| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: strong-hearted, and romantic, perhaps you really would not; but it
is not wrong that you should. You have, then, I suppose, good food,
pretty rooms to live in, pretty dresses to wear, power of obtaining
every rational and wholesome pleasure; you are, moreover, probably
gentle and grateful, and in the habit of every day thanking God for
these things. But why do you thank Him? Is it because, in these
matters, as well as in your religious knowledge, you think He has
made a favourite of you? Is the essential meaning of your
thanksgiving, "Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other girls are,
not in that I fast twice in the week while they feast, but in that I
feast seven times a week while they fast," and are you quite sure
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: TARLETON. _[continuing, to the passenger]_ May I now ask to be
allowed the pleasure of knowing your name?
THE PASSENGER. My name is Lina Szczepanowska _[pronouncing it
Sh-Chepanovska]._
PERCIVAL. Sh-- I beg your pardon?
LINA. Szczepanowska.
PERCIVAL. _[dubiously]_ Thank you.
TARLETON. _[very politely]_ Would you mind saying it again?
LINA. Say fish.
TARLETON. Fish.
LINA. Say church.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even though not able to set
everything perfectly right. "Now," Tattine said,--with a little sigh of
relief, "I think I will try and see what I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he would
first like a drink," so downstairs she went, and putting some milk in a
shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny's nose in it, and it seemed to her as though
he did take a little of it. Then she trudged up to the garret for a box, and,
putting a layer of cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one corner.
Then she went to the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the youngest, greenest
lettuce, and put it right within reach of Bunny's nose, and a little saucer of
water beside it. Then she went down to tell the gardener's little boy all
about the sorrowful thing that had happened.
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