| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: never be attained either by the wealthy or by the other mob.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible.
STRANGER: Then the nearest approach which these lower forms of government
can ever make to the true government of the one scientific ruler, is to do
nothing contrary to their own written laws and national customs.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good.
STRANGER: When the rich imitate the true form, such a government is called
aristocracy; and when they are regardless of the laws, oligarchy.
YOUNG SOCRATES: True.
STRANGER: Or again, when an individual rules according to law in imitation
of him who knows, we call him a king; and if he rules according to law, we
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: these fair Southern waters.
And indoors, also, I made most agreeable use of my time, in spite of one
disappointment when, on the day following my visit to the ladies, I re-
turned full of expectancy to lunch at the Woman's exchange, the girl
behind the counter was not there. I found in her stead, it is true, a
most polite lady, who provided me with chocolate and sandwiches that were
just as good as their predecessors; but she was of advanced years, and
little inclined to light conversation. Beyond telling me that Miss Eliza
La Heu was indisposed, but not gravely so, and that she was not likely to
be long away from her post of duty, this lady furnished me with scant
information.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: and died, and he says he cannot imagine why. Besides, he is in love
with the cook, and is going to marry her after Christmas, and refuses
to enter into any of my plans with the enthusiasm they deserve,
but sits with vacant eye dreamily chopping wood from morning till
night to keep the beloved one's kitchen fire well supplied.
I cannot understand any one preferring cooks to marigolds;
those future marigolds, shadowy as they are, and whose seeds are
still sleeping at the seedsman's, have shone through my winter days
like golden lamps.
I wish with all my heart I were a man, for of <131> course the first
thing I should do would be to buy a spade and go and garden, and then I
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
