| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of
liquid storax, which is the droppings of
Myrrh and hinders the camphire from
firing; take also two ounces of hematitus,
a red stone to be had at the druggist's, and
when you buy it let them beat it to powder
in their great mortar, for it is so very hard
that it cannot be done in a small one; put
this to the afore-mentioned composition,
and when you intend to walk on the bar
you must annoint your feet well therewith,
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league
with the devil. (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in
wickedness a league beyond the devil.
WITTICISM, n. A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted, and seldom
noted; what the Philistine is pleased to call a "joke."
WOMAN, n.
An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a
rudimentary susceptibility to domestication. It is credited by
many of the elder zoologists with a certain vestigial docility
acquired in a former state of seclusion, but naturalists of the
postsusananthony period, having no knowledge of the seclusion,
The Devil's Dictionary |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: I have found the book. The lecturer was right. There are several
legends in it which confirm what he said. I will offer two of them--'The
Undying Head,' and 'Peboan and Seegwun, an Allegory of the Seasons.'
The latter is used in Hiawatha; but it is worth reading in the original form,
if only that one may see how effective a genuine poem can be without
the helps and graces of poetic measure and rhythm--
PEBOAN AND SEEGWUN.
An old man was sitting alone in his lodge, by the side
of a frozen stream. It was the close of winter, and his fire
was almost out, He appeared very old and very desolate.
His locks were white with age, and he trembled in every joint.
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