| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: Enter MISS HARDCASTLE.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Let it be short, then. I'm in a hurry. (Aside.) I
believe be begins to find out his mistake. But it's too soon quite to
undeceive him.
MARLOW. Pray, child, answer me one question. What are you, and what
may your business in this house be?
MISS HARDCASTLE. A relation of the family, sir.
MARLOW. What, a poor relation.
MISS HARDCASTLE. Yes, sir. A poor relation, appointed to keep the
keys, and to see that the guests want nothing in my power to give them.
MARLOW. That is, you act as the bar-maid of this inn.
She Stoops to Conquer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: broodeth on the mind. I have relieved many with it, both in
court and city, and of late one Master Edmund Tressilian, a
worshipful gentleman in Cornwall, who, on some slight received,
it was told me, where he had set his affections, was brought into
that state of melancholy which made his friends alarmed for his
life."
He paused, and the lady remained silent for some time, and then
asked, with a voice which she strove in vain to render firm and
indifferent in its tone, "Is the gentleman you have mentioned
perfectly recovered?"
"Passably, madam," answered Wayland; "he hath at least no bodily
Kenilworth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: Is that enough? Enough to show what England did in the War? No, it is not
enough for such people as continue to ask what she did. Nothing would
suffice these persons. During the earlier stages of the War it was
possible that the question could be asked honestly--though never
intelligently--because the facts and figures were not at that time always
accessible. They were still piling up, they were scattered about, mention
of them was incidental and fugitive, they could be missed by anybody who
was not diligently alert to find them. To-day it is quite otherwise. The
facts and figures have been compiled, arranged, published in accessible
and convenient form; therefore to-day, the man or woman who persists in
asking what England did in the war is not honest but dishonest or
|
