"Lighten" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Lord is my Shepherd," and "Or ever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern," and "the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the ...
— Mary Olivier: A Life • May Sinclair
... Sir FRANCIS JEUNE, and joined in by all the Jeuniors of his Court, would have wound up this portion of the proceedings, if not harmoniously, at least tunefully. For future reference, it would be known as "the Big Big D-ivorce Case." How such occasional musical outbursts would lighten the labours of the Court through many a tedious case! And in a cause un peu celebre like this, where there is a crammed house and enthusiastic audience ready to take every point, and risk possible expulsion rather ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, December 19, 1891 • Various
... lighten the boat, and it went on much easier, the small boy shouting at the top of his voice, and urging his steed into a gallop. The fellows sat up and stared at one another. It was some seconds before they realised what had happened ...
— Three Men in a Boa • Jerome K. Jerome
... should we but lighten through a spell These murderous madmen in our country here, Their craziness to come or far or near Anew, as more they learn of prompting hell? Must not we now the CAUSE forever quell, As Hercules did one time ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... Just as no other man than Peter would ever hold her heart, so henceforth no kiss but his would ever touch her lips. But for Peter the burden would be heavier. It would be different—harder. Could she not guess how infinitely harder? And there was nothing in the world which might avail to lighten that burden. Only, perhaps, later on, it might comfort him to know that, though in this world they could never come together, the woman he loved was his completely, that she had surrendered nothing of ...
— The Moon out of Reach • Margaret Pedler
... a time the eastern sky began to lighten, and we knew that the moon was rising; grew lighter still, and the orb peeped over the sea; swam into full sight. I glanced at Edith and then at Thora. My wife was intently listening. Thora sat, as she had since we had placed ourselves, elbows on knees, her hands covering ...
— The Moon Pool • A. Merritt
... start the fleet out to lighten your cargo right away—keep the beacon burning so they'll make a straight line to your anchorage, which will ...
— Eagles of the Sky - With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lanes • Ambrose Newcomb
... this to lighten up your old freight-train with? I suppose you won't, but then it won't take ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine
... are only refinements of irony.... They may say, "This is his grandson." But that will only handicap or ruin the child, if he find not his work. A thousand lesser workmen may improve his product, lighten it, accelerate its potency, adapt it to freight rates—but that is ...
— Child and Country - A Book of the Younger Generation • Will Levington Comfort
... capsized the boat. Gilling, who was unable to swim, was drowned, but the dwarfs righted the boat again and rowed ashore. When they told of this mishap to his wife she took it much to heart, and began to cry aloud. Then Fjalar asked her whether it would not lighten her sorrow if she could look out upon the sea where her husband had perished, and she said it would. He then said to his brother Galar that he should go up over the doorway, and as she passed out he should let a ...
— The Younger Edda - Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda • Snorre
... in without any attention to subject, though an unconscious humorist has discovered in them the domestic circle of the painter. The man in Venetian dress is there to assist the left-hand columnar group, placed at the edge of the picture after the manner of Leonardo. The woman and child lighten the mass of foliage on the right and make a beautiful pattern. The white town of Castelfranco sings against the threatening sky, the winds bluster through the space, the trees shiver with the coming storm. Here and there leafy boughs are struck in with a slight, crisp touch, ...
— The Venetian School of Painting • Evelyn March Phillipps
... cross over to Hispaniola failed in consequence of rough weather. On one occasion the canoes were in so much danger of being swamped that the Spaniards cast everything on board into the sea; and, as this did not lighten the canoes sufficiently, they then proceeded to force overboard their unfortunate companions, the Indians, who swam after them for a long time, but sank one by one, being prevented by the swords of the Spaniards from approaching. Abandoning, ...
— The Life of Columbus • Arthur Helps
... struggle with France for the supremacy of North America had cost her a great deal of money. At home the burdens of the people were extremely heavy. The expense of the army and navy was great, and the ministry, in striving to lighten the burdens of the people, turned their eyes to the colonies. They saw in America a population of over two million people, subjects of the king, like themselves, living free from rent and taxes on their own land and paying ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty
... had become warmly attached to Daphne, and would gladly have done all that lay in her power to lighten Hermon's sad fate, yet she persisted in her determination to return speedily to her old husband ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... darling read it; Now she cannot understand All the noble thoughts, that lighten Through the genius of the land. I am proud to be his brother, Proud to think that hope was true; Though I longed and strove so vainly, What I failed in, he ...
— Legends and Lyrics: First Series • Adelaide Anne Procter
... current between them. From the Serpent to the Sandy Lake it is again confined in a narrow space by the approach of its winding banks, and on the 26th we were some hours employed in traversing a series of shallow rapids where it was necessary to lighten the canoes. Having missed the path through the woods we walked two miles in the water upon sharp stones, from which some of us were incessantly slipping into deep holes and floundering in vain for ...
