| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: to begin marriage. Falling in love and winning love are often
difficult tasks to overbearing and rebellious spirits; but to
keep in love is also a business of some importance, to which
both man and wife must bring kindness and goodwill. The true
love story commences at the altar, when there lies before the
married pair a most beautiful contest of wisdom and
generosity, and a life-long struggle towards an unattainable
ideal. Unattainable? Ay, surely unattainable, from the very
fact that they are two instead of one.
"Of making books there is no end," complained the
Preacher; and did not perceive how highly he was praising
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: we could attribute to nothing earthly but which one day we were
to connect with the most fearsome of ancient creatures.
One by one the others went to their rooms, until the girl and
I were left alone together, for I had permitted the watch to
go below for a few minutes, knowing that I would be on deck.
Miss La Rue was very quiet, though she replied graciously
enough to whatever I had to say that required reply. I asked
her if she did not feel well.
"Yes," she said, "but I am depressed by the awfulness of it all.
I feel of so little consequence--so small and helpless in the
face of all these myriad manifestations of life stripped to the
The Land that Time Forgot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: attempt it in any other way, you are lost. Newly arrived
people look about them, and, the more new wealth they have, the
more they gaze. The men are uneasy behind their recently
educated mustaches, and the women hold their parasols with
trembling hands. It takes two years to learn to drive on the
Avenue. Come again next summer, and you will see in those same
carriages faces of remote superciliousness, that suggest
generations of gout and ancestors."
"What a pity one feels," said Harry, "for these people who
still suffer from lingering modesty, and need a master to teach
them to be insolent!"
|
