"Serviceable" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... winked at him, or if Serjeant Buzfuz had stopped this irregular cross-examination at the outset (which he knew better than to do, for observing Mr. Winkle's anxiety, and well knowing it would in all probability, lead to something serviceable to him), this unfortunate admission would not have been elicited. The moment the words fell from Mr. Winkle's lips, Mr. Phunky sat down, and Serjeant Snubbin rather hastily told him he might leave the box, which Mr. Winkle ...
— Bardell v. Pickwick • Percy Fitzgerald
... without appeal whenever it can be satisfied with the consent of his other faculties and appetites. If he has no such elective taste, by the very principle on which he chooses any pursuit at all he must choose the most honest and serviceable, and not the most highly remunerated. We have here an external problem, not from or to ourself, but flowing from the constitution of society; and we have our own soul with its fixed design of righteousness. All that can be done is to ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 16 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... race, and put the great breast-wheel to work. One could see that the soldier had not entirely obliterated the miller, and as he related, with a glowing face, the plans that he had proposed to recuperate the tottering structure, and make it serviceable to the army, I felt a regret that such peaceful ambitions should have ever been overruled by the call ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend
... likewise the almost miraculous 'invitation to thinkers.' Invitation to Chaos to be so kind as build, out of its tumultuous drift-wood, an Ark of Escape for him! In these cases, not invitation but command has usually proved serviceable.—The Queen stood, that evening, pensive, in a window, with her face turned towards the Garden. The Chef de Gobelet had followed her with an obsequious cup of coffee; and then retired till it were sipped. Her Majesty beckoned Dame Campan to approach: "Grand Dieu!" murmured she, with the ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle
... Murden to lend us Steel Spring for a week or two," he muttered, "I think that we could make that scamp serviceable to us." ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... sentences were florid and his delivery rather mechanical, but he made a strong impression owing to the evident purity of his motives. The general public, however, had become suspicious of oratory, so that it was no longer as serviceable as formerly. ...
— Cambridge Sketches • Frank Preston Stearns
... is really more serviceable than any other colour," Miss Lester had said when she came to talk to Lucy about Mona, "and I think I would like to have something new. So I want my servants to wear a pretty ...
— The Making of Mona • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... Dr. Bruce and the Bishop, and Felicia plunged into the working out of her plan with the enthusiasm of her discipleship which every day grew more and more practical and serviceable. ...
— In His Steps • Charles M. Sheldon
... least a kind and sociable hostess, and Annie found, in Harry Boyns, a delightful companion, who never wearied of taking her to the cliffs, the shore, and all the romantic places of the neighbourhood, while Mr Webster found the captain to be most serviceable in connection with the wreck. One result of all this was that Mr Webster offered Captain Boyns the command of one of his largest vessels, an offer which was gladly accepted, for the captain had, at that time, been thrown out of employment by the failure of a ...
— Saved by the Lifeboat • R.M. Ballantyne
... like a larum, and could not be stopped; he poured out a profusion of things which had nothing to do with the point in question; and it was ten to one but he omitted the only circumstance that would have been really serviceable. Many people who have tenacious memories, and who have been ill educated, find themselves in a similar condition, with much knowledge baled up, an incumbrance to themselves and to their friends. The great difference which appears in men of the same profession, ...
— Practical Education, Volume I • Maria Edgeworth
... about the rooms and shrubberies useless and idle. How bitter to her was that possession of herself, as she felt that there was nothing good to be done with the thing so possessed! She doubted even whether ever again she could become serviceable as a governess, and whether the energy would be left to her of earning her bread by teaching adequately the few things that she knew. But she must make the attempt,—and must go on making it, till God in his mercy should take her ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope
... providence. One must not readily be among the malcontents in the State where one is, and one must not be so at all in the city of God, wherein one can only wrongfully be of their number. The books of human misery, such as that of Pope Innocent III, to me seem not of the most serviceable: evils are doubled by being given an attention that ought to be averted from them, to be turned towards the good which by far preponderates. Even less do I approve books such as that of Abbe Esprit, ...
— Theodicy - Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil • G. W. Leibniz
... looked up the word "wrench" in an English-German pocket dictionary; they then marched off to the switch station. Fortunately there was but one occupant, for neither Jock nor his companion could talk German, and the idiocy of not carrying a more serviceable weapon than a pocket dictionary never occurred to the mad Scot until his companion began to make weird gurgling sounds, evidently intended for the language of the Hun, addressed ...
— Night Bombing with the Bedouins • Robert Henry Reece
... to her?—unless indeed Sarratt were killed in action. If he survived the war he would make her the best of guides and husbands; she would have children; and her sweetness, her sensitiveness would stiffen under the impact of life to a serviceable toughness. But meanwhile what could she do—poor little Ariadne!—but 'live and be lovely'—sew and knit, and gather sphagnum moss—dreaming half her time, and no doubt crying half the night. What dark circles already round the beautiful ...
— Missing • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... returning; the sledge was repaired; its load, too, had become much lighter, and only weighed two hundred pounds. They mended their worn-out, torn clothes, all soaked through and through by the snow; new moccasins and snow-shoes replaced those which were no longer serviceable. This kept them busy the whole of the 29th and the morning of the 30th; then they all sought what rest they could get, and prepared ...
— The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras • Jules Verne
... region, however, they had, in one of the villages through which they passed, supplied themselves each with a fresh stout mule, besides two serviceable animals to carry ...
