| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: of some 400 shots per minute is certain to be more effective,
provided range and aim are correct, than shrapnel. But the
ordinary rifle-bullet, unless the objective is within very close
range, is not likely to cause much harm, at least not to the
mechanism of the aerial vessel.
It is for this reason that greater attention is being devoted,
especially by the French artillerists, to the Chevalier
anti-aircraft gun, a weapon perfected by a Swiss technician
resident in Great Britain. It projects a formidable missile
which in fact is an armour-piercing bullet 1/2- to 3/4-inch in
diameter. It is designed for use with an automatic machinegun,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: sights. I used to ride over from Kalawao to Kalaupapa (about three
miles across the promontory, the cliff-wall, ivied with forest and
yet inaccessible from steepness, on my left), go to the Sisters'
home, which is a miracle of neatness, play a game of croquet with
seven leper girls (90 degrees in the shade), got a little old-maid
meal served me by the Sisters, and ride home again, tired enough,
but not too tired. The girls have all dolls, and love dressing
them. You who know so many ladies delicately clad, and they who
know so many dressmakers, please make it known it would be an
acceptable gift to send scraps for doll dressmaking to the Reverend
Sister Maryanne, Bishop Home, Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaiian Islands.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: on the example of Carthage. The priest and the commandant assured
me of their sympathy with all I said, and made a heavy sighing over
the bitterness of contemporary feeling.
'Why, you cannot say anything to a man with which he does not
absolutely agree,' said I, 'but he flies up at you in a temper.'
They both declared that such a state of things was antichristian.
While we were thus agreeing, what should my tongue stumble upon but
a word in praise of Gambetta's moderation. The old soldier's
countenance was instantly suffused with blood; with the palms of
his hands he beat the table like a naughty child.
'COMMENT, MONSIEUR?' he shouted. 'COMMENT? Gambetta moderate?
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