During the intervals they may emboss pictures in the impressionable sand with cunning forefinger and giggle, for the subjects are often quaint.
"Tropic Days"
E. J. Banfield
The plan adopted was, however, to emboss the stamp, after it was printed, with a series of small square points, arranged in the form of a rectangle, much in the same way that checks are sometimes treated to prevent alteration.
"History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of America"
John Kerr Tiffany
Cowper describes a prisoner of the Bastile beguiling his weary hours by counting the nail-studs on the door of his cell, upwards, downwards, and across,- "Wearing out time in numbering to and fro, The studs that thick emboss his iron door; Then downward and then upwards, then aslant And then alternate; with a sickly hope By dint of change to give his tasteless task Some relish; till, the sum exactly found In all directions, he begins again."
"Leading Articles on Various Subjects"
Hugh Miller