— The Rover of the Andes - A Tale of Adventure on South America • R.M. Ballantyne
... employment of an ambassador, came to Eton, and requested from him some experimental rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his negociations; to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible aphorism,—that, to be in safety himself, and serviceable to his country, he should always, and upon all occasions, speak the truth (it seems a state paradox). "For," says Sir Henry Wotton, "you shall never be believed; and by this means your truth will secure yourself, ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 237, May 13, 1854 • Various
... their sharpshooting. For the Rhodians could reach further than the Persian 16 slingers, or, indeed, than most of the bowmen. The Persian bows are of great size, so that the Cretans found the arrows which were picked up serviceable, and persevered in using their enemies' arrows, and practised shooting with them, letting them fly upwards to a great height (6). There were also plenty of bowstrings found in the villages—and lead, ...
— Anabasis • Xenophon
... America. He opened registries in which all citizens might record "freely" their approval or disapproval of his continuance in power. Though he obtained the huge majority of affirmative votes to be expected in such cases, he found that these pen-and-ink signatures were no more serviceable than his soldiers. Accordingly the dictator of many a day, fallen from his former estate of highness, decided to abandon his serenity also, and in 1854 fled the country—for ...
— The Hispanic Nations of the New World - Volume 50 in The Chronicles Of America Series • William R. Shepherd
... had roused Kentucky's wrath by the pedantic and, as the Court itself was presently forced to admit, unworkable decision in Green vs. Biddle. Then on the other hand, the nationalism of this period was of that negative kind which was better content to worship the Constitution than to make a really serviceable application of the national powers. After the War of 1812 the great and growing task which confronted the rapidly expanding nation was that of providing adequate transportation, and had the old federalism from which Marshall derived ...
— John Marshall and the Constitution - A Chronicle of the Supreme Court, Volume 16 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Edward S. Corwin
... within the control of the enemy's squadron now within, and blockading Chesapeake Bay, if she be allowed to proceed on her intended voyage, and as the enemy might derive from her such intelligence and succor as would be serviceable to themselves and injurious to the United States, I forbid her proceeding while the enemy shall be so disposed as to prevent a reasonable possibility of her getting to sea without falling into their possession."[175] At this writing the British had left the Potomac itself, ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 2 • Alfred Thayer Mahan
... language, manner, and intelligence, I inferred that his color had procured for him the few advantages within the reach of a quick-witted, kindly treated slave. Silent, grave, and thoughtful, but most serviceable, was my contraband; glad of the books I brought him, faithful in the performance of the duties I assigned to him, grateful for the friendliness I could not but feel and show toward him. Often I ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863 • Various
... Adooley were now sent for them to examine. They appeared strong and in good condition, and if they played them no wicked pranks in "the bush," no doubt they would be found eminently serviceable. ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish
... bedtime, are often serviceable in preventing a threatened cold or cutting it short, the patient going immediately to bed, with extra clothing and hot drinks. The free perspiration induced helps to break up ...
— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell
... to both sides of human nature. The passive and contemplative form of Christianity, with its constant reference to a higher world beyond the grave, could no longer control these men. Machiavelli ventured still further, and maintained that it could not be serviceable to the State and to the ...
— The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy • Jacob Burckhardt
... fair rod-fishing may be had. The water, principally used internally, is cold, has a pungent taste, and contains a large amount of carbonic acid gas, both free and in combination with lime, soda, potash, magnesia, and iron, and is serviceable in the cure of dyspepsia, enlargement of the liver, gall-stones, and diseases of the kidneys. Douche baths of ...
— The South of France—East Half • Charles Bertram Black
... while, Chia Chen gave directions to keep from the various perquisites just received such as would prove serviceable for the sacrifices to their ancestors, and, selecting a few things of each kind, he told Chia Jung to have them taken to the Jung mansion. After this, he himself kept what was required for his own use at home; and then allotting the rest, with due compliance ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... to have given rise to this reign of the Bedford, when there was placed here the Lion from Button's, which proved so serviceable to Steele, and once more fixed the dominion ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers
... that day. The other was Tom Morse. He discarded his serviceable moccasins, his caribou-skin capote with the fur on, his moose-skin trousers, and his picturesque blanket shirt. For these he substituted the ungainly clothes of civilization, a pair of square-toed boots, a store suit, ...
— Man Size • William MacLeod Raine
... you propose is rather a staggering one, because you accompany it with a phrase lacking rhythm, and difficult to rhyme. You will at once see, by running through the alphabet, that "roam" is the only serviceable rhyme for "home," but the union of the two suggests jingle or doggerel. I defy any minor poet when furnished with such a phrase, to refrain ...
— The Romance of a Christmas Card • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... Bible by heart, as well as to read it, every syllable aloud, hard names and all, from Genesis to the Apocalypse about once a year; and to that discipline— patient, accurate, and resolute—I owe not only a knowledge of the Book which I find occasionally serviceable, but much of my general power of taking pains and the best part of my taste in literature." He thinks reading Scott might have led to other novels of a poorer sort. Reading Pope might have led to Johnson's or Gibbon's English; but "it was impossible to write entirely ...
— The Greatest English Classic A Study of the King James Version of • Cleland Boyd McAfee
... artisans shall be formed into thirteen guilds, one of which will be divided into twelve parts and settled in the city; of the rest there shall be one in each division of the country. And the magistrates will fix them on the spots where they will cause the least inconvenience and be most serviceable in supplying the wants of ...
— Laws • Plato
... treatment of all the various textile fabrics and fibers where mystery, empiricism, "rule-of-thumb" and their accompanying uncertainties reigned. In the fertilizer industry, it was the chemist who learned and who taught how to make our immense beds of phosphate rock useful and serviceable to man in the enrichment of the soil; he has taught how to make waste products of other industries useful and available for fertilization and he has shown how to make the gas works contribute to the fertility of the soil. In the soda industry, the chemist ...
