What are files?

Famous quotes containing the word files:

“Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

“But some who this blithe mood present,
As on in lightsome files they fare,
Shall die experienced ere three days be spent—
Perish, enlightened by the vollied glare;
Or shame survive, and, like to adamant,
Thy after shock, Manassas, share.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)

“The good husband finds method as efficient in the packing of fire-wood in a shed, or in the harvesting of fruits in the cellar, as in Peninsular campaigns or the files of the Department of State.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)