| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: no grown man present, he laid down the rule that in such a case the
most active of the Leaders or Prefects[20] was to become ruler for the
nonce, each of his own division. The conclusion being that under no
circumstances whatever are the boys of Sparta destitute of one to rule
them.
[19] Lit. "Paidonomos."
[20] Lit. "Eirens."
I ought, as it seems to me, not to omit some remark on the subject of
boy attachments,[21] it being a topic in close connection with that of
boyhood and the training of boys.
[21] See Plut. "Lycurg." 17 (Clough, i. 109).
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: phrase "break out." O'Brien contended it was Thornton's privilege
to knock the runners loose, leaving Buck to "break it out" from a
dead standstill. Matthewson insisted that the phrase included
breaking the runners from the frozen grip of the snow. A majority
of the men who had witnessed the making of the bet decided in his
favor, whereat the odds went up to three to one against Buck.
There were no takers. Not a man believed him capable of the feat.
Thornton had been hurried into the wager, heavy with doubt; and
now that he looked at the sled itself, the concrete fact, with the
regular team of ten dogs curled up in the snow before it, the more
impossible the task appeared. Matthewson waxed jubilant.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: thought I would suit him very well--we two, and thirty-one days out
at sea, and it's no good! It's like talking to a man standing on
shore. I can't get him back. I can't get at him. I feel sometimes
as if I must shake him by the arm: "Wake up! Wake up! You are
wanted, sir . . . !"
Young Powell recognized the expression of a true sentiment, a thing
so rare in this world where there are so many mutes and so many
excellent reasons even at sea for an articulate man not to give
himself away, that he felt something like respect for this outburst.
It was not loud. The grotesque squat shape, with the knob of the
head as if rammed down between the square shoulders by a blow from a
Chance |
