| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Now
here and in Lacedaemon the rules about love are perplexing, but in most
cities they are simple and easily intelligible; in Elis and Boeotia, and in
countries having no gifts of eloquence, they are very straightforward; the
law is simply in favour of these connexions, and no one, whether young or
old, has anything to say to their discredit; the reason being, as I
suppose, that they are men of few words in those parts, and therefore the
lovers do not like the trouble of pleading their suit. In Ionia and other
places, and generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the
custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute
in which philosophy and gymnastics are held, because they are inimical to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: "lady's" maid is a VERY GREAT character INDEED, and would be much
more unwilling to take her tea with, or speak familiarly to, a
footman or a housemaid than I should. My greatest mistakes in
England have been committed toward those high dignitaries, my own
maid and the butler, whose grandeur I entirely misappreciated and
invaded, as in my ignorance I placed them, as we do, on the same
level with other servants. She has her fire made for her, and LOAF
sugar in her tea, which she and Cates sip in solitary majesty.
However, she is most conscientious and worthy, as well as dignified,
and thoroughly accomplished in her business. As all these things
are pictures of English life, I mention them to amuse Aunty, who
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: without knowing the sound of deals; and they don't have deals
inside a prison for anything else than scaffolds." But the
noise, he said, did not disturb him in the least, as he was quite
prepared to meet his fate. He would like to have seen his grave
and coffin; he knew that his body would be treated with scant
ceremony after his death. But what of that? By that time his
soul would be in Heaven. He was pleased that one sinner who had
seen him on his way from Pentonville to Sheffield, had written to
tell him that the sight of the convict had brought home to him
the sins of his own past life, and by this means he had found
salvation.
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