— Popular Science Monthly Volume 86
... addition to the two watermen who managed it, were three persons,—two women and a man. To all outward appearance only one of these was of any importance. This was a young lady of bright and attractive face, dressed in a plain and serviceable travelling-costume, but evidently of good birth and training. Her companions were a man and a maid-servant, the latter of unusual height for a woman, and with an embrowned and roughened face that indicated exposure to severe hardships ...
— Historical Tales, Vol. 4 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris
... any more by force to disturb me; and now only uses all sorts of arts and contrivances to deceive me, or any persons whom I would wish to secure. One of my father's daily lessons to me was, that I should never omit any one day of my life endeavouring to be as serviceable as I possibly could to any person in distress. And I daily wander, as far as my feet will carry me, in search of any such, and hither I invite them to peace and calm contentment. But my father added also this command, that I should never endeavour ...
— The Governess - The Little Female Academy • Sarah Fielding
... am not writing his life—but editing his autobiographical reminiscences and diaries—and unless the anecdote could be introduced to explain or illustrate these, it would not be serviceable for my ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) • Edward FitzGerald
... a long discussion. I and your brother both endeavoured to convince him it was his duty to remain in England; that he could be more serviceable here, and would find better opportunities for effecting that good which he had so warmly at heart than in any ...
— Anna St. Ives • Thomas Holcroft
... accomplishments unsuited to their situation. Some had a fine ear for music, others showed powers of dancing; but they were taught neither dancing nor music—talents which in their station were more likely to be dangerous than serviceable. They were not intended for actresses or opera-girls, but for shop-girls, mantua-makers, work-women, and servants of different sorts; consequently they were instructed in things which would be most necessary and useful to young women in their rank of life. Before they ...
— Murad the Unlucky and Other Tales • Maria Edgeworth
... ivory knives, the men were well supplied with a much more serviceable kind, made of iron, and called panna. The form of this knife is very peculiar, being seven inches long, two and a quarter broad, quite straight and flat, pointed at the end, and ground equally sharp at both edges; this is firmly secured into a handle of bone or wood about a foot long, by two ...
— Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the • Sir William Edward Parry
... law, which holds throughout the material, the mental, and the moral realms, that disuse tends to atrophy and extinction. Disused organs cease to exist, as in the eyeless cave-fish. For centuries the story of the miraculous birth of Jesus was serviceable for confirmation of his claim to be the Son of God. In the address of the angel of the annunciation to Mary that claim is expressly rested on the miraculous conception of "the holy thing."[37] But as ethical enlightenment grows, ...
— Miracles and Supernatural Religion • James Morris Whiton
... stories there were about the lions. The serviceable one who found a resting-place in a field for Mary the Egyptian; the flaming lion who protected virgins or maidens in danger; and then the lion of Saint Jerome, to whose care an ass had been confided, and, when the animal was stolen, went in search of him and brought him back. There was also ...
— The Dream • Emile Zola
... from their conversation (which does not always happen, by reason of the disparity of conditions, which easily begets contempt or envy toward any one whatever), is it not too much to make abuse of this half a lifetime? The more I should see them constrain themselves out of affection to be serviceable to me, the more I should be sorry for their pains. We have liberty to lean, but not to lay our whole weight upon others, so as to prop ourselves by their ruin; like him who caused little children's throats to be cut to make use of their blood for the cure of a disease ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne
... prefect, but on attempting to enter upon his duties the clerks, who had remained sole masters of the offices, refused to recognize him, and he was constrained to retire. For the rest, he was a good fellow, inoffensive and serviceable, and had busied himself with incomparable industry in organizing the defense of the town; had had holes dug all over the plain, cut down all the young trees in the neighboring woods, scattered ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 1 (of 8) - Boule de Suif and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant
... she said. "It never occurred to me how wickedness could justify itself by reason. But I observe now how serviceable a thing it is. It seems that you can reason away any truth, any fact, any ideal. Perhaps you can banish God by reason, or defend crime by reason; reason, I shall not be surprised to learn, can make all things possible or impossible. But—does ...
— The City of Delight - A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem • Elizabeth Miller
... be said about bird manuals, save to warn you against spending your money for books which describe only a part of the avifauna of a given region and yet are advertised as serviceable for the identification of all birds. Unless you have plenty of money to spend, when you buy a manual buy one that is scientifically accurate and complete. Nothing is more trying to the student of birds, whether tyro or expert, than ...
— Our Bird Comrades • Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser
... pretty form to the lips. 'Papa,' 'potatoes,' 'poultry,' 'prunes and prisms.' You will find it serviceable if you say to yourself on entering a room, 'Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer
... conversation took its place. Rosetta Muriel, invited to lay aside her hat, declined with dignity and commented on the weather. After full justice had been done to that serviceable theme, Peggy ...
— Peggy Raymond's Vacation - or Friendly Terrace Transplanted • Harriet L. (Harriet Lummis) Smith
... Court has yet to be written. H. L. Carson, The History of the Supreme Court of the United States, with biographies of all the chief and associate justices (2 vols., 1902-04), and H. Flanders, The Lives and Times of the Chief-Justices of the Supreme Court (2 vols., 1855-58), are serviceable works. The best selection of cases on constitutional law is that by J. B. Thayer, Cases in Constitutional Law (2 vols., 1894-95). Some of the more important decisions may be found abridged in Allen Johnson's Readings in American Constitutional History (1912). W. W. Willoughby, The ...
