| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: just brought together, Sewall, Moors, and Blacklock, make the head
and front of the opposition; if Tamasese fell, if Brandeis was
driven forth, if the treaty of Berlin was signed, theirs is the
blame or the credit.
To understand the feelings of self-reproach and bitterness with
which Sewall took the field, the reader must see Laupepa's letter
of farewell to the consuls of England and America. It is singular
that this far from brilliant or dignified monarch, writing in the
forest, in heaviness of spirit and under pressure for time, should
have left behind him not only one, but two remarkable and most
effective documents. The farewell to his people was touching; the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: late one night by the sound of a horse galloping on the road,
followed by precipitate knocking at the inn-door. He opened his
window and saw a farm servant, mounted and holding a led horse by
the bridle, who told him to make what haste he could and go along
with him; for Marjory was dying, and had sent urgently to fetch him
to her bedside. Will was no horseman, and made so little speed
upon the way that the poor young wife was very near her end before
he arrived. But they had some minutes' talk in private, and he was
present and wept very bitterly while she breathed her last.
CHAPTER III. DEATH
Year after year went away into nothing, with great explosions and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: you certain things which would convince you, but you would never
know a happy day again. You would pass the rest of your life,
as I pass mine, a haunted man, a man who has seen hell."
Villiers took the unfortunate man to his rooms, and
gave him a meal. Herbert could eat little, and scarcely touched
the glass of wine set before him. He sat moody and silent by
the fire, and seemed relieved when Villiers sent him away with a
small present of money.
"By the way, Herbert," said Villiers, as they parted at
the door, "what was your wife's name? You said Helen, I think?
Helen what?"
The Great God Pan |
