| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: They sit to smile and talk, or rise to ragtime,
And, for their pleasures, agree or disagree.
With secret symbols they play on secret passions.
With cunning eyes they see
The innocent word that sets remembrance trembling,
The dubious word that sets the scared heart beating . . .
The pendulum on the wall
Shakes down seconds . . . They laugh at time, dissembling;
Or coil for a victim and do not talk at all.
X. LETTER
From time to time, lifting his eyes, he sees
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: But she only told them half the spell; so they failed, while
Medeia mocked them; and poor old Pelias died, and his
daughters came to misery. But the songs say she cured AEson,
Jason's father, and he became young, and strong again.
But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel deeds. So
he was ungrateful to her, and wronged her; and she revenged
herself on him. And a terrible revenge she took - too
terrible to speak of here. But you will hear of it
yourselves when you grow up, for it has been sung in noble
poetry and music; and whether it be true or not, it stands
for ever as a warning to us not to seek for help from evil
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: Many Voices. "Open it!--open the sack!"
Mr. Burgess made a slit in the sack, slid his hand in, and brought
out an envelope. In it were a couple of folded notes. He said:
"One of these is marked, 'Not to be examined until all written
communications which have been addressed to the Chair--if any--shall
have been read.' The other is marked 'THE TEST.' Allow me. It is
worded--to wit:
"'I do not require that the first half of the remark which was made
to me by my benefactor shall be quoted with exactness, for it was
not striking, and could be forgotten; but its closing fifteen words
are quite striking, and I think easily rememberable; unless THESE
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
