The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: the curved roof.
All night long he sat there playing in the dark. Every tune that he
had ever known came back to him--grave and merry, light and sad. He
played them over and over again, passing round and round among them
as a leaf on a stream follows the eddies, now backward, now forward,
and returning most frequently to an echo of a certain theme from
Chopin--you remember the NOCTURNE IN G MINOR, the second one? He
did not know who Chopin was. Perhaps he did not even know the name
of the music. But the air had fallen upon his ear somewhere, and
had stayed in his memory; and now it seemed to say something to him
that had an especial meaning.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and
skill."
CHAPTER XIII - RASSELAS DISCOVERS THE MEANS OF ESCAPE.
THE Prince now dismissed his favourite to rest; but the narrative
of wonders and novelties filled his mind with perturbation. He
revolved all that he had heard, and prepared innumerable questions
for the morning.
Much of his uneasiness was now removed. He had a friend to whom he
could impart his thoughts, and whose experience could assist him in
his designs. His heart was no longer condemned to swell with
silent vexation. He thought that even the Happy Valley might be
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: "Upon the being called upon to rise early on a very fair morning."
"Upon the mounting, singing, and lighting of larks." "Upon fishing
with a counterfeit fly." "Upon a danger arising from an
unseasonable contest with the steersman." "Upon one's drinking
water out of the brim of his hat." With such good texts it is easy
to endure, and easier still to spare, the sermons.
Englishmen carry their love of travel into their anglimania, and
many of their books describe fishing adventures in foreign parts.
RAMBLES WITH A FISHING-ROD, by E. S. Roscoe, tells of happy days in
the Salzkammergut and the Bavarian Highlands and Normandy. FISH-
TAILS AND A FEW OTHERS, by Bradnock Hall, contains some delightful
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