| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: "Yes, ma'am. They're bringing them in now to jail. Watch out and
y'u'll see them pass here in a few minutes. Seems that
Bannister's wound opened up on him and he couldn't go any
farther. Course Mac wouldn't leave him. Sheriff Burns and his
posse dropped in on them and had them covered before Mac could
chirp."
"You are sure this man--this desperado Bannister--will do nothing
till night?"
"Not the way I figure it. He'll have the jail watched all day.
But he's got to work the town up to a lynching. I expect the bars
will be free for all to-day. By night the worst part of this town
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: number of the individuals supported on it will necessarily be very small;
and fewness of individuals will greatly retard the production of new
species through natural selection, by decreasing the chance of the
appearance of favourable variations.
If we turn to nature to test the truth of these remarks, and look at any
small isolated area, such as an oceanic island, although the total number
of the species inhabiting it, will be found to be small, as we shall see in
our chapter on geographical distribution; yet of these species a very large
proportion are endemic,--that is, have been produced there, and nowhere
else. Hence an oceanic island at first sight seems to have been highly
favourable for the production of new species. But we may thus greatly
On the Origin of Species |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: who came swimming from adjacent islands, and defended and
rescued (as I gather) by the loyalty of native fish. My
anxiety to learn more of "Ahupu Vehine" became (during my
stay in Taiarapu) a cause of some diversion to that mirthful
people, the inhabitants.
Note 3, "COVERED AN OVEN." The cooking fire is made in a
hole in the ground, and is then buried.
Note 4, "FLIES." This is perhaps an anachronism. Even
speaking of to-day in Tahiti, the phrase would have to be
understood as referring mainly to mosquitoes, and these only
in watered valleys with close woods, such as I suppose to
Ballads |
