| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: "Mescal, wait on the stranger," said August Naab, and the girl knelt
beside him, tendering meat and drink. His nerveless fingers refused to
hold the cup, and she put it to his lips while he drank. Hot coffee
revived him; he ate and grew stronger, and readily began to talk when the
Mormon asked for his story.
"There isn't much to tell. My name is Hare. I am twenty-four. My
parents are dead. I came West because the doctors said I couldn't live
in the East. At first I got better. But my money gave out and work
became a necessity. I tramped from place to place, ending up ill in Salt
Lake City. People were kind to me there. Some one got me a job with a
big cattle company, and sent me to Marysvale, southward over the bleak
The Heritage of the Desert |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: rises again, and then we blush and giggle and simper
and bow all over again. Oh! the sentimental charms
of a side-box conversation! [All laugh.]
MANLY
Well, sister, I join heartily with you in the laugh;
for, in my opinion, it is as justifiable to laugh at folly
as it is reprehensible to ridicule misfortune.
CHARLOTTE
Well, but, brother, positively I can't introduce you
in these clothes: why, your coat looks as if it were
calculated for the vulgar purpose of keeping yourself
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: Zane looked eagerly into the dark face of his friend, hoping perhaps to get
some verbal assurance there that his belief was true. But Wetzel did not
speak, and he continued:
"Another day not so long ago we both looked down at an old friend, and saw his
white hair matted with blood. He'd been murdered for nothin'. Again you and
me trailed a coward and found him to be Jim Girty. I knew you'd been huntin'
him for years, and so I says, 'Lew, you or me?' and you says, 'Me.'" I give in
to you, for I knew you're a better man than me, and because I wanted you to
have the satisfaction. Wal, the months have gone by, and Jim Girty's still
livin' and carryin' on. Now he's over there after them poor preachers. I ain't
sayin', Lew, that you haven't more agin him than me, but I do say, let me in
The Spirit of the Border |
