| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: ought,' says he, 'to provide her with every comfort. . . .'
"To make it livelier for the lady he made acquaintance with the
officials and all sorts of riff-raff. And of course he had to
give food and drink to all that crew, and there had to be a piano
and a shaggy lapdog on the sofa -- plague take it! . . . Luxury,
in fact, self-indulgence. The lady did not stay with him long.
How could she? The clay, the water, the cold, no vegetables for
you, no fruit. All around you ignorant and drunken people and no
sort of manners, and she was a spoilt lady from Petersburg or
Moscow. . . . To be sure she moped. Besides, her husband, say
what you like, was not a gentleman now, but a settler -- not the
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: Zurborg, "Comm." p. 25; Boeckh, op. cit. IV. xxi. (p. 606, Eng.
tr.); and Grote's note, op. cit. p. 598.
[19] = L20:6:3 = 500 drachmae.
[20] = I.e. 36 per cent.
[21] = L4:1:3 = 100 drachmae.
[22] I.e. 180 per cent.
Moreover, I am of opinion that if the names of contributors were to be
inscribed as benefactors for all time, many foreigners would be
induced to contribute, and possibly not a few states, in their desire
to obtain the right of inscription; indeed I anticipate that some
kings,[23] tyrants,[24] and satraps will display a keen desire to
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
