| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: apologise to one in private for what they have written against one
in public.
Within the last few years two other adjectives, it may be
mentioned, have been added to the very limited vocabulary of art-
abuse that is at the disposal of the public. One is the word
'unhealthy,' the other is the word 'exotic.' The latter merely
expresses the rage of the momentary mushroom against the immortal,
entrancing, and exquisitely lovely orchid. It is a tribute, but a
tribute of no importance. The word 'unhealthy,' however, admits of
analysis. It is a rather interesting word. In fact, it is so
interesting that the people who use it do not know what it means.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: sung out -
"Ta-ta! ta-ta! Maybe YOU'VE got some message to send your friends
in the Everlasting Tropics!"
Then he hove up his other suspender and started for'ard, and inside
of three-quarters of an hour his craft was only a pale torch again
in the distance. Yes, it was a mistake, Peters - that remark of
mine. I don't reckon I'll ever get over being sorry about it. I'd
'a' beat the bully of the firmament if I'd kept my mouth shut.
But I've wandered a little off the track of my tale; I'll get back
on my course again. Now you see what kind of speed I was making.
So, as I said, when I had been tearing along this way about thirty
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: precaution, looking both behind and before. He looked behind and
computed the value of the carrier's load, divining the contents
of the brown-paper parcels and the portly hamper, and briefly
setting down the grand piano in the brand-new piano-case as
'difficult to get rid of'. He looked before, and spied at the
corner of the green lane a little country public-house embowered
in roses. 'I'll have a shy at it,' concluded the military
gentleman, and roundly proposed a glass. 'Well, I'm not a
drinking man,' said Harker.
'Look here, now,' cut in the other, 'I'll tell you who I am: I'm
Colour-Sergeant Brand of the Blankth. That'll tell you if I'm a
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