"Gem" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... but it is running finely now, and it will simplify the work of the next census amazingly, just as the machines you saw have made the old hand punching machines of former times seem very cumbersome. But this one," he added, "is a gem." ...
— The Boy With the U.S. Census • Francis Rolt-Wheeler
... child to pore over the Apocalypse, which I thought by far the most beautiful and absorbing of all the books of the Bible; it seemed full of rich and dim pictures, things which I could not interpret and did not wish to interpret, the shining of clear gem-like walls, lonely riders, amazing monsters, sealed books, all of which took perfectly definite shape in the childish imagination. The consequence is that I can no more criticise it than I could criticise ...
— Joyous Gard • Arthur Christopher Benson
... mists that may not be dispelled, I see an old farm homestead, as in dreams, Where, like a gem in costly setting held, The ...
— The Complete Works • James Whitcomb Riley
... amazingly successful in keeping her secret almost to the end. Yet the mystery attending a stolen diamond of great value is so skilfully handled that several perfectly innocent persons seem all but hopelessly identified with the disappearance of the gem. Cleverly, however, as this aspect of the story has been managed, it has ...
— Condemned as a Nihilist - A Story of Escape from Siberia • George Alfred Henty
... progressed far before the guide pointed out another crack in the rock fringed with gem-like crystals, and then another and another, but all out of reach without chipping steps in the stone—of course ...
— The Crystal Hunters - A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps • George Manville Fenn
... a gem,'" the young lady responded smartly. "'But, George, I fear me you'll never carry the jewel in your ears.' The quotation is not apt, though, for you evidently have carried my good counsel in your ears, and been learning your part already. ...
— Dr. Jolliffe's Boys • Lewis Hough
... early in the spring, When daisies droop'd, and birds were fain to sing, We met, and talk'd, and walk'd, and were content In sunlit paths? An hour and more we spent In Keats's Grove. We linger'd near the stem Of that lone tree on which was seen the gem Of his bright name, there carven by himself; And then I stoop'd and kiss'd thy ...
— A Lover's Litanies • Eric Mackay
... cool, still, empty chambers in which indifferent collections are apt to be preserved, the red brick tiles, the diffused light, the musty odor, the mementos around you of dead fashions, the snuffy custodian in a black skull cap, who pulls aside a faded curtain to show you the lustreless gem of the museum, - these things have a mild historical quality, and the sallow canvases after all illustrate something. Many of those in the museum of Nantes illustrate the taste of a successful warrior; having been bequeathed to the city by Napoleon's marshal, Clarke (created Duc de ...
— A Little Tour in France • Henry James
... must all have admired the bold, fierce, bright eye of the eagle; the large, gentle, brown eye of the ox; the treacherous, green eye of the cat, waxing and waning like the moon; the pert eye of the sparrow; the sly eye of the fox; the peering little bead of black enamel in the mouse's head; the gem-like eye that redeems the toad from ugliness, and the intelligent, affectionate expression which looks out of the human-like eye of the horse and dog. There are many other animals whose eyes are full of ...
— Bunyan Characters - Third Series - The Holy War • Alexander Whyte
... rises like a gem on the brow of the lakes, is favored by the clearest and most healthful atmosphere, and washed by the purest and most transparent water in the world, imparting the most pleasurable sensations imaginable. When this enchanting region shall become ...
— Old Mackinaw - The Fortress of the Lakes and its Surroundings • W. P. Strickland
... frail gem on her beautiful head, I should sit in the golden glory; And prouder I'd be than the diadem spread Round the brow ...
— Poems • Victor Hugo
... the staple commodities produced here is that classic, beautiful, and precious gem, the opal. It is found imbedded in a certain kind of rock, in the neighboring mountains, sometimes in cubes, but oftener in very irregular forms. It will be remembered that Nonius, who possessed a large and ...
— Aztec Land • Maturin M. Ballou
... Denmark's daughter. His successors, Saint Louis, Philippe-le-Hardi, and Philippe-le-Bel did their part in enlarging and beautifying the structure, and Saint Louis laid the foundations of that peerless Gothic gem—La Saint Chapelle. ...
— Royal Palaces and Parks of France • Milburg Francisco Mansfield
... ripples and foam of the Fundy shores seem transformed to molten silver and gold, and after each receding wave the emerald seaweed is left dripping with millions of sparkling lights, shining with a living lustre which would pale the brightest gem. Each of these countless sparks is a tiny animal, as perfect in its substance and as well adapted to its cycle of life as the highest created being. The wonderful way in which this phosphorescence permeates everything—the ...
— The Log of the Sun - A Chronicle of Nature's Year • William Beebe
... superfluous juice, Should fading leaves instead of fruits produce, The pruner's hand, with letting blood, must quench Thy heat, and thy exub'rant parts retrench: Then from the joints of thy prolific stem A swelling knot is raised (call'd a gem), Whence, in short space, itself the cluster shows, 577 And from earth's moisture mixed with sunbeams grows. I' th'spring, like youth, it yields an acid taste, But summer doth, like age, the sourness waste; Then clothed with leaves, from heat and cold secure, Like virgins, ...
— Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham • Edmund Waller; John Denham
... little gem of a church the company were driven to the Chandi Chowk, which is a boulevard, planted with trees and lined with elegant buildings. The stores of the principal merchants of Delhi were here, and most of them were on the plan of ...
