| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: or petal to the extremity of the opposite one. {Endnote 14}
The building itself is of pure and polished white marble, which
shows out in marvellous contrast to the red granite of the frowning
city, on whose brow it glistens indeed like an imperial diadem
upon the forehead of a dusky queen. The outer surface of the
dome and of the twelve petal courts is covered entirely with
thin sheets of beaten gold; and from the extreme point of the
roof of each of these petals a glorious golden form with a trumpet
in its hand and widespread wings is figured in the very act of
soaring into space. I really must leave whoever reads this to
imagine the surpassing beauty of these golden roofs flashing
Allan Quatermain |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: forth. Seated about a table lit up with perfumed tapers, seven
laughter-loving women were interchanging sweet talk. The white
marble of the noble works of art about them stood out against the
red stucco walls, and made strong contrasts with the rich Turkey
carpets. Clad in satin, glittering with gold, and covered with
gems less brilliant than their eyes, each told a tale of
energetic passions as diverse as their styles of beauty. They
differed neither in their ideas nor in their language; but the
expression of their eyes, their glances, occasional gestures, or
the tones of their voices supplied a commentary, dissolute,
wanton, melancholy, or satirical, to their words.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: chairs, covered with tarnished brocade, which bear the marks
of having seen better days, and have doubtless figured in some
of the old palaces of Little Britain. They seem to me to keep
together, and to look down with sovereign contempt upon
their leathern-bottomed neighbors: as I have seen decayed
gentry carry a high head among the plebeian society with which
they were reduced to associate. The whole front of my sitting-
room is taken up with a bow-window, on the panes of which
are recorded the names of previous occupants for many
generations, mingled with scraps of very indifferent
gentlemanlike poetry, written in characters which I can scarcely
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