| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: to bite me, what would happen to me? Hardly anything. We have
more cause to dread the sting of a nettle than the dagger which is
fatal to Dragon-flies. The same virus acts differently upon this
organism and that, is formidable here and quite mild there. What
kills the insect may easily be harmless to us. Let us not,
however, generalize too far. The Narbonne Lycosa, that other
enthusiastic insect-huntress, would make us pay clearly if we
attempted to take liberties with her.
It is not uninteresting to watch the Epeira at dinner. I light
upon one, the Banded Epeira, at the moment, about three o'clock in
the afternoon, when she has captured a Locust. Planted in the
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: to the ranch with Miss Messiter, AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. Missou,
I need y'u. We're going back. I reckon y'u better hang on to the
stirrup, for we got to travel some. Adios, senorita!"
He was off at a slow lope on the road he had just come, the other
man running beside the horse. Presently he stopped, as if the
arrangement were not satisfactory; and the second man swung
behind him on the pony. Later, when she turned in her saddle, she
saw that they had left the road and were cutting across the
plain, as if to take the sharpshooter in the rear.
Her troubled thoughts stayed with her even after she had reached
the ranch. She was nervously excited, keyed up to a high pitch;
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: dolls on his knees. He made them sing mournful ditties and say
funny things about geography and Ireland.
"Do dose little men talk?" asked Maggie.
"Naw," said Pete, "it's some damn fake. See?"
Two girls, on the bills as sisters, came forth and sang a duet
that is heard occasionally at concerts given under church auspices.
They supplemented it with a dance which of course can never
be seen at concerts given under church auspices.
After the duettists had retired, a woman of debatable age sang
a negro melody. The chorus necessitated some grotesque waddlings
supposed to be an imitation of a plantation darkey, under the
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