— Across India - Or, Live Boys in the Far East • Oliver Optic
... across Massachusetts Bay met her coming out of the harbor to dash them into myriads of sparkling gems that hung about her at every surge. The day was perfect, the sunlight clear and strong. Every particle of water thrown into the air became a gem, and the Spray, bounding ahead, snatched necklace after necklace from the sea, and as often threw them away. We have all seen miniature rainbows about a ship's prow, but the Spray flung out a bow of her own that day, such as I had ...
— Sailing Alone Around The World • Joshua Slocum
... as wakeful as the stars that gem The cone of night, now they were laid asleep, Stretched my faint ...
— Percy Bysshe Shelley • John Addington Symonds
... marriages are happy ones, and that of men's wives we still can write as the most eloquent divine who ever lived, Jeremy Taylor, wrote, "A good wife is Heaven's last, best gift to man—his angel and minister of graces innumerable—his gem of many virtues—his casket of jewels. Her voice is sweet music—her smiles his brightest day—her kiss the guardian of his innocence—her arms the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his ...
— Brave Men and Women - Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs • O.E. Fuller
... at least, provided for; it was to be used for nothing but an eating-saloon. Like the others, it was high enough for a family of giraffes to live in, and was very handsome and clean and bright-colored within. It was a gem of a place. A table for eight, and eight canvas chairs; a table-cloth and napkins whose whiteness and whose fineness laughed to scorn the things we were used to in the great excursion steamer; knives and forks, soup-plates, dinner-plates—every thing, in the handsomest kind ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... rays of the sun, and her dark clothing shone like the leaf of a palm seen at midnight in the glow of a fire. And her hair was massed like that of an ascetic high over her brow, and on its dull black cloud there shone a gem that resembled a star, shooting and flickering and changing colour like a diamond mixed with an opal: while underneath, her eyes, that resembled pools filled with dusk instead of water, were fixed ...
— The Substance of a Dream • F. W. Bain
... dreamy potent spell that Beauty flings around the heart; I know its power, alas! too well; 'tis going! Love and I must part! Must part? What can I more with Love? all o'er is the enchanter's reign. Who'll buy the plumeless, dying dove—a breath of bliss, a storm of pain? And Friendship, rarest gem of earth; who e'er has found the jewel his? Frail, fickle, false, and little worth! who bids for Friendship—as it is? 'Tis going! going! hear the call; once, twice and thrice, 'tis very low! 'Twas once my hope, my stay, my all, but now the broken staff must go! Fame! hold the brilliant meteor high; ...
— The Universal Reciter - 81 Choice Pieces of Rare Poetical Gems • Various
... any other pool I know. The basin in which it lies is roughly circular, some ten feet across. I suppose it is four or five feet deep. From the centre of the pool rises an even gush of very pure water, with a certain hue of green, like a faintly-tinted gem. The water in its flow makes a perpetual dimpling on the surface; I have never known it to fail even in the longest droughts; and in sharp frosty days there hangs a little smoke above it, for the water is ...
— The Thread of Gold • Arthur Christopher Benson
... precious than the rarest gem In all the world could be; More sweet than honor, fame, and praise, Is mother's love ...
— Choice Readings for the Home Circle • Anonymous
... last they came to the Isle, Where moonlight and fragrance were rivals the while. Not yet had those vessels from Palos been here, To turn the bright gem to the blood-mingled tear. Oh no! still blissful and peaceful the land, And the merry elves flew from the sea to the strand. Right happy and joyous seemed now the fond crew, As they tripped 'mid the orange groves flashing in dew, For they were to hold a revel that night, A gay fancy ...
— Poems • Sam G. Goodrich
... this is a mistake and absurdity, fit to have a place in some new collection of Vulgar Errors, by some other Sir Thomas Browne, with the ancient, but exploded stories, that the toad has a gem in its head, and that ostriches digest iron. According to the true spirit of the Constitution, and the sentiments of the Fathers, Slavery, and not Freedom, is sectional, while Freedom, and not Slavery, is national. On this unanswerable proposition I take ...
— American Eloquence, Volume II. (of 4) - Studies In American Political History (1896) • Various
... Lucy, while he held out his other hand to Eleanor. The hand contained two fragments only, but of exquisite quality, one a fine Artemis head with the Cybele crown, the other merely the mask or shell of a face, from brow to chin,—a gem of the ...
— Eleanor • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... page, as elaborate and glowing with colour as it is rich in design and fine in execution, is, however, not more striking than many others in the same manuscript, which may, without too much praise, be described as a gem of palaeographic art. A note on the last leaf explains that the MS. was on the point of being carried beyond seas, when a customs officer, one Baldwin Smith, in the port of London seized and presented it to the Queen, in October 1553, the ...
— Studies from Court and Cloister • J.M. Stone
... from the intellectual American concert-rooms. In Germany a ballad is a gem, and is so valued. It is the best expression of ...
— ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; - The Rhine to the Arctic • Hezekiah Butterworth
... suit; it shall be accepted: but inform me, Shekh, what thou requirest in return for so valuable an offering." "Mighty sovereign," replied I, "my wish is to become thy relation by espousing that precious gem of the casket of ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous
... want to see him," he said. The following letter, which was received at the house of Joe Pollard, was indeed a gem of English: ...
— Black Jack • Max Brand
... embedded in a fount of beauty. Deep among the incurving petals of the blushing-fragrance, he loses himself in his joys sometimes, till a breezy waft reveals him. And when the sunlight breaks upon his luscious dissipation, few would have the heart to oust him, such a gem from such a setting. All his back is emerald sparkles all his front red Indian gold, and here and there he grows white spots to save the eye from aching. Pike put his finger in and fetched him out, and offered him a little change of joys, by putting a Limerick hook-through his thorax, ...
