| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: "You ought to have closed the studio for some days."
"He is going away."
"Then they'll kill him," said the girl. "Let him stay here with you
till the present storm is over. Paris is still the only place in
France where a man can be hidden safely. Is he a friend of yours?" she
asked.
"No; he has no claim upon me but that of his ill-luck. He came into my
hands in this way. My father-in-law, who returned to the army during
the campaign, met this young fellow, and very cleverly rescued him
from the claws of those who captured Labedoyere. He came here to
defend the general, foolish fellow!"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: for it would liberalize your education. Occasionally,
like a trickle of clear water into an alkali torrent, a
straight English sentence will drop into the flood. It
is refreshing by contrast, but weak.
"If your brains were all made of dynamite, you
couldn't blow the top of your head off."
"I wouldn't speak to him if I met him in hell
carrying a lump of ice in his hand."
"That little horse'll throw you so high the black-
birds will build nests in your hair before you come
down."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: a lion at bay is hard to handle. Doubt not that every man, young and
old, in Umgugundhlovu now stands armed about the gates, lest such a
thought should take you, my son; and though just now he was afraid,
yet Dingaan will strike for his life. When you might have killed you
did not kill; now the hour has gone."
"Wise words!" said Galazi. "I would that the Watcher had fallen where
his shadow fell."
"What is your counsel now, father?" asked Umslopogaas.
"This, then: that you two should abide no more beneath the shadow of
the Ghost Mountain, but should gather your people and your cattle, and
pass to the north on the track of Mosilikatze the Lion, who broke away
Nada the Lily |
