| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: to a large stone on the shore), ate our dinner "with gladness and
singleness of heart" like the early Christians, and slept the sleep
of the just, lulled by the murmuring of the waters, and defended
from the insidious attacks of the mosquito by the breeze blowing
down the river and the impregnable curtains over our beds. At
daybreak, long before Favonius and I had finished our dreams, we
were under way again; and when the trampling of the horses on some
rocky shore wakened us, we could see the steep hills gliding past
the windows and hear the rapids dashing against the side of the
boat, and it seemed as if we were still dreaming.
At Cross Point, where the river makes a long loop around a narrow
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: might have guessed had he been anybody but the man he was.
Melbury said he would wait, whereupon the young man informed him
in a neighborly way that, between themselves, she was in bed and
asleep.
"Never mind," said Melbury, retreating into the court, "I'll stand
about here." Charged so fully with his mission, he shrank from
contact with anybody.
But he walked about the paved court till he was tired, and still
nobody came to him. At last he entered the house and sat down in
a small waiting-room, from which he got glimpses of the kitchen
corridor, and of the white-capped maids flitting jauntily hither
The Woodlanders |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: Glossie looked around at the houses. The snow was quite deep in that
village, and just before them was a roof only a few feet above the
sledge. A broad chimney, which seemed to Glossie big enough to admit
Claus, was at the peak of the roof.
"Why don't you climb down that chimney?" asked Glossie.
Claus looked at it.
"That would be easy enough if I were on top of the roof," he answered.
"Then hold fast and we will take you there," said the deer, and they
gave one bound to the roof and landed beside the big chimney.
"Good!" cried Claus, well pleased, and he slung the pack of toys over
his shoulder and got into the chimney.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