— The Journey to the Polar Sea • John Franklin
... pushed on in the morning shadows. Ems and Dakin divided the weight of the former's suitcase; but even after the "Texican" had thrown away two heavy books on locomotive driving, both groaned under their loads. The sun of Guatemala does not lighten the burdens of the trail. Ems had boarded the bullock cart the proud possessor of a bar of soap, but this morning he found it a powder and sprinkled it along the way. Soap is out of keeping with Guatemalan local color anyway. Dense forests continued, but here almost ...
— Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras - Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond • Harry A. Franck
... unable as yet to dispense with the tax on goods and the duties charged at the frontier passes and in the markets, though this is a right and proper thing to do. But it is my intention, until the next year, to lighten the tax and the duties, and then next year I shall remove them altogether." The philosopher replied, "Here is a man who daily steals a score of his neighbour's fowls. Someone remonstrates, and, feeling that he is guilty of acting dishonestly, he says, 'I ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books, Volume XIII. - Religion and Philosophy • Various
... provide ribbons for the Maypole, and show how garlands were made in our young days. We are very grateful for wild-flowers for the drawing-room. To say the truth, they last longer with us than with the children, and perhaps we combine the delicate hues of spring, and lighten our nosegays by grass and sword-flags and rushes with more cunning fingers than those of the ...
— Miscellanea • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... shadow may Lean for a moment in thy day; No more the whole earth lighten, as if, Thou near, it had nought else to give: Surely 'tis but Heaven's ...
— Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes - Volume I. • Walter de la Mare
... (haven't I seen your eyes attracted there continually? Of course, there's the glimmer of her lamp!) high on the breezy cliff, with the pure sea wind blowing around her, the light and joy of her father's home, and soon to fly across the valley and lighten up another home." ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine
... And tip with silver every mountain's head; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies; The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light. So many flames before proud Ilion blaze, And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays; The long reflections of the distant fires Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires. A thousand piles the dusky horrors gild, And shoot a shady lustre o'er ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson
... seemed to lighten the ghastly pallor of her face, and her lips trembled. "Yes," she acknowledged ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish
... gunners to gard his fishermen that keepe the weare. This Vchoog is counted from Astracan 60. versts: they proceeded downe the said riuer without staying at the Vchoog. [Sidenote: Shoald water.] The ninth and tenth dayes they met with shoald water, and were forced to lighten their ship by the pauos: the 11. day they sent backe to the Vchoog for an other pauos: This day by mischance the shippe was bilged on the grapnell of the pauos, whereby the company had sustained great losses, if the ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation v. 4 • Richard Hakluyt
... do," called one of the men on board the Varmint II, "to lighten your load the day of ...
— Go Ahead Boys and the Racing Motorboat • Ross Kay
... time the east began to lighten; a deepening glow rimmed West Hill, picking out in silver the trees along its edge. If she meant to come she must come soon, he thought, but the rising moon distinctly showed the bare stile. She had written a long time ago. She was notoriously a rattlepate. Of course she would ...
— The Wrong Twin • Harry Leon Wilson
... one penetrated out from some enormous forest of the tropics, the wild beasts would become fewer, the gloom would lighten, and the horror of the place would slowly lift. Yet as one emerges nearer to the edge of London, and nearer to the beautiful influence of the hills, the houses become uglier, the streets viler, the gloom deepens, the ...
— A Dreamer's Tales • Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett]
... could almost swallow stones to stop it. Well, the child ceased crying a moment and turned its little white, pinched face towards me; it was a pitiful sight, it looked so old, so wan, so wizened; but while I looked at it a bright smile came over it, just as you see a gleam of sunshine lighten up a cold, dark little pool of water, so this smile danced over the child's features. I was vain enough for an instant to think myself the cause of the little creature's pleasure, but, remembering I was ...
— The Princess Idleways - A Fairy Story • Mrs. W. J. Hays
... on the weather-quarter of her adversary who had not manifested the smallest desire to prevent her attaining so material an advantage. On the contrary, while the "Dolphin" kept the same canvas spread, she continued to lighten her top-hamper bringing as much of the weight as possible, from the towering height of her tall masts, to the greater security of the hull. Still, the distance between them was too great, in the opinion of Bignall, to commence the contest, while the facility with ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper
... soldier, and well reputed of his company, preferring the greater to the lesser, thought better that some of them perished than all, made this motion, to cast lots, and them to be thrown overboard upon whom the lots fell, thereby to lighten the boat, which otherways seemed impossible to live, and offered himself with the first, content to take his adventure gladly: which nevertheless Richard Clarke, that was master of the Admiral, and one of this number, refused, advising to abide God's pleasure, who ...
— Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland • Edward Hayes
... he's a newspaper writer," said Priscilla, "that you'll do something to lighten his impression, or he'll never favor ...
