| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: proprieties - don't you know?"
"Of course, if that girl were disposed of it would certainly
facilitate - " he mused sagely, then, inconsequential creature,
gave me a light tap on the lower part of my waistcoat. "You old
sinner," he cried jovially, "much you care for proprieties. But
you had better look out for yourself, you know, with a personage
like Jacobus who has no sort of reputation to lose."
He had recovered his gravity of a respectable citizen by that time
and added regretfully:
"All the women of our family are perfectly scandalised."
But by that time I had given up visiting the S- family and the D-
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: surrounding fabric. The gauze is so delicate that, to make sure of
its presence, I use a straw rather than my eyes. The movement of
the web, when this part is touched, proves the presence of an
obstacle.
Here, the matter would appear obvious. The House Spider has mended
her work during the night; she has put a patch in the torn stuff, a
talent unknown to the Garden Spiders. It would be greatly to her
credit, if a mere attentive study did not lead to another
conclusion.
The web of the House Spider is, as we were saying, a platform for
watching and exploring; it is also a sheet into which the insects
The Life of the Spider |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: insulting manner, any coloured person, male or
female, that he may find at large, particularly at
night and on Sundays, without a written pass,
signed by the master or some one in authority; or
stamped free papers, certifying that the person is
the rightful owner of himself.
If the coloured person refuses to answer ques-
tions put to him, he may be beaten, and his defend-
ing himself against this attack makes him an
outlaw, and if he be killed on the spot, the mur-
derer will be exempted from all blame; but after the
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
