| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: ancient Greek sophist is nothing compared with the sophistry of a religious
order, or of a church in which during many ages falsehood has been
accumulating, and everything has been said on one side, and nothing on the
other. The conventions and customs which we observe in conversation, and
the opposition of our interests when we have dealings with one another
('the buyer saith, it is nought--it is nought,' etc.), are always obscuring
our sense of truth and right. The sophistry of human nature is far more
subtle than the deceit of any one man. Few persons speak freely from their
own natures, and scarcely any one dares to think for himself: most of us
imperceptibly fall into the opinions of those around us, which we partly
help to make. A man who would shake himself loose from them, requires
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: that valuable solvent. Yet, such as it is, the body shall tell us its
own wonderful story."
Here the Professor laid hold of the fossil skeleton, and handled it
with the skill of a dexterous showman.
"You see," he said, "that it is not six feet long, and that we are
still separated by a long interval from the pretended race of giants.
As for the family to which it belongs, it is evidently Caucasian. It
is the white race, our own. The skull of this fossil is a regular
oval, or rather ovoid. It exhibits no prominent cheekbones, no
projecting jaws. It presents no appearance of that prognathism which
diminishes the facial angle. [1] Measure that angle. It is nearly
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: being shown me, a cannon with a history and an inscription concerning the
"war for Southern independence, which I presume your prejudice calls the
Rebellion," said my guide. "There's Mrs. St. Michael now, coming round
the corner. Well, Julia, could you read the yacht's name with your naked
eye? And what's the name of the gambler who owns it? He's a gambler, or
he couldn't own a yacht--unless his wife's a gambler's daughter."
"How well you're feeling to-day, Maria!" said the other lady, with a
gentle smile.
"Certainly. I have been talking for twenty minutes." I was now presented
to Mrs. Weguelin St. Michael, also old, also charming, in widow's dress
no less in the bloom of age than Mrs. Gregory, but whiter and very
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