| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: give the number on the door. I was a scrapper when I was ten, and
when I was twenty no amateur in the city could stand up four rounds
with me. 'S a fact. You know Bill McCarty? No? He managed the
smokers for some of them swell clubs. Well, I knocked out everything
Bill brought up before me. I was a middle-weight, but could train
down to a welter when necessary. I boxed all over the West Side at
bouts and benefits and private entertainments, and was never put out
once.
"But, say, the first time I put my foot in the ring with a
professional I was no more than a canned lobster. I dunno how it was-
-I seemed to lose heart. I guess I got too much imagination. There
Options |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: Salvator Rosa, but more poetic; pastels by Giraud and
Muller, representing children like angels and women with the
features of a virgin; sketches torn from the album of
Dauzats' "Travels in the East," that had been made in a few
seconds on the saddle of a camel, or beneath the dome of a
mosque -- in a word, all that modern art can give in
exchange and as recompense for the art lost and gone with
ages long since past.
Albert expected to have something new this time to show to
the traveller, but, to his great surprise, the latter,
without seeking for the signatures, many of which, indeed,
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: bring a sword straightway, and cut this box open, if thou canst."
Then up rose Will Scarlet and left them, coming back in a short time,
bearing a great two-handed sword. Thrice he smote that strong,
ironbound box, and at the third blow it burst open and a great heap
of gold came rolling forth, gleaming red in the light of the torches.
At this sight a murmur went all around among the band, like the
sound of the wind in distant trees; but no man came forward nor
touched the money.
Quoth Robin, "Thou, Will Scarlet, thou, Allan a Dale, and thou,
Little John, count it over."
A long time it took to count all the money, and when it had been duly
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
