And A Seller of Dreams became instantly a mere heap of scribbled paper.

I went through gallery after gallery, dusty, silent, often ruinous, the exhibits sometimes mere heaps of rust and lignite, sometimes fresher.

The house had entirely fallen, the walls outward, the roof in; it was a mere heap of rubbish, with here and there a forlorn spear of broken rafter.

The huts were mere heaps of brush like rats' nests.

About me the columns loomed, mere shapeless heaps from the ravages of staggering eons.

These were a melancholy sight, a mere heap of sodden and still smoking ashes.

All the buildings were burnt, some mere heaps of ash, others with blackened timbers protruding.

The colours of the smoke were various; for some chimneys were from firesides and some from factories, and some again from mere rubbish heaps.

Where the boundary lies between a mere heap of cells and a human life is something we all no doubt have to decide for ourselves.

Their ruins were everywhere, some mere heaps of debris, some broken walls of carefully laid masonry, indicating a growing skill in architectural construction.