— When Patty Went to College • Jean Webster
... shewing their love to their country, by preferring the public interest to their present private advantage. If a passenger, in a great storm at sea, should hide his goods that they might not be thrown overboard to lighten the ship, what would be the consequence? The ship is cast away, and he loses his life ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IV: - Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Volume II • Jonathan Swift
... fact in favor of the three men cornered in the adobe. The attackers dared not show themselves in a rush. All night long their guns cracked, and they continued to do so when the east was beginning to lighten with ...
— Kid Wolf of Texas - A Western Story • Ward M. Stevens
... mysterious influences must once have been attributed, is still thought to possess the virtue of putting animals on their mettle, allaying their irritation, and of beguiling the weariness of their long, hard toil. It is not enough to guide them skilfully, to trace a perfectly straight furrow, and to lighten their labor by raising the plowshare or driving it into the earth; no man can be a consummate husbandman who does not know how to sing to his oxen, and that is an art that requires taste and especial gifts. To tell the truth, this chant ...
— The Devil's Pool • George Sand
... brackish Thamis slides with silver streams, Making a breach into the grassy downs, A curious arch, of costly marble fraught, Hath Locrine framed underneath the ground; The walls whereof, garnished with diamonds, With ophirs, rubies, glistering emeralds, And interlast with sun-bright carbuncles, Lighten the room with artificial day: And from the Lee with water-flowing pipes The moisture is derived into this arch, Where I have placed fair Estrild secretly. Thither eftsoons, accompanied with my page, I covertly visit my heart's ...
— 2. Mucedorus • William Shakespeare [Apocrypha]
... "Now, Heaven lighten thee, thou great fool," replied Lawless. "Did I not tell it thee myself? But ye are all mad for this playing at soldiers. When I am in the greenwood, give me greenwood ways; and my word for this tide is, 'A fig ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 8 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... business is with the etiquette of mourning. Widows wear deep mourning, consisting of woollen stuffs and crape, for about two years, and sometimes for life, in America. Children wear the same for parents for one year, and then lighten it with black silk, trimmed with crape. Half-mourning gradations of gray, purple, or lilac have been abandoned, and, instead, combinations of black and white are used. Complimentary mourning is black silk without crape. ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
... the child's winning voice, and the influence of the cheerful room, calmed the young man's troubled spirit and seemed to lighten his despair. He sat down at the bedside looking gloomily upon the child, who lay smiling placidly as with skilful hands he carved small figures from the bits of wood scattered round him ...
— On Picket Duty and Other Tales • Louisa May Alcott
... wife. She whom I choose must not rest content with a humble lot; no honour must seem to high for her to strive for; she must go with me gladly a-viking; war-weed must she wear; she must egg me on to strife, and never wink her eyes where sword-blades lighten; for if she be faint-hearted, scant honour will befall me." Is it not true, ...
— The Vikings of Helgeland - The Prose Dramas Of Henrik Ibsen, Vol. III. • Henrik Ibsen
... us his Word. The way of the Bible is the way of Christ, and is therefore the true path of life. O pilgrim to the heavenly kingdom, the Word of God will be a lamp unto thy feet and a light unto thy way. It will lighten you home. There will never be a day so dark but the beams of light from the blessed Bible will pierce through the darkness and fall with a bright radiance upon your pathway. If sometimes you can not see just where Jesus stepped, take the precious Book of God, and it will ...
— How to Live a Holy Life • C. E. Orr
... year, or two years, of labor would no doubt replace what he had lost. But he had seen, in imagination, his mother's feverish anxiety at an end; household help procured, to lighten her over-heavy toil; the possibility of her release from some terrible obligation brought nearer, as he hoped and trusted, and with it the strongest barrier broken down which rose between him and Martha Deane. All these things which he had, as ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor
... have always a disjointed, broken-backed appearance; yet, readers like them. In this book we have introduced so many characters, that this kind of epilogue will be looked for; and I rather hope, looking far ahead, that I can lighten ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... difficulty, the tide turning and flowing in the same direction as that in which the wind blew, they were unable to ride at anchor or bale out the water that broke in upon them; horses, beasts of burthen, baggage, even arms were thrown overboard to lighten the holds of the ships, which took in water at their sides, and from the waves, too, running over them. Around were either shores inhabited by enemies, or a sea so vast and unfathomable as to be supposed the limit of the world and unbounded by lands. Part ...
— A Book of Discovery - The History of the World's Exploration, From the Earliest - Times to the Finding of the South Pole • Margaret Bertha (M. B.) Synge
... well," went on the bishop. "We want all the faithful priests possible. There is a great darkness in the land, and we need lights to lighten it. You have a brother in Master Cromwell's service, ...
