| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: reduced to unconsciousness except a few cowards who had run away and
hidden in the cellars or garrets of the houses.
The Tatars entered the city with shouts of triumph, and the chief
was so delighted that he threw his arms around Rob's neck and embraced
him warmly.
Then began the sack of Yarkand, the fierce Tatars plundering the bazaars
and houses, stripping them of everything of value they could find.
Rob searched anxiously among the bodies of the unconscious Turks for
the two men who had robbed him, but neither could be found. He was
more successful later, for in running through the streets he came upon
a band of Tatars leading a man with a rope around his neck, whom Rob
The Master Key |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: apparently undiminished zest.
Forty-eight hours later the unbelievable had
happened; every one had refused the Mingotts' invitation
except the Beauforts and old Mr. Jackson and his sister.
The intended slight was emphasised by the fact that
even the Reggie Chiverses, who were of the Mingott
clan, were among those inflicting it; and by the
uniform wording of the notes, in all of which the writers
"regretted that they were unable to accept," without
the mitigating plea of a "previous engagement" that
ordinary courtesy prescribed.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: which I have heard in Quebec County. Chapman says (_Handbook of
Birds of Eastern North America_) 'it is most at home in secluded
woodland and thickety retreats. . . . Its notes are not remarkable
for variety or volume, but in purity and sweetness of tone and
exquisite modulation they are unequalled.' Its 'water-dripping song'
is justly celebrated.
360. The following lines were stimulated by the account of one
of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one
of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers,
at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion
that there was _one more member_ than could actually be counted.
The Waste Land |