— Crocker's Hole - From "Slain By The Doones" By R. D. Blackmore • R. D. Blackmore
... "to come as a calamity"; the same word (lesolosolou) signifies "to have no intermission of pain" and "to have no cessation, as in the arrival of visitors"; and soua, used of epidemics, bears the sense of being overcome as with "fire, flood, or visitors." But the gem of the dictionary is the verb alovao, which illustrates its pages like a humorous woodcut. It is used in the sense of "to avoid visitors," but it means literally "hide in the wood." So, by the sure hand ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 17 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... or what Miss Joliffe thinks wisdom, says, 'No, don't sell it; you should get more than fifty pounds for such a gem.' So she is tossed about, and if she'd lived when there were monks in Cullerne Church, she would have asked her father confessor, and he would have taken down his 'Summa Angelica,' and looked it out under V.—'Vendetur? ...
— The Nebuly Coat • John Meade Falkner
... admirable specimen of an American orator and scholar. At Cambridge, three miles off, we have Judge Story, of the Supreme Court, eloquent, deeply learned, garrulous, lively, amiable, excellent in all and every way that a mortal can be. He is decidedly the gem of this western world. Mr. Webster is now settled at Washington, though here at this moment on a visit to Mrs. Paige. Among our neighbouring notabilities is John Quincy Adams, an ex-President of the United States, ex-Minister at half the courts in Europe, and now at seventy-five, a simple ...
— What I Remember, Volume 2 • Thomas Adolphus Trollope
... or weak, is capable of culture, But still bears fruit according to its nature. 'Tis not the teacher's skill that rears the scholar: The sparkling gem gives back the glorious radiance It drinks from other light, but the dull earth Absorbs the blaze, and yields no ...
— Book of Wise Sayings - Selected Largely from Eastern Sources • W. A. Clouston
... Quintana's gang, somehow discover where the Flaming Jewel had been concealed, take it, and restore it to the beggared young girl whose only financial resource now lay in the possible recovery of this almost priceless gem. ...
— The Flaming Jewel • Robert W. Chambers
... et Camees. He is not without sensibility, but he will not embarrass himself with either feelings or ideas. He has emancipated himself from the egoism of the romantic tendency. He sees as a painter or a gem-engraver sees, and will transpose his perceptions into coloured and carven words. That is all, but that is much. He values words as sounds, and can combine them harmoniously in his little stanzas. Life goes on around him; he is indifferent to it, caring only to fix the colour ...
— A History of French Literature - Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. • Edward Dowden
... was satisfied, and the guests had thrust their plates from them into the midst of the table, Giles Cheel stood up, and looking round cleared his throat, and said, "Ladies and gem'men, neighbors all. I s'pose on such an occasion as this, and after such a feed, it's the dooty of one of us to make a speech. And as I'm the oldest and most respected of the Broom-Squires of the Bowl, I think it proves as I should express ...
— The Broom-Squire • S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
... lips and eyes, and her tresses, gathered into a complicated coil, seemed to glow with the brightness of her nature. She had curious, radiant, liquid eyes (their smile was a sort of reflexion, like the glisten of a gem), and though she was not tall, she appeared to spring up, and carried her head as if it reached rather high. Ransom would have thought she looked like an Oriental, if it were not that Orientals are dark; and if she had only had a goat she would have ...
— The Bostonians, Vol. I (of II) • Henry James
... considered the gem of the collection, and Billy took his seat proudly conscious that his native town boasted an orator who, in time, would utterly eclipse Edward ...
— Under the Lilacs • Louisa May Alcott
... did, for bargains; and returned, late but radiant, having nearly secured a treasure that was an added splendour even to the family Collection. He was so resplendent that I was almost emboldened to confess the abstraction of the lesser gem—, but he bore down all other topics with his over-powering projects. Because the bargain might still misfire any moment, he insisted on my packing at once and going up with him to lodgings he had already ...
— The Wisdom of Father Brown • G. K. Chesterton
... No gem ever flashed from a rosy ray to a white one more rapidly than changed the young wife's countenance whilst this word came from her in a long-drawn breath. "Did she walk along our turnpike-road?" she said, in a suddenly ...
— Far from the Madding Crowd • Thomas Hardy
... to beauty, is the native crab-apple of the Southland, which is known as the Soulard crab. It is not as attractive as our own Eastern gem, a pure native possession, and one which our ...
— Getting Acquainted with the Trees • J. Horace McFarland
... two apartments by a curtain of silk; and in each of these apartments was a magnificent bed. The floor was handsomely carpeted, and the walls were adorned with superb mirrors and pictures. The Captain was a man of taste, and his cabin was a gem of luxury ...
— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn
... in, Snatched thee, o'er eager, with ungentle grasp. Ah! I remember me How once conspiracy was rife Against my life— The languor of it and the dreaming fond; Surging, the grasses dizzied me of thought, The breeze three odors brought, And a gem-flower waved in a wand! Then when I was distraught And could not speak, Sidelong, full on my cheek, What should that reckless zephyr fling But the wild touch of thy dye-dusty wing! I found that wing broken to-day! For thou are dead, I said, And the strange birds say. I found it with the ...
— A Boy's Will • Robert Frost
... Mystic obtains a deeper comprehension when he opens his Bible and ponders the first five verses of that brightest gem of all spiritual lore: ...
