"Smoothing" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... she felt a hand smoothing her hair, and she looked up to find Nakanit sitting beside her, and at her feet rested the bundle. It was plain that the mischievous Indian girl had wished to tease the little white girl, but had relented at the ...
— A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony • Alice Turner Curtis
... of outward circumstance could she speak to him of Faircloth. To do so, without serious necessity, would be, as she saw it, a wanton endangering of his peace.—If only the dear man with the blue eyes hadn't removed himself! She had counted upon his permanent support and counsel, on his smoothing away difficulties from the path of her dealings with Faircloth; but he appeared to have given her altogether the go-by, to have passed altogether out of her orbit. And meditating, in the softly bright May weather beneath those high forget-me-not blue skies, upon his defection, ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... At that time I recollect the door was open—all the doors were open. It was not a secret meeting. Mr. Bruce had just gone into the ladies' department, I think to ask some of them to stand by the firm—he was an artist at smoothing over the fears of customers, particularly women. Just before he went in I had seen the ladies go in a group toward the far end of the room—to look down at the line of depositors on the street, which reached around the corner ...
— Master Tales of Mystery, Volume 3 • Collected and Arranged by Francis J. Reynolds
... low estimate Bob seemed to put upon him as a "backer" in case of trouble with Don Gordon, and while he was trying to make up his mind whether he ought to let it pass or get sulky over it, he was unfolding and smoothing out the letter he held in his hand. When he had made himself master ...
— The Boy Trapper • Harry Castlemon
... previous night, Mrs. Crawford had listened to the story Jerrie told her after her return from the Park House, she had been for a few moments stupefied with amazement, and had sat motionless on her chair until she felt Jerrie's soft hands upon her head smoothing her silvery hair, and Jerrie's ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes
... true. This may be accomplished by neatly sawing to the line and paring the end of the wood with a sharp chisel, or by bringing the wood to a finish with a finely-set plane, such as an iron-faced smoothing plane. The ends of the wood must be perfectly square when tested from either the face side or ...
— Woodwork Joints - How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. • William Fairham
... neighborhood the finest country as to soil in the world occupied by a few wretched savages;" that the Territory was fast advancing to statehood, and that the members of the Territorial legislature were heartily in favor of smoothing the ...
— The Land of the Miamis • Elmore Barce
... lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence. How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250 At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled! I have oft heard My mother Circe with the Sirens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, Who, as they sung, would ...
— Milton's Comus • John Milton
... but with some monotony of cadence, and without the deep swell that it had, not in Virgil only, but in his predecessors. The swift, equable movement is admirably adapted to the matter of the poem, smoothing over the transitions from story to story, and never allowing a story to pause or flag halfway. Within its limits, the workmanship is faultless. The style neither rises nor sinks with the variation of subject. One might almost say that it was without ...
— Latin Literature • J. W. Mackail
... said the fellow, smoothing his tone into something like civility, "there is no use in that thing there against about fifty of us; but you ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 • Various
... she said, smoothing the collapsed pup; "poor, p-oor little beast! Did anything scare him? Tell ...
— In Search of the Unknown • Robert W. Chambers
... sat slowly smoothing the handle of the coffee-pot up and down, and staring at the boy; but ...
— The Leatherwood God • William Dean Howells
... mutual good wishes, the mistress remarking, after they left, that God spoke in divers ways and their presentation of His truths, though rude and wild to us, doubtless suited the frontier population among whom they had lived and did good. 'The ax before the plow, the ox-drag before the smoothing harrow,' added ...
— The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825 • Gordon Sellar
... the visitor quickly, rising and smoothing himself out; "nothing from that quarter, if you please." Yet he smiled. The Doctor did not notice that, while so smiling, he took his card from the table. There was something familiar in the stranger's face which the Doctor was trying to make ...
— Dr. Sevier • George W. Cable
... the effect (which probably Tempest intended) of smoothing over, to some extent, the angry dispute which was on foot, and which was still further allayed by his undertaking to take a monster joint photograph of the two clubs, provided we stood or ...
— Tom, Dick and Harry • Talbot Baines Reed
... influence of reason and affection. Their method may be exemplified by supposing that, under circumstances similar to those described under the preceding head, the mother calls Mary to her side, and, smoothing her hair caressingly with her hand while ...
— Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young • Jacob Abbott
... very likely. In a brief while they had the room tidy. Then Jeanne fixed a seat at the other side of the fireplace, spread the fur rug over it, and led the unresisting Pani thither, wrapped her in a fresh blanket, and took off the cap, smoothing out the neglected hair that seemed strangely white about the pale, brown face. The high cheek bones left great hollows underneath, but in spite of the furrows of age the ...
