| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: "I got up at last and asked: 'Where is the parsonage?'
" 'Take the second turning at the end of the street; you will
then see an avenue, and at the end of the avenue you will find
the church. The parsonage is beside it.' As I departed he called
out: 'Tell him the bill of fare, to make him hungry!'
"I discovered the ecclesiastic's little house without any
difficulty; it was by the side of a large, ugly, brick church. As
there was neither bell nor knocker, I knocked at the door with my
fist, and a loud voice from inside asked: 'Who is there?' to
which I replied: 'A quartermaster of hussars.'
"I heard the noise of bolts, and of a key being turned. Then I
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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: "Let me see."
"No, no!" She ran off into the gloom of the sluggish dawn. He did
not attempt to follow her. When she reached her father's door she
stood on the step and looked back. Mr. Melbury's men had arrived,
and were loading up the spars, and their lanterns appeared from
the distance at which she stood to have wan circles round them,
like eyes weary with watching. She observed them for a few
seconds as they set about harnessing the horses, and then went
indoors.
CHAPTER IV.
There was now a distinct manifestation of morning in the air, and
The Woodlanders |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: perplexing, and would probably be different in different countries (compare
Sympos.). While we do not deny that great good may result from such
attachments, for the mind may be drawn out and the character enlarged by
them; yet we feel also that they are attended with many dangers, and that
this Romance of Heavenly Love requires a strength, a freedom from passion,
a self-control, which, in youth especially, are rarely to be found. The
propriety of such friendships must be estimated a good deal by the manner
in which public opinion regards them; they must be reconciled with the
ordinary duties of life; and they must be justified by the result.
Yet another question, 10). Admitting that friendships cannot be always
permanent, we may ask when and upon what conditions should they be
Lysis |
