| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once
in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing,
on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction
of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry
after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory;
and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions,
or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband,
and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.
The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copyer of deeds for
the scriveners, a good-natur'd, friendly, middle-ag'd man, a great
lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: "What deh hell," he demanded once. "Look at all dese little
jugs! Hundred jugs in a row! Ten rows in a case an' 'bout a
t'ousand cases! What deh blazes use is dem?"
Evenings during the week he took her to see plays in which the
brain-clutching heroine was rescued from the palatial home of her
guardian, who is cruelly after her bonds, by the hero with the
beautiful sentiments. The latter spent most of his time out at
soak in pale-green snow storms, busy with a nickel-plated revolver,
rescuing aged strangers from villains.
Maggie lost herself in sympathy with the wanderers swooning in
snow storms beneath happy-hued church windows. And a choir within
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: another, both to the wagon itself, of which the woodwork had shrunk with
long standing in the sun, and to the cattle, which, being unused to the
yoke, tied themselves in a double knot upon every opportunity, that we
only arrived there at the approach of night.
The last mile of that trek was through a narrow gorge cut out by water
in the native rock. Here trees grew sparsely, also great ferns, but the
bottom of the gorge, along which game were accustomed to travel, was
smooth enough for wagons, save for a few fallen boulders, which it was
necessary to avoid.
When at length we reached the outspan I asked the Hottentot, Klaus, who
was assisting me to drive the team, where his master was, for I could
Marie |
