| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: by art, and threading its fine forests with many miles of drives.
Near the center of the island one catches glimpses, through the trees,
of ten vast stone four-story buildings, each of which covers an acre
of ground. These are the Government workshops; for the Rock Island
establishment is a national armory and arsenal.
We move up the river--always through enchanting scenery,
there being no other kind on the Upper Mississippi--
and pass Moline, a center of vast manufacturing industries;
and Clinton and Lyons, great lumber centers; and presently
reach Dubuque, which is situated in a rich mineral region.
The lead mines are very productive, and of wide extent.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: the shallow water, watching us, may, God wot, be tall magicians
in white linen and scarlet silk!
He crossed himself. The cranes had lifted themselves
and flown away. ``If they heard--''
``Are you in earnest?''
He put his hands over his eyes. ``Sometimes I think it
may be fact, sometimes not! Sorcery is a fact, and who
knows how far it may go? At times my brain is like to
crack, I have so cudgeled it!''
That he cudgeled it was true, and though his brain never
cracked and to the end was the best brain in a hundred, yet
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final dissolution, wander here;
Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dreamed;
Those argent fields more likely habitants,
Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold
Betwixt the angelical and human kind.
Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
First from the ancient world those giants came
With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:
The builders next of Babel on the plain
Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,
Paradise Lost |