— A Little Girl in Old Detroit • Amanda Minnie Douglas
... high-pitched, staccato voice. I looked fearfully at the others to see if his terror would be communicated to them. But they were apparently oblivious of each other, wrapped up in their separate lives and experiences. One middle-aged man, with a rough, reddish beard, was smiling mildly and smoothing the sheet as though it had been somebody's hair. We left the room, leaving the nurse to calm the screaming man. I thought of the terrors and fears and memories in that room: the snatches of memories pieced together that made up the actual lives, now, ...
— Trapped in 'Black Russia' - Letters June-November 1915 • Ruth Pierce
... away shorewards, waved his hand in response to Almayer's nod, and walked to the taffrail smoothing out Abdulla's letter, which he had pulled out of his pocket. He read it over carefully, crumpled it up slowly, smiling the while and closing his fingers firmly over the crackling paper as though he had hold there of Abdulla's throat. Halfway to his pocket ...
— An Outcast of the Islands • Joseph Conrad
... talkin' it over? It's wastin' one's breath. [Moving to the settee by the piano.] My Lil doesn't want to marry— any'ow not yet awhile; she's 'appy and contented as she is. [Sitting and smoothing out her skirt.] When she does, I s'pose it'll be ...
— The 'Mind the Paint' Girl - A Comedy in Four Acts • Arthur Pinero
... therefore, he felt it to be prudent not to concede too much at first, since there existed a nearly unconquerable obstacle to making the transfers, even after the contracting parties had actually agreed upon the terms. Keeping this difficulty in view, he held the extra chessmen in reserve, as a means of smoothing any difficulty in the moment ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper
... sick, while in little Louis' bosom there was a sense of desolation which kept him wakeful, even after Maude had cried herself to sleep. Many a time that day had he stolen into the parlor, and climbing into a chair, as best he could, had laid his baby cheek against the cold, white face, and smoothing with his dimpled hand the shining hair, had whispered, "Poor, sick mother, won't you speak to ...
— Cousin Maude • Mary J. Holmes
... nation was satisfied with the terms, but both perceived that peace was preferable to the renewal of the struggle with all its horrors and uncertainties. For tendering the olive branch [Page 193] and smoothing the way for its acceptance, President Roosevelt merits the thanks of mankind.[*] Besides other advantages Japan has assured her position as the leading power of the Orient; but the greatest gainer will be Russia, if her ...
— The Awakening of China • W.A.P. Martin
... ended, as usual, in the girls crying because of the poor rats. Girls cannot help this; we must not be waxy with them on account of it, they have their nature, the same as bull-dogs have, and it is this that makes them so useful in smoothing the pillows of the sick-bed and tending ...
— The Wouldbegoods • E. Nesbit
... till I was in the train and had lost sight of Joe standing and smoothing Senator's mane and nodding at me; then the world seemed very big and Tupham Corner a very small corner in it. I will not say anything more about this part; you'll find it out soon enough yourselves, when you go away from home the ...
— The Green Satin Gown • Laura E. Richards
... could never be a casuist!" she exclaimed, with a touch of vehemence. "You are much too positive. It is just that note, which is characteristic of so many clergymen, that note of smoothing-over and apology, which you lack. I could never feel it, even when you were orthodox. And now—" words failed her as ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... boy, kissing her pale lips and smoothing the hair away from her cheeks with his small fingers, which meant to move gently, but did not know how. And then the young, childish heart, with its little load of grief, was pressed close to the larger heart, whose deep, deep ...
— Captain Horace • Sophie May
... a stumbling-stone to many, and the fact of the existence in the throat of different actions for the production of different series of tones has led some teachers into the deplorable mistake of developing and exaggerating them, instead of, on the contrary, smoothing them over and equalizing them. The result is that we often hear singers who seem to have two or three different voices. They are growling in the one, moaning in the second, and shrieking in the third; while it should have been their aim so to blend and to unite the registers as to ...
— The Mechanism of the Human Voice • Emil Behnke
... evening, a fitting close to a glorious day. The air was soft and balmy, and a faint haze hung over the water, smoothing and blurring the sharp outlines of the buildings of the town and turning the opposite bank into a gray smudge. Not a breath was stirring, and the water lay like plate glass, unbroken by the faintest ripple. The spirit of adventure was high in the two men as they pulled down the great avenue ...
