| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: not return; and therefore she abstains from bodily pleasures--not from a
desire of having more or greater ones, but because she knows that only when
calm and free from the dominion of the body can she behold the light of
truth.
Simmias and Cebes remain in doubt; but they are unwilling to raise
objections at such a time. Socrates wonders at their reluctance. Let them
regard him rather as the swan, who, having sung the praises of Apollo all
his life long, sings at his death more lustily than ever. Simmias
acknowledges that there is cowardice in not probing truth to the bottom.
'And if truth divine and inspired is not to be had, then let a man take the
best of human notions, and upon this frail bark let him sail through life.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: France--built rooms full of gold and precious tones in the Fleming's
house, not omitting to attribute all this fabulous wealth to compacts
with Magic.
Maitre Cornelius had brought with him from Ghent two Flemish valets,
an old woman, and a young apprentice; the latter, a youth with a
gentle, pleasing face, served him as secretary, cashier, factotum, and
courier. During the first year of his settlement in Tours, a robbery
of considerable amount took place in his house, and judicial inquiry
showed that the crime must have been committed by one of its inmates.
The old miser had his two valets and the secretary put in prison. The
young man was feeble and he died under the sufferings of the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: green. The whistle was in the tail of the pig.
"Where did you get it?" asked the yellow hen, closely examining the
toy with her bright eyes.
"Why, I picked it up in the Nome King's palace, while Dorothy was making
her guesses, and I put it in my pocket," answered the little Prince.
Billina laughed; or at least she made the peculiar cackle that served
her for a laugh.
"No wonder I couldn't find the Tin Woodman," she said; "and no wonder the
magic belt didn't make him appear, or the King couldn't find him, either!"
"What do you mean?" questioned Dorothy.
"Why, the Prince had him in his pocket," cried Billina, cackling again.
Ozma of Oz |
