| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: last body may survive her, just as the coat of an old weaver is left behind
him after he is dead, although a man is more lasting than his coat. And he
who would prove the immortality of the soul, must prove not only that the
soul outlives one or many bodies, but that she outlives them all.
The audience, like the chorus in a play, for a moment interpret the
feelings of the actors; there is a temporary depression, and then the
enquiry is resumed. It is a melancholy reflection that arguments, like
men, are apt to be deceivers; and those who have been often deceived become
distrustful both of arguments and of friends. But this unfortunate
experience should not make us either haters of men or haters of arguments.
The want of health and truth is not in the argument, but in ourselves.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: joins the Loire; a place to hear birds singing; a place for lovers to
frequent. The name of the river was perhaps suggested by the sound
of its passage over the stones; for it is a great warbler, and at
night, after I was in bed at Monastier, I could hear it go singing
down the valley till I fell asleep.
On the whole, this is a Scottish landscape, although not so noble as
the best in Scotland; and by an odd coincidence, the population is,
in its way, as Scottish as the country. They have abrupt, uncouth,
Fifeshire manners, and accost you, as if you were trespassing, an
'Ou'st-ce que vous allez?' only translatable into the Lowland 'Whaur
ye gaun?' They keep the Scottish Sabbath. There is no labour done
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: itself. The post was in the gift of the Government of Bengal, but
that was no reason why the Government of Bengal should not be
grateful in the difficulty of making a choice for a hint from us.
The difficulty was really great. They would have to write home and
advertise in the 'Athenaeum'--for some reason Indian Governments
always advertise educational appointments in the 'Athenaeum'; it is
a habit which dates from the days of John Company--and that would
mean delay. And then the result might be a disappointment. Might
Armour not also be a disappointment? That I really could not say.
A new man is always a speculation, and departments, like
individuals, have got to take their luck.
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