| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: avenue, thinking that he must be coming now, almost sure, as I
turned to look northward, that there he would be, trudging toward
me, the ship in one hand and the marTIN-house in the other!
[You must not suppose that all I am going to say, as well as all I
have said, was told to the whole company. The young fellow whom
they call John was in the yard, sitting on a barrel and smoking a
cheroot, the fumes of which came in, not ungrateful, through the
open window. The divinity-student disappeared in the midst of our
talk. The poor relation in black bombazine, who looked and moved
as if all her articulations were elbow-joints, had gone off to her
chamber, after waiting with a look of soul-subduing decorum at the
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: bank;[1] or, jump down from a height, the rider must teach and train
himself and his horse to meet all emergencies. In this way the two
will have a chance of saving each the other, and may be expected to
increase their usefulness.
[1] {ekpedan} = exsilire in altum (Sturz, and so Berenger); "to leap
over ditches, and upon high places and down from them."
And here, if any reader should accuse us of repeating ourselves, on
the ground that we are only stating now what we said before on the
same topics,[2] we say that this is not mere repetition. In the former
case, we confined ourselves to advising the purchaser before he
concluded his bargain to test whether the horse could do those
On Horsemanship |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: purchased by means of a small coin, I followed her at once by a
luggage train. Her unhappy father is, I am glad to say, under the
impression that she is attending a more than usually lengthy
lecture by the University Extension Scheme on the Influence of a
permanent income on Thought. I do not propose to undeceive him.
Indeed I have never undeceived him on any question. I would
consider it wrong. But of course, you will clearly understand that
all communication between yourself and my daughter must cease
immediately from this moment. On this point, as indeed on all
points, I am firm.
JACK. I am engaged to be married to Gwendolen Lady Bracknell!
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