— The Pit Prop Syndicate • Freeman Wills Crofts
... sitting as a queen Enthroned a cataract on either hand, The voice of many waters in her ears, And the great river tranquil at her feet, Smoothing his locks and all his foamy mane After his wild leap from the rifted rocks, And while he fawns about her feet, she sits A young Cybele diademed with towers, So young yet on her sandals there is blood, ...
— Verses and Rhymes by the way • Nora Pembroke
... of Hungary, who was accused of assassinating him. Landor wrote a play, "Giovanna of Naples," to "restore her fame" and "requite her wrongs;" Cleopatra was the Queen of Egypt, and lover of Mark Antony; Jocasta married her son Oedipus unknowing who he was.—A tailor's "goose" (Stanza XXII.) is his smoothing-iron, and his "hell" (Stanza XXIII.) the place where he throws his shreds and debris.—Lamb's own "Vision of Horns" (see Vol. I.) serves as a commentary on Stanza XXVII.; and in his essay "On the Melancholy of ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb IV - Poems and Plays • Charles and Mary Lamb
... crazy, both of you!" cried Lucile, extricating herself with difficulty from Jessie's strangle hold and smoothing back the hair that was tumbling down in the most becoming disorder—or so her two friends would have told you—while her laughing eyes tried hard to look severe. "Probably it isn't from him at all, and if it is, why—why—well, it is," ...
— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield
... said Prudence, who had taken off her hat and was smoothing her hair before the glass, "you will work yourself into a rage and do yourself harm. Better come and have supper; for my part, I ...
— Camille (La Dame aux Camilias) • Alexandre Dumas, fils
... baldness is creeping insidiously up each side of my head. It is executing flank movements from the temples northward, and some day the two columns will meet and after that I'll be considerably more of a highbrow than I am now. At present I am craftily combing the remaining thatch in the middle and smoothing it out nice and flat, so as to keep those bare spots covered—thinly perhaps, but nevertheless covered. It is my earnest desire to continue to keep them covered. I am not a professional beauty; I am not even what you would call a good amateur beauty; ...
— Cobb's Anatomy • Irvin S. Cobb
... pleasure; 50 But first, and chiefest, with thee bring, Him that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, The Cherub Contemplation, And the mute Silence hist along, 'Less Philomel will daign a Song, In her sweetest, saddest plight, Smoothing the rugged brow of night, While Cynthia checks her Dragon yoke, Gently o're th'accustom'd Oke; 60 Sweet Bird that shunn'st the noise of folly Most musical!, most melancholy! Thee Chauntress oft the Woods among I woo to hear thy eeven-Song; And missing thee, ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton
... because an undertaker's charges comes dearer than a nurse's charges, sir,' said Mrs Gamp, tittering, and smoothing down her new ...
— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens
... Warm bath. Paring the thick skin with a knife. Smoothing it with a pumice stone. Cover the part with oiled silk to prevent the evaporation of the perspirable matter, and ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin
... angels walked two women, their mother and the now sainted Margaret Breckenridge of Kentucky, amid these rows of sufferers, with strong nerve and steady arm, comforting the soldier boy, so far from friends and home; binding up the ghastly wound, bathing the feverish brow, smoothing the dying pillow, and with tender mother's prayer and tear, closing the eyes of the dead. The first revelation of war; how it burned our youthful brain! How it moved us to divine compassion, how it stirred us to even give up our mother to the work for ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various
... again after smoothing down the bed-coverlet, dusting the chest, and wondering for the hundredth time ...
— The Exiles • Honore de Balzac
... he?" he said, smoothing his pet's glossy neck and shoulder, for Ray's groom had no article of religion which took precedence over the duty he owed the lieutenant's horse, and no sooner was the sun down than he had been grooming him as though still in garrison. "Give him all the oats you can ...
— Marion's Faith. • Charles King
... beginning to end, not because he comprehended its meaning as applied to his case, but because it was associated with Granny and all things good, and, therefore, gave him a sense of comfort. For he felt as though he were home by the fireside, and she was smoothing his curls and singing those words, as she so often did when he ...
— The Silver Maple • Marian Keith
... rest here before dinner," said she, smoothing with a tiny hand the crocheted bedspread. "Ring this bell if there is anything thee wants. Shall I send ...
