| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: 'outlandish.' Perhaps it was just that outlandish-
ness of the man which influenced old Swaffer. Per-
haps it was only an inexplicable caprice. All I
know is that at the end of three weeks I caught
sight of Smith's lunatic digging in Swaffer's kitch-
en garden. They had found out he could use a
spade. He dug barefooted.
"His black hair flowed over his shoulders. I
suppose it was Swaffer who had given him the
striped old cotton shirt; but he wore still the na-
tional brown cloth trousers (in which he had been
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: with the Empress Dowager. It is to his credit moreover that the
legations were preserved from the Boxers in the siege of 1900.
Prince Su is the only one of the eight hereditary princes who
holds any office that brings him into intimate contact with the
foreigners. During the Boxer siege he gave his palace for the use
of the native Christians, and at the close was made collector of
the customs duties (octoroi) at the city gates. Never had there
been any one in charge of this post who turned in as large
proportion of the total collections as he. This excited the
jealousy of the other officials, and they said to each other: "If
Prince Su is allowed to hold this position for any length of time
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: done."
I looked down upon the ground, back at the camp, with its bright
fires and the folk watching us, and about me on the woods and
mountains; there was just the one way that I could not look, and
that was in Sir William's face.
"Sir William," said I at last, "I think my lord not sane, and have
long thought him so. But there are degrees in madness; and whether
he should be brought under restraint - Sir William, I am no fit
judge," I concluded.
"I will be the judge," said he. "I ask for facts. Was there, in
all that jargon, any word of truth or sanity? Do you hesitate?" he
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