| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: remaining shackled by the close bondage of the body.
It is not then wonderful if, in the midst of a community
whose thoughts tend earthward, a small number of individuals are
to be found who turn their looks to heaven. I should be
surprised if mysticism did not soon make some advance amongst a
people solely engaged in promoting its own worldly welfare. It is
said that the deserts of the Thebaid were peopled by the
persecutions of the emperors and the massacres of the Circus; I
should rather say that it was by the luxuries of Rome and the
Epicurean philosophy of Greece. If their social condition, their
present circumstances, and their laws did not confine the minds
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: THE COMMISSARY (TAKING A PEN). ENFIN, IL FAUI EN FINIR. What is
your name?
THE ARETHUSA (SPEAKING WITH THE SWALLOWING VIVACITY OF THE
ENGLISH). Robert-Louis-Stev'ns'n.
THE COMMISSARY (AGHAST). HE! QUOI?
THE ARETHUSA (PERCEIVING AND IMPROVING HIS ADVANTAGE). Rob'rt-
Lou's-Stev'ns'n.
THE COMMISSARY (AFTER SEVERAL CONFLICTS WITH HIS PEN). EH BIEN, IL
FAUT SE PASSER DU NOM. CA NE S'ECRIT PAS. (Well, we must do
without the name: it is unspellable.)
The above is a rough summary of this momentous conversation, in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: too, Alexandra. I am sure she tried hard; they
both did. That was why Emil went to Mexico,
of course. And he was going away again, you
tell me, though he had only been home three
weeks. You remember that Sunday when I
went with Emil up to the French Church fair?
I thought that day there was some kind of feel-
ing, something unusual, between them. I
meant to talk to you about it. But on my way
back I met Lou and Oscar and got so angry
that I forgot everything else. You mustn't
O Pioneers! |
