| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: evening. I answered distractedly: "Eh? What? Oh, thanks!
Certainly. With pleasure," and tore myself away. Dine with him?
Of course. The merest gratitude
But some three hours afterwards, in the dusky, silent street, paved
with cobble-stones, I became aware that it was not mere gratitude
which was guiding my steps towards the house with the old garden,
where for years no guest other than myself had ever dined. Mere
gratitude does not gnaw at one's interior economy in that
particular way. Hunger might; but I was not feeling particularly
hungry for Jacobus's food.
On that occasion, too, the girl refused to come to the table.
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: locomotives stood, and negroes of all shapes, but of one lowering and
ragged appearance, lounged and stared.
"There used to be a murder here about once a day," said John, "before the
dispensary system. Now, it is about once a week."
"That law is of benefit, then?" I inquired.
"To those who drink the whiskey, possibly; certainly to those who sell
it!" And he condensed for me the long story of the state dispensary,
which in brief appeared to be that South Carolina had gone into the
liquor business. The profits were to pay for compulsory education; the
liquor was to be pure; society and sobriety were to be advanced: such had
been the threefold promise, of which the threefold fulfillment was--
defeat of the compulsory education bill, a political monopoly enriching
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Speaks in its own good time. So I foster
Even to-night for the woman who wronged me,
Nothing of hate, nor of love, but a feeling
Of still regret; for the man -- But hear me,
And judge for yourself: --
For a time the seasons
Changed and passed in a sweet succession
That seemed to me like an endless music:
Life was a rolling psalm, and the choirs
Of God were glad for our love. I fancied
All this, and more than I dare to tell you
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