— Union and Democracy • Allen Johnson
... highest employments, and yet through inclination and modesty preferring a life of obscurity and retirement: than to see such a man sincerely refuse the offer made to him, of reigning over a whole nation, and at last consent to undergo the toil of government, from no other motive than that of being serviceable to his fellow-citizens. His first disposition, by which he declares that he is acquainted with the duties, and consequently with the dangers annexed to a sovereign power, shows him to have a soul ...
— The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, • Charles Rollin
... glass of water—'compose yourself for a few moments, and then tell me, as calmly as you can, what the disease of the patient is, and how long he has been ill. When I know what it is necessary I should know, to render my visit serviceable to him, I am ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens
... Discoursed about it may not only give some Light to the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have an Opportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully) but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the ...
— The Sceptical Chymist • Robert Boyle
... told the Queen, as he had been serviceable to her in her War with the Island of Mohila, and might continue to be of farther Use, he did not question her lending him Assistance in the settling himself on the Coast of Madagascar, and to that end, furnish him with 300 Men, to help in his Buildings; the Queen answered, she could ...
— Of Captain Mission • Daniel Defoe
... against the one or the other. We hear of fifty places on the coast which he fortified, not without the help of foreign master-workmen: the two great harbours of Dover and Calais he put into good condition and filled them with serviceable ships. For a long time past he had been building the first vessels of a large size (such as the Harry and Mary Rose) which then did service in the wars.[138] It may be that the property of the monasteries was partly squandered and ought to have been better husbanded: ...
— A History of England Principally in the Seventeenth Century, Volume I (of 6) • Leopold von Ranke
... miracles; and this miracle is all the more patent, I think, now that the bridge has been in commission for almost six hundred years and still is entirely serviceable. Yet while its piers and arches, its essential parts, remain nearly as the Brothers built them, the bridge has undergone such modifications in the course of the past century—in order to fit it to the needs of modern traffic—that its picturesqueness has ...
— The Christmas Kalends of Provence - And Some Other Provencal Festivals • Thomas A. Janvier
... you realize," she continued, "that to cast me loose in a plane, with only one serviceable arm, will be equivalent ...
— The Flying Legion • George Allan England
... 1888 says: "We introduced this cauliflower to our customers last year as the finest and most delicately flavored variety we have grown." Heads large, firm, snowy white; plant medium early, of strong, dwarf, habit and broad leaves, which "are serviceable for shading the heads." ...
— The Cauliflower • A. A. Crozier
... to recommend a method which was found extremely serviceable at that time; namely, the method of teaching by aphorism, 'without any show of an art or method; not merely because it tries the author, since aphorisms being made out of the pith and heart of sciences, no man can write them who is not sound ...
— The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded • Delia Bacon
... of a favour proceeds from false ideas of its origin. Though every sinner be ungrateful, yet every sinner is not a monster of ingratitude. The first cause of our felicity is sometimes mingled with the second, which is serviceable in procuring it. Our industry frequently seems to share with Providence the glory of our condition, and the nature of a blessing sometimes leads us to forget the acknowledgments due to our benefactor; but Eve enjoyed no good which did not in some respect proceed immediately from the ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I • Francis Augustus Cox
... navy at this time amounted to no more than thirty-six; but the most serviceable merchant vessels were collected from all the ports of the country; and the citizens of London, Bristol, and the other great seats of commerce showed as liberal a zeal in equipping and manning vessels as the nobility and gentry displayed in mustering forces by land. The seafaring ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1-20 • Various
... hall were as hushed as beasts before a thunderstorm, and all of them quite fully aware of the tremendous catastrophe that had come to Martens. And moreover, as I recalled afterwards with astonishment, I went past them and out into the driving rain unprotected, and not one of them stirred a serviceable hand.... ...
— The Passionate Friends • Herbert George Wells
... the advertisement of the "Royal Middy" costume in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 27.—The Indian ponies of the far West are very serviceable and hardy little animals. The Canadian ponies and Texan mustangs are useful, but sometimes too vicious for a little boy like you. A shaggy little Shetland is pretty, if ...
— Harper's Young People, October 26, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... is evident that there are scarce hands enow in the country to carry on either of these affairs. Now, these vagabonds might not only by this means be kept out of harm's way, but be rendered serviceable to the nation. Nor is there any need of transporting them beyond seas, for if any are refractory they should be sent to our stannaries and other mines, to our coal works and other places where hard ...
— Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business • Daniel Defoe
... spinsters. I cannot say much in vindication of the shortness of the petticoats; it doubtless was introduced for the purpose of giving the stockings a chance to be seen, which were generally of blue worsted, with magnificent red clocks; or perhaps to display a well-turned ankle, and a neat though serviceable foot, set off by a high-heeled leathern shoe, with a large and splendid silver buckle. Thus we find that the gentle sex in all ages have shown the same disposition to infringe a little upon the laws of decorum, in order to betray a lurking beauty, or gratify an innocent ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving
... maple of the Eastern woods, the large-leaved maples of the West, these and many more are in this great family, to say nothing of the many interesting cultivated forms and variations introduced from European nurseries, and most serviceable in formal ornamental planting. But I have told of those I know best and those that any reader can know as well in one season, if he looks for them with the necessary tree love which is but a fine form of true love of God's creation. ...
