| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: the wisdom of Nestor. But if there are persons who set great store by
wisdom like Nestor's and the advantages accruing from it, to sell these, if
he were so disposed, would be easier still. Or is a house a most useful
and necessary possession, and does it make a great difference in the
comfort of life to have a mansion like Polytion's instead of living in a
shabby little cottage, whereas wisdom is of small use and it is of no
importance whether a man is wise or ignorant about the highest matters? Or
is wisdom despised of men and can find no buyers, although cypress wood and
marble of Pentelicus are eagerly bought by numerous purchasers? Surely the
prudent pilot or the skilful physician, or the artist of any kind who is
proficient in his art, is more worth than the things which are especially
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: to little debauches of melancholy which enchanted me. If I had known
the reason--perhaps quite commonplace--of this neglect, I should have
lost the unwritten poetry which intoxicated me. To me this refuge
represented the most various phases of human life, shadowed by
misfortune; sometimes the peace of the graveyard without the dead, who
speak in the language of epitaphs; one day I saw in it the home of
lepers; another, the house of the Atridae; but, above all, I found
there provincial life, with its contemplative ideas, its hour-glass
existence. I often wept there, I never laughed.
"More than once I felt involuntary terrors as I heard overhead the
dull hum of the wings of some hurrying wood-pigeon. The earth is dank;
La Grande Breteche |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: raised a white, imploring face to his. "Where is Kate?--Oh! Jim--say, say she
wasn't left with Girty?"
"Kate is dead," answered Jim, quickly. He could not endure the horror in her
eyes. He deliberately intended to lie, as had Heckewelder.
It was as if the tension of Nell's nerves was suddenly relaxed. The relief
from her worst fear was so great that her mind took in only the one
impression. Then, presently, a choking cry escaped her, to be followed by a
paroxysm of sobs.
Chapter XX.
Early on the following day Heckewelder, astride his horse, appeared at the
door of Edwards' cabin.
The Spirit of the Border |
