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Examples

  • The veselija is a compact, a compact not expressed, but therefore only the more binding upon all.

    The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1923

  • The veselija is a compact, a compact not expressed, but therefore only the more binding upon all.

    The Jungle 1906

  • It was one of the laws of the veselija that no one goes hungry; and, while a rule made in the forests of Lithuania is hard to apply in the stockyards district of Chicago, with its quarter of a million inhabitants, still they did their best, and the children who ran in from the street, and even the dogs, went out again happier.

    The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1923

  • Generally it is the custom for the speech at a veselija to be taken out of one of the books and learned by heart; but in his youthful days Dede

    The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1923

  • Bit by bit these poor people have given up everything else; but to this they cling with all the power of their souls -- they cannot give up the veselija!

    The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1923

  • It was one of the laws of the veselija that no one goes hungry; and, while a rule made in the forests of Lithuania is hard to apply in the stockyards district of Chicago, with its quarter of a million inhabitants, still they did their best, and the children who ran in from the street, and even the dogs, went out again happier.

    The Jungle 1906

  • Bit by bit these poor people have given up everything else; but to this they cling with all the power of their souls -- they cannot give up the veselija!

    The Jungle 1906

  • Generally it is the custom for the speech at a veselija to be taken out of one of the books and learned by heart; but in his youthful days Dede Antanas used to be a scholar, and really make up all the love letters of his friends.

    The Jungle 1906

  • The veselija has come down to them from a far-off time; and the meaning of it was that one might dwell within the cave and gaze upon shadows, provided only that once in his lifetime he could break his chains, and feel his wings, and behold the sun; provided that once in his lifetime he might testify to the fact that life, with all its cares and its terrors, is no such great thing after all, but merely

    The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1923

  • The veselija has come down to them from a far-off time; and the meaning of it was that one might dwell within the cave and gaze upon shadows, provided only that once in his lifetime he could break his chains, and feel his wings, and behold the sun; provided that once in his lifetime he might testify to the fact that life, with all its cares and its terrors, is no such great thing after all, but merely a bubble upon the surface of a river, a thing that one may toss about and play with as a juggler tosses his golden balls, a thing that one may quaff, like a goblet of rare red wine.

    The Jungle 1906

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  • A traditional Lithuanian wedding feast

    Excerpt from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

    "The veselija has come down to them from a far-off time, and the meaning of it was that one might dwell within the cave and gaze upon shadows, provided only that once in his lifetime he could break his chains, and feel his wings, and behold the sun; provided that once in his lifetime he might testify to the fact that life, with all its cares and its terrors, is no such great thing after all, but merely a bubble upon the surface of a river, a thing that one may toss about and play with as a juggler tosses his golden balls, a thing that one may quaff, like a goblet of rare wine. Thus having known himself for the master of things, a man could go back to his toil and live upon the memory all his days."

    February 24, 2008