— Getting Acquainted with the Trees • J. Horace McFarland
... was overjoy'd to find the brave Britain, whom he had received so great a Character of, from his Brother the Admiral, and accosting him very Courteously, 'Sir, (said he) I am sorry our Countrymen shou'd be so Ungrateful as to Injure any Person, who has been so Serviceable to the State; and pray, Gentlemen, (added he, addressing the other two) be intreated to suspend your Animosities, and come Dine with me at my House, where I hope to prevail with you to end your Resentments.' Gonzago and Erizo hearing him Compliment ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn - Volume V • Aphra Behn
... the type has been superseded, it should go out permanently. We continue to run old three-deckers for fighting battles, or Columbian caravels for freighting purposes. It appears to some to cause a temporary setback to fighting efficiency to send a once serviceable ship to the scrap heap, but it is the best and cheapest in the end. In the North Sea fishery I saw hundreds of sailing craft that had helped to make fortunes, that had kept the markets full, and that still had years of life, laid up, and then sold practically for old junk. ...
— What the Church Means to Me - A Frank Confession and a Friendly Estimate by an Insider • Wilfred T. Grenfell
... barely eighteen years, evidently country-bred, and now, as it should seem, upon his first visit to town. He was clad in a coarse gray coat, well worn, but in excellent repair; his under garments were durably constructed of leather, and fitted tight to a pair of serviceable and well-shaped limbs; his stockings of blue yarn were the incontrovertible work of a mother or a sister; and on his head was a three-cornered hat, which in its better days had perhaps sheltered the graver brow of the lad's father. Under his left arm was a heavy ...
— The Snow Image • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... cut below a hollow in a limb if possible. Where, however, this would necessitate cutting below the desirable laterals, the cavity may be filled with cement and thus rendered serviceable for some years. Summer pruning of the apricot is desirable if the growth is heavy and the tree has reached a bearing age. Thinning out of prune trees can be undertaken in the autumn, providing the tree has practically finished its ...
— One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered • E.J. Wickson
... creosote by the pharmacist are in small quantities as a toothache remedy, and phenol has the power of coagulating albumen, which effectually relieves the suffering. Wood creosote does not coagulate albumen, and is, therefore, not as serviceable. This is, perhaps, the reason that it has become, in a great measure, supplanted in general sale by the coal tar creosote, to say nothing of the argument ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882 • Various
... now demand our report, we conceive the former to be by far the most interesting to the reader, as the latter is indisputably the most serviceable to the traveller. Excepting, indeed, the running commentary which it contains on a number of extracts from Pausanias and Strabo, it is, as the title imports, a mere itinerary of Greece, or rather of Argolis only, in its present ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 • Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero
... select those that will come to a good point. You will not require more than three or four, a medium size for washes, a smaller for stippling, and a very fine one for finishing-touches. An oval china palette is also needed; the small slabs sold in ordinary paintboxes are not serviceable for miniature painting, as many colours and tints are necessary. Use the best water-colours if you wish to succeed, and you will find those in pans or half pans are preferable to the dry cakes, as time is not spent in rubbing them down. These are the most useful colours:—Cobalt, French ...
— Little Folks (December 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... section of the voyage the distance under canvas was 3,327 knots, the average speed 7.7 knots, and the distance under steam 289 knots, with an average speed of 7 knots. The South-east Trades were light, and balloon canvas again proved extremely serviceable. ...
— The Last Voyage - to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' • Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey
... retained apparently on condition of its doing all the hard work and making itself generally useful. Formerly it was the man who wore the fine clothes who went to the shows. To-day it is the woman gorgeously clad for whom the shows are organized. The man dressed in a serviceable and unostentatious, not to say depressing, suit of black accompanies her for the purpose of carrying her cloak and calling her carriage. Among the working classes life, of necessity, remains primitive; ...
— The Angel and the Author - and Others • Jerome K. Jerome
... to keep up your correspondence, Lucy. You never can know when it may prove serviceable. If it had not been for that, she most likely never ...
— Sir Tom • Mrs. Oliphant
... hand tools, or spades and shovels, may be used. If, however, the soil is mellow, a fork is a better tool than a spade, from the fact that it does not slice the soil, but tends to break it up into smaller and more irregular masses. The ordinary spading-fork, with strong flat tines, is a most serviceable tool; a spading-fork for soft ground may be made from an old manure fork by cutting down the tines, as shown in ...
— Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) • L. H. Bailey
... of utter loathing went over me. I set my glass down. "It would be a more serviceable compliment to the lady in question if I strangled you on ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1920 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... no animal so beautiful, and that possesses so much ability for being serviceable to man, that is nevertheless so useless, except for its beauty, as the zebra. One would suppose, to look at the fellow—and doubtless this is the fact—that he could perform much of the labor of the horse. But he is generally quite indisposed to any such routine of employment. He is very fond ...
— Stories about Animals: with Pictures to Match • Francis C. Woodworth
... snatched in Africa; to consider our hard hands and dark color as God's mark of displeasure, and as pointing us out as the proper{213} subjects of slavery; that the relation of master and slave was one of reciprocal benefits; that our work was not more serviceable to our masters, than our master's thinking was serviceable to us. I say, it was in vain that the pulpit of St. Michael's had constantly inculcated these plausible doctrine. Nature laughed them to scorn. For my own part, I had now become altogether too big for my chains. Father Lawson's solemn words, ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass
... a small band of twelve men, who, while encamped on the Cimarron River, in 1826, with but four serviceable guns among them, were visited by a party of Indians, believed to be Arapahoes, who made at first strong demonstrations of friendship and good-will. Observing the defenceless condition of the traders, they went away, but soon returned about thirty strong, each provided with a lasso, ...