— The Rosicrucian Mysteries • Max Heindel
... place, and some work or new thing you have to do in which Minnie was not to be. I can only pray for you with all my heart, as I did at communion this morning." So far, so good, but then comes: "and have masses said to create another gem upon Minnie's crown." ...
— The Life of Sir Richard Burton • Thomas Wright
... of Dunmore has nothing about it which can especially recommend it to the reader. It has none of those beauties of nature which have taught Irishmen to consider their country as the "first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea". It is a dirty, ragged little town, standing in a very poor part of the country, with nothing about it to induce the traveller to go out of his beaten track. It is on no high road, and is blessed with no adventitious circumstances to ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope
... delight, in its course: "Totumque corpus inficiunt, atque ita (nulla interposita mora) arbores, segetes, bruta animalia et homines perniciosa qualitate inficiunt et ad interitum deducunt." Vairus relates that a friend of his saw a fascinator simply with a look break in two a precious gem while in the hands of the artist who was working upon it. Horace thua ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 • Various
... protest the steam launch and the string of boats moved rapidly down the river leaving him on the jetty, standing open-mouthed in his surprise and anger. There are thirty miles of river from Sambir to the gem-like islands of the estuary where the frigate was awaiting the return of the boats. The moon rose long before the boats had traversed half that distance, and the black forest sleeping peacefully under her cold rays woke up ...
— Almayer's Folly - A Story of an Eastern River • Joseph Conrad
... Little Giant had had a six-horse coach. The grove was black with people. Hovering about the hem of the crowd were the sunburned young men in their Sunday best, still clinging fast to the hands of the young women. Bands blared "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." Fakirs planted their stands in the way, selling pain-killers and ague cures, watermelons and lemonade, Jugglers juggled, and beggars begged. Jim said that there were sixteen thousand people in that grove. And ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... shrieks and laughter: round the lake A little clock-work steamer paddling plied And shook the lilies: perched about the knolls A dozen angry models jetted steam: A petty railway ran: a fire-balloon Rose gem-like up before the dusky groves And dropt a fairy parachute and past: And there through twenty posts of telegraph They flashed a saucy message to and fro Between the mimic stations; so that sport Went hand in hand with Science; otherwhere Pure sport; a herd of boys with ...
— The Princess • Alfred Lord Tennyson
... for the great triumph That stretches many a mile. Hurrah! for the rich dye of Tyre, And the fine web of Nile, The helmets gay with plumage Torn from the pheasant's wings, The belts set thick with starry gem That shone on Indian kings, The urns of massy silver, The goblets rough with gold, The many-colored tablets bright With loves and wars of old, The stone that breathes and struggles, The brass that seems to speak;— ...
— Lays of Ancient Rome • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... characteristics are cold, poverty, and Scots Law—three very bad things. Oo, how the rain falls! The mist is quite low on the hill. The birds are twittering to each other about the indifferent season. O, here's a gem for you. An old godly woman predicted the end of the world, because the seasons were becoming indistinguishable; my cousin Dora objected that last winter had been pretty well marked. "Yes, my dear," replied the soothsayeress; ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... it, upon the sea. But compared to these others, ours was as a rose of Sharon blooming in the midst of little deserts. Renard had been entirely right about this particular bit of earth attached to our villa. It was a gem of a garden. It was a French garden, and therefore, entirely as a matter of course, it had walls. It was as cut off from the rest of the world as if it had been a prison ...
— In and Out of Three Normady Inns • Anna Bowman Dodd
... breakfast too), bought a mineral memorial, and in the gig again, over the sands to the outlandishly named Mara Zion, or Market Jew, words probably of similar import. Opposite to this little place, and joined to it by a neck of rocks passable at low-water, stands that picturesque gem, Mount St. Michael. You know the sort of thing; an abrupt, pyramid of craggy rock, crowned with an edifice, half stronghold and half cathedral. It is a home of the St. Aubyn family, and is well kept up in the ancient style, but in rather a small way: a portcullised entrance, old ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper
... "'A gem of thought—a hair poem!' I could not help exclaiming. 'Did it come all at once, in a flood of inspiration, ...
— 'Charge It' - Keeping Up With Harry • Irving Bacheller
... a hidden spring, and wide apart The riven sphere showed its white hollow heart, And in the midst a gem; the which he laid Within her hand. "Behold," he said, "I made Most fair for thee this lustrous blood-red sard, And deftly traced its gleaming surface hard With carvings thick of bright acacias slim, Pomegranates ...
— Lilith - The Legend of the First Woman • Ada Langworthy Collier
... have been able sooner to reply to your last kind letter. I shall begin by answering that which interested me most in it, which you will easily believe was what regarded my dear A—— and the person into whose hands she is about to be committed. In proportion to the value of the gem is the dread one feels of the flaws and injuries it may receive in the process of cutting and polishing; and this, of course, not in this case alone, but that of every child who still is parent to the man (or ...
— Records of a Girlhood • Frances Anne Kemble
... pride, The Persian flashing like a gem, Displayed her brilliants, glittering wide; The Grecian coldly looked at them: "Have you no jewelry at all, to wear? Your dress and person look so ...
— The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland • Various
... pearly light! In thee the rays of Virtue shine; More calmly clear, more mildly bright, Than any gem ...
