| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: was nothing else to produce such humiliation. He made several
efforts to obey, but his little strength was annihilated for the
time, and he fell back again with a moan. Mr. Heathcliff advanced,
and lifted him to lean against a ridge of turf.
'Now,' said he, with curbed ferocity, 'I'm getting angry and if you
don't command that paltry spirit of yours - DAMN you! get up
directly!'
'I will, father,' he panted. 'Only, let me alone, or I shall
faint. I've done as you wished, I'm sure. Catherine will tell you
that I - that I - have been cheerful. Ah! keep by me, Catherine;
give me your hand.'
Wuthering Heights |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: swept across the earth and tore the protecting snow covering from
their branches. It was a stormy evening, not one to be out in if
a man had a warm corner in which to hide.
An old peddler was trying to find shelter from the rapidly
increasing storm under the lea of the castle wall. He crouched so
close to the stones that he could scarcely be seen at all, in
spite of the light from the snow. Finally he disappeared altogether
behind one of the heavy columns which sprang out at intervals from
the magnificent wall. Only his head peeped out occasionally as if
looking for something. His dark, thoughtful eyes glanced over the
little village spread out on one side of the castle, and over the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: only by looking into the mind and virtue of the soul, which is the diviner
part of a man, as we see our own image in another's eye. And if we do not
know ourselves, we cannot know what belongs to ourselves or belongs to
others, and are unfit to take a part in political affairs. Both for the
sake of the individual and of the state, we ought to aim at justice and
temperance, not at wealth or power. The evil and unjust should have no
power,--they should be the slaves of better men than themselves. None but
the virtuous are deserving of freedom.
And are you, Alcibiades, a freeman? 'I feel that I am not; but I hope,
Socrates, that by your aid I may become free, and from this day forward I
will never leave you.'
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