| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: courtesy and tentative in departure from formality
passed between the two. And, as if in the expedient
atmosphere of a real summer resort, an acquaintance
grew, flowered and fructified on the spot as does the
mystic plant of the conjuror. For a few moments
they stood on a balcony upon which the corridor
ended, and tossed the feathery ball of conversation.
"One tires of the old resorts," said Madame Beau-
mont, with a faint but sweet smile. "What is the use
to fly to the mountains or the seashore to escape noise
and dust when the very people that make both follow
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: inconsistency of thought, can hardly be considered decisive of their
spurious character. For who always does justice to himself, or who writes
with equal care at all times? Certainly not Plato, who exhibits the
greatest differences in dramatic power, in the formation of sentences, and
in the use of words, if his earlier writings are compared with his later
ones, say the Protagoras or Phaedrus with the Laws. Or who can be expected
to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over
above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of
political and literary transition? Certainly not Plato, whose earlier
writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of
philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: said, "you will be going home across the sea; and you have been
welcome here, but it is time that you should go, for there is the
place where your real duties and troubles and joys are waiting for
you. And if you have left any misunderstandings behind you, you
will try to clear them up; and if there have been any quarrels, you
will heal them. Carry this little flower with you. It's not the
bonniest blossom in Scotland, but it's the dearest, for the message
that it brings. And you will remember that love is not
getting, but giving; not a wild dream of pleasure, and a madness of
desire--oh no, love is not that--it is goodness, and honour, and
peace, and pure living--yes, love is that; and it is the best thing
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