| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: cried at the top of my voice, and exclaimed that I would not
leave that place if all the men on earth and all the devils in
hell surrounded me. 'What!' I said, 'such a degraded sinner as I
am, on my knees confessing my sins to the great and holy God; and
ashamed to have any human being, and a sinner like myself, find
me on my knees endeavoring to make my peace with my offended
God!' The sin appeared awful, infinite. It broke me down before
the Lord." Memoirs, pp. 14-16, abridged.
"I had said I would not give up; but when my will was broken, it
was all over," writes one of Starbuck's correspondents.-- Another
says: "I simply said: 'Lord, I have done all I can; I leave the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: cent. on his invested capital.
Two hours later an Iron Mountain freight engine pulled out of the
railroad yards, Texas bound, with a string of empties. In one of the
cattle cars, half buried in excelsior, Chicken lay at ease. Beside him
in his nest was a quart bottle of very poor whisky and a paper bag of
bread and cheese. Mr. Ruggles, in his private car, was on his trip
south for the winter season.
For a week that car was trundled southward, shifted, laid over, and
manipulated after the manner of rolling stock, but Chicken stuck to
it, leaving it only at necessary times to satisfy his hunger and
thirst. He knew it must go down to the cattle country, and San
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: I shall go to my cousin Juan Moraga's. You will
dine with us at the Presidio, and I shall escort you
back to the ship."
XIX
It was ten o'clock when Rezanov, who had supped
on the Juno, met Santiago in a sandy valley half a
mile from the Presidio and mounted the horse his
young friend himself had saddled and brought.
The long ride was a silent one. The youth was not
talkative at any time, and Rezanov was conscious of
little else save an overwhelming desire to see Con-
Rezanov |