— The Nest Builder • Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale
... the Squire's antiquated retainers, old Christy, the huntsman. I find that his crabbed humour is a source of much entertainment among the young men of the family; the Oxonian, particularly, takes a mischievous pleasure, now and then, in slyly rubbing the old man against the grain, and then smoothing him down again; for the old fellow is as ready to bristle up his back as a porcupine. He rides a venerable hunter called Pepper, which is a counterpart of himself, a heady cross-grained animal, that frets the flesh off its bones; ...
— Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists • Washington Irving
... settled herself carefully in the chair which she meant to keep for the rest of the evening, smoothing the bright folds of the new dress over her knee. She was much pleased with the new dress; and, of course, it would be paid for some time. But she was almost forgetting it in the excitement ...
— Lady Connie • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... gigantic creations of any literature." Emiliani-Giudici thinks that the literary ineducation of Alfieri was the principal exterior cause of this prodigious development, that a more regular course of study would have restrained his creative genius, and, while smoothing the way before it, would have subjected it to methods and robbed it of originality of feeling and conception. "Tragedy, born sublime, terrible, vigorous, heroic, the life of liberty, ... was, as it were, redeemed by Vittorio ...
— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells
... thank you for a posset," she said, taking off her bonnet and smoothing her milk-white hair with both hands. "It is long since I have ...
— The Old Countess; or, The Two Proposals • Ann S. Stephens
... commanding everyone at Court to "keep within the etiquettes." Gradually the term came to cover all the rules for correct demeanor and deportment in court circles; and thus through the centuries it has grown into use to describe the conventions sanctioned for the purpose of smoothing personal contacts and developing tact and good manners in social intercourse. With the decline of feudal courts and the rise of empires of industry, much of the ceremony of life was discarded for plain and less formal dealing. Trousers ...
— Etiquette • Emily Post
... Polikey began to arrange his clothes, smoothing down his fur collar, re-tying his sash, and stroking his hair. To do the latter he had to take off his hat, and when doing so felt in the lining for the envelope. Quicker and quicker he ran his hand around the lining, and not finding ...
— The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories • Leo Tolstoy
... came not. Fanny sent the mare in, and sat on under the trees, sunk in depression. It seemed to her she was the only person in the show who had nothing to do, who was not clinking handfuls of money, or smoothing out banknotes, or folding up cheques and interring them in fat and greasy pocket-books. She had never known this aspect of the Horse Show before, and—so much is in the point of view—it seemed to her sordid and detestable. Prize-winners ...
— All on the Irish Shore - Irish Sketches • E. Somerville and Martin Ross
... eyes and smoothing their disheveled hair, they brushed off the salt dust from the flag-stones which had soiled their gowns, and went away in opposite directions without ...
— Great Sea Stories • Various
... with good wood. If the top and bottom are so rotten that considerable time will be required to repair it, advise the owner to buy a new case. Sometimes the top of the case can be greatly improved by straightening the side edges with a small smoothing plane, and sometimes a 1/2 inch strip or more fitted all along the edge is necessary for a good job. Handles that have been pulled, rotted, or corroded off make disagreeable repair jobs, but a satisfactory job can be done unless ...
— The Automobile Storage Battery - Its Care And Repair • O. A. Witte
... is he displeased with you, my dear? If you have done wrong and are sorry for your fault, I am sure you have only to confess it, and ask forgiveness, and all will be right again," he said kindly, drawing her head down upon his breast, and smoothing back the curls from her flushed ...
— Holidays at Roselands • Martha Finley
... why they don't come," she said, aggrievedly, smoothing down her skirt. "It's time, and I'm going to ring for tea, anyhow. Mother said I could pour it, and I'll play lady all by myself if nobody comes to play it with. I believe"—she turned her head—"I believe they're ...
— The Man in Lonely Land • Kate Langley Bosher
... flickered over the Sunday-school chart, with the lesson-picture of the Wise Men, and the little barrel-stove threw out a deep glow over the three white heads that bent above the baby. There the three friends sat, patting him, and smoothing his dress, and playing with his hands, which made theirs ...
— A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays • Willa Cather
... aprons, heads, stockings, hair, shoes of three hundred orphans were seemingly inextricably entangled. A bell clanged. The three hundred disentangled themselves with marvellous rapidity and, settling aprons, smoothing hair, pulling up stockings and down petticoats, they formed in a long double line. While waiting for the bell to ring the second warning, they stamped their feet, blew upon their cold fingers, and ...
