| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: miserable and unworthy wretch, who could not, with the last drop
of her blood, compensate for half the torments she has caused
you.'
"Her grief, the language, and the tone in which she expressed
herself, made such an impression, that I felt my heart ready to
break in me. `Take care,' said I to her, `take care, dear Manon;
I have not strength to endure such exciting marks of your
affection; I am little accustomed to the rapturous sensations
which you now kindle in my heart. Oh Heaven!' cried I, `I have
now nothing further to ask of you. I am sure of Manon's love.
That has been alone wanting to complete my happiness; I can now
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: and still another Pisarenko, and many others. They were all great
travellers; they had visited the shores of Anatolia, the salt marshes
and steppes of the Crimea, all the rivers great and small which empty
into the Dnieper, and all the fords and islands of the Dnieper; they
had been in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Turkey; they had sailed all over
the Black Sea, in their double-ruddered Cossack boats; they had
attacked with fifty skiffs in line the tallest and richest ships; they
had sunk many a Turkish galley, and had burnt much, very much powder
in their day; more than once they had made foot-bandages from velvets
and rich stuffs; more than once they had beaten buckles for their
girdles out of sequins. Every one of them had drunk and revelled away
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they
are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
