Casket

“ The intense light picked out every detail vividly. Neck and shoulders were bare—the gleaming ivory arms were uplifted—the long, slender fingers held aloft a golden casket covered with dim figures, almost indiscernible at that distance. ”

“ Carrying the casket containing the horrible souvenir, I stumbled onward, toiling aimlessly and in vain up through the gloomy, crooked passages. Feelings I had never before experienced assailed me with a force that first perplexed and then astounded me. ”

“ I bear about with me, wherever I wander, a certain steel casket. I received this casket, with its contents, from a man whose memory I hold in profound veneration. Should I live to find a person whom, after minute and intimate trial of his character, I should deem worthy of such confidence, it is my intention to communicate to him the secret how to prepare and how to use such of the powders and essences stored within that casket as I myself have ventured to employ. ”

“ These, then, the more potent, but also the more perilous of the casket’s contents, shall be explored by no science, submitted to no test. They are the keys to masked doors in the ramparts of Nature, which no mortal can pass through without rousing dread sentries never seen upon this side her wall. ”

“ Standing in the tomb where the air was close and heavy, the pale glimmer of the lantern showed piles of moldering coffins in the niches, and everywhere lay tokens of decay and death. The man drew his hat lower over his eyes, pulled the muffler closer about his mouth, and surveyed the spot with an undaunted aspect, though the beating of his heart was heard in the deep silence. Nearest the door stood a long casket covered with black velvet and richly decorated with silver ornaments, tarnished now. ”

“ Never had the light shone upon a shape of more surpassing loveliness, upon limbs more like ivory in their snowy whiteness, upon a face more like a dreamless slumber, in its calm, beautiful expression. Dead, and yet very beautiful! A proud soul dwelt in this casket once,—the soul has fled, and now the casket must be surrendered to the scalpel,—must be cut and rent, shred by shred, by the dissector's hand.
"But the limbs are not rigid with death," soliloquized Arthur,—"Decay has not yet commenced its work. As I live, there is a glow upon the cheek." ”

“ And the casket shall have an inner seal that shall safeguard it from enemies, and that shall preserve its goodness for man until the day when, transported over the deserts and across the seas, it shall be broken open to be transmuted by the fires of friendship, and made to yield up its aromatic nectar in the Great Drink of Democracy. ”

“ Are we so entirely insecure, that that casket, wherein we have placed our holiest and most final joy, and which we have secured by a lock of infinite deftness; can that casket be picked and desecrated at the merest stranger’s touch, when we think that we alone hold the only and chosen key? ”

“ Perhaps the best way to form some dim conception of it is to fancy a little casket, inlaid inside with precious stones, so that there shall not a hair's-breadth be left unprecious-stoned, and then to conceive this little bit of a casket iucreased to the magnitude of a great church, without losing anything of the excessive glory that was compressed into its original small compass, but all its pretty lustre made sublime by the consequent immensity. ”

“ Let the casket, with all its contents, be transferred to my hands, and pledge me your word that, in giving that casket, you reserve to yourself no other means by which chemistry can be abused to those influences over physical organization, which ignorance or imposture may ascribe to—magic. ”

“ As the casket was borne to the grave, the setting sun, which for the last half hour had been hidden by a mass of clouds, burst out in full splendor, gilding the mountain-tops and shedding his parting rays upon the group around the tomb, the stricken family, the weeping neighbors and friends, especially the women whom for some years past she had been in the habit of meeting at her weekly Bible-reading, and some of whom had walked each week for miles along the mountain roads, through storm and heat, to drink of the living waters which flowed at her touch. ”

“ Job and Leo bent forward in breathless silence. The key turned, and I flung back the lid, and uttered an exclamation, and no wonder, for inside the ebony case was a magnificent silver casket, about twelve inches square by eight high. It appeared to be of Egyptian workmanship, and the four legs were formed of Sphinxes, and the dome- shaped cover was also surmounted by a Sphinx. The casket was of course much tarnished and dinted with age, but otherwise in fairly sound condition. ”

“ PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Touching his own breast.] In here, you see—in here I have a little bramah-locked casket. And in that casket all my sculptor's visions are stored up. But when she disappeared and left no trace, the lock of the casket snapped to. And she had the key—and she took it away with her.—You, little Maia, you had no key; so all that the casket contains must lie unused. And the years pass! And I have no means of getting at the treasure. ”

“ First, you had not been in Venice more than two days when I saw you, recognized you, and surmised that you had come with determination to try to possess yourself of that casket, which, you may remember, you rather heatedly vowed in my presence to “get some day if you lived long enough.” At that time you were such a fiery little girl that I somewhat enjoyed exasperating you just to hear what you might say, and I was tempted on that very afternoon to send you the casket with my compliments for your fearlessness. ”

“ This was what the girl had been hoping for, and so rejoiced was she, that, without even stopping to thank the old woman, she ran as fast as she could to the loft. There were the caskets, blue and red, green and yellow, silver and gold; and there in the corner stood a little black casket, just like the one her stepsister had brought home.
‘If there are so many jewels in that little black thing, this big red one will hold twice the number,’ she said to herself; and snatching it up she set off on her road home without even going to bid farewell to her mistress. ”

“ Up ahead I could see a kind of hollowed out cavern—not any larger than enough to permit a man to kneel upright—and in the center of my flashlight's glow stood a casket, at sight of which I hesitated momentarily, for I recognized the direction of the tunnel away from the well led toward the grave of Dr. Charriere. But I had come too far to retreat.
The smell in this narrow opening was almost indescribable. Pervading every part of the tunnel was the nauseatingly strong musk of reptiles; indeed, it lay so thickly in the air that I had to force myself to press on toward the casket. ”

