| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: and had certainly ended our lives there had we not been protected by
the governor and the priest, who, though not reconciled to the Roman
Church, yet showed us the utmost civility; the governor informed us
of a design against our lives, and advised us not to go out after
sunset, and gave us guards to protect us from the insults of the
populace.
We made no long stay in a place where they stopped their ears
against the voice of God, but returned to the foot of that mountain
which we had left some days before; we were surrounded, as soon as
we began to preach, with a multitude of auditors, who came either in
expectation of being instructed, or from a desire of gratifying
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: trusting in this recantation to effect her release. But we
consider such an hypothesis extremely far-fetched, nor does it
accord with the events which immediately followed. It seems
hardly questionable that it was the real Jeanne who publicly
recanted on the 24th of May. This was only six days before the
execution. Four days after, on Monday the 28th, it was reported
that Jeanne had relapsed, that she had, in defiance of the
Church's prohibition, clothed herself in male attire, which had
been left in a convenient place by the authorities, expressly to
test her sincerity. On the next day but one, the woman purporting
to be the Maid of Orleans was led out, with her face carefully
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: ridiculous. If I were to retain my hard-won place of equality, it
would never do to arouse any one until I ascertained the nature of
the thing.
I am a brave man. I dare to say so; for in fear and trembling I
crept up the companion-way and went back to the spot from which I
had first seen the thing. It had vanished. My bravery was
qualified, however. Though I could see nothing, I was afraid to
go for'ard to the spot where I had seen the thing. I resumed my
pacing up and down, and though I cast many an anxious glance
toward the dread spot, nothing manifested itself. As my
equanimity returned to me, I concluded that the whole affair had
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