| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: the most unreasonable, most impossible thing in the world;
had offended all the farmers, all the labourers,
all the hay in the parish! As for Dr. Grant's bailiff,
I believe I had better keep out of _his_ way; and my
brother-in-law himself, who is all kindness in general,
looked rather black upon me when he found what I had
been at."
"You could not be expected to have thought on the subject before;
but when you _do_ think of it, you must see the importance
of getting in the grass. The hire of a cart at any time
might not be so easy as you suppose: our farmers are
Mansfield Park |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: of your parents, and the credit of your name. I do not suppose that you
would deliberately form an absolute engagement of that nature without
acquainting your mother and myself, or at least, without being convinced
that we should approve of your choice; but I cannot help fearing that you
may be drawn in, by the lady who has lately attached you, to a marriage
which the whole of your family, far and near, must highly reprobate. Lady
Susan's age is itself a material objection, but her want of character is
one so much more serious, that the difference of even twelve years becomes
in comparison of small amount. Were you not blinded by a sort of
fascination, it would be ridiculous in me to repeat the instances of great
misconduct on her side so very generally known.
Lady Susan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: "At least," I answered, "let us believe in the possibility, for to
doubt it is to destroy it. If we can only come back to nature
together every year, and consider the flowers and the birds, and
confess our faults and mistakes and our unbelief under these silent
stars, and hear the river murmuring our absolution, we shall die
young, even though we live long: we shall have a treasure of
memories which will be like the twin-flower, always a double
blossom on a single stem, and carry with us into the unseen world
something which will make it worth while to be immortal."
1894.
A SONG AFTER SUNDOWN
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