— The King's Achievement • Robert Hugh Benson
... time I made a tack off with the ship; but before they had been gone an hour, the weather began to grow gloomy, and the wind to freshen, a heavy black cloud at the same time settled over the island so as to hide the tops of the hills, and soon after it began to thunder and lighten at a dreadful rate: As these appearances were very threatening, I stood in again towards the island in hopes of meeting with the boat; but though we ran in as close as we dared, we saw nothing of her. In the mean time night came on, which ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 • Robert Kerr
... her a vain, ugly wretch, who grew frightful as soon as he grasped her. But the good dying prince saw the beautiful beamy face of his lady—love bending over him. 'Oh!' he said, 'vision of my life, hast thou come to lighten my dying eyes? Never—never, even in my best days, did I deem that I could be worthy of thee; the more I strove, the more I knew that Gloria is for none below—for me less ...
— The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations • Charlotte Yonge
... a regular fix, I cut a stick, and began whittling and whistling, to lighten my sorrows, till at last I perceived at the bank of the river, and five hundred yards ahead, one of those large rafts, constructed pretty much like Noah's ark, in which a Wabash farmer embarks his cargo of ...
— Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet • Captain Marryat
... all a woman's instincts rebel, we may truthfully teach her that there is no antagonism between her body and her brain, and that, for the good of the race, she ought systematically to develop both, we remove all stumbling blocks from her way, we lighten her burdens, we make her brave to endure, because our teachings correspond with all her preconceived ideas ...
— The Education of American Girls • Anna Callender Brackett
... about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which she no doubt took care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or too much of the plate, and in which the furniture would be estimated at two-thirds of its actual cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten the succession duty, and also because a valuer can be held responsible for the declared value—the valuation thus made stood at six hundred thousand francs. Your wife had a right of half for her share. Everything was sold and bought in by her; she got something out of it all, ...
— Colonel Chabert • Honore de Balzac
... you at last. I have always considered the count de St. Julian as one of the most amiable of mankind. I have looked up to him as a model of virtue, and I have exulted that I had the honour to be of the same species with so fair a fame, and so true a heart. I would willingly lighten to a man so excellent the load of calamity. Why is it, that heaven in the mysteriousness of its providence, so often visits with superior affliction, the noblest of her sons? I should be truly sorry, that my friend should act in a manner unworthy of the tenor of his conduct, and ...
— Italian Letters, Vols. I and II • William Godwin
... power of the fire might give them light: neither could the bright flames of the stars endure to lighten that ...
— Deuteronomical Books of the Bible - Apocrypha • Anonymous
... shelter of one of them before the blockade again began, and the exhaustion of her provisions should compel her to attempt entrance under risk of an engagement with superior force. As it was, she was chased into Salem, and had to lighten ship to escape. But Stewart had driven an enemy's brig of war into Surinam, chased a packet off Barbados, and a frigate in the Mona Passage; and the report of these occurrences, wherever received, imposed additional precaution, delay, ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 2 • Alfred Thayer Mahan
... strangers were generally twofold—to scatter their ennui for a few days, by discovering their histories and affairs, and, where facts failed, calling in the aid of fancy; and when there was nothing more to be discovered or invented, to lighten their money-chests by all the tyranny that power dare venture on, or the effrontery that cunning could devise and execute. Their curiosity regarding Tchitchikof was soon baffled, by discovering, like Socrates, that all they knew was, that nothing could be known. In vain did mine host essay to pump ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 460 - Volume 18, New Series, October 23, 1852 • Various
... Webster was nearly forty-eight years old, he married a second wife. She was the daughter of a New York merchant, and her name was Caroline Bayard Le Roy. She did much to lighten the disappointments of his later life, and they lived together happily for more than ...
— Four Great Americans: Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln - A Book for Young Americans • James Baldwin
... answer to his question, the darkness seemed to lighten. But the process was gradual; seconds passed before Halder gained the impression of a very large room of indefinite proportions. Twenty feet away was the rim of a black, circular depression in the flooring. At first, his chair seemed the only piece of furnishing here; then, ...
— The Other Likeness • James H. Schmitz
... before us. You may make a rich, full picture of your childhood to-day; but let the hour go by, and the darkness stoop to your pillow with its million shapes of the past, and my word for it, you shall have some flash of childhood lighten upon you, that was unknown to your ...
— Dream Life - A Fable Of The Seasons • Donald G. Mitchell
... the vote because he had been brought to believe that, possessing the vote, he could make Parliament enact laws that would lighten the hardships of his life. The whole of the manufacturing class—capitalist and workman alike—could see by 1820 that the House of Commons was the instrument of the electorate, and that to get power they ...
— The Rise of the Democracy • Joseph Clayton
... thy servant depart in peace, According to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, And the ...
— The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible • R. Heber Newton
... singing to beguile the hours and lighten her task; and although not accompanied by any music, her silvery voice sounded ...
