Then with regard to the different levels of the floors, concession was implied to "a flat"; but, stairways granted, the risers were to be at zero, and the treads at boiling-point-a strained simile!
"Somehow Good"
William de Morgan
It cannot be supposed that a community which goes to bed so late,-seldom before two or three o'clock A. M.,-can be early risers, and they certainly are not.
"Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia"
Maturin M. Ballou
Nothing of the sort happened, however, though there were dress rehearsals at seven o'clock in the morning of the appointed day, when early risers saw braves in full war paint flocking to the lake front, with a tread not as stealthy as it would be at night when boots should be exchanged for moccasins.
"Ethel Morton at Chautauqua"
Mabell S. C. Smith