| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: feet touch, every son among us might see ever blazoned above his head that
banner, and below it the great order:--"By this sign, Conquer!"--and that
the pirate flag which some men now wave in its place, may be torn down and
furled for ever! Shall I condone the action of some, simply because they
happen to be of my own race, when in Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn
it? Shall men belonging to one of the mightiest races of earth, creep
softly on their bellies, to attack an unwarned neighbour; when even the
Kaffir has again and again given notice of war, saying, 'Be ready, on such
and such a day I come to fight you?' Is England's power so broken, and our
race so enfeebled, that we dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep
silently upon our bellies in the dark to stab, like a subject people to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: or through your eye-glass, and of despising the most superior of men
should he wear an old-fashioned waistcoat? . . . Laurent, you are
hurting me! After breakfast, Paul, we will go to the Tuileries and see
the adorable girl with the golden eyes."
When, after making an excellent meal, the two young men had traversed
the Terrasse de Feuillants and the broad walk of the Tuileries, they
nowhere discovered the sublime Paquita Valdes, on whose account some
fifty of the most elegant young men in Paris where to be seen, all
scented, with their high scarfs, spurred and booted, riding, walking,
talking, laughing, and damning themselves mightily.
"It's a white Mass," said Henri; "but I have the most excellent idea
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: [Thursday, 7th July]
The landing-master's bell rung this morning about four
o'clock, and at half-past five, the foundation being cleared,
the work commenced on the site of the building. But from the
moment of landing, the squad of joiners and millwrights was at
work upon the higher parts of the rock in laying the railways,
while the anvils of the smith resounded on the beacon, and
such columns of smoke ascended from the forges that they were
often mistaken by strangers at a distance for a ship on fire.
After continuing three hours at work the foundation of the
building was again overflowed, and the boats returned to the
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