| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: and the multitude of riches alike yield to valour. And I assert that those
men are the fathers not only of ourselves, but of our liberties and of the
liberties of all who are on the continent, for that was the action to which
the Hellenes looked back when they ventured to fight for their own safety
in the battles which ensued: they became disciples of the men of Marathon.
To them, therefore, I assign in my speech the first place, and the second
to those who fought and conquered in the sea fights at Salamis and
Artemisium; for of them, too, one might have many things to say--of the
assaults which they endured by sea and land, and how they repelled them. I
will mention only that act of theirs which appears to me to be the noblest,
and which followed that of Marathon and came nearest to it; for the men of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: Vesuvius, of course, in Italy; and Etna, in Sicily; and Hecla, in
Iceland. And you have heard, too, of Kilauea, in the Sandwich
Islands, and of Pele's Hair--the yellow threads of lava, like fine
spun glass, which are blown from off its pools of fire, and which
the Sandwich Islanders believed to be the hair of a goddess who
lived in the crater;--and you have read, too, I hope, in Miss
Yonge's Book of Golden Deeds, the noble story of the Christian
chieftainess who, in order to persuade her subjects to become
Christians also, went down into the crater and defied the goddess
of the volcano, and came back unhurt and triumphant.
But if you look at the map, you will see that there are many, many
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: "Well, I had that idea - but I see the foolishness of it. Which
way am I to go to get to my district?"
He called the under clerk that had examined the map, and he gave me
general directions. I thanked him and started; but he says -
"Wait a minute; it is millions of leagues from here. Go outside
and stand on that red wishing-carpet; shut your eyes, hold your
breath, and wish yourself there."
"I'm much obliged," says I; "why didn't you dart me through when I
first arrived?"
"We have a good deal to think of here; it was your place to think
of it and ask for it. Good-by; we probably sha'n't see you in this
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