| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: handed to him, and he read it patiently from end to end, while the
councillors sat foolishly enough looking before them on the table.
The secretaries, in the background, were exchanging glances of
delight; a row at the council was for them a rare and welcome
feature.
'Gentlemen,' said Otto, when he had finished, 'I have read with
pain. This claim upon Obermunsterol is palpably unjust; it has not
a tincture, not a show, of justice. There is not in all this ground
enough for after-dinner talk, and you propose to force it as a CASUS
BELLI.'
'Certainly, your Highness,' returned Gondremark, too wise to defend
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: youth in ignorance and hope. She lumbered on through
an interminable procession of days; and the fresh gild-
ing flashed back at the setting sun, seemed to cry out
over the darkening sea the words painted on her stern,
'Judea, London. Do or Die.'
"Then we entered the Indian Ocean and steered north-
erly for Java Head. The winds were light. Weeks
slipped by. She crawled on, do or die, and people at
home began to think of posting us as overdue.
"One Saturday evening, I being off duty, the men
asked me to give them an extra bucket of water or so--
Youth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: and tapestried chambers, were indifferent to me while I could leave
them at pleasure, but have ever been hateful to me since they
held me by force. May I never again have roof but the blue sky,
nor canopy but the green leaves, nor barrier but the forest-bounds;
with the foresters to my train, Little John to my page,
Friar Tuck to my ghostly adviser, and Robin Hood to my liege lord.
I am no longer lady Matilda Fitzwater, of Arlingford Castle,
but plain Maid Marian, of Sherwood Forest."
"Long live Maid Marian!" re-echoed the foresters.
"Oh false girl!" said the baron, "do you renounce your name and parentage?"
"Not my parentage," said Marian, "but my name indeed:
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