| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: as I said before, no scheme for the reconstruction of society. But
the modern world has schemes. It proposes to do away with poverty
and the suffering that it entails. It desires to get rid of pain,
and the suffering that pain entails. It trusts to Socialism and to
Science as its methods. What it aims at is an Individualism
expressing itself through joy. This Individualism will be larger,
fuller, lovelier than any Individualism has ever been. Pain is not
the ultimate mode of perfection. It is merely provisional and a
protest. It has reference to wrong, unhealthy, unjust
surroundings. When the wrong, and the disease, and the injustice
are removed, it will have no further place. It will have done its
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: "Very well," said Mrs. Ericson. Her hand went out from her
suddenly and rested on his head. Her fingers twined themselves in
his soft, pale hair. His tears splashed down on the boards;
happiness filled his heart.
The Troll Garden
Flavia and Her Artists
As the train neared Tarrytown, Imogen Willard began to
wonder why she had consented to be one of Flavia's house party at
all. She had not felt enthusiastic about it since leaving the
city, and was experiencing a prolonged ebb of purpose, a current
of chilling indecision, under which she vainly sought for the
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: but though they talked a great deal--and the Baroness's strong point
was perhaps also her conversation--Madame Munster appeared to lose
nothing by the comparison. He wished she had come to Newport too.
Would it not be possible to make up, as they said, a party for
visiting the famous watering-place and invite Eugenia to join it?
It was true that the complete satisfaction would be to spend
a fortnight at Newport with Eugenia alone. It would be a great
pleasure to see her, in society, carry everything before her,
as he was sure she would do. When Acton caught himself thinking these
thoughts he began to walk up and down, with his hands in his pockets,
frowning a little and looking at the floor. What did it prove--
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