— Flamsted quarries • Mary E. Waller
... rested with interest and longing upon the faded finery it contained—the bright-coloured shawl, and showy dress, and velvet bonnet, which she used to put on when she went to meet her husband on his return from sea. Meg lifted them out carefully one by one, and laid them on the bed, smoothing out the creases fondly. There were her own best clothes, too, and the children's; the baby's nankeen coat, and Robin's blue cap, which never saw the light except when father was at home. She had nearly emptied the box, when she came upon ...
— Little Meg's Children • Hesba Stretton
... coy, but at the sound of the knock, this is what she became. Wiping her hands hastily on one of many petticoats, she pushed and pulled at her hat (which remained immovable), straightened her fichu, and smoothing her dress, she minced her huge bulk to the door ...
— Mr. Wicker's Window • Carley Dawson
... don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and ...
— Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz • L. Frank Baum.
... she heard the voice of the wise woman calling, "Agnes!" and, smoothing her face, she tried to look as good as she could, and walked back into the cottage. There stood the wise woman, looking all round the place, and examining her work. She fixed her eyes upon Agnes in a way that confused her, and made her cast hers down, ...
— A Double Story • George MacDonald
... choking with her emotion that she could not answer a word, she could only shudder and submit to his will. And Mr. Harrison, supposing that her emotions were very different from what they were, rested her head upon his shoulder, smoothing back her tangled hair and whispering into her ear how beautiful she was beyond any dream of his, and how the present moment was the happiest ...
— King Midas • Upton Sinclair
... dear," said Frederick, smoothing back the grey hair. "Go on and tell me what you want. There, see, now, ...
— The Secret of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White
... to touch him," said George Hewlett in his unmoved way, smoothing off a long curled shaving, which fell on the ground. "There, that's the worth of you all and your Jack Swing! Swing, ye will, Dan, if you don't take the ...
— The Carbonels • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the throng of youngsters, they gazed for a moment upon the downfall of one of their progeny, and then giving vent to their indignation in loud cries pounced upon their tipsy offspring and pecked him until he struggled upright and staggered away. The last we saw of the young scapegrace he was smoothing his ruffled plumage before a shining milk-pail and apparently admonishing his unsteady double. It is worth recording that the turkey was better the next day, and lived, as we were afterwards told, to a ripe old ...
— Two Thousand Miles On An Automobile • Arthur Jerome Eddy
... rustle of skirts. Then a soft thud behind me gave me at once a start and a thrill. First I saw Sally's little brown hands on my shoulders. Then her head, with hair all shiny and flying and fragrant, came round over my shoulder, softly smoothing my cheek, until her sweet, saucy, heated face was right ...
— The Rustlers of Pecos County • Zane Grey
... she threw back her arms, and looked up through the gloom, and almost laughed; and she felt something just below her heart that stifled her like a great joy. Then all at once she was calm, and touched her eyes again with her gloved hands, but gently now, as though smoothing them and preparing them to look upon what they must see presently. She opened the little door, and was suddenly standing in the midst of the frightened herd of retainers and servants, while the last strains of the dirge came echoing under the deep archway. At that instant another sound startled ...
— Via Crucis • F. Marion Crawford
... at hooking and smoothing. Susan washed her hands again, refused to let Mrs. Tucker run and bring powder, produced from a drawer some prepared chalk and with it safeguarded her nose against shine; she tucked the powder rag into her stocking. Last of all the gloves went on ...
— Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise • David Graham Phillips
... her heels, smoothing her gloves, and looking every shirt-front full in the face. Her forehead gathered in a soft little frown; he whom she sought was not in sight. She got a glimpse of Mrs. Pence and Medora Giles seated side by side in a far corner, and of Little O'Grady hovering near, with a covetous eye upon ...
— Under the Skylights • Henry Blake Fuller
... began with a fierce, sustained delight to arrange and sort the bank-bills, laying the larger denominations by themselves, smoothing them down with a quick and tender touch, a kindling eye and a beating heart. In his whole life, past and future, there was not such another moment of enjoyment. Money is, of course, precious and acceptable to all men ...
— The Bread-winners - A Social Study • John Hay
... ground her little white teeth together as she gazed on the teacher's sour-faced visage and listened to the tones of her high-pitched voice. "Regular crab-apple, and as cross as two sticks," she muttered, knitting her brow in an angry frown, but smoothing it hastily and calling up the necessary look of attention as Miss Smith cast a swift glance in her direction; "how I should like to tell her every horrid thought in my heart concerning herself. She would be edified," and at the bare idea Winnie shook so much with ...
