| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: XVIII
THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF A DOWAGER PRINCESS[5]
[5] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book.
One day I received a large sheet of white paper on which was
written in Chinese characters the announcement of the death of
the Dowager Princess Su, and inviting me to the "third-day
exercises." The real meaning of this "chieh san" I did not
comprehend, but I knew that those who were invited sent presents
of cakes or fruit, or baskets of paper flowers, incense, gold and
silver ingots made of paper, or rolls of paper silk, all of which
were intended for the use of the spirit of the departed. The
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: and a Cafe de la Paix.
It will be apparent to every one that the frontage of the Soudry
mansion on the lake must have a terraced garden confined by a stone
balustrade which overlooks both the lake and the main road. A flight
of steps leads down from the terrace to the road, and on it an orange-
tree, a pomegranate, a myrtle, and other ornamental shrubs are placed,
necessitating a greenhouse. On the side toward the square the house is
entered from a portico raised several steps above the level of the
street. According to the custom of small towns the gate of the
courtyard, used only for the service of the house or for any unusual
arrival, was seldom opened. Visitors, who mostly came on foot, entered
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: succession, that young men may be learners, while
men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern
accidents, because authority followeth old men,
and favor and popularity, youth. But for the moral
part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as
age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin, upon the
text, Your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams, inferreth that young
men, are admitted nearer to God than old, because
vision, is a clearer revelation, than a dream. And
certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world,
Essays of Francis Bacon |