— Poems • Samuel Rogers
... them. His the city's pomp, The rural honours his. Whate'er adorns The princely dome, the column, and the arch, The breathing marbles and the sculptured gold, Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim, His tuneful breast enjoys. For him, the Spring Distils her dews, and from the silken gem Its lucid leaves unfolds; for him, the hand Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch With blooming gold and blushes like the morn. 590 Each passing Hour sheds tribute from her wings; And still new beauties meet his lonely walk, And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze [Endnote NN] Flies o'er ...
— Poetical Works of Akenside - [Edited by George Gilfillan] • Mark Akenside
... Jews—with the tragedy of his race pictured on his furrowed face, a face like an ancient weather-worn statue on whose countenance grief has petrified—has summed up the character of Disraeli as no other man ever has or can. I will not rob the reader by quoting from "The Primrose Sphinx"—that gem of letters must ever stand together without subtraction of a word. It belongs to the realm of the lapidary, and its facets can not be transferred. Yet when Mr. Zangwill refers to the Mephistophelian curl of Lord Beaconsfield's lip, the word is used advisedly. ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard
... other hand, detached passages are in the author's very best vein; and there is a truly delightful scene between Lord Anophel and his chaplain Grovelgrub, when the athletic Sir Oran has not only foiled their attempt on Anthelia, but has mast-headed them on the top of a rock perpendicular. But the gem of the book is the election for the borough of One-Vote—a very amusing farce on the subject of rotten boroughs. Mr. Forester has bought one of the One-Vote seats for his friend the Orang, and, going to introduce him to the constituency, ...
— Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860 • George Saintsbury
... melodic invention it is rather thin, but the workmanship is beyond praise. The opening scene at the village fair is appropriately bright and gay, but the best music comes in the second act where the monks are gathered together in the convent hall, each busied over his particular task. Here occurs the gem of the work, the Legend of the Sage-bush, which is sung to the juggler-monk by his good friend the convent cook. Rarely has Massenet written anything more delightful than this exquisite song, so fresh in its artful simplicity, so fragrant with ...
— The Opera - A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions - of all Works in the Modern Repertory • R.A. Streatfeild
... Superseded. The Dollar Time Keeper.—A Perfect Gem.—Elegantly cased in Oriode of Gold, Superior Compass attachment, Enameled Dial, Silver and Brass Works, glass crystal, size of Ladies' Watch. Will denote correct time, warranted five years, superb and showy case, entirely ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various
... stream, over which, but barely seen, is a wooden bridge—the clouds are closing round, and such clouds as "drop fatness," making the shelter the greater—a figure or two in the road. There is great simplicity in the chiaroscuros, and the paint is of the most brilliant gem-like richness, into which you look, for it is not flimsy and thin, but substance transparent—so that it lets in your imagination into the very depth of its mystery. No painter ever understood the poetry of colour as did ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 • Various
... as nickel it would be very valuable, since we should gold-plate our machinery, our ships, our bridges and our roofs. But if diamonds were cheap they would be good for nothing except grindstones and drills. An imitation diamond made of heavy glass (paste) cannot be distinguished from the genuine gem except by an expert. It sparkles about as brilliantly, for its refractive index is nearly as high. The reason why it is not priced so highly is because the natural stone has presumably been obtained through the toil and sweat of hundreds of negroes searching in the blue ground of the Transvaal ...
— Creative Chemistry - Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries • Edwin E. Slosson
... other articles of clothing," said Uncle Walter, when the price of the precious gem had been discovered, "remind me of Adam and Eve. Authorities, you may not know, differ as to the number of apples that were eaten by Adam and Eve. It is the opinion of some that Eve 8 (ate) and Adam 2 (too), a total of 10 only. But certain mathematicians have figured it out differently, ...
— Amusements in Mathematics • Henry Ernest Dudeney
... standard, is to be seen that terrible ape, that enhancer of the fears of foes, attracting the gaze (of warriors) from every side. The discus, the mace, the bow called Saranga and the conch (called Panchajanya) of the intelligent Krishna, as also his gem Kaustubha, look exceedingly beautiful in him. The wielder of Saranga and the mace, viz., Vasudeva, of great energy, cometh, urging those white steeds endued with the fleetness of the wind. Yonder twangs Gandiva, drawn by ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown
... as hinted, under instigation, that he was entitled to defend her; and his claim being by-and-by yawningly allowed by Edward, and presuming that he now had Edward in his power and need not fear him, he exhibited his weakness in the guise of a costly gem, that he intended to present to Mrs. Lovell—an opal set in a cross pendant from a necklace; a really fine opal, coquetting with the lights of every gem that is known: it shot succinct red flashes, and green, and yellow; the emerald, the amethyst, the topaz lived in it, and a remote ruby; it ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... Guly, blushing as he spoke, "it may make her heart so rare a gem that too many will ...
— The Brother Clerks - A Tale of New-Orleans • Xariffa
... wept and implored. She offered the merchant her pearls and every other gem she had if he would but let her keep the ring, ...
— Tales of Folk and Fairies • Katharine Pyle
... lie ornaments of gold, One with the dust, and none to gather them, Hair-pins of jade and many a costly gem, Kingfishers' wings ...
— A Lute of Jade/Being Selections from the Classical Poets of China • L. Cranmer-Byng
... month, and in a month he brought back the diamond—flawless. The King sent it, without any comment, to his jeweler, who gave 9,600 francs for the stone, but the King returned the money, and kept the gem as a curiosity. Probably it was not the original stone, but another cut in the same fashion, Saint- Germain sacrificing 3,000 or 4,000 francs to his practical joke. He also said that he could increase the size of pearls, which he ...
