| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: right up to the hostile battle-line, and again beating a retreat),
under these circumstances it is well to bear in mind that so long as
the skirmisher is close to his own party,[12] valour and discretion
alike dictate to wheel and charge in the vanguard might and main; but
when he finds himself in close proximity to the foe, he must keep his
horse well in hand. This, in all probability, will enable him to do
the greatest mischief to the enemy, and to receive least damage at his
hands.
[12] See "Hipparch," viii. 23.
The gods have bestowed on man, indeed, the gift of teaching man his
duty by means of speech and reasoning, but the horse, it is obvious,
On Horsemanship |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: giving to this growing land the element its body needed.
Now that body was sick. What was the matter with it? Lacking an
education, I was unprepared to say. When I left school my theory
was that every boy should learn a trade as soon as possible. Now
I saw that a trade was not enough. A worker needs an education,
also. The trade comes first, perhaps, but the education ought to
follow on its heels.
During the next ten years of my life I was a worker and a
student, too. My motto was that every one should have at least a
high-school education and a trade.
CHAPTER XXIII
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: which I had heard only twice, and which made my ears burn in my
solitude.
The most frightful part of the situation was that my judgment was
against me; as a matter of fact, everything went to prove that
Marguerite loved me. First, her proposal to spend the summer with
me in the country, then the certainty that there was no reason
why she should be my mistress, since my income was insufficient
for her needs and even for her caprices. There could not then
have been on her part anything but the hope of finding in me a
sincere affection, able to give her rest from the mercenary loves
in whose midst she lived; and on the very second day I had
Camille |
