| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: productions,--as the stump of a tail in tailless breeds,--the vestige of an
ear in earless breeds,--the reappearance of minute dangling horns in
hornless breeds of cattle, more especially, according to Youatt, in young
animals,--and the state of the whole flower in the cauliflower. We often
see rudiments of various parts in monsters. But I doubt whether any of
these cases throw light on the origin of rudimentary organs in a state of
nature, further than by showing that rudiments can be produced; for I doubt
whether species under nature ever undergo abrupt changes. I believe that
disuse has been the main agency; that it has led in successive generations
to the gradual reduction of various organs, until they have become
rudimentary,--as in the case of the eyes of animals inhabiting dark
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: keeping accounts; that he must therefore fall, which would make
a vacancy I might profit of. I objected my want of money. He then
let me know that his father had a high opinion of me, and, from some
discourse that had pass'd between them, he was sure would advance
money to set us up, if I would enter into partnership with him.
"My time," says he, "will be out with Keimer in the spring;
by that time we may have our press and types in from London.
I am sensible I am no workman; if you like it, your skill in the
business shall be set against the stock I furnish, and we will share
the profits equally."
The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father was in town
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: continued in six parts as they entered the large room (windows opening upon
the garden) which Frau Fischer occupied each successive year. I was
reading the "Miracles of Lourdes," which a Catholic priest--fixing a gloomy
eye upon my soul--had begged me to digest; but its wonders were completely
routed by Frau Fischer's arrival. Not even the white roses upon the feet
of the Virgin could flourish in that atmosphere.
"...It was a simple shepherd-child who pastured her flocks upon the
barren fields..."
Voices from the room above: "The washstand has, of course, been scrubbed
over with soda."
"...Poverty-stricken, her limbs with tattered rags half covered..."
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