wetherell
... "Yes, ma'am, just a square house, with a hall running right through from the front to the back, and an extension in the rear for a kitchen—just a shack, that will be. Two floors—two rooms on each side of the hall on each floor. That'll give them ...
— The Camp Fire Girls on the March - Bessie King's Test of Friendship • Jane L. Stewart
... "Quite possible, ma'am, and to the back o' that they swore every one of us upon the seven gospels never to tell any individual, man or woman, where they ...
— The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton
... please, ma'am," said Seppi, his eyes shining, "up on the mountain when we were lost, we saw your house and we just supposed that maybe you might ...
— The Swiss Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins
... spat Mrs. Holt. "Hidin' in the bushes! Marry a man who didn't know he was goin' to be married an hour before, unbeknownst to her folks, an' wouldn't even come in the house, an' have a few of the neighbours in. Nice doin's for the school-ma'am! ...
— A Daughter of the Land • Gene Stratton-Porter
... 'Oh! ma'am, my lady,' exclaimed the waiting-woman, sallying forth from the abbey, 'what is to be done with the parrot when we are away? Mrs. Brown says she won't see to it, that she won't; ...
— Venetia • Benjamin Disraeli
... as those largest mint-drops. "You porter," she said, "brush this." He put down her many things and received it. Her dress was sage green, and pretty nice too. "You porter," said she, "open every window. Why, they are, I declare! What's the thermometer in this car?" "Ninety-five, ma'am. Folks mostly travelling—" "That will do, porter. Now you go make me a pitcher of lemonade right quick." She went into the state-room and shut the door. When she came out she was dressed in what appeared to be chintz bedroom curtains. They hang and flow loosely about her, and are covered with ...
— The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories • Owen Wister
... thirty dollars, all in good gold bills issued by the United States Government. And he meant it for you, ma'am, 'cause he says so in his diary. I reckon he wanted to fetch it down when he came in the winter; but he ...
— The House Boat Boys • St. George Rathborne
... when she was inside; and as she spoke, her voice startled her—it was so loud and hollow. "I'll talk some more," thought she, "it makes such a queer noise.—'Old Mrs. Hogshead, I thought I'd come and see you, and bring my work. I like your house, ma'am, only I should think you'd want some windows. I s'pose you know who I am, Mrs. Hogshead? My name is Prudy. My mother didn't put me in here because I was a naughty girl, for I haven't done nothing—nor nothing—nor nothing. Do you want to ...
— Little Prudy • Sophie May
... anything of that sort out of them, Ma'am. It's the finest discovery of the age, no household will be without it in a few months—though perhaps ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99., August 2, 1890. • Various
... his chin. He was taken at unawares; and not finding the familiar beard under his fingers, grew strangely helpless. "As for that, ma'am," he stammered, "I ought to warn you that ...
— Hocken and Hunken • A. T. Quiller-Couch
... plased, Ma'am, to suit yersilf with another cook? Me week will be up next Tuesday, and I want ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 • Various
... been in the United States a week, and who asked me whether lords in England ever spoke to men who were not lords. Nor can I omit the opening address of another gentleman to my wife. "You like our institutions, ma'am?" "Yes, indeed," said my wife, not with all that eagerness of assent which the occasion perhaps required. "Ah," said he, "I never yet met the down-trodden subject of a despot who did not hug his chains." The first gentleman was certainly somewhat ignorant of our customs, and the second was rather ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope
... "Ma'am,"—Mr. Kimball suddenly appeared above the fringe of girls surrounding Miss Salisbury,—"there's a storm brewin'; it looks as if 'twas comin' to stay. I'm all hitched up, 'n' I give ye my 'pinion that ...
— Five Little Peppers at School • Margaret Sidney
... getting on all right now. He'll be sitting up in a day or so, the doctor says. Did you know him, ma'am?" ...
— The Vagrant Duke • George Gibbs
... "Rock Creek Park, ma'am," said Mr. Hailstorks, who had a sincere real-estately affection for parks, since they raised the price of adjoining ...
— The Cup of Fury - A Novel of Cities and Shipyards • Rupert Hughes
... supply it don't, why there's others which is not given to blowin' their own horn, but which might at a pinch dash forward like Arnold—no relation to Benedict—among the spears. I may be rather a man or thought than action, ma'am, and at present far from my native heath, which is the financial centers of the country, but if I remember right it was Ulysses done the dome-work for the Greeks, while certain persons that was depended on sulked in their tents. Miss Higglesby-Browne, ...
— Spanish Doubloons • Camilla Kenyon
... bell loudly). I do hope you will moon be better, sir! (Calls up to the window.) I can leave him now, ma'am! (To EVJE, as he goes.) This has been a bit of luck, for me; but you shall have some more of it! (Disappears into the fog as EVJE goes into his house. The two Passers-by, that were seen at the beginning of the scene, are now indistinctly seen returning ...
— Three Dramas - The Editor—The Bankrupt—The King • Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson
... "If you do, ma'am," said Fritzing, and his face seemed one blaze of white conviction, "you will undoubtedly ...
— The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight • Elizabeth von Arnim
... addresses you before speaking, and to wait also for him, when in conversation, to turn away: it would be considered very rude to terminate the interview yourself. A subject in talking with the prince is always expected to call him "Sir." The queen is addressed as "Ma'am." It is not understood in this country that to call a man "sir" is a confession of your inferiority to him. But it is so in England, and the fact illustrates the strong hold these absurd and uncomfortable egotisms have upon the British mind. No gentleman in England says ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII. No. 30. September, 1873 • Various
... home in cold silence. As well as we could tell from her back, she was not so much indignant as she was determined. Thus we do not believe that she willfully drove over every rut and thank-you-ma'am on the road, scattering us generously over the tonneau, and finally, when Aggie, who was the lighter, was tossed against the top and sprained her neck, eliciting a protest from us. She replied in an abstracted tone, which showed where ...
— Tish, The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... "No, ma'am, he hasn't," said Maria. She fairly pulled herself loose from Miss Slome and ran out of the room. Her eyes were almost blinded with tears; she could scarcely see Wollaston Lee on the road, ahead of her, also running. He seemed to waver as he ran. Maria called out ...
— By the Light of the Soul - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... one that's got to be worked out, so please listen to it, ma'am. I've had it a good while, I've thought it over thoroughly, and I'm sure it's the right thing for me to do. I'm old enough to take care of myself; and if I'd been a boy, I should have been told to do it long ago. I hate to be dependent; and now there's no need ...
— Work: A Story of Experience • Louisa May Alcott
... "Yes, ma'am," answered Molly, reverting to her childhood's method of answering older people. She climbed the ladder in a dazed sort of way. It was more difficult than climbing down, but at last she scaled the window sill and jumped into the room. Judy was still sitting on the floor, holding her temples. ...
— Molly Brown's Senior Days • Nell Speed
... "For the land sakes, ma'am," he asked of the nurse, "how do they do it? Where do they put 'em nights? That—that closet in there's the pantry and woodshed and kitchen and dinin' room; and that one's the settin' room and parlor; and them two dry-goods boxes with doors to 'em ...
— Cap'n Warren's Wards • Joseph C. Lincoln
... observed that the colours were changed in one spot on the right-hand pocket of her son's waistcoat. "My dear Archibald," said she, "what has happened to your smart waistcoat? What is that terrible spot?" "Really, ma'am, I don't know," said Archibald, with his usual soft voice and deceitful smile. Henry Campbell observed that it seemed as if the colours had been discharged by some acid. "Did you wear that waistcoat, Mr. Mackenzie," said he, "the night the large bottle ...
— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth |
