"Task" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... in different public works were seldom to be seen in the afternoon. On inquiry, it appeared that, notwithstanding the orders which had been given for the regulation of the public labour, the superintendants had taken it upon themselves to task the working people in such manner as they thought proper, and upon no other authority than their own will. By this abuse the work of government was almost wholly neglected, and the time of the labourers applied to the use of ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins
... promised his papers ere night. Which of us has not his anxiety instantly present when his eyes are opened, to it and to the world, after his night's sleep? Kind strengthener that enables us to face the day's task with renewed heart! Beautiful ordinance of Providence that creates rest ...
— The History of Pendennis, Vol. 2 - His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy • William Makepeace Thackeray
... hells, of which Avici is the most terrible. They are of course all temporary and therefore purgatories rather than places of eternal punishment, and the beings who inhabit them have the power of struggling upwards and acquiring merit[736], but the task is difficult and one may be born repeatedly in hell. The phraseology of Buddhism calls existences in heavens and hells new births. To us it seems more natural to say that certain people are born again as men and that others go to heaven or ...
— Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot
... to This task, and if her hair - In keeping with her eyes of blue - Be delicately fair, Ah, THEN, let her a photo send Of all her charms divine, To him who rests her faithful friend, Her ...
— New Collected Rhymes • Andrew Lang
... 'I am instructed. I fear not. I know by what name to call the Khou that hovers on the threshold of the Double Hall of Truth, and how to send it back to its own place. I fear not, but if perchance thou fearest, Rei, depart hence and leave me to the task alone.' ...
— The World's Desire • H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang
... qualifying himself to take his uncle's place as general manager of the works, when that uncle should retire from the post. He was also qualifying himself to be Elisabeth's friend instead of her lover—a far more difficult task. ...
— The Farringdons • Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
... us Gilbert read the Gospels partly because he was not forced to read them: I suppose this really means that he read them with a mature mind which had not been dulled to their reception by a childhood task of routine lessons. But I do not think at this date it had occurred to him to question the assumption of the period: that official Christianity, its priesthood especially, had travestied the original intention of Christ. This idea is in the Wild Knight volume (published in 1900) and more briefly ...
— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward
... of the said work applied himself to his task in malice prepense and with wickedness aforethought; a fact which, your Dedicator contends, is sufficiently demonstrated, by his assuming the name of Quiz, which, your Dedicator submits, denotes a foregone conclusion, and implies an ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens
... (1554-1559) was Bishop of Norwich, having been previously the first and only Bishop of Westminster. "He is said to have been a discreet moderate man"; but he lived in troublous times, and had the distasteful task of committing some so-called heretics to the flames. He was dispossessed of his bishopric soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and sent to the Tower. He was, however, soon released, and permitted to live in retirement with Archbishop Parker at Lambeth, where ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ely • W. D. Sweeting
... happy state—as a pilgrimage by which they might obtain their pardons, and resume their seats in heaven. Not a child is born, but the soul of some fallen cherub enters into the body to work out its salvation. Many do, many do not, and then they have their task to recommence anew; for the spirit once created is immortal, and cannot be destroyed; and the Almighty is all ...
— Japhet, In Search Of A Father • Frederick Marryat
... Psalms, which he cleared up and illustrated in a manner so entirely new, and so different from what had been pursued by former commentators, that "there seemed, after a long and dark night, a new day to arise, in the judgment of all pious and prudent men." The better to qualify himself for the task he had undertaken, he applied himself attentively to the Greek and Hebrew languages; and in this manner was he employed, when the general indulgences were published in 1517. Leo X. who succeeded Julius II. in March, 1513, formed ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox
... with us, but as Mr. Schreiner was going to take Uncle Ed up in his wagon, we left the rest of our luggage for him to bring along. We boys walked the eleven miles up the canal to Lumberville, towing the barge. It was a tiresome task; but we divided the work into two-mile shifts, two boys towing at a time and then each taking a mile ride as steersman in the boat. It was about noon when we arrived at Lumberville, and then we had to unload our boat before we could haul it out of the canal and down to the river. The ...
— The Scientific American Boy - The Camp at Willow Clump Island • A. Russell Bond
... Mr. Thrale's family, though it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and enjoyment, was not without some degree of restraint: not, as has been grossly suggested, that it was required of him as a task to talk for the entertainment of them and their company; but that he was not quite at his ease; which, however, might partly be owing to his own honest pride—that dignity of mind which is always jealous of ...
— Life of Johnson - Abridged and Edited, with an Introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood • James Boswell
... only four persons who did not fear the king, and who seemed to be safe from his destroying wrath. There was the queen, who nursed him with devoted attention, and John Heywood, who with untiring zeal sustained Catharine in her difficult task, and who still sometimes succeeded in winning a smile from the king. There were, furthermore, Gardiner, bishop ...
— Henry VIII And His Court • Louise Muhlbach
... to make the explanations she had asked, he found it a harder task than he had imagined. Her knowledge of human inventions, of worldly means of locomotion, was not extensive, and he had to begin with the A B C of it and go through a course in elementary mechanics. ...
— The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories • Charles Weathers Bump
... hat in hand, and with that almost noiseless tread which we have noticed. She gave him a chair and closed the door; then hastened, with words of apology, back to her task of lighting the lamp. But her hands paused in their work again,—Olive's step was on the stairs; then it came off the stairs; then it was in the next room, and then there was the whisper of soft robes, a breath of gentle ...
— Old Creole Days • George Washington Cable
... had had the effect of counteracting the uplifting effects of the Mumm's. The British Lion required a fresh fillip. He went to his room to administer it. By the time he emerged, he was feeling just right for the task in hand. A momentary doubt occurred to him as to whether it would not be a good thing to go down and pull Sir Thomas' nose as a preliminary to the proceedings; but he put the temptation ...
— The Intrusion of Jimmy • P. G. Wodehouse
... Task-work. Teacher, Black. Teachers. "Telegraph," Remarks of the. Temperance in Antigua. " of negroes. " Society. Testimony of Managers. Testimony of clergymen and missionaries. Testimony of Governors. " of magistrates. " of physicians. Theft, decrease of. Thibou Jarvis's estate. ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society
... to overturn this fact, by the reasoning of persons who did not hear these performances, is rather an arduous task. And yet there is great improbability that any uncivilized people should by accident arrive at this perfection in the art of music, which we imagine can only be attained by dint of study and knowledge of the system and the theory on which musical composition is founded. Such miserable ...
— Unwritten Literature of Hawaii - The Sacred Songs of the Hula • Nathaniel Bright Emerson
... taken place even in modern times, while very many tribes in various parts of the globe have not yet arrived at it. It is a transition of which it is manifestly impossible to exhibit the detail; in most cases the detail is not known, and it were a profitless task to trace how primitive religions met, united or remained apart, and how their crossings in one case led to a national religion, and in many others led to no such result. Much, no doubt, is to be found on such points in special works, ...
— History of Religion - A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great Systems • Allan Menzies
... East Coast, situated on the river Lebben. As usual, the skipper's inquiries revealed nothing. Ironbridge was a small place, with absolutely nothing to conceal; but it was a fine day, and Henry, who disliked extremely the task of assisting to work out the cargo, obtained permission to go ashore to purchase a few small things for the cook ...
— The Skipper's Wooing, and The Brown Man's Servant • W. W. Jacobs
... with its exits to the Baltic and North Seas, furnished excellently both as naval bases and impenetrable protection. Throughout the rest of the watery surface of the globe were eleven German warships, to which automatically fell the task of protecting the thousands of ships which, flying the German red, white, and black, were carrying freight and passengers ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various
... roll-call at daybreak the next morning. Wynifred and Frank were not the only ones to get up as soon as day approached, although to them had been allotted the task of going to Windmill Farm for the milk and the ...
— Wyn's Camping Days - or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club • Amy Bell Marlowe
... but subsequently circumstances prevented my undertaking the work. Now, fortunately, my friend Mr. Eugene Gates has taken the matter up, and much as I may personally regret having to hand over to another a task, the performance of which I should so much have enjoyed, it is some consolation to feel that the readers, at any rate, of this work will have no cause for regret, but rather of rejoicing that the work has passed ...
— The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 • Allan O. Hume
... Sydney, he was branded with a black mark against his name, and the most laborious work was his daily task, besides the privilege of dragging a chain and ball after him. He managed to secrete a knife about his person one day, and when the guard the next morning ordered him to perform some heavy work, he struck the man to the heart with his weapon, broke ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... better, however, that, before undertaking his task, Uncle Si should require some hint or intimation of what would be expected of him. I am the last man in the world to discourage what is ordinarily regarded and accepted as reasonable precaution against ...
— The House - An Episode in the Lives of Reuben Baker, Astronomer, and of His Wife, Alice • Eugene Field
... of these companies he delivered into the charge of Hoel, the king's nephew. With the other half he devised to conquer Anjou, Auvergne, Gascony, and Poitou; yea, to overrun Lorraine and Burgundy, if the task did not prove beyond his power. Hoel did his lord's commandment, even as Arthur purposed. He conquered Berri, and afterwards Touraine, Auvergne, Poitou, and Gascony. Guitard, the King of Poitiers, was a valiant captain, ...
— Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut • Wace
... with a sheepskin. These are the beds of the two girls who inhabit the room, one of whom is now sitting on a low stool made of palm-branches, and she yawns as she begins to arrange her long and shining brown hair. She is not particularly skilful and even less patient over this not very easy task, and presently, when a fresh tangle checks the horn comb with which she is dressing it, she tosses the comb on to the couch. She has not pulled it through her hair with any haste nor with much force, but she shuts her eyes so tightly and sets ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... occupied in serving tea," breaks in Aunty. "Besides, we shall try to give this affair the appearance, at least, of a genuine social function. I imagine that the presence of such persons as Mr. Wiggins will make the task sufficiently ...
— Torchy, Private Sec. • Sewell Ford
... had been placed on board, the stowage of provisions began; and that was no light task, for she carried enough for six years. They consisted of salted and dried meats, smoked fish, biscuit, and flour; mountains of coffee and tea were deposited in the store-room. Richard Shandon superintended the arrangement ...
— The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras • Jules Verne
... the executive of which I myself was the chief, desire that the established documents should be searched, and demand the body of Gabriel Crasweller to be deposited in accordance with the law as enacted. But there was no one else to whom I could leave the performance of this invidious task, as a matter of course. There were aldermen in Gladstonopolis and magistrates in the country whose duty it would no doubt be to see that the law was carried out. Arrangements to this effect had been studiously made by myself. Such arrangements would no doubt be carried out when the working ...
— The Fixed Period • Anthony Trollope
... work in a most charming manner. Suppose that some lady — or better a club of ladies — should set out to note down the changes in spelling — and if possible in pronunciation — which have occurred in every word now remaining to us from the Anglo-Saxon tongue. The task would not be a difficult one. All that would be required would be to portion out to each member of the club a specific set of books to be read, each set consisting of some books in Anglo-Saxon, some in Middle English, and some in Modern English. Each member would take her ...
— Sidney Lanier • Edwin Mims
... quarto volumes was completed in 1725. The poems, edited by Dr. George Sewell, with an essay on the rise and progress of the stage, and a glossary, appeared in a seventh volume. Pope had few qualifications for the task, and the venture was a commercial failure. In his preface Pope, while he fully recognised Shakespeare's native genius, deemed his achievement deficient in artistic quality. Pope claimed to have collated the text of the Fourth Folio with that of all preceding editions, and although ...
— A Life of William Shakespeare - with portraits and facsimiles • Sidney Lee
... of them, indeed, being older than he; they were mostly jealous of Paul, envious of the command he had attained to over them, and impatient under the discipline he was ever ready to inflict. 'Tis no light task to enforce obedience from those with whom one has birdnested. But, having more than once felt the weight of his hand, they ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... instructed me in your resolve, to punish a dead man for the love I bear his ashes, by depriving myself and my son, after your death, of the estate I have shared with you. I am fully aware of your intentions, and I congratulate you on the pleasant task you have prepared for yourself, of choosing an heir amongst half-a-dozen needy relations; and, now, if you have any doubt as to my plans, I will tell you them, once for all, and let there be an end to this childish struggling between us. I married ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various
... sometimes another. And in order that this variety may be seen, let us either write, or in any example whatever let us exercise this same principle with respect to those things which we endeavour to prove, that our task may ...
— The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 • Cicero
... last sale gives nearly the same figures. If we assume that there are 10,000 tons of iron in her, we may also assume that if broken up it would not fetch more than L3 a ton at present rates; but even if we say L4, we have as a total but L40,000. To break the ship up would be a herculean task; we very much doubt if it could be done for the difference between L26,000 and L40,000; her engines would only sell for old iron, being entirely worthless for any other place than the foundry once they were taken out ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 598, June 18, 1887 • Various
... turn and go back as he did not feel quite equal to the task, the road being a bad one so Jack took the wheel and got them back to the station with ...
— The Hilltop Boys - A Story of School Life • Cyril Burleigh
... both outwardly, through his uncleanliness—never changes. His blunders, garrulity, and brainless labor, however, would transform Izaak Walton himself into a dragon of irritability. The effort to reform such a man would be heroic, indeed, but let those who enter upon such a task give their whole souls to it, and not attempt gardening at the same time—unless the garden is maintained for the sake of the man, and they, in their zeal, approach Titania in her midsummer-night's ...
— Success With Small Fruits • E. P. Roe
... the two English knights the task of seizing all the gates, and of setting a guard to prevent any man from leaving, while the rest of us under him pushed forward to the market-place. There was no resistance. Thousands of the men had fallen in the battle and flight. Thousands had failed to enter the ...
— A March on London • G. A. Henty
... to pick up her papers, and set matters to rights. It was quite a task. The ink had run over all her papers and into her desk. For years after, that ink spot was pointed out by the children to the new comers, and the story of the monkey had to ...
— Happy Days for Boys and Girls • Various
... little shoulder of earth close to the run and began to dig into it with a stick. In a moment he had uncovered a deposit of solid clay. The clay was hard to dig, but he could shape his fireplace in it exactly as he wanted it. When the task was completed, he started a very small fire with leaves and small branches. By careful feeding, he kept the flames burning clear, with almost no smoke. Presently he had a bed of glowing coals that almost filled ...
— The Young Wireless Operator—As a Fire Patrol - The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol • Lewis E. Theiss
... getting between my legs when I was tearing my way through the jungle. I never wore it again in action. Lieutenant Rivers was with Wood, also leading his horse. Smedburg had been sent off on the by no means pleasant task of ...
— Rough Riders • Theodore Roosevelt
... thoughts were set on a comely girl, blithe, wholesome, and full of the joy of life, Yourii had an idea that he would paint Life. As most new ideas were wont to do, this one stirred him to enthusiasm, and on this occasion he believed that he would bring his task ...
— Sanine • Michael Artzibashef
... drum: I see him pluck Aufidius down by th' hair: Methinks I see him stamp thus—and call thus— Come on, ye cowards; ye were got in fear Though you were born in Rome; his bloody brow With his mail'd hand then wiping, forth he goes Like to a harvest man, that's task'd to mow Or all, ...
— Characters of Shakespeare's Plays • William Hazlitt
... She was flattered by Millard's confidence, but she saw the difficulty of the task he ...
— The Faith Doctor - A Story of New York • Edward Eggleston
... be hauled up, and the task was a painful one for her. Lassiter's turn came then, and he showed more strength and agility than Shefford had supposed him capable of. From the ledge they turned their attention to the narrow crack with its ladder of sticks. Fay ...
— The Rainbow Trail • Zane Grey
... and perhaps the whole of Asia by the civilized Powers. Can you believe that the people whose conceptions of society and conduct, whose power of attention and scope of interest, are measured by the British theatre as you know it to-day, can either handle this colossal task themselves, or understand and support the sort of mind and character that is (at least comparatively) capable of handling it? For remember: what our voters are in the pit and gallery they are also in the polling booth. We are all now under what Burke called "the hoofs of the swinish multitude." ...
— Man And Superman • George Bernard Shaw
... beginning with the Finns and going as far down as Greece, making a series of eighteen small nations. German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian imperialism suffered shipwreck. The small nations are freed. The war's negative task is fulfilled. The positive task awaits—to organize east Europe and this with mankind in general. We stand on the threshold of a new time when all mankind feels in unity. Our people will contribute ...
— Winning a Cause - World War Stories • John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood
... to govern by the strong measures necessary, he will meet the same hostility which always assailed Crispi. Nothing less than the courage and abilities of a Cromwell could reform government in Italy, and, in the opinion of some of the wisest and most patriotic Italians I know, the task is ...
— The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume II • William James Stillman
... have a difficult task to keep him to it; but the more will be your honour, if you effect his reformation: and it is my belief, that if you can reclaim this great, this specious deceiver, who has, morally speaking, such a number of years before him, you will save from ruin a multitude of innocents; for ...
— Clarissa, Volume 4 (of 9) - History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson
... Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH): established - 21 December 1995; to establish an International Police Task Force (IPTF) to implement the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina; members Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, ...
— The 2004 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
... I'm very silly, and have been making you very uncomfortable," said Zoe, hastily wiping away her tears, "and it's a great shame; particularly, considering that you have kindly come on purpose to help me through with a disagreeable task. ...
— Elsie's Kith and Kin • Martha Finley
... art which aims at giving an abiding impression of artistic reality with only two dimensions. The painter must, therefore, do consciously what we all do unconsciously,—construct his third dimension. And he can accomplish his task only as we accomplish ours, by giving tactile values to retinal impressions. His first business, therefore, is to rouse the tactile sense, for I must have the illusion of being able to touch a figure, I must have the illusion of varying muscular sensations ...
— The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance - With An Index To Their Works • Bernhard Berenson
... duty to interfere in such cases as yours, and to open the eyes of the blind. I shall fulfil my mission, and to-morrow will find me far away from this accursed place. [Thoughtfully] But what shall I do? To have an explanation with Lebedieff would be a hopeless task. Shall I make a scandal, and challenge Ivanoff to a duel? I am as excited as a child, and have entirely lost the power of planning anything. What shall I do? Shall I fight ...
— Ivanoff - A Play • Anton Checkov
... it partakes of the form and qualities, not only of the oratorio, but also of the opera and cantata. The words were compiled by Baron van Swieten from Thomson's well-known poem of "The Seasons," but it was a long time before he could persuade Haydn to undertake the task of composing an oratorio on the subject. His old age and infirmities made him averse to the work. He was greatly annoyed by the text, and still more so by its compiler, who insisted upon changes in the music which Haydn testily declined to make. He was frequently irritated over the many imitative ...
— The Standard Oratorios - Their Stories, Their Music, And Their Composers • George P. Upton
... not remember the exact date of the invention of stoves, but it was some years ago. Since then mankind have been tormented once a year, by the difficulties that beset the task of putting them up, and getting the pipes fixed. With all our Yankee ingenuity no American has ever invented any method by which the labor of putting up stoves can be lessened. The job is as severe and vexatious as humanity can ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various
... noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry quickly through a disagreeable task. ...
— The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
... abundant in the neighborhood of Boulder. The only pigmy nuthatches of this visit were seen in a ravine above Bailey's. In the same wooded hollow I took occasion to make some special notes on the quaint calls of the long-crested jays, a task that I had thus far deferred from time to time. There was an entire family of jays in the ravine, the elders feeding their strapping youngsters in the customary manner. These birds frequently give voice to ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser
... exciting but it was inconclusive. In fact, never was a government less prepared than was that of the United States in 1812. It had neither the disciplined troops, the ships of war, nor the supplies required by the magnitude of the military task. It was fortune that favored the American cause. Great Britain, harassed, worn, and financially embarrassed by nearly twenty years of fighting in Europe, was in no mood to gather her forces for a titanic effort in America even after Napoleon ...
— History of the United States • Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
... of the window bars it was not a difficult matter for one as agile as he to clamber to the rafters above, and once there the remainder of the task was comparatively simple. ...
— Messenger No. 48 • James Otis
... his cattle by hundreds and thousands and examining their limbs and marks supervised their tale. And he caused the calves to be marked and took note of those that required to be tamed. And he also counted those kine whose calves had not yet been weaned. And completing the task of tale by marking and counting every calf that was three years old, the Kuru prince, surrounded by the cowherds, began to sport and wander cheerfully. And the citizens also and the soldiers by thousands began to sport, as best pleased them, in those woods, like the ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... reverse side of the problem. I took for the title of my story these words: White Eagle, the Red Pioneer, and presented the point of view of a nomad who turns his back on the wilderness which he loves, and sets himself the task of leading his band in settlement among the plowmen. In a collection of tales, some of which have not been published even in magazines, I have grouped studies of red individuals with intent to show that a village of Cheyennes has many kinds of people just ...
— A Daughter of the Middle Border • Hamlin Garland
... from us and from our mimic scene Such things should be—if such have ever been; Ours be the gentler wish, the kinder task, To give the tribute Glory need not ask, To mourn the vanished beam, and add our mite Of praise in payment of a long delight. 100 Ye Orators! whom yet our councils yield, Mourn for the veteran Hero of your field! The worthy rival of the wondrous Three![102] Whose words ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 • Lord Byron
... terminate the quarrel by one decisive blow; the others were no less willing to come to a second engagement (the first being that of Concord and Lexington), from a confidence they would be able to convince their enemies that they would find the subjugation of America a much more difficult task than they ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Egerton Ryerson
... deny that there might be a point of view from which such a case of extreme want of confidence might, to the humane mind, present features not altogether welcome as wine and olives after dinner. Still, he was not without compensatory considerations, and, upon the whole, took his companion to task for evincing what, in a good-natured, round-about way, he hinted to be a somewhat jaundiced sentimentality. Nature, he added, in Shakespeare's words, had meal and bran; and, rightly regarded, the bran in its way ...
— The Confidence-Man • Herman Melville
... forcing- bed of intellectual effort. That it would be better if such an one took HIMSELF in hand and tried to find out HIS OWN meaning, both in relation to the finite and infinite gradations of Spirit and Matter. And I resolved to enter upon the task—without allowing myself to fear failure or to hope for success. My aim was to discover Myself and my meaning, if such a thing were possible. No atom, however infinitesimal, is without origin, history, place and use in the Universe—and I, a conglomerated mass of atoms called Man, resolved to ...
— The Life Everlasting: A Reality of Romance • Marie Corelli
... my staying. I cannot convince you that your best hope for the future is to throw yourself on your son's generosity. I regret that you will not listen to me—you are giving me a very painful task.' ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... to the office to begin. He would begin by the means that seemed obvious. Now that going to the devil was a task he saw, as he had not seen hitherto, how curiously few were the approaches that would take him there. Song being only an accompaniment, he was limited to the remaining two of the famous ...
— The Dust Flower • Basil King
... M'riar commented as she took the brush and started to do Anna's painfully accomplished task all over, from the big crack by the door where she had started. "'Ow's 'e hever goin' to know w'ere we 'ave moved to?" she ...
— The Old Flute-Player - A Romance of To-day • Edward Marshall and Charles T. Dazey
... style, we may indeed discover that a prose model for to-day should have more variety and energy and occasionally more precision; but such a conclusion does not mean that any writer of this century would like the task of surpassing ...
— Halleck's New English Literature • Reuben P. Halleck
... is my painful task to communicate to you, who have so lately been the kind associate of dearest Mrs. Piozzi, the irreparable loss we have all sustained in that incomparable woman ...
— Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.) • Mrs. Hester Lynch Piozzi
... De Bonzy, the Tuscan charge d'afaires, came, on behalf of the Medici family, to make formal demand of her hand, and had undertaken to bring her to her husband with all despatch. He had undertaken an all too difficult task. ...
— The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete • Madame La Marquise De Montespan
... are not aware of the task you impose, when you request me to send you some account of the general way of living in London. Unless you come here, and actually experience yourself what I would call the London ache, it is impossible to supply you with any adequate ...
— The Ayrshire Legatees • John Galt
... instead, and resumed his usual work, undeterred by the astounding revelation of his father's wealth. Owing to the numerous distractions caused by the various events of the day, however, it was late when he finished his day's task and ...
— A Cardinal Sin • Eugene Sue
... resolved to leave the rest to to-morrow morning, and so in full discontent and weariness did give over and went home, with[out] supper vexed and sickish to bed, and there slept about three hours, but then waked, and never in so much trouble in all my life of mind, thinking of the task I have upon me, and upon what dissatisfactory grounds, and what the issue of it may ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... the collegian it becomes no part of the duty of the university to control, beyond the demands necessary for the main object of instruction. As the circumstances of parents vary, so will the pecuniary allowance made to their offspring. It would be a task neither practicable nor justifiable for the university to regulate the outlay of the collegian, or, in fact, become the paymaster of his menus plaisirs. Only let such a task be imagined in its enormity of control, from the son of the nobleman ...
— Froude's Essays in Literature and History - With Introduction by Hilaire Belloc • James Froude
... her aside when the task was done, and she slip-slapped into the household dungeon out of ...
— The Pagan Madonna • Harold MacGrath
... his country seat to an old man who is already in any case dishonored by being unable to fulfill the great and glorious task for which he was chosen. I shall await your most gracious permission here in hospital, that I may not have to play the part of a secretary rather than commander in the army. My removal from the army does not produce the slightest stir—a blind man has left it. There are thousands ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... lifted her to her horse he dried her sleeve with his handkerchief. He lingered over the task; the cavalcade and populace went on without them, and when they started they were in the ...
— The Doomswoman - An Historical Romance of Old California • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
... reduced to two.] By this time two of our Company seeing but little hopes of Liberty, thought it too hard a task thus to lead a single life, and married. Which when they had done according to the former agreement departed from us. So that our Company was now reduced to two, viz. my Self and Stephen Rutland; whose ...
