| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: to the differential recoil system which is utilised in the small
anti-aircraft guns now mounted upon the roofs of high buildings
of cities throughout Germany for the express purpose of repelling
aerial attack.
The French system is admitted by the leading artillery
technicians of the world to be the finest which has ever been
designed, its remarkable success being due to the fact that it
takes advantage of the laws of Nature. In this system the gun is
drawn back upon its cradle preparatory to firing. In some
instances the barrel is compressed against a spring, but in the
more modern guns it is forced to rest against a cushion of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: and took the next eastbound train.
If you journey in a Pullman from Mesa to Omaha without a waistcoat, and
with a silk handkerchief knotted over the collar of your flannel shirt
instead of a tie, wearing, besides, tall, high-heeled boots, a soft, gray
hat with a splendid brim, a few people will notice you, but not the
majority. New Mexico and Colorado are used to these things. As Iowa, with
its immense rolling grain, encompasses you, people will stare a little
more, for you're getting near the East, where cow-punchers are not
understood. But in those days the line of cleavage came sharp-drawn at
Chicago. West of there was still tolerably west, but east of there was
east indeed, and the Atlantic Ocean was the next important
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: from the spirit of his author instead of coming nearer to it. In
the "Paradiso," Canto X. 1-6, his method leads him into
awkwardness:--
"Looking into His Son with all the love
Which each of them eternally breathes forth,
The primal and unutterable Power
Whate'er before the mind or eye revolves
With so much order made, there can be none
Who this beholds without enjoying Him."
This seems clumsy and halting, yet it is an extremely literal
paraphrase of a graceful and flowing original:--
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
