| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: A paper that may please ye, sirs
(For troth they say it might be worse
An' I believe't)
And on your business lay my curse
Before I leav't.
I thocht I'd serve wi' you, sirs, yince,
But I've thocht better of it since;
The maitter I will nowise mince,
But tell ye true:
I'll service wi' some ither prince,
An' no wi' you.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: employ the idle, to popularise your Highness's rule, and, if it were
possible, to enable him to reduce the taxes at a blow and to a
notable amount. The proposed expedition - for it cannot without
hyperbole be called a war - seemed to the council to combine the
various characters required; a marked improvement in the public
sentiment has followed even upon our preparations; and I cannot
doubt that when success shall follow, the effect will surpass even
our boldest hopes.'
'You are very adroit, Herr von Gondremark,' said Otto. 'You fill me
with admiration. I had not heretofore done justice to your
qualities.'
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: This pain--"
I gave an impatient shrug at such sophistry.
"Oh, but it is such a little thing! A mind truly opened to
what science has to teach must see that it is a little thing.
It may be that save in this little planet, this speck of cosmic dust,
invisible long before the nearest star could be attained--it may be,
I say, that nowhere else does this thing called pain occur.
But the laws we feel our way towards--Why, even on this earth, even among
living things, what pain is there?"
As he spoke he drew a little penknife from his pocket, opened the
smaller blade, and moved his chair so that I could see his thigh.
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
