| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: though not so frequent as the other, parents did the like to their
children; nay, some dreadful examples there were, and particularly
two in one week, of distressed mothers, raving and distracted, killing
their own children; one whereof was not far off from where I dwelt,
the poor lunatic creature not living herself long enough to be sensible
of the sin of what she had done, much less to be punished for it.
It is not, indeed, to be wondered at: for the danger of immediate
death to ourselves took away all bowels of love, all concern for one
another. I speak in general, for there were many instances of
immovable affection, pity, and duty in many, and some that came to
my knowledge, that is to say, by hearsay; for I shall not take upon me
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: which fixes there by the nature of the thing; as the herring-
fishery to Yarmouth; the coal trade to Newcastle; the Leeds
clothing trade; the export of butter and lead, and the great corn
trade for Holland, is to Hull; the Virginia and West India trade at
Liverpool; the Irish trade at Bristol, and the like. Thus the war
has brought a flux of business and people, and consequently of
wealth, to several places, as well as to Portsmouth, Chatham,
Plymouth, Falmouth, and others; and were any wars like those, to
continue twenty years with the Dutch, or any nation whose fleets
lay that way, as the Dutch do, it would be the like perhaps at
Ipswich in a few years, and at other places on the same coast.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: "Emma, for three months after our marriage will you try being
just Mrs. T. A. Buck?"
"You mean no factory, no Featherlooms, no dictation, no business
bothers!" Her voice was a rising scale of surprise.
"Just try it for three months, with the privilege of a lifetime,
if you like it. But try it. I--I'd like to see you there when I
leave, Emma. I'd like to have you there when I come home. I
suppose I sound like a selfish Turk, but----"
"You sound like a regular husband," Emma McChesney had
interrupted, "and I love you for it. Now listen, T. A. For
three whole months I'm going to be what the yellow novels used to
Emma McChesney & Co. |
