| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: Our Chinamen boys gave him side glances as they went to and fro;
and Ah Sing, our young chief steward, the handsomest and most
sympathetic of Chinamen, catching my eye, nodded knowingly at his
burly back. In the course of the morning I approached him for a
moment.
"Well, Mr. Almayer," I addressed him easily, "you haven't started
on your letters yet."
We had brought him his mail and he had held the bundle in his
hand ever since we got up from breakfast. He glanced at it when
I spoke and, for a moment, it looked as if he were on the point
of opening his fingers and letting the whole lot fall overboard.
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: reflect deeply,--first on you, whom I do not sufficiently know;
next, on myself, of whom I knew too little. You have had the power
to stir up many of the evil thoughts which crouched in my heart,
as in all hearts; but from them something good and generous has
come forth, and I salute you with my most fervent benedictions,
just as at sea we salute the lighthouse which shows the rocks on
which we were about to perish. Here is my confession, for I would
not lose your esteem nor my own for all the treasures of earth.
I wished to know who you are. I have just returned from Havre,
where I saw Francoise Cochet, and followed her to Ingouville. You
are as beautiful as the woman of a poet's dream; but I do not know
Modeste Mignon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: own people?" I asked.
"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey
killed her."
I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry
and Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident
which would insure us some small degree of success.
I didn't see what accident could befall a whole community
in a land of perpetual daylight where the inhabitants had
no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of the
Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals,
crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and
At the Earth's Core |
