Block

“ Overtop rubbed the window, looked out, and carefully surveyed the row from end to end, and back again. "Ah, I have it!" he said. "A real mystery, too. Look at that four-story house near the western end of the block, the one a trifle shabbier than its neighbors. Do you see, in the open window, a man with a pale, intellectual face, gray hair, and arms bare to the elbows, filing away at something held in a vise before him? ”

“ The thirty-one-story block is the masterpiece of mass, of immensity, of numbers; with its 2427 windows and its 779 offices, and its crowds of lives piled upon lives, it is expressing the one supreme and characteristic thing that is taking place in the era in which we live. ”

“ It is obvious that when a block is divided and the parts are distributed in various hands, if any accident should occur to one part the whole block is jeopardised. It is much to the credit of the fraternity of engravers that this rarely or ever happens. ”

“ Because it keeps the eyes so busy, seeing all the people that pass, one block of buildings seems very much like another the first few times the new-comer takes this walk, except, of course, for conspicuous landmarks like that of the new library on the site of the late reservoir or the Arcade on the site of the old Windsor Hotel, with its ghastly memories; but after awhile all the blocks begin to seem very different; not only the one where you saw a boy on a bicycle run down and killed, or where certain well-known people live, but the blocks formerly considered monotonous. ”

“ But why particularize, when there is not a block or a house on the great thoroughfare which has not been the scene of a tragedy, a fortune ruined, a reputation sacrificed, an agony suffered or a soul lost? ”

“ Broken and jagged barbed wire, red with rust, trailed in tangled lengths by the roadside, and here and there he saw the drunken outlines of block-houses where men had lived horribly and had died in fear. ”

“ MR. BLOCK
By Joe Hill
(Air: "It Looks To Me Like a Big Time Tonight")
Please give me your attention, I'll introduce to you
A man that is a credit to "Our Red, White and Blue";
His head is made of lumber, and solid as a rock;
He is a common worker and his name is Mr. Block.
And Block he thinks he may
Be President some day.
CHORUS:
Oh, Mr. Block, you were born by mistake,
You take the cake,
You make me ache.
Tie on a rock to your block and then jump in the lake,
Kindly do that for Liberty's sake.
Yes, Mr. Block is lucky; he found a job, by gee! ”

“ The banks of the Licking were from four to six feet above the surface, while along the eastern shore, in front of the block-house, was a fringe of bushes and undergrowth, which offered a tempting hiding-place to a foe. ”

“ He passed block after block of trim work-men’s houses, as still and silent as the sleepers within them, and at last he turned the horse’s head into Broad Street, the city’s great thoroughfare, that stretches from its one end to the other and cuts it evenly in two. ”

“ And he walks round blocks and blocks looking for the door of the humming tinselwindowed skyscraper, round blocks and blocks and still no door. Every time he closes his eyes the dream has hold of him, every time he stops arguing audibly with himself in pompous reasonable phrases the dream has hold of him. Young man to save your sanity you’ve got to do one of two things.... Please mister where’s the door to this building? Round the block? Just round the block ... one of two unalienable alternatives: go away in a dirty soft shirt or stay in a clean Arrow collar. ”

“ It may be five or ten miles away, or it may be within sight of the block-house. We can get there without setting foot in the trail agin."
"You may be partly right, Larry, though if we can strike the path five miles away from the falls, I won't be afraid to keep it until we reach the block-house. The risk beyond that isn't any greater than what we have always had to run from the time we leave the settlement till we get back again." ”

“ A block was made fast to the end of the main-yard, and a long line reved through it, to which three pieces of wood were fastened, one of which was put between the legs of the man who was to be ducked, and to this he was tied very fast, another was for him to hold in his hands, and the third was over his head, lest the rope should be hoisted too near the block, and by that means the man be hurt. ”

