| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: well-conducted institution regulates a whole country. Have not men
improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented?
Do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the
stage-office? There is something electrifying in the atmosphere of
the former place. I have been astonished at the miracles it has
wrought; that some of my neighbors, who, I should have prophesied,
once for all, would never get to Boston by so prompt a conveyance,
are on hand when the bell rings. To do things "railroad fashion" is
now the byword; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and
so sincerely by any power to get off its track. There is no
stopping to read the riot act, no firing over the heads of the mob,
Walden |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: length, with a voice of forced calmness, he said:
"And this is the reply which I am to have the honour of
expecting: I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so
little ENDEAVOUR at civility, I am thus rejected. But it is of
small importance."
"I might as well inquire," replied she, " why with so evident a
desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that
you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even
against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility,
if I WAS uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I
have. Had not my feelings decided against you-- had they been
Pride and Prejudice |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: left for them to learn Epicharmos of Kos in,--between Monday noon and
Thursday morning at nine,--and their quailing chill increased. A tutor
must be called in at once. So the grasshoppers, having money, sought
out and quickly purchased the ant.
Closeted with Oscar and his notes, they had, as Bertie put it, salted
down the early Greek bucks by seven on Monday evening. By the same
midnight they had, as Billy expressed it, called the turn on Plato.
Tuesday was a second day of concentrated swallowing. Oscar had taken
them through the thought of many centuries. There had been
intermissions for lunch and dinner only; and the weather was exceedingly
hot. The pale-skinned Oscar stood this strain better than the
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