Sitting

“ The couch of the invalid friend, beautifully, appealingly resigned, has been wheeled, say, for the case, into the warm still garden, and your visit but consists of your sitting beside it with kind, discreet, testifying silences. ”

“ Sofas, tables, and chairs in our sitting-room are made of buffalo horns, very cleverly pieced together, but torturing the senses with suggestions of impalement. Sitting or standing, one felt insecure. ”

“ And yet, oftentimes some of them sit there, looking so carefully at one of their fingers, which is going round and round, making letters and numbers that have no meaning, on the varnished arm of the chair where they are sitting. They're thinking. They don't really see. (A pause.) But what a strange impression it makes on you, when, as you go through the waiting-room again, after you are through with the doctor, you catch a glimpse of that chair where you were sitting just a few moments before—anxious to have some opinion on your mysterious disease. ”

“ Though I am apt to fancy that all the chairs and tables, and other little pieces of furniture in the room where I am sitting, appear to my eye always the same, yet their appearance is in reality continually varying, not only according to every variation in their situation and distance with regard to where I am sitting, but according to every, even the most insensible variation in the altitude of my body, in the movement of my head, or even in that of my eyes. ”

“ “Somebody has been sitting in my chair!” ”

“ Now, the reflections of two men, sitting side by side, are a curious thing,—seated on the same seat, having the same eyes, ears, hands, and organs of all sorts, and having pass before their eyes the same objects,—it is wonderful what a variety we shall find in these same reflections. ”

“ To most of us even the bodily warmth of another, for example the chair warm from another's sitting, is felt unpleasantly, whereas there is nothing disagreeable in the warmth of the chair in which we have been sitting ourselves. ”

“ In the sitting-room, is rather a spare assortment of shining old mahogany furniture, or carved arm-chairs equally old, with chintz draperies down to the ground,—a folding or other screen with Chinese figures, their round, little-eyed, meek faces perking side-wise;—a stuffed bird perhaps in a glass case (a living one is too much for her;) ”

“ The sitting position usually assumed is far from what it should be in order to insure health. As a rule, we sit humped forward, with a decided bend in the spine, ultimately developing splendid examples of what we call round shoulders. ”

“ And there's another thing besides the sitting down that requires thinking out before you settle down to work. Is it better to sit facing the sun with the north wind blowing on the small of your back, or to sit with the wind in your face while the sun gives a nice, comfy feeling to your spine? ”

“ The favourite attitude of the poetical young gentleman is lounging on a sofa with his eyes fixed upon the ceiling, or sitting bolt upright in a high-backed chair, staring with very round eyes at the opposite wall. ”

“ This was my only and my constant comfort. When I think of it, the picture always rises in my mind, of a summer evening, the boys at play in the churchyard, and I sitting on my bed, reading as if for life. ”

“ And if it be said that howbeit sitting at our common tables be a sign natural to signify familiarity amongst us, yet nature hath not given such a signification to sitting at the Lord's table,—I answer, that sitting is a natural sign of familiarity, at what table soever it be used. ”

“ The chairs you will probably find it advisable to dust before sitting down, and this will be done with great alacrity by the sturdy lass, who, barelegged, and with untied nightcap, and scanty bedgown, will, soon after your arrival, hurry into the room with a shovelful of coals as a kindling for your fire. ”

“ When I say “sitting,” of course I do not mean any change of attitude such as you in Spaceland signify by that word; for as we have no feet, we can no more “sit” nor “stand” (in your sense of the word) than one of your soles or flounders. Nevertheless, we perfectly well recognise the different mental states of volition implied in “lying,” “sitting,” and “standing,” which are to some extent indicated to a beholder by a slight increase of lustre corresponding to the increase of volition. ”

“ We think that when we sit in a chair, we are aware of sitting in it, but it is not aware of being sat in. It cannot for a moment be doubted that we are right in believing that there is SOME difference between us and the chair in this respect: so much may be taken as fact, and as a datum for our inquiry. ”

“ This is the origin of our word to ‘sit;’ whence comes, 2. To ‘set.’ The latter is the transitive from the intransitive, formed by a change of the vowel. 3. ‘Settle’ is a frequentative of ‘sit,’ and expresses a permanent sitting. 4. A ‘seat’ is from the same root; it is that on which any one ‘sits;’ and, 5. A ‘saddle’ is a seat on horseback. ”

“ Shall he wait in some cold sitting-room in process of dusting, with its chairs standing on their heads, and the early besom making play on its carpet until his half-hour is up, and he can return whence he came, having at least done what he was bidden to do? ”

“ There is one other bad sitting position to which I wish to call your attention. It arises from not keeping the arms on the same level, and is generally caused by sitting at a table or desk that is too high or too low. ”

“ I wrote so fully in my former book on the arrangement of sitting-rooms that I am only going to touch lightly on the orthodox papering and painting of dining-, drawing-, and morning-rooms, reserving all my new ideas for the billiard-room and library, neither of which rooms were considered likely to be required for the modest young couple starting in life, for whom I more particularly designed that special volume. ”

“ Just a month from this day, on the 20th of September 1850, I shall be sitting in this chair, in this study, at ten o'clock at night, longing to die, weary of incessant insight and foresight, without delusions and without hope. ”