“ Five years are an eventful space in the history of blocks, as of men. Within that period, they may be burnt down, blown down, or torn down to make room for grander blocks. In quick-growing American cities, the average life of blocks is less than that of the human generation that tenants them. First wood, then brick, then brownstone or marble--these are the successive forms of block life, before anything like stability is reached. Marble is the only real type of the permanent in American architecture. Nobody pulls down marble.
But five years had made little change in the exterior of our block. ”

“ It’s just outside the door there—one of those big blocks of ice; but we shall have to wipe it round with a pick-axe to make it a more decent size for the sledge.”
“One of these blocks?”
“That’s right, my son. If you make a hiding-place some one’s sure to find it; but they’d never think of looking inside a block lying outside your door. You see, I picked a big hole in it, put in my stuff, then a big wedge of flannel, rammed some snow on the top, poured a drop of water over, and in half an hour it was a solid block.” ”

“ He passed along block after block, until the business portion of the city was left behind, and the Orange mountains, bathed in the light of the silvery moon, lay before him. Then he came to a pause and surveyed the scene. ”

“ If lines and corners made for such a block of surveys can be found upon the ground, this fixes the location of the block, even to the disregard of the call for adjoiners. The lines and corners found upon any part of the block of surveys belong to each and every tract of the block, as much as they do to the particular tract which they adjoin. ”

“ That yellow and time-honored face,
With its basket of flowers, its figures and hands,
And the weights and the chains in their place!
How oft have I gazed with admiring eye,
As I sat on the wooden block. ”

“ Then I would let every man except those in the front rank carry a block of stone. We can get them out of the ruins not far off, and if they are piled up at the sides of the doorway—I’ll show the men how to do it—the door can’t come right down, at any rate. ”

“ A gray, rudely-hewn block of sandstone, which, though greatly too ponderous to be moved by any man of the ordinary strength, seems to have served the purpose of a door, lies prostrate beside the opening in front. ”

“ The lower block is the base of what is called in the specifications 'a divided head,' constructed with 'openings or ways.' Opposing this there is a 'plunger or follower,' to which there is also attached a 'divided head' having 'openings and ways' between the parts of the head. ”

“ The women and children are all in the block-house now; the men will be strongly posted at the gates and palisade, while the reserves will be in front of the block-house, in our rough outer works, ready to go to any menaced point or to cover their comrades if they have to retreat, and we are compelled to take to the block-house as a last resource.—There: I must go. You are tired, boy. You have had a long and perilous day. I’ll excuse you from everything to-night, and you had better get to the block-house and have a good night’s rest. ”

“ In impressing the colour by the block upon the paper, he employs a lever of the second kind, to increase the power of his arm, making it act upon the block through the intervention of a piece of wood, shaped like the bridge of a violin. ”

“ And opposite the bench, the dock, divided by a partition, with the women to the left and the men to the right, as it is on the stairs or the block in polite society. ”

“ With a yard as a center, each part of the prison surrounding it formed a structural entity, a “block,” separated from the next one by a space about eight feet wide, and extending from the ground floor right up to the glass roof above. The aggregation of blocks was enclosed by the outer walls as the segments of an orange are enclosed by the peel. With the cell windows toward the yards, the doors were in the circumference of the blocks. ”

“ Filing an Irregular Block.—To file a block of an irregular character so that the dimensions are accurate, is a good test for an accomplished workman. The job is made doubly difficult if he is required to file it square at the same time. ”

“ Each end of every block is worked with a slightly raised and well-smoothed border, for the purpose of securing without unnecessary labor a perfectly accurate joint. The shallow holes, III, III, in the upper surfaces are pry-holes, which were of use in prying the blocks into position. ”

“ They exhibit no mark of mechanical violence: and yet they are found, not unfrequently, crowded together as closely as they can fit, in every variety of position, on the same slab of limestone. A good example of such a block is represented in our woodcut. ”

