Welcome genteel starvation rather than ignoble toil!
"The Man from Jericho"
Edwin Carlile Litsey
It was the only chance to escape genteel starvation.
"The Man from Jericho"
Edwin Carlile Litsey
And he did laugh again, as gayly as before; a genteel, hearty laugh it was, and the girl joined him, as before, though she could not have told what she was laughing about had her life depended upon it, except that it was very funny that her companion was laughing at nothing.
"The Mystery of the Locks"
Edgar Watson Howe