| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: father's was reckoned the foremost knight in England, and he is
now the King's dear friend and a great lord."
"But," said Myles, after another long time of heavy silence,
"will not my Lord then befriend me for the sake of my father, who
was one time his dear comrade?"
Sir James shook his head. "It may not be," said he. "Neither thou
nor thy father must look for open favor from the Earl. An he
befriended Falworth, and it came to be known that he had given
him aid or succor, it might belike be to his own undoing. No,
boy; thou must not even look to be taken into the household to
serve with gentlemen as the other squires do serve, but must even
Men of Iron |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: venture the rest, for we would have plainer sailing and better water.
But it would be insanity to attempt Hat Island at night.
So there was a deal of looking at watches all the rest of the day,
and a constant ciphering upon the speed we were making; Hat Island
was the eternal subject; sometimes hope was high and sometimes
we were delayed in a bad crossing, and down it went again.
For hours all hands lay under the burden of this suppressed excitement;
it was even communicated to me, and I got to feeling so
solicitous about Hat Island, and under such an awful pressure
of responsibility, that I wished I might have five minutes on shore
to draw a good, full, relieving breath, and start over again.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: of birds. Wading birds, which frequent the muddy edges of ponds, if
suddenly flushed, would be the most likely to have muddy feet. Birds of
this order I can show are the greatest wanderers, and are occasionally
found on the most remote and barren islands in the open ocean; they would
not be likely to alight on the surface of the sea, so that the dirt would
not be washed off their feet; when making land, they would be sure to fly
to their natural fresh-water haunts. I do not believe that botanists are
aware how charged the mud of ponds is with seeds: I have tried several
little experiments, but will here give only the most striking case: I took
in February three table-spoonfuls of mud from three different points,
beneath water, on the edge of a little pond; this mud when dry weighed only
On the Origin of Species |
