| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: sleep would be his that very night, which was to have been spent
so wickedly, but so purely and sweetly now, in the arms of Faith!
Amidst these pleasant and praiseworthy meditations, Goodman Brown
heard the tramp of horses along the road, and deemed it advisable
to conceal himself within the verge of the forest, conscious of
the guilty purpose that had brought him thither, though now so
happily turned from it.
On came the hoof tramps and the voices of the riders, two grave
old voices, conversing soberly as they drew near. These mingled
sounds appeared to pass along the road, within a few yards of the
young man's hiding-place; but, owing doubtless to the depth of
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: with goosefoot and wild mallows, was lively and full of gaiety in
spite of the great heat. Threshing was going on behind one of the
low hurdles which intersected the big yard here and there. Round
a post stuck into the middle of the threshing-floor ran a dozen
horses harnessed side by side, so that they formed one long
radius. A Little Russian in a long waistcoat and full trousers
was walking beside them, cracking a whip and shouting in a tone
that sounded as though he were jeering at the horses and showing
off his power over them.
"A--a--a, you damned brutes! . . . A--a--a, plague take you! Are
you frightened?"
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: before the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know,
that were I once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit,
even as you did my poor Lucy's. Were death, or the fear of death,
the only thing that stood in the way I would not shrink to die
here now, amidst the friends who love me. But death is not all.
I cannot believe that to die in such a case, when there is
hope before us and a bitter task to be done, is God's will.
Therefore, I on my part, give up here the certainty of eternal rest,
and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that
the world or the nether world holds!"
We were all silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude.
Dracula |
