| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: the table. Likewise, both window sills were studded with little heaps
of ash, arranged, not without artifice, in rows of more or less
tidiness. Clearly smoking afforded the master of the house a frequent
means of passing the time.
"Permit me to offer you a seat on this settee," said Manilov. "Here
you will be quieter than you would be in the drawing-room."
"But I should prefer to sit upon this chair."
"I cannot allow that," objected the smiling Manilov. "The settee is
specially reserved for my guests. Whether you choose or no, upon it
you MUST sit."
Accordingly Chichikov obeyed.
Dead Souls |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: It is your fault if she comes home to us no more."
Every one knew that it was Peter Hildesmuller's fault, so they paid no
attention to his words.
A moment afterward a strange, faint voice was heard to call: "Mamma!"
Frau Hildesmuller at first thought it was Lena's spirit calling, and
then she rushed to the rear of Fritz's covered wagon, and, with a loud
shriek of joy, caught up Lena herself, covering her pale little face
with kisses and smothering her with hugs. Lena's eyes were heavy with
the deep slumber of exhaustion, but she smiled and lay close to the
one she had longed to see. There among the mail sacks, covered in a
nest of strange blankets and comforters, she had lain asleep until
Heart of the West |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: xxviii. 5.
As they listened to these words the judges murmured their dissent,
some as disbelieving what was said, and others out of simple envy that
Socrates should actually receive from heaven more than they
themselves; whereupon Socrates returned to the charge. "Come," he
said, "lend me your ears while I tell you something more, so that
those of you who choose may go to a still greater length in refusing
to believe that I am thus highly honoured by the divine powers.
Chaerephon[25] once, in the presence of many witnesses, put a question
at Delhi concerning me, and Apollo answered that there was no human
being more liberal, or more upright, or more temperate than myself."
The Apology |
