| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: of playing k'yahds or of riding in the k'yahs. And they
have the pleasant custom--long ago fallen into decay in
the North--of frequently employing the respectful 'Sir.'
Instead of the curt Yes, and the abrupt No, they say 'Yes, Suh',
'No, Suh.'
But there are some infelicities. Such as 'like' for 'as,'
and the addition of an 'at' where it isn't needed.
I heard an educated gentleman say, 'Like the flag-officer did.'
His cook or his butler would have said, 'Like the flag-officer done.'
You hear gentlemen say, 'Where have you been at?' And here is
the aggravated form--heard a ragged street Arab say it to a comrade:
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I suggested. Again Perry shook his head.
"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the
meantime suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down
the coast--we may find a native who can enlighten us."
As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and
earnestly across the water. Evidently he was wrestling
with a mighty problem.
"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything
unusual about the horizon?"
As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the
strangeness of the landscape that had haunted me from
At the Earth's Core |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: Wherefore they preached, not with fear and trembling, but rather
even with excess of boldness, the saving Name of God, and naught
but Christ was on their lips, as they plainly proclaimed to all
men the transitory and fading nature of this present time, and
the fixedness and incorruptibility of the life to come, and sowed
in men the first seeds, as it were, towards their becoming of the
household of God, and winning that life which is hid in Christ.
Wherefore many, profiting by this most pleasant teaching, turned
away from the bitter darkness of error, and approached the sweet
light of Truth; insomuch that certain of their noblemen and
senators laid aside all the burthens of life, and thenceforth
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