| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: responsibility is individual, not communal. From this day forth
each and every one of you is in his own person its special guardian,
and individually responsible that no harm shall come to it. Do you-
-does each of you--accept this great trust? [Tumultuous assent.]
Then all is well. Transmit it to your children and to your
children's children. To-day your purity is beyond reproach--see to
it that it shall remain so. To-day there is not a person in your
community who could be beguiled to touch a penny not his own--see to
it that you abide in this grace. ["We will! we will!"] This is not
the place to make comparisons between ourselves and other
communities--some of them ungracious towards us; they have their
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: his neighbour's pocket, and the Thief took it with avidity.
An Unspeakable Imbecile
A JUDGE said to a Convicted Assassin:
"Prisoner at the bar, have you anything to say why the death-
sentence should not be passed upon you?"
"Will what I say make any difference?" asked the Convicted
Assassin.
"I do not see how it can," the Judge answered, reflectively. "No,
it will not."
"Then," said the doomed one, "I should just like to remark that you
are the most unspeakable old imbecile in seven States and the
Fantastic Fables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: the way those same shirtwaist stack up here. Why, boy, the
lingerie waists that the other girls in my department wear make my
best hand-tucked effort look like a simple English country blouse.
They're so dripping with Irish crochet and real Val and Cluny
insertions that it's a wonder the girls don't get stoop-shouldered
carrying 'em around."
"Hold on a minute," commanded Gus. "This thing is uncanny.
Our cases dovetail like the deductions in a detective story. Kneel
here at my feet, little daughter, and I'll tell you the story of my
sad young life. I'm no child of the city streets, either. Say, I
came to this town because I thought there was a bigger field for me
Buttered Side Down |
