| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: "Helps" are very apt to fill the shelves too tightly, so that to extract
a book you have to use force, often to the injury of the top-bands.
Beware of this mistake. It frequently occurs through not noticing
that one small book is purposely placed at each end of the shelf,
beneath the movable shelf-supports, thus not only saving space,
but preventing the injury which a book shelf-high would be sure
to receive from uneven pressure.
After all, the best guide in these, as in many other matters,
is "common sense," a quality which in olden times must have been
much more "common" than in these days, else the phrase would
never have become rooted in our common tongue.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: house. I never saw such a kitchen in all my life. Well, lead the
way, Kit. I suppose they are deep in bridge, or roulette, or
something."
She was fixing her veil, and I saw I would have to tell her.
Personally, I would much rather have told her the house was on
fire.
"Wait a minute, Bella," I said. "You see, something queer has
happened. You know this is the anniversary--well, you know what
it is--and Jim was awfully glum. So we thought we would come--"
"What are you driving at?" she demanded. "You are sea-green, Kit.
What's the matter? You needn't think I mind because Jim has a
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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: door!"
As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had
been found the potency of a spell--the huge antique panels to
which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant,
their ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the
rushing gust--but then without those doors there DID stand the
lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There
was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter
struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment
she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold,--
then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person
The Fall of the House of Usher |
