| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: the utmost vigour, and yet rarely or never seed! In some few such cases it
has been found out that very trifling changes, such as a little more or
less water at some particular period of growth, will determine whether or
not the plant sets a seed. I cannot here enter on the copious details
which I have collected on this curious subject; but to show how singular
the laws are which determine the reproduction of animals under confinement,
I may just mention that carnivorous animals, even from the tropics, breed
in this country pretty freely under confinement, with the exception of the
plantigrades or bear family; whereas, carnivorous birds, with the rarest
exceptions, hardly ever lay fertile eggs. Many exotic plants have pollen
utterly worthless, in the same exact condition as in the most sterile
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: the noonday sun, the color coming and going in both their
faces,--Carl playing aimlessly with his tippet tassel, and Jennie
plaiting and pinching up the ruined apron,--that the fire in the
kitchen stove went out, and the Big Gray grew hungry and craned
his long neck around the shed and whinnied for Carl, and even
Stumpy the goat forgot his hair-breadth escape, and returned near
enough to the scene of the robbery to look down at it from the
hill above.
There is no telling how long the Big Gray would have waited if
Cully had not come home to dinner, bringing another horse with
Patsy perched on his back. The brewery was only a short distance,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The General fumbled in an inside pocket for a pack-
age of matches carefully wrapped against possible dam-
age by rain. Presently he struck one and held the light
in the direction of The Kid's face while he and the
girl and Dopey Charlie leaned forward to scrutinize the
youth's features.
"It's him all right," said Dopey Charlie.
"You bet it is," seconded The General.
"Why he's only a boy," ejaculated the girl. "The one
who threw me from the machine was a man."
"Well, this one said he was The Oskaloosa Kid," per-
The Oakdale Affair |
