| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: one of my numerous PRAENOMINA. Look at the delight with
which two children find they have the same name. They are
friends from that moment forth; they have a bond of union
stronger than exchange of nuts and sweetmeats. This feeling,
I own, wears off in later life. Our names lose their
freshness and interest, become trite and indifferent. But
this, dear reader, is merely one of the sad effects of those
'shades of the prison-house' which come gradually betwixt us
and nature with advancing years; it affords no weapon against
the philosophy of names.
In after life, although we fail to trace its working, that
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: my profile, and, as mine swung to meet them, the expression
upon his face recalled me to my duty and responsibility as
an officer.
The utter hopelessness that was reflected in his face must
have been the counterpart of what I myself felt, but in that
brief instant I determined to hide my own misgivings that I
might bolster up the courage of the others.
"We are lost!" was written as plainly upon Taylor's face as
though his features were the printed words upon an open
book. He was thinking of the launch, and of the launch
alone. Was I? I tried to think that I was. But a greater
Lost Continent |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: JACK. Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think there are
lots of other much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a
charming name.
GWENDOLEN. Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name
Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces
absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they
all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides,
Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who
is married to a man called John. She would probably never be
allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment's
solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest
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