| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: He had witnessed my accident, but--
"We must risk it," he whispered in my ear. "We dare not turn back now."
He plunged into the semi-darkness, making for the cabin,
I perforce following.
At the bottom of the ladder we came fully into the light streaming out
from the singular apartments at the entrance to which we found ourselves.
It was fitted up as a laboratory. A glimpse I had of shelves loaded
with jars and bottles, of a table strewn with scientific paraphernalia,
with retorts, with tubes of extraordinary shapes, holding living organisms,
and with instruments--some of them of a form unknown to my experience.
I saw too that books, papers and rolls of parchment littered the bare
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: THE SYMPOSIUM
or
The Banquet
I
For myself,[1] I hold to the opinion that not alone are the serious
transactions of "good and noble men"[2] most memorable, but that words
and deeds distinctive of their lighter moods may claim some record.[3]
In proof of which contention, I will here describe a set of incidents
within the scope of my experience.[4]
[1] See Aristid. ii. foll.
[2] Or, "nature's noblemen."
The Symposium |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: He turned to us.
"He has departed again--forever!" he cried.
We assented vigorously, repeatedly, and without compunction. The great
thing was to impress him powerfully; to suggest absolute safety--the
end of all trouble. We did our best; and I hope we affirmed our faith
in the power of Hollis's charm efficiently enough to put the matter
beyond the shadow of a doubt. Our voices rang around him joyously in
the still air, and above his head the sky, pellucid, pure, stainless,
arched its tender blue from shore to shore and over the bay, as if to
envelop the water, the earth, and the man in the caress of its light.
The anchor was up, the sails hung still, and half-a-dozen big boats
Tales of Unrest |
