| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: pleading eye. Ragged as he was, and many a scarecrow is in that
respect more comfortably furnished, even on board he was not without
some curious admirers.
There was a girl among the passengers, a tall, blonde, handsome,
strapping Irishwoman, with a wild, accommodating eye, whom Alick had
dubbed Tommy, with that transcendental appropriateness that defies
analysis. One day the Devonian was lying for warmth in the upper
stoke-hole, which stands open on the deck, when Irish Tommy came
past, very neatly attired, as was her custom.
'Poor fellow,' she said, stopping, 'you haven't a vest.'
'No,' he said; 'I wish I 'ad.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: things which a man who is good for anything should know, that, I suppose,
will be of no consequence. You certainly appear to me very like the rest
of the world, looking at your neighbour and not at yourself. I am of
opinion that enough has been said on the subject which we have been
discussing; and if anything has been imperfectly said, that may be
hereafter corrected by the help of Damon, whom you think to laugh down,
although you have never seen him, and with the help of others. And when I
am satisfied myself, I will freely impart my satisfaction to you, for I
think that you are very much in want of knowledge.
LACHES: You are a philosopher, Nicias; of that I am aware: nevertheless I
would recommend Lysimachus and Melesias not to take you and me as advisers
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: In August, his father took him on a coasting-vessel.
It was vacation time and the arrival of the children consoled
Felicite. But Paul was capricious, and Virginia was growing too old to
be thee-and-thou'd, a fact which seemed to produce a sort of
embarrassment in their relations.
Victor went successively to Morlaix, to Dunkirk, and to Brighton;
whenever he returned from a trip he would bring her a present. The
first time it was a box of shells; the second, a coffee-cup; the
third, a big doll of ginger-bread. He was growing handsome, had a good
figure, a tiny moustache, kind eyes, and a little leather cap that sat
jauntily on the back of his head. He amused his aunt by telling her
A Simple Soul |