— An Historical Relation Of The Island Ceylon In The East Indies • Robert Knox
... places they are set to no public work, but every private man that has occasion to hire workmen goes to the market-places and hires them of the public, a little lower than he would do a freeman. If they go lazily about their task he may quicken them with the whip. By this means there is always some piece of work or other to be done by them; and, besides their livelihood, they earn somewhat still to the public. They all wear a peculiar habit, of one certain colour, and their hair is ...
— Utopia • Thomas More
... place in it, and there was plenty of time for my day-dreams over the distribution of my case. I was very fond of my work, though, and proud of my swiftness and skill in it. Once when the perplexed foreman could not think of any task to set me he offered me a holiday, but I would not take it, so I fancy that at this time I was not more interested in my art of poetry than in my trade of printing. What went on in the office interested me as much as the quarrels of the ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... happiest among them? As concerned her own individual existence, she had long ago decided in the negative, and dismissed the point as settled. A tendency to speculation, though it may keep women quiet, as it does man, yet makes her sad. She discerns, it may be, such a hopeless task before her. As a first step, the whole system of society is to be torn down and built up anew. Then the very nature of the opposite sex, or its long hereditary habit, which has become like nature, is to be essentially modified before woman can ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... at last accomplished, and then came the task of securing the names of these women to the petitions. The lists were divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed lieutenants in the various precincts. Parlor meetings to interest women were held ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various
... Perfect as mechanism was the discipline of a well-trained leader. He knew the road, and the duty expected of him. Docile and towardly during his seven- or nine-mile stage, he refused to perform more than his allotted task. Attached to his yoke-fellow, he resented the intrusion of a stranger into his harness: and a mere change of hands on the box would often convert the willing steed into a recusant against the collar, whom neither soothing nor severity would induce to budge a step. ...
— Old Roads and New Roads • William Bodham Donne
... segregated must die. And so the isms of the Brahman and the Hindoo, so the Buddhist, the Confucian, the Mencian—they would all perish under the hammering of the union. Then, too, Time would make the work perfect, and gradually wear Christ and Mahomet out of mind—he and Time together. What if the task did take ages? He had an advantage over other reformers—he could keep his reform in motion—he could guide and direct it—he could promise himself life to see it in full acceptance. In the exuberance of triumphant ...
— The Prince of India - Or - Why Constantinople Fell - Volume 1 • Lew. Wallace
... unsuited to him. For a fair man of vivacious temperament, this stately dark girl was the ideal mate. Even his mother would admit this, if she could only see Rena. To win this beautiful girl for his wife would be a worthy task. He had crowned her Queen of Love and Beauty; since then she had ascended the throne of his heart. He would make her queen of his home ...
— The House Behind the Cedars • Charles W. Chesnutt
... was true; also that Miss Betsy's task was no sinecure, and she therefore thought it best to ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor
... America. [Footnote: After having robbed the Indians of their wealth in gold and silver, the slow accumulations of centuries, the Spaniards further enriched themselves by the enforced labor of the unfortunate natives. Unused to such toil as was exacted of them under the lash of worse than Egyptian task-masters, the Indians wasted away by millions in the mines of Mexico and Peru, and upon the sugar plantations of the West Indies. More than half of the native population of Peru is thought to have been consumed in the Peruvian mines. To save the Indians, negroes were ...
— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers
... for my code of morality was suited to circumstances; as to religion, I had none. I had lived in the world, and for the world. I had certainly been well instructed in the tenets of our faith when I was at the Asylum, but there, as in most other schools, it is made irksome, as a task, and is looked upon with almost a feeling of aversion. No proper religious sentiments are, or can be, inculcated to a large number of scholars; it is the parent alone who can instil, by precept and example, that true sense of religion, which may serve as a guide through life. I had not ...
— Japhet, In Search Of A Father • Frederick Marryat
... Sand put into her work her sufferings, her protests as a woman, and her dreams as an artist. But the nineteenth-century writer did not confine his ambitions to this modest task. He belonged to a corporation which counted among its members Voltaire and Rousseau. The eighteenth-century philosophers had changed the object of literature. Instead of an instrument of analysis, they had made of it a weapon for combat, an incomparable ...
— George Sand, Some Aspects of Her Life and Writings • Rene Doumic
... forgot the rectory and all that it connoted before he was well outside the rectory's front door. Challis had a task before him that he regarded with the utmost distaste. He had warmly championed a cause; he had been heated by the presentation of a manifest injustice which was none the less tyrannical because it was ridiculous. And now he realised that it was only the abstract question which had aroused his ...
— The Wonder • J. D. Beresford
... agreeably to my ears than that of Aime Bonpland, I cannot here dwell upon it, nor write his biography, however congenial the theme. Some one who reads this may find the task both pleasant and profitable; for though his bones slumber obscurely on the banks of the Parana, amidst the scenes so loved by him, his name will one day have a higher niche in Fame's temple than it has hitherto held— perhaps not much lower ...
— Gaspar the Gaucho - A Story of the Gran Chaco • Mayne Reid
... was it? Which one was it? Imagine my feelings, torn with doubt, perplexity, and sorrow. Was it Mildred, replying scornfully to some opinion of her sister, or was it the sister taking Mildred to task for saying she wished or ought to marry me? How was I to know? Could I run the risk ...
