| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Her prow sloped sharply backward from the water-
line--quite like a line of battleship. Perry had designed
her more for moral effect upon an enemy, I think, than
for any real harm she might inflict, and so those parts
which were to show were the most imposing.
Below the water-line she was practically non-existent.
She should have had considerable draft; but, as the
enemy couldn't have seen it, Perry decided to do away
with it, and so made her flat-bottomed. It was this that
caused my doubts about her.
There was another little idiosyncrasy of design that
Pellucidar |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: mid-stride, promenading upon the grass. I passed close to a little
poodle dog suspended in the act of leaping, and watched the slow
movement of his legs as he sank to earth. "Lord, look here!" cried
Gibberne, and we halted for a moment before a magnificent person
in white faint-striped flannels, white shoes, and a Panama hat,
who turned back to wink at two gaily dressed ladies he had passed.
A wink, studied with such leisurely deliberation as we could afford,
is an unattractive thing. It loses any quality of alert gaiety,
and one remarks that the winking eye does not completely close,
that under its drooping lid appears the lower edge of an eyeball
and a little line of white. "Heaven give me memory," said I,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "My name is Jack Pumpkinhead," returned the other, smilingly; "but as to my
business, I haven't the least idea in the world what it is."
The Guardian of the Gates looked surprised, and shook his head as if
dissatisfied with the reply.
"What are you, a man or a pumpkin?" he asked, politely.
"Both, if you please," answered Jack.
"And this wooden horse -- is it alive?" questioned the Guardian.
The horse rolled one knotty eye upward and winked at Jack. Then it gave a
prance and brought one leg down on the Guardian's toes.
"Ouch!" cried the man; "I'm sorry I asked that question. But the answer is
most convincing. Have you any errand, sir, in the Emerald City?"
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
