| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: and the alluring analogies of law and order afforded by physical
science, were most important forces in encouraging the rise of the
spirit of scepticism, yet it was on its ethical side that the Greek
mythology was chiefly open to attack.
It is difficult to shake the popular belief in miracles, but no man
will admit sin and immorality as attributes of the Ideal he
worships; so the first symptoms of a new order of thought are shown
in the passionate outcries of Xenophanes and Heraclitos against the
evil things said by Homer of the sons of God; and in the story told
of Pythagoras, how that he saw tortured in Hell the 'two founders
of Greek theology,' we can recognise the rise of the Aufklarung as
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: That is dreary work for a pretty young girl. No," Felix continued;
"Clifford ought to frequent some agreeable woman, who,
without ever mentioning such unsavory subjects, would give
him a sense of its being very ridiculous to be fuddled.
If he could fall in love with her a little, so much the better.
The thing would operate as a cure."
"Well, now, what lady should you suggest?" asked Mr. Wentworth.
"There is a clever woman under your hand. My sister."
"Your sister--under my hand?" Mr. Wentworth repeated.
"Say a word to Clifford. Tell him to be bold. He is well
disposed already; he has invited her two or three times to drive.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: for twenty years more,-- making in all twenty-three years of sojourn,
during which no shadow of sorrow traversed his life.
But in the twenty-fourth year of his governorship, a great misfortune came
upon him; for his wife, who had borne him seven children,-- five boys and
two girls,-- fell sick and died. She was buried, with high pomp, on the
summit of a beautiful hill in the district of Hanryoko; and a monument,
exceedingly splendid, was placed upon her grave. But Akinosuke felt such
grief at her death that he no longer cared to live.
Now when the legal period of mourning was over, there came to Raishu, from
the Tokoyo palace, a shisha, or royal messenger. The shisha delivered to
Akinosuke a message of condolence, and then said to him:--
Kwaidan |
