| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: out in terms of humanity in the face of the opposition of the
whole of the rest of the world are not easily recognized by
their dreamers. Poor little Balabanova, less than five feet
high, in a black coat that reached to her feet but did not
make her look any taller, was wandering about like a lost and
dejected spirit. Not so, she was thinking, should socialists
deal with their enemies. Somehow, but not so. Had the
silver trumpets blown seven times in vain, and was it really
necessary to set to work and, stone by stone, with bleeding
hands, level the walls of Jericho?
There was snow falling as I walked home. Two workmen,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: death in the Pacific; and, burning for revenge, they had constructed
a second airship in their secret Island X.
Like a gigantic bird of prey, the "Albatross" hurled itself upon the
"Go-Ahead." Doubtless, Robur, while avenging himself wished also to
prove the immeasurable superiority of the heavier than air machines.
Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans defended themselves as best they could.
Knowing that their balloon had nothing like the horizontal speed of
the "Albatross," they attempted to take advantage of their superior
lightness and rise above her. The "Go-Ahead," throwing out all her
ballast, soared to a height of over twenty thousand feet. Yet even
there the "Albatross" rose above her, and circled round her with ease.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: behold. You, who do not even know its situation on the map,
probably denounce sensational descriptions, stretching your limbs
the while in your pleasant parlour on Beretania Street. When I was
pulled ashore there one early morning, there sat with me in the
boat two sisters, bidding farewell (in humble imitation of Damien)
to the lights and joys of human life. One of these wept silently;
I could not withhold myself from joining her. Had you been there,
it is my belief that nature would have triumphed even in you; and
as the boat drew but a little nearer, and you beheld the stairs
crowded with abominable deformations of our common manhood, and saw
yourself landing in the midst of such a population as only now and
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