— Aunt Judith - The Story of a Loving Life • Grace Beaumont
... yawned again, and got to her feet, smoothing her ruffled skirts. Then she walked to a mirror on a wall near the door, and spent some time placing the felt hat on her head at a precise angle, making certain that the coils of hair under it were arranged ...
— The Trail Horde • Charles Alden Seltzer
... sort of thing," she remarked. "People in the mass amuse me. Jack couldn't get away until midnight, but I wouldn't wait for him. I told him it didn't worry me a bit to come without an escort," smoothing away what little embarrassment might linger. The music started up again. The Keiths arose and made their adieux. Mrs, Sherwood looked after them, her bright eyes tender. Mrs. Keith was the only woman who had ...
— The Gray Dawn • Stewart Edward White
... said the bland civilian, smoothing his hands: "but they went by the South America at a ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend
... say all this with unimaginable energy, one might have thought him the angriest of mankind. To see him at the very same time, looking at the bird now perched upon his thumb and softly smoothing its feathers with his forefinger, one might have thought him the gentlest. To hear him laugh and see the broad good nature of his face then, one might have supposed that he had not a care in the world, or a dispute, or a dislike, ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens
... the department repeatedly and at much length. It is very desirable that his efforts to procure the removal of the restrictions referred to, which, though not completely successful, have no doubt had much effect in smoothing the way to such a result, should be followed up by you. You will therefore, after having fully acquainted yourself with what Mr. Fay has done in the premises and with the views of the department as expressed to him ...
— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf
... dismal, woeful sight—and on such a glorious morning. Come, let us go." So saying, he put on his hat, sternly refusing the offer of my outer coat, and taking my arm, we began to retrace our steps. Suddenly he checked, and feeling in his pocket, brought forth that crumpled wisp of paper and, smoothing it out, glanced at it and I saw his eyes grow ...
— Peregrine's Progress • Jeffery Farnol
... Wiggily, sort of smoothing down his vest, fastidious like and stylish. "I didn't know she ...
— Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard - Adventures of the Rabbit Gentleman with the Mother Goose Characters • Howard R. Garis
... in her early grave.—No, he could not tell her this, but he told her that Maggie had been very dear to him, and he feared it was for the love of him that she had died. "I wronged her. Nellie, darling," he said smoothing the golden tresses which lay on the pillow. "I broke her heart, and now that she is gone I would honor her memory by calling our first-born daughter 'MAGGIE LEE.' 'Tis a beautiful name," he continued, "and you will ...
— Rosamond - or, The Youthful Error • Mary J. Holmes
... says there was 'a pretty smart altercation.' Miss Reynolds continues:—'When the Dean came up into the drawing-room, Dr. Johnson immediately rose from his seat, and made him sit on the sofa by him, and with such a beseeching look for pardon and with such fond gestures—literally smoothing down his arms and his knees,' &c. The Annual Register says that Barnard the next day sent the verses addressed to 'Sir Joshua Reynolds & Co.' On the next page I give Richard Burke's version of the lines, and show ...
— Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) • Boswell
... said, kissing me, and smoothing the hair away from my brow, "can't you and mamma ever get along ...
— That Mother-in-Law of Mine • Anonymous
... interesting stranger, "he is so indefatigable in diffusing through all ranks of society, by means of the press and private agents, a knowledge of the power he has of smoothing the way to success, that the crown ought to receive his proffered aid for ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan
... good fretting," returned Lady Enville, gently smoothing Clare's hair. "I cannot abide doole [mourning] and gloomy faces. I would have all about me fresh and bright while ...
— Clare Avery - A Story of the Spanish Armada • Emily Sarah Holt
... out of the room, turned about. Then, smoothing her checked apron with her plump hands, she glanced at Barber with a deprecating smile. "I haf look," she answered. "Und I know. But—he wass yust a ...
— The Rich Little Poor Boy • Eleanor Gates
... was rather vain, and liked to prink; so she got out the new hat, and spent some time in smoothing her braids and putting on her blue ribbons. But when all was ready, and the boys getting impatient, she found her shadow, with a sun-bonnet on, standing by the door, as if to ...
— Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag VI - An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Etc. • Louisa M. Alcott
... upon more than one crumpled bit and picked them up but upon smoothing them out found that they were ...
— The Hilltop Boys - A Story of School Life • Cyril Burleigh
... a slight straightening up of her body, and a smoothing down of her dress, but the ice was broken, and erelong she and her companion were conversing as familiarly as if they had known each other for years. Still the boy was not inquisitive—he did not ask her name, or where she was going, though he ...
