| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: the deck of the plunging derelict with his dazed and almost
helpless charge. Even as he slid down the rope into the little
boat and helped the girl to follow, he was aware of two dull,
brownish-green shadows moving just beneath the water's surface not
ten feet away, and he knew that he was being stealthily watched.
The Chinamen at the oars of the dory, with that extraordinary
absence of curiosity which is the mark of the race, did not glance
a second time at the survivor of the "Lady Letty's" misadventure.
To them it was evident she was but a for'mast hand. However,
Wilbur examined her with extraordinary interest as she sat in the
sternsheets, sullen, half-defiant, half-bewildered, and bereft of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: could be wholly mine, and that I ought to know it. As she said the
words I know that in obeying her I dug an abyss between us. I bowed my
head. She went on, saying she had an inward religious certainty that
she might love me as a brother without offending God or man; such love
was a living image of the divine love, which her good Saint-Martin
told her was the life of the world. If I could not be to her somewhat
as her old confessor was, less than a lover yet more than a brother, I
must never see her again. She could die and take to God her sheaf of
sufferings, borne not without tears and anguish.
"I gave you," she said in conclusion, "more than I ought to have
given, so that nothing might be left to take, and I am punished."
The Lily of the Valley |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: to perish. He should think of his duty to his children, and not play into
the hands of his enemies. Money is already provided by Crito as well as by
Simmias and others, and he will have no difficulty in finding friends in
Thessaly and other places.
Socrates is afraid that Crito is but pressing upon him the opinions of the
many: whereas, all his life long he has followed the dictates of reason
only and the opinion of the one wise or skilled man. There was a time when
Crito himself had allowed the propriety of this. And although some one
will say 'the many can kill us,' that makes no difference; but a good life,
in other words, a just and honourable life, is alone to be valued. All
considerations of loss of reputation or injury to his children should be
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