| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: a way, look over what he had, give him back his keys, whetstone and
papers that was of no value except to owner, and stroll away without
asking any questions. Farmers are not fair game to me as high up in
our business as me and Andy was; but there was times when we found 'em
useful, just as Wall Street does the Secretary of the Treasury now and
then.
"When we went down stairs we saw we was in the midst of the finest
farming section we ever see. About two miles away on a hill was a big
white house in a grove surrounded by a wide-spread agricultural
agglomeration of fields and barns and pastures and out-houses.
"'Whose house is that?' we asked the landlord.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: vessel that comes nigh the shore? And, on the other hand, what
living thing, unless his sinews were made of brass, would not
be weary of marching eighteen hundred miles in the twenty-four
hours, as Talus does, without ever sitting down to rest? He is
a puzzler, take him how you will."
Still the vessel went bounding onward; and now Theseus could
hear the brazen clangor of the giant's footsteps, as he trod
heavily upon the sea-beaten rocks, some of which were seen to
crack and crumble into the foaming waves beneath his weight. As
they approached the entrance of the port, the giant straddled
clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on each headland,
Tanglewood Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: answered: How is it, Hiero, if to play the tyrant is a thing so
villainous,[19] and that is your final judgment, how comes it you are
not quit of so monstrous an evil? Neither you, nor, for that matter,
any monarch else I ever heard of, having once possessed the power, did
ever of his own free will divest himself of sovereignty. How is that,
Hiero?
[18] Cf. "Econ." xi. 1.
[19] Or, "if to monarchise and play the despot."
For one simple reason (the tyrant answered), and herein lies the
supreme misery of despotic power; it is not possible even to be quit
of it.[20] How could the life of any single tyrant suffice to square
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