| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: the office, when not busy, I wrote more poetry, and began also to write
prose, which I found at the outset less easy. When my first writings were
accepted (they were four sets of verses upon the Summer Resort) I felt
that I could soon address Ethel; for I had made ten dollars outside my
salary. Had she not been in Europe that July, I believe that I should
have spoken to her at once. But I sent her the paper; and I have the
letter that she wrote in reply."
"I"--began Ethel. But she stopped.
"Yes, I know now that you kept the verses," said Richard. "My next
manuscript, however, was rejected. Indeed, I went on offering my literary
productions nearly every week until the following January before a second
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: "Oh, so that is your plan?" queried her husband dryly. "I
was wondering why you got her up here. She doesn't seem to mix
well with the faciles. At least, so it struck me."
Flavia paid no heed to this jeering remark, but repeated, "No,
after all, it may not be a bad thing."
"Then do consign her to that shaken reed, the tenor," said
her husband yawning. "I remember she used to have a taste for
the pathetic."
"And then," remarked Flavia coquettishly, "after all, I owe her
mother a return in kind. She was not afraid to trifle with
destiny."
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: And now if my age is still to be prolonged,[12] I know that I cannot
escape paying[13] the penalty of old age, in increasing dimness of
sight and dulness of hearing. I shall find myself slower to learn new
lessons, and apter to forget the lessons I have learnt. And if to
these be added the consciousness of failing powers, the sting of self-
reproach, what prospect have I of any further joy in living? It may
be, you know," he added, "that God out of his great kindness is
intervening in my behalf[14] to suffer me to close my life in the
ripeness of age, and by the gentlest of deaths. For if at this time
sentence of death be passed upon me, it is plain I shall be allowed to
meet an end which, in the opinion of those who have studied the
The Apology |
