| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: other buildings of interest are to be seen in those towns, there are
porters and guards and Bradshaws and guidebooks to tell you, and it's
they whom you are expected to consult, not any fellow-traveler who
happens to be at hand. If you ask him, you break the rules. Had my friend
said: "I am an American. Would you mind telling me what those buildings
are?" all would have gone well. The Englishman would have recognized (not
fifty years ago, but certainly to-day) that it wasn't a question of rules
between them, and would have at once explained--either that he didn't
know, or that the buildings were such and such.
Do not, I beg, suppose for a moment that I am holding up the English way
as better than our own--or worse. I am not making comparisons; I am
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: short. I'll be writin' you agin when we hit Morgantown.
"Your old Muvver Jim."
Douglas laid the letter gently on the table, his hand still
resting upon it. He looked helplessly at the little, shrunken
figure in the opposite chair. Polly had made no sound, but her
head had slipped lower and lower and she now sat very quietly
with her face in her hands. She had been taught by Toby and Jim
never to whimper.
"What a plucky lot they are," thought Douglas, as he considered
these three lonely souls, each accepting whatever fate brought
with no rebellion or even surprise. It was a strange world of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: difficulties, 'Do not trouble yourself about such matters, but only lead a
good life;' and yet in either case it is not to be denied that right ideas
of truth may contribute greatly to the improvement of character.
The reasons why the Charmides, Lysis, Laches have been placed together and
first in the series of Platonic dialogues, are: (i) Their shortness and
simplicity. The Charmides and the Lysis, if not the Laches, are of the
same 'quality' as the Phaedrus and Symposium: and it is probable, though
far from certain, that the slighter effort preceded the greater one. (ii)
Their eristic, or rather Socratic character; they belong to the class
called dialogues of search (Greek), which have no conclusion. (iii) The
absence in them of certain favourite notions of Plato, such as the doctrine
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