| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: prevent it; nevertheless the Empress Dowager called to her aid
the greatest and most progressive of the Manchus, the Viceroy
Tuan Fang, and appointed him head of a commission which she
proposed to send on a tour of the world to examine carefully the
various forms of government, with the purpose of advising her, on
their return, as to the possibility of giving a constitution to
China.
A special train was provided to take the commission from Peking
to Tientsin. It was drawn up at the station just outside the gate
in front of the Emperor's palace. The commission had entered the
car, and the narrow hall or aisle along the side was crowded with
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tanach: Jeremiah 38: 5 Then Zedekiah the king said: 'Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.'
Jeremiah 38: 6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit of Malchiah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard; and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the pit there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Jeremiah 38: 7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an officer, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
Jeremiah 38: 8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying:
Jeremiah 38: 9 'My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit; and he is like to die in the place where he is because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.'
Jeremiah 38: 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying: 'Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit, before he die.'
Jeremiah 38: 11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence worn clouts and worn rags, and let them down by cords into the pit to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 38: 12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah: 'Put now these worn clouts and rags under thine armholes under the cords.' And Jeremiah did so.
The Tanach |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: the old man, being accustomed to it, breathes with his whole
chest as though nothing were amiss, and merely clears his throat.
To judge from the swaying of the van and the rattle of the wheels
the train is moving rapidly and unevenly. The engine breathes
heavily, snorting out of time with the pulsation of the train,
and altogether there is a medley of sounds. The bullocks huddle
together uneasily and knock their horns against the walls.
When the old man wakes up, the deep blue sky of early morning is
peeping in at the cracks and at the little uncovered window. He
feels unbearably cold, especially in the back and the feet. The
train is standing still; Yasha, sleepy and morose, is busy with
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
