Instead of the three or four religious newspapers that once lived on gruel and pap, sitting down once a week on some good man's door-step to rest, thankful if not kicked off, now many of the denominations have stalwart journals that swing their scythe through the sins of the world, and are Avant couriers of the Lord's coming.
"Around The Tea-Table"
T. De Witt Talmage
However, I succeeded in making my way, through one room into another, sometimes guiding my steps along the walls; and once, as I recollect, seeking the diagonal of a room, I bisected a quadrille with such ill-directed speed, as to run foul of a Cork dandy and his partner who were just performing the "en Avant:" but though I saw them lie tumbled in the dust by the shock of my encounter-for I had upset them-I still held on the even tenor of my way.
"The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete"
Charles James Lever (1806-1872)
This Avant-courier is often a little boy, and sometimes, to save the expense of a horse, for which the traveller has paid, he is sent on foot.
"Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel"
John Yeardley