“ When sitting down it is advisable to choose a block upon which dew-drops pearl. A few minutes of rest upon a certain block of marl, whose genial warmth is most grateful, squatting in the sharp cold air, neatly removes all cloth in contact with the surface. ”

“ The block, attracted by the earth, will stay as near the earth as it can. The water pushes it up because it is attracted by the earth more than the block is, and for the same reason the air pushes up the balloon. ”

“ It is not unusual to employ a block carved with a design of some sort which is not coloured, but serves to stamp a pattern in relief. In printing from such blocks extra pressure is resorted to. Some of the effects thus obtained are very attractive. ”

“ The pressed blocks of which they are built show the new freedom conferred by concrete as a building material. Each block has a long right-angle arm extending inward from the middle, and a short arm extending from each end. In laying the blocks in a wall no portion of a block extends through the wall. By leaving the exterior vertical joints open to afford a free circulation of air, no part of a block on one side of the wall touches any block from the opposite side ”

“ All the country in Riverina—that is, all the fenced country—is split up into ten-mile blocks. And the back-blocks are the farthest from the rivers and from civilisation. So that's why they call it the back-block bend ”

“ The principle of the "block" system is simply that a railway is supposed to be divided into certain sections of a given length, and no two trains are allowed, or ought to be allowed, to be in one section at the same time. ”

“ There is no doubt that blocks with one-third opening are inconveniently and unnecessarily heavy. Such a block, 32 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 9 inches high, has walls about 3 1/2 inches thick, and weighs 180 pounds. ”

“ Some omit blocks in the building for doors and windows, and put steps before the door, lay walks leading from the house and may even put a block before the opening supposed to be the door in such a way as to show the door ajar. ”

“ In another edition of this Chronicle, printed at a later date, either by Richard Pynson or Wynkyn de Worde, the printer, following the plan of Julian Notary, placed five blocks on the front page and surrounded them with a border. The largest block measures 118 by 99 mm., and represents a king on horseback riding through an archway. ”

“ A book that does not open flat is rather inconvenient to write in when one of its sides is in the position shown in Fig. 2. A wedge-shaped piece of metal, stone or wood, as shown in Fig. 1, will, when placed as in Fig. 3, raise the sloping half to the level of the other pages. Cover the block with rubber, wide rubber bands or felt, to prevent its scratching the desk top. The block can also be used as a paperweight. ”

“ Not affording any escape to the terrestrial heat through joints, they are kept warm and open from below in most cases when block-pavements present an icy surface. Their smooth, seamless face, being almost entirely free from abrasion by attrition or atmospheric action, meets the mechanical and hygienic objections to block-pavements, both of stone and wood, as well as of macadamized roads. ”

“ Transfer each block to paper, showing the fronts of one side and the rear of the buildings of the other side, and so on through the entire row of blocks, when you return to the place of starting, and go down the second row, always working toward the vanishing point. ”

“ Block Books.—The Mediæval Block Books were the most important of the early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. They also may be traced to China, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. ”

“ A strong block house is built, and this is surrounded by a comfortable dwelling, erected after the manner of the neatly thatched huts of the natives, or even after the more approved architecture of civilization, if time permits and the proper materials are at hand. ”

“ If the blocks were placed in parallel rows, the first block of a new row would have no support, while by this method each reclines on the previous one. When the house has reached a considerable height the man who cuts the blocks outside must place them upon the last row. The builder supports them with his head and pushes them to their proper places. ”

“ Some of them had grown rich by quick speculations, and got into the choicest society by the simple manoeuvre of taking a four-story brownstone front in the avenue which formed the eastern boundary of the block. Others had attained to poverty by the same process, and had migrated to cheaper lodgings in blocks remote, expecting that a lucky turn of Fortune's wheel would bring them back to fashionable life next year, as it most likely would. ”

“ Water is piped to the lots by the owners, who also furnish free wheelbarrows for use in gardening. Several tiny lots form a block, as in a regular city, and between the blocks run diminutive streets about ten feet wide. ”