| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: other to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to
regret. At most, they give up only a cheap vote, and a
feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by
them. There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of
virtue to one virtuous man. But it is easier to deal with
the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary
guardian of it.
All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or
backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with
right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally
accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: poor woman! As the couple grew older, they quarrelled more and
more often about the ultimate disposition of their `property.'
A new law was passed in the state, securing the surviving
wife a third of her husband's estate under all conditions.
Cutter was tormented by the fear that Mrs. Cutter would
live longer than he, and that eventually her `people,'
whom he had always hated so violently, would inherit.
Their quarrels on this subject passed the boundary of the
close-growing cedars, and were heard in the street by whoever
wished to loiter and listen.
One morning, two years ago, Cutter went into the hardware store and
My Antonia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the picture of abject terror and consternation.
"Where is he?" he cried when he saw me. "Where is
he?"
"Didn't he come this way?" I asked,
"Nothing came this way," replied the old man. "But I
heard his roars--he must have been as large as an
elephant."
"He was," I admitted; "but where in the world do you
suppose he disappeared to?"
Then came a possible explanation to my mind. I re-
turned to the point at which the bear had hurled me
Pellucidar |