— The White Chief - A Legend of Northern Mexico • Mayne Reid
... and one or two danced madly, and as the wind freshened and came up from a new quarter, the sapless branches above rattled against one another like bones. The growing breeze seemed to clear the air and lighten it. He was passing the stile where a path led to old Mrs. Gibbon's desolate little cottage, in the middle of the fields, at some distance even from the lane, and he saw the light blue smoke of her chimney rise distinct above the gaunt greengage trees, against a pale band that was broadening ...
— The Hill of Dreams • Arthur Machen
... shocked, Cherry. You know it is all very fresh' ('Five months—poor Felix!' thought she), 'and there is the continual pain of knowing how wretched those people make the poor child. When she is happier, perhaps the shade will lighten. Don't be afraid, you dear little thing' (he was answering her piteous eyes), 'there's plenty of time to recover it. I suppose I am ...
— The Pillars of the House, V1 • Charlotte M. Yonge
... parched by the summer sun, stretched far away to the north and south. The river was occasionally obstructed with rocks and rapids, but often there were smooth, placid intervals, where the current was gentle, and the boatmen were enabled to lighten their labors with the ...
— Astoria - Or, Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains • Washington Irving
... the malicious wink with which he proclaimed himself a victor in a game of draughts, his glass eyes, with their whites in sharp contrast to his swarthy wax skin, were both wide open and set in a glare of such ferocity and malign hatred that they seemed to flash the fire of life and lighten the gloom of the corner ...
— The Blue Wall - A Story of Strangeness and Struggle • Richard Washburn Child
... she called him by at home—" you are too kind to me, altogether. You are unwilling that I should work, or do anything towards our support, when I actually think that a little exertion on my part would not only serve to lighten your expenses, but be quite as good for my health and spirits as the occupations to which my ...
— The Wedding Guest • T.S. Arthur
... King firmly on his throne. It is some sport of the gods, I suppose, a superhuman jest, perhaps the touch of farce that makes tragedy more vivid, since even that colossal Shakespeare of yours thought fit to lighten Hamlet by introducing a comic gravedigger. Be that as it may, Joan, you are Alec's Queen, and, as he cannot come for you it follows that you must go to him. Shall I tell you why? You are necessary to him. It is decreed, and ...
— A Son of the Immortals • Louis Tracy
... the Union arms. The prospect had grown steadily discouraging ever since the adjournment of Congress in the preceding July, and with the exception of General McClellan's success at Antietam there had been nothing to lighten the gloom which deeply beclouded the military situation. The daily expenditures of the nation were enormous, and the Secretary of the Treasury had at the opening of the season estimated that the National debt at the close of the current fiscal year would exceed seventeen hundred millions of ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine
... waiting for you nearly half an hour, down at the river-brink," called out a voice from below, and its clear, mellow ring seemed suddenly to lighten the heavy atmosphere. "I really ...
— Ilka on the Hill-Top and Other Stories • Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
... geographical conditions, require the greatest efforts to hold and to increase what we have won. We regard our warlike preparations as an almost insupportable burden, which it is the special duty of the German Reichstag to lighten so far as possible. We seem to have forgotten that the conscious increase of our armament is not an inevitable evil, but the most necessary precondition of our national health, and the only guarantee of our international prestige. We are accustomed to regard war as a ...
— Germany and the Next War • Friedrich von Bernhardi
... frequent pilgrimages in the old times; to the wharves, the bustle and excitement of which had held her spellbound many a long summer afternoon; and finally from one street to another, each the scene of well-remembered rambles and adventures. Time can soften sharp and rugged lines and lighten deep shadows, and the pleasant reminiscences of Barking days made ...
— Mary Wollstonecraft • Elizabeth Robins Pennell
... "''Twill lighten up again when the snow leaves off, Miss,' said the woman. 'It is not three o'clock yet. I'll make you a bit of fire in a minute if you like, in one of the rooms. In here——' she added, opening the door of a small bedroom next to the tapestry room, 'it'll light in a minute, the chimney ...
— Grandmother Dear - A Book for Boys and Girls • Mrs. Molesworth
... the purple-vested speaks in vain. Crying, 'Can this be borne?' The consecrated wine-skins creak with scorn; While, leaving tumult there, To quiet idols young and old repair, In places where is light To lighten ...
— The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 • Various
... spent his money jest as that old man did whose place I have described, and live in still better style, for Robert Strong wuz worth millions. But he felt different; he felt as if he wanted his capital to lighten the burden on the aching back of bowed down and tired out Labor, and let it stand up freer and straighter for a spell. He felt that he could enjoy his wealth more if it wuz shared accordin' to the Bible, that sez if you have two coats give to him that hasn't ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley
... death....Who could describe the fury of the waves! The storm had burst upon us in all its violence; our masts seemed to reach up to the clouds, and then to plunge into the abyss. A terrible shock told us that the ship had touched the bottom. We then cut away the cordage and masts to lighten her and try to float her again; this came to pass, but the force of the waves turned her over on her side....As the ship was already leaking in every part, the passengers all rushed on deck; and some...threw themselves into ...
