| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: How the heart expands at such a view! Nine miles of shining water
lay stretched before us, opening through the mountains that guarded
it on both sides with lofty walls of green and gray, ridge over
ridge, point beyond point, until the vista ended in
"You orange sunset waning slow."
At a moment like this one feels a sense of exultation. It is a new
discovery of the joy of living. And yet, my friend and I confessed
to each other, there was a tinge of sadness, an inexplicable regret
mingled with our joy. Was it the thought of how few human eyes had
even seen that lovely vision? Was it the dim foreboding that we
might never see it again? Who can explain the secret pathos of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: rich, and I have followed the advice of my uncle, whose death,
together with that of my aunt, I have just learned from Monsieur
des Grassins. The death of parents is in the course of nature, and
we must succeed them. I trust you are by this time consoled.
Nothing can resist time, as I am well aware. Yes, my dear cousin,
the day of illusions is, unfortunately, gone for me. How could it
be otherwise? Travelling through many lands, I have reflected upon
life. I was a child when I went away,--I have come back a man.
To-day, I think of many I did not dream of then. You are free, my
dear cousin, and I am free still. Nothing apparently hinders the
realization of our early hopes; but my nature is too loyal to hide
Eugenie Grandet |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: sinners--
yet he surely believed in the saving doctrines of religion--the
forgiveness
of sins, the resurrection of the body, the life everlasting.
Yes, that was the true source of comfort, after all. He would
read a bit
in the Bible, as he did every night, and go to bed and to sleep.
He went back to his chair at the library table. A strange weight
of
weariness rested upon him, but he opened the book at a familiar
place,
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