| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: that had been passed, for there was greater volume and depth of water. One
of the horses slipped on the rocks, plunged up and on with great splash.
They crossed, however, without more mishap to Carley than further
acquaintance with this iciest of waters. From this point the driver turned
back along the creek, passed between orchards and fields, and drove along
the base of the red wall to come suddenly upon a large rustic house that
had been hidden from Carley's sight. It sat almost against the stone cliff,
from which poured a white foamy sheet of water. The house was built of
slabs with the bark on, and it had a lower and upper porch running all
around, at least as far as the cliff. Green growths from the rock wall
overhung the upper porch. A column of blue smoke curled lazily upward from
The Call of the Canyon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: difficult episode to handle.
The gondola stopped, the old palace was there; it was a house of the class
which in Venice carries even in extreme dilapidation the dignified name.
"How charming! It's gray and pink!" my companion exclaimed;
and that is the most comprehensive description of it.
It was not particularly old, only two or three centuries;
and it had an air not so much of decay as of quiet discouragement,
as if it had rather missed its career. But its wide front,
with a stone balcony from end to end of the piano nobile or most
important floor, was architectural enough, with the aid of various
pilasters and arches; and the stucco with which in the intervals
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: or a brain, the more trouble they are to take care of. The
movements of exaltation which belong to genius are egotistic by
their very nature. A calm, clear mind, not subject to the spasms
and crises which are so often met with in creative or intensely
perceptive natures, is the best basis for love or friendship. -
Observe, I am talking about MINDS. I won't say, the more
intellect, the less capacity for loving; for that would do wrong to
the understanding and reason; - but, on the other hand, that the
brain often runs away with the heart's best blood, which gives the
world a few pages of wisdom or sentiment or poetry, instead of
making one other heart happy, I have no question.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
