1.   Acts of God and absences of tender mercies.

2.   Exley put his faith in the romance of professional football, not in the tender mercies of slumming women.

3.   Everyone else is left to the tender mercies of ticket-and-travel package operators who specialize in Super Bowl deals.

4.   In the fight game, you thank your lucky stars for such tender mercies.

5.   Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., found himself at the tender mercies of the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee last fall.

6.   There are, however, to borrow another Foote title, tender mercies in self-deception.