— 'Lena Rivers • Mary J. Holmes
... "Savile," said Sylvia, smoothing his tie unnecessarily (a process that he endured like a martyr who had been very well brought up), "Felicity's coming to fetch me to go to Madame Tussaud's this afternoon. Would you like to come ...
— The Twelfth Hour • Ada Leverson
... and returned to them a second time in like guise and at the third time he drew up hard beside them and nearing the King fell to rubbing his cheeks upon the stirrups whilst the ruler put forth his hand and gentled the steed by smoothing his head and forehead. As soon as the fifty riders saw this, they marvelled thereat, but the King's son who had kept his ground was astounded and said to himself, "The horse fled me and when this host drew nigh he sought me again."[FN545] Presently ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton
... sound of her voice he put out his hand to her, gropingly, but he did not uncover his face or shift his position. She found herself smoothing his hair, gingerly at first, but with more and more conviction as he snuggled his boyish ...
— Turn About Eleanor • Ethel M. Kelley
... hard; they'll put up Kingsbury," said Nick, smoothing his hat. "They'll all come down—all that can get away. And Kingsbury has a very ...
— The Tragic Muse • Henry James
... your soil, your homes destroyed, and your fortunes ruined. We, the Spartans, and the other allies, will receive your women and all who may be helpless in the war while the war shall last. Let not the Macedonian, smoothing down the messages of Mardonius, move you. This becomes him; tyrant himself, he would assist in a tyrant's work. But you will not heed him if you are wise, knowing that faith and truth are not ...
— Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... etc., cover the bottom with a layer of thick asbestos cloth; or take some asbestos fibre, moisten it with a little water and knead it into a paste; plaster the paste over the bottom of the crate, working it into the meshes and smoothing the surface by means of a pestle. When several crates have been thus treated, place them inside the hot-air oven, close the door, open the ventilating slide, light the gas, and run the temperature of the interior ...
— The Elements of Bacteriological Technique • John William Henry Eyre
... delighted with this, that she made him sit down, and draped one of Miss Braithwaite's shawls about his shoulders. It was difficult to look like Queen Victoria under the circumstances, with her small hands deftly draping and smoothing. But Nikky ...
— Long Live the King • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... polishing material should I use? A. Quartz and agate are slit with a thin iron disk supplied with diamond dust moistened with brick oil. The rough grinding is done on a lead wheel supplied with coarse emery and water. The smoothing is done with a lead lap and fine emery, and the polishing may be accomplished by means of a lead lap, whose surface is hacked and supplied with rottenstone and water. 2. What is the best method of polishing steel? A. The usual method is to grind first ...
— Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880 • Various
... and rapidity so perfect, that we scarcely know how they are given; that we almost forget verses and song, and actually see the pulling, twisting, and cutting of the gold-threads; that we see and hear the shoemaker's hands smoothing down the leather of the shoe in his hand, to convince his customers of its pliability; that we see and smell the dear little pale yellow pasties nestling in the neat white baskets, after having stood by and watched the dough being kneaded, chopped, and floured ...
— Euphorion - Being Studies of the Antique and the Mediaeval in the - Renaissance - Vol. I • Vernon Lee
... old Jolyon, picking up the doll from off the swing, and smoothing its black petticoat. "Nothing like it, is there? I don't do any now. I'm getting on. What ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... He stood, with his head bent, smoothing his hat with the fingers of his right hand. Gradually the expression of eager expectation on her face changed ...
— The Lieutenant-Governor • Guy Wetmore Carryl
... she asked him, smoothing out his short, dark curls, as she spoke. "Can't you tell me? Is ...
— Under False Pretences - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... asked Mrs. Bobbsey, leaning forward and smoothing out her daughter's hair with her hand. "If you would like to sit with me and put your head in my lap, papa can go to ...
— The Bobbsey Twins at School • Laura Lee Hope
... closed he would run this film again and again, cutting here, rearranging sequences, adding trims from suddenly remembered meals of the dead past, devising more intimate close-ups, such as the one of Metta withdrawing pies from the oven or smoothing hot chocolate caressingly over the top of a giant cake, or broiling chops, or saying in a large-lettered subtitle—artistically decorated with cooked foods—"How about some ...
— Merton of the Movies • Harry Leon Wilson
... more involved here than realigning the wheels and smoothing the gears of administrative machinery. The Congress rightfully-expects the Executive to take the initiative in discovering and removing ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Dwight D. Eisenhower • Dwight D. Eisenhower
... The paper may be iodized by pouring over it 30 minims of the iodizing solution, and then smoothing it over with the glass rod. Care must however be taken not to wet the back of the paper, as an unevenness of depth in the negative ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 216, December 17, 1853 • Various
... my dear little son indulges such sinful feelings," she said, softly smoothing his hair, while a tear rolled down ...