— The Old Santa Fe Trail - The Story of a Great Highway • Henry Inman
... flee them and to shame ever greatly thereof, and to love all virtues and to draw to them, imagining how CHRIST and his followers (by example of him) suffered scorns and slanders, and how patiently they abode and took the wrongful menacing of tyrants, how homely they were and serviceable to poor men to relieve and comfort them bodily and ghostly after their power and cunning, and how devout they were in prayers, how fervent they were in heavenly desires, and how they absented them from spectacles of vain seeings and hearings, ...
— Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse • Various
... Millers-thumb, being Childrens Recreation, I shall speak little of, only being serviceable for Baits, I shall only say he is easily taken with a small Worm, being lazie and simple, and will swallow any thing; and the Minnow, Loach, and Bansticle being of the same ...
— The School of Recreation (1684 edition) • Robert Howlett
... that the scheming woman Culling had determined to bring down every man concerned in the Bevisham election, and particularly Mr. Romfrey, on his knees before Nevil. Holdesbury had been placed at his disposal, and the use of the house in London, which latter would have been extremely serviceable to Cecil as a place of dinners to the Parliament of Great Britain in lieu of the speech-making generally expected of Members, and not so effectively performed. One would think the baron had grown afraid of old Nevil! He had spoken as ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... is to avoid the alarm and noise occasioned by firearms. All troops engaged in this service in addition to the rifle ought to have the bow and the quiver. What an advantage it would have been in the Caffre war, and how serviceable now in the Crimea. They are light to carry and quickly discharged. When we get to my house I will prove it to you. We will set up two targets, at one hundred yards, say. You shall fire from one to the other, and then stand aside, and before you can reload I will put three arrows into yours. ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton
... gules erased," said Sir Nigel, shaking his head solemnly. "Yet it is not amiss for a monk-bred man. I trust that you are lowly and serviceable?" ...
— The White Company • Arthur Conan Doyle
... July, 1875 (Vol. II.), Harry will find full directions how to make a serviceable boat at a small cost; and G.B.J., whose letter we print verbatim, also may find hints that will enable him ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12 • Various
... partly for the sake of puzzling any stray Indians, but chiefly for improving the pasture. In grassy plains unoccupied by the larger ruminating quadrupeds, it seems necessary to remove the superfluous vegetation by fire, so as to render the new year's growth serviceable. ...
— A Naturalist's Voyage Round the World - The Voyage Of The Beagle • Charles Darwin
... seven days at Malta, Bonaparte revealed the vigour of those organizing powers for which the half of Europe was soon to present all too small an arena. He abolished the Order, pensioning off those French knights who had been serviceable: he abolished the religious houses and confiscated their domains to the service of the new government: he established a governmental commission acting under a military governor: he continued provisionally the existing taxes, and provided for the imposition of customs, excise, and octroi ...
— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose
... masterpieces of Greek literature. Most of the Jewish translations, however, that influenced Europe were made from the Arabic into the Hebrew. But though the language of these translations was mostly Hebrew, they were serviceable to others besides Jews. For the Hebrew versions were often only a stage in a longer journey. Sometimes by Jews directly, sometimes by Christian scholars acting in conjunction with Jews, these Hebrew versions were turned ...
— Chapters on Jewish Literature • Israel Abrahams
... in shanty-boats, skiff's, fancy little yachts, and jon-boats, rag-shacks on rafts, and serviceable cruisers drift down with the flood, and are a part ...
— The River Prophet • Raymond S. Spears
... serviceable instrument for time measurements was employed, consisting of a disc provided with four rows of sockets in which pegs were inserted at appropriate angular intervals, so that their contact with fixed ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various
... monitors, none of which are in commission nor at the present time serviceable. The batteries of these ships are obsolete, and they can only be relied upon as auxiliary ships in harbor defense, and then after such an expenditure upon them as might ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland
... order, and has a truer bend with it when subjected to pressure. I recommend a rod having a root 9 feet, and a top of 5 feet, making together 14 feet in length, as the most useful; a fir root, and top of good sound lance wood, well painted, ringed and varnished, makes a neat and serviceable rod. For trolling, your top should be stiff and strong. For worm not so pliable as your ...
— The Teesdale Angler • R Lakeland
... from Guano.—In England, 48 bushels of wheat and 100 of oats have been made from an acre dressed with 200 lbs. of guano. A late English writer, in detailing his own experiments, and urging others to the same course, says; "The reason guano is serviceable to all plants arises from its containing every saline and organic matter required as food. It is used beneficially on all soils; for, as it contains every element necessary to plants, it is independent of the quality of the soil. So far as the experiments in England ...
— Guano - A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers • Solon Robinson
... the money which Dolly owed him, not making any complaint, not indeed asking for immediate payment, but explaining with an air of importance that if a commercial arrangement could be made, it might, at this moment, be very serviceable to him. 'I'm particularly anxious to take up those ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope
... presenting impossible or unreal things are not necessarily bad; in fact they are often good and distinctly serviceable. No matter how true they appear to a child, the time comes when he rejects them as impossible, although he may always be indebted to them for keen pleasure and the awakening of his imagination. Belief in the myth of Santa Claus never destroyed a child's love and ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10 - The Guide • Charles Herbert Sylvester
... a dark recess inside Fat Mrs. Watson comes slip-slop To mind the business of the shop. She walks flat-footed with a roll— A serviceable, homely soul, With kindly, ugly face like dough, Hair dull and colourless as tow. A huge Scotch pebble fills the space Between her bosom and her face. One sees her making beds all day. Miss Thompson lets her say ...
— Georgian Poetry 1920-22 • Various
... thoroughly, though every now and then he had to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake. And he was fed well all the time, and all the time made much of, so that when the ship reached land he was quite sorry. The ship anchored by a stone quay, most solid and serviceable, and every ...
