| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: the deep voice of Stewart predominated over the others. Then the
consultation broke up, and the cowboys scattered.
"Rustle, you Indians!" ordered Stewart.
The ensuing scene of action was not reassuring to Madeline and
her friends. They were quiet, awaiting some one to tell them
what to do. At the offset the cowboys appeared to have forgotten
Madeline. Some of them ran off into the woods, others into the
open, grassy places, where they rounded up the horses and burros.
Several cowboys spread tarpaulins upon the ground and began to
select and roll small packs, evidently for hurried travel. Nels
mounted his horse to ride down the trail. Monty and Nick Steele
The Light of Western Stars |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: think twice, out with your saxpence, and send it flying to Vailima.
Of what you say of the past, eh, man, it was a queer time, and
awful miserable, but there's no sense in denying it was awful fun.
Do you mind the youth in Highland garb and the tableful of coppers?
Do you mind the SIGNAL of Waterloo Place? - Hey, how the blood
stands to the heart at such a memory! - Hae ye the notes o't?
Gie's them. - Gude's sake, man, gie's the notes o't; I mind ye made
a tune o't an' played it on your pinanny; gie's the notes. Dear
Lord, that past.
Glad to hear Henley's prospects are fair: his new volume is the
work of a real poet. He is one of those who can make a noise of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: he has worked in a mine for forty years unhurt by an accident as a
reason why he should apprehend no danger, though the roof is
beginning to sink; and it is often observable, that the older a man
gets, the more difficult it is to him to retain a believing
conception of his own death. This influence of habit was
necessarily strong in a man whose life was so monotonous as Marner's--
who saw no new people and heard of no new events to keep alive in
him the idea of the unexpected and the changeful; and it explains
simply enough, why his mind could be at ease, though he had left his
house and his treasure more defenceless than usual. Silas was
thinking with double complacency of his supper: first, because it
Silas Marner |