— The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton • Wardon Allan Curtis
... the mother's insight had been clear about. Elizabeth was not in love. On the contrary, the one love-affair of her life seemed to be at last forgotten and put aside. Elizabeth was now in love with efficiency; with a great task given into her hand. As to the Squire, the owner of Mannering, who had provided her with the task, Mrs. Bremerton could not imagine him or envisage him at all. Elizabeth's accounts of him were so reticent and so contradictory.... 'Well, that's very interesting'—said Elizabeth thoughtfully, ...
— Elizabeth's Campaign • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... at work, and Sam and his tent-mates set at their task with a will, realizing that every moment was precious. While one student held the peg upright the other would pound it down into the wet ground with a hammer or ...
— The Rover Boys in Camp - or, The Rivals of Pine Island • Edward Stratemeyer
... to Norway. I was well enough off. I rather enjoyed myself. Perhaps I required a little bracing up for the task that lies before me." He laughed as ...
— Brooke's Daughter - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... easy task to creep unobserved through the nearest pine grove, and gain a safe hiding place under some junipers on the edge of the old pasture. The cawing meanwhile was intermittent; at times it broke out in a perfect babel, as if every crow were doing his best to outcaw all the others; again there was ...
— Ways of Wood Folk • William J. Long
... Prior of Canterbury; and, towards the end of his life, Keeper of the Great Seal. He had a heavy task at the beginning of his rule in restoring discipline, which had become lax, and in reforming many evil customs that had crept into the house. He was an author, and produced a work on the career of S. Thomas of Canterbury, ...
— The Cathedral Church of Peterborough - A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See • W.D. Sweeting
... that Mr. Henshaw was anxious for another workman, and after asking Jack a few questions, told the lad he might begin his task at once. ...
— Jack North's Treasure Hunt - Daring Adventures in South America • Roy Rockwood
... than lovers of God." Take more real comfort and delight in the party or festival than they do in worship. A sermon of thirty minutes is about as long as they can endure. Reading the Bible is an unpleasant task, therefore the good old book lies unused; but they can spend hours in ...
— The Gospel Day • Charles Ebert Orr
... of the chamber and compensatory hypertrophy. Enlargement of its wall must take place in order to perform the extra work demanded constantly, for the normal reserve force of the heart muscles can accomplish the extra task only temporarily. This enlargement increases the working power of the heart to above normal, but the organ is relatively less efficient than the normal heart, as its reserve force is less and sudden or unusual exertion may ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter
... diseases of the soul, the greater they are, keep, themselves the most obscure; the most sick are the least sensible; therefore it is that with an unrelenting hand they most often, in full day, be taken to task, opened, and torn from the hollow of the heart. As in doing well, so in doing ill, the mere confession is sometimes satisfaction. Is there any deformity in doing amiss, that can excuse us from confessing ourselves? It is so ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne
... to act as foreman and set to work a whole army of workmen—the M.A.'s of course. And soon the sound of saw and hammer mingled with the plash of waves and cries of sea-birds, and gangs of stalwart M.A.'s in their seaweed tunics bent themselves to the task of shaping great timbers and hoisting them to the top of the highest tower, where other gangs, under Mr. Noah's own eye, reared a scaffolding to support the ark while the building ...
— The Magic City • Edith Nesbit
... herself to task severely when her father said this. It was evident that Michael had spoilt her. She was determined not to monopolise him so selfishly; but, somehow, when it came to the point, she was always forgetting these ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... your man," says Ronayne, quietly: "you must get some one else to help you in this matter. It is not for me, even if I did not love you; I should scorn so low a task." ...
— Rossmoyne • Unknown
... Scott, "the Ariosto of the North," "the historiographer royal of feudalism," to accomplish the task which his eighteenth-century forerunners had essayed in vain. He possessed the true enchanter's wand, the historic imagination. With this in his hand, he raised the dead past to life, made it once more conceivable, made it ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century • Henry A. Beers
... completed his task he came to her. She had poured two tin cups of coffee, sweetened and cooled with condensed milk, and upon a clean piece of bark served her sandwiches. And they sat on the floor upon heaped-up pine needles and she ...
— The Short Cut • Jackson Gregory
... task you have set me preliminary to an honorable discharge. Next to theology and government finance there is no subject on which the doctors differ and dogmatize as in this matter of warming and ventilating, most of them preferring that the universe should ...
— Homes And How To Make Them • Eugene Gardner
... a middle path. He sent to the Begam Sumroo, and urged her to hasten to the Emperor's assistance; but the prudent lady was not willing to undertake a task from which, with his vastly superior resources, she saw him shrink. He likewise sent a confidential Brahmin, who arrived on 10th July, and five days after, appeared a force of 2,000 horse under Rayaji, a relation of Sindhia's. The Ballamgarh Jats ...
— The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan • H. G. Keene
... their task was finished) Attempt new heights, bring even their dreams to birth:— Build us that better world, Oh, not diminished By one true splendor that they ...
