| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: what you will and I will transmute it into Good. Bring sickness,
bring death, bring poverty and reproach, bring trial for life--
all these things through the rod of Hermes shall be turned to
profit.
CVII
Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you,
and you have gained a measure of strength for your security, I
counsel you to be cautious in associating with the uninstructed.
Else whatever impressions you receive upon the tablets of your
mind in the School will day by day melt and disappear, like wax
in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far from tge sun, while you
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: small, were caught in nets with fine meshes. The product of their
fishing, however, was very scanty. Their trapping was also
precarious; and the tails and bellies of the beavers were dried
and put by for the journey.
At length two of the companions of Mr. Reed returned, and were
hailed with the most anxious eagerness. Their report served but
to increase the general despondency. They had followed Mr. Reed
for some distance below the point to which Mr. Hunt had explored,
but had met with no Indians from whom to obtain information and
relief. The river still presented the same furious aspect,
brawling and boiling along a narrow and rugged channel, between
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: but, indulgent as she had hitherto been, when once her spirit was
roused, her temper was not so gentle as she required that of her
governesses to be, and her will was not to be thwarted with
impunity. After many a scene of contention between mother and
daughter, many a violent outbreak which I was ashamed to witness,
in which the father's authority was often called in to confirm with
oaths and threats the mother's slighted prohibitions - for even HE
could see that 'Tilly, though she would have made a fine lad, was
not quite what a young lady ought to be' - Matilda at length found
that her easiest plan was to keep clear of the forbidden regions;
unless she could now and then steal a visit without her watchful
Agnes Grey |