— The Lock and Key Library/Real Life #2 • Julian Hawthorne
... necklaces of beads. The rich wear necklaces of cornelian and another stone which is thought by the Lynngams to be valuable. A necklace of such stones is called u'pieng blei (god's necklace). This stone is apparently some rough gem which may be picked up by the Lynngams in the river beds. A rich man amongst them, however, is one who possesses a number of metal gongs, which they call wiang. For these they pay very high prices, Rs. 100 being quite a moderate sum for one of them. Being curious ...
— The Khasis • P. R. T. Gurdon
... sutler's quarters on the east; while the hypothenuse of the right-angled triangle thus limited was the unsightly fence that bounded the back-yards of officers' row. Mr. Dick Swiveller's delightful view "of over the way" was a gem of landscape in comparison. ...
— Marion's Faith. • Charles King
... for a time, he found himself at a palace beside which grew a many-branched cassia tree overhanging a well. He climbed into the tree and waited. Presently the handmaidens of Princess Rich Gem, daughter of the ocean Kami, came to draw water, and seeing a shadow in the well, they detected Hohodemi in the cassia tree. At his request they gave him water in a jewelled vessel, but instead of drinking, he dropped ...
— A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era • Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi
... this little volume, a very gem of scriptural, Christian thoughtfulness, of sagacious Christian joyfulness, of cultured intellect, of purest literary taste, and of finest genuine feeling.'—British and ...
— Books and Authors - Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches • Anonymous
... was standing. She lifted her head—and advanced quickly to meet me with a faint flush on her face, which came and died away again in a moment. I happen to have visited the picture gallery at Dresden in former years. As she approached me, nearer and nearer, I was irresistibly reminded of the gem of that superb collection—the matchless Virgin of Raphael, called "The Madonna di San Sisto." The fair broad forehead; the peculiar fullness of the flesh between the eyebrow and the eyelid; the delicate outline of the lower face; the tender, sensitive lips; ...
— Poor Miss Finch • Wilkie Collins
... roses was the tint of health O'erspread her lovely cheeks; and they might vie In beauty with the fairest flower—nor wealth, Though told in countless millions, e'er could buy The radiance of this gem, than aught more bright Which lies in hidden ...
— Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848 • Various
... huge, and hairy, at any other time or place I could have given him due admiration as an admirable example of the savage on the borderland of grace and culture, but now I only glanced at him, and then to where at his side a girl was crouching, a gem of human loveliness against that dusky setting. It was Heru, my ravished princess, and, still clad in her diaphanous Hither robes, her face white with anxiety, her eyes bright as stars, the embodiment of helpless, flowery beauty, ...
— Gulliver of Mars • Edwin L. Arnold
... Thy doom is sealed, thou long must roam Where ocean surges wet the skies, And where the condor makes his home! Thou'lt gaze on many a cloudless sky, Where deathless Summer sweetly smiles, Like restless swallow thou shalt fly Where ocean's breast is gem'd with isles, ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 5 November 1848 • Various
... house of Burton and Norcross occupied four stories of a corner fronting two busy city streets and before its gem-filled windows a group of passers-by were ...
— Christopher and the Clockmakers • Sara Ware Bassett
... surveyed the chair she had last occupied, looking now like a setting from which the gem has been torn. There stood her glass, and the romantic teaspoonful of elder wine at the bottom that she couldn't drink by trying ever so hard, in obedience to the mighty arguments of the tranter (his hand coming down upon her shoulder the while, ...
— Under the Greenwood Tree • Thomas Hardy
... blown away. When these fields were blown out the wheat was several inches high and before the wind came up the prospects were bright for a good crop. It took but a few hours for the wind to complete its work of destruction. The little town of Gem sits in about the center of the ...
— The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado • Logan Marshall
... of the reviving fields lay Noyon: Noyon, that gem of the Oise, whose delicate outline of spires and soft tinted roofs had graced the wide valley for centuries. Today the little city lay blanched and shapeless between the hills, as all towns were left that stood in the path of the armies. The cathedral alone reared its ...
— Where the Sabots Clatter Again • Katherine Shortall
... chinked up the interstices between the logs and covered the wood in the chimney. The earth that had been thrown up in digging the hole, we now banked up against the log wall all around, which made it wind proof; and then over this gem of architecture we stretched our fly. We had no closed tents—only a fly, a straight piece of tent cloth all open at the sides. Our fly, supported by a rude pole, and drawn down and firmly fastened to the top of the log wall, made the ...
— From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign - A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw • William Meade Dame
... her studies for the mere love of the science, devoting a year in Italy to mosaics, cameos, and intaglios. And yet the Crevecoeur cameo had puzzled wiser heads than Mrs. Dalliba's, adept though she was. It was cut from a solid heart-shaped gem, a layer of pure white, shading down through exquisite gradations into deep green, and represented Aphrodite rising from the sea; the white form rose gracefully, with arms extended, scattering the drops of spray from her hands and her wind-blown ...
— The Galaxy - Vol. 23, No. 1 • Various
... are married! Sir, I'll have you know There's an ogre to be tamed, a gem to be pried From out a dragon's forehead, and three riddles To be solved, each tighter than the last, before A Princess may ...
