| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: eminently mundane burghers whom he persecuted noted for a pious
superiority to fact? Or, to narrow the field still further, and scan
the circle of one's own acquaintance, are the most believing
individuals among them worthy of the most belief? Assuredly not.
We come, then, to the second point. Has there been any influence at
work to differentiate us in this respect from Far Orientals?
There has. Two separate causes, in fact, have conduced to the same
result. The one is the development of physical science; the other,
the extension of trade. The sole object of science being to
discover truth, truth-telling is a necessity of its existence.
Professionally, scientists are obliged to be truthful. Aliter of a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: Bernard remembered that he had thought it a trifle "bold";
but he now perceived that this had been but a vulgar misreading
of her dark, direct, observant eye. The eye was a charming one;
Bernard discovered in it, little by little, all sorts of things;
and Miss Vivian was, for the present, simply a handsome,
intelligent, smiling girl. He gave her an opportunity to make
an allusion to Siena; he said to her that his friend told
him that she and her mother had been spending the winter
in Italy.
"Oh yes," said Angela Vivian; "we were in the far south;
we were five months at Sorrento."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: her haggard face and the queer suggestion of Death
which her appearance made in spite of the background of
flowers. She had dressed herself in a simple skirt and
shirtwaist of spotless white. The material seemed to
be draped on her tall figure, thin to emaciation. The
chalk-like pallor of her face brought out with
startling sharpness the deep, hollow caverns beneath
her straight eyebrows. Her single eye shone unusually
bright.
Gradually the grim impression grew that Death was
hovering over her bridal feast--a foolish fancy which
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