| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: and prolonged cold do no injury to a library so long as the weather is dry.
The fact is that books should never be allowed to get really cold,
for when a thaw comes and the weather sets in warm, the air, laden with damp,
penetrates the inmost recesses, and working its way between the volumes
and even between the leaves, deposits upon their cold surface its moisture.
The best preventative of this is a warm atmosphere during the frost,
sudden heating when the frost has gone being useless.
Our worst enemies are sometimes our real friends, and perhaps the best
way of keeping libraries entirely free from damp is to circulate our
enemy in the shape of hot water through pipes laid under the floor.
The facilities now offered for heating such pipes from the outside
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short;
Youth is nimble, age is lame;
Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee;
O, my love, my love is young!
Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee,
For methinks thou stay'st too long.
XIII.
Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good;
A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly;
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most
expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade and
commerce, if they were not made of India rubber, would never manage
to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually
putting in their way; and, if one were to judge these men wholly by
the effects of their actions, and not partly by their intentions,
they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous
persons who put obstructions on the railroads.
But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who
call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no
government, but at once a better government. Let every man make
Walden |
