| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: The day was now all blue above, and all warm and dry beneath. We
had begun to wind in and rise among the first slopes of the
foot-hills, and we had talked ourselves into silence. At the
first running water we made a long nooning, and I slept on the
bare ground. My body was lodged so fast and deep in slumber that
when the Virginian shook me awake I could not come back to life
at once; it was the clump of cottonwoods, small and far out in
the plain below us, that recalled me.
"It'll not be watching us much longer," said the Virginian. He
made it a sort of joke; but I knew that both of us were glad when
presently we rode into a steeper country, and among its folds and
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: wishes, whenever and wherever the animal performs his service well,[9]
reward and humour him. Thus, when the rider perceives that the horse
takes a pleasure in the high arching and supple play of his neck, let
him seize the instant not to impose severe exertion on him, like a
taskmaster, but rather to caress and coax him, as if anxious to give
him a rest. In this way the horse will be encouraged and fall into a
rapid pace.
[8] i.e. "the ends of the axles (at the point of junction) which work
into each other are broad and smooth, so as to play freely at the
join."
[9] "Behaves compliantly."
On Horsemanship |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: walking in a mist, you peer attentively at a vague
shape which, after all, may be nothing more cu-
rious or strange than a signpost. The only pecu-
liarity I perceived in her was a slight hesitation in
her utterance, a sort of preliminary stammer which
passes away with the first word. When sharply
spoken to, she was apt to lose her head at once; but
her heart was of the kindest. She had never been
heard to express a dislike for a single human being,
and she was tender to every living creature. She
was devoted to Mrs. Smith, to Mr. Smith, to their
Amy Foster |
