| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: The presence of these cannibals affected them no more than the soldiers of a
masked battery care for the ants that crawl over its front.
At six in the morning I rose. The hatches had not been opened.
The inner air was not renewed, but the reservoirs, filled ready
for any emergency, were now resorted to, and discharged several
cubic feet of oxygen into the exhausted atmosphere of the Nautilus.
I worked in my room till noon, without having seen Captain Nemo,
even for an instant. On board no preparations for departure were visible.
I waited still some time, then went into the large saloon.
The clock marked half-past two. In ten minutes it would be
high-tide: and, if Captain Nemo had not made a rash promise,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: and say, "I am safe." The whole armory of North-
ern Law has no shield for you. I am free to say that,
in your place, I should throw the MS. into the fire.
You, perhaps, may tell your story in safety, en-
deared as you are to so many warm hearts by rare
gifts, and a still rarer devotion of them to the service
of others. But it will be owing only to your labors,
and the fearless efforts of those who, trampling the
laws and Constitution of the country under their
feet, are determined that they will "hide the out-
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: how, in the case of good things, the soul of man is filled to
overflowing with joy, and again, in the case of things terrible,
paralysed with amazement. In proof of what I say, let any one reflect
on the stupor into which a body of men with all the weight of
numerical advantage on their side will be betrayed by falling into an
ambuscade; or again, on the exaggerated terror mutually inspired in
belligerents during the first few days, of finding themselves posted
in face of one another.
[17] Or, "troops."
[18] Possibly on flank. See Courier, p. 35, on Spanish cavalry
tactics.
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