| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: men, as well as children, rapturously devour stories in which truth
assumes the most grotesque forms. His passion for mystery, and the
credulity natural to the young, often led us to discuss Heaven and
Hell. Then Louis, by expounding Swedenborg, would try to make me share
in his beliefs concerning angels. In his least logical arguments there
were still amazing observations as to the powers of man, which gave
his words that color of truth without which nothing can be done in any
art. The romantic end he foresaw as the destiny of man was calculated
to flatter the yearning which tempts blameless imaginations to give
themselves up to beliefs. Is it not during the youth of a nation that
its dogmas and idols are conceived? And are not the supernatural
Louis Lambert |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance
above in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were still
half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came
rolling towards me like a curtain, lying very low on account of the
wind. Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled
roar, then another and another. So the lions were at home.
"I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there is
nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close
quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I became still more so
when I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about
on the extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their
Long Odds |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: hundred. The secret was out! The pastor, a leader of the church,
was playing hide-and-seek.
"Mr. Douglas!" shouted Strong, when his breath had returned.
"Hush, hush!" whispered Douglas, looking over the hedge. He
peeped cautiously about him, then came toward the men with a sigh
of relief. "It's all right. She has gone the other way."
"It'll be a good thing for you if she never comes back," said
Strong, and Douglas's quick ear caught an unpleasant meaning in
his tone.
"What's that?" the pastor asked, in a low, steady voice.
"We don't like some of the things that are going on here, and I
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