| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: and to wait."
"You silly flower," said Thistledown, "see how quickly I will make you
bloom! your waiting is all useless." And speaking thus, he pulled
rudely apart the folded leaves, and laid them open to the sun and air;
while the rose mother implored the cruel Fairy to leave her little bud
untouched.
"It is my first, my only one," said she, "and I have watched over it
with such care, hoping it would soon bloom beside me; and now you have
destroyed it. How could you harm the little helpless one, that never
did aught to injure you?" And while her tears fell like summer rain,
she drooped in grief above the little bud, and sadly watched it fading
Flower Fables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: subject of philosophy may be regarded, he is secretly elaborating a system.
By such a use of language any premises may be made to lead to any
conclusion. I am not one of those who believe Plato to have been a mystic
or to have had hidden meanings; nor do I agree with Dr. Jackson in thinking
that 'when he is precise and dogmatic, he generally contrives to introduce
an element of obscurity into the expostion' (J. of Philol.). The great
master of language wrote as clearly as he could in an age when the minds of
men were clouded by controversy, and philosophical terms had not yet
acquired a fixed meaning. I have just said that Plato is to be interpreted
by his context; and I do not deny that in some passages, especially in the
Republic and Laws, the context is at a greater distance than would be
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: they will be disappointed. I know the war of the desert yet
better than they."
He spoke a few words to his principal officer, and his whole
demeanour and countenance was at once changed from the solemn
repose of an Eastern sage accustomed more to contemplation than
to action, into the prompt and proud expression of a gallant
soldier whose energies are roused by the near approach of a
danger which he at once foresees and despises.
To Sir Kenneth's eyes the approaching crisis had a different
aspect, and when Adonbec said to him, "Thou must tarry close by
my side," he answered solemnly in the negative.
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