| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: copied records, firsthand descriptions, and the pictures--that's
the worst loss. We had some bird's-eyes of the cities and parks;
a lot of lovely views of streets, of buildings, outside and in, and
some of those gorgeous gardens, and, most important of all, of
the women themselves.
Nobody will ever believe how they looked. Descriptions
aren't any good when it comes to women, and I never was good
at descriptions anyhow. But it's got to be done somehow; the rest
of the world needs to know about that country.
I haven't said where it was for fear some self-appointed
missionaries, or traders, or land-greedy expansionists, will take it
Herland |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: voice.' Marshal Villars has seen a town where all the women
'seemed possessed by the devil,' and had trembling fits, and
uttered prophecies publicly upon the streets. A prophetess of
Vivarais was hanged at Moutpellier because blood flowed from her
eyes and nose, and she declared that she was weeping tears of blood
for the misfortunes of the Protestants. And it was not only women
and children. Stalwart dangerous fellows, used to swing the sickle
or to wield the forest axe, were likewise shaken with strange
paroxysms, and spoke oracles with sobs and streaming tears. A
persecution unsurpassed in violence had lasted near a score of
years, and this was the result upon the persecuted; hanging,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: could not possibly have a better model. Now that you have the
chance you had better avail yourself of it, for I am going back to
Court almost immediately. I am a great favourite at Court; in
fact, the Prince and Princess were married yesterday in my honour.
Of course you know nothing of these matters, for you are a
provincial."
"There is no good talking to him," said a Dragon-fly, who was
sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush; "no good at all, for
he has gone away."
"Well, that is his loss, not mine," answered the Rocket. "I am not
going to stop talking to him merely because he pays no attention.
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