| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: in all things makes the sounding-board is this--there's naught
beneath. And yet, a coffin with a body in it rings pretty much the
same, Carpenter. Hast thou ever helped carry a bier, and heard the
coffin knock against the churchyard gate, going in?
"Faith, sir, I've--"
"Faith? What's that?"
"Why, faith, sir, it's only a sort of exclamation-like--that's all,
sir."
"Um, um; go on."
"I was about to say, sir, that--"
"Art thou a silk-worm? Dost thou spin thy own shroud out of thyself?
Moby Dick |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: sold to the highest bidder all the common property of the Little
Sisters of Samaria, at the home of the Sisterhood, in Bonhomme
Street. The sale will dispose of the building, ground, and the
complete furnishings of the house and chapel, without reserve.
This notice stirred the two friends to a reminiscent talk concerning
an episode in their journalistic career that had occurred about two
years before. They recalled the incidents, went over the old theories,
and discussed it anew from the different perspective time had brought.
There were no other customers in the cafe. Madame's fine ear had
caught the line of their talk, and she came over to their table--for
had it not been her lost money--her vanished twenty thousand dollars--
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: throbbing with personality, hunting in a Japanese sentence for
personal references is dishearteningly like "searching in the dark
for a black hat which is n't there;" for the brevet pronouns are
commonly not on duty. To employ them with the reckless prodigality
that characterizes our conversation would strike the Tartar mind
like interspersing his talk with unmeaning italics. He would regard
such discourse much as we do those effusive epistles of a certain
type of young woman to her most intimate girl friends, in which
every other word is emphatically underlined.
For the most part, the absolutely necessary personal references are
introduced by honorifics; that is, by honorary or humble expressions.
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