| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: no pay them,' he once said. 'I give them tobacco. They work for
me ALL THE SAME BROTHERS.' It is true there was a brother once in
Arden! But we prefer the shorter word. They bear every servile
mark, - levity like a child's, incurable idleness, incurious
content. The insolence of the cook was a trait of his own; not so
his levity, which he shared with the innocent Uncle Parker. With
equal unconcern both gambolled under the shadow of the gallows, and
took liberties with death that might have surprised a careless
student of man's nature. I wrote of Parker that he behaved like a
boy of ten: what was he else, being a slave of sixty? He had
passed all his years in school, fed, clad, thought for, commanded;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: the next day to see the Chinese junk, so at three the next day we
repaired to her house. Her sisters (Miss Burdetts) and Mr. Rogers
were all the party. At the junk for the first time I saw Metternich
and the Princess, his wife.
LETTER: To W.D.B.
LONDON, June 29, 1848
My dear W.: . . . When I last left off I was going to dine at Miss
Coutts's to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. The party was brilliant,
including the Duke of Wellington, Lord and Lady Douro, Lady Jersey
and the beautiful Lady Clementina Villiers, her daughter, etc. When
royal people arrive everybody rises and remains standing while they
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: Then appeared the smaller fish, the balista, the leaping mackerel,
wolf-thorn-tails, and a hundred others which striped the luminous
atmosphere as they swam. This dazzling spectacle was enchanting!
Perhaps some atmospheric condition increased the intensity of
this phenomenon. Perhaps some storm agitated the surface of the waves.
But at this depth of some yards, the Nautilus was unmoved by its fury
and reposed peacefully in still water.
So we progressed, incessantly charmed by some new marvel.
The days passed rapidly away, and I took no account of them.
Ned, according to habit, tried to vary the diet on board.
Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare it is easy
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
