| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: blow upon the long horn which doubtless hangs beside it, and demand
admittance and a lodging, "in the name of the great Jehovah and the
Continental Congress,"--while I angle down the river a mile or so?
Certainly she would. What door is there in Europe at which the
American girl is afraid to knock? "But wait a moment. How do you
ask for fried chicken and pancakes in Norwegian? KYLLING OG
PANDEKAGE? How fierce it sounds! All right now. Run along and
fish."
The river welcomes me like an old friend. The tune that it sings is
the same that the flowing water repeats all around the world. Not
otherwise do the lively rapids carry the familiar air, and the
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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: and wife.' Then, when husbands and wives perform their own special duties,
there can be no unanimity between them; nor can a city be well ordered when
each citizen does his own work only. Alcibiades, having stated first that
goodness consists in the unanimity of the citizens, and then in each of
them doing his own separate work, is brought to the required point of self-
contradiction, leading him to confess his own ignorance.
But he is not too old to learn, and may still arrive at the truth, if he is
willing to be cross-examined by Socrates. He must know himself; that is to
say, not his body, or the things of the body, but his mind, or truer self.
The physician knows the body, and the tradesman knows his own business, but
they do not necessarily know themselves. Self-knowledge can be obtained
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: the heat and burthen of the day? Do you not wonder at yourself? I,
sir, was here in my place, striving to uphold your dignity alone. I
took counsel with the wisest I could find, while you were eating and
hunting. I have laid my plans with foresight; they were ripe for
action; and then - 'she choked - 'then you return - for a forenoon -
to ruin all! To-morrow, you will be once more about your pleasures;
you will give us leave once more to think and work for you; and
again you will come back, and again you will thwart what you had not
the industry or knowledge to conceive. O! it is intolerable. Be
modest, sir. Do not presume upon the rank you cannot worthily
uphold. I would not issue my commands with so much gusto - it is
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