| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: of St. Albans' and others, weighing 9 lbs., for which she received 9_d_.
The pedlar carried them through Gainsborough tied up in string, past a
chemist's shop, who, being used to buy old paper to wrap his drugs in,
called the man in, and, struck by the appearance of the `Boke,' gave
him 3_s_. for the lot. Not being able to read the Colophon, he took it
to an equally ignorant stationer, and offered it to him for a guinea,
at which price he declined it, but proposed that it should be exposed
in his window as a means of eliciting some information about it.
It was accordingly placed there with this label, `Very old curious work.'
A collector of books went in and offered half-a-crown for it,
which excited the suspicion of the vendor. Soon after Mr. Bird, Vicar
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: ways. Well, it made me dream."
Pause.
"It's a strange state," said Warming.
" It's a sort of complete absence," said Isbister.
"Here's the body, empty. Not dead a bit, and yet
not alive. It's like a seat vacant and marked 'engaged.'
No feeling, no digestion, no beating of the
heart--not a flutter. __That__ doesn't make me feel as
if there was a man present. In a sense it's more dead
than death, for these doctors tell me that even the hair
has stopped growing. Now with the proper dead, the
When the Sleeper Wakes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: ground of the Infinite with a heroic uncouthness.
The end of his carter's whip quivered high up in
the blue. Kennedy discoursed.
"She's the eldest of a large family. At the age
of fifteen they put her out to service at the New
Barns Farm. I attended Mrs. Smith, the tenant's
wife, and saw that girl there for the first time.
Mrs. Smith, a genteel person with a sharp nose,
made her put on a black dress every afternoon. I
don't know what induced me to notice her at all.
There are faces that call your attention by a cu-
Amy Foster |
