| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: the forenoon that followed, as they lay off Laulii. Nobody desired
a collision, save perhaps the reckless Leary; but peace and war
trembled in the balance; and when the ADLER, at one period, lowered
her gun ports, war appeared to preponderate. It proved, however,
to be a last - and therefore surely an unwise - extremity. Knappe
contented himself with visiting the rival kings, and the three
ships returned to Apia before noon. Beyond a doubt, coming after
Knappe's decisive letter of the day before, this impotent
conclusion shook the credit of Germany among the natives of both
sides; the Tamaseses fearing they were deserted, the Mataafas (with
secret delight) hoping they were feared. And it gave an impetus to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: "Don't think I want to brag about myself," he went on.
"I don't fancy myself--in that way. I'm not specially
proud of doing things--it's the things themselves
that I care for. If some men had made a great fortune,
they would be conceited about it. Well, I'm not.
What I'm keen about is the way to use that fortune so
that I will get the most out of it--the most happiness,
I mean. The thing to do is to make up your mind carefully
what it is that you want, and to put all your power and
resolution into getting it--and the rest is easy enough.
I don't think there's anything beyond a strong man's reach,
The Market-Place |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: or gentry. Indeed most of the drunkenness we read about
in Chinese books is that of poets and philosophers, and in
them it is, if not commended, at least not condemned.
The attitude of literature towards them is much like that of
Thackeray towards the gentlemen of his day.
The child constructed the picture of a Buddhist priest, who, with
staff in hand, and a mug of wine, was viewing the beautiful
mountains in the distance. He then changed it to one in which an
intoxicated man was leaning on a boy's shoulder, the inscription
to which said: "Any one is willing to assist a drunken man to
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