| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: the hemlock, and the time was come to drink the fatal draught, they
tell how he playfully jerked out the dregs from the bottom of the cup,
like one who plays "Cottabos,"[22] with the words, "This to the lovely
Critias." These are but "apophthegms"[23] too trivial, it may be
thought, to find a place in history. Yet I must deem it an admirable
trait in this man's character, if at such a moment, when death
confronted him, neither his wits forsook him, nor could the childlike
sportiveness vanish from his soul.
[22] "A Sicilian game much in vogue at the drinking parties of young
men at Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left
in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: Yes, sails may very well be blown away. And that
would be like a death sentence on the men. We
haven't strength enough on board to bend another
suit; incredible thought, but it is true. Or we may
even get dismasted. Ships have been dismasted in
squalls simply because they weren't handled quick
enough, and we have no power to whirl the yards
around. It's like being bound hand and foot pre-
paratory to having one's throat cut. And what
appals me most of all is that I shrink from going on
deck to face it. It's due to the ship, it's due to the
The Shadow Line |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: hansom drove smartly into John Street. It was hailed by both men,
and as the cabman drew up his restive horse, Morris made a dash
into the vehicle.
'Sixpence above fare,' he cried recklessly. 'Waterloo Station for
your life. Sixpence for yourself!'
'Make it a shilling, guv'ner,' said the man, with a grin; 'the
other parties were first.'
'A shilling then,' cried Morris, with the inward reflection that
he would reconsider it at Waterloo. The man whipped up his horse,
and the hansom vanished from John Street.
CHAPTER VI. The Tribulations of Morris: Part the First
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