— The Lamp and the Bell • Edna St. Vincent Millay
... Republic of the cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... evidence had been so conflicting that no one could judge of its value. What reason, I asked myself, was there to suppose that it would be different now? No shoplifter in her senses was likely to lift the great Kimberley Queen gem with the eagle eyes of clerks and detectives on her, even if she did not discover that it was only a paste jewel. And if Craig gave the woman, whoever she was, a good opportunity to get away with it, it would be a case of the same conflicting ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve
... and a thousand blessings upon the power that gifted their leaves with such a dowry! Oh, it partakes of heaven to walk into the pastures and inhale the goodness of the Lord, from the myriad field-flowers that gem the earth with beauty! And then in sickness! What, what is so refreshing as the perfume of sweet plants? We speak not of the glazed and costly things that come from foreign lands, but of the English nosegay—(how we love the homely word!)—the sweet briar, lavender, cowslip, ...
— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall
... that he might purchase this jewel; for if it were once in his possession, as there could be no rival, he might command his own price. None but monarchs could aspire to the possession of such a treasure, and these would compete with each other at his desk for a gem that could ...
— The Parables of Our Lord • William Arnot
... had made some offer for the gem when I came up, and Kinlay was deliberating whilst listening to the ...
— The Pilots of Pomona • Robert Leighton
... King, unlesse there sate Lesse lords that shar'd with me in state Who, by their cheaper coronets, know, What glories from my diadem flow: Its use and rate values the gem: Pearles in their shells have no esteem; And, I being sun within thy sphere, 'Tis my chiefe ...
— Lucasta • Richard Lovelace
... Rose. (Slowly, with great simplicity.) This is the pure lyric gem of the Six Love Songs by MacDowell. It is very short, but has ...
— Edward MacDowell • John F. Porte
... Night, Where never Muse perform'd harmonious rite Till now!—and lo! upon the sparry floor, Advance, to welcome him, each Sister Power, Petra, stern Queen, Fossilia, cold and bright, And call their Gnomes, to marshal in his sight The gelid incrust, and the veined ore, And flashing gem.—Then, while his songs pourtray The mystic virtues gold and gems acquire, With every charm that mineral scenes display, Th' imperial Sisters praise the daring Lyre, And grateful hail its new and powerful lay, That seats them high amid ...
— Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace • Anna Seward
... the emerald was more easily counterfeited than any other gem, and considers the art of imitating precious stones a far more lucrative piece of deceit than any devised by the ingenuity of man; Egypt was, as usual, the country most noted for this manufacture; and we can readily believe that in Pliny's ...
— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy
... a crush. The neglect of the Hammond Synges gave relief to this character, and she paid them handsomely to be, as every one said, shocking. Lord Iffield had gone to India to shoot tigers, but he returned in time for the private view: it was he who had snapped up, as Flora called it, the gem of the exhibition. ...
— Embarrassments • Henry James
... examine Evelyn and himself; he would weigh in the balance every straw that the wind should turn up; he would not aspire to the treasure, unless he could feel secure that the coffer could preserve the gem. This was not only a prudent, it was a just and a generous determination. It was one which we all ought to form if the fervour of our passions will permit us. We have no right to sacrifice years to moments, and to melt the pearl that ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... dead husband, when she sacrificed only the ends of her ringlets on his urn. Therefore, I close this little chapter of hospital experiences, with the regret that they were no better worth recording; and add the poetical gem with which I console myself for the ...
— Hospital Sketches • Louisa May Alcott
... be a sweet, sad comfort to wear the simplest of the rings, she thought, as she slipped the sparkling gem on her finger; but her mother would ask her where it came from. What answer could she ...
— File No. 113 • Emile Gaboriau
... robb'd of all my peace of mind, My cruel fortune left me still one blessing, One solitary blessing, to console me; It was my fame.—'Tis a rich jewel, Percy, And I must keep it spotless, and unsoil'd: But thou wouldst plunder what e'en Douglas spar'd, And rob this single gem of all its brightness. ...
— Percy - A Tragedy • Hannah More
... over both faces; then, wrapping it carefully in your handkerchief, take it home to wash, and feast till bedtime on the clean feel and shining mellow colour of what is hardly more an implement than a gem. They took a pride in their work, did the men of old; and, until you can learn to sympathize, ...
— Anthropology • Robert Marett
... suppose, as a possible conquest; it is the first instinct. A second thought is quite different. Generally speaking, women interest me in the way precious stones interest a jeweller who has retired from business. Seeing a valuable gem, I say to myself it is worth having, and then I remember that I have sold out, ...
— Without Dogma • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... with his stretcher in his hand. It was a very tempestuous, although moonlight night, occasionally clear, with the moonbeams at one moment sparkling brightly in the small ripples on the filthy puddles before the door, and on the gem like water—drops that hung from the eaves of the thatched roof, and lighting up the dark statue like figures of the men, and casting their long shadows strongly against the mud wall of the house; at another, a black cloud as it flew across her disk, cast every thing into ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... its unfathom'd deep In subterranean thunders, echoing cry "No, not with me." Offer ye not for them Silver, or Ophir's gold, nor think to exchange Onyx, or sapphire, or the coral branch Or crystal gem where hides imprison'd light, Nor make ye mention of the precious pearl Or Ethiopian topaz, for their price Transcendeth rubies, or the dazzling ray Of concentrated jewels. In what place Are found these wondrous treasures? Who will show Their habitation? ...
— Man of Uz, and Other Poems • Lydia Howard Sigourney
... on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for 20% of GDP. Namibia is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa and the world's fifth-largest producer of uranium. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia also produces large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver, and tungsten. Half of the population depends on agriculture (largely subsistence agriculture) for its livelihood. ...
