| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: that the gods might have pronounced excellent.
But even in the midst of her Lucullian repast Katy
laid down her knife and fork. Her heart sank as
lead, and a tear fell upon her filet mignon. Her
haunting suspicions of the star lodger arose again,
fourfold. Thus courted and admired and smiled
upon by that fashionable and gracious assembly,
what else could Mr. Brunelli be but one of those
dazzling titled patricians, glorious of name but shy
of rent money, concerning whom experience had made
her wise? With a sense of his ineligibility growing
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: they left their gardens and dining-halls. In the midst of the Acropolis
was a fountain, which gave an abundant supply of cool water in summer and
warm in winter; of this there are still some traces. They were careful to
preserve the number of fighting men and women at 20,000, which is equal to
that of the present military force. And so they passed their lives as
guardians of the citizens and leaders of the Hellenes. They were a just
and famous race, celebrated for their beauty and virtue all over Europe and
Asia.
And now I will speak to you of their adversaries, but first I ought to
explain that the Greek names were given to Solon in an Egyptian form, and
he enquired their meaning and translated them. His manuscript was left
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: Then Don Carlos could be heard addressing Sheriff Hawe in an
exhortation of mingled English and Spanish. He denied, he
avowed, he proclaimed, and all in rapid, passionate utterance.
He tossed his black hair in his vehemence; he waved his fists and
stamped the floor; he rolled his glittering eyes; he twisted his
thin lips into a hundred different shapes, and like a cornered
wolf showed snarling white teeth.
It seemed to Madeline that Don Carlos denied knowledge of the
boxes of contraband goods, then knowledge of their real contents,
then knowledge of their destination, and, finally, everything
except that they were there in sight, damning witnesses to
The Light of Western Stars |
