| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: he was disturbed by wild shrieks of laughter from the twins, who,
with the light-hearted gaiety of schoolboys, were evidently amusing
themselves before they retired to rest, but at a quarter past
eleven all was still, and, as midnight sounded, he sallied forth.
The owl beat against the window panes, the raven croaked from the
old yew-tree, and the wind wandered moaning round the house like a
lost soul; but the Otis family slept unconscious of their doom, and
high above the rain and storm he could hear the steady snoring of
the Minister for the United States. He stepped stealthily out of
the wainscoting, with an evil smile on his cruel, wrinkled mouth,
and the moon hid her face in a cloud as he stole past the great
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: on this continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet
publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position:
For no nation in a state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce,
and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive
at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is;
and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled
in the history of other nations, it is but childhood,
compared with what she would be capable of arriving at,
had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands.
England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good,
were she to accomplish it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter,
Common Sense |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: that will warm day after day to a white heat, and never again
cool to forgiveness; and I saw too that this quarrel had been
some time growing. "The man's drunk," said I, perhaps officiously;
"you'll do no good."
Montgomery gave an ugly twist to his dropping lip. "He's always drunk.
Do you think that excuses his assaulting his passengers?"
"My ship," began the captain, waving his hand unsteadily
towards the cages, "was a clean ship. Look at it now!"
It was certainly anything but clean. "Crew," continued the captain,
"clean, respectable crew."
"You agreed to take the beasts."
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