— The 2000 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... rich dews of fortune Ne'er water'd this stem, Nor one fostering sunbeam Matured the rich gem— Oh! give me that pure bosom, Her lot let me share, I'll laugh at distinction, And smile ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... of a prince who loved a beautiful peasant girl. In spite of his royal blood he determined to marry her. To seal his pledge of marriage he sent her a wonderful engagement ring. It was a gem so marvelous that it was said the stars shut their eyes in its presence and even the sun acknowledged it as a rival. But the girl was more interested in the beautiful box in which it was packed than she was in the ring. And when the prince came ...
— Sermons on Biblical Characters • Clovis G. Chappell
... Orbegoso, who is of Spanish origin, is also a contributor. Sometimes, though rarely, it publishes "documentos ineditos" (unedited documents), connected with Mexican antiquities, and Mexican natural history and biography, which are very important; and now and then it contains a little poetical gem, I know not whether original or not, but exceedingly beautiful. So far as it goes, this review is one great means of spreading know-ledge, at least amongst the better classes; but I understand that the editor, Don Ygnacio Cumplido, a very courteous, intelligent man, ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon De La Barca
... souls, is fiercely dark; What then? 'Tis day! We sleep no more; the cock crows—hark! To arms! away! They come! they come! the knell is rung Of us or them; Wide o'er their march the pomp is flung Of gold and gem. What collared hound of lawless sway, To famine dear, What pensioned slave of Attila, Leads in the rear? Come they from Scythian wilds afar Our blood to spill? Wear they the livery of the Czar? They do his will. Nor tasselled silk, nor ...
— Lyra Heroica - A Book of Verse for Boys • Various
... southern portion of the lake, a trail of a mile and a quarter leads to the Upper Ausable—the gem of the Adirondacks. This lake, over two thousand feet above the tide, is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains. Our camp was on the eastern shore, and I can never forget the sunset view, as rosy tints lit up old Skylight, the Haystack and the Gothics; nor can I ever ...
— The Hudson - Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention • Wallace Bruce
... examined my room, which was charming. It was completely hung with an old figured tapestry framed in gray wainscot. The bed, draped in dimity curtains, was turned down and exhaled that odor of freshly washed linen which invites one to stretch one's self in it. On the table, a little gem dating from the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI, were four or five books, evidently chosen by Oscar and placed there for me. These little attentions touch one, and naturally my thoughts recurred to the dear ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... I've sent one more Gem to enrich her store; And that is all Which I can send, Or vainly spend, For ...
— The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2 • Robert Herrick
... reception he had yet experienced awaited him. His sojourn at Milan was not distinguished by outward demonstrations of enthusiasm alone. M. Durszzo, the last Doge of Genoa, added another gem to the Crown of Italy by supplicating the Emperor in the name of the Republic, of which he was the representative, to permit Genoa to exchange her independence for the honour of becoming a department of France. This offer, as may be guessed, ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
... Full many a gem of highest Art-cuisine Those dark unfathomed dogmatists eschew; Full many a 'dish to set before the Queen' Would waste its sweetness on ...
— Rhymes of the East and Re-collected Verses • John Kendall (AKA Dum-Dum)
... romantic youth. Had he seen the unknown under other circumstances, it is probable that he would not have been struck with her beauty; but this appearance of being shut up and kept apart, gave her the value of a treasured gem. He passed and repassed before the house several times in the course of the day, but saw nothing more. He was there again in the evening. The whole aspect of the house was dreary. The narrow windows emitted no rays of cheerful light, to indicate ...
— Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists • Washington Irving
... and kindly daughter—how thou hast let that rebel youth creep into thy heart I wot not; perhaps it is a punishment on me, who thought the loyalty of my house was like undefiled ermine. Yet here is a damned spot, and on the fairest gem of all—my own dear Alice. But do not weep—we have enough to vex us. Where is it that ...
— Woodstock; or, The Cavalier • Sir Walter Scott
... and what kind of treasures you set store by. I wouldn't change places with your rich Aunt Rebecca for all the farms in Lancaster County." Poor Aunt Rebecca, she pitied her! Then she remembered the words of the memory gem they had analyzed in school last year, "Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." She could understand it now! So long as Aunt Rebecca didn't see what she missed it was all right. But if she ever woke up and really felt what her life might have been if she had married the ...
— Amanda - A Daughter of the Mennonites • Anna Balmer Myers
... colour, green and white; yellow, red and other such brilliant hues and the radiance flashing from these gems paled the rays of the sun in forenoon sheen. Furthermore the size of each stone so far surpassed description that no King of the Kings of the world owned a single gem equal to the larger sort nor could boast of even one half the size of the smaller kind of them.—And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and ceased to say ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton
... "If the spray-bead gem be won, The stain of thy wing is washed away, But another errand must be done Ere thy crime be lost for aye; Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark, Thou must re-illume its spark. Mount thy steed and spur him high ...
— The Culprit Fay - and Other Poems • Joseph Rodman Drake
... repeated Mrs Dorothy solemnly; "but, Phoebe, you can leave it in loving submission, or you can have it wrenched from you in judgment. Though it may be that you must loose your hold on a gem, yet you please yourself whether you yield it as a gift, or wait ...
— The Maidens' Lodge - None of Self and All of Thee, (In the Reign of Queen Anne) • Emily Sarah Holt |
