| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: forbid, Edward seeks to break with you upon a false and most
unwarrantable pretence. I have it on his own showing; in his own
hand. Forgive me, if I have had a watch upon his conduct; I am his
father; I had a regard for your peace and his honour, and no better
resource was left me. There lies on his desk at this present
moment, ready for transmission to you, a letter, in which he tells
you that our poverty--our poverty; his and mine, Miss Haredale--
forbids him to pursue his claim upon your hand; in which he offers,
voluntarily proposes, to free you from your pledge; and talks
magnanimously (men do so, very commonly, in such cases) of being in
time more worthy of your regard--and so forth. A letter, to be
Barnaby Rudge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: low-born men like Drake, who "would like to see the gentleman that
would not set his hand to a rope, and hale and draw with the
mariners." Thus sprang up that respect for, even fondness for,
severe bodily labour, which the educated class of no nation save our
own has ever felt; and which has stood them in such good stead,
whether at home or abroad. Thus, too, sprang up the system of
society by which (as the ballad sets forth) the squire's son might
be a "'prentice good," and marry
"The bailiff's daughter dear
That dwelt at Islington,"
without tarnishing, as he would have done on the Continent, the
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: threatening wind forbade. But taking advantage of his windward
position, he again seized his trumpet, and knowing by her aspect that
the stranger vessel was a Nantucketer and shortly bound home, he
loudly hailed--"Ahoy there! This is the Pequod, bound round the
world! Tell them to address all future letters to the Pacific ocean!
and this time three years, if I am not at home, tell them to address
them to--"
At that moment the two wakes were fairly crossed, and instantly,
then, in accordance with their singular ways, shoals of small
harmless fish, that for some days before had been placidly swimming
by our side, darted away with what seemed shuddering fins, and ranged
Moby Dick |
