| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: grow up in! What's a woman like that want to come into a
respectable street for, anyway? I own my home and pay my
taxes--"
Alderman Mooney looked up.
"So does she," he interrupted. "She's going to improve the
place--paint it, and put in a cellar and a furnace, and build a
porch, and lay a cement walk all round."
The Young Husband took his hands out of his pockets in order to
emphasize his remarks with gestures.
"Whati's that got to do with it? I don't care if she puts in
diamonds for windows and sets out Italian gardens and a terrace
One Basket |
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: marbled with kisses, knelt down and began a prayer. Don Juan
could scarce help trembling when he saw splendor and mirth and
laughter and song and youth and beauty and power bowed in
reverence before Death. But in those times, in that adorable
Italy of the sixteenth century, religion and revelry went hand in
hand; and religious excess became a sort of debauch, and a
debauch a religious rite!
The Prince grasped Don Juan's hand affectionately, then when all
faces had simultaneously put on the same grimace--half-gloomy,
half-indifferent--the whole masque disappeared, and left the
chamber of death empty. It was like an allegory of life.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: Cause injuries to be forgot and benefits to be remembered.
Let us lie down without fear and awake and arise with exultation.
For his sake, in whose words we now conclude.
IN TIME OF RAIN
WE thank Thee, Lord, for the glory of the late days and the
excellent face of thy sun. We thank Thee for good news received.
We thank Thee for the pleasures we have enjoyed and for those we
have been able to confer. And now, when the clouds gather and the
rain impends over the forest and our house, permit us not to be
cast down; let us not lose the savour of past mercies and past
pleasures; but, like the voice of a bird singing in the rain, let
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