| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: retinues and hospitality, of noblemen and gentle-
men, received into custom, doth much conduce
unto martial greatness. Whereas, contrariwise, the
close and reserved living of noblemen and gentle-
men, causeth a penury of military forces.
By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk
of Nebuchadnezzar's tree of monarchy, be great
enough to bear the branches and the boughs; that
is, that the natural subjects of the crown or state,
bear a sufficient proportion to the stranger sub-
jects, that they govern.Therefore all states that are
Essays of Francis Bacon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: christened me Snake-eye, the Spy, and announced that,
when his braves returned from the warpath, I was to be
broiled at the stake at the rising of the sun.
Then we had supper; and he filled his mouth full of
bacon and bread and gravy, and began to talk. He made
a during-dinner speech something like this:
"I like this fine. I never camped out before; but I
had a pet 'possum once, and I was nine last birthday.
I hate to go to school. Rats ate up sixteen of Jimmy
Talbot's aunt's speckled hen's eggs. Are there any
real Indians in these woods? I want some more gravy.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: greater numbers. I would earn 30s. a week sometimes and then perhaps
nothing for a fortnight. That's what makes it so hard. You get
nothing to eat for a week scarcely, and then when you get taken on, you
are so weak that you can't do it properly. I've stood in the crowd at
the gate and had to go away without work, hundreds of times. Still I
should go at it again if I could. I got tired of the little work and
went away into the country to get work on a farm, but couldn't get it,
so I'm without the 10s. that it costs to join the Dockers' Union. I'm
going to the country again in a day or two to try again. Expect to get
3s. a day perhaps. Shall come back to the docks again. Then is a
chance of getting regular dock work, and that is, to lounge about the
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
