| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: branch of my confession. First, because I have been made to learn
that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on man's
shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but
returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure.
Second, because, as my narrative will make, alas! too evident, my
discoveries were incomplete. Enough then, that I not only
recognised my natural body from the mere aura and effulgence of
certain of the powers that made up my spirit, but managed to
compound a drug by which these powers should be dethroned from
their supremacy, and a second form and countenance substituted,
none the less natural to me because they were the expression, and
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: choose about results thus beautifully wrought, and not one feature in
the whole performance will the doer of it seek to keep concealed. To
such height of nobleness (he added), Socrats, does husbandry appear,
like some fair mistress, to conform the soul and disposition of those
concerned with it.
[8] "Nay, if you will but listen, Socrates, with husbandry it is not
the same as with the other arts."
[9] {katatribenai}, "worn out." See "Mem." III. iv. 1; IV. vii. 5. Al.
"bored to death."
[10] Or, "before the products of his pupilage are worth his keep."
[11] Or, "critical and crucial."
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: again this spring, Jud?'
"That was all the pancake specifications I could get that night. I
didn't wonder that Jackson Bird found it uphill work. So I dropped the
subject and talked with Uncle Emsley for a while about hollow-horn and
cyclones. And then Miss Willella came and said 'Good-night,' and I hit
the breeze for the ranch.
"About a week afterward I met Jackson Bird riding out of Pimienta as I
rode in, and we stopped on the road for a few frivolous remarks.
"'Got the bill of particulars for them flapjacks yet?' I asked him.
"'Well, no,' says Jackson. 'I don't seem to have any success in
getting hold of it. Did you try?'
Heart of the West |