“ No one, however, could suppose that some third person had discovered the hiding-place and forced open the casket to abstract its contents and then rebury it. The only probable supposition was that the man himself had forced it open, and, deeming the contents of no value, had thrown them away before he had hidden the casket and purse, and, in the chaos of his reason, had forgotten that he had so done. Who could expect that every link in a madman's tale would be found integral and perfect? ”

“ She opened it to find the casket. She drew out the chain of emeralds and her hands dandled them tenderly and her eyes glistened. There were other jewels as fine, a treasury of magnificence. She played with them, trying them in her hair and on neck and bosom, and loved herself in their splendour. Still the casket held something—a picture of Philip set in diamonds, and beneath it a scrap of paper “For my Queen Bess.”
The light died from her eyes. Her face paled and grew hard. She stripped the jewels from her and thrust them back in the casket and set on the top of all the picture and the paper. ”

“ GIANT’S COFFIN, MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY.—This remarkable and weird curiosity is composed of a huge block of stone forty feet long by twenty wide, and when viewed from a certain angle the resemblance to a funeral casket is so great that, even if attention were not called to it, visitors would hardly fail to be a little shocked by the uncanny sight. Standing within its presence it is almost impossible to divest one’s self of the belief that he is gazing upon the last resting-place of some tremendous giant, the guardian genius, perhaps, of this lugubrious subterranean abode ”

“ Of course, all its points are not new, but old objections have been skillfully refurbished and new ones brought into play.
To mourn for the dead, is to mourn for the lost casket when you still retain the jewel it held. The memories of the dead one's virtues are the jewels, and the cold clay but the casket. ”

“ The casket, enshrouded in Old Glory, for which he endured and died, was lowered, but his soul, no one could doubt, had already winged itself to the portals of eternity; there to repose in well-earned rest, to ever serve his God as he served God and country his mortal while. ”

“ My eye fell upon two large oak logs, which young Severs had brought for the fireplace, and I said,
"Why not weight the casket with these logs and screw the lid down? No doubt they will carry it out without opening it, and when they are well on their way we can place my uncle in your car and be out of reach before they discover the substitution."
"A capital idea," said the professor. "We will wrap the logs well so they will not rattle, and, as the casket is an especially heavy one, they will be non the wiser until it is opened at the grave." ”

“ The caskets were of gold, silver, and lead. The gold one bore this inscription:—"Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire"; the silver one had this:—"Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves"; while on the lead one were these words:—"Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath." The Prince of Morocco, as brave as he was black, was among the first to submit to this test. He chose the gold casket, for he said neither base lead nor silver could contain her picture. So he chose the gold casket, and found inside the likeness of what many men desire—death. ”

“ After a moment’s delay, the half-closed door was swung open again to admit a handsome boy in the king’s livery, who carried a casket under his arm.
“That was well thought of, my pretty page,” said the nurse, approaching to take the casket, “but who has found courage to break the new protector’s seal? If it was you, boy, I only hope that handsome head may be firm on your shoulders six weeks hence. I would as soon have touched a red-hot coal as the bit of wax sticking to the smallest cabinet in the palace, and I saw all my lady’s jewels counted and locked up weeks ago.” ”

“ For in the casket was a little live thing, somewhat like a fairy and somewhat like a spirit, and so beautiful that everyone wanted one too.
Now the little fairy (that was like a spirit) was held fast in the casket, which was tightly sealed. And when the casket was given to Hazen, the Giver said:—
“Hazen dear, until you get that little spirit free, you cannot be wise or really good or loved or beautiful. But after you get her free you shall be all four. And nobody can free her but you yourself, though you may ask anybody and everybody to tell you how.” ”

“ But be thou not afraid and still say ever and anon in thy saying:—My casket was the casket of Such-an-one, and I fear him and dare not bespeak him; but you, O company and all ye who are present, I call you to witness of this for me. And if there be with thee more than this saying, say it; and the old woman will assuredly come to thee.” The draper answered with “To hear is to obey” and going forth from the Deputy’s presence, betook himself to his shop and brought out thence the casket and a somewhat making a great display, which he removed to his house. ”

“ I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table. ”

“ We will put [151] the casket in it, and such of your things as you must take out to make room for it, we can hide under the plank. My father will go with you to Pichon’s, and we will communicate with you there as soon as it is safe.”
Paul followed her to the large gloomy room where the treasure lay, and they took the casket from its hiding-place. It was heavy, though not large, and an awkward thing to pack away among linen in a small valise. ”

“ We may go far afield and search the most distant ages and authors grotesquely unlike to one another, and yet we shall come to the same conclusion, that the casket alone was designed, that the jewel slipped in unawares. ”

“ Not to be applied to persons. The expression sometimes used of an eccentric or vicious person, “He is a case” or “a hard case,” is an objectionable colloquialism.
casket, which is from the French casque, helmet, is frequently now used in the United States as a euphemism for coffin, which is from the Greek kophinos, basket. Such innovations are not to be recommended. They savor of pedantry, or, worse still, of pride. ”

“ Later in the day the mourners bring food and sacrifice to the spirit of the mountain, calling aloud the name of the dead and announcing that he is to be buried at that spot. The chief mourner returns home and announces to the dead that a burial place has been prepared. Those that have remained at the burial site dig the grave, making the measurements very exact, so that the casket will fit. At the bottom they put sand mixed with lime, and pound it down hard, so as to form a solid bed for the casket to rest upon. ”