| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of
its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation; while he who has
tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write,
speak, think, or hear about it sufficiently. For it is a living
fountain, springing up into eternal life, as Christ calls it in
John iv.
Now, though I cannot boast of my abundance, and though I know how
poorly I am furnished, yet I hope that, after having been vexed
by various temptations, I have attained some little drop of
faith, and that I can speak of this matter, if not with more
elegance, certainly with more solidity, than those literal and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: that carpet and go straight to London, England?" I said,
"London, England," captain, because he seemed to have been
so long in your part of the world. "In the crack of a whip," said
he. I figured up the time. What is the difference between Papeete
and London, captain?'
'Taking Greenwich and Point Venus, nine hours, odd minutes and
seconds,' replied the mariner.
'Well, that's about what I made it,' resumed Herrick, 'about
nine hours. Calling this three in the morning, I made out I would
drop into London about noon; and the idea tickled me
immensely. "There's only one bother," I said, "I haven't a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: a head that was full of pain and melancholy. The attitude of the body,
and that of the feet stretched out before her, showed the prostration
of one who loses consciousness of physical being in the concentration
of powers absorbed in a fixed idea: she was following its gleams in
the far future, just as sometimes on the shores of the sea, we gaze at
a ray of sunlight which pierces the clouds and draws a luminous line
to the horizon.
The hands of this woman hung nerveless outside the arms of her chair,
and her head, as if too heavy to hold up, lay back upon its cushions.
A dress of white cambric, very full and flowing, hindered any judgment
as to the proportions of her figure, and the bust was concealed by the
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