| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: or a little after, past labor at his own trade and fit for
nothing else, yet too poor to live at his ease. So I say once
again, give me main strength for my money. And then, how it takes
the nonsense out of a man! Did you ever hear of a blacksmith
being such a fool as Owen Warland yonder?"
"Well said, uncle Hovenden!" shouted Robert Danforth from the
forge, in a full, deep, merry voice, that made the roof re-echo.
"And what says Miss Annie to that doctrine? She, I suppose, will
think it a genteeler business to tinker up a lady's watch than to
forge a horseshoe or make a gridiron."
Annie drew her father onward without giving him time for reply.
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: father badger sprawling on the ground.
All the little ruffian bears hooted and shouted "ha-ha!" to
see the beggar fall upon his face. There was one, however, who did
not even smile. He was the youngest cub. His fur coat was not as
black and glossy as those his elders wore. The hair was dry and
dingy. It looked much more like kinky wool. He was the ugly cub.
Poor little baby bear! he had always been laughed at by his older
brothers. He could not help being himself. He could not change
the differences between himself and his brothers. Thus again,
though the rest laughed aloud at the badger's fall, he did not see
the joke. His face was long and earnest. In his heart he was sad
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: things, he thinketh light of them': and finally, like the hog,
that delighteth to wallow in mire, the soul, that hath been
buried in evil habits, doth not even perceive the stink of her
sin, but rather delighteth and rejoiceth therein, cleaving to
wickedness as it were good. And even if at last she issue from
the mire and come to herself again, she is delivered only by much
labour and sweat from the bondage of those sins, to which she
hath by evil custom enslaved herself.
"Wherefore with all thy might remove thyself far from every evil
thought and fancy, and every sinful custom; and school thyself
the rather in virtuous deeds, and form the habit of practising
|
