| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: him to wear such garments as those in which he was clad--either
velvet, crimson stuff, fur or silver or gold
embroidery--nevertheless such a solemn ceremony as presentation
to the King excused the temporary overstepping of the law, and so
Lord George told him. As he laid his hand upon the lad's shoulder
and held him off at arm's-length, he added, "And I pledge thee my
word, Myles, that thou art as lusty and handsome a lad as ever
mine eyes beheld."
"Thou art very kind to me, sir," said Myles, in answer.
Lord George laughed; and then giving him a shake, let go his
shoulder.
Men of Iron |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: study hours. It is not often pleasant to brisk, lively lads to be
so cooped up. I wonder what the boys of to-day would have thought
of Myles's training. With him that training was not only of the
mind, but of the body as well, and for seven years it was almost
unremitting. "Thou hast thine own way to make in the world,
sirrah," his father said more than once when the boy complained
of the grinding hardness of his life, and to make one's way in
those days meant a thousand times more than it does now; it meant
not only a heart to feel and a brain to think, but a hand quick
and strong to strike in battle, and a body tough to endure the
wounds and blows in return. And so it was that Myles's body as
Men of Iron |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: the world there is not one, it seems to me, that ever
had to suffer a fate so simply tragic as the man I
am speaking of, the most innocent of adventurers
cast out by the sea in the bight of this bay, almost
within sight from this very window.
"He did not know the name of his ship. Indeed,
in the course of time we discovered he did not even
know that ships had names--'like Christian peo-
ple'; and when, one day, from the top of the Tal-
fourd Hill, he beheld the sea lying open to his view,
his eyes roamed afar, lost in an air of wild surprise,
Amy Foster |