— The New Morning - Poems • Alfred Noyes
... risen too. He was doubly annoyed—at the scene itself, and at the sense that no imperiousness of his could save him from it; but the task had to be gone through, and there was the administrative necessity of arranging things so that there should be as little annoyance as possible in the future. He was leaning against the corner of the fire-place. She looked up at him ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot
... If, then, instead of cutting out, say fifty pages, I have been compelled to add about sixty invita Minerva—the blame rests neither with my publisher nor with me, but with the copyright laws. Nevertheless I can assure the reader that, though I have found it an irksome task to take up work which I thought I had got rid of thirty years ago, and much of which I am ashamed of, I have done my best to make the new matter savour so much of the better portions of the old, that none but the best critics ...
— Erewhon • Samuel Butler
... quality, action, or habit of earnest, steady, and continued attention or devotion to any useful or productive work or task, manual or mental. Assiduity (L. ad, to, and sedeo, sit), as the etymology suggests, sits down to a task until it is done. Diligence (L. diligo, love, choose) invests more effort and exertion, with love of the work or deep interest in its accomplishment; application ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... care for the sick and wounded. They seek to aid in striking at the root of the evil whence has arisen the strife which causes the sickness of the hospital and the wounds of the battle-field. They have undertaken a task beyond that which the sturdy Chartists of England performed. The Chartist Petition, if we remember aright, had seven or eight hundred thousand names—the largest number ever obtained to a petition. ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage
... and was in no wise due to human fault. She became ill, and her mind failed her. There was a period during which he would not believe that her illness was more than illness, and then he clung to her and waited on her with an assiduity of affection which only made his task the more painful to him. At last it became evident that she should live in the companionship of some one with whom her life might be altogether quiet, and she has since been domiciled with a lady with whom she has been happy. Thus she was, after ...
— Thackeray • Anthony Trollope
... please, and the ground can be thus kept clean, mellow, and moist. The soil can be worked—not deeply, of course—within an inch or two of the plants, and thus but little space is left for hand- weeding. I have found this latter task best accomplished by a simple tool made of a fork-tine, with a section of the top left attached thus: T. Old broken forks can thus be utilized. This tool can be thrust deeply between the plants without ...
— Success With Small Fruits • E. P. Roe
... way over, they heard the cannon roar; the booming became incessant; without question, a great naval battle was on, for this north wind was what the British had been awaiting. The rowers bent to their task and added to the speed. Their brothers were hard pressed; they knew it, they must make haste. The long boats flew. In an hour they could see the masts, the sails, the smoke of the battle, but nothing ...
— Rolf In The Woods • Ernest Thompson Seton
... shaded by the bushes, thinking over these things; but it was not long before I had got into my bathing costume. I thought of you, my pious friend, as I was buttoning the neck and the wrists of this conventional garment. How many times have you not helped me to execute this little task about which I was so awkward. Briefly, I entered the water and was about to strike out when the sound of the marchioness's voice assailed my ears. She was talking with her maid inside the tent. I stopped and listened; not out of guilty ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... dead,[13] to the idylls of Theocritus and to the Hebrew narrative of Saul's visit to the Cave of Endor. There are incidents in The Golden Ass as "horrid" as any of those devised by the writers of Gothic romance. It would, indeed, be no easy task to fashion scenes more terrifying than the mutilation of Socrates in The Golden Ass, by the witch, who tears out his heart and stops the wound with a sponge which falls out when he stoops to drink at a river, ...
— The Tale of Terror • Edith Birkhead
... her, and saying to myself: It is absolutely useless, for I know what to say without any need of looking, and yet I do not know if I can ever bring myself to stop, since she has given me, as if on purpose to delight me, a task more delicious than I ever had to do before. And all the time she stood absolutely still, patiently waiting till I ended, and looking at me every time I came round, with raised eyebrows and a smile. ...
— The Substance of a Dream • F. W. Bain
... he ordered his staff to ride from him in radiating lines in all directions, and such of them as should find shallow water to shout out. If Napoleon had been alone on that occasion, he would have set his five wits to the task of finding the right way, and he would ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 50, December, 1861 • Various
... was fine, but the wind we had experienced the preceding night caused a rather heavy swell, which rendered the attempt to enter this inlet an impracticable task; however, it was tried. We found between the ship and the shore six, four, and two fathoms, but as the mouth of the inlet was filled with breakers, apparently on a bar extending out half a mile, I was fully convinced that further perseverance would only amount to waste of time and needless ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. • J Lort Stokes
... upon several of the soldiers. They were promptly overpowered, disarmed, and their muskets used in disarming their friends who were panic stricken by the vigorous onslaught, and soon succumbed to Jack's bellicose persuasiveness. It then became an easy task to carry out the impromptu plan of campaign of putting each soldier into his sentry-box and casting both him and the box into the running stream. The call for help was unavailing; none came, and soon no voices were heard, but the following day the funeral knell was sounded by the roar of ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman
... morn with gladsome ray Rose to her task from old Tithonus' lap When their grave host came where the warriors lay, And with him brought the shield, the rod, the map. "Arise," quoth he, "ere lately broken day, In his bright arms the round world fold or wrap, All what I promised, here I have them brought, ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso
... get things done." Two hours ago, and the idea of enlisting her had not even occurred to him, and already he had taken her out of her burrow, brought her to the offices, coached her in the preliminaries of her allotted task, and introduced several important members of the committee to her! It was ...
— The Pretty Lady • Arnold E. Bennett
... go—the forced smile fade away—the eyes grow dull with heavy pain. She released her strong will from its laborious task. Till morning she might feel ill ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell |
