| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: the mean time go and light the fire; and when I have brought this
oil I will cook some fish.'
She went as if to obey; and presently when the trader looked she
had built a fire so big that the cook-house was catching in flames.
'I KANA KIM!' she cried, as she saw him coming; but he recked not,
and hit her with a cooking-pot. The leg pierced her skull, blood
spouted, it was thought she was a dead woman, and the natives
surrounded the house in a menacing expectation. Another white was
present, a man of older experience. 'You will have us both killed
if you go on like this,' he cried. 'She had said I KANA KIM!' If
she had not said I KANA KIM he might have struck her with a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: useless and ridiculous. This man Stesilaus has been seen by him on board
ship making a very sorry exhibition of himself. The possession of the art
will make the coward rash, and subject the courageous, if he chance to make
a slip, to invidious remarks. And now let Socrates be taken into counsel.
As they differ he must decide.
Socrates would rather not decide the question by a plurality of votes: in
such a serious matter as the education of a friend's children, he would
consult the one skilled person who has had masters, and has works to show
as evidences of his skill. This is not himself; for he has never been able
to pay the sophists for instructing him, and has never had the wit to do or
discover anything. But Nicias and Laches are older and richer than he is:
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: part they knew how to be faithful to their victorious fortune.
They were exalted. They were always watching for her smile; night
or day, fair weather or foul, they waited for her slightest sign
with the offering of their stout hearts in their hands. And for
the inspiration of this high constancy they were indebted to Lord
Nelson alone. Whatever earthly affection he abandoned or grasped,
the great Admiral was always, before all, beyond all, a lover of
Fame. He loved her jealously, with an inextinguishable ardour and
an insatiable desire - he loved her with a masterful devotion and
an infinite trustfulness. In the plenitude of his passion he was
an exacting lover. And she never betrayed the greatness of his
The Mirror of the Sea |
