| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: trumpet in this matter, if God so permit; twice he intends to
do it without name; but at the last blast to take the odium
upon himself, that all others may be purged.
Thus he ends the preface, and enters upon his argument with a
secondary title: "The First Blast to awake Women degenerate."
We are in the land of assertion without delay. That a woman
should bear rule, superiority, dominion or empire over any
realm, nation, or city, he tells us, is repugnant to nature,
contumely to God, and a subversion of good order. Women are
weak, frail, impatient, feeble, and foolish. God has denied
to woman wisdom to consider, or providence to foresee, what
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: appearances, fancying, perhaps, that we are taking care of ourselves when
we are not, what is the meaning of a man taking care of himself? and when
does he take care? Does he take care of himself when he takes care of what
belongs to him?
ALCIBIADES: I should think so.
SOCRATES: When does a man take care of his feet? Does he not take care of
them when he takes care of that which belongs to his feet?
ALCIBIADES: I do not understand.
SOCRATES: Let me take the hand as an illustration; does not a ring belong
to the finger, and to the finger only?
ALCIBIADES: Yes.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: speaking. The girl was within a few days of her sixteenth birthday;
she was old enough to be matured by the shock. The very effort she
had to make in conveying the impression to Mrs. Fyne, in remembering
the details, in finding adequate words--or any words at all--was in
itself a terribly enlightening, an ageing process. She had talked a
long time, uninterrupted by Mrs. Fyne, childlike enough in her
wonder and pain, pausing now and then to interject the pitiful
query: "It was cruel of her. Wasn't it cruel, Mrs. Fyne?"
For Charley she found excuses. He at any rate had not said
anything, while he had looked very gloomy and miserable. He
couldn't have taken part against his aunt--could he? But after all
Chance |
