| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: the monthly output per man was in 1914 750 poods, in 1916
615 poods, in 1919 240 poods (figures taken from
Ekaterinoslav Government), and in 1920 theoutput per man
is estimated at being something near 220 poods.
In the shale mines on the Volga, where food conditions are
comparatively good, productivity is comparatively high.
Thus in a small mine near Simbirsk there are 230 workmen,
of' whom 50 to 60 are skilled. The output for the unskilled
is 28.9 poods in a shift, for the skilled 68.3. But even there
25 per cent. of the workmen are regular absentees, and
actually the mine works only 17 or 18 days in a month, that
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: -nay, would hardly put an army to the trouble of opening trenches
against it at all. This city was famous in the late civil
unnatural war for its loyalty to the king, and for being a
sanctuary to the queen, where her Majesty resided for some time,
and here she was delivered of a daughter, being the Princess
Henrietta Maria, of whom our histories give a particular account,
so I need say no more of it here.
The cathedral church of this city is an ancient beauty, or, as it
may be said, it is beautiful for its antiquity; but it has been so
fully and often described that it would look like a mere copying
from others to mention it. There is a good library kept in it, in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: be the residue! We who are living and enduring in the presence
of one of the greatest crimes on record, must realise that trying
as this period of the world's history is to those who are passing
through it, in the hands of some great historian it may make
very good reading for posterity. Perhaps we may find some little
consolation in this fact, like the unhappy victims of famous
freebooters such as Jack Sheppard or Charley Peace.
But do not let us flatter ourselves. Do not let us, in all the
pomp and circumstance of stately history, blind ourselves to the
fact that the crimes of Frederick, or Napoleon, or their
successors, are in essence no different from those of Sheppard or
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
