| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: him he is very willing to be led by him, and eagerly catches at any
suggestion which saves him from the trouble of thinking. Moreover he is
the enemy of Meletus, who, as he says, is availing himself of the popular
dislike to innovations in religion in order to injure Socrates; at the same
time he is amusingly confident that he has weapons in his own armoury which
would be more than a match for him. He is quite sincere in his prosecution
of his father, who has accidentally been guilty of homicide, and is not
wholly free from blame. To purge away the crime appears to him in the
light of a duty, whoever may be the criminal.
Thus begins the contrast between the religion of the letter, or of the
narrow and unenlightened conscience, and the higher notion of religion
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: footed, irresistible delights of youth danced beyond it like
shadows.
It was on a beautiful summer evening that Don Juan felt the near
approach of death. The sky of Spain was serene and cloudless; the
air was full of the scent of orange-blossom; the stars shed
clear, pure gleams of light; nature without seemed to give the
dying man assurance of resurrection; a dutiful and obedient son
sat there watching him with loving and respectful eyes. Towards
eleven o'clock he desired to be left alone with this single-
hearted being.
"Felipe," said the father, in tones so soft and affectionate that
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: critical, curious. Mitchell stood aloof, silent. The figure
touched him strangely.
"Not badly done," said Doctor May, "Where did the fellow learn
that sweep of the muscles in the arm and hand? Look at them!
They are groping,do you see?--clutching: the peculiar action of
a man dying of thirst."
"They have ample facilities for studying anatomy," sneered
Kirby, glancing at the half-naked figures.
"Look," continued the Doctor, "at this bony wrist, and the
strained sinews of the instep! A working-woman,--the very type
of her class."
Life in the Iron-Mills |
