| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: V
But all the foregoing is no more than a proem to the real "Romance of the
Insect-World."
-- By far the most startling discovery in relation to this astonishing
civilization is that of the suppression of sex. In certain advanced forms
of ant-life sex totally disappears in the majority of individuals;-- in
nearly all the higher ant-societies sex-life appears to exist only to the
extent absolutely needed for the continuance of the species. But the
biological fact in itself is much less startling than the ethical
suggestion which it offers;-- for this practical suppression, or
regulation, of sex-faculty appears to be voluntary! Voluntary, at least, so
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: we were to be seen there even from the English ship; but I kneeled down
before her in the sand, and embraced her knees, and burst into that
storm of weeping that I thought it must have broken me. All thought
was wholly beaten from my mind by the vehemency of my discomposure. I
knew not where I was. I had forgot why I was happy; only I knew she
stooped, and I felt her cherish me to her face and bosom, and heard her
words out of a whirl.
"Davie," she was saying, "O, Davie, is this what you think of me! Is
it so that you were caring for poor me! O, Davie, Davie!"
With that she wept also, and our tears were commingled in a perfect
gladness.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: hour of battle. In a moment, I had leaped from bed, crossed the
office where Pinkerton lay in a deep trance of sleep on the
convertible sofa, and stood in the doorway, in my night gear, to
receive our visitors.
Johnson was first, by way of usher, smiling. From a little
behind, with his Sunday hat tilted forward over his brow, and a
cigar glowing between his lips, Captain Nares acknowledged
our previous acquaintance with a succinct nod. Behind him
again, in the top of the stairway, a knot of sailors, the new crew
of the Norah Creina, stood polishing the wall with back and
elbow. These I left without to their reflections. But our two
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