| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: For love or fear, or seeking favour of us,
Because we have our earldom back again.
And yester-eve I would not tell you of it,
But kept it for a sweet surprise at morn.
Yea, truly is it not a sweet surprise?
For I myself unwillingly have worn
My faded suit, as you, my child, have yours,
And howsoever patient, Yniol his.
Ah, dear, he took me from a goodly house,
With store of rich apparel, sumptuous fare,
And page, and maid, and squire, and seneschal,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: 'We are going right into that bark, sir.' The answer to
this was a gruff 'All right,' and the next thing was a
heavy crash as the steamer struck a glancing blow with
the bluff of her bow about our fore-rigging. There was
a moment of confusion, yelling, and running about.
Steam roared. Then somebody was heard saying, 'All
clear, sir.' . . . 'Are you all right?' asked the gruff
voice. I had jumped forward to see the damage, and
hailed back, 'I think so.' 'Easy astern,' said the gruff
voice. A bell jingled. 'What steamer is that?'
screamed Mahon. By that time she was no more to us
Youth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: life palled upon her solely because of the absence of her lover? So Carley
plodded on, like one groping in the night, fighting shadows.
One day she received a card from an old schoolmate, a girl who had married
out of Carley's set, and had been ostracized. She was living down on Long
Island, at a little country place named Wading River. Her husband was an
electrician--something of an inventor. He worked hard. A baby boy had just
come to them. Would not Carley run down on the train to see the youngster?
That was a strong and trenchant call. Carley went. She found indeed a
country village, and on the outskirts of it a little cottage that must have
been pretty in summer, when the green was on vines and trees. Her old
schoolmate was rosy, plump, bright-eyed, and happy. She saw in Carley no
The Call of the Canyon |
