| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, 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 |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: Jennifrella choose for herself--in which case, everyone knew that
Sir Fassade would be the next king, and he, opined Sir Philo, would
be "acceptable," producing a government no worse than the current
one. (Since I have already described the king's advisor as
"thoughtful," I shall now add "tactful" and note that the final
participial phrase of the previous sentence was thought but not
uttered by the knight.) As for the kind of husband Sir Fassade would
make, the princess would have no one to blame but herself.
King Cleon thought the matter over not quite long enough and decided
to hold an archery contest, the winner of which would marry his
daughter. The degree of Sir Philo's consternation is not recorded
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: blast the reputation, and to muzzle the mouths, of
the few good men who dare to beseech the God of
mercy "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo
the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free."
These reverend gentlemen pour a terrible cannon-
ade upon "Jonah," for refusing to carry God's
message against Nineveh, and tell us about the
whale in which he was entombed; while they utterly
overlook the existence of the whales which trouble
their republican waters, and know not that they
themselves are the "Jonahs" who threaten to sink
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
