| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: but it was all suffused with the brightness of the hot, still hour.
There was no ambiguity in anything; none whatever, at least,
in the conviction I from one moment to another found myself
forming as to what I should see straight before me and across
the lake as a consequence of raising my eyes. They were attached
at this juncture to the stitching in which I was engaged,
and I can feel once more the spasm of my effort not to move them
till I should so have steadied myself as to be able to make up
my mind what to do. There was an alien object in view--a figure
whose right of presence I instantly, passionately questioned.
I recollect counting over perfectly the possibilities,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: alphabet on it--oh, the miracles I could do!
I am not pretending to write that character well. I have
never had a lesson, and I am copying the letters from the book.
But I can accomplish my desire, at any rate, which is, to make
the reader get a good and clear idea of the advantage it would be
to us if we could discard our present alphabet and put this
better one in its place--using it in books, newspapers, with the
typewriter, and with the pen.
[Figure 6] --MAN DOG HORSE. I think it is graceful and
would look comely in print. And consider--once more, I beg--what
a labor-saver it is! Ten pen-strokes with the one system to
What is Man? |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: across, and the monster's hand followed it quickly. He tried to
press on, but something smooth and hard stopped him. The face of
the monster was now close to his own, and seemed full of terror.
He brushed his hair off his eyes. It imitated him. He struck at
it, and it returned blow for blow. He loathed it, and it made
hideous faces at him. He drew back, and it retreated.
What is it? He thought for a moment, and looked round at the rest
of the room. It was strange, but everything seemed to have its
double in this invisible wall of clear water. Yes, picture for
picture was repeated, and couch for couch. The sleeping Faun that
lay in the alcove by the doorway had its twin brother that
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