| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: supplied with ample maintenance at the public expense. Possibly some
of you may be calculating that the capital[40] requisite will be
enormous. They may doubt if a sufficient sum will ever be subscribed
to meet all the needs. All I can say is, even so, do not dispond. It
is not as if it were necessary that every feature of the scheme should
be carried out at once, or else there is to be no advantage in it at
all. On the contrary, whatever number of houses are erected, or ships
are built, or slaves purchased, etc., these portions will begin to pay
at once. In fact, the bit-by-bit method of proceeding will be more
advantageous than a simultaneous carrying into effect of the whole
plan, to this extent: if we set about erecting buildings wholesale[41]
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: at a second glance I recognised the highest contemporary
enterprise.
"This is Mr. Morrow," said Paraday, looking, I thought, rather
white: "he wants to publish heaven knows what about me."
I winced as I remembered that this was exactly what I myself had
wanted. "Already?" I cried with a sort of sense that my friend had
fled to me for protection.
Mr. Morrow glared, agreeably, through his glasses: they suggested
the electric headlights of some monstrous modem ship, and I felt as
if Paraday and I were tossing terrified under his bows. I saw his
momentum was irresistible. "I was confident that I should be the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: He held the white pearl to Inga's ear and the Prince
heard a small voice say distinctly: "Your father is
right. Never question the truth of what you fail to
understand, for the world is filled with wonders."
"I crave your pardon, dear father," said the Prince,
"for clearly I heard the pearl speak, and its words
were full of wisdom."
"The powers of the other pearls are even greater,"
resumed the King. "Were I poor in all else, these gems
would make me richer than any other monarch the world
holds."
Rinkitink In Oz |
