| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: been universally developed--more still to the feeling of cupidity,
which has caused all owners to take care of volumes which year
by year have become more valuable--and, to some considerable extent,
to the falling off in the production of edible books.
The monks, who were the chief makers as well as the custodians of books,
through the long ages we call "dark," because so little is known of them,
had no fear of the bookworm before their eyes, for, ravenous as he is
and was, he loves not parchment, and at that time paper was not.
Whether at a still earlier period he attacked the papyrus, the paper
of the Egyptians, I know not--probably he did, as it was a purely
vegetable substance; and if so, it is quite possible that the worm of to-day,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: another, life forces men apart and breaks up the goodly
fellowships for ever. The very flexibility and ease which
make men's friendships so agreeable while they endure, make
them the easier to destroy and forget. And a man who has a
few friends, or one who has a dozen (if there be any one so
wealthy on this earth), cannot forget on how precarious a base
his happiness reposes; and how by a stroke or two of fate - a
death, a few light words, a piece of stamped paper, a woman's
bright eyes - he may be left, in a month, destitute of all.
Marriage is certainly a perilous remedy. Instead of on two or
three, you stake your happiness on one life only. But still,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: about things that seemed to have nothing to do with reality; but
Silas was hurt and uneasy.
"I don't take your meaning, sir," he answered, not having words at
command to express the mingled feelings with which he had heard
Mr. Cass's words.
"Well, my meaning is this, Marner," said Godfrey, determined to
come to the point. "Mrs. Cass and I, you know, have no children--
nobody to benefit by our good home and everything else we have--
more than enough for ourselves. And we should like to have somebody
in the place of a daughter to us--we should like to have Eppie,
and treat her in every way as our own child. It 'ud be a great
Silas Marner |
