| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: the sword is not formed until that point in the first act of The
Valkyries at which Siegmund is left alone by Hunding's hearth,
weaponless, with the assurance that he will have to fight for his
life at dawn with his host. He recalls then how his father
promised him a sword for his hour of need; and as he does so, a
flicker from the dying fire is caught by the golden hilt of the
sword in the tree, when the theme immediately begins to gleam
through the quiver of sound from the orchestra, and only dies out
as the fire sinks and the sword is once more hidden by the
darkness. Later on, this theme, which is never silent whilst
Sieglinda is dwelling on the story of the sword, leaps out into
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: need for bedtime and a double nightcap; and even his pipe, if
he be a smoker, will be savourless and disenchanted. It is
the fate of such an one to take twice as much trouble as is
needed to obtain happiness, and miss the happiness in the end;
he is the man of the proverb, in short, who goes further and
fares worse.
Now, to be properly enjoyed, a walking tour should be
gone upon alone. If you go in a company, or even in pairs, it
is no longer a walking tour in anything but name; it is
something else and more in the nature of a picnic. A walking
tour should be gone upon alone, because freedom is of the
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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: maintained the same silence that had so singularly marked their mood of the
last twenty-four hours. No human skill could have divined their intention.
This coldness might be only habitual reserve, and it might be anything else.
Heckewelder approached at the same time that Simon Girty and his band of
renegades appeared. With the renegades were Pipe and Half King. These two came
slowly across the clearing, passed through the opening in the crowd, and
stopped close to the platform.
Heckewelder went hurriedly up to his missionaries. He seemed beside himself
with excitement, and spoke with difficulty.
"Do not preach to-day. I have been warned again," he said, in a low voice.
"Do you forbid it?" inquired Edwards.
The Spirit of the Border |
