| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: touching here upon a nerve acutely sensitive. I know that others
of your colleagues look back on the inertia of your Church, and the
intrusive and decisive heroism of Damien, with something almost to
be called remorse. I am sure it is so with yourself; I am
persuaded your letter was inspired by a certain envy, not
essentially ignoble, and the one human trait to be espied in that
performance. You were thinking of the lost chance, the past day;
of that which should have been conceived and was not; of the
service due and not rendered. TIME WAS, said the voice in your
ear, in your pleasant room, as you sat raging and writing; and if
the words written were base beyond parallel, the rage, I am happy
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: under the cloak of an immortal--the robe of glory due to genius, and
which the ages hand on--I, a frail mortal! When I wandered through the
fields of light where the happy souls play, I was borne up by the love
of a woman, the wings of an angel; resting on her heart, I could taste
the ineffable pleasures whose touch is more perilous to us mortals
than are the torments of the worser world.
"As I achieved my pilgrimage through the dark regions below I had
mounted from torture to torture, from crime to crime, from punishment
to punishment, from awful silence to heartrending cries, till I
reached the uppermost circle of Hell. Already, from afar, I could see
the glory of Paradise shining at a vast distance; I was still in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: "You know that Mr. Fogg is very eccentric. His punctuality
is well known; he never arrives too soon, or too late; and I
should not be surprised if he appeared before us at the last minute."
"Why," said Andrew Stuart nervously, "if I should see him,
I should not believe it was he."
"The fact is," resumed Thomas Flanagan, "Mr. Fogg's project
was absurdly foolish. Whatever his punctuality, he could not
prevent the delays which were certain to occur; and a delay
of only two or three days would be fatal to his tour."
"Observe, too," added John Sullivan, "that we have received no
intelligence from him, though there are telegraphic lines all
Around the World in 80 Days |
