| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: foot of the left bank of the stream -- the southern bank --
and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his
enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of
one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept
with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it
over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked
like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing
beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank
were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their
arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A
strange roseate light shone through the spaces among their
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: down on his marrow bones and beg my pardon. That's my last
word.'
'I stand by the Captain,' said Herrick. 'That makes us two to
one, both good men; and the crew will all follow me. I hope I
shall die very soon; but I have not the least objection to
killing you before I go. I should prefer it so; I should do it
with no more remorse than winking. Take care--take care, you
little cad!'
The animosity with which these words were uttered was so
marked in itself, and so remarkable in the man who uttered
them that Huish stared, and even the humiliated Davis reared
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: the night in orisons, prayers, and meditation." At daylight he
confessed to the priest, heard matins, and communicated in mass,
and then presented a lighted candle at the altar, with a piece of
money stuck in it as close to the flame as could be done, the
candle being offered to the honor of God, and the money to the
honor of that person who was to make him a knight.
So concluded the sacred ceremony, which being ended his squires
conducted the candidate to his chamber, and there made him
comfortable, and left him to repose for a while before the second
and final part of the ordinance.
Such is a shortened account of the preparatory stages of the
Men of Iron |
