| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: self-will of men and ships on this globe of land and sea.
This interval of bondage in the docks rounds each period of a
ship's life with the sense of accomplished duty, of an effectively
played part in the work of the world. The dock is the scene of
what the world would think the most serious part in the light,
bounding, swaying life of a ship. But there are docks and docks.
The ugliness of some docks is appalling. Wild horses would not
drag from me the name of a certain river in the north whose narrow
estuary is inhospitable and dangerous, and whose docks are like a
nightmare of dreariness and misery. Their dismal shores are
studded thickly with scaffold-like, enormous timber structures,
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: book.-Parish Register.-Story of Bigotry by M. Muller.--Clergymen destroy
books.-Patent Office sell books for waste.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BOOKWORM.
Doraston.-Not so destructive as of yore.--Worm won't eat
parchment.-Pierre Petit's .poem.--Hooke's account and image.-Its
natural history neglected.- Various sorts-Attempts to breed
Bookworms.- Greek worm.--Havoc made by worms.--Bodleian and
Dr. Bandinel.--"Dermestes."--Worm won't eat modern paper.--
America comparatively free.--Worm-hole at Philadelphia.
CHAPTER VII.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: And sometimes, while the old nurse cons
Her book, they steal across the square,
And launch their paper navies where
Huge Triton writhes in greenish bronze.
And now in mimic flight they flee,
And now they rush, a boisterous band -
And, tiny hand on tiny hand,
Climb up the black and leafless tree.
Ah! cruel tree! if I were you,
And children climbed me, for their sake
Though it be winter I would break
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