| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: discovery was soon made that Mrs. Todd was an ardent lover of
herbs, both wild and tame, and the sea-breezes blew into the low
end-window of the house laden with not only sweet-brier and sweet-
mary, but balm and sage and borage and mint, wormwood and
southernwood. If Mrs. Todd had occasion to step into the far
corner of her herb plot, she trod heavily upon thyme, and made its
fragrant presence known with all the rest. Being a very large
person, her full skirts brushed and bent almost every slender stalk
that her feet missed. You could always tell when she was stepping
about there, even when you were half awake in the morning, and
learned to know, in the course of a few weeks' experience, in
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: saying "good-bye" to her friends on the station platform, with not a minute
to spare before the train starts.
"Oh, you're here, still. Isn't that lucky! You've not gone. Isn't that
fine! I've had the most dreadful time with--her," and she waved to her
daughter, who stood absolutely still, disdainful, looking down, twiddling
her foot on the step, miles away. "They won't let her in. I swore she was
twenty-one. But they won't believe me. I showed the man my purse; I
didn't dare to do more. But it was no use. He simply scoffed...And now
I've just met Mrs. MacEwen from New York, and she just won thirteen
thousand in the Salle Privee--and she wants me to go back with her while
the luck lasts. Of course I can't leave--her. But if you'd--"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: zoological knowledge were wildly in excess of what we may
reasonably expect of her poor intelligence. The thing moves,
therefore it is worth catching: this formula seems to sum up the
Spider's wisdom.
CHAPTER XIV: THE GARDEN SPIDERS: THE QUESTION OF PROPERTY
A dog has found a bone. He lies in the shade, holding it between
his paws, and studies it fondly. It is his sacred property, his
chattel. An Epeira has woven her web. Here again is property; and
owning a better title than the other. Favoured by chance and
assisted by his scent, the Dog has merely had a find; he has
neither worked nor paid for it. The Spider is more than a casual
The Life of the Spider |
