| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: Gospels, opened the book, and happened on a passage he often
repeated and knew by heart: 'Lord, I believe. Help thou my
unbelief!'--and he put away all the doubts that had arisen. As
one replaces an object of insecure equilibrium, so he carefully
replaced his belief on its shaky pedestal and carefully stepped
back from it so as not to shake or upset it. The blinkers were
adjusted again and he felt tranquillized, and repeating his
childhood's prayer: 'Lord, receive me, receive me!' he felt not
merely at ease, but thrilled and joyful. He crossed himself and
lay down on the bedding on his narrow bench, tucking his summer
cassock under his head. He fell asleep at once, and in his light
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: Then he breathed his last gently in the arms of his son, and his
son's tears fell fast over his sardonic, haggard features.
It was almost midnight when Don Felipe Belvidero laid his
father's body upon the table. He kissed the sinister brow and the
gray hair; then he put out the lamp.
By the soft moonlight that lit strange gleams across the country
without, Felipe could dimly see his father's body, a vague white
thing among the shadows. The dutiful son moistened a linen cloth
with the liquid, and, absorbed in prayer, he anointed the revered
face. A deep silence reigned. Felipe heard faint, indescribable
rustlings; it was the breeze in the tree-tops, he thought. But
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: discovered until his tour of inspection. And Santa Claus at once sent
him with rubber boots for Charlie Smith, and a doll for Mamie Brown;
so that even those two disappointed ones became happy.
As for the wicked Daemons of the Caves, they were filled with anger
and chagrin when they found that their clever capture of Santa Claus
had come to naught. Indeed, no one on that Christmas Day appeared to
be at all selfish, or envious, or hateful. And, realizing that while
the children's saint had so many powerful friends it was folly to
oppose him, the Daemons never again attempted to interfere with his
journeys on Christmas Eve.
The End of the Project Gutenberg Edition of A Kidnapped Santa Claus.
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
