| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: with an over-developed sense of smell, who when walking through a
foreign city, however clean and well kept, can always catch the
evil savours that are inseparable from such cities. More, his
keen perception of them interferes with all other perceptions and
spoils his walks. The result is that in after years, whenever he
thinks of that beautiful city, he remembers, not its historic
buildings or its wide boulevards, or whatever it has to boast,
but rather its ancient, fish-like smell. At least he remembers
that first owing to this defect in his temperament.
So it is with everything. A lovely woman is spoiled for such a
one because she eats too much or has too high a voice; he does
When the World Shook |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: a sort hard to bear for a boy of fifteen; that I have been
charged with the want of patriotism, the want of sense, and the
want of heart too; that I went through agonies of self-conflict
and shed secret tears not a few, and had the beauties of the
Furca Pass spoiled for me, and have been called an "incorrigible
Don Quixote," in allusion to the book-born madness of the knight.
For that spoil! They rustle, those bits of paper--some dozen of
them in all. In that faint, ghostly sound there live the
memories of twenty years, the voices of rough men now no more,
the strong voice of the everlasting winds, and the whisper of a
mysterious spell, the murmur of the great sea, which must have
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: and offered me the welcome solace of his company for the
return. I believe I discovered much alacrity at the idea, for the
creature (who seemed to be unique, or to represent a type like
that of the dodo) entertained me hugely. But when he had
produced his hat, I found I was in the way of more than
entertainment; for on the ribbon I could read the legend:
"H.M.S. Tempest."
"I say," I began, when our adieus were paid, and we were
scrambling down the path from the look-out, "it was your ship
that picked up the men on board the Flying Scud, wasn't it?"
"You may say so," said he. "And a blessed good job for the
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