— The Magic World • Edith Nesbit
... deny, that sweating may be so managed as to be serviceable in preventing the return of the cold paroxysm of fevers; like the warm bath, or any other permanent stimulus, as wine, or opium, or the bark. For this purpose it should be continued till past the time of the expected ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin
... love upon the lad, and his father shewed him every good that he was able. When the varlet was no more a child, Oridial sent him to the King, to be trained as a page in the courtesies of the Court. Right serviceable was he in his station, and meetly praised of all. The term of his service having come, and he being found of fitting years and knowledge, the King made him knight with his own hand, and armed him in rich harness, according to his wish. So Gugemar gave ...
— French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France • Marie de France
... serviceable only where the deposit is so narrow that the opening can be bridged by single timbers between wall and wall (Figs. 28 and 43). This system can be applied to any dip and is most useful in narrow ...
— Principles of Mining - Valuation, Organization and Administration • Herbert C. Hoover
... flashed on the mind, steady and serviceable, but not brilliantly ingenious, of Mr. Macrae. 'This,' he exclaimed rather superfluously, 'accounts for the fiendish skill with which these miscreants took cover when pursued by the Marine Police. This explains the subtle art with which they dodged observation. Doubtless ...
— The Disentanglers • Andrew Lang
... from the window. A tiger, I thought, or some kindred wild beast, must have escaped from captivity. And so rapidly does the mind work at such times that instinctively I had reviewed the several sporting pieces in my possession and had selected a rifle which had proved serviceable in India ere I had taken ...
— The Green Eyes of Bast • Sax Rohmer
... grouping, and in the following definitions, I have not been able to follow any special authority. But the most serviceable text-books are those of Mr. Frank Rutley, Study of Rocks, and Dr. Hatch, Petrology; also H. Rosenbusch, Mikroskopische Physiographie der Mineralien, and F. Zirkel's Untersuchungen ueber mikroskopische Structur der Basaltgesteine. We shall ...
— Volcanoes: Past and Present • Edward Hull
... and lay-brothers, whilst the native clergymen in effective possession of curacies, and including substitutes, coadjutors and weekly preachers, exceed one thousand. And as the latter, in general unworthy of the priesthood, are rather injurious than really serviceable to the state, it should not be deemed unjust if they were altogether deprived of the dignity of parish curates, and only allowed to exercise their functions in necessary cases, or by attaching them to the curacies in the quality of coadjutors. By this plan, at the same time that the ...
— The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes • Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf Virchow.
... have their children taught the language which explains our names of persons or places, our older history, and our music, and which is spoken in the majority of our counties, rather than Italian, German, or French. It would be more useful in life, more serviceable to the taste and genius of young people, and a more flexible accomplishment for an Irish man or woman to speak, sign, ...
— Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry • Thomas Davis
... satisfaction of all Whigs, many military stores were found in the town. Most important were more than two hundred pieces of ordnance, the larger part of which, though spiked, could soon be put into serviceable condition. Balls and shells for the cannon and mortars were found; provisions, horses and their provender, medicines in quantity, and many other articles were discovered, amounting in value to nearly forty thousand pounds. The booty of Brush of ...
— The Siege of Boston • Allen French
... it, as the ship was driving fast on shore, and might every moment be expected to strike. The boats were then mentioned, but it was agreed, that although at that time they could be of very little use, yet in case an opportunity of making them serviceable should present itself, it was proposed that the officers should be confidentially requested to reserve the long boat for the ladies and themselves; and this precaution was ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous
... the churchyard I found a serviceable thumbnail and put it in my pocket. I waited a little, peering this way and that, and listening, but all was still. No voice came saying, ...
— Wanderers • Knut Hamsun
... so constructed. The rig too was unique. The four masts were made in one continuous length, with fore-and-aft sails, but no yards,—thereby reducing the number of hands necessary to work them. And the steam winches were so arranged as to be serviceable for all the heavy hauls, as well as for the rapid ...
— Men of Invention and Industry • Samuel Smiles
... shortcomings of the labor unions Are the shortcomings of the labor unions accidental or inherent? Some ways of bettering the condition of the working classes How municipal (state, national) bureaus for finding employment for the laborer may become more serviceable Wrongs committed by big business (or some branch of it) Should a man's income above a stipulated amount be confiscated by the government? Income taxes—what exemptions should be granted? The right basis for business—competition or cooeperation? Are the courts equally ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor
... my baggage and Fritz, desired the landlord to engage me a second fellow to wear my liveries, a couple of stout reputable chairmen and their machine, and a coachman who had handsome job-horses to hire for my chariot, and serviceable riding-horses to sell. I gave him a handsome sum in advance; and I promise you the effect of my advertisement was such, that next day I had a regular levee in my antechamber: grooms, valets, and maitres-d'hotel offered themselves without number; I had proposals ...
— Barry Lyndon • William Makepeace Thackeray
... pleased to hear this, and true to his word, Quintal set to work that very day, with McCoy, whom he persuaded to assist him. His friend thought that Quintal was only jesting about the women, and that in reality he meant to build a serviceable boat for fishing purposes. Young and Adams took little notice of what the other two were about; but one day when the former came down to the beach on Bounty Bay, he could not help remarking on the strange ...
— The Lonely Island - The Refuge of the Mutineers • R.M. Ballantyne
... more important result may be deduced from my observations. Eggs and seeds are highly serviceable as a means of dissemination, but we now know that fertile eggs can be produced without the aid of the male. There are also many other methods by which organisms can be propagated asexually. Why then have the two sexes been developed, and why do males exist which cannot themselves produce ...
