| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: conduct, and to regulate their general habits as members of
society.' He notes, with the same dip of ink, that `the
brasses were not clean, and the persons of the keepers not
TRIG'; and thus we find him writing to a culprit: `I have to
complain that you are not cleanly in your person, and that
your manner of speech is ungentle, and rather inclines to
rudeness. You must therefore take a different view of your
duties as a lightkeeper.' A high ideal for the service
appears in these expressions, and will be more amply
illustrated further on. But even the Scottish lightkeeper was
frail. During the unbroken solitude of the winter months,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: VIII
AN AFTERNOON MIRACLE
At the United States end of an international river bridge, four armed
rangers sweltered in a little 'dobe hut, keeping a fairly faithful
espionage upon the lagging trail of passengers from the Mexican side.
Bud Dawson, proprietor of the Top Notch Saloon, had, on the evening
previous, violently ejected from his premises one Leandro Garcia, for
alleged violation of the Top Notch code of behaviour. Garcia had
mentioned twenty-four hours as a limit, by which time he would call
and collect a painful indemnity for personal satisfaction.
This Mexican, although a tremendous braggart, was thoroughly
Heart of the West |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: so the running[18] animal, for the simple reason that she is scared
out of her wits by the hounds.[19]
[17] "The form-frequenting hare."
[18] "Her roving congener," i.e. the hunted hare that squats. The
distinction drawn is between the form chosen by the hare for her
own comfort, and her squatting-place to escape the hounds when
hunted.
[19] i.e. "the dogs have turned her head and made her as mad as a
March hare."
In reclining the hare draws up the thighs under the flanks,[20]
putting its fore-legs together, as a rule, and stretching them out,
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