| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: Well, it's that way, too, in this life, my lad,
That way with the other fellow.
Do you want the best for your own to know?
So does the other fellow.
Do you stoop to kiss them before you go?
So does the other fellow.
When your baby lies on a fevered bed,
Does your heart run cold with a silent dread?
Well, it's that way, too, where all mortals tread --
That way with the other fellow.
Does it hurt when they want what you cannot
 A Heap O' Livin' |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: common-sense, progressive ideas, and progressive works; mixed up
with the duel, the inflated speech, and the jejune romanticism of an
absurd past that is dead, and out of charity ought to be buried.
But for the Sir Walter disease, the character of the Southerner--
or Southron, according to Sir Walter's starchier way of phrasing it--
would be wholly modern, in place of modern and medieval mixed,
and the South would be fully a generation further advanced than it is.
It was Sir Walter that made every gentleman in the South a Major
or a Colonel, or a General or a Judge, before the war; and it
was he, also, that made these gentlemen value these bogus decorations.
For it was he that created rank and caste down there, and also
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: hands on the ball. Then Kane hit into second
base, forcing Reddie out.
Again the game assumed less spectacular and
more ordinary play. Both Scott and Wehying
held the batters safely and allowed no runs. But
in the fifth inning, with the Stars at bat and two
out, Red Gilbat again electrified the field. He
sprang up from somewhere and walked to the
plate, his long shape enfolded in a full-length linen
duster. The color and style of this garment
might not have been especially striking, but upon
 The Redheaded Outfield |