| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: to be happy--VA!" In answer to this stroke of irony,
none the less powerful for being so unconscious, all poor
Newman could do was to give a helpless and transparent stare.
Valentin continued to fix him with his own rather over-bright gaze,
and presently he said, "But something is the matter with you.
I watched you just now; you haven't a bridegroom's face."
"My dear fellow," said Newman, "how can I show YOU a bridegroom's face?
If you think I enjoy seeing you lie there and not being able to help you"--
"Why, you are just the man to be cheerful; don't forfeit your rights!
I'm a proof of your wisdom. When was a man ever gloomy when
he could say, 'I told you so?' You told me so, you know.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Anabasis by Xenophon: return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
March 399 B.C.
PREPARER'S NOTE
This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
there is doubt about some of these) is:
Work Number of books
The Anabasis 7
The Hellenica 7
The Cyropaedia 8
Anabasis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: quickly, but before two o'clock I wake up and feel as though I
had not slept at all. Sometimes I get out of bed and light a
lamp. For an hour or two I walk up and down the room looking at
the familiar photographs and pictures. When I am weary of walking
about, I sit down to my table. I sit motionless, thinking of
nothing, conscious of no inclination; if a book is lying before
me, I mechanically move it closer and read it without any
interest -- in that way not long ago I mechanically read through
in one night a whole novel, with the strange title "The Song the
Lark was Singing"; or to occupy my attention I force myself to
count to a thousand; or I imagine the face of one of my
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