— Old Quebec - The Fortress of New France • Sir Gilbert Parker and Claude Glennon Bryan
... how far unlike to these The straits of hell; here songs to usher us, There shrieks of woe! We climb the holy stairs: And lighter to myself by far I seem'd Than on the plain before, whence thus I spake: "Say, master, of what heavy thing have I Been lighten'd, that scarce aught the sense of toil Affects me journeying?" He in few replied: "When sin's broad characters, that yet remain Upon thy temples, though well nigh effac'd, Shall be, as one is, all clean razed out, Then shall thy feet by heartiness of will Be so o'ercome, ...
— The Divine Comedy • Dante
... licence of the Press. Who was an unheard-of SMITH, who had written nothing, to come forward and shout at BROWZER from behind the hedge of the anonymous? The novelist was a creature of delicate organisation; he suffered as others did not suffer; his only aim was to lighten care, and instruct ignorance. Why was he to be selected for ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, December 31, 1892 • Various
... soil. They would with the courage of Joan of Arc, have grasped the sword, and perished at the stake. They would not give their hand in the light dance to a Briton; they gave their heart with their hand to the meanest of their countrymen. They threw the gold bracelet into the scale to lighten the iron fetter. They feared not the contagion of the prison ships, nor the damp of the dungeon. They instilled into their drooping relatives new hopes, and urged them once more to draw the sword, and throw away the scabbard. It is related ...
— A sketch of the life and services of Otho Holland Williams • Osmond Tiffany
... sun. Kept both the services together in order to be in time. Truly a beautiful sight to see the shining edge of the sun all round the dark disc of the moon. Lord, one day thy hand shall put out those candles; for there shall be no need of the sun to lighten the happy land: the Lamb is the light thereof; a sun that cannot be eclipsed—that cannot ...
— The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne • Andrew A. Bonar
... regularly with sustenance, stopping frequently at the mouth of the hole, calling and offering her what he has brought, in the most endearing manner. Sometimes he seems to stop merely to inquire how she is, and to lighten the tedious moments with his soothing chatter. He seldom rambles far from the spot, and when danger appears, regardless of his own safety, he flies instantly to alarm her. When both are feeding on the trunk of the same tree, or of adjoining trees, he is perpetually ...
— Our Bird Comrades • Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser
... you my hand. You took it once for my father's sake. That was manly of you, Mallett.... I thought perhaps I might lighten your anxiety about your father. I hope I have.... And I must ask your pardon for pressing my private affairs upon you"—he laughed mirthlessly—"merely because I'd rather you didn't think me a crook—for ...
— The Danger Mark • Robert W. Chambers
... owner of the good-humoured countenance. 'Is there nobody here who can sing a song to lighten the time?' ...
— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens
... letter was written, as I was in the Sea of Castille, there arose a southwest wind, which compelled me to lighten my vessels, and run this day into this port of Lisbon, an event which I consider the most marvelous thing in the world, and whence I resolved to write to their Highnesses. In all the Indies I have always found the weather ...
— Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia • Various
... it brings God into the life. Even if we have cause to suspect that the offended brother will not receive us kindly, still such reparation as we can make is at least the gate to reconciliation. It may be too late, but confession will lighten the burden on our own heart. Our brother may be so offended that he is harder to be won than a strong city, but he is far more worth winning; and even if the effort be unsuccessful, it is better than the cowardice which suffers ...
— Friendship • Hugh Black
... kindred in signification, and have been often interchanged in usage. But, in strictness, to allay is to lay to rest, quiet or soothe that which is excited; to alleviate, on the other hand, is to lighten a burden. We allay suffering by using means to soothe and tranquilize the sufferer; we alleviate suffering by doing something toward removal of the cause, so that there is less to suffer; where the trouble ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... Though gold's the standard measure of the world, And seems to lighten everything beside. Yet heap the other passions in the scale, And balance them 'gainst that which gold outweighs— Against this love—and you shall see how light The most supreme of them are in the poise! I speak by book and history; for love Slights my high fortunes. Under cloth of ...
— Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini • George Henry Boker
... the integraph draws successively the curves of shear, bending moment slope, and deflection for simple beams; it does the like service for continuous beams, after certain analytical or graphical calculations have first been made; it can further lighten greatly the graphical work in the treatment of masonry arches and of metal ribs. In graphical hydrostatics it finds centers of pressure and gives a complete solution for the shear and bending moment, curves in ships, besides curves for their stability. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 • Various
... columns impeding each other, taking wrong ways and losing priceless hours while thousands of inexperienced boys, footsore, drenched and shivering yet keen for the fight, ate their five-days' food in one, or threw it away to lighten the march, and toiled on in hunger, mud, cold and rain, without the note of a horn or drum or the distant eye of one blue scout to tell of ...
