| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: face; and it was dark. So he sat down upon a stone and buried his face in
his hands, to wait in the Land of Negation and Denial till the light came.
And it was night in his heart also.
Then from the marshes to his right and left cold mists arose and closed
about him. A fine, imperceptible rain fell in the dark, and great drops
gathered on his hair and clothes. His heart beat slowly, and a numbness
crept through all his limbs. Then, looking up, two merry wisp lights came
dancing. He lifted his head to look at them. Nearer, nearer they came.
So warm, so bright, they danced like stars of fire. They stood before him
at last. From the centre of the radiating flame in one looked out a
woman's face, laughing, dimpled, with streaming yellow hair. In the centre
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: conscious heroism, an unquestioning faith in God,
a kindliness and simplicity of heart rarely pos-
sessed by his commanding officer.
The impressions made upon Tolstoy during
this period of active service gave vivid reality to
the battle-scenes in "War and Peace," and are
traceable in the reflections and conversation of the
two heroes, Prince Andre and Pierre Besukhov.
On the eve of the battle of Borodino, Prince
Andre, talking with Pierre in the presence of his
devoted soldier-servant Timokhine, says,--
The Forged Coupon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: The three muffled men, with the clumsiest movements, scrambled out
upon the sand, and forthwith set to landing the cargo, assisted by
the man on the beach. I was struck especially by the curious
movements of the legs of the three swathed and bandaged boatmen,--
not stiff they were, but distorted in some odd way, almost as if they
were jointed in the wrong place. The dogs were still snarling,
and strained at their chains after these men, as the white-haired
man landed with them. The three big fellows spoke to one another
in odd guttural tones, and the man who had waited for us on
the beach began chattering to them excitedly--a foreign language,
as I fancied--as they laid hands on some bales piled near the stern.
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
