| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: over the south pole in two of the great planes, being forced down
once by a sudden high wind, which, fortunately, did not develop
into a typical storm. This was, as the papers have stated, one
of several observation flights, during others of which we tried
to discern new topographical features in areas unreached by previous
explorers. Our early flights were disappointing in this latter
respect, though they afforded us some magnificent examples of
the richly fantastic and deceptive mirages of the polar regions,
of which our sea voyage had given us some brief foretastes. Distant
mountains floated in the sky as enchanted cities, and often the
whole white world would dissolve into a gold, silver, and scarlet
At the Mountains of Madness |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And with firm bosom and most steadfast eyes,
Strong in all high resolve, prepared to tread
The unlovely path that leads me toward the skies.
V.
Not undelightful, friend, our rustic ease
To grateful hearts; for by especial hap,
Deep nested in the hill's enormous lap,
With its own ring of walls and grove of trees,
Sits, in deep shelter, our small cottage - nor
Far-off is seen, rose carpeted and hung
With clematis, the quarry whence she sprung,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress
of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known
to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory
and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction
in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts
were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--
all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered
from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war,
insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--
seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation.
Second Inaugural Address |
