| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: Since when, I inquired of him, had his own company become such a shock to
him?
"As to that," replied Mr. McLean, a thought ruffled, "when a man expects
lonesomeness he stands it like he stands anything else, of course. But
when he has figured on finding company--say--" he broke off (and
vindictiveness sparkled in his eye)--"when you're lucky enough to catch
yourself alone, why, I suppose yu' just take a chair and chat to yourself
for hours.--You've not seen anything of Tommy?" he pursued with interest.
I had not; and forthwith Lin poured out to me the pent-up complaints and
sociability with which he was bursting. The foreman had sent him over
here with a sackful of letters for the post, and to bring back the week's
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: sit still and say nothing. That and no more. And what was truth
to him in the face of that great passion which had flung him
prostrate in spirit at her adored feet!
And now it was done! Fatality had willed it! With the eyes of a
mortal struck by the maddening thunderbolt of the gods, Renouard
looked up to the sky, an immense black pall dusted over with gold,
on which great shudders seemed to pass from the breath of life
affirming its sway.
CHAPTER VIII
At last, one morning, in a clear spot of a glassy horizon charged
with heraldic masses of black vapours, the island grew out from the
Within the Tides |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable
degree of convenience, by a power so distant from us, and so
very ignorant of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot
govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles
with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months
for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more
to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly
and childishness--There was a time when it was proper,
and there is a proper time for it to cease.
Small islands not capable of protecting themselves,
are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care;
Common Sense |
