| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: returned, and all being in readiness he was escorted to the
chapel, the two walking, one upon either side of him, his squires
of honor marching before, and the whole party preceded by "sundry
minstrels making a loud noise of music."
When they came to the chapel, the two knights who escorted him
took leave of the candidate, each saluting him with a kiss upon
the cheek. No one remained with him but his squires of honor, the
priest, and the chandler.
In the mean time the novitiate's armor, sword, lance, and helmet
had been laid in readiness before the altar. These he watched and
guarded while the others slept, keeping vigil until sunrise,
Men of Iron |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: Well, you know that this is actually and literally so with the
greater number of the educated persons now living in Christian
countries. Nearly every man and woman in any company such as this,
outwardly professes to believe--and a large number unquestionably
think they believe--much more than this; not only that a quite
unlimited estate is in prospect for them if they please the Holder
of it, but that the infinite contrary of such a possession--an
estate of perpetual misery--is in store for them if they displease
this great Land-Holder, this great Heaven-Holder. And yet there is
not one in a thousand of these human souls that cares to think, for
ten minutes of the day, where this estate is or how beautiful it is,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: the conception of the commonweal of mankind. It may be
that across the immensity of space the Martians have watched
the fate of these pioneers of theirs and learned their lesson,
and that on the planet Venus they have found a securer
settlement. Be that as it may, for many years yet there will
certainly be no relaxation of the eager scrutiny of the Martian
disk, and those fiery darts of the sky, the shooting stars, will
bring with them as they fall an unavoidable apprehension to
all the sons of men.
The broadening of men's views that has resulted can
scarcely be exaggerated. Before the cylinder fell there was
War of the Worlds |
