| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: casual companionship, perhaps the most exquisite thing to be
experienced was the stimulus of some spiritual feminine counterpart;
but when he desired of one woman that she should be always and
intimately with him, the background of his life, the mother of his
children, he was better advised to avoid nerves and sensibilities,
and try for the repose of the common--the uncommon--domestic
virtues. Ah, he said, they were sweet, like lavender. (Already, I
told him, he smelled the housekeeper's linen-chest.) But I did not
interrupt him much; I couldn't, he was too absorbed. To
temperamental pairing, he declared, the century owed its breed of
decadents. I asked him if he had ever really recognized one; and he
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: to question you. And therefore when you are interrogated by me, I would
have you imagine that you are interrogated by them. 'What is the use of
coming to you, Gorgias?' they will say--'about what will you teach us to
advise the state?--about the just and unjust only, or about those other
things also which Socrates has just mentioned?' How will you answer them?
GORGIAS: I like your way of leading us on, Socrates, and I will endeavour
to reveal to you the whole nature of rhetoric. You must have heard, I
think, that the docks and the walls of the Athenians and the plan of the
harbour were devised in accordance with the counsels, partly of
Themistocles, and partly of Pericles, and not at the suggestion of the
builders.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: grand feller fer the gang. I've seen Wild Bill Hickok throw a
gun, an' Billy the Kid, an' Hardin, an' Chess here--all the
fastest men on the border. An' with apologies to present
company, I'm here to say Duane has them all skinned. His draw
is different. You can't see how he does it."
Euchre's admiring praise served to create an effective little
silence. Alloway shifted uneasily on his feet, his spurs
jangling faintly, and did not lift his head. Bland seemed
thoughtful.
"That's about the only qualification I have to make me eligible
for your band," said Duane, easily.
 The Lone Star Ranger |