| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: library of acquired results; tables and formulae to the value
of folios full have been calculated and recorded; and the
student finds everywhere in front of him the footprints of the
pioneers. In the eighteenth century the field was largely
unexplored; the engineer must read with his own eyes the face
of nature; he arose a volunteer, from the workshop or the
mill, to undertake works which were at once inventions and
adventures. It was not a science then - it was a living art;
and it visibly grew under the eyes and between the hands of
its practitioners.
The charm of such an occupation was strongly felt by
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: known who could have done more than you. My words were
ill chosen in the excitement of the reaction--I did not wish
to wound you. All that I wish is that we may both understand
once and for all that I can never marry you--that such a
marriage would be wicked."
"I think I understand," he replied. "Let us not speak of
it again--at least until we are back in civilization."
The next day Thuran was worse. Almost constantly he was in
a state of delirium. They could do nothing to relieve him,
nor was Clayton over-anxious to attempt anything. On the
girl's account he feared the Russian--in the bottom
The Return of Tarzan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: solution--of a tenderly beloved sister--his sole companion for
long years--his last and only relative on earth. "Her decease,"
he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, "would leave
him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race
of the Ushers." While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was
she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the
apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared.
I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with
dread--and yet I found it impossible to account for such
feelings. A sensation of stupor oppressed me, as my eyes
followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed
The Fall of the House of Usher |
