| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: beauty, or both. Critias, glancing at the door, invited my attention to
some youths who were coming in, and talking noisily to one another,
followed by a crowd. Of the beauties, Socrates, he said, I fancy that you
will soon be able to form a judgment. For those who are just entering are
the advanced guard of the great beauty, as he is thought to be, of the day,
and he is likely to be not far off himself.
Who is he, I said; and who is his father?
Charmides, he replied, is his name; he is my cousin, and the son of my
uncle Glaucon: I rather think that you know him too, although he was not
grown up at the time of your departure.
Certainly, I know him, I said, for he was remarkable even then when he was
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: in the tone a boy would use if asking when the fireworks were to
begin.
Muller shook. his head. "No, my dear Cardillac," he replied
gravely. "He will not be shot - that is a death for a brave
soldier - but this man has deserved - " He did not finish the
sentence, for the warder sank to the floor unconscious.
"What a coward!" murmured the detective scornfully, looking down at
the giant frame that lay prostrate before him. Even in his wide
experience he had known of no case of a man of such strength and
such bestial cruelty, combined with such utter cowardice.
Varna also stood looking down at the unconscious warder. Then he
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: you'd like to know. Say, Jeff, does it put you wise two dollars'
worth? There's a target rifle up town that--'
"I frisked my pockets and commenced to dribble a stream of halves and
quarters into Thomas's hat. The information was of the pile-driver
system of news, and it telescoped my intellects for a while. While I
was leaking small change and smiling foolish on the outside, and
suffering disturbances internally, I was saying, idiotically and
pleasantly:
"'Thank you, Thomas--thank you--er--a freak, you said, Thomas. Now,
could you make out the monstrosity's entitlements a little clearer, if
you please, Thomas?'
Heart of the West |
