| 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: society that will abet you." But surely it is no very
extravagant opinion that it is better to give than to
receive, to serve than to use our companions; and above all,
where there is no question of service upon either side, that
it is good to enjoy their company like a natural man. It is
curious and in some ways dispiriting that a writer may be
always best corrected out of his own mouth; and so, to
conclude, here is another passage from Thoreau which seems
aimed directly at himself: "Do not be too moral; you may
cheat yourself out of much life so. . . . ALL FABLES,
INDEED, HAVE THEIR MORALS; BUT THE INNOCENT ENJOY THE STORY."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Travels and Researches in South Africa by Dr. David Livingstone: formerly alight@mercury.interpath.net). To assure a high quality text,
the original was typed in (manually) twice and electronically compared.
[Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are CAPITALIZED.
Some obvious errors have been corrected.]
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.
Also called, Travels and Researches in South Africa;
or, Journeys and Researches in South Africa.
By David Livingstone [British (Scot) Missionary and Explorer--1813-1873.]
David Livingstone was born in Scotland, received his medical degree
from the University of Glasgow, and was sent to South Africa
by the London Missionary Society. Circumstances led him to try to meet
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: not care for hunting, nor yet for buckskin suits. He had
never observed scenery. The world, as it appeared to him,
was almost obliterated by his own great grinning figure in
the foreground: Caliban Malvolio. And it seems to me as if,
in the persons of these brothers-in-law, we had the two sides
of rusticity fairly well represented: the hunter living
really in nature; the clodhopper living merely out of
society: the one bent up in every corporal agent to capacity
in one pursuit, doing at least one thing keenly and
thoughtfully, and thoroughly alive to all that touches it;
the other in the inert and bestial state, walking in a faint
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