| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: as was proved by the issue of the present, as well as of former
combats. After exchanging a few blows, Ranald MacEagh was
prostrated by a deep wound on the skull; and M'Aulay, setting his
foot on him, was about to pass the broadsword through his body,
when the point of the weapon was struck up by a third party, who
suddenly interposed. This was no other than Major Dalgetty, who,
stunned. by the fall, and encumbered by the dead body of his
horse, had now recovered his legs and his understanding. "Hold
up your sword," said he to M'Aulay, "and prejudice this person no
farther, in respect that he is here in my safeconduct, and in his
Excellency's service; and in regard that no honourable cavalier
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: mythology; and they are also a reform of mythology. The moral of them may
be summed up in a word or two: After death the Judgment; and 'there is
some better thing remaining for the good than for the evil.'
All literature gathers into itself many elements of the past: for example,
the tale of the earth-born men in the Republic appears at first sight to be
an extravagant fancy, but it is restored to propriety when we remember that
it is based on a legendary belief. The art of making stories of ghosts and
apparitions credible is said to consist in the manner of telling them. The
effect is gained by many literary and conversational devices, such as the
previous raising of curiosity, the mention of little circumstances,
simplicity, picturesqueness, the naturalness of the occasion, and the like.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain: all in, see the walls tumble together and drown the last
man of them. Then we piled on the power again and
rushed away and huvvered over Mount Sinai, and saw
the place where Moses broke the tables of stone, and
where the children of Israel camped in the plain and
worshiped the golden calf, and it was all just as
interesting as could be, and the guide knowed every
place as well as I knowed the village at home.
But we had an accident, now, and it fetched all the
plans to a standstill. Tom's old ornery corn-cob pipe
had got so old and swelled and warped that she couldn't
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