— Elsie's Motherhood • Martha Finley
... midway between our weather-bow and beam. Pearce had noticed it, it appeared, when I came to question him about it, and had thought that it might possibly portend a change of weather until he had looked at the barometer and found it inclined to rise; then he had become alarmed by the smoothing of the water, which seemed to him far more portentous than the ...
— A Middy of the King - A Romance of the Old British Navy • Harry Collingwood
... time I suspected as much," rejoined Hodges; "but setting aside your description of the person, which does not tally with that of Charles, I am satisfied from other circumstances it is not so. After all, I should not wonder if poor Bell," smoothing her long silky ears as she lay in the apprentice's arms, "should help us to discover her mistress. And now," he added, "I shall go to Wood-street to inquire after Amabel, and will then accompany you to the pest-house. From what you tell ...
— Old Saint Paul's - A Tale of the Plague and the Fire • William Harrison Ainsworth
... about his neck and kissed him two or three times. Laughingly, half-resisting, the young man waited till her enthusiastic salutation was over, and with one gloved hand caressingly on her shoulder, and with the other smoothing his ruffled moustache, he laughed a little more, a quiet low laugh. He was not addicted to stormy greetings, and patted his sister's shoulder gently, his arm a little extended, like a man ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... the two disputants standing much as I had left them, the staff officer gently and methodically smoothing his horse's crupper, the lieutenant with a watch ...
— The Laird's Luck • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... it was useless to argue with her, so she came and sat over her,—for Lady Glencora had again placed herself on the stool by the window,—and tried to sooth her by smoothing her hair, and nursing her like ...
— Can You Forgive Her? • Anthony Trollope
... dark eyes opened wide into hers. The young man gave an exclamation and sat up, startled. At this movement she looked away, smoothing a fold of her skirt. He stared about him, still half-asleep. "Did I hear somebody call?" he asked. "I must have had a very vivid dream of some sort—I thought somebody was calling desperately to me. You didn't ...
— Short Stories of Various Types • Various
... he gave them each a name: unto the Bear, mooin; and asked him what he would do if he should meet with a man. The Bear said, "I fear him, and I should run." Now in those days the Squirrel (mi-ko) was greater than the Bear. Then Glooskap took him in his hands, and smoothing him down he grew smaller and smaller, till he became as we see him now. In after-days the Squirrel was Glooskap's dog, and when he so willed, grew large again and slew his enemies, however fierce they might be. But ...
— The Algonquin Legends of New England • Charles Godfrey Leland
... Hazel said softly. She was smoothing out some locks of Jeannie's mane, which the wind and the run ...
— The Gold of Chickaree • Susan Warner
... cloth in the air, and after walking around several times, succeeded in smoothing it out. He could find only two spoons in their kit, ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks • Frank Gee Patchin
... in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark and with ...
— The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
... contented with what the songs were all about, that he did not care a bit about the songs themselves, if only baby liked them. But they did the cabman good as well as the baby and Diamond, for they put him to sleep, and the sleep was busy all the time it lasted, smoothing the wrinkles out ...
— At the Back of the North Wind • George MacDonald
... never visits it. Perhaps because he might see there one slender shadow, still arranging flowers, or bending with iris-grace above the goldfish in his pond. But wherever he rest, sometime in the silent hours he must see the same soundless presence near his pillow,—sewing, smoothing, softly seeming to make beautiful the robes he once put on only to betray. And at other times—in the busiest moments of his busy life—the clamor of the great shop dies; the ideographs of his ledger dim and vanish; and a plaintive little voice, which the gods refuse ...
— Kokoro - Japanese Inner Life Hints • Lafcadio Hearn
... you going to wear to-night?" said Mrs. Friend, softly smoothing back the brown hair ...
— Helena • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... force We would take Troy, but ten days with my horse." So to their task Epeios and his teams Went valiantly, and heaved and hauled great beams Of timber from far Ida, and hacked amain And rought the framework out. Then to it again They went with adzes and their smoothing tools, And made all shapely; next bored for their dools With augurs, and made good stock on to stock With mortise and with dovetail. Last, they lock The frames with clamps, the nether to the upper, ...
— Helen Redeemed and Other Poems • Maurice Hewlett |
