| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: softly lighted by the warm rays of the sun which crept through the
fissures and fell upon the dainty seaweeds that adorned his retreat,
the veritable nest of a sea-bird. The sun, his sovereign lord, alone
told him that he had slept, by measuring the time he had been absent
from his watery landscapes, his golden sands, his shells and pebbles.
Across a light as brilliant as that from heaven he saw the cities of
which he read; he looked with amazement, but without envy, at courts
and kings, battles, men, and buildings. These daylight dreams made
dearer to him his precious flowers, his clouds, his sun, his granite
rocks. To attach him the more to his solitary existence, an angel
seemed to reveal to him the abysses of the moral world and the
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: twice about ten days before he died, and observed he began very
much to droop and languish, tho' I hear his friends did not seem
to apprehend him in any danger. About two or three days ago he
grew ill, and was confin'd first to his chamber, and in a few
hours after to his bed, where Dr. Case and Mrs. Kirleus were sent
for to visit, and to prescribe to him. Upon this intelligence I
sent thrice every day one servant or other to enquire after his
health; and yesterday, about four in the afternoon, word was
brought me that he was past hopes: Upon which, I prevailed with
myself to go and see him, partly out of commiseration, and I
confess, partly out of curiosity. He knew me very well, seem'd
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: inject it into a rabbit, with the result that the
poor creature would almost instantly go into
convulsions and would soon die in great agony.
Another rattle-snake defier is a resident of
San Antonio, Texas. Her name is Learn, and
she once told me that she was the preceptor of
Thardo. This lady deals in live rattle-snakes
and their by-products--rattle-snake skin,
which is used for fancy bags and purses;
rattle-snake oil, which is highly esteemed in
some quarters as a specific for rheumatism;
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
