| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: Gnraux en 1789 et la Lgislation Criminelle,'' Paris,
1883, gives a good description of the state of public opinion in
that age. He speaks also of the charges which were brought
against the advocates of the new doctrines concerning crime, that
they upset the moral and social order of things. Nowadays,
charges against the experimental school are cited from these same
advocates; for the revolutionary of yesterday is very often the
conservative of to-day.
This school had, and still has, a practical purpose, namely, to
diminish all punishments, and to abolish a certain number, by a
magnanimous reaction of humanity against the arbitrary harshness
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: diplomatic practices. Hypocrisy, duplicity are my only chance.
I am sorry for it, but for Jeffrey Aspern's sake I would do worse still.
First I must take tea with her; then tackle the main job."
And I told over what had happened to John Cumnor when he wrote to her.
No notice whatever had been taken of his first letter, and the second
had been answered very sharply, in six lines, by the niece.
"Miss Bordereau requested her to say that she could not imagine what
he meant by troubling them. They had none of Mr. Aspern's papers,
and if they had should never think of showing them to anyone
on any account whatever. She didn't know what he was talking
about and begged he would let her alone." I certainly did not want
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently
do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil
shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on
to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds;
Second Inaugural Address |