“ By too much sitting still the body becomes unhealthy; and soon the mind. ”

“ But specimens crowd into our recollection for which we have not space. General sitting-rooms can bear a variety of subject and suggestion—they will have a variety of inhabitants or visitors; and while bearing the impress of a certain unity, they should contain pleasure for all, and stimuli for differing minds. We would not habitually admit in them works of art which rouse too painful a class of emotions. ”

“ For example, a table might surely be contrived for ten or a dozen taylors to sit round, with liberty for their legs either to hang down, or rest upon a foot-board, as they should chuse. A place might likewise be cut out for each person, in such a manner that he might sit as conveniently for working as in the present mode of sitting cross-legged. ”

“ I am so often asked to advise people, on paper, how to arrange their furniture, and despite my strenuous refusals{70} to contemplate such a waste of time, am so constantly importuned to do so, that I venture to pause here, and give one or two hints on the subject of the general arrangement of sitting-rooms ”

“ there were two tall mirrors and tables with nothing on them—in brief, it was a room where you had no reason for sitting in one place rather than in another. ”

“ There were no chairs, stools, or benches, the men and women sitting upon their haunches, a position which would be a severe trial to a white and afford no rest whatever, but which is the universal mode of sitting adopted by savage races in all parts of the world. ”

“ I have ever loved to repose myself, whether sitting or lying, with my heels as high or higher than my seat. ”

“ Whether you reed or rite, accustom yourselves to stand at a high desk, rather than indulge an indolent habit of sitting, which always weekens, and sometimes disfigures the body. ”

“ As our schoolgirls sit many hours each day, it is vital to their health that they sit correctly. When sitting, one should push back in the chair as far as possible. In the resting position the entire trunk should lean backwards against the back of the chair; the hips should not be allowed to slide forward in the seat. ”

“ Have a sitting-room with at least one easy chair, even though you have to take turns at sitting in it, and books out of the public library or of your own purchase for the making of your family intelligent, and checkerboards and guessing matches, with an occasional blind man's buff, which is of all games my favorite. ”

“ To counteract the bad effect of long sitting, even at properly adjusted desks, children should be frequently sent to blackboards, and at regular intervals a few minutes are to be given to "setting up" exercises. ”

“ Sit out, to sit, or to sit apart, during: to await the close of; Sit under, to be in the habit of hearing the preaching of; Sit up, to raise the body from a recumbent to a sitting position: to keep watch during the night (with) . ”

“ In another room, we catch sight of a few still in bed, or sitting listlessly on their beds. They are mostly youthful, and regard us from afar with natural curiosity—some actually seeming inclined to giggle at our intrusion. ”

“ We think they'll have more exercise than any chairs ever had before. They'll be used in the dining-room for breakfast, and then they'll be moved to the veranda to spend the morning, and in they'll come again for dinner and out they'll go for the afternoon, and in for supper, and after supper they'll be moved into the hall which is to serve as the sitting room! ”

“ Back of the sitting-room is the bedroom, just large enough to contain the bedstead, the washstand, the bureau and two chairs. One thing, however, attracts our special attention. The bed is not a mere collection of blankets, thrown together and never disturbed. ”

“ She rose hurriedly from her chair, and walked to the window, turned back again into the room, and approached the table, close to where he was sitting. ”

“ ATTEMPTS AT STRICTER EVIDENCE IN a Table Sitting it is manifest that the hypothesis of unconscious muscular guidance must be pressed to extremes, as a normal explanation, when the communications are within the knowledge of any of the people sitting at the table. ”

“ I have never had anything so full of interest and variety before, and I am not the least tired of travelling I have a large and comfortable sitting and bed-room combined here, and people keep calling to see me. ”

“ These, if let alone, she lays in some secret place, at distance from the usual resort, to prevent their being broken by the male, which he is apt to do if he find them. The time of sitting is from twenty-seven to thirty days. ”

“ I knew a little girl that got upon the back of a chair, when her brother was sitting in it eating his breakfast, and he rose up as soon as he had done, and the [5] chair fell back to the floor, and his little sister’s head was so hurt that she died. You must never get upon the back of a chair, nor pull one away when any body is going to sit down, for the fall may break the person’s back. ”

“ Civilized men and women spend such a very large part of the time in a sitting position that the bodily posture when sitting down is a very great factor in the bodily welfare and health. Special thought and study, therefore, should be given the question of the sitting posture. Unfortunately, this particular subject seems to have been ignored absolutely for hundreds of years in the making of our chairs.
It is just as harmful to sit all humped over as it is to stand in such a position. The nervous system cannot be maintained at its best unless the spine is held reasonably erect. ”

“ In general, the room is occupied by individuals, or groups of individuals, sitting apart at their respective little mahogany tables, and smoking, reading, or talking with one another in a considerate undertone, in order that nobody may be disturbed. ”

“ SLOW broke the light and sweet breath'd the morn,
When a maiden I saw sitting under a thorn,
Her dark hair hung loose on her bosom of snow,
Her eyes look'd bewilder'd, her cheeks pale with woe.
Ah! whence is thy sorrow, fair maiden? ”

“ Well, but sit while you stay, 'tis as cheap sitting as standing. ”