| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: I have had our little jests over it, but I felt that I could not
deceive you."
Lawton looked bewildered. "But that is a real baby in there," he
said, jerking an elbow toward the other room.
"Oh yes," replied Eudora. "I adopted him yesterday. I went to
the Children's Home in Elmfield. Amelia Lancaster went with me.
Wilson drove us over. I know a nurse there. She took care of
mother in her last illness. And I adopted this baby; at least, I
am going to. He comes of respectable people, and his parents are
dead. His mother died when he was born. He is healthy, and I
thought him a beautiful baby."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: formidable to his foes as Agesilaus when he had reached the limit of
mortal life. Never, I suppose, was there a foeman whose removal came
with a greater sense of relief to the enemy than that of Agesilaus,
though a veteran when he died. Never was there a leader who inspired
stouter courage in the hearts of fellow-combatants than this man with
one foot planted in the grave. Never was a young man snatched from a
circle of loving friends with tenderer regret than this old graybeard.
[11] Reading, {megalon kai kalon ephiemenos, eos kai to soma, k.t.l.}
See Breitenbach.
The benefactor of his fatherland, absolutely to the very end; with
bounteous hand, even in the arms of death, dealing out largesse[12] to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: freed in any way from the ruts of every-day life, time slackens
its gait somewhat, and the events which occur are apt a few years
later to cover a disproportionately large area in our
recollections. This is because the human organism is a natural
timepiece in which the ticks are conscious sensations. The
greater the number of sensations which occupy the foreground of
consciousness during the day, the longer the day seems in the
retrospect. But the various groups of sensations which accompany
our daily work tend to become automatic from continual
repetition, and to sink into the background of consciousness; and
in a very complex and busied life the number of sensations or
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