— The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom • Charles Darwin
... they were sent home to Portugal. One of these, named Ferdinando Lopez, as a penance for his crimes, voluntarily remained with a negro at the island of St Helena, where he began some cultivation, and was afterwards serviceable to several ships that called in there, by furnishing ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr
... glad the marines have been withdrawn from the gun boats, as this may make the commanders of the latter keep a brighter lookout than formerly.] Gun-boats of this kind, together with the few small cutters owned by the government, were serviceable enough. They were employed all along the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas, and in Long Island Sound, in protecting the coasting trade by convoying parties of small vessels from one port to another, and preventing them from being molested by the boats ...
— The Naval War of 1812 • Theodore Roosevelt
... Lord Hervey, though Mr. Jackson has interest there, I would not advise him to try it, for both hate him. The application to the Duke of Newcastle by the Most direct means, I should think the best, or by any one that can be serviceable to ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole
... Nations" (1776). The edition of McCulloch is perhaps more serviceable than that of J. E. ...
— Principles Of Political Economy • John Stuart Mill
... note well the friendly way in which the crow follows the plow, ingratiating itself by eating the larvae, field mice, and worms upturned in the furrows, for this is its one serviceable act throughout the year. When the first brood of chickens is hatched, its serious depredations begin. Not only the farmer's young fledglings, ducks, turkeys, and chicks, are snatched up and devoured, but the nests of song birds are made desolate, ...
— Bird Neighbors • Neltje Blanchan
... to the Skipper every day, I did not forget to exercise myself in that other art of Writing, and was in time serviceable enough to be able to keep, in something like a rational and legible form the Log of The Humane Hopwood, which heretofore had been a kind of cabalistic Register, full of blots, crosses, half-moons, and zigzags, like ...
— The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 of 3 • George Augustus Sala
... trouble with the game as it now stands is the risk of personal injury. This can be eliminated by the watcher insisting on each player being frisked for weapons before the game begins and cultivating a good serviceable defense against ordinary forms of ...
— Love Conquers All • Robert C. Benchley
... chiefly in the lumber-yard at Parramatta, and under the superintendence of the same officer, Mr. Simpson. Much of the equipment used for the last expedition was available for this occasion. The boats and boat-carriage were as serviceable as ever, with the advantage of being better seasoned; and we could now, having had so much experience, prepare with less difficulty for ...
— Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2) • Thomas Mitchell
... held the message a long time. When she arose she was ravenously hungry, but the pain in her heart was a little easier. She went to a restaurant and ate some food, then to a dressmaker where she ordered four dresses: two very plain every-day ones, a serviceable dark gray cloth suit, and a soft light gray silk with touches of lavender and lace. She made a heavy list of purchases at Brownlee's, and the remainder of the day she did business in her direct and spirited way. At night she was so tired she scarcely could walk home, but she built ...
— A Girl Of The Limberlost • Gene Stratton Porter
... secure a discarded army-tent that has never been used, is in good condition, and has been condemned merely for some unimportant blemish. Such tents are very serviceable and can be purchased at Government auctions, or from dealers who themselves have bought them ...
— On the Trail - An Outdoor Book for Girls • Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard
... the dogfish; in others, the golden fish for its beauty; in others, the crawfish; in others, for want of larger gods, the crabs, where they had no other fish, or where they knew not how to catch and kill them. In short, they had whatever fish was most serviceable to them as their gods." The Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia think that when a salmon is killed its soul returns to the salmon country. Hence they take care to throw the bones and offal into the ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer
... tell me?" replied the Count d'Erfeuil, "can such an intellectual lady as you fill her head with such nonsense? It is the advantage of us men that women think as you do—we have thus more ascendancy over you; but your superiority must not be lost, it must be serviceable to you." "Serviceable to me?" said Corinne, "Ah! I owe it much, if it has enabled me to feel more acutely all that is interesting and generous in the character of Lord Nelville."—"Lord Nelville is like other men," said the Count; "he will return to his native country, he will pursue ...
— Corinne, Volume 1 (of 2) - Or Italy • Mme de Stael
... Madam! if I have committed a fault, thank your self; no Man is more Serviceable when I am let into a Secret, nor none more Unlucky at finding it out. Who cou'd divine your Meaning, when you talk'd of a Blunderbuss, who thought of a Rendevous? and when you talk'd of a Monkey, who the ...
— The Busie Body • Susanna Centlivre
... find an opportunity of noticing my volume on the Constitution which is to appear in November, it would be very serviceable to the publisher. It is only a reprint of that part of the 'Political Philosophy,' and lays down true and sound principles—at this time necessary ...
— Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. - In Two Volumes. VOL. II. • John Knox Laughton
... cried out shame upon John for his barbarous usage of his own flesh and blood; that it was an easy matter for him to put her in a creditable way of living, not only without hurt, but with advantage to himself, seeing she was an industrious person, and might be serviceable to him in his way of business. "Hang her, jade," quoth John, "I can't endure her as long as she keeps that rascal Jack's company." They told him the way to reclaim her was to take her into his house; that by conversation the childish ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 • Charles Dudley Warner
... republica,' and he does not promise himself present advantage from the firmness and consistency of the Tories, but taking it in connection with the folly and wickedness of the other party (who he is persuaded bitterly regret their own precipitate violence and folly), he expects it to prove serviceable as an example and beacon to future generations. All the evils that have been predicted may flow from this measure when carried into complete operation, but it is neither statesmanlike nor manly to throw up the game in despair, and surrender every ...
— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II • Charles C. F. Greville |
