| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: profound by reason of their emptiness; and, indeed, this kind of skill
possesses one signal advantage, for it can only be displayed in the
conduct of the affairs of the great, and when discretion is the
quality required, a man who knows nothing can safely say nothing, and
take refuge in a mysterious shake of the head; in fact; the cleverest
practitioner is he who can swim with the current and keep his head
well above the stream of events which he appears to control, a man's
fitness for this business varying inversely as his specific gravity.
But in this particular art or craft, as in all others, you shall find
a thousand mediocrities for one man of genius; and in spite of
Chatelet's services, ordinary and extraordinary, Her Imperial Highness
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: to the earth and gracefully settle down within a short distance
of each other at the rendezvous. The pilots collect and each
relates the intelligence he has gained. The data are collated
and in this manner the General Staff is able to learn exactly
what is transpiring over a long stretch of the hostile lines, and
a considerable distance to the rear of his advance works.
Possibly five hundred square miles have been reconnoitred in this
manner. Troops have been massed here, lines of communication
extend somewhere else, while convoys are moving at a third place.
But all has been observed, and the commanding officer is in a
position to re-arrange his forces accordingly. It is a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: she could not dare to speak of her pain to anybody.
Now, when all the mirrors contributed for the Mugenyama bell had been sent
to the foundry, the bell-founders discovered that there was one mirror
among them which would not melt. Again and again they tried to melt it; but
it resisted all their efforts. Evidently the woman who had given that
mirror to the temple must have regretted the giving. She had not presented
her offering with all her heart; and therefore her selfish soul, remaining
attached to the mirror, kept it hard and cold in the midst of the furnace.
Of course everybody heard of the matter, and everybody soon knew whose
mirror it was that would not melt. And because of this public exposure of
her secret fault, the poor woman became very much ashamed and very angry.
Kwaidan |
