| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: throne, a smaller number than ever ruled during the same period
in all Chinese history. These two Emperors, Kang Hsi and Chien
Lung, the second and fourth, had each reigned for sixty years,
the most brilliant period of the "Great Pure Dynasty," unless we
except the last six years of the Empress Dowager's regency. The
other ninety-eight years saw five rulers rise and pass away,
each one becoming weaker than his predecessor both in character
and in physique, until with the death of her son, Tung Chih, the
dynasty was left without a direct heir.
The decay of the imperial house, the encroachments of the
foreigner, and the opposition of the native Chinese to the rule
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: a little ragged hole in the matting of pine branches. Part of the interior
of the cabin, the doorway, and some space outside were plainly visible. The
thud of horses had given place to snorts, and then came a flopping of
saddles and packs on the ground. "Any water hyar?" asked a gruff voice I
recognized as Bill's. "Spring right thar," replied a voice I knew to be
Bud's.
"You onery old cayuse, stand still!"
From that I gathered Herky was taking the saddle off his horse.
"Here, Leslie, I'll untie you--if you'll promise not to bolt."
That voice was Buell's. I would have known it among a thousand. And Dick
was still a prisoner.
The Young Forester |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: roaring and making a terrible din and bellowing; or again he
became a dragon, adder, or basilisk. But that fair and right
noble athlete kept his soul in quietness, for he had made the
Most High his refuge: and, being sober in mind, he laughed the
evil one to scorn, and said, "I know thee, deceiver, who thou
art, which stiffest up this trouble for me; which from the
beginning didst devise mischief against mankind, and art ever
wicked, and never stintest to do hurt. How becoming and right
proper is thy habit, that thou shouldest take the shape of beasts
and of creeping things, and thus display thy bestial and crooked
nature, and thy venomous and hurtful purpose! Wherefore, wretch,
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