— Kincaid's Battery • George W. Cable
... down to her, So rare she is, so fair she is; They flutter with a crown to her, And lighten only ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... 366. In order to lighten the severe physical strain inseparable from infantry service in campaign, constant efforts must be made to spare the troops unnecessary hardship and fatigue; but when necessity arises, the limit of endurance must ...
— Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army, 1911 - Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes Nos. 1 to 19) • United States War Department
... every town or castle the children exclaimed, "Is that Jerusalem? Is that the city?"[3] Parties of knights and nobles might be seen travelling eastward, and amusing themselves as they went with the knightly diversion of hawking, to lighten the ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds • Charles Mackay
... you an opportunity," he said, "to lighten the burdens of your captivity. I hoped that you would be sensible and accept my advances of friendship voluntarily," and he ...
— The Mad King • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... your hopeful grove with acorns sown, But e're your seed into the field be thrown, With crooked plough first let the lusty swain Break-up, and stubborn clods with harrow plain. Then, when the stemm appears, to make it bare And lighten the hard earth with hough, prepare. Hough in the spring: nor frequent culture fail, Lest noxious weeds o're the young wood prevail: To barren ground with toyl large manure add, Good-husbandry will force ...
— Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) - Or A Discourse of Forest Trees • John Evelyn
... found the barrows in use, but the coolies were filling them with dirt and carrying them up the bank on their heads as they had always carried their baskets. The coolie of Hind is not to be beguiled by any demonstration intended to lighten his task, for he is ...
— East of Suez - Ceylon, India, China and Japan • Frederic Courtland Penfield
... captain, seeing a cloud in the distance, foretold that we were going to have a thunderstorm, and ordered the scupper-holes to be stopped, and all except the watch to remain below. I happened to be one of the watch at the time, and well I remember how it very shortly after began to thunder and lighten, the rain falling in torrents for two or three hours; it was the heaviest thunderstorm I had ever witnessed. We baled up some twenty or more casks of water, which was none the better, perhaps, for there being pigs, fowls, geese, and turkeys all over the deck, but still was very acceptable ...
— The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence - A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns • William Lawrence
... Engineers. Some are married, for the life is a lonely one, and three or four months often elapse without personal communication with the outer world, except on the wires. By this means, when the latter are not in public use, the telegraphist can lighten his weary hours by animated conversation with his colleague two or three hundred miles away on congenial topics—the state of the weather, rate of exchange, chances of promotion, and so on. Living, moreover, at most of the stations is good and cheap; there is plenty ...
— A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan • Harry De Windt
... and watch the snake dance without lettin' out a yip. Then he has a bright idea, which he proceeds to state. Maybe they don't know anything about the glorious product of the settin' hen down in New Haven. And who needs it more at such a time as this? Ought to have some of 'em up there and lighten their load of gloom. Act of charity. Gotta be done. If nobody else'll do it, he will. Go out ...
— Torchy As A Pa • Sewell Ford
... men must share this feeling; to which appeal they gave a hearty assent. As neither of my companions seemed ready to speak, I ventured to thank the gentlemen for their kindness, and to ask what we could do to lighten their task—whether we could not go to some house near by, or even walk back to Corning. But the brisk little milliner exclaimed, "I know the whole road, and there isn't a house anywhere in this neighborhood. ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 89, May, 1875 • Various
... it was impossible to lie still, even for the sake of keeping warm, and pulling on our shoes we stamped about the floor, and occasionally opened the door to see what the storm was about. Along about eight o'clock it began to lighten, and my hopes rose. We could catch an occasional glimpse of the crowning peak and of the observatory, which we knew contained two or three of Janssen's men and some provisions. An hour later, when the storm seemed about at an end, and we were preparing to ascend to the top, ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various
... the celebrated Dr. Hunter. Mary Gray, to whom fell the task of putting on the bandages at bed-time, used to sing him to sleep, or tell him Scotch ballads and legends, in which he delighted, or teach him psalms, and thus lighten his pain. Mary Gray was a very pious woman, and she unquestionably inspired Byron with that love of the Scriptures which he preserved to his last day. She only parted from Byron when he was placed at school at Dulwich, in 1800. The child loved ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli
... permitted to pass quietly away without any apparent pain, and is now, we reverently and thankfully believe, an inhabitant of that city "which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is ...
— The Annual Monitor for 1851 • Anonymous
... obtained—and mix thoroughly. If the soil is clayey or heavy, add enough coarse sand and make it fine and friable, or use a larger proportion of the manure. Leaf-mould, from the woods, will also be good to lighten it with. This one mixture will do for all your potting. Keep enough of it under cover, or where it will not freeze, to last you during the winter and early spring. Store some of it in old barrels, or in boxes under the greenhouse bench, if there is not a more convenient place. ...
