| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: an old man and a child, quite at their ease, talking as if they had
known each other for years! Then you think," I continued aloud,
"that we ought sometimes to ask a Ghost to sit down? But have we any
authority for it? In Shakespeare, for instance--there are plenty of
ghosts there--does Shakespeare ever give the stage-direction 'hands
chair to Ghost'?"
The lady looked puzzled and thoughtful for a moment: then she almost
clapped her hands. "Yes, yes, he does!" she cried.
"He makes Hamlet say 'Rest, rest, perturbed Spirit!"'
"And that, I suppose, means an easy-chair?"
"An American rocking-chair, I think--"
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis: live my own life. He has staggered under his burden
alone, and I could have rid him of it. Now there are two
of them."
"Two of them? " said Lucy curiously.
"There is a baby--Pauline Felix's grandson. I beg your
pardon, my child, I ought not to have named her. She is
not a person whom you should ever hear of. He has them
both,--George. He has that weight to carry." She stood
up. "That is why I am going to him. It must be taken
from him."
"You mean--a divorce?"
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: eyed him sharply. "That's better. You have lost some
of the look you had when you left Wien. The ladies would
have liked that look, here in America. But it is bad for
the work."
He took Fanny aside before he left. His face was serious.
It was plain that he was disturbed. "That woman," he began.
"Pardon me, Mrs. Brandeis. She came to me. She says she is
starving. She is alone there, in Vienna. Her--well, she is
alone. The war is everywhere. They say it will last for
years. She wept and pleaded with me to take her here."
"No!" cried Fanny. "Don't let him hear it. He mustn't
Fanny Herself |