— Gardening Indoors and Under Glass • F. F. Rockwell
... nature shone in gleaming Robe of white, Of angel's beauty once possessed, Yea, loveliest, Like a ray refulgent streaming Filled with light. 66 And by my ill-omened fate, My atrocious devilries, Sins treasonous, More dead than death is now my state Bowed with this weight That nought can lighten, vanities Most poisonous. 67 I am a sinner obstinate, Perverse, that know no remedy For this my plight, Oppressed by guilt most obdurate, And profligate, Inclined to evil constantly And all delight. 68 And I banished from my lore All my ...
— Four Plays of Gil Vicente • Gil Vicente
... wandered far, my dear, and we have loved apace; A little hut we built upon the sand, The sun without to lighten it, within, your golden face,— O happy dream, O ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... looks for the means by which the necessary object may be best obtained. And until it shall be accomplished, until the time shall come when we can point, without a blush, to the language held in the Declaration of Independence, every part of humanity will seek to lighten the galling chain of slavery, and better, to the utmost of his power, the wretched condition ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden
... day, violently, and in a low voice, "is to sell to the first comer, stews, repose, light, fire, dirty sheets, a servant, lice, and a smile; to stop passers-by, to empty small purses, and to honestly lighten heavy ones; to shelter travelling families respectfully: to shave the man, to pluck the woman, to pick the child clean; to quote the window open, the window shut, the chimney-corner, the arm-chair, the chair, the ottoman, the stool, the feather-bed, the ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo
... many stops, and the keyboards were coupled together, it required considerable exertion to bring out the full power of the instrument; sometimes the organist had to stand on the pedals and throw the weight of his body on the keys to get a big chord. All kinds of schemes were tried to lighten the "touch," as the required pressure on the keys is called, the most successful of which was dividing the pallet into two parts which admitted a small quantity of wind to enter the groove and release the pressure before the pallet was fully opened; but even on the best of organs the performance ...
— The Recent Revolution in Organ Building - Being an Account of Modern Developments • George Laing Miller
... pang crossing her at the thought that all her aunt's loveliness must tell directly and heavily in this case to lighten religion's testimony. It was that thought and no other which saddened her brow as she went back ...
— Queechy • Susan Warner
... utmost to increase in numbers; that each lives by a struggle at some period of its life; that heavy destruction inevitably falls either on the young or old, during each generation or at recurrent intervals. Lighten any check, mitigate the destruction ever so little, and the number of the species will almost instantaneously increase to ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 • Various
... God's Acres of Dead I wonder how often the mute voices said: "I will do a kind deed or will lighten a sorrow Or rise to a ...
— The Path to Home • Edgar A. Guest
... in no small degree to lighten any present evil if a man turn his mind to the evils to come. These are so many, so diverse, and so great, that out of them has arisen one of the strongest emotions of the soul; namely, fear. For fear has been defined by some as the emotion ...
— Works of Martin Luther - With Introductions and Notes (Volume I) • Martin Luther
... regret this admission that he was not omniscient, and went on hastily: "You know as well as we do that we don't want any fight with him. But I'll tell you right now that if you force a fight, we'll make it so warm for him that he'll have to throw you overboard to lighten ship." ...
— Blindfolded • Earle Ashley Walcott
... still standing there when Mr. Carmyle swung round with a frown on his dark face which seemed to say that he had not found the janitor's conversation entertaining. The sight of Ginger plainly did nothing to lighten ...
— The Adventures of Sally • P. G. Wodehouse
... of all the camps, did the best he could. He sent message after message to Beeson Lake demanding more men. If the rollways could be definitely cleared once, the work would lighten all along the line. Then the men would regain their content. More help was promised, but it was slow in coming. The balance hung trembling. At any moment the foreman expected the crisis, when the men, discouraged by the accumulation of work, would ...
— Blazed Trail Stories - and Stories of the Wild Life • Stewart Edward White
... about three hundred men, well mounted, was marched into a pine thicket, where we were ordered to destroy or throw away all our extra clothing and blankets, with every thing which we could possibly spare, to lighten the burdens of our horses. This halt in the shade of the pines was very refreshing both to men and beasts. The sun is very warm ...
— Three Years in the Federal Cavalry • Willard Glazier
... greatly contributed to my comfort and happiness. In fact, the generous attentions of Mr. Prankerd, and these his worthy kindred, have been unceasing since I came here; and they have eminently contributed to lighten the pressure of that burden with which the Boroughmongers vainly ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 2 • Henry Hunt
... end of the mania for getting rid of goods to lighten loads, the abandonment of wagons continued, as the teams became weaker and the ravages of cholera among the emigrants began to tell. It was then that many lost their heads and ruined their teams by furious driving, by lack of care, and by abuse. There came a veritable stampede—a strife for ...
— Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail • Ezra Meeker |
